Historic Day...

We got a foot of snow today...a spring snow storm!  We've had spring storms before, but we haven't had one this big.  In fact...we've lived in this house for almost 20 years, and this is the biggest storm we've seen here.  I didn't get a final image because it's been coming down all day...for 12 hours +!  It isn't over.  I am sitting here listening to the news, and they are saying we will get another 1 or 2 inches overnight!  I do love this image I got earlier on my iPhone today.

Yesterday we took Jake to the circus.  I snapped this one on the iPhone.



Did you notice anything about my little man?  See the gap?  He pulled out his first loose tooth.

I picked him up from school on Friday, and he had his tooth in a bag.

I'm so glad I got him in the studio when I did.   I'm a little sad to see the baby teeth go. Boo.

He was so funny in the studio.  I get amazing shots of him, but he makes me work harder than any other little person I photograph!  Here are some outtakes for your entertainment.

Thanks to my friend, Lynn Grieveson from DesignerDigitals.com for her awesome templates!

Here are some of my favorites.

Jake and I did a little cupcake baking this past week.  The leprechaun left a mix on St. Pat's Day, and Jake was pretty excited about that treat.  He asked every day until I finally agreed to bake them. 

To those folks who got a cupcake delivery from us...no worries.  I did not let him put his finger back in once he licked it. ;)

I also decided to make some sunflower seed butter cups for Kate.  She mentioned how much she missed Reese's since her peanut allergy diagnosis.  I got this recipe from Pinterest.  I won't share it here, because they were disgusting.  Ha!  They were WAY too sweet, and we weren't thrilled about the sunflower seed butter taste.  Don't get me wrong...we love sunflower seed butter.  I like it better than peanut butter and eat it on crackers all the time.  It just didn't work with this recipe.

It involved butter, too...and Crisco.  Blech.  Don't bother. 

I just love this bunny that Jake brought home from school!

In addition to Jake,  I had another little friend in the studio last week, too.  Sweet Kaitlyn came over for her 1 year old pictures.  Once we got warmed up, Kaitlyn gave me lots of sweet smiles!  She loved bubbles!  My new bubble machine worked perfectly. ;)

The studio was a busy place for some pretty grown up people, too!  My niece and nephew came by for some shots.  I hope to get their younger brother and sister here soon, too!  They were on a fishing trip with my brother and dad.  Here are just a few of the many that I love.

I had some other little friends here late in the week.  I need to refill the bubbles! ;)

We are on spring break this week and now most of the area schools have a snow day.  It should be a very busy sledding day at our favorite spot tomorrow!

Getting into trouble...

This purchase was a mistake.  I was in trouble...big time.  I took control and gave up candy for the rest of Lent.  That was the only way I was going to stay out of this jar! 

Jake and I have had a long standing issue with his jeans.  I think my Facebook friends are probably tired of hearing about it.  I've thrown away 8 pairs of jeans this winter.  I have no idea what he is doing to them, but the right knee is always destroyed.  I got desperate last week and tried duct tape.  He wasn't too happy about that, as you can see.

This is how the tape looked when he got home.  I was amazed that it was still on...and even more amazed to see the threads of the tape.

It worked for that day, but it didn't work yesterday.  I put duct tape over the bottom hole on this pair, and he came home with another hole above the tape!  Please forgive the terrible quality on this iPad shot.

I'm tired of talking about it and tired of throwing away jeans.  He is no longer allowed to play on any claw machines in public until this stops.  He can always hope that it will warm up soon, and he can start wearing shorts! 

It's a good thing he is such a sweet guy, and I forgive easily.  ;)  I forgot to blog about something he did for me before my Nashville trip.  He overheard me ask Kate if she had a small wallet I could borrow for the trip.  She didn't, but he exclaimed that he did!  He ran to our foyer closet and brought me this.

I was so touched that he wouldn't hesitate to let me take his wallet...so I did.  :)

In case you are wondering about my watermarks, I thought I would mention why I use them.  There are people who call themselves photographers all over the world who take images from other photographers' websites and claim them as their own.  For this reason, I've always watermarked my business images.  I'm now watermarking my personal images, too.  I recently heard about a local photographer whose personal image of her cat sitting on her couch was used for a print ad by a large company!!  I was shocked!  She had that image watermarked in the lower corner, and they cropped out her watermark and used it anyway...without permission!   As an added protection, I always resize my images, so that the resolution would be poor if anyone tried to enlarge it.  I didn't bother watermarking the terrible iPad shot.  No one would want that!

Now back to Jake. LOL  The amount of food he can consume amazes me.  He eats a great dinner every night, but by 7:30 he asks for a bowl of cereal.  Some of my friends with boys have assured me that this is perfectly normal.  This has become our nightly ritual.

We celebrated Ben's first birthday!  He had a great time at his party.  This boy plays hard!

I have a bunch of other great images from his party, so I'll post a link to his video once we do his first year shoot.  We were suppose to do it the day after his party, but he fell the night of his party and got his first black eye.  Poor guy!  Hopefully we will get his shoot and cake smash done this weekend.

This is what makes me happy.

I love that Kate lives at home again.  I love that she takes the time to play with her brother.  I love that he gets the benefit of her great influence.  I love that they love each other so much. 

Last week my buddy, Karen, and her girls invited me to go to a Blue's game with them.  I was excited to go to the game, but I was even more excited to spend this time with them.  These girls are the reason I am "Gigi".  They are SO special to me.  Thanks for a great night!!

I just reread this post to check for errors.  Let me just tell you...there are always a bunch.  My brain moves too fast and my fingers don't cooperate.  My posts are always so random and jump around so much.  I guess this gives you a peek at what's going on in my brain!  Ha!  Maybe I should turn off the Spotify music while I'm trying to work on these posts.  Extra distractions are never a good thing for me.

I have a question.  Do you know anyone who likes to paint furniture?  I have two wooden child-size chairs that need to be painted.  I want one to be hot pink, and I haven't decided what to do with the other one yet.  They are both studio props.  I would love to have someone else do this for me in exchange for pictures.  Pass this along if you know anyone who might be interested. Thanks!

Thanks for reading my random ramblings. ;)

Katie and Tim...

Last week I spent some time with Katie and Tim doing their engagement session.  I loved watching these two interact. They are such a team!  Katie is full of creative ideas and had plenty of props for our session.  They were easy going and playful, and it made the session so much fun!  They are crazy busy with stressful jobs...Katie is a trauma ICU nurse, and Tim is a pilot/manager.  It's great to see that they can switch gears and just let loose.   I know this wedding will be a BLAST!

Waiting for Clifden...

I spent some time with Meghan and Mike last weekend.  Clifden is due very soon!  They are so ready!  I love home maternity shoots....especially when a house has this much character.

I love the wall colors and the stained glass!!

 Clifden is named after a city in Ireland.  This poster hangs in his room.

This next shot just looks like Meghan is saying, "We got this!"  Love it!

I can't wait to meet this little man!