Christmas Photos: Past and Present

Click the image above to view a collection Christmas photos from 2009 and years' past.

Annual Cookie Making

Each year we bake and decorate sugar cookies. . . tons of them!

This year we had over 75 cookies to decorate, so we called in reinforcement. Expert cookie maker, Grammy


.

Green With Envy?

We couldn't find the tree cookie-cutters, so we settled for green Snowmen and Stocking Pancakes.

And The Winners Are . . .

Tonight we officially kicked off the 2009 Waid Family Christmas. The evening began with an amazing dinner of crab legs, cocktail shrimp, and a good bottle of wine (chicken nuggets, peas, and milk for Logan).

Next, we bundled up and headed to Starbucks - the perfect beverage for driving around and looking at Christmas lights.

With our coffees in hand and Logan snuggled up in his car seat, we set out to determine the winners of the "Waid Family Christmas Lights Awards." (similar the the People's Choice, but with only 3 votes).

Below are the 2009 winners:

Highest Electric Bill

Most Unique Use of Rope Lights

Logan's Top Choice

Best Use of Yard Ornaments
Tackiest

Classiest

We ended the night with a yummy trip to Bruster's. And as you can see Logan was to busy licking his lips to smile for the camera.

Thanksgiving 2009 - A photo narrative

The Thanksgiving Turkeys

Brothers stop for a picture.

Logan waits in line to see Santa in Franklin, NC

Writing his first letter to Santa.

The big guy!!

Logan tells Santa he would like a slide and a choo-choo.

Though not sure about sitting in his lap, Logan gives Santa a high-five.

Our Christmas tree. (My first live tree!)

New Dining Room Table

Two things I realized today:
1. We definitely needed a new dining room table and chairs. The one we had was falling apart.
2. I have a cursing problem. . . . at least when I'm trying to put together furniture.

Seriously though, I love Ikea, but some of their "easy to assemble" furniture, is not that easy. But, we did it, and I think it looks great.

More so, I have a happy wife, which is worth way more than the 4 hours we spent putting it all together.

That's What Family is For

I have this annoying passion inside me. I say annoying because everywhere I go, whatever I look at, I am always "framing" things in my mind. It could be a leaf on the ground, a sign above a stage, or a kiss from a little one. No matter what it is, I am always looking at ways to photograph it.

There are extremely talented photographers in my life (1 , 2 , 3, 4). Some friends, others I "fan" from afar, but I look at their work and learn from their images. They are incredible. Their images ooze with creativity and expertise.

Mine, well, they sometimes they just ooze. But none the less, I have to start somewhere right?

My brother-in-laws family allowed me to take their Fall family photos last weekend. A gig that is usually reserved for the most professional of photographers on the south side.

The day of, my palms where sweating. What if none of the images turned out? What if they didn't like them? What if that inner nag saying "I'm just not that good," is right?

Snap. The first image was captured. Snap Snap. A few more in storage. Ahhh..there it is, that confidence that I wasn't sure was going to come.

But it did.

504 images later we were done. I walked away like a little leaguer that just hit his first home run. I wasn't quite sure how they would all turn out, but I was excited and couldn't wait to download them.

And I thought. Isn't that what family is for? To help instill confidence. To "test" out our gifts and talents on each other and give honest feedback.

I hope that whatever Logan finds exciting or stirs his inner creativity, he will feel comfortable opening up and allowing it to flourish with us.

Glimpse

One last glimpse of Fall's color before Winter's barrenness takes over.

Elmo's Magic Boots

There was something special about those boots. When Elmo put them on, he couldn't stop dancing. There was plenty of candy to be "treating", but the only "trick" Elmo wanted to do was show off his dance moves in the middle of the parking lot.

For some, it was a cheaper version of "Elmo Live."

A Year of Memories

My goal for starting the Waid Family Blog over a year ago was to:

1. Share our lives (mostly Logan's) with our Friend's and Family and

2. Capture those memories to share them with Logan when he's older.

I had this "vision" of not just telling Logan about his life growing up, but reading it with him. Letting him read about his first birthday, or the time he rode in an ambulance.

I just couldn't figure out the best way to do it.

Then came the perfect idea from "The Sweet Cheek Family". Brilliant!!

They used a service called Blurb.com to download their blog into a book format. You can edit the layout, colors, themes, font, etc.

I have been working on my book off-and-on for a few months now. And finally, two weeks ago, I clicked "order."

I love the way it turned out! The color, paper and binding quality, and full bleed pages are incredible.

My only two changes I will make for next year's are:

1. I will order an 8x10 rather the the coffee table size (only because it's much cheaper).

2. I will order a hardcover with my images printed on it rather than a paper sleeve (because it is already starting to look "used").

"Airplane!"

"Good"

Logan is at such a fun age. His animations and expressions keep Emily and I in anticipation with what he will do or say next.

One of my favorite things he is saying now is "good." We will ask him "How are you Logan?" and without skipping a beat he says "good."

Last night he was crying to so I went and picked him up. After I held him for a while I whispered "how are you, Logan", he looked up at me, took his thumb out of his mouth and whispered "good dada".

Melt my heart.

A Few More Fall Photos

Fall Photos

I took our Fall photos today. Here are a few of my favorite.

Someday

Someday he'll be all grown up.

Asking a girl to prom and buying her flowers.

Finding a job and putting in hours.

Applying to colleges and graduating in May.

Then, getting married and moving away.

Someday he'll be all grown up.

But for now, he's my little boy.

Soaking up every moment, and living with joy.

I chase him around the room and up the stairs.

Read him stories about rabbits and bears.

But someday, and faster than I'd like, he'll be all grown up.

Beauty

This past weekend I've done something I rarely do during this season. I looked down.

It's true that looking out across the trees you can find an array of colors as far as the eye can see. But, I took time to notice the beauty that was at my feet. Those leaves that were at the peak of color, yet instead of filling the air with their beauty, carpeted the path that I walked on.

If you look closely in the middle of this leaf you can see a heart-shaped hole. Perhaps a little message from the One who created beauty?

Less Traveled

There's something about unpaved paths that help me clear my mind.

Mountain Bound

After certain holidays, the reality sets in that there are no more days off for a while. Labor Day weekend is one of those holidays. There is almost three months before the Thanksgiving holidays come around, and the Monday after Labor Day feels like the first day of school all over again.

This year, Emily and I planned a few small weekend trips to break up the long stretch of mundane in order to stay refreshed.

This weekend were packing up the camera, some necessities, and a few good friends and heading to the mountains. The photo shown is the view from the back porch of Blueberry Hill.

Before I ever spent money on a therapist, I would first take a trip to the mountains. It seems like I think more clearly up there. No distractions. No cell phones. And rarely any noises other than the soothing ripple of the creek below.

I have only two objectives this weekend: 1. Spend quality time with friends and family. 2. Submerge myself in a few hours of photography.

What are you doing this weekend?

Logan's New . . . Slide

With all the rains we've had in GA, we are thankful that we didn't have major damage. However, we've had enough to cause a headache.

As you can see from the photo, the hardwoods in our kitchen are buckling from a leaky door that was installed a year or so ago. (If you want to read a cool story of how it's getting fixed, check out my new blog).

In Logan fashion though, he's taking something that is causing frustration for us, and making it into a playground for him. The hump in our floor is just big enough for him to slide down, roll cars down, and basically provide hours of fun. In fact he entertains himself so much, if we could get the back door open, we thought about leaving it for a little while!

We hope to have it fixed soon, so Logan will just have to settle for the slide that Nana and Granddad bought him.

Moon Hunting