Lauren - Senior Portraits

I had so much fun with Lauren & her mom yesterday! I think I did almost as much talking as shooting (ok so maybe that's not so uncommon for me...) - but who knew we had so much in common? Lauren's dad is a Lieutenant at Anniston Fire Department - so is my sweet hubby, Eric! Aaaaand her mom is a RN. Sweet. =)

I drug the poor thing all over, I think she was ready to choke me by the time the session was over - but that's okay. About 99% of sessions end like that. HA! ;) They're always grateful when the proofs come back!

Look at these gorgeous blue eyes - WOWSERS!

Can you say smokin' hot? Okay I probably shouldn't say that. But WOAH!

And here we have Stephanie attempting to eat up Lauren's elbows with gravel. BWAAAA HAHAHAHA. I'm evil like that folks, yes I am.

Hope you enjoyed your sneak peek Lauren! =)

♥♥♥

How did my day go, you ask?

Ok, so you didn't ask. Let's just pretend that you did, for the sake of my blog post. ;)

Now. How did my day go? Well, let's see. I woke up this morning with intentions of going to church, going to the grocery store, taking Nate to work the concession stand at some ballgame for the Honor Society, cleaning up a bit, shooting a Senior Portrait session, and getting some orders placed. Since I didn't lay out church clothes last night, I woke up a little bit behind schedule, but got up & starting getting everything picked out, ironed, etc. YES, I have to pick everyone's church clothes out. Seems everyone here is either fashion challenged or color blind, other than me (of course). So after fussing & fighting with everyone, ironing 6 different outfits & getting in the shower to discover that someone (named Jackson) squirted out all of my shampoo & conditioner, I resolved that I would not be going to church TODAY. At least everyone else was ready. I figured I would just have to pray on my way to the grocery store.

So. All the boys head to church. Me & Cassidy were about to head to the grocery store, get all loaded up & then UGH! Can't find my darn keys! I was stranded until the little culprits returned... It *is* Sunday right? Not Monday - SUNDAY? Right?

Anyhoo, needless to say, only about 3 things on that endless to-do list got done today... BUT (and that's one big but) while I was stranded I talked the baby girl into a 30 second photo shoot! (now that's what you call a mini session! ha!)


Oh & P.S. - Miss Kaitlin (from yesterday's post) won 2nd Alternate & Miss Photogenic!! Congrats Kaitlin!

Oops, I did it again...

Didn't post for like, ehhh, 2 or 3 months. I'M SO BAD! I'm going to try to redeem myself one of these days, but for now all you get is a mini post. BWAAAA HAHAHAHAHA! I'm evil, yes I am!

What's happened since my last post? Lots =) We went to Disney World for a week over Spring Break. The kids had a blast but we were all so TIRED when we got home! I'll have to post pics... later. (oh yeah, I just did that).

Since no post is a post without a picture (even a mini post), I'll leave you with this young beauty who's in a pageant this afternoon... Go Miss Kaitlin!!! I have a feeling she's gonna do GREAT!

Hey Jillian...

...is it rough being this beautiful?





I'm still editing the first few shots of this session, but couldn't resist posting a few... I'm definitely gonna have lots & lots of new website material from this session!!! =) Thanks, Jillian, for making my job so easy!!! =)

Happy Birthday Tucker!

It's hard to believe that 9 years ago today, my first child came into the world... on one hand it seems like he's growing up way too fast - on the other, it seems like he's been with me forever. I honestly can't remember what life was like without a child!

We always have a small cake on their birthDAY and then the bigger fancy cake at their party. It's a tradition =) This morning I drug all the kids into the kitchen to sing the birthday song... then we proceeded to have birthday cake for breakfast! That's right folks, I'm all about nutrition.


Tucker at 9:
unorganized ~ fights constantly with Nathan (& Jackson, but not quite as much) ~ loves his sister & will do anything she asks ~ forgets to brush his teeth ~ makes good grades ~ always tells the truth ~ is addicted to Nintendo DS ~ couldn't care less about girls ~ fakes asleep in the car when we get home ~ still gives me hugs & kisses ~ thinks his Dad hung the moon ~ is skinny as a rail ~ hates to get his face wet ~ whines about EVERYTHING ~ has freckles across his nose & is getting a few splashed on his neck ~ is the whitest white boy you've ever seen ~ is always inventing things ~ tries to prove himself ~ is still my baby!

Katie ... and some thoughts from today...

I don't think I ever shared Katie's senior pics! I've always been so bad about remembering to share my client pics.

Katie is one of the most genuine young ladies I've ever met.... and though she's beautiful on the outside, her inner beauty is what really impressed me!

Oh - and we share a love for photography! Who knew?! She's building quite an impressive collection with her new DSLR =)
Loving the light in this one :)
She's got her head on her shoulders, and I'm telling you - this girl is going places.

On a completely DIFFERENT note... today was a sorta weird day for my family.

Who decides what price tag goes on your life? I mean... I can imagine that it's tough enough figuring out what sort of price tag to put on a handmade blanket.... something that you sat & patiently put together one row at a time... you start out with this string of yarn, and turn it into something unbelievably beautiful. So, I can understand how difficult it'd be to factor in all your time, hard work, and attention to detail. But a life... I just don't see how you put a PRICE on that.

I've been pondering over this today, because lawyers for my brother's children reached a settlement today with the insurance company. Most of you know about my younger brother, Chris. He died shortly after a car pulled out in front of his motorcycle back in June. Apparently, even though the lady's insurance policy included a fatality benefit thingy, insurance companies just don't pay up for this sort of thing (I know you're completely shocked) ... anyhoo... they (lawyers for his children) did the arbitration thing today. One lawyer made the statement "I'll be glad if we get $50,000".

Okay. I'd really like to know who decided to put that price tag on my brother's life? Because I can tell you, he was worth MUCH more than that to me. That may sound like alot to some people, but it isn't a drop in the bucket compared to what I'd give to have him back. It just... I dunno, APPALLS me that someone is responsible for determining how much they feel a life is worth... that people actually sat down at a table today & went back & forth about how much they thought his children deserved. Like some sort of auction. I mean, does he get a bonus for beating up that boy down the road that made fun of me? Or wait, maybe you'll throw in an extra thousand bucks if you knew he got on top of a firetruck, in the middle of a bad part of town, yelling through a megaphone to "Come to Jesus!" (okay I had to laugh at that) .... or wait, okay take away a few grand because he had an addiction. Whatever happened to people to keeping their word? If they have a death benefit for $300,000 how about just PAYING it? I'm betting that if the poor lady had missed her premium payment they're wouldn't be any negotiating on her part, would there?

But I digress. In a really weird, nontraditional way... my brother is paying for his kids' college... and if I'm looking for the silver lining here... that's definitely something to smile about.

A rare photo...

...of me, courtesy of Nathan! I set it up for him, but he composed the shot! Nice work, eh???

Wow, I need a tan!

Payback :)

Payback, courtesy of my imac webcam. Don't blame me for the gross sepia-ish color. That would be Miss Cassidy's choice :)

A, ummm, fairytale. Sorta.

Once upon a time there was an evil nanny who was always harassing her beautiful, talented, kind photographer daughter to get pictures of her even MORE beautiful, talented and ki... well - let's just go with beautiful & talented - grandchildren.

Where was I? Oh yeah.

*So*. The beautiful talented daughter decided one day that she would surprise the evil nanny with a lovely picture of her grandchildren. (Although I'm not really sure why the daughter would offer up such a nice gesture since the evil nanny abandoned the daughter with SIX CHILDREN and went to Target.) However, she didn't let this abandonment damper her kind heart. No, no... the daughter was determined to capture the perfect picture of all six grandchildren.





The daughter failed miserably. THE END. Hey, all stories don't have a happy ending =)

After that tragic story I can't leave you without something to make you smile.... my super cute niece & nephew, Trinity & Haden. ♥ them!




And this is not the result of me lying on a muddy ground to please my niece. Promise. She really CAN fly.

2009 =)

Ok, ok. So I'm a little late to be posting Happy New Year... but hey, what can I say? It *is* one of my New Years' resolutions to stop procrastinating. I haven't gotten around to that yet, but I will. Tomorrow. =)

So what's up since my last post?

1) Santa came. I'm certain that he left the entire contents of his sleigh on my living room floor. It was absolutely ridiculous. (I dunno who's fault that was!)

2) The elves went. Thank GOODNESS. As happy as I was to see them come, I was happier to see them go. Tucker's class elf, Tamara, came to stay with us for the holiday break - and I'm just gonna say that 4 elves in the house along with 4 children is a bit much. And we'll just leave it at that.

3) I visited my brother's grave & saw his headstone for the first time on Christmas Eve. I was worried about how it would turn out, because honestly there wasn't alot to choose from - the cemetary that he's buried in has only those flat headstone things - but all in all, it turned out really nice. For a headstone.

4) Trinity & Haden came up to visit for a realllllllly LOOOOONG weekend. 6 kids in one house, um. Not recommended! Wow! I heart them though :)

5) I'm planning my baby girl's THIRD (yes I did say THIRD) birthday party. Where did the time go?

6) Eric probably broke a rib. Playing basketball at the Fire Department. Yes, he still thinks he's in high school.

7) Tucker & Nate made A-B honor roll. I have to admit, I'm never excited by B's. I hate B's. B's stink. I'm an all-A lovin' kinda girl.

8) I got lots of diamonds for Christmas from my darling husband! A diamond wrap for my solitaire & diamond earrings. I heart him too. :)

9) The new coolest thing in our house is the Wii. We ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! We also got a Wii fit, gotta say that's been a hit as well! Games I recommend (based on adult AND kid approval combined): wii sports (we love tennis & bowling), wii fit (balance games & aerobics get the most use here), Super Mario Party 8, some Zelda game (that is super duper complicated & time consuming), and Trauma Center: New Blood (I dunno who picked that one! wink wink!)

10) We put a down payment on a lot in Mountain View subdivision! We're really excited (by we, I mean Eric) about trying to sell our house in a failing economy, then packing up all our junk, and moving - probably into some nice, quaint (read= SMALL) apartment or something of the like, while waiting for our brand spanking shiny new house to be built. YAY. I can't wait.

11) I switched to Mac. =) Still figuring it out.

12) My sweet, sweet Grandad celebrated his 86th birthday on January 8th. Words can't describe how much I love that man!!!! He is peace personified; the kindest, gentlest man I have ever met. (and how cool is it that he is MY grandad!!! SCORE!) He is never upset or cross about anything. He has the strongest faith of anyone I know. He is past generous. And how he's put up with my grandmother for 66 years, I'll never know.... but he loves her. And I love him!

12) I failed yet again this year to make any new year's resolutions... well, actually I was gonna make some, then new years' came & went, and there I was, still thinking about making resolutions, because I figure - I need to give this alot of thought, right? So around about January the 5th, I decided that I would only make ONE resolution, and that was to STOP PROCRASTINATING. Which - *sigh* - I've still not gotten around to (see beginning of post) but I will. Soon. ;)

No pics today. But soon. Promise! ;)

MIA? Not really.....

Just been super busy with the holidays... sessions, editing, ordering, delivering, you know the drill!

The boys sang a few songs from their Christmas Play in the mall Wednesday night (you too can have their autographs for a small fee) so we decided to stop by & see the big man himself. Yes, you guessed it, MALL SANTA. :)

Not sure what Cassidy is doing, maybe praying for more presents?

Disclaimer: This photograph is courtesy of Mall Santa's helper elf photographer. :D

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season! What are the elves up to, you ask?? Well you'll just have to stay posted...

They're Baaaaaaaack!

The kids have been driving me crazy asking me when their elves were gonna come back. Generally, Santa doesn't let the elves come stay with children until after Thanksgiving, but he must have heard my kids begging! They arrived in the mailbox today, equipped with magic pencils (they were HUGE!) and a book for Cassidy.


Ignore the nasty faces, we had just finished eating ribs :)


It seems attitudes immediately get better around here when the elves arrive - here's Jackson sharing PS3 time with Wyndham. <3

A bit of elf history - blog posts from last year :)

Adventures of Wyndham & Axel
Elf-scapade

Spencer

I don't get the privilege of shooting senior guys so much - but I had such a great time with Spencer! He actually enjoyed having his picture made, I think it shows!



One of my new faves - pretty cool color & angle if I do say so myself! :)

The perfect family portrait

...is impossible when you have 4 kids. *sigh*

In EVERY.SINGLE.PICTURE. one of the kids (usually Jackson) is running away, blinking, swinging to hit someone, picking his nose, or something of that nature. I did get a pretty funny one after one of the boys ummmm (can I say this on here?) passed gas - Cassidy was holding her nose. I won't mention which one did it for fear of causing him to hate me for the rest of my life. ;)



You know that perfect picture you have in your mind, the one where everyone is just sitting there with beautiful, oh-so-natural smiles on their pretty, clean little faces? Yeah, me too. We didn't get that. Oh well, it's not perfect. Which is *totally* us. =)

Back to work!

So my doctor wasn't too keen on the idea of me going home on Wednesday with my Potassium still low, but hey, I'm pretty persuasive if I do say so myself! I planned on going back to work on Thursday, but that didn't pan out, so I went back on Friday/Halloween - in full costume of course!

Here's a pic someone snapped at work with their handy dandy point & shoot. This is Shaun, the dead prom queen (kids- don't drink & drive, this could be you!); Lori, the last minute kitty cat =); and myself, as a rather sophisticated Geisha girl.



(Yes, I am mildly retarded, and no, I don't have a clue how a Geisha girl poses for a photo, thank you very much.)

Fun fact: Me & Shaun, along with 2 others (I'll have to find a pic of them) won the costume contest! Hip hip hooray! =)

Oh, and FYI - A few things I learned during my short stint as a Geisha girl.
1) You can pick up HBO with your hair accessories.
2) You WILL have a mild case of whiplash the following day after you catch the chopsticks on the door facing approximately 7 times getting in & out of vehicles. Ibuprofen works wonders.
3) White makeup is hard to put on & cakes up something fierce. Simply avoid tanning for 6 months and contract some horrendous stomach bug the week prior to Halloween for that authentic pale Geisha Girl complexion.

Happy Halloween! (better late than never, wink wink...)

IN the hospital?

Not supposed to work that way for a nurse, I don't think, thank you very much! I'm SO ready to get out of here. Not that the people haven't been super nice, not that my doctor hasn't been helpful... it's just I'm stir crazy & READY TO GO HOME. I dunno if I've ever mentioned that I'm needle-phobic (oh, go ahead, laugh, I know you want to...) - but I am, & I'm REEEEEEAAAAALLLLLY tired of being stuck.

I guess if I'm griping, I'm feeling better, right? ;) Please say a prayer that I can go home today, because if I can't, I might just sneak out anyway...

Little Ham!

One of my faves of the little ham from the 'ham. (Birmingham, that is!)



My job is pure torture, I tell you...

Yee Haw!

We're drug-free Y'all! [Red Ribbon Week - Day 3]

Hillbilly Nate


Had to get a butt shot to show you guys the back :D Nate's gonna kill me for this...

Hillbilly Tucker (who isn't in the best of moods in the mornings, might I add....)



(PSSSSSSSSSST..... see that poll... over there in the sidebar? <---------- GO VOTE!)

Red Ribbon Week ~ Day 2

It's Red Ribbon Week at White Plains Elementary!

If you know me, you know I HATE drugs... so we try to be supportive of anything anti-drug in my home. I forgot to take a picture yesterday (Don't let drugs turn your life inside out!) ... but I couldn't let them get away this morning without breaking out the ole 5D.

Today's theme - "Tell me a story of a drug free world!" Mission: dress up as your favorite storybook character. Without further ado, I give you Harry Potter & Jengo Fett -



3 reasons you SHOULDN'T be laughing right now:
1. It's just NOT NICE. =)
2. They decided what they were going to dress as, not me.
2. Costumes are slim pickins' - we had to improvise Harry Potter with a vampire cape (we snatched off some gargoyle thingy), a wand (stick) out of the back yard & some coke bottle glasses that should come in handy tomorrow (HINT HINT). Yes, those bad boys are going to work double-duty.

STAY TUNED...

A promise is a promise!

I'm literally about to fall fast asleep at the computer, but I told Ayda's mom I'd blog a pic, and a promise is a promise. Can't disappoint! =)

So here's one of the very first shots I took of Miss Ayda (my new friend)... are those dimples TO DIE FOR or what???


I'm dying to proof this session... but my brain is fried! Off to bed - nite nite!