New beginnings.

Yesterday was IT..the last day for Kate. It was her last class day of high school. She started at her school 6 years ago...in 7th grade. She's grown. She's changed. She's ready to move on to bigger things. I'm so proud of her.

Big Helper

Jake must help with everything now. I mean EVERYTHING. The latest is that he'll help clear dishes from the table after a meal just so he can get to the Windex faster.

We have a big, glass table. I'm sure you can imagine how long he takes to saturate it with window cleaner. I could probably write and publish another blog post in that amount of time.  I bet you are wondering what is in his mouth. That would be a ring pop. He ate a good dinner.

I was thrilled with these two shots that I got at the park today. We spent 3 hours there. We needed a day out together. The weather has been rainy and cool, but today was just perfect.

 I'll tell you what amazes me. Jake can charm people wherever we go. He started by entertaining everyone in the waiting room at my allergist's office. Then at the park he charmed a college student enough that she allowed him to play with her 2 month old puppy for 30 minutes. He also made another friend...a 4 year old girl. They spent lots of time together, too.

I seriously had no idea.

Website development is tricky. I should leave it to the pros, right?  I am about to drop the hosting provider I am using and make a switch. After spending a ton of time today on it, I'm just not getting the look I want. I am going to need to make a fresh start. I told a lot of you that the site would be up and running in a week. I must have been delusional.  Now I'm shooting for the end of the summer!  Wish me luck!  Oh...by the way...this blog will remain unchanged. I am only talking about my photography website.

I don't have any pictures ready to share. I will try to get some uploaded tomorrow. I had to stay focused on one task today. I can leave you with a sweet story. Sweet...there is that word again...the word I always use to describe my son.

Dan is usually the one to get him out of his room in the morning. We put a gate up at his door, so he can't wander the house at night. You know he would!  He called for us yesterday morning, and Dan ran up as usual. I was sitting on the couch with cup of coffee number one for the day. Jake saw me when he hit the bottom of the steps still in his daddy's arms. He looked at me and said, "Hi! I missed you!"  That set the tone for the rest of the day.  It was all good.

Kate has 2 days of high school classes left! It's really hard to believe. She's been studying like crazy for finals and finishing the yearbook which is going to look amazing. Apparently I'll be able to get my own copy! You know she gets all that creativity from ME!

How can I be angry??

You can't be angry with this boy. He is just too sweet. This is what I found yesterday when I walked into the kitchen.

It might look like he's playing in his sister's water cup. That is exactly what I thought. There was water all over the table. There was water all over the floor. I thought...here we go again. I can't leave him alone for 5 minutes without finding some kind of trouble or mess. Then...guess what he says?

"Mom...this is holy water. I doing this for Jesus."  Then he attempts the Sign of the Cross. "In the Father. In the Son. Spirit. A Amen."

I was anything but angry.

Prom Night

Tonight is Richard's prom. I didn't get to see the kids together, so I'll have to wait for Richard's mom to share those shots. I just got a few of Kate as she was getting ready. In the second shot, she is sending Richie one final text.

She wasn't in the greatest mood for pictures. She had to get up super early this morning to take a final...on a Saturday. I've never heard of such a thing, but at least the calculus final is out of the way. Well, sort of. She took the teacher's final for the class. She still has to take the AP exam in 2 weeks. Things are winding down for her, but she is still getting slammed with last minute assignments and papers.

I am happy to finally have the invites ordered for her graduation party. We have a date set. We have some good ideas about what we want to serve. There will be a lot more people than I expected. Kate invited a huge group of friends, and it seems like a lot of them are coming.

I have one last thing to do for my business. I need to set up the website. It seems like a huge task. I'm hoping to tackle it this week. I'm working tonight on our new desktop computer instead of my laptop. We got a new HP computer with Windows 7. Wow...Windows 7 is so impressive. I was certain I wanted a MAC when it was time to replace my laptop, but I'm really blown away by this operating system.

Oh my...

I thought I loved my 50mm lens, but this new 85mm is really something. I played with it outside with Jake today and got a bunch of darling shots. I came home with the lens yesterday and just informed Dan that he was off the hook for Mother's Day.  He handled the news very well. I was so proud of him. He is impressed with these shots, too.

How funny is this shot?? He was hanging from a tree branch.

 I couldn't resist a shot of these feet once the shoes and socks came off.

Right now he tolerates the camera.  He hasn't asked me to put it away yet. I shouldn't push my luck!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

School Picnic in the Park

We had Jake's school picnic yesterday. It was a gorgeous day. I think Jake and I were the last ones to leave. I took a BUNCH of pictures and was disappointed that I didn't get more that I just loved. Jake just moves too fast and is reluctant to look at the camera. I think I'm going to have to start trying bribery or some other trick.

Jake spent some time on the swings, played the prepared games multiple times, made up some games of his own, and flirted with older girls in the park on a field trip. It was a good day.

This morning Jake was wrestling on the floor with his Daddy. He stopped, turned to me, and said, "Mommy, I love my Dee."  That's his nickname for his Daddy.  Jake, I love your Dee, too!

I Am Official!

I registered with the state today, ordered my business cards, and set up a fan page on Facebook. I have my domain name, but I still need to work on the website. I'm thinking that could take awhile. I need a few extra kidless hours in my day...someday. 

I got the ranch pictures edited. I have a bunch that I just love. There were so many firsts for Jake on Sunday. We bought him his first big boy 4-wheeler, he fished, and he collected tadpoles. Check out this shot of the first time he fed the fish. This is my favorite shot of all.

Here are my other favorites.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

We had such a busy weekend. I've been busy editing the 400+ pictures I took. I loved this shot of Kate the day after prom. Her curls looked adorable all day!

On Saturday I took pictures of Michael and Julia. I have a bunch that I love. These two beautiful children can't take a bad picture!

I have found that I really love to edit pictures. There is something about the perfect crop and adding a photo treatment that I find very relaxing. I am going to keep reminding myself of this while I continue editing the 250+ pictures I took at Jane and Paul's ranch yesterday.  Hopefully that post will be ready tomorrow.

Look at what I found while trying to get ready for our ranch trip. Leave a cooler laying around, and a naked boy will climb inside of it.

It's Just Soap and Water.

The title above is what my son says to convince himself that the car wash is not a scary place. We took the kids to dinner on Thursday since Friday was senior skip day. After dinner Dan decided to get my car filled, and Jake requested a trip through the car wash. We thought that was huge progress. We let Jake get out of his car seat when we were entering the car wash; and, as soon as it got loud, he was right in his sister's arms. All I had was the iPhone, so that explains the bad picture quality.

You just know that his sister was loving every minute of this!

We actually had a terrible night with Jake last night. He was wide awake from 2:30-5:15 am. Dan and I are convinced it's the weather. Ever since Jake was a newborn, he seems to react to pressure changes. We had a front moving in last night that would cool down these unusually warm April temperatures and bring rain. Who knows if that had anything to do with it, but Jake has had nights like this before. It's just so strange.

Today was a long day because I was so tired. Now I'm waiting up for Kate. It's prom night tonight, so it could be a very late one. I'm editing the pictures I took before the kids left for prom. We stopped at Richard's house for pictures and then headed to another house for group shots. I was so angry with myself. I forgot my external flash, so that meant that any flash shots would have shadows. I have to just start carrying my larger camera bag and all my gear with me. Here are a few shots I took tonight. 

Decorating Decisions

Why are they so hard for me? Here we go again. We need a new kitchen table. Our extension table is messed up, and I don't think it's fixable. When we sit at our table, my side goes up and down when Dan puts is elbow on it. It drives me crazy! Also, many of the bolts on the chairs are stripped, and the backs keep falling off. It's just a riot. I really wanted to wait to replace the set until Jake was older, but I don't think we can't wait any longer. I want to order from Room and Board again because we were so happy with our dining room set. I just wish we could visit the store to see the furniture in person.  Here are the pieces I am considering.

The top two are the Parsons table. The legs are natural steel. I am considering either frosted glass for the top or white quartz. You can also get solid wood tops.

This is the Portica table with stainless legs and either a white quartz, frosted glass, or wood top.

I'm liking the solid maple chair with an ebony stain. I was certain I would do leather again until I saw this one.

I don't know why furniture is so hard for me. I just wish everything would last so I wouldn't have to replace it! Feel free to give an opinion...especially you, Kathy! ;)