getting into the holiday spirit

I don't know what has come over me this year, but I am beyond excited for the holidays. I love love love the way our home feels when it is decorated with glitter and lights. The Christmas tree is up! Yes, you heard right. I don't usually look forward to pulling out the tree, dragging it upstairs and then spending hours decorating it, but this year I had one amazing little girl who was beyond thrilled to help her momma. How could I not be excited to spend such quality time with the little girl I absolutely adore. Once finished, she was beaming from ear-to-ear and kept saying how beautiful it looked. Moments like these, I will cherish forever.

This past weekend was a busy one. We started the weekend off early by celebrating my father-in-law's birthday. Taking two children to a restaurant can be quite the experience - let me just leave it at that. Saturday morning, the kiddos got to hang out with daddy as this momma headed to a workshop for the day. Little Miss L. attended dance class in the morning, she has finally taken a liking to class and I hear she was the first one lined up at the door to get in. The rest of the day was spent with family celebrating Festa De S. Martinho, the Chestnut Festival celebrated in the north of Portugal.

Sunday was a bright and early morning. I decided it was about time for me to step out from behind the camera and let someone else snap a few of our family. Let's just say it wasn't easy trying to get two children to cooperate on a cold morning with one child teething and the other falling down mere minutes before the shoot took place and scraping her hands and knees. In the end, we got it done and can only cross our fingers at least one good photo came out of the bunch. It didn't last long before I was behind the camera again as I had the opportunity to capture a few memories for two awesome families. I love love love holiday photos!

I must say I am kind of looking forward to Monday.