Posted on October 28, 2011
Last weekend we gathered this sweet group of cousins (and cousins’ cousins) together for an early Halloween celebration.
So fun to share holidays with family! We are thankful to live close to our people.
Posted on September 15, 2010
A few weeks ago Madelyn asked me if she could get a Queen of Hearts dress. I considered that Halloween was soon approaching and told her that maybe she would want to choose that for her costume this year. Yes, yes, yes! The excitement set in. Honestly, I was quite surprised. I thought for sure she would insist on being a princess or a fairy (but then again…she wears these costumes on a daily basis so I was glad to hear that she was up for something different). The conversation continued….
me: So are you sure you want to be the Queen of Hearts for Halloween? Remember, she is very mean…
Mad: Yes, mama…but I will not be mean. I will be a nice Queen of Hearts and I will not say ‘off with the their heads’….because that is so terrible… and Julia will have to be Alice…but I will be nice to her…I will not say ‘off with her head’…I will be so nice to her and I will invite her to come over for a cake party and we will be friends.
me: Well, that’s a great idea. I love it.
Mad: And we will eat cake and candy together…
me: Are you sure it would work for the Queen of Hearts to invite Alice over for a cake party? That’s a new twist on the the story.
Mad: That’s ok…because I can decide what I want…and I will be best friends with Alice. We will eat cake and drink strawberry milk together…
me: and eat candy, of course.
Mad: Yes.
me: perfect, let’s do it (and immediatly an idea began to roll about a wonderful little cake party/picnic for alice + the queen of hearts).
And then one night last week that little cake party idea came to life…
keeping it real:
- I shot this series after I got home from work so daylight was very limited – it was quite a hustle to set up the picnic and get the lanterns hung. Because the light was so low I was thinking it was a lost effort. I expected to be disappointed with the quality — but actually I am kinda loving the post-processing effect.
- The fabulous cake is by Melissa Mittleman, the creative talent behind Decadent Delights. She is the BEST! I am so thankful to finally have a favorite cake designer (I have been searching for years).
- One thing that worries me: Halloween is weeks away and the excitement over these costumes has already come and gone. Maybe a mistake to plan ahead.
- I tried to hide the dresses (hoping that by Halloween they will have a newfound excitement about dressing up)…but now they constantly want to wear them for dress-up play and have sought out all of my hiding places. Our house is small and the girls are beyond talented about getting into EVERYTHING. That’s another story…
- Just one note about that. How is it possible that I can hide something at a level that I have to climb up on a chair…but this same thing can be discovered and obtained by a 4 year old? I cringe to say this but I have seen evidence of a footstool propped up on top of a very large box propped up on top of a chair. Scary. Very scary.
- Proud mama moment: how cool is my 4 year old? There are 2 things I love about her thought process: 1. She decides how she wants things to be and is empowered to make it happen that way. 2. She decides to turn a villian into a best friend. I am so impressed. Seriously…I never would have thought of Alice + the Queen having a cake party together. It’s like the old ‘coloring outside the box’ analogy. Life is sooooo much better outside the box! This is one value that I will always stick to.
- This little series is the TOTAL inspiration of Madelyn. I simply took note of her daydream and made it happen in order to get a few cute pics. Cake: check, candy: check, strawberry milk: check. Keep talking, sweetheart…
- There are more pictures but I have only worked on these so far. I hope to post a few more later (just not sure how much later…life is busy).
- The girls loved the cake party and keep asking to do it again. There is nothing better than making kids happy + getting fun pictures at the same time. HUGE success!
- Reminder: always keep your camera ready. After I had put my camera away and was cleaning up the picnic, the girls started swinging the paper lanterns around. Oh, the joy! So glad I went back to grab my camera to catch a few shots…
Posted on September 14, 2010
Here’s a sneak peek for what you will see on the blog tomorrow…a very yummmmmmy cake!
Such a tease.