Princess Party

I've been terrible about posting client pics on my blog. I apologize! I'm being a blog hog.

Here's a few from a recent birthday party - the girls were treated to a full blown princess makeover! Aren't they precious? They were so much fun! I'm still proofing, so I'm not going to list each princess here, but each & every one was absolutely beautiful.







And last but not least... the birthday girl! I thought this looked so dreamy in BW.

First Grade Round Up

I can't believe Tucker is done with first grade! My baby just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

His last day of school was Thursday. Me & Eric sent Jackson & Cassidy to MIL's & went to watch the "1st Grade Round Up". Tucker was so stinking CUTE! The cowboy hats they are wearing were made out of newspaper. Fun, huh?! These aren't the greatest pics, but I was standing up in the back of the room - and lots of parents heads were in the way. (What were they thinking, blocking my photo op? HA!)



After lots of singing and quite a bit of dancing, I'm starting to think I've got the next American Idol right here in my house.

Here's Tucker & his best buddy, Austin. I have a feeling these 2 are gonna be friends for a long, long time. Silly boys!

Backlighting

I love this picture. Lord knows I struggle with backlighting - partially because it's tough to meter properly, partially because I'm stubborn & hate reflectors almost as bad as gray cards & tripods! But I feel like I pulled this off. Maybe it's my mommy goggles. I thought the tilt was too much at first, but now I'm really, really liking it.



Confession - I have NO pictures that I have taken hanging in my home. I'm thinking I might actually print a few. This one tops the list for me.

AND YES, I'm going to print the blue one :) Thanks for all the comments & emails on that, you guys are so funny! Definitely real life! (around here anyway!)

Outtake? Not necessarily!

I can't believe I have totally forgotten to post this.

A little background info: I was bound & determined to get "the perfect shot" of my 3 children for my mom & my MIL for mother's day. Enter blue seamless paper, Bluberi Boulevard for Cassidy, and Blue/White Button-Downs for the boys... it all sounds like a recipe for Blue Perfection. Right? Wrong.

Cassidy refuses to sit anywhere remotely near her brothers - she'd rather sit on the battery operated John Deere tractor. (which, in case you forgot, SOOOO does not go with my blue theme, people) I'm literally about in tears. Tucker's mumbling "when are we gonna be done?" Jackson wants to sit "right here" (visualize him pointing to the exact OPPOSITE spot Mommy indicates to sit) and Cassidy is a runaway Bluberi Boulevard Bandit. Ugh. Sheer, unadulterated madness.

I'm so upset by this point... near tears.... I'm wanting this perfect shot of my children that has eluded me for, well, FOREVER. "I take 100,000 pictures a year, and all I want is ONE of all 3 of my kids, TOGETHER". Boo hoo.

Enter hubby to save the day. He grabs Cass, stands behind the backdrop, and hangs her from her ankles.... "you want a pic of the kids together, SNAP IT!"



HA! Our version of Blue Perfection.

Jason

Meet Jason.... What a cutie pie & oh my goodness, so FULL of energy. I'm loving crazy color on these.



And is it totally wrong that I love this one of him??? I'm sick, I know.

I got the message...

...I think she'd had enough. But it's anybody's guess.

More feeble baseball attempts...

I hope I don't run off my 2 blog readers with all these bad sports pictures. I get points for trying something new, right? :o)

I love watching Tucker get up to bat... he gets up to the plate, so determined & focused. This is the first year he is hitting off a pitching machine, but he's doing pretty good! He hits this stance just as soon as he gets to the plate. It doesn't matter if the coach is ready to pitch to him or not, he's PREPARED! :o) Daddy must have drilled that in his head.


Sometimes that focus pays off with a hit....


And sometimes it doesn't. My heart just drops when he strikes out. You see, Tucker is so much like me - I've always been a perfectionist and tend to beat myself up over the silliest things. I always worry that after he strikes out, he's going to be disappointed - as soon as he's within my sight, I'm studying his face as he pulls the helmet off. He will just shrug his shoulders & smile. I just love that kid to pieces. He's so stinking smart - I hope he never sweats the small stuff. :o)

I've decided that some people just make sports photography look easy. (Ahem, EMu.) It's so not.

I'm determined to keep trying new & different things, no matter how bad it looks in the beginning. So here's a couple that I liked... I will post some action shots later if I find any I like. :)

Meet Cade. He likes to rattle the dugout cage. So mischevious, that one. :)


These were all piled up in the back of Eric's truck. He thinks I've lost my mind when I start shooting a pile of baseballs. That's okay - some people just don't understand my love for photography. :P

The Hot New Party Accessories

Who knew my loot bags at Jackson's birthday party would be such a hit? :o) The kids loved the Bubba teeth & holographic glasses. I've been so partial to black & white lately - but I couldn't help myself, this calls for lots of color!

Okay, okay.... I can post both, right? Right.


Funny thing happened on the way to the party - Tucker & Jackson decided to raid the loot bags a bit early. The little robbers were chewing their looted gum & decided it would look nice in their hair.

Daddy: "Now we're gonna have to go home & shave your head after the party. You're gonna be bald!"
Tucker: "NOOOOO! I don't wanna be bald!"
Daddy: "Well, too bad. That's what happens when you get gum in your hair."
Tucker (looking terrified): "Daddy..... is that what happened to Nick?"

Hee hee. Uncle Nick shaves his head. :o) We got such a kick out of that. Probably not funny to the general public but I wanted to blog it so I'd remember. :o)

Growing Up

Here's a few favorites of Miss Ashley that I took this weekend - seems like a couple days ago I was doing her newborn shoot! These babies just grow up too fast.

Apparently, she likes to give the finger.

I liked that one super bright at first, but I think I'm going to do another edit too. I just love the overexposed look sometimes. :)

And this one, I think is just too funny:

Update

I wanted to give you an update on Hayden. He has been discharged from the hospital and is recovering nicely, although he still has a long road ahead. Kids never cease to amaze me....

Here's a picture of him before he was discharged, courtesy of my Dad's cell phone.



Mamaw is doing well too, she's got another 2 weeks before she goes back for the next heart cath. The man that killed my coworker was formally charged with capital murder a couple days after they arrested him. So maybe things can get back to normal.

Wellllllll, maybe normal is asking a bit much.

Need your prayers!

This week has been rough for everyone, to say the least. First, the killings at Virginia Tech. Didn't involve me personally, but very disturbing to say the least. Then, a co-worker murdered by his fiance's ex-boyfriend. Next, my Mamaw gets news that she has failed her stress test and needs a heart cath. Friday, while I'm waiting to hear about how her cath went, I get a phone call telling me that my nephew, Hayden, has been in a car accident & is in ICU. Bless his heart, he's only 3 & I'm sure he's terrified. He's doing much better now & has been transferred out of ICU. He has a broken neck, which required placement of a halo; two broken legs, one which required surgery (2 rods & several screws to keep everything in place), and casts on both legs up to his hips. He is not paralyzed, thank God.

Mamaw had 2 stents placed & has to go back for another heart cath in 3 weeks - her kidneys couldn't take the additional dye required to visualize the other areas of concern. She did great, and is coming home today. :)

Here's a pic of little Hayden - I posted this back in December when he came up for Christmas. Please keep him in your prayers, as I'm sure his road to recovery is going to be a rather long one.

Beautiful Brianna

I love finding old pictures that I passed over, for whatever reason. It's like finding a $20 in your jacket pocket that you hid from yourself.

This is Brianna, I shot this back in October. Isn't she lovely?

WARNING!

Extreme cuteness overload! Oh, and NUDITY!

Took a few pics yesterday before the bad weather came rolling in... Old Man Winter finally decided to take a hike but now April Showers are here. :( Ah, the joys of Mother Nature!




And this just cracks me up... that big belly! Not the most flattering angle for her boudoire shoot debut, you think?

JulieM likes her bedhead here :)


You know those beautiful shots with the shallow dof where you have your child hold something out & the focus is on the "something"... anyway, I thought I'd try that with Tucker's lollipop - naturally he bit off a big chunk right before I shot. It just doesn't work out when a little brother is around. HAHA!

The Boys

Anyone who knows my boys, knows I have a terrible time trying to take their picture. Whenever I try, a wrestling match erupts. :) But I managed to get this right before Jackson tackled Tucker!


See. Told you.

Make Up Your Mind, Old Man!

I wish Old Man Winter would make up his mind to return to the South Pole where he belongs. I think he's worn out his welcome.

I decided not to succumb the kids to freezing temperatures for the sake of art. (Okay, okay, it wasn't exactly freezing, but it felt like it!) I've been digging through some old stuff.

Since I've posted lots of BWs lately, thought I'd throw in a color version :)

Congrats Hubby!

My awesome hubby just got a promotion at the fire department... I'm so proud of him. He was promoted to Sergeant pretty quickly & now LIEUTENANT!!! (I keep thinking of Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump, ha!)


And a sidenote.... loving the warm weather & sunshine combined with this new lens! I'm growing partial to black & white, what's wrong with me? :)

New lens

I can't believe I'm so bad that I've fallen down on the job!!! You guys know I'm a color FREAK but I really think her eyes stand out in this BW. :) I was playing around with the camera in the yard yesterday.

Oh & by the way... diet update. UGH. I bought an exercise tape, some dancing CRAP. Anyway, I decide I'm gonna do it, so I pop it in. What feels like an hour later, I'm sweating, huffing & puffing, and the woman says "Now that you're done with your warm up...."

WHAT THE @#$*($%!????:????? WARM UP?!?!? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lady In Waiting

Okay I've heard that before but I have no clue what it refers to. Anyway, I'm so excited, I've ordered the Canon 24-75 L!!! YES, L GLASS BABYYYYY! I'm so excited. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow, I can't wait to get that beautiful, expensive little lens in my hands.
In the meantime, I'll share some random photos with you!

Most of you have seen this one, but oh goodness, HOW CUTE IS SHE?!?


And I'm sharing these, only because I took them as my husband was driving down the road & yelling at me for taking pictures! So pretty good if you ask me... HA!

Okay, I have no idea who this guy is, but he must be important to Anniston since they made a statue in his likeness.


Right as you turn into my subdivision- ha! You'd never believe there was a huge subdivision with this view across the road :)

Don't get this pic? Neither do I, but I thought the sky was cool, so I'm posting it. IT'S MY BLOG, I call the shots :)

Happy Birthday, Tucker

A little late - his actual birthday was March 8th - but I can't believe my baby turned seven. SEVEN! That sounds soooo much older than six. Silly I know. But I cried that morning when I watched him get on the school bus. He's growing up soooo fast.

I always buy the kids a birthday cake on their birthday for them to have at the house, then another for their birthday party. This year we're doing a pirate-themed party at the bowling alley. Ahoy matey! Never heard of a bowling pirate? Me neither! hee hee!

Redemption, Maybe?

Okay, okay, I'm a horrible mother. Can I redeem myself today??? Here's 2 of Tucker! He's all into reading to Jackson (who's taking the whole thing SO seriously!)... He's doing so good in school, it's amazing to me how quick kids learn. He's so stinking smart! (takes after his mom of course!)

Horsie

I just realized this morning that I haven't posted *any* pics of Tucker lately. So.... here's a couple of Cassidy. :D Took these yesterday in my dining room. I'm sure I've said this a million times, but I will be so glad when spring gets here, I've had enough of the DRAB winter colors. I'm thinking I like the BW better here. I just don't know about my green walls as a backdrop??

Clavicle Smash

So Tucker & Jackson were playing on the furniture again... they do it everyday, despite the death threats from their parents. Last night, they were sword fighting (with lollipops, no less) and Jackson climbs on the armrest of the recliner. Kaboom! One wrong move, and he falls right onto the HARDwood (keyword: HARD) floors. He protected his lollipop from getting smashed, but his shoulder took the hit for him. He's holding his left shoulder & crying, so we decided to go ahead & get him ready for the ER, because this kid is tough. He rarely ever cries if he gets hurt. So we went & picked up Nanny & off we went. Several hours & a couple X-rays later, we find out he's broken his clavicle (collar bone). Great. (P.S. Is it wrong that I was sad I didn't bring my camera to take pics in the ER? HA!)





Off to the orthopaedic doc this morning, who informs me, "Don't let him run or jump or climb". Say what? "He doesn't need to re-injure the bone, or it may not heal properly." Yessir, I'm most aware, but how do you recommend I do that? "Just keep him calm." I couldn't hold back. I *CRACKED* up. Keep him calm? A 2 year old? Seriously???

Well.... they say a picture is worth a thousand words....

Hats off!

I love my kids in hats! Sad to say, they hate wearing them... Still can't keep myself from snatching them up if I see a cute one - *sigh* - I have high hopes. :)

and more from yesterday's shoot... can't get enough of this stinking green hat!


And I'm sorry, but I can't keep from posting the silly shots, this one made me laugh out loud when I saw it..... what must she be thinking???? She's so animated & funny!