Attempted Greatness

I had wonderful visions of this weekend on Friday. Don't we all when it comes to a weekend off to spend with family? I'm not saying it was an awful weekend, but my expectations for greatness were not met. I raise my bar too high, as always, but I don't consider this a bad thing...I expect GOOD things to happen...the glass is always half full in my opinion. So it started with Friday. I bought Spencer a fire pit for Christmas this year. A couple of years ago we visited some friends that live in Winston-Salem (Hey Kevin and Andrea!!) when Spencer was interviewing for a fellowship at Wake-Forrest. We had the absolute best time with them and what stood out in Spencer and my mind's for the last two years was how we sat outside on a cool North Carolina evening around their fire pit (Ella Ann was sleeping) and we had drinks, roasted marshmallows and talked for hours and hours. It was a blast. Spencer and I often talk about that night and how nice it would be for us to have a fire pit...even if it was just the two of us sitting around it. Friday night after dinner Spencer started his attempt at getting the fire going. I told him I did have newspaper, which for all intended purposes I did, but I was unaware that trash inserts that come in the newspaper did not count. Woops. How was I supposed to know that slick paper doesn't burn? At this point Ella Ann was waiting with baited breath to roast her first marshmallows, bedtime was quickly approaching, Rane was in dire need of sleep and Spencer's "fire" was about to go...as was his patience. So instead of hopping in the car in pursuit of purchasing a paper I unwrapped all of our Christmas decorations and threw the paper at Spencer outside. I'm a genius, right?? Ella Ann got to eat her first roasted marshmallow and four more thereafter. She loved it! It was very exciting for her to have a fire on our porch AND she could cook food! Who knew? After we put the kids to bed Spencer and I sat outside on a cool, beautiful night....ummm....for about 45 minutes. That's when the embers finally faded. No actual flames to be had. The wood just would NOT burn. It was so weird. We even threw gasoline on it and made a big fire but that only lasted about 1 and a half minutes. Next time we will buy better wood I guess. So that was that bubble burst.

On Saturday we had a portrait session with our photographer friend, Bobbi Jo, from church. It was supposed to be 54 degrees and somewhat sunny. I mention the weather report because we were going to be outside. We met Bobbi Jo at Joe's, a coffee shop in East Atlanta Village, a very neat/trendy neighborhood in Atlanta that we had not visited until yesterday (I will be going back). So we left the house and it was drizzling rain and freezing. I was wearing short sleeves, Spencer and Rane had on button-down shirts and Ella Ann was wearing a thin dress. Not good. To make a long story short, Rane splattered Bobbi Jo's coffee all over his white shirt BEFORE the photo shoot even began, I completely forgot his totally adorable little tie until I opened my bag when I got home and the entire reason he wore the outfit at the session was for the tie, Ella Ann was halfway cooperative throughout the shoot but by the end when she was wearing a short sleeve dress she was done...too cold and I couldn't blame her (she was a trooper) and Ella Ann gave this ridiculous smile that wasn't her "true" sweet smile for most of the session as well. So there it all is. I should know better than to think that pictures outdoors in January with no coats on and two kids would be absolutely perfect. Thankfully Bobbi Jo knows how to work magic and she did an awesome job with us. She will edit out the coffee stains on the pictures I buy, and those that family buys as well; she gave Ella Ann a massive lollipop that cheered her tremendously so we got a few genuine smiles and it ended up being quick because of the weather. East Atlanta Village offered some great backdrops for our pictures so I'm really excited about them. The owner of a old school barber shop saw us taking pictures of the kids and offered up his too cute fire truck chair to Rane. Ohhh man he loved that little seat and he looked so cute in it! She has our preview ready so click HERE to view them.

So here are some photos of the fire......

Good stuff! Yes, she is wearing her Christmas jammies.

Since you will miss out on the tie with my very-important-pictures-that-last-a-lifetime here are some of Rane this morning in his little tie before church.

He's chillin'.......

for one second before attacking Ella Ann.