Merry Christmas Eve!

It's almost Christmas and we are so excited! Every time we turn on the Christmas tree lights, Drew gets so excited; he loves the lights, says something about the star on top and then discovers the presents underneath and gets even more excited -- every time. I love it!



We really miss all of you, but we're enjoying our first Christmas at home. Monday was in the 70s and an absolutely gorgeous day, so we went to the zoo where we fed the ducks and played on the playground. It was perfect! We've also enjoyed plenty of Christmas movies and last night we drove around looking at Christmas lights while enjoying some ice cream to celebrate a completely dry day for Drew (two days in a row -- we're making progress!).

Sorry we didn't do a family newsletter this year; the holidays got a little too crazy for me, so you're lucky to even get our Christmas card. :) But I can't help reflecting on our past year. It was one year ago that we found out our little family was going to change. It was a really difficult year, but now I have a beautiful, smiling, rolling-over 4 month old that I adore more each day.



Drew is getting smarter and more athletic and handsomer every day. I don't know where this kid came from, honestly! We love him so much, even with his slightly violent 3-year-old tantrums. (Please don't mind the underwear; we're potty-training.)





After having Bryn, I've been able to get back into all the things I enjoy, like photography, writing, sewing and paper crafts. I've still got a lot of things to work on with my photography (like proper focus in the picture above), but I feel like I'm really finding my style with kids and family portraits. I've also been doing a preschool with my friends and it's so much fun! I get four Monday mornings off, then I get all the kids for a morning. Drew has a blast! And it's good prep for him -- he starts preK in the fall!!!

    

Brent hasn't had much time for anything except school, but that's what makes this break so much better -- three full weeks of time with my hubby! We only have three semesters plus a summer left and we'll be done! He's been working so hard. And from now on, he just gets more and more clinic time, which I think he enjoys much more than class.



We hope all of you are enjoying your holidays as much as we are enjoying ours! Merry Christmas!!

Thanksgiving break...

I knew this week would go fast, and here we are at the end of it. My parents came out for the week and we've had so much fun! We went to the science museum, miniature golfing and feeding the ducks at the park. We also got in some photo shoots at the park, so I actually have pics of us now!

But today was best of all -- today we blessed Bryn with my dad and a few of the guys from our Okie family. She was so beautiful in her little white dress (which I was sooo pleased fit her perfectly!).

But the perfect part: My best friend sent me a bracelet to accessorize this sweet little getup...

We definitely missed all our family today; it's hard that we're so far out here, but we're so glad our other "family" could be here with us. Thanks Jordan and Katrina, Zack and Keri!

This little girl just adores her grandpa! She breaks out the big grins every time she hears his voice!

I adore my little squishy! She's laughed twice now -- I'm dying to hear it again. She's up to 13.5 pounds and she's three months old. And Drew has reached a milestone too: Potty training. We're taking it kind of slow, but he knows how to do it when he wants to. I haven't been brave enough to leave the house without him in diapers, though.

We're looking forward to Christmas; we'll be staying home this year (more missing our family and friends), but we're looking forward to taking the holidays easy and just enjoying Brent's time off from school. We already celebrated Christmas while my parents were here, so the tree is already up and we got to unwrap presents -- sooooo fun!

I got it!

I've been hunting it for weeks, and I finally captured it! That elusive baby smile, so readily given to me when I'm not hiding behind a camera, has escaped me every time I pull out my big silver wonder. But today -- triumph! It took plenty of work, but enjoy the fruits of my labor...

This adorable little thing is so much fun! She sleeps soooo good at night, and she's starting to make all these great little baby noises. She's not really smiley, but that makes it all the better when she does it. She's kind of a drama queen, but she's a girl. From what I hear those two go hand-in-hand. Hopefully there will be many more photos like this to share soon...

Holiday bustlings...

I can't believe the holidays are upon us! There's a place up in Edmond that already has all their Christmas decorations up!

Well, I finally took my sister-in-law's advice and opened an Etsy shop -- you can see my listings and link to my shop in the box on the left. I'm selling handmade cards and baby beanies right now. I guess we'll see how it goes; I'm actually really nervous about it!

Wish me luck! I'm also starting things up in photography, too. I've already had two shoots, and I have two more scheduled and two more ready to be scheduled! So I think it's time after these shoots to finally start charging. I'm really enjoying taking all these family and portrait pictures! I'll put pics from each of my sessions on my photo blog (link at left).

We're so excited for Thanksgiving because not only could we use a little break, but my parents are coming out to see us. I hope we have good weather because there's so much stuff we want to do!

We're adjusting to life pretty well with two kids (at least Brent and I can play man-to-man defense with two). Bryn LOVES her big brother, who is always trying to help me out. I love it!

Whenever Drew is around, Bryn's eyes are right on him. And the other night when we said prayers before bedtime, Brent was holding Bryn and Drew wanted to sit on his lap; Brent let him climb on and put Bryn on Drew's lap. Drew just wrapped his arms tight around his little sister and just held her -- of course, I was in tears because it was just so sweet to see these two already love each other. Our kiddos are so fun! We're so tired, but really, really enjoying these little ones!

Happy happy Halloween!

We are soooo ready for Halloween at our house! We got to decorate our yard with some tombstones and spider webs, and we added some pumpkins to our decor...

Brent even used his dental skills to pour up the hand coming out of the ground. He got some water colors and made it look really creepy!

We got to wear our costumes to our ward Halloween party last weekend, and we won the "Most Original" award for our family of Jedis. Bryn definitely got the most reactions -- but hey, she's super cute with her Leia buns -- but I think they all turned out well. I'll try to get some family pics this weekend, but here's a little preview of our Padawan Drew.

He LOVES having a lightsaber! We're so excited for the party my friend is throwing this weekend, and we're going to check out some OKC Halloween activities downtown with another friend. Everyone have an awesome weekend!!!

There are witches in the air...

Halloween is here! We got our decorations up -- we're so excited to have a house to decorate! We got some tombstones and spider web for the front yard. Brent even made a stone cast of his hand so it looks like someone's trying to claw their way out of our grass!

Drew and Brent will be wearing their Jedi costumes from last year, and so I only had to do costumes for me and Bryn this year. I finished up our costumes last night, and I'm so excited. Thought I'd put a little preview of our little Princess Leia on here -- she turned out so cute! I'm just so excited it turned out well; I didn't have a pattern.

Woohoo! So excited for some trick-or-treating and costume partying!!!

Best weekend ever...

This has been one of the best weekends I've had in a while -- it's been just fantastic! First, Brent had Friday off from school (in Utah you get a day off to shoot deer, here you get it off for football). Our friends had the awesome idea to take advantage of the extra day by going camping. So I met Brent at school Thursday evening for Dentfest (you get free stuff and food); Brent bought me an OU Denstistry shirt, which I've been begging for, and he even won a set of dental tools! Then we headed straight out to Red Rock Canyon, which is only about an hour away, for some time out of the city...

Girls! Drew with his best friends, Ady and Brinks.

We feel so lucky to have the friends we do! We always have so much fun with them...

Keri and Zack...

Katrina and E...

Bryn did so well -- she slept just as well as she does at home, and she seemed to enjoy being outside. It's hard to tell, seeing as how she's only six weeks old. She slept in her car seat and stayed nice and toasty. And yes, she's getting big so fast...

Drew and Ady, enjoying some lemonade on the table. This is what camping is all about! :)

Couldn't forget Brinks! She wanted to get in on the picture, too...

My little Brynnie Winnie -- she's starting to hold her head up really well and to look at us. She smiled for the first time on Sunday!

We can't forget Jimmy and Camila's "kid," Ginger. She was a big hit with all the kids -- they loved her!

We camped in this awesome little cove in red rocks, which reminded me of southern Utah. Everyone was climbing up at the far end of the cove. Zack, Brinks and Keri...

Katrina and E in the tree...

Drew in the tree -- it looks like he's showing off those dirty little hands, but he's actually saying, "Ok, ten more minutes and then it's time to go." I guess I tell him that a lot... 

Zack, Ady, Brinks and Keri...

Camila, Ginger and Jimmy...

Huh???

E had soooo much fun camping! She got just as dirty as the big kids.

We had so much fun. We only stayed the one night, and left by early afternoon the next day, but it was so nice to get out and do something fun. I feel like I've spent so much time at home being so uncomfortable over the summer with my pregnancy and now keeping Bryn at home.

We went out for dinner on Friday and then watched a movie at home. Saturday I got to start rehearsals for our Christmas cantata, then I did a little shopping for non-maternity clothes. :) It's nice to wear normal stuff again! Saturday night, Bryn slept a whopping 10.5 hours!!! Brent made me pancakes Sunday morning, and I got to watch church in my jammies. It was all very good... Hurray for awesome weekends!

Brynnie Winnie...

I'm so glad to finally have my little girl! I have to admit I was a little bummed -- just a little -- when I was going through Drew's old clothes to give away, thinking we wouldn't have another little boy to wear those cute blue things with baseballs. But when I put Bryn in her Sunday dress for church last week and slapped a headband on her head, I couldn't believe how much fun it was to get her all cutsied up!

Ahhhh... Such a sweet little angel, or is she?

Yep, she's got an attitude and my set of lungs. We're definitely in trouble with this one. :) Don't know why, but I love this picture, even though I'll be the first one to admit she is sooooo not cute when she's screaming.

Mom, what am I wearing??? We're opting for a less fruffy dress for church today, but for her first couple of Sundays, she had to wear this sweet dress from Aunt Sarah.

We've been enjoying the slightly cooler weather as fall thinks about maybe coming to Oklahoma. We got a double stroller to take the kids walking, and we've been finding all kinds of "friends" in our yard, including this little garden snake.

I've been working on a project for my friend, who's decorating the low-income clinic here. I told her I would donate some of my pictures, and I decided to do a series focusing on baby bellies and little hands and feet. I have most of what I want, but I, of course, needed to get some really tiny hands and feet pictures of Bryn. I haven't gotten a chance to edit them and pick my favorites yet, but here's some that I liked. Check out my photography blog, megtalbotphotography.blogspot.com, to see my selections in a week or so...

I also got my first prime lens in the mail yesterday, and I'm sooooo excited to learn how to use it! Just playing around with it yesterday I can see a huge difference!

Drew's holding up his new lightsaber that we bought at the state fair (we went with our friends the Larsons and the Hansens on Tuesday this week). He LOVES this thing! I was going to let him pick a ride to ride, but the kids were getting grumpy, so we thought we'd just head home. I saw a toy booth on the way out and decided we would let Drew pick out a toy instead. He chose this green, light-up sword; he now sleeps with it every night...

Drew has been the best big brother. I really thought he would have some jealousy issues; he's been an only child for a little more than three years, and he's an attention hog. I was preparing myself for some big fights and having to protect Bryn from his potential physical outbursts, but so far, he's been a very sweet, helpful and wonderful big brother. I am so blessed to have this sweet kid...

Bryn's definitely a handful, but I think things will get easier as we all figure out her needs a little better. But no big complaints -- she slept 8 hours two nights in a row, and went 6 hours last night. I hope she keeps that up!