Two Hundred and Seventy-One...

I think I had put a chicken feather on my head to get this smile...

Two Hundred and Seventy...

The top left photo should give a clear picture of how much Bodie likes anything "tractor". Ron was pulling in to the driveway in the combine and Bodie went nuts!

Two Hundred and Sixty Nine...

I don't think I official introduced our two new cats.


This is smokey or "Moke" for short. He has the softest fur. It sort of has two layers and he is really petite and so fun to snuggle with.

This is Oreo or just "Or" for short. He is really super snuggly and likes to give chin rubs.

Two Hundred and Sixty Eight...

She is always finding leaves, oak pods, sticks, etc. to play with. I did a quick clean up of our yard the other day and found four or five mud pies in the making.

Two Hundred and Sixty Seven...

"Take one of me like this" he says.

We found this bike park near the State Fairgrounds. It is a ride at your own risk and Rowdy begs to go there every weekend. It was so fun and he just got right on the track and started ripping around it like he had been doing it for years.

Two Hundred and Sixty Six...

I think this one pretty much proves he is full of sugar!

Two Hundred and Sixty Five...

I was able to work at the kids' Harvest Festival this year. It was a really good time. Rowdy always meets these type of functions with a little bit of hesitation and anxiety. He does not have a competetive bone in his body. Therefore, when he hears words like games, contests, and you can win things, he gets a little bit nervous.

Look how absolutely darling he was looking for me as he walked right by all the booths, candy and such, to find me! His face just lit up when he saw me and needless to say my heart turned to mush (no, really MUSH!)

It didn't take long for him to settle in and play the games.



He even won a set of teeth to replace the ones he keeps losing. (I'll post about that soon)




Gotta love the lollipop ghost!

Not a big surprise that Avery had the lady paint her face like a cat.

After Avery bowled a perfect strike she attested her skill to all the Wii bowling that we play. Silly girl!

Two Hundred and Sixty Four...

Last week I had a friend come over and help me dejunk my house. Well, parts of it. There is still a long way to go. If you need to do this, the only way to do it is with HELP!!! We got so much done...we thought we would spend about 2 hours....well she stayed for 7. Once we started we couldn't stop. It was kind of fun! I just kept saying the whole day, this would have taken me months to do on my own. Seriously, it makes all the difference in the world to do this with help.

The beauty of it all was that we were able to load all the donate stuff up into her van right away. She took it away for me, because for me that seems to be the hardest part. I make donate piles and then it doesn't get taken.

I donated more than 15 pairs of shoes, a ton of video tapes, kids clothes galore, and tons of random stuff that was under the category, "it hasn't been used in a year, get rid of it!!!" Her van was full. It happened to be garbage day that day and I am embarrassed to tell you that by the end of the day we had the garbage about 3/4 of the way full again (and our garbage can is one of the huge ones). That is both sad and great that I took that amount of junk out of my house.

The best part was dejunking my laundry room. It is so much nicer in there now. Night and day difference. I just feel like hanging out in there...

My friend who helped me, does this for a living and yes, I paid her, but you know what? It was worth every stinkin' penny! And all we did all day was gab and dejunk...good times. We are going to attempt to do the same thing to the kids' rooms this week. It looks like I am getting myself a clean house for the Holidays!

I still managed to stop and take some photos of this boy trying his best to blow bubbles...this was one of my favorites of the few I took.

Two Hundred and Sixty Three...

Halloween Rewind. The kids said they wanted to wear their costumes from last year. I agreed, since we were so busy getting ready at the beginning of the month to go to Hawaii (many posts about that to follow).

Happy Halloween!!!










Supergirl! Off to save kittens who are stuck in trees....

See!

The Ittsy, Bittsy Spider...

Washed the spider out...(oh, how I wish I had my camera oriented the other way so I got his little hands on that one.)

Two Hunderd and Sixty Two...

Yesterday (October 16) was a busy day. I worked in Rowdy's classroom in the morning. He didn't want me to go when it was time for me to go pick up Avery and Bodie from a friend's house. I promised him I would come back and see the fire truck that was coming to the school. Rowdy told me they were going to take a ride in the fire truck. I wasn't sure he had his facts straight...but he was right!

And he was soooo excited....

and so was this little girl in the front as she waited for her turn! Rock On!!!
They loaded up in the truck and put on the headphones and could talk to each other in the little microphone. They took a big loop around the parking lot and the fireman turned on the siren and honked the horn. It was a great time. The big surprise was that.....


little brother got to go too! He was very serious about it all.

And because I couldn't decide color or black and white....

I need your opinion about something: As I unloaded Bodie from the truck, one of the fireman said something along the lines of "He (Bodie) wouldn't remember the ride in the firetruck". I 100% disagree!!! Bodie was able to tell Ron all about it when we got home. I asked Bodie to tell Dada what he did at Brother's school today and he promptly said, "firetruck, ride". I asked Bodie what sound the firetruck made, he said "Weee oooh, Weee oooh!" Will Bodie remember when he is 5, 10 or 20 years old that he road in a firetruck when he was 2? Probably, not! But I have the pictures to prove it. Also, I tend to think that because of this little firetruck experience, Bodie got at least 6 new folds of grey matter!!!
What do you think? Just because a child isn't going to remember an experience for the rest of his/her life doesn't mean you don't expose them to the opportunity....right?

Two Hundred and Sixty One...

These two images just make me HAPPY! And after a very honest conversation with a very good friend today I have decided that I am going to incorporate more things in my life that will make me HAPPY!

Two Hundred and Sixty...

The second day of the workshop was more classes and more shooting. The photographer that we got to watch in action on the second day was Tamara Lackey. She was a great speaker and so funny. She talked a mile a minute and she made taking pictures look so easy.
These are some of the models from day two. The reason they aren't looking right at me in some of them is because there are about 16 other photographers pointing cameras at them. These kids were so cute. I learned a lot from Tamara about how to photograph children...now to see if I can apply that.




This young man above, was just a cutie. He did whatever Tamara said and the poses she came up with for him where so great!


When we were working with the little girl below, I really started to miss my kids. The little Elephant she is holding reminded me of my kids and all the little stuffed "friends" they have...I almost started to tear up right there in front of everyone...but I fought back the tears.

Two Hundred and Fifty Nine...

Just a shot of some of the things I enjoyed when the sessions for the day were over. That is when the vacation part of the trip began. The sessions were over at 6pm so I had the evening to myself. I read, worked out, enjoyed room service and just relaxed in the evening. The main indicator that I wasn't in Kansas anymore was this....

Two Hundred and Fifty Eight...

I just had to interupt my posts about the trip and share this photo of Bodie. We had a busy morning even though the kids didn't have school. We had to run into town right away and drop our international student, Tim, off at church for a beach trip/service project he was going to. So as the kids were quickly eating their cereal I thought I would practice some sun flare shots.

There are so many "yummy" things going on in this photo that if I didn't list them you might not notice them:

• Yummy warm light streaming in through the window
• Yummy "sun flare" practice for me
• Yummy bowl of cereal
• Yummy new pajamas with the feet in them (pj's with the feet in them are a very big deal around here. Ron and I find that children who wear them are totally 100% subject to being chased down, smothered in smooches, tickled and given several bum pinches)
• The best yummy of all, is this little buttery boy folding his arms reminding us to say prayer saying "men". He is always the one to remind us to say prayer and I have often thought I wish I could capture that and today was the day I happen to have the camera there when he said it.

Two Hundred and Fifty Seven...

The workshop started on Tuesday morning and I was thrilled to learn that Audrey was my first session. We were divided up into groups of about 16. Audrey spent part of the morning talking about the business side of things and then we got to watch her in action. She was amazing to watch. I was wrighting down everything she was saying. At one point during the session she looked at me after I had made a couple of comments in class and said let me tell you something...she said "anyone can make the simple complicated, creativity is making the complicated simple". That is how she rolls. She is very simplistic in her work and how she runs her business and I like that. However, I tend to be the opposite and am detail oriented to a fault and sometimes it hinders me from completing tasks. I went to learn more about photography and how to run a business and learn a little about myself.

Here she is in all her glory. She was just warming up the kids and getting to know them.

This little one didn't like the marble floor it was too cold.

This was taking in our classroom. Just up against one of the windows in there...again proof you can take a great picture in the strangest places if there is good light. I forgot to mention that it rained almost the whole time I was there.

Two Hundred and Fifty Six...

On September 13th, I boarded an airplane at 10:30 at night to fly to Georgia for a photography get away. Is that the definition of mulitasking or what? Flying and sleeping so I didn't waste any time. I happened to be traveling on my birthday. On my way to the airport, I got a call from a very good friend who called to wish me a happy birthday...ahhhh so nice! Thanks Nic, you are a star! It was awesome to chat with you.

The workshop I attended is called Learnfest. It is hosted by four top photographers from different parts of the country. They are true professional, business savvy women who had the idea to hold this "camp" for budding photographers. Boy am I glad they did. The photographers are Audrey Woulard, Lena Hyde, Laura Novak and Tamara Lackey.

Several years ago, while I was still hoping to own a "fancy" camera some day, I stumbled on Audrey Woulard's website. When I saw her images for the first time I remember thinking to myself I am looking at something really magical. She is known for how well she uses light and makes children's eyes sparkle...it is magic I'm telling ya'! More about the instuctors later.

The workshop was held at the Chateau Elan in Georgia. It was amazing to say the least. It was the perfect setting. The food was fantastic and it was such a nice get away for me. Soooo relaxing and fun to be learning at the same time.

You know when an establishment pays this much attention to how the entrance to their location looks everything inside is going to be great!!!



Because I flew on the red-eye flight the fist thing I did was to climb into this bed and fall fast asleep for a little while. It was the most comfortable bed I have slept in. It was so comfortable.


Such attention to detaill with everything.