Candid Daddy Daughter Dance pics...

Here is my crew after they got all ready for the dance. I love Betsey with her cocked head...that means she feels super (thoopah) pretty. Ruby has such beautiful hair, and she let me add some curls. She likes to wear it back pretty much 100% of the time, but it is so pretty down. I love that Alice got her hair cut because I think her hair is best at just this length. These pictures don't do the cut justice, but she's so beautiful! I let Betsey wear her Easter dress because it was a special night. I love the dress, it is by Kate Quinn, I think her Plum Bunny line. Love it so much!!

The dress twirls.

The dance was really well decorated and put together. There were 450 or so people there this year! Crazy! So fun!!

February snow...

We had a great snowfall followed by a fast snow melt (I love that part) in February. The girls were so excited! We made good use of the snow, made a few snowmen in various stages of completion...one snowman though even had a nose and a scarf and arms.

Alice liked to be the snowman head. 

Chris took the girls sledding before church on the day that the snow melted away. I have to say that when Chris takes the kids to do fun things and I stay behind with Leo, I always ask him to take pics. HE ALWAYS DOES. I am so grateful!

Nathan's Baptism...

My nephew, Nathan, the second of Jeff and Mary's children and just three months younger than Alice, chose to be baptized when he turned eight. It was a nice day and very special to be with him at his baptism! Here is a pic of their whole family...with another bun in the oven due mid-March...and the best news is, it is a brother for Nathan!

Daddy Daughter Valentine's Dance...

I love Daddy Daughter dances!! Last year I spearheaded the whole dance, so this year it was awesome to be only in charge of the photography...and I wasn't alone in that responsibility...Jen Wilcox did more than me and between the two of us and our gear we had two booths for photos set up this year so that the line for photos would move faster. The older two and Chris had a great time at the event, but Betsey was a little stink for the second year running. Chris found me and ditched her like he did last year and she was happier sitting on a chair by me working the photo booth than she was on the dance floor. Maybe next year she'll get into it.

Even though she isn't that fun to dance with, she certainly IS fun to take pictures of! I love her little face and her totally Pierce "straight line smile". I love her dimple, though she has to smile right for it to really show. I love her lellow hair and her beautiful KQO dress. I love that when she feels pretty, she rocks her hips dramatically back and forth when she walks and she runs to show daddy how pretty she is. I don't know what to do with all the cuteness she exhibits all day, every day. It's too much.

Ruby and Kiley Benner have been friends since six months. I guess that is too early to really be friends with someone, but they have known each other that long and they were in nursery together and they did preschool together and to this day she is the first name mentioned if I ask Ruby who her best friend is. I am grateful for their connection, Kiley is a very sweet, kind and sincere girl and my only wish would be that they could spend more time together. It is hard to coordinate schedules with public schooled friends. Anyway, so these two spent time at the dance together and I couldn't be happier that I got a few good pics of them out of the night.

My girls. My man. Second year in a row that I wished we'd dedicated more prep to our own dance experience and not just the general dance experience. Some girls had fancy hair and corsages matching their dad's boutineer's and some dad's wore tuxes and some sisters matched and I think all of those things make for a really special night like no other. I'd like to do that for my girls one year. As it has been for two years, I barely run in the door from setting up in time to brush their hair and be sure they are wearing a dress that at least fits them and isn't noticeably dirty. Chris walked out of the closet in jeans, and when I tried to steer him fancier, it just wasn't worth it. I do love this picture though, I love what Chris wrote on the heart. It's a good thing that Betsey is naughty because something has to balance out the cuteness. This was Ruby's last year of the dance age and I can't believe how close in size she and Alice are! Look at them! They wear the same size clothing half the time.

Daddy loves his girls and is so good to them (unless he is brushing their hair). They are lucky as can be!

Superbowl Win for the Seahawks...

 The Seahawks managed to have such a great season that even the anti-sports enthusiast got into the season. I watched probably five games toward the end of the season and actually shouted at the TV a few times and anxiously watched the clock awaiting the late afternoon games. It was fun and the kids had fun with it too. So they wound up playing against the Broncos in the Superbowl and it was CRAZY. I am serious when I say that there were days when I would see nothing but people clothed in some kind of Hawks gear. SERIOUSLY. It was like every person that I encountered for a month was a huge fan. Anyway, so I didn't and wouldn't drop a bunch of money on shirts, but I decided the night before the Superbowl that my kids needed to have something. So after a few trial and errors (Leo's shirt has a backward hawk) I got it right and using freezer paper stencil methods I made shirts for all the kids. I was pretty pinteresty, right? I know! So fun! $4 Walmart T-shirt makeovers!

 We had the Mondrut's over to watch the game and we had enough food to feed a crowd four times our size...and you can see it was the food champions eat. Anyway, it was tasty and fun and WE WON! Like, we almost didn't have an opponent we beat the Broncos so thoroughly. It was close to a shut out at 43 to 8. I know. I didn't want a close game, at that point, with all the state wearing nothing but blue and green for weeks, we just needed a win. And win we did.

I didn't get a pic of the kids in their shirts until the next morning...I love them!!!!

Leo at 8 months...

I got all ready for Davis to come for his portraits and realized it was the 18th!! Leo's 8 month birthday! Yay! He was so much fun to photograph. I wish I had help so that I didn't have to keep him safe (the set was on top of the dining room table) and get him to smile and shoot it because I shot a lot of these way too tight and it's a serious bummer. He is so cute though and was all smiles and fun. I have to say, I can't narrow down pics of my own kid. Impossible! I love them all! I didn't have time to edit these, but I think he's pretty close to perfect all on his own. 

 This is his special blanket. He loves it so much, as soon as I lay him down for naps or bedtime, I cover his body with this blanket and he grabs it with both hands, pulls it to his face and hugs it. I love it. If I am slow to get the blanket on him for some reason, he gets anxious. It's adorable.

 Penny jumped up for a few kisses.

My Nephew Baby Davis Robert Hamm...

After some preterm labor scares and c-section threats, little Davis decided to stay put in the womb until everyone was really ready for him to come. He was born the 11th of January and was super healthy (don't make me recall the stats...8 and some change pounds...I don't know, but CUTE and I was so lucky and thrilled and moved to be with Braden and Amanda on his birth day. It was a long time for me to be away from my little man, and he wasn't thrilled with the separation, but I was so glad that I could actually have a break from him while attending such a sacred moment with my baby brother and Amanda. It is so miraculous to watch another person give birth. I know for sure from that experience that there is a negative physical reaction in my body with any imagining of labor or delivery. That will never be me again...and I'm so good with that! I think Amanda is done too and she did an amazing job getting this healthy kiddo into the world.

When he was a week old, they came and spent a day with us so I could take some pics of the little, cuddly munchkin. I got to take portraits for them AND take a dreamy nap with him sleeping against me. I was in heaven. More of that needs to happen in my future. I might stalk pregnant people or something. For now, I have Davis to cuddle with. I'm no newborn photographer, and I was nervous about this but we did get a few good shots of him and Amanda was easy to please.

This is his blessing outfit. He won't be blessed for a few more weeks so he has some growing to do to fill it out better! Davis, I can't wait to know and love you more as time passes!