Just Ask The Mermaids

On Facebook I follow many Spina Bifida pages and am a member of a Spina Bifida group. Someone posted a picture with a wonderful quote:

 

"You don't have to be able to walk to be beautiful. Just ask the mermaids."

 

Last year I immediately liked it and started to reconsider my plans for Annie's new bathroom.  I had been planning an elephant bathroom for her, but how perfect would a mermaid bathroom be? Luckily, in her bathroom, she has a separate room for her toilet, so I decided to make her bathroom mermaid themed and her "toilet room" elephant themed.  Best of both worlds! I plan to post pics of our house eventually! lol

 

We got some incredible shots last year. This year I wanted to do some family shots, so we also grabbed her mermaid bathing suit to do a mermaid shoot, part 2. :) All of these are full of artwork. I wouldn't usually do it so heavily for a portrait, but these are more for fun/art. :) Both years are in this post! :)

My Little Mermaid: 2015

Family Shots: 2015

 I had to crop this one close because I wanted to show her face. Pure joy. :)

My Little Mermaid: 2014

My favorite!!

Pumpkins and Bluebonnets: 5 years

There are things in regards to memory making that I greatly regret missing out on in our 4.5 years as a family, (I wish I videoed more, I wish we did yearly family photos, etc).

One thing that I have done right and it brings me immense joy is Annie's biannual photoshoot- Pumpkin Patch and Bluebonnets. It just so happened to be perfect timing- October and April. So I have pictures of Annie every 6 months since we have had her, (her first pumpkin photo was taken the day after her gotcha day!).

I have been and will always be obsessed with Bluebonnet shots, but since I have begun this tradition, I now also love pumpkin patch photos. Here are the collections of the 5 years in the Pumpkins and Bluebonnets- Annie every 6 months since she joined our family. 

Pardon my while I go cry now! 

Check back later this week to see all over our bluebonnet posts over the years, especially the never before seen 2015 bluebonnet pics. :)

Mommy's Wedding Dress

Today is 8 years since our family was established. To celebrate, I let Annie play dress up in my wedding dress. I also did this in 2013, right after she turned 3, (pics below). :)

 4.7.07

In fall 2009 I was able to take pics again in my dress, just for fun. :) (thanks to traci-marie photography).

Please note, I did not edit any photos from today or when she was 3. I definitely need to though! I wanted to get these up though, and I will edit them later. :)

Without further adieu, Annie in my dress today:

 As always, she picks her poses...this one wasn't her best choice! lol I told her to pick another pose after I shot this! lol

 To Annie's joy, I had made my bouquet so I had it around still for her to pose with. :) 

 I figured by the time she actually gets married she may wear contacts so I had her do some pics sans glasses. :)

  

These flower pics make me giggle because they were all her idea, yet you would assume I posed her since this is a classic bridal pose! lol

Since she is playing dress up and is 5, we had her wear her 5 crown as well. :)

 Dumbo*had* to join in, as always...

And for your viewing pleasure, a 3 year old Annie in my dress. :) She wasn't her smiley self that day, but at least I got something! :)

 I got her to play for these, but sadly they are out of focus. :(

SLOW DOWN TIME! It is fun playing dress up, but I know her wedding day will get her before we know it. I *can* wait for that day to come. ;)

Pictures with the Bunny

 Mommy has fallen behind with blogging- there are a ton of posts to come. For now, here are pics of Annie with the bunny. 

We don't "do" Santa or the bunny. However, after visiting Disney, Annie became accustomed to meeting characters. So much so that she insisted on meeting Santa and the bunny! That is fine with me...to her, they are just characters at the mall. They do not come to our house and bring gifts. They are just characters. So, just like the characters at Disney, I am fine with her taking pictures with them. :)

Our local bunny wasn't the cutest, so when we went into town we saw another bunny. I'm glad we did! You'll see below how pricey our mall was with the Santa pics...for the bunny at the other mall, we paid $35 for 1 5x7, 2 4x6, 8 wallets, and ALL of the images could be later downloaded! THAT is a deal! We got ripped off with the Santa pics! He was a great Santa, but I will be looking around for deals like we got with the bunny! 

 In true Annie fashion, the photog pulled out the camera and she started posing! :)

The bunny seemed weirded out with Annie- couldn't figure out how to hold her. :/ Just hold her like any other child! Thankfully though, Annie overcame the awkward hold and still took a beautiful picture. :)

And for your enjoyment, here are her Santa pics:

(pics of pics)

I had to get the picture of Santa checking out and commenting on her nails. :) So sweet!

I had to buy both of these images- $40. :/ There were a few others I wanted to, but I was not about to spend more money! That is why the EB pics were such a deal!

That day we went to Club Tabby and she insisted on getting her make up and nails done. Then we walked/wheeled around the mall all day. We kept passing Santa and she kept requesting to take a pic. How could I say no? We then ran around the mall looking for an outfit to buy to wear in the pictures. I found this shirt, "Making spirits bright." It is like it was made just for Annie! :)