Christmas Card - 2016

Christmas cards are one of my VERY FAVORITE Christmas traditions.

I can't believe next year we will have a family of FOUR!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE HODGES!!!
 

 

 

Luttrell Christmas 2015

So I'm hoping to wrap up Christmas this week! I already blogged about our Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, and Christmas Day.

 

One the 26th we headed to my parents house to celebrate with the Luttrell side of the family.

 

I tried to get a few casual pictures of us (gathered around the food of course)

 

 

 

My mom's dining room looked so pretty!!

  

 

 Too bad Cecil, Connor, Russell, Marie, and I were banned to the kids table in the kitchen. Jenny's family was at this table in the sitting room, Noah and Zay sat at the bar, and SOMEHOW James and Leslie (the youngest of our generation) got invited to sit at the adult table. Whaaaaat! jk. kind of.

 

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but my Nana (my Dad's mom) is 95 and has had a relatively tough year. Getting pictures with her and Connor at every family event is important to me. Connor was just TOO BUSY and tried to escape. I love how Nana is pointing for Connor to look at the camera but she's not even looking! haha

 

This is the best we got of my family with Nana (still pointing at that camera). Notice everyone else eating at the bar.  

 

Next, I wanted to get a picture of the two youngest babies. Connor William (named after Nana's father Aldridge William) and Adalyn Ann (named after Nana's mother Ada Lee Spencer).

 

The pictures didn't really turn out as I was imagining. The first one kind of rivalved some of Emma's kissy pictures. haha

I just know these two are going to be best buds.

 

 

Doug has totally trained Addy to be a complete Daddy's girl. It is just not right.

Doug: Who do you love more - Mommy or Daddy?

Addy: Daddy!

 

Somehow I didn't get a picture of the whole table, just my boys. But this is 'the kid' table in the kitchen we were banished to. We had grilled pork tenderloins and baked potatoes that were soooo yummy!

 

Sweet Addy knows how to make a picture with Nana (way better than Connor)!! I don't think anything makes Nana as happy as holding this girl!

 

 

My busy boy playing

 

 

I just love love love my favorite only boy cousin - James 

 

One of the two sweetest twin boys testing out Connor's new phone.

 

 

The other sweet twin loving on his momma. And his Daddy sssstiillllll eating....

 

If looks could kill..... I think Turner had just woken up from her nap and realized she missed lunch!

 

Me and my baby boy

 

After cleaning up it was time to open presents! We do a $20 gift exchange. Some presents are good. Most are not.

 

We brought that emoticon pillow that Russell 'chose.' I'm pretty sure he ended up donating it to Zay.

 

Connor sat with Uncle Tom while we opened presents - which was super sweet!

 

Leslie opened a Live, Laugh, Love sign (and then convinced Nana to steal it from her (shady) only to end up with it again!) #karma.

 

I opened a light bulb necklace that was actually pretty popular.

 

Tom got an adorable apron.

 

Noah sulked because he didn't get any dessert after he made a SCENE about not wanting to eat a single green bean.

 

 

 

And as happy as holding Addy makes Nana - I think Grams is just as happy to hold Turner.

Just look at that Christmas bow!!

 

Light bulb love!

 

Cecil set up the camera and we got a picture of Nana and all of her Great Grandkids.

 

And then we got a whole group picture. We all had a fun special Day.

Luttrell Grandchildren Picture 2015

My Mom and Dad are pretty difficult to shop for I came up with the genius idea to have pictures made of their 4 grandkids. I say this a lot, but in one years time they went from having one grandchild to having FOUR. Each of their three kids welcomed a child. Zay arrived to Leslie's home in March 2014, Turner showed up (in Peru) on Christmas Eve 2014, and Connor was born in January 2015. I think it was A LOT for Noah to handle, but it has been the best year! Every child brings such joy to the family. I just can't wait to see how many grandkids they end up having.

 

We attempted to do Jen's fall mini session, but Russell and Marie were out of town so I was thrilled when I saw that she was doing a Christmas one. It was $100 for a 30 minute session and 4 downloadable pictures. HELLO???? Sign me up! Can't beat that! We could order more pictures off her site or pay $15 for one we wanted the rights to. This was our favorite:

 

We took it first and it turned out so well. Connor was a little sleepy so he wasn't smiling too big, but Turner is MADE for the camera and Noah and Zay really did well too.

 

Here is the same picture in color.

 

The other group picture that I think turned out well too.

 

Russell and Marie wore the same dress code (black and red) and got a family picture too.

 

This is my second favorite picture of the day. Look how sweet those boys are! Its precious!

 

So I didn't think we would have time for the adults to be in the picture so we wore regular clothes, but then everyone wanted to and my clothes actually worked so Cecil took a jacket from his truck and put it over his yellow shirt for this family picture.

 

Can we go ahead and zoom in on how photogenic my three boys are? Makes me laugh every time.

 

This picture turned out really sweet too.

 

And this one is ridiculous, but Mom ended up really liking it when we showed her. Real life.

And Zay's face could not be cuter.

 

Precious

 

Then we got a couple Christmas themed ones. Connor was not really cooperating. gahhhh

 

Then our professional took over and showed Connor how it is done.

 

I mean look at her! Isn't she so cute. Her full open mouth smile is beautiful AND she will show it too you so easily.

 

Connor made time to give a little sympathy smile while he was playing with the rug.

 

I don't think Turner had one year old pictures taken so I zoomed in and made this one B&W to make it a little less Christmasy. Sweet girl. One year old already!

Here are a few behind the scene pictures. Auntie M love.

You should have seen how ridiculous we all looked trying to make all four kids genuinely smile. It was absurd! There were 6 adults calling their names acting silly.

 

 

Here are a few of the pictures I framed. The one on the left I gave to Leslie, the one on the right I have to Dad for his office.

As always we were really happy with how they turned out. It was the perfect present for Mom and Dad and for once they actually liked our gift.