Tree House 2013

I always thought it would be cool to have my own tree house, however, I never wanted a tree IN my house!  Seriously, only an hour ago we had a giant tree crash into our house taking out our covered patio and roof.  Fortunately none of the living area of our home is damaged, yet.  We are emptying the sunroom/family room as we speak since it's connected and shares the roof of the patio.  It is storming today and they are predicting snow tonight so we need to move all of our furniture and electronics out of this room asap.  Good times!

Well, there goes our view.

I never did like that old ceiling fan.

Here's the other side of the house, that is our sunroom below the tree.

And here is how it started, snapped off above the root system.  Looks like the root ball is still in the ground.

The lights on the lower level is right where Gracie and I were sitting when the tree came down on us.  We had a front row seat, yay!

Well, our insurance man was here within the hour and told us we bought the cadillac of all home insurance plans so other than a $1000 deductible, they can rebuild everything even better than before.

Now I need a job more than ever to pay for this, ugh!

Matthew McCoy 1970-2012

On Monday, December 17th, 2012, the world lost a special soul.  My brother Matt passed away leaving behind a beautiful wife, Dana, and the sweetest, prettiest little daughter, Zelda, only 5 years old.  Matt was special to everyone who knew him, even a stranger was a friend.  He was truly the funniest, happiest, most positive guy I've known.  He will be so missed and Christmas will never be the same without him.  I am posting some of my favorite recent photos of him.  The ones in the snow were of the BEST Christmas of our adult lives.  It snowed on Christmas, an unusual event for North Carolina, and we sledded all day until we were black and blue.  I'll never forget that day!

This photo epitomizes Matt, always laughing, always goofing.  He was so banged up.  I've never laughed harder in my life than when I was with him.  

I'll see you when I get to Heaven, Matt.  Until then.......

Christmas Cookies 2012

I love Christmas cookies.  In fact, I love making them more than eating them.  Now that Gracie is five I knew she would have fun making the dough AND decorating but I didn't realize how creative and controlled she would be in the decorating department.   I snapped a few shots with my Hipsmatic and thought they turned out pretty cute; had to share.

 How cute is this Gingerbread Man?  Precious to me. 

 And now the fruit of her labor...... Mmmmmm!

Messy?  Yep.  Vacuuming sprinkles for days?  You bet.  Memories created?  The BEST!

Santa!!!

I love a Santa photo.  Gracie is 5 now and this may be her last one.  I just had to share.  She still believes and is so excited for Christmas but also daily acknowledges that Jesus is the real reason we celebrate Christmas and St. Nick is just a wonderful man who celebrates Jesus' birthday by giving kids all over the world a toy.  I can live with that.  Gracie thinks that Santa only brings ONE gift and mommy and daddy give the rest.  This keeps Christmas a little less commercial in our home.  

Happy Birthday Jesus, and Ho, Ho, Ho!

Santa portrait by Steve Norman Photography, Salisbury, NC

Heath Brothers {Rowan County Portrait Photographer}

 In all of my holiday busyness I forgot to post this darling shoot I did last week.  It's on my Facebook Photography page but I've neglected my blog lately.  These are the Heath boys and they were a lot of fun to photograph.  In between shots the twins were climbing on EVERYTHING they could possibly climb on.  Boys are very different from girls, no?

I love this portrait of the three of them.  Aren't they dapper?

Love this!

Boys will be boys......

Thanks Heath family for the privilege of capturing childhood memories.  

Our Christmas Present House 2012

Since the early 80s Nell Bullard wrapped her home up like a HUGE Christmas Gift and continued doing so until her passing.  Her kids, who sold us their childhood home, left this giant bow and ribbon for us in the attic just in case we wanted to carry on the tradition.  We did!  Let me present to you the Spieler's Christmas Present Home.  It took Rob and my dad four hours to hang but it really paid off.  In fact, we even put an identical wreath on the front door the way Nell used to, and this photo of our home today looks exactly like the photo of our home back in 1987 when it was featured on the front page of the Salisbury Post, our town's newspaper.  We hope to carry on the tradition for years to come but we might have to create a new bow and ribbon that is more lightweight and weather friendly.  Check back December 2013 for our updated design.  

Merry Christmas!

Studio vs Natural Light Christmas Portrait

Happy December 1st!  It's not too late to take a beautiful portrait of your kids or family for your 2012 Christmas card.  

Why take your children to a studio where they can become intimidated and uncomfortable?  We were determined to get the "perfect" christmas card shot and took Gracie to a kiddie portrait studio back when she was 18 months.  This was the result.  She SCREAMED the entire session and even mommy, daddy and Nana couldn't calm her nerves.  We were shocked that our unsuccessful session still cost us $100!  I walked out of there numb and disappointed.  

We did end up using both of these photos that year for our card because it was hilarious and of course now we love these shots!  But that was a lot of dough to drop to learn that my child hates studio lights and photographers.

Below is the shot I took and will use this year.  Of course Gracie is 5 and Mommy took the photo but see how pretty and relaxed she is in sunset lighting?  You know how I love sunset lighting.  Kids just respond really well to their own or familiar environments.  I've never had a child not give me a beautiful shot when shot outdoors or in their own home.  

24 days until Christmas, not too late to shoot and order.