Christmas the cat in her favorite spot under the Christmas tree.

I had my last session of the year last week before Christmas – just a few days after our big snowfall. The snow & the lake made a perfect backdrop for these beautiful girls!

I bet you can guess what she’s thinking!

Their new little brother is due any day now, too, so it was important to have a little quiet one-on-one time with mom.

One sweet, happy family, hanging out together on a sunny, snowy day – it doesn’t get any better than this! Merry Christmas, ‘D’ Family!

Love,
Mark, Joanna, Cole & Harper

We have more snow! You have to understand, the cumulative average snowfall per year for the Asheville area is 15 inches. So when we receive that much snow in one day it’s a big deal! (That, combined with a distinct lack of snowplows in the area tends to cause big problems.)

This is the single biggest snowfall since I’ve lived here (11 years now) and certainly the most snow the kids have ever seen except when we’ve visited Minnesota during the winter. So they were anxious to get outside! Harper, being a summer baby, didn’t quite understand the concept of keeping her hat & gloves on in order to stay warm, and she was immediately worn out by the deep snow.

I took a short walk around the neighborhood while the kids were trying to sled down the hill. The only vehicle we saw while we were out was the Progress Energy truck. This was good news, though, since it meant that they turned our power back on! The power was out for about 7 hours yesterday evening/night and then it came back on, only to go off again around 8 this morning.

So happy to see the sun!

I sat in the snow to take this picture. I had forgotten what it was like to have enough snow on the ground to recline comfortably…though briefly. I’m thinking our Minnesota visitors (who are on their way here, having postponed their trip a day due to OUR weather conditions!) won’t appreciate the snow quite as much as we do. So hopefully the big melt is on its way soon, though Cole would prefer that we’d still have snow for Christmas. Maybe if I stick some in the freezer…

The kids were supposed to have Christmas performances & parties today but instead we woke up to a snow day!

Harper is much happier about the snow than she has been in the past. (Her hat must have fallen off in all the joyful jumping…)

Cole & Mark had a snowball fight…

…and Harper built a snowman whose name, coincidentally, is also Harper.

Typically our snow is short-lived but it’s still. snowing. outside. This rarely happens, so I guess we’ll just enjoy it while it lasts!

Apparently Harper’s My Little Ponies (and a few princesses) have taken Cole’s Batman cave by storm…I laughed when I saw this in the hallway this morning.

I’m so sorry for the blogging absence. I’m afraid to tell you that it’s not going to get much better through the end of the year, either… Lately I haven’t been anywhere except at the staging area for orders, which happens to be our dining room table. I have to get it all cleared off by the end of the week because my family is coming from Minnesota! Yay! So here are a bunch of beautiful albums that went out in the mail recently or will be out the door by the end of this week so that everyone can share their wonderful wedding photos with friends & family at Christmastime.

a sleek black album with black pages

in lovely marine blue

a beautiful shimmery gray

a client favorite: classic platinum

My apologies – I’m running behind today!
The winner (drawn by Mark) is:

Ashlyn S!

Thanks to all of you for your very kind comments! It’s so nice to hear from all of you – that was the best part for me!