Perfection is my Enemy

Photo Friday 2012 ~ 4 ~

2012-01-27T09:48:00.000-05:00

This week's theme was 'self-portrait'. I was kinda bummed about that because I just took photos of myself last week. I really wanted to get creative this time around, but seeing as how I forgot all about it until yesterday I didn't really get to do what I wanted. I have issues with using my tripod and self timer and I can never seem to get the camera to focus on what I want. I'm sure if I took more time I could get better results, but taking my own photo isn't really my thing and I don't really want to take the time. That being said, I did get some good photos yesterday. So...here you go.

Just a note: yes, I did photoshop myself. I figure if I would do it for a client, then why not do it to myself? If I spent a lot of time on my makeup and had great lighting I would look almost this good, right? The photo on the top right was taken while I was lying on my back on the floor and holding the camera above me. Gravity = instant face lift. : ) That's me holding my daughter's hand in the middle. And yes, those are my seriously small feet on the bottom. When I looked at the photo, I was like, wow, my feet really are small... The one on the bottom of me in my hood my 8 year old daughter took, hence the slightly off focus. And the one on the bottom right is my reflection in our storm door. I really like the one on the top left because of 2 things, my hair and my pointy nose. Here's a funny story about that. My daughter asked me the other day while I was tucking her in if my nose looked pointy when I was a little girl. I said, "yes, it looked pretty much the same, just smaller, why?" She said, "Whew, I was just wondering because my nose is kinda small and not pointy and I didn't want it to change and look like yours when I grow up." I must have had a stunned or hurt look on my face because she immediately apologized and told me how much she loves my nose, she just doesn't think it would look right on her face. Kids...they are so brutally honest. I happen to like my nose though!

I am going to share one more photo that doesn't fit with the theme. I'm not used to having to fit all my favorite photos from the week into the same theme. And this one I just love, so I want to share it anyway. Here is my daughter on her birthday. I took this after she came home from school because I just wanted a photo of her on the day she turned 8. Her party is this weekend, so I'll share more in a separate post, but here's my favorite photo of her for now. Note the non-pointy nose. : )

Have a great weekend!!

Simplifying is Not so Simple

2012-01-26T07:30:00.000-05:00

I've been reading this book called Organized Simplicity and I've been quite inspired by it. I downloaded it for free on my kindle (I don't think it's free anymore though, sorry) and I honestly had no expectations of it whatsoever. I was pleasantly surprised though. It's premise is pretty simple (no pun intended). Living simply allows you to live life more fully. Getting rid of your clutter and getting organized helps you to live more simply. Less stuff means less stress and more time to live with purpose. You get the idea. There are probably a million books like this out there, but this is the first one that I have ever opened. I really, really like the ideas presented in this book. I feel like often my house is too cluttered and in turn my brain is cluttered. Wondering where I put things and feeling overwhelmed at the things I need to get done...some of which I have written in my calendar, but others I am relying on memory for. I totally needed to read this. And she has some really great tips. Like making a family mission statement. That is not something I would ever in a million years do on my own. It's up there with color coding my sock drawer...just so not me. But maybe I need a little nudge in that direction. Being a stay at home mom / part time photographer is so flexible that I sometimes think I need a little structure. A mission statement. Some goals to strive for. Not that I don't have them, they're just floating around in my brain along with reminders of dentist appointments and school pick ups and housework that needs to be done. She has a ton of great ideas...which are right now floating around in my head too. One involves a more detailed daily calendar including task lists and checklists. Another main focus on her book is on tackling the huge job of simplifying your home. This is what I really want to get into. I feel like we have accumulated so much stuff over the past seven years of living here that I really just need a good purging to make me feel more relaxed. Some of you might think I'm crazy because I know some people have anxiety when they think about getting rid of things (seen that show Hoarders, anyone?) but I am the opposite. When I look around at piles of stuff I get anxiety. When I look at the stack of filing in our bedroom it makes me have heart palpitations. And the laundry on my daughter's floor makes my back stiffen when I walk in her room. I really just like a simple, organized home. The problem is...it is not as easy as it sounds. She details a 10 day plan for de-cluttering and cleaning your home. And it's awesome, it really is. When I first read it I was totally motivated to start the next day. The problem is that I really need a vacation from my life in order to fit it into my schedule! I know I don't have to do 10 consecutive days, but that would be ideal. And I think some of the things she suggests would take one day will take me more than one day...actually, I know they will. Those are just more excuses though. I need to just get off my butt and do it! I know I do. So this is really more of a personal pep talk than anything. I say I want to live more simply and have more free time and I know that this will help. If anything it will help me to be more calm inside. So, I'm making a commitment here to fill you guys in on my progress. And feel free to ask me about it if you haven't heard anything for a while. And feel free to come over and help me if you live nearby! I make a pretty good pot of coffee, you know. Anyone...anyone?

Photo Friday 2012 ~ 3 ~

2012-01-20T10:10:00.000-05:00

This week's theme was "I dreamed a dream". As themes go, this was a little hard for me. And, I only took photos of one thing this week...me. I have been really bad about getting out my camera. I think this happens to me every year about this time when I start to hibernate through the winter. It's hard to get up and take pictures when you are wrapped in a blanket! Back to my dream. Okay...this is going to sound incredibly lame, but I have always wanted to get my nose pierced. Not exactly a dream, but just a sort of, "I think that looks so pretty, I think I'd like to do it" type of thing. Last week I mentioned something about it on Facebook and I had 3 other friends admit they'd always wanted one too. So, we planned it and it happened! Well, one of us couldn't make it, but the rest of us were off to the tattoo parlor to do it. Yep, all 3 of us 'moms' have always wanted to do it. I forgot to take my camera with me (what is with me and forgetting my camera all the time?) but my friend got some shots with her phone...and she sent them to my phone...only thing is now I can't figure out how to get them off my phone and onto the computer (I don't have a smart phone). Oh well... Let's just say that it is not exactly glamorous, okay? It didn't hurt that bad and I really do love it. And it doesn't bother you when you blow your nose...that is the most often asked question I've gotten. I'm sure half of you (maybe more) think I'm insane, but I don't really care what you think. That's the beauty of waiting until you are in your 30's to do something like this. You know what you want and you don't care about being judged for it. And I know I won't keep it in forever, but at least now, when I'm 50 I won't say...why didn't I ever do that? Why was I so worried about what other people were going to think? And that makes it worth it.

I'm probably going to switch it out to something smaller...but I have to wait 8 weeks before I can. Ugh. Oh, and I just realized that next week's theme is self-portrait. I am really going to have to get more creative on that one...because I'm sick of photos of myself already!

Photo Friday 2012 ~ 2 ~

2012-01-13T13:19:00.000-05:00

This is my boy. He asked me the other day while I was doing something on the computer if I could take his picture. I almost always comply when one of my kids asks me that. He had a super serious face the whole time and he just stood there right in front of me. I keep my camera on my desk most of the time so I didn't even move from my chair. He was standing so close to me that it wasn't really flattering from straight on, so I told him to turn and look out the window. I love how this turned out. It reminds me of these paintings that my mom has of my brother and I from when we were kids and they were of our profiles.

The theme for this week's assignment was "Made with Love" and I have to say he qualifies. : )

I am giving a little photography workshop at our Women's Retreat for our church and while I was doing some research trying to decide what topics I wanted to cover I came across an interesting tidbit. I have no idea where I got this, so sorry for the lack of reference... Basically it said that when you take a photo and the person is not looking at you, but rather off to the right or left you should have them facing to the left (when looking at the photo) because our eyes go left to right and that draws your eye into the subject. When you have the person looking to the right (as in the photo above) your eye tends to go off the page in search of what they are looking at. So...I flipped this photo in Photoshop to see if I agree...

I'm not sure on this one. I think my mind is confusing me because I know which way he was facing when I actually took the photo so this one seems off to me. But I do see the point of what they were saying about your eye going off the page in the other one since he is looking off that way. What do you guys think? See, you learn something new all the time...even when you are a "professional"!

Have a great weekend! Stay warm!

Hanging my Kids' Art ~ A Solution ~

2012-01-10T10:51:00.000-05:00

I love my kids' artwork, I really do. But...it was starting to become a problem. My kids bring home new stuff everyday and they never want me to throw it away (I'm a pro at stuffing it in the bottom of the trash can while they aren't looking) and for a while we just put it on the fridge. Then a couple of years ago I decided to turn our door between our garage and kitchen into a little art showcase for them. It's a metal door so we just threw a bunch of magnets up there and let the kids put whatever they wanted on it. It was okay for a while, but it has been driving me crazy lately. Stuff kept falling off of it and the magnets weren't strong enough and then they would fall off too and you'd try to open that door and a magnet would get lodged under it and it would get stuck, etc. You get the idea...time for a change. So, the other day while I was at Target picking up a new calendar (nothing like waiting until the year has actually started!) I saw the perfect solution. Cork board tiles! They were around $6 for 4 of them. They came with double sided sticky tape to mount them. I bought a pack of cute thumbtacks and there you have it...the perfect solution! At least for now...until I get sick of it...

I love how clean this looks compared to before (of course, I forgot to take a before photo in my excitement to hang my new tiles!). And the kids were perfectly fine with cutting down some of their work to make it fit better. They even let me throw some old stuff away! I'm hoping to get rid of the alphabet at the bottom, but we still use it to quiz my son on his letter sounds, so it stays for now.

I realize that this won't work on panel doors, but for this door it's perfect. And the cork ties in perfectly to the color on our walls.

I bought these cute thumbtacks that happened to come in blue, green, purple and pink so I just separated them out and gave my daughter 2 squares of cork with the pink and purple tacks in and ready to go. I did the same with my son and the blue and green tacks.

I love this dog that my daughter painted over a year ago. I just can't bring myself to take it down!

My absolute favorite piece of kid art, ever. I'm keeping this one forever. Our family as birds. I love that my husband and I are kissing and he is wearing a tie and glasses!

My son's art is not quite as sophisticated yet, but I love it just the same. That's our family on the right and a car on fire in the middle.

Hope this helps someone get some inspiration! I love when I find a bargain solution that also looks good!

Photo Friday 2012 ~ 1 ~

2012-01-06T10:18:00.001-05:00

I cannot believe I am embarking on year three of my Photo Friday project!! You all told me I have to keep doing it, so here I am. I was thinking about linking up with some other groups who do a Project 52 (basically the same thing I'm doing, just with a different name) to get some more exposure, but we'll see. So far, I haven't had time to check any out. They usually have a theme for the week too, which is good, because it's supposed to help you grow as a photographer...but sometimes it's all I can do to get any photo up, let alone one with a specific theme. I might try it. I'm being totally non-committal at the moment though. This week we had our first snow! The kids were so excited. They wanted to go out at about 8am but I made them wait a few hours so it could warm up a few degrees. Whenever I see the kids so excited about the snow it kinda makes me feel guilty for all my plotting to move somewhere warm. They wouldn't miss it, right? We would go come home for the occasional white Christmas...that's what I'm telling myself. Who knows, the moving thing might not ever happen, so I don't know why I'm feeling guilty about something hypothetical. See, the insanity that is my brain sometimes!? Anyway, back to this week's photos... I had zero intentions of joining them out in the snow. But then I remember last year when I didn't take snow photos one time thinking, oh, it's going to snow plenty more times and I can take pictures, only I didn't. So I went outside in my pajama pants and my husband's old orange winter coat with my camera and snapped a few. I'm sure the neighbors where thrilled with my choice of attire! Here are my favorites.

I love her. She's so sweet when she's not being a total drama queen. I wish her accessories matched a little better, but oh well, it wasn't like she was dressing for a photo shoot. I adore her facial expression in this photo.

I realize this is extremely similar to the previous photo, but I just love her smile and her hat falling over her eyes, so I decided to post them both. Which do you prefer, the serious or the smiling? I recently saw another photographer pose that question about a photo of her daughter and she got some interesting feedback! I personally love serious photos of my daughter, but then I love smiling ones because they make her appear more youthful and happy and that is more her personality.

My boy in front of our garage door. I love how the color makes his eyes stand out! He hates how his coat snaps over his chin (one of the selling points for me since scarves on a little boy are a pain!) but I wouldn't let him unsnap it so he pouted for the first five minutes he was out there while his sister threw snowballs at him. He got over it, obviously!

I'm so glad the snow has melted and we have a nice weekend to look forward to. Enjoy it!

**Okay, so I looked around online to find a Project 52 I could link up with and I discovered this awesome group over at Life with my 3 Boybarians. Their first theme was "resolution" which I admit these photos don't exactly fit that theme and I am not one to typically even make a resolution, but I thought I'd join in anyway and start working on the themed shots next week.

Blog Headers ~ 2011 ~

2012-01-04T11:47:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd share a collection of my blog headers for the past year for those of you who are into that type of thing. I actually love changing up my header every month. I always get tired of looking at them and enjoy thinking of something new to do. Not that I do anything drastic...just change up the pics and the font. I'm going to try to be a little more creative this year though. Notice the new one above? Having the title in the middle of the pics is a new one. Click here to see 2010's headers. And click here for a great post about how to make your own.

Thanks for looking!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-03T13:29:00.000-05:00

I can't believe Christmas is over and done with and it's a new year already. This year my kids didn't get out of school until 3 days before Christmas Eve and it just really threw me off. I didn't get to do all the fun things I wanted to with them since there just wasn't enough time. That makes me sad. I need to plan better next year. Not that I think they care in the slightest though. I'm sure if you asked them they would say their Christmas was perfect. That's the beauty of young kids. It doesn't take much to make them happy. If only we could all be like that. We had 3 Christmas celebrations this year and I have a ton of photos. First we went to my mom's where we celebrated with her side of the family. This was the first Christmas without my Grandma and it was strange not having her there...and not doing it at her house. She really, really enjoyed the kids so much and I didn't realize how nice it was having her so excited about them being so excited. Her joy was definitely missing. We still had a good time though and I know each year it will get easier getting used to the new traditions. So here goes...this might possibly be the most photos I've ever posted at once so bear with me. Here's celebration #1. Christmas Eve.

My babies in front of my mom's Christmas tree. Had to get that shot for my collage of them together each Christmas!

All the grandkids on my mom's side. And yes, she bought the girls those gorgeous matching dresses.

Love this reaction when her daddy brought in her gift from her Grandmama!

A teddy bear that's bigger than her! She loves it. Both of my kids had to sleep on its legs that night. In the hallway. And since then it has moved to my daughters bed. It's sitting right smack in the middle and the pillows are in between its legs. Thanks mom...

He was really into checking out the back of the packaging this year.

The boys are opening identical gifts. I totally remember doing this with one of my cousins when we were little! The tradition continues...

After that party was over we headed home because Santa was coming!! My kids were beyond excited about Santa this year. They had gone to see him and asked him for a Zhu-Zhu Puppy and a Nerf Gun. My daughter woke me up at 4am wanting to know if she could go downstairs. No. Again at 5am. No. 5:30am? No. At about 6am she had woken her brother and they couldn't stand it anymore so I said yes. My husband wanted to tell them something first, but they ran off down the steps so quick he didn't have a chance. I had no idea what on earth he'd need to tell them anyway. I followed the kids into the family room where my daughter spotted her new bike. She was so excited and turned around and shouted, "Mommy, I got a new bike!" and then her faced changed from happy to horrified as she looked behind me into the kitchen and screamed, "Someone's here!" and jumped on the couch and hid behind the cushions. I turned around to see what on earth she was talking about and about jumped out of my skin...there was someone standing in our kitchen in the shadows. I looked at my husband and demanded, "Who's here?!". I was totally freaked out. My husband was grinning. He walked into the kitchen to get our guest and explained that was why he wanted to tell the kids something before they went downstairs. As they came into the light, I realized it wasn't actually a person. It was Edward. Yes, Edward Cullen. A giant, life-sized cutout of the character from the Twilight movies. I had to laugh. What on earth?! Talk about an unexpected gift!

I took this photo the next day to try to recreate what it was like, but it was really much darker than this since the sun hadn't come up yet.

Why hello, Edward. Nice to see you. I've been referring to him as my boyfriend which makes my daughter really mad...she says daddy and her brother are my boyfriends. Edward kept freaking us out the first couple days since he has a very similar height and build to my husband. I can't tell you how my times my kids have started to call him daddy and talk to him! I'm pretty sure that this will be one of those Christmas mornings we won't forget!

My daughter really wanted this dog. She was so excited that Santa brought him!

If you've read my blog before, you know I'm pretty anti-weapons...but when your little boy sits on Santa's lap and asks him for only one thing...a nerf gun...what are you gonna do? He loves it. And turns out, Edward is great for target practice.

Later that day we headed off to my Aunt's house for our 2nd Christmas celebration. My grandma who the kids refer to as their "little grandma" was there. So were some cousins who had moved to Oregon and another who lives in Chicago. My uncle from Columbus was there too. I like to see him because he really reminds me of my dad. We usually don't stay long there because my Aunt has cats and I'm super allergic, but a Benadryl a couple hours before we went seemed to do the trick this year.

That's my grandma and she is standing up to her full height. Look how tall my daughter looks next to her!

My daughter was quite the social butterfly this year. My kids are usually so shy since they don't see this side of the family very much.

Fast forward to this past weekend and we celebrated Christmas yet again with my husband's family! Christmas #3...

My adorable nieces and some family from Texas were there.

Opening presents...my kids never get tired of that!

Aunt Bette found this old photo of my husband's grandpa when we was a kid and they thought it bore a striking resemblance to my son. What do you think? I tend to think he looks like my sisters, but I can't deny there is definitely something there!

Another Angry Bird...he can't get enough of them. Love his eyelashes in this shot.

Love this shot of my girl too.

We had a great time visiting with family this year. I can't believe it's back to the grind now. The kids went back to school today and I've got to start taking down the Christmas decorations. It always seems so bittersweet packing everything away. I do enjoy getting everything out the next year and finding little treasures I'd forgotten about though. And now we have the memories of the Christmas of Edward we can talk about too. Well, I'm off to pay some bills and clean the house. It's definitely back to the grind...

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 51 ~

2011-12-30T12:09:00.000-05:00

Last post of the year! That flew by in a flash...I must be getting old because when you are young everyone says how time flies and you are thinking, yeah, whatever, and then all of a sudden you know exactly what they were talking about. I meant to post about Christmas this week, but once again I didn't get around to it. I'm still going to do it though because I have a lot of things that I want to remember and if I don't blog them I'll completely forget. We had a ton of fun this year. My kids are the perfect ages to really get into all the magic of Christmas. I took a ton of photos this week, but there are only a couple that I love. I had a hard time this week with photography because it seemed I needed to use my flash for everything. It is just too dark in most people's homes unless the subject is sitting mostly still and let's face it, kids are not known for their ability in that area. And you can get some really nice bokeh with the Christmas lights so I was kinda bummed since my flash seems to ruin it. I did turn the flash off for some of them and those are the ones I love. I got a lot of blurry ones in the process though but it was worth it. Here are my favorites...

I don't know why, but I love black and white Christmas photos. I think maybe it's the way they appear timeless. I love the lights in the background of this shot!

Another shot of my girl. She was just relaxing on her new gigantic teddy bear from her grandmama. I love the look of contentment on her face as she watches people open presents.

I had to include a shot of my boy. Here he is with his new paper jamz guitar. I think he's pretty much the cutest rock star ever. I hope someday he learns to play the guitar for real!

I'll do another post with some stories from our Christmases. We still have one more to go to tomorrow! Happy New Year!!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 50 ~

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Wow...I just realized that I am almost done with another entire year of Photo Fridays! I can't believe that I actually stuck with it for 2 whole years! That's like a miracle for me...I tend to get bored easily. So, the question is...do I keep doing it? It just started out as a challenge to myself to pick up my camera more, and it has definitely done it's job. I think lately I've gotten a little lazy about my creativity though, but at least I'm still posting something which is better than nothing, right? I kind of want to do something new next year, only problem is that I have no idea what to do. If you have any ideas for me, let me know. Back to this week. Honestly if it weren't for this project I definitely wouldn't have picked up my camera because I have been way too busy getting ready for Christmas! I've gotten a lot of the presents wrapped (that just happened last night though) but I still have a bunch more to do. I even still have shopping to do! What can I say...I work best under pressure. So, this week's photo is nothing spectacular, but I did get a little self portrait.

The distortion from the ornament makes my camera lens look huge! I like how you can see the room behind me.

I was going through all my old Christmas photos yesterday (this might have something to do with why I still have presents to buy and wrap!) and I knew a little collage of all of my kids' Christmases would be fun. So I put this together and I love it. These photos aren't great (actually most of them are pretty bad) but they are of my sweet babies and I love them. And now I really need to remember to take a photo of the two of them together each Christmas so I can keep adding to it every year! I seriously cannot believe how fast the years are flying by.

Have a wonderful Christmas weekend!!!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 49 ~

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Another week has flown by without me blogging. I always start the week with good intentions and I even have a whole list of blog ideas but I just can't seem to keep up! Even on days when I feel like I've got it together I still seem to find something to distract me. Part of it is the time of year and just trying to get all the little Christmas things done. I did get my cards ordered and I'm hoping to address them all over the weekend. That's one thing off my list. I've still got a ton of shopping to do too. And to top it off I thought I'd earn myself a little extra Christmas money by painting my Grandpa's kitchen including the ceiling. I've got the ceiling done and I'm hoping to get the walls done today and tomorrow. I just glanced at my calendar and realized I need 6 dozen cookies by Monday night too! I'm trying to enjoy the holiday...and I will...I think it will help when the kids are home. Having them around just helps me to get in the spirit. I have some fun things I want to do with them including going ice skating and going to the train display. I'm sure we'll find plenty of ways to fill the days, we always do, even if it's just something simple like watching a Christmas movie or drinking hot chocolate. Okay, getting back on topic here...let me talk about this week's photos. We went to see Santa on Sunday! "SANTA!! I know him!" - name that movie. :) We went to Keehner Park where they have a little log cabin and host a little Pioneer Christmas thing. We not only saw Santa but got to sample goodies from the time period, like venison chili and apple pie. It was really fun. We went straight from church because I wanted the kids to be in their Christmas clothes and we got there early and were the first ones. I think we might have to make it a yearly tradition.

My kids posing on the porch of the cabin. If it looks familiar it's because I use this location for photo shoots sometimes! By the way, why does my son have to have his mouth open all the time in pictures?!! It drives me crazy!

As I was taking pictures Santa came out the front door and surprised my kids!

A shot from inside the cabin with the tree. I had to use my flash because it the only light in there was from candles! My daughter wasn't sure if he was the real Santa because his voice sounded kinda weird to her. She said it wasn't deep enough. :) They think the real Santa is at the museum (the one we saw last year) so we might have to go visit him too.

Just a shot of my pretty girl.

This isn't a great example of photography or anything, but I found it when I was going through my photos I took this week and I just thought I'd share it anyway. My kids were in the Christmas program at our church and they have a "cherub choir" of 2 to 5 year olds. My son was the oldest one, but I don't think he sang more than a couple of words. He wasn't really into it this year. That's my cute niece and nephew on the left. Click here to see my post from 2 years ago about it (I must have missed last year). I'm sad this was the last year for me to have a kid in this!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Hopefully you are getting in the Christmas spirit!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 48 ~

2011-12-09T14:57:00.001-05:00

My favorite photos this week were taken during bath night. My kids still love a good bubble bath. I wasn't sure if I should post a photo of my daughter, but she gave me permission and it's just her face, so I figured what the heck... I know that the days of them goofing off in a bubble bath are very numbered, so when my daughter started making bubble beards and told me to take a picture so she could see what she looked like I knew that I had to do it. Here you go...

Pretty impressive bubble beard, don't you think?!

I love this photo. I love the grain, the ambiguity of not really know what is going on, and of course, I love her profile. That's her hair that's blurred in the foreground.

I love this so much that I wish it weren't taken in the bathtub so I could frame it! I actually have a lot of good photos of him in the bathtub for some reason. I think I'm gonna need to do a collage on my bathroom wall.

I love this kid's laugh so much!! Really, it's infectious.

Have a great weekend!!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 47 ~

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

I got my camera out last night thinking I would go outside to take a photo of one of my kids for this weekly project since they were outside with the neighbor girls enjoying the sunny late afternoon. I've always thought these girls were really beautiful, but the older girl who always wears her hair up in a ponytail happened to have her hair down and she was even more beautiful. So...I did what any self respecting photographer would do...I told her to stand over there and let me take her photo (and ditched my previous plans of taking photos of my own kids). She was so happy to oblige. I think she's about 11 years old or so and I'm starting to think that tweens are my favorite age to photograph. They don't have any of the ridiculous insecurities that the older girls have and yet they are old enough to take direction really well. She actually told me "I love myself". How great is that? When was the last time I said that about myself? I wonder what it is that causes us girls/women to lose that attitude and at what age it begins to happen. I really want to encourage any mom's of tweens to really consider having a photo shoot done for them (and I'm not just saying that because I want you to hire me, but of course, I would love it if you did). :) I think it's so great for them to see beautiful photographs of themselves during this critical time of developing their concepts of beauty. I actually had this girl come in and look at her photo on the computer because I wanted her to see it and she wanted to see it. She thought it looked awesome, had a smile of satisfaction on her face, and promptly turned around and told me she was going back outside to play. And I think that's exactly the reaction I wanted. She confirmed to herself that she was beautiful and 'loved herself', but she didn't dwell on it and there was not an ounce of conceit there. That's probably what makes her so beautiful to me!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Lake of Dreams ~ A Book Review ~

2011-12-01T13:50:00.001-05:00

I joined the BlogHer Book Club recently and my first assignment was to read and review "The Lake of Dreams" by Kim Edwards. I was very excited to read this book as the description seemed so compelling. This book is about Lucy, who has lived abroad for many years after leaving her hometown upon her father's tragic death when she was in high school. She comes back to see her mother after she was in a car wreck and she rediscovers the relationships with her family while delving into some old family secrets. She discovered a pamphlet and a piece of fabric locked away in her room and she is driven to find out about why some of her ancestors where seemingly erased from the family history. It seemed to me like it would be a great mystery and there would be some scandalous things revealed about her family's past.

Turns out, this book did not meet my expectations. It was very slow at first and I had a hard time relating to Lucy, the main character as she seemed lacking in the qualities that you expect from someone that you want to root for. She has no real direction or purpose and she isn't particularly likeable either. She sort of 'ran away' in the midst of her father's death and life went on without her and when she comes home she is surprised by this? She's not a teenager anymore and I would have expected her to have more depth. The 'mystery' part of the story turned out to be rather dull as well, sort of like Lucy's personality. It revolved around women's suffrage and some stained glass windows. Not exactly riveting stuff. The story did get really good though when it was being told from the perspective of the ancestor through some old letters that Lucy finds. Had the whole book been told by her this would be a very different review. Lucy does discover things about herself and her father's death and in the end everything ties together very nicely. I wish she had spent more time on these things rather than on the other tedious things she tended to focus on.

Although I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to my friends, it does have some very lovely imagery. The author is obviously a good writer and she does a great job of making you feel as if you are right there as her descriptions of the scenery are very detailed (this also contributes to the slow pace of the book though). Overall, I am not regretful that I read this book, but it was obviously not one of my favorites.

If you'd like to find out more about this book and read some other reviews, hop on over to the BlogHer Book Club page and join in. Note: This was a paid review for BlogHer Book Clubs but the opinions expressed are my own.

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 46 ~

2011-11-28T14:21:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving weekend was packed with activities and I never got a chance to sit down and write this blog post! We had a wonderful time with family eating some delicious food. We also celebrated my mom and aunt's birthday (they're twins). My husband and I had a little Black Friday adventure when we ventured out to purchase a new tv and spent about 5 hours hanging out at Wal-Mart. We got what we came for and a bunch more deals that we hadn't even planned on. Overall, it wasn't a bad experience and I actually had a great time hanging out with my husband...my friend mentioned that her and her husband call it a date and I have to agree with her, it kinda felt like a fun, crazy date! We put our Christmas tree up over the weekend and my son is actually taking a nap under it right now. It doesn't even feel like it's close to Christmas to me yet, with Thanksgiving just barely being over, but the kids are super excited and I can't help that a little of that is rubbing off on me. I just have one photo to share today because I have a lot of work to get done, but this is one of my favorite photos from Thanksgiving day.

That's our old tv by the way... I love that my kids brought out that little ottoman and put it right in front of the tv to watch the parade together. This photo looks so timeless to me with my daughter in her nightgown and the parade on tv. And yes...we have a Steeler gnome in our house (rolling my eyes)...obviously that decoration was not chosen by me.

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend! I know we did!

Stunning Senior ~ A Photo Shoot ~

2011-11-22T10:00:00.001-05:00

When this girl contacted me to do her senior photos I was completely flattered. First, because she's really into photography. And second, she could never find the right photographer while she was actually a senior, so she's really a freshman in college now and she picked me to do her photos. I have to admit I felt a little pressure to deliver knowing that she picked me after waiting so long. She was really doing this for her mom, which I really admire...being a mom and all...I hope that my daughter loves and respects me enough to do things for me that might not really be her thing. So we met up and the first thing I noticed was that she is adorable and oh my gosh...her hair! She needs to be a shampoo model. We had a great time and it was really relaxed. Her mom became my assistant for the day which was so helpful and I just enjoyed getting to know them. Those are my favorite kinds of shoots. I have a bunch of favorites to share so here goes...

I love green eyes...and not just because I have them too...although that's probably part of it. :)

Love. her. hair. She was the perfect model for this location. Her hair and outfit just went perfectly with the surroundings.

I love this shot. I remember we were having this whole conversation about America's Next Top Model and we were making fun of Tyra Bank's and how she tells them to 'smize' (which means to smile with your eyes). So I told her to give me her best smize and this is it. I have to say...I think she's got it down.

I love this blue door! They are renovating the house where I took these and if they paint over this door I am going to be so sad.

Another favorite. Love the softness of it and the sun flare.

I love her hair in this one and the background with the light streaming through the room behind her.

She changed into something more formal since she wanted some shots for her grandma to frame in her house and they needed to be a little more traditional. I love her hair up like this too, and the sun hitting her eyes is perfect.

Another favorite blue door in the background.

I usually hate doing black and whites of people with great hair color and skin...but I love this! She is seriously stunning!

Thanks for choosing me for your senior/freshman photos! I had a great time!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 45 ~

2011-11-18T14:37:00.001-05:00

What a busy week we've had! I can't seem to sit down and write a blog post during the week to save my life. I just have no time for extra hobbies right now and when it comes down to it, blogging is a hobby for me. Last night I was making mashed potatoes at 9pm for my daughter's Thanksgiving Feast at her school this morning just to give you an idea of my week. The kids were so cute this morning all dressed up like pilgrims and Indians though! And I basically got to eat Thanksgiving dinner for lunch today. Yum! I didn't take my camera, duh, I always forget to take it to stuff and regret it. There was a photographer there from our local newspaper though so maybe I'll get to check out some photos of it in there. So...this week's photos are actually from last week. I didn't even get my camera out all week (except for work, which doesn't count for this project). My husband had his birthday on 11-11-11 this year which was Friday (so these photos were actually taken after my Photo Friday post from last week therefore they count). I was going to do a big party and stuff, but what can I say, it didn't happen. We had a cake here at home and we decorated a little bit and then we went to dinner. The kids were pretty excited about the whole thing. We had to sing Happy Birthday before dinner because they couldn't wait. The kids put all the candles on the cake while I was busy doing something else so I came back in the room and was like, WOW. I'm married to an old man. :) Just kidding!

I thought that blue gel icing would be cool to write 11-11-11 on the cake with, but turns out it just looked like I used toothpaste. Nice.

You'd never guess from looking at him that his birthday cake could start a house fire. Yikes!

I love these three. Seriously. Am I lucky or what?

Have a great weekend! Hopefully next week I can post some more...who am I kidding, next week is Thanksgiving!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 44 ~

2011-11-11T10:45:00.001-05:00

I'm such a slacker about posting to my blog this week. I had a bunch of posts I wanted to share, but time just got away from me again and it seems that my blog is not top priority on my to do list so it always gets pushed to the bottom and I don't get to it. I did get a major project done this past weekend though! I painted our garage doors and all the outdoor window trim on our house. If you've been to my house in the past month or so then you've seen my paint chips and voted for what color you like. I went with the darker blue/grey color and I love it. I still need to paint the front door, but that will have to wait for now so I can get caught up on all of my photo editing. While I was painting the garage doors the other day on one of those unseasonably warm days my daughter pointed out a beautiful butterfly on our flowers. We just watched him for a while and everyone wanted me to take a photo but I thought he'd fly away...turns out he didn't mind a bit. He just sat there on the flowers and completely ignored us. It was like one last tribute to summer. A beautiful day, my family all home and working on a project, the kids climbing trees, the flowers still blooming and a beautiful butterfly letting us admire him. Ahhhh....I love days like that. I will miss them. I will come back to this memory when it's the dead of winter and I'm freezing and huddled under my blankets and it will help to get me through. The hope of spring is a powerful thing.

I'm not sure why, but I just had the urge to see how this would look in black and white. Turns out I kinda like it.

Have a great weekend! We will be celebrating my husband's birthday today on 11.11.11!! How cool is that?! Happy Birthday, Babe!!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 43 ~

2011-11-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

It was Halloween this week and I took a bunch of photos of my kids (of course), so I'm just gonna combine my favorites (as my photo friday picks) and the rest into one big post about Halloween. My kids are totally into all the spookiness, and the candy, and the dressing up, and did I mention the candy? They were pretty excited to go trick-or-treating and my boy finally had the stamina to go the whole way with us this year. The neighborhood crew was out and they joined us for part of the way which was fun. Oh...and my cousin brought her little 18 month over to trick-or-treat with us this year too! It was her first time and she was the cutest thing ever! After we filled our buckets to the brim we headed over to my grandpa's house to ring his doorbell and see if he recognized the kids in their costumes. Then they had to head out to his neighbors and get some more candy on his street too. Needless to say, I think we have enough candy to last us through until next Halloween! Here are my super kids in their super costumes.

Is it too much to ask to have them both look at me at the same time? Apparently it is.

Supergirl. Ready to save the world.

Superman. Ready for a fight.

Super cute, super sweet, super smart...supergirl!

Super brave, super tough, super funny, super smart, Superman!

Super sassy, super model...supergirl!

She's off!

Off to rid the world of bad guys.

Posing with her jack-o-lantern. It was supposed to be a dog with a hairbow in. I was not there when the carving took place.

Posing with his scary jack-o-lantern. He designed it himself. I think it sort of resembles his frowny face that he does.

My cousin's baby girl dressed as the "World's Cutest Peacock". This is the cutest costume I have ever seen! She didn't quite know what to make of the whole ordeal, but I think she had fun.

The little boy down the street also dressed as Superman! And those Frankenstiens really are twins, one is in my daughter's class.

The neighborhood crew. They range in age from 6th grade down to kindergarten. Don't you love my daughter's pose in the bottom left? You can tell she's got a photographer for a mom...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Brown Eyed Beauty ~ A Photo Shoot ~

2011-11-03T16:57:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite photo shoots from last year was of this adorable family and you can check it out here. When they called me again to do a shoot this year I was excited to see how much their sweet little girl had grown. I met them at this old historic home and when they got out of the car I couldn't believe #1 how big she'd gotten and #2 how she could be even more beautiful than before! Her gorgeous head of curls and sweet little personality are the perfect duo. I wouldn't be surprised if she's got every man in her life wrapped around her pretty little finger already. Her mom is expecting baby number 2 and I can't wait to meet the beautiful new addition! This was a mini session so I'm only sharing a few photos. Here they are...

My new favorite photo of the moment...

I love the whole color scheme of this shoot, but since her mom loves black and whites I thought I'd share one.

I love her dress. So classic.

I love the adorable expressions that two year olds make! She reminds me of Shirley Temple in this one.

She was very concerned during our shoot about all the dirty places I was making her sit. Her mom informed me that she has the reputation of being a little princess. She kept wanting her daddy to clean it up for her. It was so cute! I like this because you can see her beautiful curls...they are all natural! I asked because it kinda looked like they curled it. Lucky girl.

I often love the ones when they aren't smiling.

I took some family shots too, but I know they are using one for their Christmas card so I'm not going to share any today. I can't wait to do their photos again next year (hopefully) when they will be a beautiful family of four!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 42 ~

2011-10-28T15:28:00.000-04:00

This week went by in a blur. I am so busy with editing photo shoots and I somehow got roped into planning my daughter's class Harvest Party. That, along with cleaning my house, hosting Bible study, and volunteering in my son's classroom twice this week and I'm just happy it's Friday! Oh and we also had a little incident on Sunday evening when my son wrecked his bike. He had just learned to ride without his training wheels a couple days before. He was ready...my husband actually taught him in the time it took me to run to the pizza place to pick up a pizza and drive home. He surprised me and his sister when we got back. I couldn't believe it! Anyway, he wasn't great at it yet and our neighborhood has those gutters along the sides of the streets and he wrecked. My daughter was outside with him and she has a tendency to be a little melodramatic and will often come running into the house to say "he's hurt SO BAD!" and then I race out to see a minor scrape that isn't even bleeding. So...I'm not always so worried when she comes running in. My husband was home and was actually the one to run out that time, so he carried him in and his shirt was all bloody so I knew it wasn't good. I took one look at it and knew immediately that it needed stitches and I've never even seen a cut that needed stitches before. So, off we all went to the emergency room. I thought about heading to urgent care since it's so much cheaper because of our insurance, but since we live so close to an amazing children's hospital we just decided to go there. I am so glad we did. They were amazing. They had this gel stuff that numbed his chin (no more shots!) and then they had a woman whose sole job was just to distract the kids. They also brought in a medic who was there just to hold his head still and then the doctor who did the actual stitching all while my son just thought she was cleaning his boo boo. It went that great. I just sat in the corner and tried not to be grossed out. I didn't even need to hold his hand. He was completely distracted and thought it was great because when it was all over they gave him a popsicle. Pretty easy...getting the bill will probably be the worst part of the whole ordeal.

Back to the photos. I thought I didn't have any to share so I went outside this morning and took a few fall photos for the Lemonade and Lenses theme this week which is "autumn". I love the color that our tree in our front yard turns.

Another fall themed photo. Those are our pumpkins on our porch blurred in the background.

I have these gerbera daisies that I got from my grandmother's funeral back in the spring and I planted them in a flower pot on our porch. They have bloomed all summer and even just this week they bloomed again! It's amazing because I usually kill plants and this one is doing great. So, the other day I noticed there were 2 more blooms on it which made me smile and then I was sitting at the computer later and my son came in and had something behind his back for me. He had picked one. My first instinct was to be upset because it would've lasted way longer if he hadn't picked it, but of course I just said thank you and gave him a hug (although later we had a talk about which flowers we are allowed to pick and which ones we should leave). I'm kinda glad he picked it though because it looks so perfect in my tiny blue bud vase! And I love turquoise and red together. And now I have this photo to look at too!

Here's a pic of my boy and his stitches. I think his scar will just make him look tough.

Hopefully this next week will be less eventful! Have a great weekend!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 41 ~

2011-10-21T15:06:00.000-04:00

Today I'm just going to share a few photos from our weekend trip to the Smokey's this past weekend. I haven't picked up my camera since we've been home. I have been too busy working on photo shoots! I guess that's a good thing so I shouldn't complain. Here they are...

That group that I'm in, Lemonade and Lenses, had another theme which was "sun flare". All weekend I kept trying to get some shots. I like this one the best though where I switched my camera to manual focus so that the subject was blurred. This is actually a bamboo forest. In the middle of the Smokey Mountains. We didn't even know it was there, we just went to a park for picnic and then we walked over to where we saw other people walking and there it was. It was so cool!

My daughter in the bamboo.

My son making the most ridiculous frowning face ever! I don't even know how his face can do that!

The kids on one of our stops along the drive to look at the view. This is one of the few pictures of them actually smiling at me!

We always stop at this old church at Smokemont because the kids love to pretend they are preaching there. Here's my daughter sitting by the window. I love the light hitting her face.

My son sitting on the steps going up to the door of the church.

Love this view out of the old window of the church.

I'm not sure why they look so serious in this picture, but I like the way they are touching hands.

We had a such a great time getting away. I have so many more photos to share...hopefully I'll get it around to it sharing them before it's just a distant memory!

Bathroom Before and After

2011-10-19T10:46:00.001-04:00

I finished up this project a few weeks ago and I am so happy with it. I mean beyond happy. You'll see why when I get to the before pictures. I had meaning to getting around to re-doing this little half bath on our main floor ever since we moved in...over 6 years ago...yeah, so I had a little time to think about how I wanted it to look. I changed my mind a few times over the years, but I knew I wanted it to be light and clean. It was never really in the budget since in my mind I wanted to get a new toilet, new vanity, new sink, new floor, pretty much new everything. When I finally came to terms with the fact that it just wasn't going to happen I went for the budget friendly approach. I spent about $200 on this re-do. I'll give you a little rundown in case you're interested, but first up, the photos!

BEFORE.

All caps so you aren't confused about the fact that I might actually put something this hideous in my house on purpose. Ugh...the sink! Gross. And the orange...blah. The previous owners had painted everything including the trim, baseboards and the back of the door this burnt orange. It was awful. They also painted the ceiling a sort of tan color. The cabinet looked orange and even the floor looked orange. And the jungle border...don't even get me started. How did I live with this for 6 years?! Why didn't you people intervene?!

AFTER.

I love it. It's clean, light and fresh. I went with a cottage feel. The wall color is called 'cucumber' and it's a very pale green. I bought the paint plus primer and it took 2 coats (about $30). I also painted the ceiling white with paint we already had. I painted the vanity white (2 coats of paint we also already had) and got new hardware for it (about $20). I bought that light fixture at Home Depot for $30. It's an outdoor light. I love the look of it. That window was one I had bought years ago for my apartment and it used to have crackle paint on it (remember when that was so popular?) so I just added a fresh coat of white and then sanded down all the edges for a more distressed look.

The art above the toilet is the same from the before photo, I just spray painted the frame white. I did purchase a new sink top for $60 at Home Depot as well as the new faucet for $25. I did all the installation myself with a little help from my husband and my mom. The back splash was a complete and total afterthought but it is now my favorite thing! When we took out the old sink and went to put on the new one we realized that the old one had come up a couple inches higher on the wall. There was a line of caulk that had done some damage to the wall and I was so done with sanding and spackling at that point so my mom suggested we just put in a back splash to cover it. Off to Home Depot again and they had these mosaic tiles on sale and I only needed two 12"x12" squares which cost less than $10. I bought premixed grout for about $6 and the rest of the supplies and tools I already had from previous projects. I'm thinking about tiling my kitchen next!

There you have it! Some of the best money I have ever spent! I love it so much and it goes with the rest of my house now. I also no longer feel the need to apologize and explain to people about why my bathroom is so ugly. I still need to find a little towel bar and a toilet paper holder (who knew those things were so expensive?!) but I can live with it like this for at least another 6 years or so.

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 40 ~

2011-10-18T11:19:00.001-04:00

I know...it's Tuesday. This post is seriously late. But I have a really good excuse. We were on our way to the Smokey Mountains on Friday. Here are just a couple photos that I snapped on our ride. I have lots more to share and hopefully I will get to them this week. That's my ambition talking. I am so busy this week it's not even funny. I needed a weekend away though and it's kinda nice being away from the computer and facebook and blogs for a few days. Where we stay we don't get good reception and we were too busy to bother with trying to check email and all that other stuff that crowds my mind usually. Hiking, picnicking, shopping and having movie night and a bonfire...these memories will last. I waste so much of my life not really even living it, you know what I mean? A weekend in the mountains is just what I needed to remind me to take time to enjoy this short time I have with my kids and my husband, and to really stop and look around at all the beautiful things God has created. Why is it so hard to do this when I am at home? Why do all those other things seem so important? I'm going to try to drag myself away from so many screens on a daily basis and just relax and take time to reflect. I really am going to try.

The leaves weren't quite as vibrant as usual, but still, the mountains and the way they seem to stretch on forever is beautiful enough alone. I took this from our moving van and I can't believe how well it turned out! I edited two versions of this, the other was more warm, but I decided to share this one because this is more true to what the mountains really look like...they really do look blue in the distance like that.

My cuties with their travel clothes and hair. I love the road cutting through the mountain behind them.

My boy on top of the mountain. It was super windy up there and he had a strange coughing fit when we got back in the van. It was kinda scary.

I'll share some more when I get a chance. I love looking at vacation photos and remembering all the details.

4 People 12 Times

2011-10-11T10:34:00.000-04:00

September. I have a love/hate thing for September. The weather is so beautiful but it also means back to school which means less time with my babies. It also is the time of year when my business picks back up though and that makes me happy. My son started kindergarten and my daughter started 2nd grade and we got into a groove with our drop offs and pick ups. It makes it harder for me to get things done when I have to always be somewhere in the middle of the day, but I wouldn't trade that half a day home with my boy for anything. We did all the mundane things this month like doctor appointments (and shots, ouch) and school forms. I started hosting Bible study again on Thursdays and I love it. I love having a bunch of people here. Plus, it forces me to clean my house which is kinda nice. My son turned 5 this month. I still can't believe it. I shot a wedding with a friend and did a bunch of client photo shoots. I got a new computer! It seriously has helped my productivity so much. I am able to get my editing done much more quickly now. Some friends came to visit from California and Texas. It's so great to see old friends. I started volunteering in the kids' classrooms which is always so fun for me. I love meeting all their little friends and getting a glimpse into their days. I'd say it was a pretty great month. We went to the park after school a bunch and the kids have spent countless hours playing outside with their friends. Sometimes it's the mundane things that make me smile. The time we went and got slushies (my son calls them flushies) from Sonic and took them to the park. The time I took photos of the kids in the backyard with all the neighbor kids. Oh, and I redid my bathroom just in time for my son's birthday party! I've gotta post some before and after photos for you guys. Sorry for the complete randomness of this post. Sometimes when I reflect on the past month I'm just reminded how blessed we are to just have a pretty ordinary life. We are happy and healthy and have great friends. What else could I ask for?

To see the previous entries in this series, click here.

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 39 ~

2011-10-07T12:19:00.000-04:00

My little boy stayed home sick from school today. I'm such a pushover. I should have sent him, but he did have a fever during the night. He feels fine though as you can see from these photos that I snapped of him this morning. I love this kid so much. It's obnoxious. But seriously, he knows just how to sweet talk me and get what he wants. And even though I know he's doing it, I fall for it every time. That's how in love I am.

Check out those long lashes and those freckles. I tell him his freckles taste like cinnamon.

He always does this thing where he blinks really slow. It's so cute. I used to have a crush on a boy who did the same thing. I don't what it is about it, I just really think it's cute.

So not sick.

Trying to look sad and pitiful. I'm not buying it.

Both my kids can do this thing where they can get a bubble of spit right on the end of their tongue. It's so weird! Here he is showing it off.

I think he's gonna be fine...don't you? Have a great weekend!

10 Years Ago Today...

2011-10-06T13:17:00.000-04:00

Here's to 10 amazing years with my favorite person in the whole entire world. Thanks for giving me everything I've ever wanted by making me a wife and a mother and enabling me to stay at home and raise our children and make a home for our family. Thanks for encouraging me to do photography and being my biggest fan. Thanks for making me laugh and driving me crazy and always having my back, and always loving me even when I'm not so lovable. I am a lucky, lucky girl. I love you. I respect you. I am your biggest fan. The End.

Sweet One ~ A Photo Shoot ~

2011-10-04T08:30:00.000-04:00

Our wonderful friends from California were in town last weekend and they have absolutely the sweetest, most adorable little baby girl you have ever met. She had just turned one the week before so we decided to do a little photo shoot while she was here. Of course, whenever they come to town Ohio has to show it's worst side and have horrible weather, but we were able to get some great shots regardless. This little girl is so laid back I swear she didn't cry once at our house while she was here and she came over right after a flight from Los Angeles followed by a visit to relatives and a two hour drive to our house. My kids would've been having meltdowns left and right after that. She is a tiny little princess who is clearly the apple of mom and dad's eye. She is a total chatterbox...in jibberish. It's adorable! I can't wait to see her again. I just wish she didn't live on the other side of the country! :( Oh well, it's an excuse to get myself to some beautiful California weather, so I guess I can't complain. Here are my favorite pics.

I love her cute little facial expressions.

It started to rain on us, but luckily we were able to use this porch. She didn't seem to mind!

Love her tongue sticking out...too cute!

Talking to me. She reminded me of my son, the only other baby I've ever heard talk that much jibberish. I think she's gonna be a major chatterbox someday.

When I am editing, I always go through my 'rejects' one last time to make sure I didn't miss one that I should have kept. I found this one and now I think it's my favorite! I have no idea why I missed it the first time. I really like the light in it.

I've only met her twice and I adore her. I can't wait to see how much she changes between now and the next time I see her.

It was so great to see you guys again and be able to take your perfect baby girl's photos. I hope I am lucky enough to do it again sometime!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 38 ~

2011-09-30T09:46:00.000-04:00

As I sat down at my computer this morning, I realized that I had nothing planned for my Photo Friday post! I usually at least have an idea of what I'm going to post, but this week seems like it just flew by. I have to go read to my son's class in a few minutes so I better get going. Here are the pics I chose for this week.

Anyone know what game this is? My husband and his friends have been playing it for years and every time they get together they play it. Oh, Settlers of Catan...I once got banned from playing this game. I have a love/hate relationship with it.

Since these are good friends I consider this a personal photo rather than a professional one so it qualifies. Don't you just love pics of babies with their mamas?

This morning at the bus stop my son was gathering all the pretty leaves for me. We had a leaf family. The big ones are the mom and dad and the little ones are the kids. I like our diverse leaf family. That bright red one is from the tree in our front yard. It's the prettiest tree on the street when it turns.

Ah, fall, I love you but you torment me with your reminder that winter is on it's way.

Have a great weekend!

Beautiful Baby Boy ~ A Photo Shoot ~

2011-09-27T17:06:00.002-04:00

This little guy is such a sweet baby. I totally love baby boys. They get me every time. He sort of has a little scowl on his face most of the time and it's adorable. He didn't sleep much for me, but even when he was awake he was just so content! Guess that's because he's the fourth kid in his family. His big brother and sisters were all so beautiful and sweet too. How do I always luck out with the nicest families as clients? Here are some of my favorites.

Love his lips in this one.

He just looks like a boy. A beautiful one though.

What a gorgeous bunch of kids!

I love this baby bonnet. So classic.

This might be my favorite.

Yep, he's a thumb sucker. Too cute!

Beautiful boy.

I saved the best for last...definitely my favorite. Do I see the tiniest hint of a smile?!

It was so great meeting this family and I hope I have the opportunity to photograph them in the future!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 37 ~

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

I took these pictures last night as the sun was getting low in the sky and I was making dinner. The kids have been outside nonstop these past few weeks hanging with the neighborhood kids. I'm so grateful for some very sweet kids from great families who live so near to us. The kids all get along pretty well and there are all so very nice and tolerate my little 5 year old tagging along as well. It's times like that when I am grateful to not have my kids involved in any activities. I mean, when you are 7 and 5 what could be better than riding your scooter down the street away from mom's watchful eye and acting like a wild hooligan much of the time? Climbing trees and finding huge sticks and having races and using sidewalk chalk as eye shadow... It's the little things that make up a childhood, not the constant running around to activities, but the time spent with friends and dreaming up crazy schemes on their own. Sometimes I worry, sure, and I check out the window every so often to make sure nothing to crazy is going on...but I know there are 3 other moms doing the same thing. And sometimes I get annoyed that I barely see their little faces between the time homework is done and bedtime. And geez, do they have to scarf down dinner in less than 10 minutes so they don't miss anything that their friends might be doing? But winter is coming and I know that these days are fleeting. It will be getting dark early soon and I'll be longing for the days when I could send them off down the street to play themselves to exhaustion. So, I'm just letting it go and being laid back...and can I just say that I think I am a way more laid back mom than I ever thought I'd be? I kinda like it. The whole crew was there watching as I took these pictures, wondering why on earth I wanted to take blurry photos (it's for a Lemonade and Lenses theme) and wanting me to take their pictures too. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I. Love. This.

Blurry jumping is kinda weird. I still like this though.

I love them.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

The Fab '5'

2011-09-20T11:14:00.000-04:00

My baby is 5! I have no idea how that happened so quickly. I still can hardly believe it. In so many ways he still seems like my baby, but then in so many other ways he seems like such a big kid. He is in kindergarten and doing great. He is off running around in the cul-de-sac with his big sister most days after school. He is riding his new scooter like a champ. He doesn't take a nap anymore, "Five year old's don't take naps" he has informed me multiple times now. He's still home with me in the afternoons though and we still have that special time together just the two of us eating lunch and hanging out. I am trying to hold onto that for as long as I can. It seems like every day my kids are growing up and slipping away from me no matter how tight I hold onto them. I know that's what it is for them to grow up, but I didn't know it would feel like this. On the other hand, I love how much fun they are now that all that hard baby and toddler stuff is long over with. I love watching them learn and teaching them new things. I love that they can run off and explore but they still come back and tell me with bright eyes all the things they've discovered. Motherhood is truly a gift. One I try to never take for granted.

Right before his birthday party showing me that he's 5.

Running off like he always does when I try to take his picture.

So excited for his golf party! He had a golf party when he was 3 also. We were going to do a Cars 2 party, but then his little friend had a mini golf party and he decided he wanted to do golf again. He wanted the same exact cake too, but I couldn't find the same little golf figurines I used the last time, so this ended up being my last minute idea and he was fine with it.

My boy and his cousin who is his best buddy. I love this!

Opening their goodie bags...I think my daughter liked hers!

Opening his gifts.

Trying on both of his new Steeler hats at once. His grandma and aunt had taken a recent trip to Pittsburgh so he's all geared up now.

He'd been asking for a fishing pole for an entire week before his party, so we got him one. This is him opening it (it has transformers on it). He was really excited and we asked him what it was and he said, "I have no idea." It was the cutest thing.

Blowing out his candles. I love that one in the middle!

My big 5 year old. I love this kid.

We had a great time and thanks to everyone who came out to his party!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 36 ~

2011-09-16T07:30:00.000-04:00

I took some photos of my daughter last night when I realized I hadn't taken any photos since my son's birthday party this weekend. I really want to do a whole post about that (how am I so busy that I haven't done it yet?!) so I wanted something else. She wasn't really in the mood and kept giving me all of her meanest facial expressions. And of course then when she would smile she was too fast for me and everything was blurred. That girl. Good thing she's so cute. I did get a couple of shots of her though with her serious face. I love her hair in these pictures. Is it wrong to be jealous of your daughter's hair? It kinda feels wrong. I need to work on that. Anyway, she doesn't usually wear it down since I hate, hate, hate all these kids I see at her school running around looking like they don't own a hairbrush. What is up with that? I mean it takes me less than 5 minutes to make sure she got the brush through more than the top layer of her hair and make sure it's not hanging in her face. Less than 5 minutes, people. Okay, sorry, I got off track there with my hair rant. Here's this week's pics.

I love how the front of her hair always gets bleached out in the summer.

Pretty girl.

Being a little stinker and running away from me.

Can't wait to enjoy the beautiful weekend!

Beautiful Girl ~ A Photo Shoot ~

2011-09-14T14:23:00.000-04:00

Seniors are my favorite. I hate to admit to favorites, but it's true. They are just so much fun! It's so nice to take photos of these teens and get to know them a little bit and try to capture their personalities. I really think teens get a bad rap. Most of the ones I know are sweet, polite, and bursting with potential. Maybe I'm just lucky. I definitely lucked out with this sweet senior. She is so amazingly beautiful! And she's got the sweetest personality to match. We met up at Ault park on the most windy day we've had in a while. It was completely overcast too. I have to say though that both of those things worked in our favor. She had her own personal supermodel wind machine and she could pose anywhere in the park without worrying about the sun in her face! I have a lot of favorites of this girl...she seriously cannot take a bad picture. I had the hardest time narrowing it down. Here you go...

I think this is my favorite.

Love this too. I didn't even know that this little field was there and we lucked out finding it right before we were done!

This was the first picture I took. She was a natural right from the start.

That dress is soooo cute! I wish I could pull off yellow like that, but I can't.

I'm posting this for her mom because she has a photo of her from when she was a toddler sitting in front of a white picket fence framed in their house. How perfect that there happened to be a fence there!

Her eyes are so pretty!

Love the wind blown hair.

The wind was a little intense at times, but I love this of her laugh!

Can you see why I was having such a hard time picking my favorites?!?

By the way, I am completely in love with her profile. If you read this blog then you know I have a similar obsession with my daughter's profile. Some people just have the perfect face for it. She's definitely one of them.

We stopped at the swings since she loves them. I'm glad she suggested it because this turned out so cute!

Another favorite.

Last one. I love the way her eyes pop against the brick wall.

Whew, that was a lot of favorites! I hope you enjoyed them. I had such a good time with this girl and her sweet mom. It is so nice to get to know people through photography!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 35 ~

2011-09-09T14:21:00.001-04:00

I'm posting this late today because I went in to my daughter's class today to volunteer. Her teacher does a class 'store' on Fridays and I'm the Store Manager. The kids earn money throughout the week for good behavior and then they get to spend it on Fridays or save it up to buy something big. It was so fun getting to meet all the kids and interact with them. They were all so cute! They were really into shopping too, even the boys. They had to check everything out and touch it before they made their decisions. I am so, so grateful to be able to stay home and not work so that I can have opportunities like that. Afterward I even went to lunch with my daughter and it was so fun to get to talk to all of her little friends. Can you believe she eats lunch at 10:50am? No wonder she's always starving when she gets home from school!

This week's photos have nothing to do with my little trip to school. I have more nature photos for you. Yesterday it rained all day a sort of very fine mist. We have this plant in our front landscaping that we refer to as the "hair bush". I have no idea what it's really called. Anyway, yesterday it had tiny little water droplets all over it and it was the coolest thing.

See what I mean?

I've got a busy weekend planned with my baby turning 5! Say it ain't so! I can hardly believe it.

4 People 12 Times

2011-09-07T10:04:00.000-04:00

Okay, so this isn't going to actually end up being 12 times because I missed June and July! Ugh...I hate when I fail miserably at reaching a seemingly attainable goal. I mean, 1 family photo a month (a snapshot) doesn't seem like such a hard thing, but it is. June and July were awesome months for us. I love summer. I love the heat, the sunshine, the pool, the amusement park, going to the park, reading a book, wearing flip flops and tank tops...all of it. I love summer. Did I already say that? Anyway, we did a lot of stuff together as a family, but I guess I just never bothered to get out the camera and take pictures of us. Sometimes I just like to be camera free and enjoy myself. So, I'm lumping all of summer into one and just posting our August family photo. This photo was taken very hastily right before we left to go to my cousin's wedding. My mom happened to be riding with us to the wedding so when she met us I forced her to take a photo of us in the front yard. The light was horrible and it was like 90 degrees out and I was wearing very, very high heels. So high that I almost tripped twice while trying to walk around and find a better location for this photo and then just decided to stay right there before I broke an ankle. I have to say that those shoes are cute though! And they make me tall. The perfect height for slow dancing with my husband. And kissing...so I guess you can say that they were worth the risk.

Why, oh why, is my son making the most ridiculous face ever?! Crazy kid.

I love my sweet family!

Okay, it's September and I have plenty of time for a family picture, let's just hope I can make it happen!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 34 ~

2011-09-02T07:30:00.001-04:00

This week I'm not posting pics of my kids. What?!? I know, I have so many pics of them on here it's obnoxious. But this is kinda like my online scrapbook so when I see a cute pic or think of something funny they've said I'm compelled to write about it and post it on here. So that way I won't forget. I have a horrible memory sometimes and this blog is extremely helpful in that way. Anyway, what I am going to post this week is something I took for the photography group Lemonade and Lenses' creative assignment. They give a new one every other week and I missed the last one (selfie) because I had just taken a self portrait and I didn't feel like doing another one (you're supposed to take the photo after the theme is assigned as opposed to going through your photos and just randomly finding one that fits the theme) so I really wanted to do this one. The theme is "Yellow". I'm not always great with themes. Sometimes I feel pressured to find a cute or original way to interpret it and then I just can't deliver. I had actually kinda forgotten all about it when I was sitting on the front porch today watching the kids and I saw some little yellow finches in the neighbors flowers. At least I think that's what they were...tiny little bright yellow birds. They were so pretty! Anyway, I went in and grabbed my camera and then tried to sneak up on them as quietly as I could since I don't have a good zoom lens. Well...giant fail...they all flew away and I didn't get one good pic. While walking back to my house I decided to take a photo of one of the remaining day lilies in my flower bed.

Look what I found, a little creature peeking out at me!

He climbed right out so I could get a better look at him and to my surprise he was yellow! How perfect is that for my theme?!

This is my attempt to think outside the box a little with the theme. I saw our croquet set sitting in the garage and that yellow ball just jumped out at me...so I took a pic. I kinda love this. I like the way your eye is drawn right to the yellow. And I like that you can see how well used and loved our croquet set is. I have so many good memories of playing croquet with my husband even before we were married. We pretty much destroyed that old set though...this one is our new one. I we need another new one soon!

Have a great Labor Day Weekend, everyone!!!

1st Day of Kindergarten!

2011-08-30T12:54:00.000-04:00

I still can't believe it...my baby is in kindergarten! He was so excited to get on the bus. No seat belts! That's what he's been talking about for weeks! He's so funny. Here are some pictures from this morning.

This seems to be our traditional first day of school spot to pose.

Showing me his backpack.

He was so excited for the bus and afraid he'd miss it that he went sprinting down the street to the bus stop.

He wanted to pose in front of the stop sign...but I chopped it off.

He was so happy! And I love this picture!

Taking my baby off to school.

These are from last week when we went for his orientation. He was checking things out in the classroom.

With his teacher. He really wanted to pose with that tree!

In his classroom.

I made him stand by this tree they have in the hallway, you can see from his face that he is not happy about it. He told me he can't stand that tree.

I already went to pick him up and he had a great time. The best parts were "riding the bus and recess". That's my boy!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 33 ~

2011-08-26T16:29:00.001-04:00

One thing I love about my son is his sense of humor. What is it about 4 year olds that makes them laugh at the most ridiculous stuff? I love that I know exactly what silly thing will make him crack up. And without fail, taking off his shirt turns into something funny...at least to him. Meet Shirt Monster.

I love my silly boy.

And since my mom requested this collage of my daughter and one of these photos was taken this week, I figured it still qualifies for Photo Friday. I can't believe how much she's grown!

Close up version. I can't believe she went from her perfect little set of baby teeth to all those big teeth in such a short amount of time!

Have a great weekend!!

1st Day of 2nd Grade

2011-08-25T12:40:00.000-04:00

My sweet girl went off to 2nd grade today. I miss her. Not in quite the same way as when she went to kindergarten and first grade though. I guess it's because she's older, and she's not quite so dependent on me anymore and she spends a lot of time playing by herself or with her brother and they don't need me all the time. Or she'll read a book in her room. Or she'll ride her bike down to the cul-de-sac to play with all her neighborhood friends. Seems I don't see as much of her these days. I'm okay with it though. I always wanted my kids to be free to play outside without me having to be there watching over them every second. I know each year she will pull away a little more and I guess that's what it is to grow up. So I'm sad that she's gone at school, but I know she will love it and will be learning so much. The great part is that she will be getting home a whole hour and a half earlier this year so I can actually have a little time with her before I have to start cooking dinner. That is if she isn't off down the street with her friends or getting some time with her brother. It's okay though, I'll take what I can get! Here are some photos I took this morning before I drove her to school.

Showing me two fingers for 2nd grade. If you click the links above you will see how much she has grown! By the way, I picked the outfit and she picked the shoes.

I must have said something funny!

She was just a little excited.

Had to post this because it looks almost exactly like one of the photos from last year.

My little Richard Nixon.

So excited for 2nd grade!

My favorite!! Love this!

With her brother. He misses her today, but next week he'll be starting kindergarten so he'll be busy! I can't believe how much my babies are growing up!

Hopefully she's having a great time and making lots of new friends. I can't wait to hear about it when she gets home!

How to Make a Play Tent

2011-08-23T11:14:00.002-04:00

You know in that movie "The Holiday" when Cameron Diaz goes to Jude Law's home and his daughters show her their tent? It's an amazing tent and ever since I saw that movie I've been wanting to make something like that for my kids. I looked all over the internet for ideas and how-to's but they were all too complicated, or too small for what I wanted. So I came up with this on my own. It's not quite as pretty as the one in the movie, but I do have a son, and it's in our playroom so I wanted it to be a little less girly. By the way, I spent less than $5 on this project.

It's the perfect spot for reading.

Sorry for the crappy picture quality (I took this with my broken lens that won't autofocus anymore), but here's what it looks like. The weight of the tent is supported by a dowel rod. I attached it to the ceiling using white hooks and then tying it to the rod with twine.

I found my stash of old fabric and went to town draping it over the rod. No sewing for this project! I ended up ripping some of it into longer strips so that it would come all the way to the floor. The section in front I tied on to the front of the rod in a knot to make the doorway.

The fabric in the back is also tied on in order to make the back wall of fabric. In this photo you can kinda see how the ceiling of the tent is draped. I got that star light while we were on vacation and it just so happened to match the colors of all of my scrap fabric! I also put a blue light bulb in it to add to the ambiance. It looks great at night.

You can see the hooks and twine here. You'll need to use a wall anchor to make sure it can hold the weight, these hooks came with them.

The corners...this is the hardest part. Once you get all of your fabric draped over your rod, you'll need to make the four corners of your tent. You can make it as big or small as you like. I got these smaller hooks and put four of them into the ceiling first. Then you will need to take a large safety pin and put it through all of your layers of fabric and pull it up. Then string fishing line (make sure it's pretty sturdy, I've had mine break a couple of times and had to re-do it) between the safety pin and the ceiling hook. Note: I used a large paperclip because I didn't have any safety pins and I was too lazy to go buy some. They are working fine, but I had to jam it through my fabric and I'm sure a pin would work better.

The fishing line will be invisible when standing back.

My mom happened to be getting rid of an old feather bed so I snatched it up for the bottom of the tent. It's for a queen sized bed and I folded it in half and covered it with a fitted sheet.

My kids wanted the doors of the tent to be open, so I found some old curtain tie backs and tied them to the front fabric and attached them to my fishing line to create the open doorway.

And there you have it! The perfect nook for reading, napping, and even the occasional sleepover! I love it and so do they. And the best part is that it was mostly free!

If you have made a tent or end up making one, link to it in the comments of this post, I'd love to see it!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 32 ~

2011-08-19T10:05:00.000-04:00

My little boy, my baby, has learned to climb our tree in our front yard. He wanted me to take his picture yesterday so he led me outside and showed me how he can climb it all by himself. I didn't even know he could do it...which probably makes me sound like a terrible mother, but as far as I knew his sister was always giving him a boost to get up there and then he would climb the rest of the way on his own. So, I'm not exactly sure when he figured out how to do it for himself, but I'm proud of him. Although, most of the time, I have to look away and bite my tongue because my instinct is to be scared to death that he's going to fall and break an arm and I want to give him all kinds of warnings. I did do that the first few times, but he's got the hang of it now, and one of the things I love about my boy is his fearless, adventurous, determined personality so I just let him be. I can't believe how much he is growing up lately. It seems every time I look around he is doing something else to remind me how fleeting this time is. Oh, and I asked him the other day, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" and he said completely seriously, "A grownup." I love him so much.

Little show off.

He loves that he is a big kid. Look at his proud little face.

No hands! My little daredevil.

Love this!!! I caught a rare 'real' smile. And I love his little freckles and his blue eyes.

Last one. I caught two good smiles, which trust me are very rare with him. He is always hamming it up and making weird faces. I love this though.

We are off to Kings Island one last time before school starts next week! Have a great weekend!!

Life with Boys

2011-08-18T09:31:00.000-04:00

Boys. Gotta love 'em. They just have their own style. Their own vision of what looks good. My son will rearrange my picture frames and my little decorative things around the house for me sometimes. Or he will spruce up the staircase in his own special way.

See?

I do like how he coordinated all the vehicles to be some sort of police / fire / rescue theme. He's got potential.

Have a great day!!

The Great Private School Debate ~ Update

2011-08-15T21:25:00.000-04:00

You may remember that a few months back I was struggling with some decisions regarding schooling for our daughter. You can read my post about it here. Now that school is starting up here next week (yikes!) I've had a lot of people asking me what we decided. So...here's my big update...we are not sending our daughter to private school this year. She'll be at the same public school that she went to last year only in a different building due to the way they have the grades divided. I still want her to attend a private school eventually, but thanks to a lot of support from friends and family I've realized that it's okay to take it on a year by year basis. And this year, it didn't work out. We will definitely be looking into ways to make it happen next year, but for now, I am at peace. I can't say that I felt that way last week, but today I feel great about it, I really do. Here's the thing...I kept thinking that if I had faith then everything would work out the way I had planned. Only thing is, it worked out the way He had planned...you know? So how can I not feel good about that? Who am I to say that this school isn't the right place for her when everything is pointing to the fact that it is. I had a moment (okay, like an hour) this week when I went back to my old ways of thinking that I was right when I got her class list and saw that there were 3 girls in her class with the same first name as her. Granted it's a common name, but she was the only one in her entire grade last year at her old building. So, I had a little freak out where I thought, "what the heck? Why is this happening, it's not perfect like I planned!" But I have heard from a couple of people now what a great teacher she has and I realize that in the scheme of things this name thing is completely insignificant. Just another way where I was thinking all wrong. I mean, she could be in class with these other girls for a reason. I mean, she is in class with them for a reason. See, I have control issues...I'm working on it though! I really am looking forward to having her at this school this year. I know she will do great, and I hope she makes some sweet little friends.

Some of you may also know that along with our great private school debate went the debate on whether or not to send our son to kindergarten this year. I know, I usually don't talk about it because people are so opinionated on the subject and can't seem to keep their opinions to themselves! Our son has a September birthday. He will most likely be the youngest kid in his class. He is my baby. I want him to succeed. Of course this is a big decision! But, here's the thing...it's just kindergarten! It's not life or death. If he's not ready for first grade at the end of this year he can repeat kindergarten. Gasp! Seriously people, our school district is so big and it's so common now that I'm not even worried about it. The thing I was worried about? What you guys would think. How stupid is that? I mean, here I am an adult making my own decisions that make sense for my family and my children and I'm thinking about what other people are going to say...I'm right back in junior high. Not a good place to put yourself. So, I'm putting it out there. I know some of you will think we are crazy. That we are harming our son somehow, but I know him and I am completely at peace about the fact that he is ready. He is. He went to preschool, he knows how to make friends, follow directions, count, write his name, say and recognize his abc's, and most of all he's so excited about school. Why would I not send him? What does he have to lose? Another year at preschool doing the same exact things only I'd be paying a huge chunk of money for it? I am fully prepared to pull him out of school if it doesn't work out. And I'm prepared to hold him back next year so that he'll be on track with his peers. But if there's one thing I've learned from all of this...it's not to plan too far ahead. Everything can change in the course of a year, so I'm taking it one day at a time. I literally have no idea where my kids will be going to school after this year, and I'm okay with that. It's not my plan that I'm trying to follow anyway. Oh, and just this weekend I found out that my son will only have 17 students in his class (unheard of around our district) and a little girl that he randomly met at the park the other day just so happens to be in his class. I don't think God could have made it any more clear to me that this is where my son is supposed to be.

I hope this clarifies things for anyone that was wondering what the heck we were doing! I had my moments this summer where I was feeling that way too! We are really happy about the way things ended up and I'm excited to go meet their teachers next week. I'm not excited about summer being over though. How did it go by so fast?!?

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 31 ~

2011-08-12T09:37:00.000-04:00

This week the weather was gorgeous. I can sit and imagine that I live someplace like this all year long rather than here where it's like this maybe 2 weeks out of the entire year. But I'm not complaining, I'm enjoying it. I took a ton of photos this week but I just have a few that I'll share. If you checked here yesterday you saw the photo shoot I did with my daughter with her hair curled. In order to get it that way she had to wear little sponge curlers for almost an entire day. I've tried other methods to curl her hair (hot rollers, curling irons) but none of them work. She looked like my grandma with curlers in her hair so I took some pictures of her being silly.

She looks like a little frog in this picture.

Cutie Pie.

She is constantly acting crazy in front of the camera but for some reason she almost always gets too close to the camera and then I can't get it to focus and half her face is cut off. This one is one of the rare ones that she was standing far enough away. I love my silly girl.

One of my cousins got married over the weekend and we took the kids to part of it. I can't believe I got a picture of both of them together, with real smiles, and wearing outfits I like! I did find out while trying to dress my son for it that he has outgrown all of his long pants except one pair and all of his sleeves are too short which is why his sleeves are rolled up. I see a lot of shopping in my future!

I love that he has a real smile and you can see his freckles and his little dimple. He is looking so old lately (partly my fault for cutting his hair so short) and it's making me sad. Can you believe he will be going to kindergarten in a couple of weeks?!? I don't know if I can handle it!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Sunflower Fields ~ A Photo Shoot ~

2011-08-11T11:32:00.000-04:00

There is this beautiful field of sunflowers very close to our house that a local nursery plants every year. I've been wanting to do a photo shoot there for a couple years now, and so the other evening I planned a shoot with my daughter. I even curled her hair (a very rare occurrence) and so of course it ended up storming that evening! Luckily the next evening was perfect and her hair even still had some curls left in it! She had a great time exploring the fields and all the little paths in them. I did have to bribe her with ice cream however, because the boys decided to spend the evening at Kings Island while we were doing our photo shoot. I made up for it last night by taking just us girls to Kings Island though. I asked her if she was sick of doing stuff with just me and her and she said with shock, "Mommy, I could never get sick of you! Your my mommy! I love you so much!". Sweetest thing ever. I wish I had a recording of it. Here are my favorite photos of my favorite girl.

Love, love, love.

She's so cute with her supermodel poses!

I love her hair like this...doesn't it figure that she is now dying to get a haircut...

Had to get a few shots of just the flowers. They were beautiful!

I like her jawline in this one.

She was collecting these little purple flowers which reminds me that I put them in my camera bag and they are probably all disintegrated in there now.

There were a lot of bees, but they were too busy with the flowers to notice us. I love this!

She just had to pick some and we now have a nice little bouquet on our kitchen table.

Some of them were closed up like this. Just beautiful!

My favorite.

Love the pink sky and her hair blowing in this one.

I like her curls flying in this one.

If anyone is interested in a photo shoot at this location let me know soon!!!

The Weirdest Kids You Know

2011-08-08T13:18:00.000-04:00

You know you are a mom when you say things like "Why are you sitting on your brother?" and you mean it in a completely literal sense. And then your daughter responds with "We are playing baby bird and I'm hatching him." and that sounds like a completely reasonable explanation.

Momma bird.

Ha! This cracks me up! I guess his version of being a tiny bird involves having your wings come out of your cheeks. Cutest baby bird ever.

If she starts regurgitating food for him I might have to put a stop to it...luckily this baby bird eats matchbox cars. Nothing surprises me anymore...

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 30 ~

2011-08-05T10:26:00.000-04:00

Last night as I was tucking my son into bed he told me that he wanted me to take some pictures of him while he was sleeping. Kind of a weird request, I know, so I asked him why and he said because I take lots more pictures of his sister than of him. Which is true, but that's because he usually doesn't want me to take his picture. He told me that I need to sneak in his room in the middle of the night, like when it's really dark and take some. So I took some as I was going to bed.

I love this one. This summer he started sleeping with no shirt so he could be like his daddy.

This is from the other day when we played outside for a little bit. I was teasing him saying, "Your eyes are orange, right?" and he'd say, "No, they're blue!" and this was him showing me that they are blue.

I love my little boy.

Have a great weekend!

30 Minutes of Work ~ 3 Seconds of Fun

2011-08-04T08:18:00.000-04:00

I got a box with my Organic Bloom frames a few weeks ago and it was filled with newspaper. My daughter painstakingly stacked it up over and over (turns out it's hard to stack it high without it falling) until it was about as tall as her. And it was over in a blink. But I still think she'd tell you it was worth it.

City Kids ~ A Photo Shoot ~

2011-08-03T11:24:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I took my kids downtown with my mom and we had lunch on the square. It was sooo nice. I used to work downtown and I do miss it sometimes with all the great lunch places and the hustle and bustle and not to mention my favorite TJ Maxx where I would shop way too much. Anyway, while we were there I knew I wanted to get a couple pics of my kids in a more urban setting. So my mom patiently drove us around the block a few times until I found just the place I wanted. And we parked right on the street and spent about 10 minutes for this photo shoot. I'm so glad we did it because I am in love with these! I need some clients who want an urban shoot...anyone, anyone? Here are my favorites...

We started out by this wall of ivy. I love it.

Um, so, someone was not quite in the mood for a photo shoot that day. I did get some great serious looks from him though which I don't normally get, but this one almost makes him look mean. I still love it though.

Me: Do a serious face. Her: I can't help it, when I see the camera I just have to smile!

There was this row of beautiful houses and they have the best doorways.

Possibly my favorite. I love the flowers, the old steps and even the parking meter.

This was taken in the same spot as above. There was a man sitting on the steps eating his lunch and he saw me taking photos and started talking to me. Turns out he was painting the inside of this building and he opened the door and let us take a peek. It was so gorgeous! If I ever lived downtown I would want a place like that. And of course, I'd have to be super rich, but you never know!

Then we walked down the street to this alleyway.

I love this too. I like how the fire escape is blurred in the background. I also love her sweet expression.

I already posted this so you've probably seen it, but I love it so I'm posting it again.

That serious kid again.

That's a little better. A hint of a smile.

There we go. He always hides his teeth when he smiles for some reason and it drives me crazy, but oh well.

You might notice the hint of worry in her face...it's because as we were walking down this alleyway I looked down and saw some not so nice magazines laying near a dumpster. Ahem. Like really not so nice and the type that would really confuse my children if you catch my drift. So I told me kids not to come near there because there were some bad pictures that they didn't want to look at. My daughter says, "Are they pictures of bloody people?" Um, yes, I told her, they are really bad. She really hates blood and people getting hurt or sick. I love her and her innocence. She really wanted to leave she was so worried about seeing those pictures.

Trying to get both of them smiling is nearly impossible. I guess his fake smile will have to do.

So cute.

Hope you enjoyed them!

Lemonade and Lenses

2011-08-01T10:29:00.001-04:00

Last week I had the pleasure of going to a lovely gathering of photographers put on by the fabulous Kiwi Street Studios and Lexi Vornberg Photography. The location was so beautiful and they had it decorated so perfectly! It was so nice to talk to other photographers who don't feel competitive towards you but rather want to help you succeed. I learned so much from these wonderful people and I hope I was able to help out some people as well. I took some photos while I was there because everywhere you looked things were begging to be photographed. I totally want to recreate this in my backyard for a party. My son's birthday is coming up, but I'm thinking this isn't going to be what he has in mind. Too bad my daughter's birthday is in the dead of winter. I'll just have to come up with some other excuse to have a party. Any ideas?

They thought of everything...the favors and thank you card were such nice details.

I need to learn how to make those tissue paper puffs. I love them!

The perfect setting for a bunch of photographers, don't you think?!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 29 ~

2011-07-29T17:42:00.000-04:00

I joined this fabulous group Lemonade and Lenses and they have a bi-monthly project to help inspire and motivate photographers. The first theme was 'stripes' and today was supposed to be the last day to post a photo and of course in the entire two weeks since I've known about it I hadn't taken one single photo that would qualify. Figures. So, I talked to my girl this morning to see how she'd feel about modeling for me in something striped. She was all for it so we scoured her closet and came up with this dress. Then I decided to do something different with her hair and I came up with this little side bun. I love it and so did she! I definitely think it's going into heavy rotation with the oh so popular ponytail in back and Laura Ingalls braids. I took all of these photos in our backyard. It's nice because I already know where the good spots are, but the light was a little different since I normally do evening photos there. I kinda love the hazy look the sun gave these though. And I processed them to be a little warm and pink just for fun. Here you go...

She is totally my muse. I love her face. I love the way she moves her body. I love the way she is so graceful and fluid and she doesn't even know she's doing it. I love her serious face. I love her squishy cheeks. I love her hair and the way the wind grabs it. I hope she continues to indulge me in the future, but for now, these photos represent just how I see her today. They are perfect.

And Everything Nice ~ A Photo Shoot ~

2011-07-25T14:21:00.000-04:00

This photo shoot is of my sweet little nieces. I did their photos last year as well Sugar and Spice ~ A Photo Shoot ~ and that shoot is worth checking out just to see how much they've grown! I love taking their photos so much since it gives me a chance to try to capture their cute little personalities. We started out in my backyard and then headed over to a local park to do the rest. They were troopers and kept up with me even though they really just wanted to go to the playground (I would too if I were them). My daughter came along to provide some entertainment and they got to see her infamous booty smacking dance. Hey, whatever works for a smile... Here are some of my many favorites from their shoot.

I have the most beautiful nieces!

I adore this photo of her. She is so beautiful! No way does she look like a six year old.

Don't they have the most beautiful blue eyes?! She is such a cutie, I just wanna squish her!

This is so her. She was doing some modeling for me while flipping her hair.

She always has this sweet, angelic look about her. I've heard stories that she's not always so angelic, but I've never witnessed it. I'm sure she gets away with murder with this cute face.

I love this field...it's just so summery. The perfect backdrop and I love her butterfly headband. I love when the outfits and the location work together so well.

Love this too.

She looks so big in this photo! They are growing up so fast.

I love her smile!

Posing again. Love her.

Love her too.

Last one.

I am so lucky to have such adorable nieces to photograph as they grow up! I hope to do their senior photos someday...won't it be fun to look back each year at them?

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 28 ~

2011-07-22T10:40:00.000-04:00

As I sat down this morning to post something I realized that I didn't take one single photo this week! That's very unusual for me. I guess it's because my kids have been at VBS in the mornings and it has been so ridiculously hot outside that we spend the rest of the day inside. Ugh, I know I complain alot about the cold and I usually love it hot, but when it gets over 100 degrees I start to get cranky about it. But I would rather this than freezing cold any day. Okay, back to my point, I do have one. I realized I hadn't taken any photos and my kids are gone right now, so I took some pics of the only person here...me. Self portraits seem so vain, but really they are the farthest thing from it. When you sit and look at a photo of yourself it seems to magnify your every flaw. I can see every wrinkle and blemish staring me in the face. BUT....here's the thing. I adore old photos of my mother. I really do. She was so beautiful and I love to see what she looked like when she was my age (probably because I look a lot like her). It's weird because when you are a kid you don't really pay attention to what your parents look like. So I figure I need some pics of my so my daughter can look back and see what I looked like someday. Here's me, age thirtysomething.

I have a hard time getting my camera to focus on what I want it to when I'm on the wrong side of it. But I like how it caught my eyelashes in this one.

Can I just explain how awkward it is to smile at a camera when you are sitting in a room by yourself? I try to do smiling self portraits and they just look weird. So here's another serious one. And I just now realized that my logo makes me look like I have some sort of rash on my forehead...I'm too lazy to redo it, so just ignore that please.

Hopefully next week we'll be able to breath when we go outside and I'll be able to get some more interesting pictures. Have a great weekend!

From the Archives

2011-07-19T13:51:00.000-04:00

2004. Back when my girl was a baby and my husband and I looked ridiculously young. Back when we had a 2 bedroom house and my husband worked from home and shared his office with the nursery. I have always loved this picture of my chubby cheeked girl sleeping on her daddy.

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 27 ~

2011-07-15T11:54:00.000-04:00

I'm in a hurry to get to the pool, so this is gonna be brief. I was at the pool yesterday too and I snapped a couple pics of my kids. I know, we have a hard life. :)

I love her, crazy smile, pool hair and all.

I'm pretty sure in a couple years I will not be able to post bathing suit photos of her anymore without her getting upset, so I'm doing it now.

The like to be wrapped up like burritos. Yum. I could eat them up they are so cute!

Peace out.

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage ~ A Photo Shoot ~

2011-07-13T12:49:00.000-04:00

When I think of this couple and their wedding, one word comes to mind...fun. They had a huge wedding party with some crazy fun people and they just were so happy and calm about getting married. It was perfect. Just how you should be on the best day of your life. And they were surrounded by so many fun, supportive people that just made it even better. They had a beautiful summer day, a beautiful bride, a gorgeous downtown church and it was pretty much a photographer's dream. I have so many favorite photos to share so here goes...

I love this. Such a beautiful bride and I loved her dress.

The groom. I'm in love with these urban shots.

The ring bearers faces are killing me. So adorable!

I love this wall of ivy!

I also loved her veil. So classic.

The inside of the church was so unbelievably gorgeous.

Waiting.

The tiered ruffles on her dress were beautiful. Such amazing detail.

Little flower girl all ready to go.

I love this of the girls looking up at her.

What a precious moment, right before they opened the doors to walk down the aisle.

I am completely in love with this picture! I love how she was looking right at me, and you know I have a soft spot for redheads...

Mr. and Mrs.

This spiral staircase was beautiful. That whole church was just amazing.

We went a few blocks down to the P&G lawn for some outside shots.

Love this.

Off to the party...and I mean it, these people know how to party! The beautiful cake.

Okay, so I usually dread wedding toasts and they had four, but seriously, I think they could all have careers in stand up comedy. Some of the best toasts I've heard in a while!

The father daughter dance was one of the highlights of the night. They danced to "Simply the Best" and it was awesome. This is right after her dad took off his coat and threw it.

Had to share another.

I totally love the garter tradition, and his smile is so cute.

They danced, and danced...heads chopped off to protect the innocent.

I'm so glad I was able to be a part of this wedding. What a wonderful, sweet couple with an amazing group of family and friends. I wish you all the best!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 26 ~

2011-07-08T12:02:00.000-04:00

This week was busy with 4th of July celebrations and running errands sprinkled with a few fun things for the kids. First up, this photo I took yesterday at fountain square in downtown Cincinnati. I had to drop off my photo for that contest I won and so my mom drove down with me so she could sit with the kids while I ran it in. Afterwards we took the kids to lunch on fountain square. It was so nice! We got them food from a little hot dog vendor and then we lucked out because there was a new grilled cheese restaurant that was serving food on the square. Yum. I love grilled cheese. Of course when I took my camera out of my bag I realized that my battery was about to die...seriously? I am so unprepared. It lasted though and I was even able to take my kids to an alleyway and do a little 10 minute photo shoot. I'll share those in their own post though because there are sooo many good ones!

I love this blown out photo of the fountain. It is so beautiful.

My kids loved the fountain. Plus, a photo like this is like a requirement if you live in Cincinnati.

My sweet boy. It was so hot and humid, but he was a trooper.

I kinda like this perspective of the fountain. I like how you are peeking at it through the leaves. This was the view from our lunch table.

We went to my inlaws for a cookout and we were hurrying home so that we could see the fireworks. I like the sun set reflecting on us as we drive.

Fireworks! They were awesome. We went to Kings Island and parked and sat on a blanket in the parking lot (they have some strips of grass). That's the new ride that your seeing in some of the pics, and those dotted lights are going up the hill of one of the roller coasters. People were still riding while the fireworks were going off. That would be so fun...and kinda scary!

Okay, I'm off to the pool!! That's right, my brother's pool is finally fixed and it looks amazing. It finally feels like summer!

A-Line Magazine Shout Out

2011-07-05T12:42:00.001-04:00

I entered a photo contest a few weeks ago for A-Line Magazine which is a new local women's magazine with the tagline 'Classic with a quirk'. I'm sorta in love with that tagline so I decided to enter on a whim one day after reading through their issue and admiring the photography in it. The theme was feminine and I picked a few photos off my computer that I thought represented the theme. So...I was completely shocked when I saw this on their website. See that about halfway down? Yep, that's me. I'm pretty excited, and completely flattered. I think I'm mostly excited to see all of the other photos that won. I think it'll be interesting to see the different interpretations of the theme. So, if you've got nothing better to do Thursday evening and you happen to live near me, I'd love to see some familiar faces at this event!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 25 ~

2011-07-01T22:41:00.001-04:00

This week was filled with a fun playdate, trips to the dentist (which my crazy kids think are fun), a trip to Kings Island, and a day filled with shopping. Whew, I actually don't really like weeks like that. I prefer to be a little less planned, but it was okay because we had one nice day at home. We got out our blanket again and the kids played 'campout' again and they played in the creek until my son fell in. Then my daughter did a sympathy fall in so he wouldn't be the only one wet...she's sweet like that. That was the day I took a few pics very quickly because I was trying to lay on the blanket and read my kindle. Momma's gotta enjoy summer too, you know. Here are my favorites.

I love this collage! I just had an epiphany and figured out how to do the solid color block with words and it was so easy. Oh, so I love her crazy smile on the bottom right and that's the smile that she would always do to scare her friend at school. Apparently her friend thought that smile was 'freaky'...I tend to agree.

I'm in love with this too, of course! He makes the funniest faces...that one in the middle on the left is where he does this weird thing and rolls his eyes in the back of his head. And that one on the right is him puckering up for a kiss. I love it, but it kinda makes him look mad. And that top left is the classic 'worried' face. I love how his little eyebrows crinkle like that.

Pretty girl.

Cute boy.

Two of my favorite people in the whole world.

Blogger seems to be doing something weird to my photos when I upload them and they look kinda fuzzy sometimes...anyone know why that is and how to fix it?? Or am I the only one that notices?

Fun in the Middle of Nowhere

2011-06-28T22:08:00.001-04:00

Imagine you are driving in the middle of nowhere. There are cornfields all around you and big clouds in the sky. As you wind down the road at a leisurely 50 miles per hour you come upon it. An amusement park. You blink in case you were just imagining it. Nope, it's real. There's a small roller coaster, a ferris wheel, a little pirate ship ride, and you can see them all from the road. It's a little neglected, but it's there...in the middle of nowhere. Why on earth would someone build this? It's the most quaint, wonderful thing you've seen in a long time.

We've been there. And it was magical.

We had the most wonderful night at this little amusement park. It had been rented out for a private party that we were invited to and there was free ice cream, free cotton candy, and free drinks and cookout food. My kids were in heaven. I literally would say to them when they were trying to quickly finish their ice cream so that we could get on a ride, "Just throw it away and we'll get a new one when were done riding." It was awesome. All of the rides are smaller and they were the perfect sizes for my two kids. And there were no lines at all, you could just stay on and ride again and again if you wanted. My son went on a roller coaster for the first time and he loved it! Oh, and there was a mini golf course right in the middle of the park. For my little golf obsessed boy it was heaven. They had a train ride that went all the way around the property and even had a little tunnel that went under the road to the entrance of the park. It was so fun riding the train and just being amazed at how this place was literally in the midst of corn fields. The weather was perfect. There were some ominous looking clouds when we first arrived, but they cleared up into a beautiful sunset. I serious couldn't think of a more perfect time. My daughter put it best when we got home and she was climbing into bed..."Mommy, this was the best day of my entire life." Does it get any better than that?

This amusement park is called Stricker's Grove and you can find their website here.

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 24 ~

2011-06-24T09:50:00.000-04:00

During one of the thunderstorms we had this week I went looking for the kids to see what they were doing and I found them under my daughter's bed. She was reading a book and her little brother was holding the flashlight for her. So I did what any normal photographer mom would do and ordered them to stay right like that and don't move while I went downstairs and grabbed my camera. And they did! So, here's my favorites.

I love the sweet expression on my son's face. And I like the light beams from the flashlight on the page.

Love this one of my girl. She's such a bookworm this summer.

I actually have more favorites from this week, but I'm just gonna do a whole separate post because there are so many. Let's just say that when getting in bed last night my daughter told me, "This was the best day of my entire life." Stay tuned!

4 People 12 Times

2011-06-21T12:54:00.001-04:00

This post is seriously behind schedule. But I'm sticking with this project anyway. I'm gonna have to go waaaay back to April to catch up though. April was not a good month for us. We had to attend the funeral of my husband's Aunt followed the next week by the funeral of my wonderful Grandma. And then right after that was Easter, which we had to celebrate without her at her house. I had to cook dinner and I had no idea what I was doing. And she wasn't there to ask her how to do this or that, or how to work her old mixer. She wasn't there to boss us around and tell her stories that we've heard a million times. Talk about hard. I miss her so much. It is so hard to see my Grandpa all alone without her by his side where she was for the past 65 years. I can't even imagine what that is like to lose someone like that. And I lost my dad when I was 26. I only had a fraction of that time with him and losing him was impossibly hard. So we go and visit with him. And eat with him. It's all we can do. So we do it. And we miss her every second we are with him. I know it will get easier. It will for us, but probably not for him... This photo was taken that Easter Sunday while we were with him. We smiled like we were happy, but we were sad. Here's the four of us.

May was a healing month. We went to the beach. I swear the beach can heal all wounds. There is just something about looking out at the vastness of it that helps. The wind, the sounds of the waves, the salt in the air, it's all so soothing to me. And we forgot about our sorrow and we had a wonderful time. We just enjoyed being with one another without all the hustle and bustle of life that gets in the way. I could really look at my husband and appreciate him and his humor and his love for our kids in a way that I don't really do at home when I'm busy and stressed out by all the little things. I could watch my kids play together and play with them, swimming in the ocean, walking on the sand, playing mini golf and just enjoying them. It was just what we needed with the hard month we'd had prior. This photo is us on the beach. I can't even believe I'm posting a photo of myself in a bathing suit, but luckily my daughter is hiding most of me! We did get some sunset photos of us on the beach, but I always like to save those for our Christmas card. It's sort of tradition now. Here we are...

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 23 ~

2011-06-17T16:41:00.000-04:00

These pictures were taken the same day as the one I posted with the blue skies. I was lying on a quilt in my backyard just enjoying the beautifulness of summer and I really, really did not want to get up and get my camera. I really just wanted to relax and just be. But, when I saw what my kids were doing I knew I would kick myself later if I didn't get some pictures of it, so I dragged my butt up and went and got it. I did however plop myself right back down on my quilt so most of these photos were taken from the perspective of me lying on my stomach or my back. Definitely not my usual perspective, but I think that's why I like these. They're different. Here you go...

This is my favorite. Love her sweet smile. Okay, and to explain the pink puff and why I had to take pictures...they were having a pretend camp out with a campfire and they were roasting these pretend marshmallows...aka pink cottonballs that we had gotten free from our church the other day when they cleaned out some kids' Sunday school classrooms.

They brought out their little Ikea tent and would "go to sleep" in it and then I would hear a rooster crow which was the signal for the next morning and they'd roast marshmallows all over again. I can't even count how many times they did it. I love how she's blowing hers before she "eats" it.

My little giants. My daughter looks way bigger than my son, but I guess she was closer to me and of course, she actually is bigger than him. They thought these were funny. I was lying on my back for these.

The giant does a cartwheel. I think it's weird how big she looks compared to the swingset in this picture. And I wasn't using a wide angle lens. That blanket is our crazy 70's quilt that my mom gave me and we use it for everything.

What a beautiful week. It almost makes me want to stay in Ohio...

Look Up

2011-06-16T14:23:00.000-04:00

Lying on my back on an old quilt in my backyard...ahhh....summer.

From the Archives

2011-06-14T20:58:00.000-04:00

I found this awesome video of my daughter while browsing some old pics for something to post. I think my sister in law took this because my camera didn't take video. Man, I wish I had more video clips like this. I'm not usually one to take videos, but this has inspired me to do it a little more frequently. I love her little voice. She was exactly 2 and a half when this was taken at my brother's pool. I am totally missing the pool right now because they are in the midst of some major pool repairs and we can't swim for a couple more weeks. I can't wait!

Listen closely and you'll hear that she says "gently down the street". And I'm pretty sure the last line is "gently down the dream". I love when kids mess up lyrics. So cute!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 22 ~

2011-06-10T09:27:00.000-04:00

We made it through the first whole week of summer and it was great. We went to the driving range, met up with my sisters and one of their husbands at the museum, swam in our baby pool, had a bunch of friends over and played with practically ever toy we own. So far, we've been getting along pretty well...knock on wood. I could do without this 90 degree weather though. It seriously puts a damper on all my outdoor plans when I can't even stand to be outside! Yesterday I watched one of my friend's kids while she went to do a market research study and I got the camera out and followed them around a bit. It's nice having other kids to photograph and mix it up a bit for Photo Friday. Here are my favorites...

I like this. My kids were waiting at the window for their friends to get here and my daughter was reading books to my son. We have an old piano bench that my mom got at a garage sale (or maybe from someone's trash?) and I recovered it with leftover material from the slipcover project. The kids use it as a window seat. I love how they made this cozy spot even cozier by closing the curtain around them.

This picture is awesome. He makes the funniest faces. He looks so mean here but he is actually such a happy kid most of the time. I can't remember why he was grumpy, probably because he wanted the other kids to play something and they didn't want to...hopefully someday that will translate into him being an awesome leader...don't you like my positive spin on that?

Whenever I think about moving away it's moments like these that make me want to stay. I have pictures of their mom and me when we were just a little bit older than these girls are now. I love that my kids get to be friends with the kids of my friends! How awesome is that? I have no idea what was so funny in these pictures. I told them to stand together and then commented on how they looked like stair steps and they thought that was funny and I think they were tickling each other behind their backs. So cute!

This little guy is awesome. He's such a little cutie and he's so squishy! He's one of those kids you just wanna cuddle. After I took the picture of him on the swing he told me I needed to stop taking pictures of him. He was very polite about it, so I did, but I'm glad I got these. I'm trying a new vintagey style of editing...let me know what you think.

I love the color in this picture. It's so creamy and soft and I like her sweet expression and the way her hair is flipping up in the back.

Nothing says summer like a pair of beat up gym shoes kicked off in favor of going barefoot. I love this.

I'm off to enjoy my Friday. Have a great weekend!

From the Archives

2011-06-06T15:43:00.000-04:00

Since it's summer I've decided to do a new series of posts entitled "From the Archives". You might think that this is an attempt to be lazy and just post some old photos that were taken this same week in a prior year and save myself the effort of being original and thinking of something new and interesting to post. And you'd be exactly right. It's summer. I don't have as much time for blogging, but I love you, my loyal readers, so I'm doing this in an attempt to keep things a little less boring around here. These pics were taken June 11, 2008, three years ago this week. My son was 21 months old and my daughter was four and a half. It's amazing how much they've grown!

Yep, he was a drooler, and I can tell from the rash on his face that he was still using a pacifier at night. I love how much his little ears stick out here before his hair got thick.

My girl, the same day. I can't find the original, color version of this, but I kinda like the black and white anyway. I loved her bobbed haircut. I wish I could convince her to let me do it again, but since her favorite movie right now is Tangled I don't see it happening anytime soon.

Seems our lives were very much the same three years ago on a summer day, just in smaller bodies! How about you? What were you doing three years ago this week?

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 21 ~

2011-06-03T10:51:00.000-04:00

Summer is officially here at our house! My son thought that summer didn't start until my daughter was out of school even though it's been in the 90's already plenty of times. Yesterday was her last day of first grade. I can't believe she is going to be in second grade next year! Oh well, I have a whole summer to enjoy before that happens. My kids are so excited about summer and it's so cute. We have a lot of fun things planned...going to Kings Island, the museum, the park, swimming with whoever gets the urge to invite us (hint, hint), laying around and doing nothing, reading some books, planting flowers, getting some projects done around the house, hopefully having a garage sale, exploring our yard, playing in the creek, and hopefully taking a trip somewhere fun. Hooray for summer! Here are some pictures I took last night of my kids climbing the tree in our front yard. Actually, my daughter climbs it, but I have to lift my son up and get him down since he's still a little too small to climb up himself.

I love his face! This reminds me of a picture of my little sisters from when they were about 2 or 3 years old and one of them is looking at the camera and the other one is looking off to the side with a big grin. I always loved that picture of them.

My big girl. I can't believe how old she is starting to look. I know as a photographer I probably shouldn't care if I get pictures of my kids in the same spot that match...I should be worried about being creative and all that...but the mom in me loves when I get two like this that go together!

Another shot of my baby. There's just something about this that I like but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Swinging in the back yard. This totally spells summer to me. Love her tongue in the one on the left and her ponytail flying in the one on the right.

I had to include this one of my husband and I even though I'm pretty sure he won't like it. We met at Taste of Cincinnati 12 years ago...whoa...I still can't believe 1. it's been that long and 2. we are that old! We snapped this right before we left to go again this year. It's tradition for us to go every year.

Okay, we're off to start our summer!!

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 20 ~

2011-05-27T12:25:00.001-04:00

We went to my cousins farm last weekend so I could take pictures of her super smiley, absolutely adorable baby girl who just turned one. While we were there I snapped a couple pics of my daughter out in a field. She discovered Little House on the Prairie while we were on vacation (central time and a lack of channels one day and it was the only child appropriate show I could find) and she loves it so much. Which makes me happy because I loved that show when I was little. She's even taking to saying "Yes, ma'am" to me like Laura does to her mom. Anyway, this picture of her just reminded me of her newfound love with the yellow flowers and her braids in her hair.

Our new little friends who we found in a bush right next to our deck. The kids keep checking on them every day. They are so cute!

If you have a son then I'm sure you are aware that Cars 2 is coming out soon. This is his face when he was sitting on the couch talking to me and all of a sudden a preview for the movie came on. Love his expressions.

I'm looking forward to this weekend of no rain, a friend's wedding, Taste of Cincinnati, a trip to the cemetery, and cookout! Should be lots of fun!

Wish We Were Here

2011-05-26T16:43:00.002-04:00

I feel like a broken record, but I really, really need to move closer to a beach. Ever since our vacation my son has been talking about how much he wishes we lived at the beach and he's totally preaching to the choir. I miss it so much! It doesn't help that I'm pretty much stuck inside all day because of all the rain. I miss the salty air and the sand and the breeze and just the laid back feel of everything there. So, because of my intense longing for all of it, I thought I'd post some photos from our vacation. It's like torture and therapy all at the same time when I look at these. Torture because it makes me want to go back so badly and therapy as I relive all of the wonderful moments we had. Hope you enjoy reliving it with me...

Ahhh....I wish this were my view right now. I love how she adds special touches to her sand castles. Maybe she'll have a talent for interior design someday.

My sweet girl showing off her shell.

I love these! And notice my girl in the background lounging by the shore.

I love how he squints one eye when it's bright. I call it his pirate face.

And because he can't help but turn anything into a golf club, here he is golfing with his shovel. Pretty good form, don't you think?

I love how happy she is here. Notice the little graveyard of seashells in front of her. I don't think that's what she intended, but I can't help thinking that's what it looks like!

She dug a huge hole and then decided to bury herself in it...only she got stuck and couldn't get out. Daddy to the rescue! And that's her bowing on the bottom right...she's a little entertainer for sure.

Love this! The shadow, the splash, his huge hands, his little birthmark on his leg.

By the pool one day...

My boys.

I love these next three. Priceless.

I caught this fish!! At first I thought it was a piece of seaweed floating around and then I thought maybe it was dead, but then I scooped it up with a shell net and it started wriggling like crazy! We watched him for a while and then let him go.

Napping on the beach. Sweetest thing ever.

Okay, enough torturing myself for one day. Back to reality. At least the sun starting to peek through the clouds.

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 19 ~

2011-05-20T10:21:00.000-04:00

This was a slow week for personal photos. I literally only took 9 photos this week. It definitely makes it easier when trying to pick what picture to use for Photo Friday, although none of them this week were particularly exciting. When we got back from the beach it was really hot here for the next couple of days and I was so excited that we were going to not have to go back to the cold...boy was I wrong! The past week has been nothing but cold and rain. After turning our air conditioner on for those two hot days, we had to turn our furnace back on it got so cold...so depressing. Needless to say, we have been feeling a little stir crazy around here. While I was on the computer the other day getting some work done I looked behind me and saw this...

He's gotten creative at entertaining himself. This is our extra piano bench turned upside down and used for a balance beam. Hey, as long as he's not getting hurt or breaking anything, I'm cool with it. I love that you can see his dimple here.

Same day...I looked over and saw this. Perfect little parking spots for Hot Wheels. Who knew?

Luckily, the sun is shining today and it's gorgeous out!! I need to get off this computer and get outside. Have a great weekend!!!