Christmas Special...

Here is a sneak peek for all you who follow my blog, or happen to stop by, of the Christmas card special for this season that I am handing out during the Pearland Parade. :) 

Come out to the parade on December 4th at 5:30pm from Pearland Parkway and Old Alvin Road! It's going to be a blast!

Gleesons / Family Portraits

These crazy fun, good-looking peeps are my Aunt Maddie, Uncle Chris, and cousins Bella and Ryder! They call me "Cousin Auntie." Haha. :) I was excited about doing another family shoot for my own family (did my own family back in March... McAuley Family). We decided to go to Helen Gardens and League City Park, and we had so much fun during the shoot. We were praying praying praying for the rain to hold out, and it did! Thank you Jesus! I had to promise Ryder a silly shot for about every 3 or 4 good shots. Haha, needless to say, I had a wide variety of silly shots when all was said and done. :) Without further ado, here's the GLEEson family! (I love the show Glee, and just realized the first half of their name spells Glee!) 

Uh, can you say, Christmas card? :P

 BIG smiles and BRIGHT eyes. <3

She's learning to play guitar! Sweet princess Bella. 

Can you tell I'm a sucker for black and white?

His face says it all!

Again, his face says it all. I LOVE photos where all you can say is "That is so them." And this is so them! Nerf war champions!

Last but not least, my favorite! I love you Gleeson family!

Prayers for Josh...

In our little well, kinda big city of Pearland, nothing like this has happened, at least in my lifetime. On Tuesday, a boy named Josh Wilkerson didn't make it home from school. Yesterday at 6:30pm, his body was found. I was not friends with him, nor did I ever talk to him. It is so real though, because I did see him on occasion. And he was supposed to graduate here really soon. Please pray for his family and friends. Based on the sad I'm feeling, I can't even imagine the pain they are feeling. Bad things happen to good people, but it all works together for God's ultimate plan. I know that. But with my human mind with which I sometimes can't even wrap my mind around the concept of Heaven, this is difficult to understand. It defies the natural order of life. 18 year old children, regardless of actions or enemies, should not die. But, again, I choose to believe that SOMEHOW it is God's plan. God's glorious, confusing, sometimes wonderful!, never-ending, pre-organized, sometimes (like this time) awful plan. But that is coming from my weak human mind, and I also choose to believe that I have no idea what the big picture is. God does though, and that brings me peace. Josh had so much life left to live, I can dwell on, OR Josh lived 18 years. I know nothing about the life he lived, but just like you and I, he had probably made bad choices, maybe some wrong turns here and there. But, imagine him now as a child walking into the arms of Jesus. The perfect Jesus who he himself died so that Josh could live 18 years here. He was really only a child. Aren't we all just children in God's eyes? 


I pray he knew You, Lord! I pray with all of my soul that his parents at least have the peace of knowing he is holding Your gigantic hand right now, Lord. That while we are confused, some with heavy hearts, he is beautiful in Your light, with no more pain at all. I pray for the search team. Thank you for them! We are lifting this to You. 


Amen

Halloweenie...

I know I have not blogged in a while. It's due to a mixture of being super busy sometimes, and when I'm not, wanted to just veg in front of the TV.. But, I wanted to share photos from Halloween last night. We had so much fun as everyone dressed up except for my parents! Even our poochies! :) 

Until next time... 

Sneak Peak II / Melissa Maternity

Here is a promised second sneak peek. :) 

Super Sneak Peek!! / Melissa Maternity

She is so full of life everytime I'm around her, and she ROCKED her maternity shoot! This here is just one photo that I chose as my favorite. I can't get enough of the slight sunbeams, the scene, and most of all the way she perfectly posed! More sneaks will be up within the week.


Hope you love it Melissa!

Dwelling Place...

I don't have much time. But I just wanted to post a quick Scripture. It ties in directly to my blog, especially the name. I come from the Bible [obviously :P], but I stumbled upon it after reading Heaven, by Randy Alcorn. 


"Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell WITH them." 
-Revelations 21:3


That my friends, is the best news I've heard in a while. :) I love that this is what I am looking forward to. Not a stinky old coffin, or a "fiery lake of burning sulfur (Rev. 21:8)." 


Happy Wednesday! 

P.S. One of my guilty pleasures, Big Brother, ends today! And my other guilty pleasure, Survivor, starts today! Woohoo!

Somewhere between boredom and love...

I made this for my boyfriend of a year and a half, Chris. He's an amazing trumpet player, and a music education major. I think it turned out pretty neat if I do say so myself! 

Cupcakes and Crafts...

Happy Monday everyone! I'm praying for all the kiddos out there counting down the days until Christmas! :P


GREEK YOGURT CUPCAKES


As mentioned in my latest post, I made cupcakes! Now, I've never made cupcakes in my life. Weird, I know. But I haven't had ANY interest in the kitchen (unless it involves eating) ever before. But, I was watching the Seaworld Birthday Bash episode of Cupcake Wars and my creative juices got flowin'. So, my mom drove me to Kroger and we got:

• 1 box of 18.25oz Devils Food cake mix
• 1 cup (1 1/3 containers) of Greek vanilla yogurt
• Icing (big container!)

Once home, I:

• Added the whole box of cake with 1 cup of the Greek yogurt
• Then, mixed it all with 1 cup of water. 

I then scooped the cake mix into aluminum muffin holders and baked for 25 minutes at 350. (I did 12 at a time, but made 23 total..)

For the icing, I added about 3 drops of green and 2 drops of blue food coloring. Then scooped into a baggy, cut off a corner, and squeezed the icing on top of the fully-cooled cupcakes!

End result: 

Last night, I was tweeting about how I had made cupcakes. Well, a baker who appeared on Cupcake Wars of Food Network (@RedVelvetStef), asked me for a pic! Well, she wanted to feature cupcakes that people had made over the weekend when her episode of Cupcake Wars aired! So, here is the link where my cupcake is featured (unfortunately it's only an iPhone photo. :/) But still cute! 

http://www.redvelvetstefanie.com/category/blog/ 

P.S.- You can follow me at @CMcPhotography!

MINI-SCRAPBOOKS

Now, the other half of this blog post it titled Crafts, and here is why. I thought of a super fun craft idea to do with my kiddos I nanny! We've had so much fun this summer and so I thought it would be fun to make mini-scrapbooks with photos from our summer. So, I put together scrapbook kits for each of the kids to make their scrapbook..

Here is how to put together this easy and fun craft. 

1. Cut 2 pieces of card-stock in half, punch holes, and tie with string. 

2. Print pictures.

3. Pre-cut scrapbooking paper in different sizes, shapes, and colors. 

(sorry it's blurry. :/ )

4. Cut out individual stickers (this will prevent the use of TONS of stickers, costing you big bucks!)

5.  Add other fun craft items (here I added my favorites.. buttons and ribbon!) 

6. Add all the supplies together and you have a mini-scrapbooking kit! 

Note: Be sure to have scissors, double sided tape, and a chaperone! Have fun! :)

Fall 2010... (warning: transparent.)

It's interesting to me how portions of our lives get named different things based on events. For instance.. "the summer between 8th and 9th grade" or "Christmas Break." Well, the time that I'm about to be in is called "Fall 2010." I have not changed, or so I think, and nothing else substantial has changed in my life. Simply stated, I'm going to learn new things. Except, you see, "Fall 2010" is so much bigger than that. It marks so many things for me. Things that are going to be changing. Here is what will hopefully be changing for me..


1. I learn how to make friends, and I mean really make friends, not acquaintances. 


2. My photography "business" blossoms... God's will permitting. :)


3. I learn to appreciate MAKING food, not just eating it. (So far I've learned to make sausage and fresh green beans, apple tuna salad, and greek yogurt cupcakes.. post coming soon! :P)


4. I grow undeniably closer to my already good friend Jesus. 


5. That Chris and I experience a new level of appreciation for each other. 


So, bring it on "Fall 2010." With the help of aforementioned Jesus, :) I will not be anxious any longer. I'm jumping into this new season head first, with great expectations. 


"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Phillipians 4:6-7


Here are a few things that have been going on in my week..


- I made myself a new craft station! It's in my guest bedroom, haha. I'm semi-modeling it after Angela Moore's. :) 

- Emily, my little sister and I, have been spending a lot of time together. She's hilarious!

- I am almost completely ready for this new semester of classes. School supplies- check. Tuition- check (thanks Daddy!...) New clothes- check (again.. thanks Daddy!) Books- check! 

- I got a wild hair and made cupcakes. Haha. I've never made cupcakes in my whole life! 

- Chris and I went to Schlitterbahn New Braunfels. It was packed but very fun!! 


- And random picture for the week!!:

Main Event...

On Sunday night, Chris, Jamie, Andrew and I went to Main Event. Now, I'm sure many of you are wondering, why is this such a big deal? Well, for two reasons really; One, I have NEVER been. I had not even stepped foot inside Main Event. So, it was exciting to go and see what its all about. And, two, they have the MOST FUN arcade game I have ever played. It's deal or no deal, but you play for tickets!! I would go back JUST to play that game again. I'm a game show junkie, and it was as close as I'll probably get to being on a game show! Ah, so much fun. I even won 100 tickets one time I played which would have been equivalent to 750,000 on the show. :)