Hello.

What have I been up to?

Hanging out with this little man all day..






Welcome to the world, little one.

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Today

Today..

...my boys played with eachother for 40 minutes this morning before coming to get me in my room. For the THIRD time this week. This is uncharted territory people. I have had a little person pulling on me every morning (before 7am usually) for the past 5 1/2 years! Children who entertain themselves/dress themselves/ feed themselves breakfast without needing mom? Holy Moley, it's strange. And nice. With a little side of STOP GROWING UP SO FAST!!!

...my boys were beating on each other. I sent them to their rooms, but then had the brilliant idea to put them in each other's rooms and make them clean up each other's messes. Why have I not thought of this before? I have two clean bedrooms and two happy boys right now. Hooray! Now I'm kind of hoping one of them starts misbehaving. I have some toilets that need to be scrubbed.

...I'm still reeling from watching Inception last night. My mind was officially blown. And my dreams were beyond wild last night.

...I finished up our annual family video. Here she is for your viewing pleasure.
(embedded video)

Untitled from Melissa Englebright on Vimeo.

After doing slideshows for both of my extended families for Christmas, I am going on an iMovie hiatus.

...I am trying not to cringe every time I look at Luke's hair. Our haircut yesterday was going along swimmingly, until he decided it would be fun to try and karate chop my hand every time I snipped at a lock of hair. His hair went from looking long and blonde...
to a new bad haircut that looks short, dark(er) and oh so grown up. Parker even got upset and said that Luke doesn't even look like Luke anymore. After I heal from the emotional trauma I will post a picture of the new short do. Maybe. Or he might be wearing a hat for the next 3 months.

Happy 2011! I hope yours is off to a happy start!

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A Classy Christmas (and why I love my 35mm lens)

I pulled a ham out of the refrigerator on Christmas Eve. Aaron passed it during the day and was upset. "We have to order pizza like we did last year," he explained.

Remember last year? When we went to the zoo, got home too late to make dinner and ordered pizza? I was oblivious to the fact that that was the beginning of a Christmas Eve tradition. But it sounded fantastic, so I was happy to comply. I don't like ham that much anyway.

5:00 rolled around and we set off to get our pizza. Only no one wanted pizza anymore. No one. So I told my boys to name their favorite food and we could either make it or buy it. I should have known they would have wanted McDonald's happy meals. Curse them and their dang toys!

One hour later we were sitting around our table eating fast food by candle light. My boys with their happy meals, and me with my Arby's french dip sandwich and curly fries. How classy are we?
And guess what? We are going to do this every single year because our boys were in heaven. And I think it will be fun to see how it evolves over the years. One day I'm sure they will be requesting homemade cinnamon rolls or steaks from Outback. I am going to enjoy the Happy Meals while they last!

We had a small family night where we talked about Christ and bore testimonies. The boys exchanged their gifts and opened their pajamas and we all cuddled up and watched Home Alone.

Aaron and I waited for the big man in red to show up and I sneaked upstairs to grab a picture of my boys sleeping in the same room. (Something they don't normally do). Luke popped up after I had taken a picture and then plopped back down and went back to sleep.

(Okay people. Everyone is always surprised when I tell them the 35mm 1.4 L lens is my favorite lens. The next pic shows why!)Christmas was wonderful. Slow paced, with presents, a yummy breakfast, and visits with a few friends.
We even woke up the next morning to snow! Church was canceled and the day turned into Christmas take 2. Hooray!
(The pic on the left is another shot at 6am with my 35mm lens)

I hope your Christmas was a happy one!

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Snow!!

One day my boys were playing outside in short sleeves. The next day we played in the snow. Hello cold snap! We were in heaven!




This cold weather is great for snow, but I'm am cursing it as I get up to go running in the morning. Maybe I should invest in some running clothes that provide more warmth than a hoodie cinched up so tightly that only my nose is sticking out...

Let the Christmas season officially begin!

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The Hairy White Elephant

Tis the season for white elephant gift exchange parties. Hooray! Well, hooray for you. Not for me. I used to love white elephant parties. That is, until I gave the worst white elephant gift of all time.

Let’s back up.

Many moons ago I was a freshman at a small 2 year college. I was a choir nerd—meaning I spent 90% of my time at the music building and I was thought it was socially acceptable to randomly burst into song. 1/3rd of my choir time was spent in Show Choir. (Which multiplies the nerd factor by 5.)

I sauntered into my Show Choir rehearsal one day and heard my teacher in the middle of an announcement about our upcoming choir Christmas party. Part of the party included a gift exchange. Our instructor explained that the annual gift exchange had a reputation for hilarious and sometimes gross gifts. “One year,” she said, “a boy brought a lump a fudge that looked just like dog poop.” She ordered us not to spend any money and her only requirement was that we bring something funny.

Free, funny and a teensy bit inappropriate? I was all over it. Mr faux-poop was about to get schooled.

It took a couple of weeks to come up with the perfect gift. I was brushing through my hair when the idea hit me..

A hairball. A giant hairball!

I happened to lived on a floor with 24 girls. 24 girls = 24 hairbrushes full of hair! Brilliant, right? Pretty soon I had assembled the biggest/most gag inducing hairball on the planet.

I walked into our Show Choir Christmas party confidently. I placed my nicely wrapped package in the center of the room and anticipated the laughter that was sure to come.

We drew numbers and my classmates started picking gifts and unwrapping them.

Gift #1: An old candle. Lame.

Gift #2: Top Ramen. Double Lame

Gift #3: A Christmas CD. Whoops.. someone didn’t get the disgusting memo!

Gift #4: A miniature Christmas Tree. Brand new.

Gift #5: A Christmas Ornament.

Present after present was unwrapped and not a single present was gross. Every single gift was useable and most of them were downright NICE!

My stomach churned into a knot as Lisa stood up. Little Miss Lisa. The girl who brought the Christmas tree because she “didn’t want to be rude.” The girl who had never pumped her own gasoline. Dainty dancer Lisa who always looked perfect.

She picked my gift.

She picked MY GIFT!

I shifted in my seat.

She started to unwrap.

I considered running over and stealing it. (The gift giving was anonymous so I decided to play it cool.)

She opened the box with a smile. Her smile melted into a horrified grimace as she slowly pulled out my surprise and threw it across the room while screaming.

She thought it was a dead animal.

I prayed that the ground would open up and swallow me whole.

Unfortunately, anonymity flew out the window as my dirty rotten bright red face gave me away.

Please. Take some advice from someone who’s been around the gift exchange block a couple of times. Next time you go to one of these “parties” don't take a hairball. (You were thinking about it, huh.) Take something like the Snazzy Napper. It’s funny, it’s usable, and no one will mistake it for a dead animal.

Good luck.

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Press Pause Please

What the...

Is Thanksgiving really this Thursday? Isn't it still October? Holy Moly, this month has gone by fast. Having a traveling husband for the month sure makes things whip by.

I have approximately 245 sessions to share with you. They are coming, I swear!

Taking care of my boys all day by myself while Aaron was gone made me feel like Superwoman. Or a crazy lady.. depending on the day. There have been many, many nights lately where I have gone to bed wondering where my boys get all of their spunk. And then Aaron gives me a knowing look that implies that he knows exactly where they got all of their spunk.

I love that Luke is old enough to tag around with his big brother now. We are up to our neck in Star Wars and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I have been on a reading kick that is rocking my world.

Fall is hanging on in North Carolina. I love it.

I miss my family. I do not miss snow.

This little man is growing like a weed. His fall clothes are already too small. Doh!
But good news: his camera smile is getting a little less crazy.
(But only a little.)

Happy Monday!

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I love him

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Boys

Luke has reached a crazy he-man stage. The kid is fearless! Luckily Parker is a gentle kid. Otherwise, Luke would be on the receiving end of some daily beatings.

Sometimes it's nice to know that between the constant reminders to..

take turns,
stop fighting,
don't throw cars at your brother's head,
be nice,
don't spit,
don't yell,
TIME OUT!
say you're sorry,
say it like you mean it,
be a good example,
be patient,
don't bite,
stop teasing,
let go of your brother's hair,

(to name a few..)

I get little glimpses that remind me that these boys really do like each other.


Now would you please remind me to look at these pictures the next time Luke is sitting on Parker's head?

Thanks.

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What I saw today... SPRING! (North Carolina Photographer)

Spring has been sneaking its way into our lives, and we couldn't be happier to see her come. I got a SUNBURN this week, people. Hooray!

We are going to attempt to plant a garden this year. Thank you, nice little nursery man, for not laughing at me when I said, "I'm looking for some...organic..........stuff." This is going to be harder than I thought.

I spied these little pretties outside my window today. I don't know what kind of tree this is, but I sure want one when I grow up.



Has spring made it to you yet?

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Beach and updated button(North Carolina Family Photographer)

ahhh... nothing beats being at my favorite place with my favorite people.



You know what I love about my man? I casually mention how much I would love living by a beach, and he spends the next week researching job opportunities on the coast.

Beach or no beach..I'm a lucky girl.
__________________________

For those of you who have asked about my new button (ahem.. Katie), I finally updated it! Click on the button link on the linkbar or go here. The button is 230 px. wide. Let me know if you have any problems adding it. :)

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Pinky, Meet Frida

Last weekend we were snowed in. 8 inches of snow might not seem like a lot, but here in NC.. it's unheard of.

I thought I would take this awesome opportunity of hermithood to grow out the brows a little. Have you ever plucked your brows into oblivion? Well, my little brows needed a reshape, and I knew it wasn't going to be a pretty process. So our snowed in weekend kicked off my brow growing fest. Woohoo!

Well.. this weekend brought another little surprise. I admit it.. I STINK at washing my face at night. (Does doing a wipe down with a baby wipe count?)

Well, one night I started rubbing my mascara laden eyes, and ended up irritating it. The next day I looked like this...
Frida Khalo and Pinky here are getting along swimmingly.

This I know for sure,

Frida Khalo
+
Pinky
+
Winking
+
Fro
+
Joseph T-shirt that I have owned since I was 12
=

Hot Buttered Seduction on a Stick.

Hey, I look like I'm missing my right arm!

Up next on the ol' blog..
This sweet home session,
and some personal work,
Have a happy week!
May it be free of pink eyes and uni brows!

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Through the Window..

..on a snowy day.

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