Santa's coming to town...

The kids made their annual visit to Santa at Valley West Mall today. Ayla didn't seem bothered by Santa at all, but that also meant she lacked emotion during pictures. She bit her lower lip almost the entire time (except when she was studying Santa, as seen here). Levi couldn't get her to smile for the pictures, but she still looked cute. I'm sure it was due to her desperate need for a longer nap.

This is from last year's visit. It's amazing to see how big Ayla is now!Before we left the mall, we had to take a picture of this "snot". We teased the kids about how they were snots, but this weekend, they proved to be just that a time or two. Poor things were couped up in the house and with the temps below 40, they didn't know what to do with themselves. Go outside, maybe? Funny they didn't much since Ayden has been begging for snow and the temps to cool down a bit. Hopefully they'll run off some steam this week at school.

Happy Black Friday!

Well, I managed to get up with the early crowd this morning. About made me sick to my stomach - I really am not a morning person. But, most of my Christmas shopping is taken care of now. I've been working on my sessions all afternoon. I had to break away and mess with some from Ayla's one-year shoot...since I don't take the time to edit those like I should. Anyway, I love these profile shots.

I think I like this vintage one a bit better...I love this shot of Ayvarie. This piece of barn board was once an exterior wall of our house - it makes a much better backdrop!Now don't you all go crazy on Cyber Monday!!!

My oldest and youngest.(and middle child, too)

Just playing around with more pics before bed. I realize it's what I would have considered tomorrow already. Here's one of Ayden that I just love. Plus, a few of Ayla from a mini 1-year session we did on the swing Nov 1st. We have pictures somewhere of Levi sitting on the same swing when he was young. Who knows how long the swing has been supporting the Bappes.

Here are a couple of Ayv while she was playing with her vampire teeth, although a bit too big for her mouth. I thought these were pretty dramatic (same picture, different edits).

You'd think I'd be in bed by now after working the election last night. It wasn't too much extra time at the office, but it pushed my nighttime routine out a bit. Then, tonight we finally visited the grocery store for possibly a full week's worth of groceries. Hope you like the pics!

[In the Car]

This is what my kids were up to in the car, on the way home last weekend. It seems like such a blur...and that it was only a week ago that I snapped these pics. It has been a busy week. We have one more, and maybe another - then it's Thanksgiving!

The kids played outdoors a lot during the past two days. Unfortunately, with the clocks going back, it will be darker sooner at night, so their outdoor play will be limited until the weekend. Anyway...I'd better get these pics posted so I can get to bed.

These show Ayv & Ayden, the elephants, entertaining Ayla. Never knew those robot arms would be so useful! Was Ayla ready for a nap?

Back up as you go,

That has been reinforced yet again. It's bad when you lose a hard drive (as I did last year), but it's also bad to fill one up. I have spent the last couple of days burning to disk and backing up online. What a pain! I am making contact sheets along the way so at least I can SEE what's on each disk, too. I can't remember everything that happened in February, but a quick glance at the contact sheet and it all comes back to me. As soon as this process is complete, I can get back to work on my photo projects.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pics of Ayla I got the other day. They're part of her never-ending 1-year photo shoot.