what you didn't get to see...

A few weeks ago, my family was photographed by Heidi Mitchell while she was up visiting. As always, she did a great job and I really love my photos. For this shoot, I was really hoping to make it to a corn field. Why? I don't know. I think was imagining the beautiful golden-toned lighting with my hair blowing in the breeze while Parker ran through the rows of corn. Ok, so it was unrealistic, but the pictures could have been pretty cute. Maybe next year. Good thing my back-up plan turned out beautiful. We headed up to Fort Hill in Charleston where David proposed to me. The beauty of the the valley beneath combined with a super fun tree and the sentiment of the location created photos I love and can't wait to display in my home.

Parker was in a great mood and cooperated so well. Graham? Not a chance. He was in a fowl, non-smiley-can't-wait-to-be-done-with-this-crap kind of mood. Oh well, so is life. I hired my babysitter, Annyssa (the best in the world), to help with baby Lincoln so Heidi could do her job and to help corral my crazy critters. What a smooth move on my part, and I'm not being facetious. Thanks Annyssa for your help!

I was planning on posting my favorite pictures on here last week, but I was having some issues with Blogger and chose to put the pictures up on Facebook instead. You all were sooooooo nice with your comments. Thanks so much for all of your kind words. Since there is no need for duplication, I'll show you a more realistic view of how the session went since all of you have commented on how great the pictures turned out. This is what Heidi really had to deal with while taking the 2010 Dunn family photos.

First, there are those dreaded double chins from a few extra unnecessary pounds.

 And the baby constipated face complete with shut eyes.

Then there is the ticked-off baby whose trying to escape Daddy's death grip picture.

As well as the famous fish lips.

Getting Graham to hold Parker's hand was like asking him to touch scalding water. At first it was fun for Parker to get to squeeze his brothers hand with permission...

...and then it ticked him off. Graham didn't care.

At first, Graham was only concerned about standing in tall grass by himself.

 Then, he started getting a bit worried.

 His worry then turned to down-right mad.

Poor Heidi had to deal with my embarrassing cheesiness.

 My one-year old's mild depression looks, and

spastic faces like this from Little P.

See, there you have it. That's how our shoots really go. Thanks for tolerating us, Heidi, and for somehow managing beautiful photos of my crazy 'lil crew. 

Fantastically Fun Fall Festivities

Like I've mentioned five billion times before, Fall makes me nervous because of what follows it. However, if I separate the mild antecedent from the horrid snow-producing successor, Fall is brilliant. I adore the temperatures, clothing options, football, and holidays wrapped up in Fall. 

Recently, we took Parker to the Milton Corn Maize. Though completely redneck, we embrace it. We go every year, but Parker really enjoyed it this year. I can't believe it's been a year already since our last trip through the maize. Heidi came with me last year while baby Lincoln was only in his first trimester of development in her belly. Can't believe he's almost 5 months now. Our friends, the Hargraves, came with us this year. We had to be sure to keep out eyes on the boys because they wanted to just take off together in the maize. Luckily, if they were to have gotten lost, listening would have been all we needed to do to find Parker. The boys also picked a pumpkin from the patch to indulge in the festiveness and took a ride on the "cow" train as well. These photos aren't such great quality as true for most of my blog photos, but fun nonetheless. (Lynsey, don't be mad that I cropped Dylan out, his eyes were closed and he was holding his jimmy dog in the only shot I had of them in the maize.)

David and I love Smores. Who doesn't? Anyway, we had a craving for smores two weeks ago and decided to go get a burn pit for the fall. Great decision...we're enjoying the coziness of the fire and deliciousness of chocolate marshmallows.

It's kind of a tradition for us to carve pumpkins at my in-laws house each year. Usually we make a grand party of it, but we kept it small and simple this year with just a few of us. I couldn't decide what to carve, so when in doubt, pick something you love. OK, then...a shoe it is. Fun, I know. Wouldn't that fancy heel be so hot with my frumpy hoodie?

Parker helped us get the "gook" out of the middle for a short while. When asked to smile at the camera, this is what I got. Whatever.

Get out there and enjoy this beautiful, fun season before the winter begins to ravage your mood :)

Dunn Updates

1. Preschool. I am excited to announce that all is quiet on the preschool front. Well, for now. Parker has seemed to regain is confidence and LOVES going to school. When I am loading him up in his car seat in the mornings, he jibber-jabbers about seeing his teachers and friends. I have figured out from my brilliant deductive reasoning skills that the teachers give out stickers at the end of the day if the students have avoided going to time-out too many times during the day. Parker has popped in our car at the end of each day with a sticker all but one day. Pretty good in my opinion. On top of that, when I have asked him the past few days if he has gone to time out at all, he has said no. Now, he could be fibbing, but my radar says he's not. He's usually pretty honest about his misbehavior. He did, however, tell me about all the other student's infractions. Jack hit Bob and Jill pushed Sally. (Yes, the names are made up.) I'd be lying if there wasn't a little hint of happiness that other kids are being "bad." Not that I want their parents to feel as I did at the beginning, but it's just nice to know that the attention is off of my kid. I am so excited for the next few months of school. There is a book fair, Halloween party, and Thanksgiving play. Will Parker be an indian or a Pilgrim? Hmmm. They better go with indian for noise reasons. Can't wait!

2. Baby Graham. He's changing so much right now. Everything from his nap schedule to his speech development is turning upside down. Last week, he said his first word other than "Dada." While David was holding him and running back and forth through the yard with Parker, Graham yelled, "GOOOO!" It was high pitched, but go nonetheless. Cute as ever. Then, while in the kitchen earlier this week, a stink bug crawled across the ceiling. I pointed to it and said, "bug." He then pointed to it and said, "Buuu." He left off the "g" but it was definitely an attempt to say bug. He repeated himself a couple times and still walks around pointing to spots calling them bugs. I love year two with babies because it's the language explosion year. So much fun. Here's a clip of Graham in the kitchen.

3. My Phone. Just so you know, I am cool now. I have an iPhone. Because I didn't want to be one of those people who sacrifice all to have the newest, fanciest cell phone out there, I've been carrying around a little $9.99 flip phone for the past few years. You know what I'm talking about. You've seen those folks who get out of a 20 year old vehicle in their ratted up pj's. They then proceed to Walmart to purchase things with food stamps. Right before they leave the store with their case of Budweiser and cigarettes, their phone rings and they bust out a new 4G iPhone. Let's get an understanding here. I have no issues (well, few anyway) with old cars, food stamps, and Wal-mart, but it just doesn't seem right to have other people paying for things for you when you sport the latest and greatest unnecessary miniature computer. I'm really not mean-spirited, I promise. Anyway. I love my phone and I'm glad I waited until now to buy it. I am soooo thankful for all it's jazz. It's like having everything I need in the palm of my hand. Well, maybe not everything, but it's pretty encompassing. I'll leave you with some pictures from my new phone. I'm kind of addicted to the free Shakeit app that turns your pictures into Polaroids. I'm sure it has little to do with how they visually turn out and much to do with the fact I get to shake my phone to make the picture appear. Love it.