Abby’s Saturday // One Hundred Eighty-One

Highlight of the Week

Is anyone else in denial that the holidays are over? Please tell me I’m not alone!
Sunday was New Year’s Eve and we hosted my family over at our house! Everyone came over for appetizers, soup, and desserts, we played a bunch of games, and watched Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (the most hilarious movie that Derrick had never seen!). The movie ended about 10 minutes before midnight, so we were able to watch the ball drop & welcome in the new year. It was fabulous & so wonderful to have all of my wonderful family within arms reach to smooch at midnight (okay, I just smooched Derrick, but the idea remains).

Yes, This Happened

• So, sometime over the last few weeks, Braelynn chipped both of her front teeth. It’s super small, but the outer corners of both her top front teeth are missing. And the worst part: we have absolutely no idea how or when it happened. I mean, she sees the world as a jungle gym and is constantly climbing & jumping off of everything – but no one has any memory of her falling, hitting her face, crying that she hurt her face – nothing. I just really wish I knew what she did!! And I’m just glad she’ll lose those teeth & her new adult teeth will be perfect.
• Abby’s been chewing again – this time: Cinderella has bit the dust. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! If you can’t tell, Mama’s really upset about this one, mostly because she’s from a set of 4 princesses that are were SUPER nice. If she keeps this up, Abby’s Saturday might become Braelynn’s Saturday, since Abby will be going to find a new home. Okay, I totally kid, we’d never give Abby away. But seriously: why is she doing this all of a sudden?!
• This week, two of my favorite yearly posts were published on my blog! If you missed them, definitely go check them out! The first is the behind-the-scenes post of me (and some other amazing people) photographing last year, and the second is all of my favorite bloopers from taking Abby’s Saturday photos every week!
• On Sunday (before our New Year’s party), I rode up to Grove City College for an engagement session! It was freezing – like in the single digits. Layers upon layers only get you so far when it’s that cold! Thankfully, Adam & Mandy were champs, literal champs (they’re from Arizona, so the term “freezing” in their vocabulary means when the temperature drops below 60º). We had so much fun though and their photos are some of my favorite EVER (I know, I say that every time I do a new session). I’ll be blogging them, eventually (I’m a little behind in getting engagement sessions up on my blog!) but, some of them will show up in my “best of the best” posts that are coming all next week!
• Speaking of: if you want to see a handful (okay, it’s a few more than that) of my very favorite images from 2017, you’ll want to stay tuned all next week! I’m going to break my normal Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday posting routine to bring 4 categories over 4 days in a row of my favorite photos from 2017! The fun all starts on Monday!

Feeling Blessed

I’m not sure where you live, but it’s been frigid here all week. As in, every single day it’s barely hit double-digits and the wind-chills every day have been in the negatives (usually the double-digit negatives). We’ve stayed home & bundled up inside as much as possible! With all the talk of a “bomb cyclone” hitting the Eastern Coast, I am so thankful for a warm house, steady electricity, a refrigerator full of food, and an oven to cook it in. It definitely crossed my mind a few times (mostly after I went to the grocery store & stocked up on food for the next 2-3 weeks) – what if our power goes out and we lose our heat & all of this food? So, this week, I’m overwhelmingly thankful for radiators we can sit on (as Braelynn says: to toast our “buns”), large blankets we can snuggle under, and a warm house – all the while my refrigerator keeps all of my food nice & cold.