Our 2017 Christmas Photo Shoot

Hello friends,

I can’t believe Christmas is a week away! We are busy finishing up our Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, planning dinners and waiting for Santa’s arrival. 🙂 Who’s ready?!

Our Christmas cards are in the mail, and I am so happy with how they turned out! We have gone with Minted when ordering our cards the last couple of years and have been so pleased. Their turn around service is always so fast, so if you are like me and have the hardest time choosing a card (because you LOVE them all) you can take a little extra time deciding!

Besides all the beautiful card choices Minted has to offer, my favorite feature is the FREE recipient addressing. This is hands down THE BEST! It saves me tons of time, and with my messy handwriting it saves the postman a lot of time too. ;). With a new baby last year, we even paid a little extra for our address to be printed on it as well. This was a game changer!

This year we did another mini session (15 minutes) with the ever so talented Amanda behind Ampersand Photography + Design. (Dear Marlowe Photography) I stumbled upon her feed on Instagram last year after having Weston. She did a mini session for us then, and I was blown away. If you can make a mommy feel great after having a baby you have my vote……FOREVER!!! You can check out our pictures here from last year.

Planning outfits for your family doesn’t have to be painful. I say that and I am the one running around the day before looking for that shirt for one of my boys. ;). This year I wanted our photos to look more Christmasy! So, I picked out Christmas plaid for the boys and found a great green dress at LOFT for me. I feel that dressing a family of all boys can be somewhat tricky. You can either go the matching route or mix & match patterns and solids. I never know exactly what I want until I start shopping.

I also want their outfits to fit their personality. My 5 year old does NOT like boots or any “handsome” clothes for that matter. So instead of forcing him to wear boots, I always try to find a dressy sneaker that will look great for all occassions. I found a cute pair of grey POLO velcro sneakers on sale at SAKS OFF 5th for this year.

This was my first year to do zero blue in their shirts and it was such a challenge, but I loved the way these turned out. I started with the green dress and worked from there. Adding Bryson’s Christmas plaid from J.Crew Factory with a little green and the hint of Davis’ plaid showing under his sweater was the perfect “match” for our outfits. We put Weston in a cream sweater, so he would stand out a little more being the baby. The cream sweater helped pull the cream color out in both plaid shirts.

Ryan is very traditional, so he is either wearing a solid or plaid. (usually navy) :). This year I found this great pullover that he can wear through out the season and it comes in tons of colors too!

These photos of the boys are pure joy! My two oldest are priceless. You give them a competition and they are all in…….100%. I love this shot. We laugh everytime we see it and the boys remind us of who won this race. 😉 My little guy, who turned one in September also did great. We were excited that he was standing long enough to get a couple of shots. He loves outside so pictures with him was easy this year. 🙂

I am always in awe at how great our pictures turn out! Thank you Amanda for capturing my family. We always have so much fun with you! Photography credit: Ampersand Photo + Design