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Around Here: Lifestyle Family Shots

Feb 16

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

I’m alive! It’s only been a week since I’ve posted but it feels like FOREVER. It it weird for me to say that I miss you guys? I wasn’t around on here… or (for probably the first time ever) on any social media for a little while there. I thought that it was time I shared an ‘Around Here‘ (life update) post and what better way to do it than with my lifestyle family shots from this fall with the fabulous Troi Crombie!? Normally I would share some photos from what we’ve been up to lately- but we’ve been up to is SICK. So I figured you’d rather see photos from when we were healthy (and there is no baby boogers in these photos- promise!).

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Before I chat about the lately… a little about these photos. You’ve probably heard me rave about her here before but Troi Crombie is a good friend and one of my favourite ever photographers. So anytime we have an occasion (or just want photos), she’s the girl I call. You can see our maternity shoot with her here (it was featured on The Little Umbrella here– she’s just that good!). I really needed a headshot for this site (yep, that one on the sidebar is thanks to her too) and we wanted to get family photos for our Christmas Cards. So in last minute fashion, we took these in November. Why lifestyle? I shared the maternity photos my hubby took of me right before our babies were born and I shared on Twiniversity why I love them so much (along with my thoughts on body image during pregnancy)- they’re in our home, how we live and that’s so special to me. SO we decided to do a full lifestyle session, in our home where we’re all most comfortable.

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

She captured the unfolded laundry, the stains on the couch, and babies in diapers and I couldn’t be more pleased with these photos! They really are a reflection of how we live. I would have loved to have our space ‘finished’ for these photos- but let’s face it, we’re living through renovations and we’re okay with that! So this is what our house looked like in November. My babies love to dress up in their winter hats all year round (Mitts are the newest obsession) and always ‘help’ with laundry (you’ll know that’s true if you follow me on Instagram). Anyways… enough about November…now I’ll tell you what I’ve been up to lately!

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Um, not a lot. Guys, we’ve been SO sick! I don’t say this to complain, but I haven’t eaten an adult sized portion of food in over a week. But we’re on the mend. We’ve actually been sick for about three weeks now- some of the longest weeks we’ve experienced as parents (other than the weeks in the hospital). But at first it was just bad coughs and colds… then the fevers hit the babies. Then the stomach flu hit me. Can I just say that my hubby has been amazing through this all? There was four days where I couldn’t stand up and he stayed home from work and took care of two sick babies. Then went in to work after they were asleep in the evening or after we got back from the hospital at four in the morning. I’m the luckiest girl, really. I was also reminded this week how blessed we are by friends and family. We had shakes and meals dropped off for us (and coffee for Shane) and even some cleaning help. If any of you family/friends are reading this- thank you, thank you!

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Other than that, we’ve been plugging away at our bathroom renovation. Again, if you follow me on Instagram– you’ll know this already, but our bathtub has been a leaky pain in our butt since we moved in. It was the one original fixture we were going to leave until next year… but we finally pulled the plug (see what I did there?) and put in a new bathtub at the end of January. I tiled it and we’ve just been working on drywall touch ups, installing new baseboards and such since. We’ve also put down a temporary new floor. Since we hadn’t budgeted for this reno, we’ve left the rest of the bathroom (vanity, toilet) alone- so couldn’t update our floor yet. But we found a pretty good temporary solution! I’ll be sharing the reveal over on Remodelaholic in March (what!?) because I’m excited to announce that I’m their newest contributor (woo!).

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

We’ve slowly been working on other parts of our renovation as well. We tiled our entry way (but have yet to grout) and are almost done the electrical and ducting in the basement to get started on our half of the space! Shane also re-strung (I’m not sure if that’s the technical term) the stairs to the basement so we can finish them when we do the basement floors. I’m telling you guys this not because it’s super fun- but just so you know we are doing stuff! And I’m not excluding you on purpose- it’s just not very fun ‘take pictures’ kind of stuff. When it is fun stuff, I promise- I’ll share!

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Other than home stuff- the snow is melted around here so we’re getting antsy for spring. The twins SO enjoyed the snow… they loved getting dressed up in the gear (sometimes they’d cry if I said we didn’t need our snowpants) and shovelling snow was the ‘big’ activity around here. Speaking of big… these photos seem like ages ago. I think my kids look like toddlers now, not babies. I can’t believe how fast they’re growing (new shoes- again!) and every day they learn something new. They’re such book worms and can point out and name so many animals and things in the books now, I’m always so impressed.

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

I’m so thankful that I’m able to stay home with them every day. We definitely sacrifice for it and barely make it work some times- but I’m working hard to make this blog a little source of income to be able to stay home with them. I’d love to be able to do this without working part time out of the house (like I was in the fall). So thank you for reading here and supporting me, you’re the best! I’m so grateful for each and every one of you- I really love doing this, and I feel so lucky that it let’s me stay at home with my babies. I’m also really blessed by my friends that put up with my sometimes stressed self that is working even when I’m not- thinking of ways to grow and better this little blog.

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Life Updates and Lifestyle Family Session with Troi Crombie

Anyways… I think that’s enough for today? I’m going to go and cuddle my incredibly adorable (and snotty) babies now. Tell me you’ll go and show someone you love them? That’d be fantastic. If you’d like to check out Troi Crombie’s post on our family session… you can here! What have you been up to? I’d really love to hear from you!

Category: LifestyleTag: About Me, Around Here, Babies, Photography
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dani

    Feb 16 at 9:52 am

    Hope you guys are feeling better! I especially love the little series of shots with you and the twins reading in the chair by the map. So sweet!

    Reply
    • Colleen Pastoor

      Feb 16 at 7:06 pm

      Thanks so much Dani! The one of Aubrey telling the story from that series is one of my faves!

      Reply
  2. Erica

    Feb 16 at 10:23 am

    These photos are just the sweetest! What a beautiful family :) Glad to hear you all are on the mend, too! Being sick is no fun!

    Reply
    • Colleen Pastoor

      Feb 16 at 7:06 pm

      Thanks so much Erica! It’s been a long week, happy to be on the tail end :)

      Reply
  3. Emily @ Table & Hearth

    Feb 16 at 1:23 pm

    Ahhhhmazing pictures!!! And congratulations on the contributor position (and beating the crud)!! Can’t wait to see all the projects :)

    Reply
    • Colleen Pastoor

      Feb 16 at 7:06 pm

      Thank you, thank you, and thank you Emily! I’m really happy with them :)

      Reply
  4. Melissa

    Feb 28 at 4:51 am

    I think lifestyle photos are my favourite kind of photos, these ones are especially cute. Such a beautiful family Colleen!

    Reply
    • Colleen Pastoor

      Mar 04 at 9:10 pm

      I think they’re my favourite kind too… real life! Thanks so much Melissa… missing you! xo

      Reply

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I’m Colleen: wife; mom to 4 wild ones; and DIY blogger behind Lemon Thistle. You can expect to see rad DIY, modern home decor, renovations, hand lettering and the occasional party on Lemon Thistle. Read More…

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colleen pastoor/lemon thistle
Which do you like best? Even though it didn’t wi Which do you like best?
Even though it didn’t win the vote, I still decided to make this free printable a set instead of just the one!
You can find them plus so many other gorgeous spring printables from some friends of mine over on the blog today!
I’ve been doing some polls in my stories (thank I’ve been doing some polls in my stories (thank you for your responses!) and one that totally surprised me? 
Almost half of you don’t know I blog! That’s my job, guys 😂 IG is just a fun little part of that! So tell me... is this new information to you or are you team ‘knew that!’? 

Also... Should I do a blogging Q&A? 🤷🏼‍♀️
Happy Valentine’s Day, friends 🥰 Happy Valentine’s Day, friends 🥰
Anyone else feeling the balance between work and f Anyone else feeling the balance between work and family and rest and keeping your house liveable has all just toppled this year? I keep seeing articles about pandemic fatigue and long term stress and burnout and while it’s totally relatable, I really just want tips on how to actually deal with that. I thought I’d share some things that are helping me if you’re in the same boat... and I’d love if you shared your tips in the comments! We could all use them 🥰
-I’ve been going for a walk every day by myself. Even when it’s freaking cold like today, I just bundle. It’s the only time I get truly to myself with no kiddo asking for something and that I don’t have to try squeeze in an email or something else.
-I’ve been putting the instant pot to work and leaning on cheater meals (local soup mixes are amazing), Costco dinners... whatever
- I’m prioritizing friendships with phone calls, zoom games nights and group chats about the bachelor (with matching snacks!)
- I’ve given myself a schedule that has downtime to play with the kids and to read... even when there’s things I feel like I ‘should be’ doing
- I’ve realized exactly how much time I’ve been spending on my phone and that it’s become my response to stress. Have you ever looked up your screen time analytics? 🥴 look at how many times you pick it up in your day. I’m setting app limits for myself and trying to break this habit, but I’d really love tips!
Can you believe that address sign is a DIY?! I'm s Can you believe that address sign is a DIY?! I'm sharing the whole tutorial in partnership with @OfficialCricut today over on my blog! I'd originally made it as a place holder for a metal one but after having it up for 4 months... we totally love it long term! What do you think? Would you try it? #cricut #cricutmade #ad
What are your Sunday plans? Mine are to sit right What are your Sunday plans? Mine are to sit right here for the first half of the day drinking coffee, then the second half of the day it’s to clean this house so it looks like my Instagram feed again 😂
Who has DIY projects on their mind this year?! 

👏🏻CLOSED 👏🏻 congrats @kelseycford ✨
@ryobi_canada and I want to help you start knocking those projects off your list by giving away a new nailer and battery set! #ad 
This tool is what we used for this accent wall and all the trim in our home. It’s the one I used to trim out my built in shelving and add the decorative moulding to my geometric barn door. What I’m saying is this thing is a workhorse and I want you to have one too 😉
To enter:
✨Follow me @colleenpastoor and @ryobi_canada 
✨like and save this photo 
✨ tag some friends who’d love to win in the comments! One tag per comment, each is an entry. 
✨ share to your stories for a bonus 5 entries!

Open to Canadians only this time (sorry US friends!) and not associated with Instagram. Closes Friday Jan 22 at noon PST!
Let’s talk about coffee! This is my coffee ‘st Let’s talk about coffee! This is my coffee ‘station’ and the second photo is my dads! I’m talking aaaall about them over on YT today!
Also... see how nice that fresh silicone looks?! 😉 IYKYK
The hallway is finally finished and I’m so stink The hallway is finally finished and I’m so stinking happy! 

It’s felt like such a long time coming for such a small space. Since we moved in 2.5 years ago, this space has seen new doors and hardware, new trim, new floors... twice😅, we changed the boob light to a pot light and I hated it and now it’s got the most beautiful flush mount fixture I’m in love with (thanks @mymitzi!). It finally got some fresh paint and now frames on walls and last but not least... After this weekend, the new floors look like they were here all along (no door jamb gaps!) which was the last thing really bugging me since our flood last year. 

All this to say that home takes time and sometimes getting it right might take a couple tries. Also- the spaces we don’t really think about (hallways) can totally help a house feel like home with some love (and family photos 🥰)
ps. I partnered with #mymitzi to create a tiktok for This makeover... are you following me over there yet?! I’d love if you popped over and said hi!
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