Family Life, This Beautiful October

Happy weekend! Today is a big day at our house. We're off in a little bit to celebrate Elliot's 5th birthday with a party at one of his favorite places (an "inflatable kingdom") and with Batman cape, Batman cake and super hero presents in tow. Lots of fun to come.  

The picture above was taken outside at my sister's house. Is includes all 8 of our children raking their leaves, an activity that they think is just about the best thing ever. I know right?!

As earlier mentioned, our #3, Mr. Elliot Henry, turned 5 this week! I stole a few pictures of "big E" (no longer allowed to call him little E, sadly …) while he ate his birthday dinner of pancakes, at his request. He's getting over a cold at the moment, so he has puffy red eyes in all his birthday pics. 

* WINK *

Today I thought I'd catch up here with some of my favorite shots from this lovely month of October. It really has been so beautiful this year. We've been really busy too, enjoying the gorgeous days and all the events October brings. First, we set to decorating our home!

And before our Cara and Aletta had to head home to Tulsa, we made one last trip to our little amusement park on the bay. We miss them sooooo already and it's only been a week!

We made our annual trip to Door County and this year it was Elliot's turn to accompany us. We stopped for caramel apple French toast and an assortment of candies from the Confectionary. Then went for a walk amongst the tall colorful trees and popped into cozy boutiques, laden with either smiling witches or colorful cornucopias. And of course, the air smelled like apple cider and everyone walked along snuggled into each others warmth. It was wonderful.

We picked out our Halloween costumes and Scarlet happily wore hers for an entire morning, despite the furry and fluffy layers. This year we'll be trick or treating with a variety of foods, some healthy, others notsomuch. There's this little strawberry, and a giant popcorn and equally giant fries. Hoping Elliot will forgo his Batman for a red M&M … but we'll see. 

And here are 2 pictures I stole of the little lady that I just loved. One, under her duppy, where we both like to play a slobbery peekaboo. And the other freshly risen from a nap, hair at its finest. Now that her hair is growing a bit longer and enjoying a very awkward mullet stage, she's always sporting a neat bird's nest of knots on the back of her head when she wakes up. 

I recently had another bout of home photography take place, this time for an incredibly special project and opportunity that I honestly have no idea will pan out. So I'm waiting to hear back and will share with you once I know either way. But in the meantime, I thought I'd share the shot I took with my phone of this little "staged" scene in the living room. It's infinity worse than those I shot with my camera, as my phone enjoys adding pink to the sides of my frames (sure it was my camera case but that case was just so pretty that I put up with the nuisance … till now). Anyway, in this scenario, I was asked to create "eye candy" set ups. Boy did that get my wheels turning! I'm a BIG fan of eye candy. :) 

And finally, I've been working really hard these last 2 weeks on styling holiday shoots for our November issue of YOU magazine. They've been incredibly fun to work on and, as always, way ahead of the season. So I've been fully immersed in all things Christmas and some of you have noticed on Pinterest. Ha! I've had a couple of comments about all those holiday pins happening there. On Thursday, I am staging an entire holiday party from head to toe (well almost) and then photographing it! This particular article will include both fashion and lifestyle elements, so there will be much more to it than just those fantastic outfits. And they are pretty fantastic (hint - an abundance of sparkle)! Looking forward to decorating a home for Christmas next week and inviting 8 party guests to look merry and bright. 

Below is an outtake from a session shot by Eric, my incredibly talented photog for this fashion piece. This jacket is the conversation piece in this particular article and isn't it just? More to come …