celebrating....

merry christmas everyone!

we've been enjoying the season and celebrating in fun ways

(all the while trying to remember what it's really about)

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last friday jackson had his kindergarten performance.

he was pretty much the cutest kid there.

i mean, i may be a bit biased.

but you can decide for yourself.

he had a little speaking part....

 so proud of our little boy!

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speaking of proud....

jackson & bella both made it a whole week!

whoo hoo!

no more pull-ups in this house...

at least for a little while :)

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every year the kids get to pick an ornament.

we try to help them pick something that was special to them that year.

we just love hanging out in front of the tree.

is there anything better than a room just lit by christmas lights?

i'm already getting sad thinking about taking it all down.

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we've always been a family that loves going to see the lights.

this year we got to join a new tradition....

we joined some sweet friends and watched the decorated boats cruise around balboa island.

it was a lot of fun..

some of those boats were HUGE. and amazing.

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having all 3 kids home this week,

we've been trying to stay busy.

i always love having some good kid crafts up in the house- 

i think it makes them feel like they are a part of it all.

so we turned our reindeer craft into a little garland over the kitchen window.

bella loved painting her little ceramic christmas characters.

this is her gingerbread man ;)

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we joined the fun this year with our own elf on the shelf.

i'm still not sure how i feel about all the guilt & manipulation that seems to go along with this elf....

but the kids sure love him.

and i'm not gonna lie- sometimes it is really nice to say "hey... foddy is watching you!"

every morning they come running out to find him.

this particular morning he was enjoying a lollipop with the little mermaid.

(i think he's making eyes at her....)

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and of course, we had to visit the big guy himself!

we headed over to disneyland to see him for free :)

they had live reindeer outside, which was pretty fun too!

and while we were there...

i think jackson was more excited to tell mickey what he wanted than santa ;)

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every year we make gingerbread houses.

and every year, bella eats more candy than goes on the house.

this time, charlotte wanted in on some of that too!

but it always turns out pretty cute.

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thursday night we headed out to balboa island 

to walk and see the lights on the gorgeous houses with our life group.

we just love these people!

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i haven't done a ton of baking this year,

but i did have my favorite little helper assist me as i made my favorite for a cookie exchange.

my hubby has been spending a lot more time in the kitchen 

making his amazing family english muffins.

a few lucky friends even got some of their own!

(they take hours to make just a few)

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 and thanks to all of you who have supported my photography business & blog!

i so appreciate your sweet comments.

i hope to have the opportunity to photograph you soon!

but for now, the contest is over-

of course you can still visit my new blog or 'like' bachmanville photography on facebook :)

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it has been a busy season,

and i'm still having a hard time believing christmas is TOMORROW!

we're off to our church's christmas eve service.

i'm excited to get my heart and mind fixed on jesus 

and his amazing story of redemption

that all started with a little baby in a manger.

merry christmas to all!

may you experience the true joy of christ this christmas.

looking past the red and green

looking for the super fantastic giveaway?  click here!

you have until december 23rd at midnight to get your entries in!

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i love christmas lights.

christmas cookies.

christmas songs. 

 the wonder in my children's faces as they experience it all.

but too often i find myself becoming christmas-crazy.

i have all these things i want to do,

activities for my children to experience,

and, let's be honest, shopping with 3 children

can totally take my focus off christmas.

not off santa, trees, lights, candy canes & reindeer.

but CHRISTmas. 

this year, i want it to be more than a holiday.

i want to take in the full meaning of what the birth of christ really is.

we've been going through the entire bible at church,

both on sundays and in life group.

(amazing. love it.  so good.)

2 weeks ago, we looked at leviticus and sacrifice.

it totally impacted me.

(click here to view the sermon)

the pastor was talking about old testament sacrifices,

how they had to be repeated over & over,

and were insufficient to truly cover human sin.

he said that ultimately, christmas is about the cross.

it's easy to look at christmas as just jesus's birthday.

a cute little baby in the manger.

who doesn't love a baby, right?

but christmas is a story of redemption.

sacrifice.

grace.

jesus came to die.

for me.

for you.

he came that we might live.

forever.

with him.

he came to give us joy.

not happiness or temporary satisfaction.

but joy regardless of circumstance.

that is what i want my christmas to be about.

that is what i want my children to experience.

i will continue to make gingerbread houses and sing christmas carols.

our stockings are hung by the chimney with care.

and 'foddy' the elf on the shelf delights my children every morning when they wake.

but jesus,

help us to remember.

not just your birth.

but the ultimate sacrifice you made for us, for me,

on the cross.

2011 family pics

looking for the super fantastic giveaway?  click here!

you have until december 23rd at midnight to get your entries in!

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a few months ago, jeff texted me with some super awesome photos.

there is a really fun place right near the church called 'the lab'.

as soon as i saw them, i knew that was where we had to take our family pics.

so i had the location

(and the family)

but no one to take them.

then my friend, juliana, from nurture

(who is an amazing wedding photographer)

suggested we do a trade.

um, yes please!

so i enlisted one of my besties help with outfits 

and we headed over to the lab for some fun!

here are just some of our 2011 pics.

i loved so many... you'll just have to bear with me as i share a bunch!

enjoy!

(and thanks, juliana!  can't wait to photograph your family!)

*note- charlotte was not super into these.  can you tell?  but i still love them :)

*and bella in the mustache pics?  ha!  she did NOT like that thing.

a new blog & a big giveaway!

i'm not sure if you noticed,

but i've been taking a lot of pictures lately.

i love it.

a lot.

this blog was starting to become less about my family & life

and more about my photography.

i thought maybe it was time to separate the two....

i'm SOOOO excited to announce the beginning of:

yipee!

a site dedicated just to my photography.

i've backloaded it with some of the sessions i've done lately

and am hoping to have lots more to add to it!

right now i have a brand new post, never seen here...

and it is a GOOD one!

in addition, i also created a facebook page- 

cause admit it... you're on there all the time :)

or maybe that's just me!

to get things rolling, i thought we'd have another

giveaway!!!!!

are you ready for this one?

the winner will receive one free photo session, 

along with a high-resolution disc of ALL your photos!

want to know how to win?

you have 5 ways to enter.

each entry MUST have its own comment on THIS blog post.

you need to leave your email address so i can contact you!

1.  head on over to bachmanville photography and become a follower

(and say hi while you do! :)

2.  head over to bachmanville photography on facebook and 'like' it

(and leave me a little love while you're there!)

3.  grab my button and add it to your blog

(available at the bottom of the bachmanville photography blog)

4.  share the bachmanville photography facebook page with your friends on facebook

5.  blog or tweet about the giveaway!

****giveaway will close friday, december 23rd, at midnight****

winner will be announced on the 24th- my little christmas gift to you!

a couple things to note:

*winners in the orange county area can schedule anytime i am free for a session.

*winner outside of the orange county area will need to either schedule when i am in your area, come this way, or pay for my travel expenses.

*all entries must have SEPARATE comments or they will be treated as one entry

even if you don't want to win,

you can still check out my new site & like it on facebook :)

thanks for playing!

see you in both bachmanvilles!

adventures in potty training

oh, potty training.

i hear these stories about people that potty-train their kids in a day.

that was NOT my experience.

i decided to potty-train jackson & bella at the same time, 

a few months before charlotte was born.

(hello baby cuteness!)

that took about 4 months.  

no joke.

they were finally both in underwear the week charlotte was born.

we've been daytime-diaper-free for awhile now

(minus charlotte, of course)

but have been in pull-ups at night.

we have tried incentives, encouragement, etc.

but none of it worked.

we were at costco the other day spending a fufillion dollars 

on charlotte's diapers, wipes, and 2 sets of big kid pull-ups 

(seriously... over $125)

and we said no more.

i'd rather buy pretty much anything than diapers with my money.

(i mean... you are literally just peeing your money away.....)

so now is the time.

cold turkey.

good-bye pull-ups.

i have told you how much i abhor making the top bunk.

so the idea of middle-of-the-night wet sheets gave me the shudders.

then a friend gave me this idea!

that's right... piddle pads!

made for dogs, but perfect for nighttime kid accidents.

so we took the money we would have spent on a month's worth of pull-ups and bought piddle pads along with big incentives for each kiddo.

they got to pick whatever they wanted.

at first bella chose a $150 princess kitchen.

mkay....not anything you want.

so she chose this:

(really?  anything you want and you choose kung fu panda?  okay...)

jackson was easy.

go to the CARS aisle.

we put them on a shelf right next to their door so they see them ALL day long.

they REALLY want those toys.

the first night (saturday) i explained what was happening and what we expected from them.

we gave them lots of encouragement and took them to the potty right before bedtime.

bella wasn't a huge fan of the piddle pad, but she (finally) went with it.

jeff got home late that night, and we carried our sleeping children to the potties for one last try.

that was hilarious.

but they did it.

i went to bed waiting to be awoken by a pee-soaked crying child.

but i wasn't!

bella woke up at 5:30 to use the bathroom, waking up jackson in the process.

(and was subsequently awake for the day.  definite downside of all this....)

first night = success!

we celebrated big and shared a bag of skittles.

last night, they did it again!

whoo-hoo!

i bought little whiteboards in the dollar aisle to put next to their beds to keep tally.

after 7 straight nights of dry pants, they get their prize.

they are doing SO good and i am SO proud of them.

and hoping they make it all 7 nights.

(cause i still don't want to clean wet sheets at any time of the night).

 charlotte is already telling me 'i poo poo!'... so i know her time is just right around the corner.

imagine me... diaper free!

sounds so fun, and so sad, all at the same time.

but for now... pull-up free just sounds good.

the hall family

just days after we moved to irvine,

there was an ice cream social for all the incoming kindergarteners at jackson's new school.

we walked into the playground and looked around at all the kids and families.

i know i felt overwhelmed.

jackson was not having a great day, and (in my head) it seemed like everyone already knew each other.

then this super cute family walked in.

i don't know how, but i could tell just by looking at them that they loved jesus.

and they had 3 little kids, almost the same ages as ours.

jeff and matt (the dad) ended up pushing kiddos on the swings and started talking.

turns out matt is a youth pastor too!

i totally prayed that our boys would be in class together.

and that we would be friends.

god is good, and jackson & kai were placed in the same class!

we absolutely love the halls and have been so blessed by their friendship already.

 (i love kai & his sister, nyomi,  holding hands.  so sweet!)

kai brought along his firefighter hat.  

he helped me find 'cool places' and had lots of great silly faces :)

this is nyomi.  my girls absolutely love her.

everyday when we pick up jackson at school, they go racing out of the van to see her.  

charlotte shouts "yi-yomi!"

nyomi helped me look for bunnies while we took pictures.  

bunnies like carrots. 

and smiles.

sweet little isaac just turned one.

he was not very happy about taking pictures.

but he did like climbing on the crate :)

 

matt + natalie

thank you, halls, for letting me play with your fun family!