Sooo...it's March

Wow! It's been a long time since I've posted here. We're all still alive and well. I've just been busy with some MAJOR projects and when I finally get some time on the computer for leisure and then think about updating the ol' blog I realize I'm on my laptop and all of my pictures are stored on my "big computer."  I'll get more cute pics of the kids up soon though!

So for now, go on over to www.taydulce.com and check out my new adventure. I am entering the world of photography...as a business. Loving it and loving meeting new faces and getting to take pictures for people to love! Also, if you get a chance, head to the Tay Dulce facebook page and "like" it to keep up with the news.

Wondering how I came up with the name "Tay Dulce"? Well, you probably know that Taylor has been my little muse for awhile now (and her brother is starting to compete!) I also have a photo editing biz called Sweet Tea Enhancements. There are already other photography businesses out there with the name Sweet Tea though, so I didn't want to use that. I liked the idea of Te Dulce, which is Sweet Tea in Spanish, but LOVED the idea of Tay Dulce, which sounds the same but references my sweet Tay as well. So, there you have it! What do you think?

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are having a great New Year! We took the holiday weekend to go to the farm in Grapeland. Some of our friends came with us and we all had a great time! There were 7 kids total and I think they all had a lot of fun. We spent the weekend fishing, riding the gator and 4-wheeler through the woods, having a campfire with s'mores, shooting fireworks, and just running in the fields. We were all tired and covered with dirt when we left! All signs of a good weekend at the farm  :)

While we were there I took a lot of pictures. I had rented a lens to try out, so I wanted to be sure to test it out properly. Here's a collage I made up from a few of them...

Family Picture Day!

This morning I corralled the family for a fun morning of family pictures! haha! sounds fun, right? Well, it wasn't so bad. Especially since the kids took most of the pictures. We had to start early since Eric had to leave for work and I wanted the sunlight to be just so (to be able to use the location in our field I had scouted out. ) It was the first time I got to test out my new wireless remote for my camera so we all got to take turns with it. I think the kids got a kick out of that! Here are a couple from this morning...and when you get our Christmas card you'll get to see another ;)

Weekend with Jacob

This last weekend was a fun time for the kids. Taylor got to spend two nights with Jojo & Daddy Jack and that meant Jacob got some much needed one on one time with us! I know Taylor had a blast making cookies with Jojo, watching movies and having tea parties. Jacob and I got to play (a lot!), he learned how to swing on his tummy, and on Sunday Eric and I took him to the farm to do some fishing. Here are some pictures from Jacob's weekend...

Happy Halloween

We had a great time trick or treating this year for Halloween. We loaded the trailer up with hay and invited some friends in the neighborhood for a trick or treating hayride. It's the only way to do it in our neighborhood! The kids had a blast and were so cute in their costumes. Taylor was Angelina Ballerina this year and Jacob decided to go as a "2 year old boy" this year after refusing to wear the dinosaur costume HE picked out! Oh well, he had lots of fun once he figured out that he was getting candy at each stop!!

Jacob...and one of Tay

Dewberry Farms

We took a little family trip to Dewberry Farms last weekend. If you have not been there, you should definitely put it on your list of 'things to do'! I had wanted to go for several years, but they are only open to the public on weekends and, until this year, Eric was working on the weekends. Now that he's home with us Saturday and Sunday I get to plan fun family outings for us!
So, we packed up and went to the farm. The kids got to feed goats, visit with animals in the barn, go on a "corn train", walk through the corn maze, visit the pumpkin patch and much more! We had as much fun as we could until they were worn out and it was time to go :)

Some Fall Field Pictures

If you follow my 365 blog you're getting this twice, but I wanted to post the kids here too...since this is our"official" family blog :) haha! Anyway, here are the kiddos from today.

Sweet boy!

Taylor's first day!

Taylor had her first day of pre-k today. She was very excited to go and has been asking me all summer when it would be fall so she could go to school. Today was a "gradual entry" day so the parents got to hang out in the class for a bit and then have a parent meeting before picking the kids back up and having an early dismissal. So, we were only there for an hour and a half but I know that she will really enjoy it this year!

They also just started a MDO program at her school so Jacob may get to start going once a week, too!

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Bedtime stories

Realized that I haven't posted anything on this blog in many months since I've been posting everything over at my 365 blog. http://sweettea365.blogspot.com So here's one of the kiddos getting ready to read Peter Pan for their bedtime story. I love how they'll just sit and listen to a story, even without pictures :)

Favorite January Face

This is my favorite face photo out of my 365 project for January. Enjoy!

365 Project

I may be a little more delinquent in posting here (as Becky likes to say :) ) this year. I am going to attempt...or should I just say, "I am going to DO," a 365 project. This basically involves me taking pictures every day of the year and posting at least one. I started the blog sweettea365.blogspot.com to post these pictures to. I wanted a clean slate to start with and a place that I know needs a blog post every.single.day.

Okay, I am scaring myself now. But I really want to do this and I know that it could tremendously improve my photography skills just by being behind the camera every day. I'm also interested to see just what I capture each day and what ridiculously high percentage of them are my children. So, tune in to the 365 blog and hopefully you will get more frequent updates from our family than you would over here.

I will still be blogging here by the way, to give more in depth updates on the Magnolia Alarids. Here's to a great year!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We had a wonderful Christmas with some of our family at our house this year. Santa was really good to us all! The kids received a swingset (courtesy of LOTS of help from a couple of elves!), a firetruck for Jacob, and a play kitchen for Taylor. Of course, Taylor woke up before dawn so she had to wait a couple of hours to see what Santa had left outside. She was pretty surprised when she finally was able to see it and I was thrilled that Santa managed to get it here and assembled in time for Christmas and without the kids knowing!

After the excitement of Santa and unwrapping gifts, Eric's grandparents, mom, brother and sister in law, niece, and aunt and uncle came over. We all got to spend some good time together visiting and had a big dinner that night. I decided to try a new recipe and made 9 Cornish hens from the Southern Living 2010 Christmas book. They turned out great as did everything else that was made and brought by everyone!

I'm looking forward to more picture taking and editing this year, too! I now have a new 60 mm macro lens and the newest version of photoshop to work with!! I'm also learning to use my Bamboo Fun tablet which should be a big help with PS5 and I'm loving the new camera bag/purse that Eric gave me.

One of the more exciting things to look forward to for us is that we are upgrading our internet service next week. We didn't realize just how slow ours was until we started shopping around. That's one of the reasons I'm so slow to post on the blog. The pictures take forever to upload! So, with our new faster service, I should be able to share more with you:)

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!



Taylor climbing on the new playground from Santa.




"Junior", our elf, keeping watch. I'm sad to see him go, and can't wait for his return next year!


Boo Bear in his new firetruck from Santa. (He's also wearing Jaxon's fireman's hat!) He loves anything with wheels and buttons!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great visit to the pumpkin patch with my sister and her kiddos last weekend. They had so many different kinds of pumpkins and gourds there! The kids had a lot of fun finding unusual looking ones and we managed to pick out a very large one to take home to carve. Here are some pictures of our trip...

Austin & Jacob liked riding in the wagon!

Boo Bear!

The cousins


Drawing the face


Getting out the gooshy


Our Jack - o- lantern!