"If you believe in magic..." Part 2 Fort Walton Beach Lifestyle Photography

So, if you follow our blog, you may remember from this post or this post that we LOVE the tradition of "Elf on a Shelf" during Christmas time.  You may also remember that my husband and I took a belated anniversary trip to none other than the most magical place on earth and took our elf along for the ride to surprise our kids with fun pictures while we were away.  Here is a recap of those pictures and more from this past month:

We are all about traditions in our family and some of our favorite Christmas ones (besides the Elf...) are new jammies each year, homemade cocoa, our hometown's Christmas parade and more.  We've even added a new tradition this year - the kids drew names in order to buy one gift for a sibling.  We're one step closer to thinking outside of themselves during the holiday season and more about sharing & giving.

But hands down, our favorite tradition, includes cranking up some holiday tunes with the Christmas lights all turned on, a toasty fire in the fireplace and BAKING altogether.  This year included gingerbread cookies (to share AND for Santa...) and a birthday cake for Jesus!

Our prayer this year for you all is that you have a peaceful, warm and magical Christmastime - shared with the love of family and friends, good food and the joy of giving -not just material things but of yourself and the beauty within you!  We look forward to a beautiful New Year and sharing it with MANY of you as you celebrate your milestones with Plumb Photography!

"If you believe in magic, come along with me, We'll dance until morning 'til there's just you and me..." Fort Walton Beach Lifestyle photography

So, because my husband and I are leaving for a belated Anniversary trip tomorrow, we'll be taking somewhat of a break from our Elf on a Shelf shenanigans.  I say "somewhat" in the most loose way possible.  We are actually just a bunch of big, corny kids at heart and chose this year to spend our anniversary in Disney World.  Before you freak out and start feeling sorry for our poor, pitiful, left behind children, or start judging our childish trip choices:  we took the loinfruit TWICE to WDW last year and as much as we'd like to cross off some of the other places on our bucket lists, Italy is just not in the budget this year....

Having said that, this post is not about Disney as much as it is about what our elf, "Belle", has been up to since the infamous North Pole breakfast.  Apparently, she thought Florida was going to be super warm and much to her surprise, she was more chilled than expected.  Though no snow was to be found, that didn't stop her from having a few "snow games" and knitting herself a sweater to keep warm on these past, frosty mornings.  On the first day back to school after Thanksgiving break, she reminded the kids to "BE GOOD" and, much like you'd be apt to find me on a particularly stressful day, we found her face first in a bag of chocolate chips.  This morning, the kids surprisingly figured out that "Belle" and some of her new found princess friends had been partying and dancing to the "YMCA".

Now, tomorrow, when our children wake up at their Mema and Pepa's house - they will find some Disney-ish treats waiting for them along with a note and THIS photo:

They actually don't know that their sneaky parents have gone to DISNEY of all places for their romantic getaway but for the next 5 days, they'll be getting regular email/text photos via their grandparents of their feisty little elf "Belle" hanging out in Walt Disney World.  Maybe she'll even find the MOUSE!  Make sure you follow us on Instagram (plumbphotography) to keep up with the fun! See ya real soon!

"Every long lost dream led me to where you are..." Fort Walton Beach Wedding photography

Jingle "Belle", Hear 'dem bells... Fort Walton Beach lifestyle photography

So rarely do I do personal posts but something about the holidays makes me what the SHARE and SPREAD (joy, that is... in case your immediate thought turned towards "germs").  Last year we started the tradition of the "Elf on the Shelf" - it was so much fun being creative and kooky - we don't really push the whole "be good or else" perspective, mostly because we do Santa Claus and the elf just as fun.  All my kids know that Santa Claus is "real in our imaginations" but the real reason that WE, personally, celebrate Christmas is because of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Last year, we had a boy elf named "Dash", however, because our oldest and only son, Ethan, has increasingly become more skeptical and uninterested in it, we decided the elf would don a skirt and we would carry the tradition on with our younger girls in "girly" fashion!  Ethan had named "Dash" but had more lovingly called him "the creepy elf" all last Christmas and throughout this past year.  We let Ava pick out the name this year for Dash's sister; she wanted something Christmas-y and so while doing a play on words we thought JingleBelle was cute and we have decided to call her "Belle" for short.  We celebrated her arrival this morning with a North Pole breakfast {too sugary for my taste and the kids didn't even eat everything there was - we all decided we would never make it as elves}.  Have fun looking through pictures from our morning and stay tuned for all of Belle's adventures as I document them here on the blog!

"Slowly counting down the days, Till I finally know your name..." Fort Walton Beach birth photography

Three weeks ago, I photographed the birth of one of my very dearest friend's baby boy.  It was a surreal experience, to say the least, especially since both of the births of my daughters were via emergency cesarean and I had never attended a natural birth in my lifetime.   I don't even have words to express, which is how I often find myself, thus I will just let the photos tell their story:

Also, check out their birth and newborn video HERE!!

{I especially LOVE that he was born with a heart-shaped birthmark on his back.  Truly a gift of love and strength!}

 Once again, grab some tissues and don't forget to check out their beautiful video HERE!