Allison

Finishing my day of shooting on Monday with Allison was just icing on the cake. Brooke and Allison have been friends since they were little. They decided to do their senior shoots together. In fact, I have plenty of together pictures which will be posted soon.

Allison was just as sweet as can be. She's beautiful and so friendly and fun. She has big plans, and it was so fun to talk about them. Thanks for sharing this time with me, Allison.

Click here to view Allison's video.

Brooke

It is such an honor to have a young woman ask you to take her senior pictures. I really wanted to make this time special for Brooke. The pictures we got are spectacular. It took a long time to decide what to preview here. There are so many.  Brooke is beautiful and such a natural. I gave her a little direction, and she just took off!  I am excited for you, Brooke. Enjoy this special year.  Take it one day at a time and enjoy the process.  This is just the beginning of great things for you.

Click below to see Brooke's video.
Click here.

Ali

I had such a wonderful day yesterday with some beautiful ladies. Ali was my first shoot of the day. I just love this girl! I've been blessed to see her grow from a baby to a confident young woman.  She's super smart and such a natural beauty. She's a varsity tennis player, so she has the athletic talent, too. She's got it all going on, and she's only a freshman.  I'm so excited for her and her family. I can't wait to see what she does in the future...the possibilities are endless!

It's getting serious.

He's moved on to furniture.

I let Jake have a little outside time on Friday. He's been so sick and stuck in the house all week. Daddy found the coolest bug. I hope the bug survived his play time with Jake.

I can't believe how fearless Jake is with bugs. He didn't hesitate to grab it out of Dan's hand. He also likes to walk around outside with a dead locust that my dad gave him and a dead butterfly. He tries to sneak these treasures into my house, but I keep a close eye on what comes in!

Friday night we took Jake to our local German festival. It's near our house, so we could get home quickly if he started coughing. He may have technically still been contagious, but we went early before the fair got crowded. He was the only kid on most of the rides. He had a great time, ate an entire hot dog, and ate his fair share of funnel cake.

All of these pictures at the fair were taken on my iPhone which explains the quality.

On Saturday we took it easy until Kate came over to join us for dinner. I surprised her with cupcakes. I made a bunch that she could take back to the dorm. I was so excited to find these at Trader Joe's.

She can't have boxed cake or canned icing. Bakery cakes have been a problem for her, too. These mixes are made from all natural ingredients. They aren't Betty Crocker, but the cupcakes are pretty yummy!

We were returned home from dinner, Ghostie Boy and Pumpkin Gril were on thanks to the new timer. This Halloween decoration is now considered vintage on ebay! LOL  We bought this when Kate was just about Jake's age. She named it. I convinced both of them to pose for me. Ghostie Boy needed no convincing.

365 Update and Excitement Over Books!

In case you are wondering, I am keeping up with Project 365. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Project 365 involves taking a picture every single day of the year and journaling about each shot. I was posting all of my pictures on Facebook, but I've been falling behind there for the last two months. You can catch up on my 365 gallery by clicking the picture icon on the right. All of the pictures and journaling will be printed in a book at the end of the year. I did the project last year and love looking through my book. Two years in a row might be my limit. Now I have this blog and post everything here anyway.  It seems redundant to have a blog book and a 365 book each year. Next year I will probably just work harder to blog more frequently.

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday. Jake asked me to read a book to him. That is huge. He rarely asks that. When I do read to him, he can hardly make it through an entire book without jumping out of my lap and running to some other activity.

I know, I know. Don't compare.  I can't help it. Kate loved books. Kate could spend a very long time entertaining herself with a pile of books. We read the same books over and over again. She was much younger than Jake in the following pictures, and so many of the shots I have of her at this age include books.

When Jake asked me, I was so excited. When he asked for a second and third book, I just couldn't believe it! We sat together reading for a long time before I decided to run downstairs for the camera. I didn't want to ruin the moment.

I'm really hoping this day wasn't a fluke. He was still pretty sick with croup which slowed him down a bit, but he was also juiced up on prednisone. My fingers are crossed that he'll ask again soon.

I just love these frames!!    I'll be using them occasionally when I have some extra time. 

Speaking of the croup diagnosis...I had to reschedule a few of my shoots. We got very little sleep last week, and Jake wasn't going to school.  He needed his Mommy. Fortunately my clients are also mommies and very understanding. I have 3 shoots set up for Monday and am so excited about them.

Art by Jake

abstract art, abstractionism - an abstract genre of art; artistic content depends on internal form rather than pictorial representation

I think he has a very bright future. I also think he is using his entire body in his work. It looks like he may have stepped in the paint and walked across the canvas.

In all seriousness, Jake's explanation is so sweet. Jake and I are the biggest red blob. We are together. Freud would have a field day with this, right?  Daddy is the one to the left. Kate is the smaller one to the right. Don't take it personally, Kate.  I guess he realizes you are petite.

Jake is loving my first blog song. I caught him singing it this morning. Sorry...the upload is much darker than my actual video for some reason.