the bowman-stavinoha family!

when my sister-in-law, melanie, asked me to do their family photos, i was so excited! you blog followers of mine may have seen some of these peeps before--definitely the little one. she's elise, my niece. love her. but woah man, you can fer sure tell that's she's a two-year-old! she had the hardest time sitting still, but it made for some funny photos! but we had a blast of a morning shoot in hermann park in houston.

anyway, here they are, my family. i present to you my big bro, his wife (my sis-in-law), and their daughter. corey, melanie, and elise.

 aren't the above two so beautiful? mother and daughter...so precious!

 elise had so much fun playing with the balls. but we learned something about her....she inherited OCD from her daddy. :)  she HAD to have all the balls on the blanket. she would get mad if they were on the grass or being thrown. hah!

 love this daddy/daughter one. elise is so content on her dad's shoulders.

now isn't this so cute? elise went to pick up all the balls that were off the blanket and the adults couldn't help but torture each other. aww. true love.

cuties.

melanie was pretending there was a squirrel on elise's head. elise was obsessed with squirrels all day.

this was hilarious. elise saw ants on the tree. believe it or not, this was her interested face. :)

elise loves to dance.

this was also hilarious. elise saw a squirrel (of course) and this was her approach to it. here's elise's thought process through the photos (imagined by me, of course): 

"ohemgee, a squirrel. i've gotta get to it." [click!] 

"i'm so happy there's a squirrel, therefore i'm gonna run faster so i can get to it quicker. yay!" [click!]

"maybe if the squirrel can tell that i'm so exited to see it, then it will let me play with it! OHEMGEE!" [click!]

hope you like the photos!

this week's honor roll - DIY gifts for men

ok, we all know buying gifts for men is hard. but take it a step further....handmade gifts for men?! and i'm not talking about boys. i'm talkin men. yeah. its hard. 

   

my family has a rule this year for christmas. the gifts we get for others must either be handmade or be resale (from a garage sale, thrift store, ebay, consignment shop, etc). that means i have to make or find a gift for 4 men. yikes.

  

i've thought of some good ideas, mostly finding inspiration on blogs and other websites, so i think i'll be okay. but in the process of my research, i've run across some splendid ideas that i wish to share with you. i'm sure i will make many of these in the future for the men in my life (or for me).

 i think you all may already guess about the map obsession that i have :)  check out these map coasters from (who else?) martha stewart.

if my dad didn't already have everything golf, he would love these golf club headcovers from positively splendid.

mmmm....(root)beer. check out this rootbeer sampler from ensalada.

me and my hubs have sooo many extra t-shirts!!! this t-shirt quilt tutorial from blessings overflowing will be followed soon.

globe? yes please. (globes are included in my map fetish.) check out this chalkboard globe at design sponge.

does your man love to camp? this altoid can grill from instructables will be the perfect gift!

when i saw these, i instantly thought of my brother! he would love these alchemy bookends from design sponge.

learn how to make stylish skinny ties out of regular ol' boring ties over at design mom!

soon i'll be making this travel map from design sponge for myself!

this desktop zen garden from curbly is perfect for the office guy!

another great gift for the office guy! check out these mousepads at design sponge.

does your guy love to grill? bottle up some of this jerk sauce from recipe look!

some guys like to snuggle up and get cozy! if that's your guy, check out these pinecone fire starters from design sponge.

check out this homemade aftershave recipe from the art of manliness.

perfect for the working man. check out these twig push-pins from design sponge.

hope you've been inspired! i'll let you know what i've done for my guys once i've finished them! merry handmaking!

owen family portraits

because of the start of my blogging endeavors, my friend marisa has become an even better friend than she was before! i mean, we're real-life friends, too, but you bloggers know how it is. there's just something about the blogging community (love you allll).

anyway, marisa and i went to the same high school, but didn't get to know each other until college, at the great texas state university! she also met her husband, bryson, at texas state. now that their family has grown a little, they wanted some portraits done. so they met me at telge park in cypress, tx and we had a great time! bryson, marisa, and violet will have some great christmas cards this year!

here are some of my faves from the day:

if you couldn't tell already, violet couldn't resist eating all the goodies outside: leaves, pine needles, dirt, and pinecones. you know, the good stuff.
   

love those eyes!
   

dad! not fair!
   

love violet in this one! hehe.
   

mark (my hubs) was so good at making her laugh!
   

violet had the cutest smirk plastered on her face for a few photos. mark must have been doing something weird. hehe, so cute.
   

see? couldn't put the pine needles down. just too yummy.
   

i love love love this one.
  

smirk again. oh so cute. love the sunlight.
   

i love this one. daddy/daughter duo is so cute! and the light was superb.
   

oh. just oh.
   

bryson and marisa, i loved taking photos of your family! 

i hope you find some you love!