And we finally got the pictures back from Calvin's six month photo shoot, which was also our family Christmas photo shoot. These are some of our favorites, and you can see all of them in the Calvin's six month photo shoot album.
family, holidays, photography We really started to get into the spirit of things today. Jon accompanied Christmas songs for the PBS telethon (five, or at least one, minutes of fame), and when he got home we sat ourselves down and took Christmas pictures. 
We will still go in and have professional ones done, but we wanted to have some to make a Christmas card with, so we had to try some on our own. It is amazingly difficult to get a baby to look at a camera when there is no person behind it! This is the first year that our Christmas pictures have not included the dogs, but what are you going to do? Only so much drool will fit in one snapshot. Overall the pictures turned out fairly nicely, and you can see them (or at least the ones that won't be going on the Christmas card), and some portraits taken earlier in the week, in our Christmas Photo Shoot album (don't laugh - they're not professional, and PhotoShop is our friend, but we only had time to fix some of them).
And what is more Christmassy (yes, that is a word) than the torture of sitting still in awkward positions for family photos? Why, that yearly visit to Santa Claus (you'll shoot your eye out...ho ho ho), 
so after the picture taking episode we packed him up and headed to the mall for his inaugural visit with the fat man in red. Thankfully Calvin loves people and is not old enough yet to be worried about the bearded anomaly, unlike the two year old screamer behind us in line. We only got a couple quick pictures, and we are too lazy to scan the picture they gave us, so this is all we have to show for the trip right now, but we'd say it was successful. This whole first Christmas thing sure is wonderful!
holidays, photography, traditions This was Calvin's first major holiday and it was beautiful and exciting! We filled the day with traditions that we can't wait to teach him about. We lazed about in our pajamas, reading the fancy ad inserts and watching the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade. At the end of the parade we got dressed in our Thanksgiving best and headed to Cortney's parents' house for a dinner of traditional favorites - turkey smoked on the outdoor smoker, squash, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad, stuffing (with sausage - mmmm!), wine, coffee, pie, and ice cream. Calvin even had his own seat at the table! After dinner we watched football and worked on a puzzle. It felt like a very special day and we are very Thankful for Calvin, for each other, for our family, and our friends.
family, holidays, photography Here's a sampling of the shots from Calvin's 5 month photo shoot pictures, which were taken on November 8th. To see the whole shoot (they're all good!) go to the 5 month photo shoot album.
photography We've been asked this question several times, especially after we posted the video of Calvin and Jon playing peek-a-boo. Here is some more evidence in the matter. Let's take a vote.
life, photography