Month: September 2010

I was thrilled when this family contacted me and wanted to do a session at the beach.  I really love what I do, no matter what the location, but there is just something extra special about hanging out with a family at the beach.  Everyone is relaxed, everyone has fun, and good photos are easy to come by.  This session was no exception!  I left there giddy and couldn’t wait to see what I captured.  They were such a beautiful, warm, and loving family!

This little sweetie loved the camera!  She made so many great faces and was in a great mood despite the fact we were shooting right at dinner time.  She is such a beautiful little girl!  I loved this sweet little pouty face picture.  It really shows off her gorgeous brown eyes!

I am always drawn to the pictures where people aren’t looking at me but are interacting with their loved ones. This session was no different.

Like this one.  Mother and son.  I don’t know if it’s because I have sons of my own or what, but I love this one.  The mother/son bond is strong.  There is nothing quite like it.

Thank you for letting me into your family time at the beach and trusting me to take these photos.  I had a great time and loved meeting you guys!

Meet Miss L.  She is such a sweet little baby and looks just like a doll with porcelain skin, bright blue eyes, and hair that just  might grown in red!  The sweet little smocked dress completed the look.  So adorable!

We had outfit changes, background changes, and she stayed pretty happy through it all.  Of course, the many renditions of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” helped, too!   She loved when we sang that song and that was how we got the best smiles from her.  You never know what will work with a 4 month old, and the singing seemed to do the trick this time!

Even when she just wanted to show her more serious side, she was still completely adorable!  I just love her cheeks.

We tried a couple of times to get some shots of her on her tummy, and finally at the very end of the session, she showed us all how it’s done.  In this picture, her eyes are locked on her big sister.  Sibling relationships are so sweet and Lucy is lucky to have two big sisters to grow up with!

Big sis was home from school for the day with a bit of a cold.  When we were all done with L’s pics, she wanted me to take pictures of her!  What?  A six year old that asks to have their photo taken?  Of course, I was happy to oblige!

Thanks for hiring me to take you sweet girl’s pictures!  Meeting new people is one of my favorite parts of this job, and I loved spending the morning with you guys.   I can’t wait to show you the rest of L’s pictures!

Holy cow, how is it possible that I have 15 hours a week with all the kiddos in school, yet somehow I am feeling busier than ever?  The past week and a half has flown by.  Here are a few snippets of the last 10 days:

-Soccer, soccer, and more soccer.  With both boys playing this season and Connor doing an extra skills practice each week, we are at the fields Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and last weekend both Saturday and Sunday.  I am a full fledged soccer mom (and I love it.  really, I do.)

-If soccer wasn’t keeping us busy enough, I finally agreed to sign Connor up for Cub Scouts.  He’s been talking about it since last year, but I’ve been hesitant for a number of reasons, a big one being I really don’t like for the kids to do more than one activity at a time.  Luckily Cub Scouts is just twice a month (plus all the fun weekend/camping things), and Connor seriously loves it.  He’s obsessed with his uniform and he looks so cute in it.  I promise you there will be pictures next time!  He had his first den meeting last night.  You better believe that I was at the scout store at 3:30 yesterday buying his uniform stuff (um, hello expensive paraphernalia!  $78 and we don’t even have everything yet!  Thankfully he will wear this uniform until 4th grade.)  I quickly sewed the patches on before the meeting (with my sewing machine.  My mom is laughing.  I have a hard time sewing a straight line, so all these circles did me in!)  And when he got home, I ripped the patches off and re-sewed them by hand.  Awesome.  My hand is still a little sore.  Next thing you know I will be darning socks.

–My business.  I feel like I can really call it my business now because it is starting to get a little busy!  Over the past few weeks, I’ve had several phone calls/emails from people I don’t know.  I’m sure the novelty of that will wear off (although maybe not because I love meeting new people), but at this point, it totally made my day when someone said they found my website and called to book a session.  I made some marketing postcards for the Just Between Friends sale, planned mini sessions for Arlington and Houston, and had 2 photo shoots.  It’s been a lot like work!  And I love it.

-I’ve made two batches of these banana muffins and they are a huge hit!  Connor bit into one and declared me “the best cook he knows”.  Those are big words, I tell ya.  Just a hint if you make them…I think I accidentally added too much butter the second time and they are a little greasy.  Definitely don’t add any more butter than what the recipe calls for, and I bet even a little less would be fine.

-Working out.  I am so incredibly sore. I exercised less than 4 times this summer and have 7 pounds to show for it.  Awesome.  I tried on my “skinny” jeans (and by skinny jeans, I mean my size 8s, not actual skinny jeans because even though they are all the rage I just cannot bring myself to try any on, much less buy a pair.  I am scared of them.  Will skinny jeans look good on someone with thunder thighs??   I believe the answer to that question is a big, fat no.)  Anyway, my skinny jeans are snug, even after doing deep knee bends to stretch them out.  C’mon, you know you do that.  I tried to blame it on the dryer and pms, but the scale just doesn’t lie day after day after day.  I’m owning my 7 pounds. Thank goodness we still have at least a month of shorts weather and hopefully I’ll be able to breath with my jeans button and zipped in a few weeks.  And did I really just say what size I wear?  Is that uncouth?  There you have it.  Size 8 on my skinniest day.  I feel sort of empowered admitting that.

-I need to stop making super buttery banana muffins if I want to fit into my jeans in a month.

-I haven’t been to bed before midnight in over week and I just cannot do that again.  I know I was looking really ragged today.  This girl needs her beauty sleep.

And finally, I can’t believe I haven’t posted this picture on here.  It’s my new fave.  I printed it 11×14 just because it makes me smile every time I see it.  It’s on my mantle and I love it.  It pretty much sums up my life right now!

Warning: if you have even an inkling of baby fever, proceed with caution!
I could not wait to get my hands on this little bundle. Of course, I use the term “little” loosely considering Miss A was over 9.5 pounds at birth! She was a week old when I went over to take her pictures and she was just so stinkin’ chubby and cute. I could have stayed all day taking pictures of her. She was a dream…so sleepy and she let us mess with all kinds of bows and poses.  She even woke up for a few minutes at the end and wore her tutu.  Thanks, Dawn, for letting me take over your dining room and capture sweet A! And a big thanks to my friend Angela for acting as the baby whisperer and keeping A so calm and sleepy. I think I’m going to bring Angela to all my newborn shoots! It was great having an assistant. 🙂

This little guy was busy.  16 months is a busy age in general, but J took it to a whole new level!  We could hardly get him to be still for a second.  But that’s just fine with me because I loved following this little guy around to catch him just being him.  I honestly love the sessions that are a challenge (the busy age+a little bit of stranger anxiety=challenge), and the sessions that leave me in an all out sweat from running around.  I count it as exercise!

Besides being a busy little guy, he is also quite serious.  You can tell he’s taking in the world, thinking about it all.  He reminded me a lot of my oldest, Connor.  The slightly furrowed brow…the intense stare.  I love it.

I think this was the stillest he got all morning.  He had a view of the road and loved watching the trucks go by.  We’re lucky we got his attention for a second!

Oh, and did I mention that he is cute? Like super duper, watch out when he grows up, lock up your daughters cute?  Seriously, look at those eyes.

We finished the session in the nick of time.  It started raining just as we were loading up in our cars, and it did not stop for the rest of the day (thanks to tropical storm Hermine.)  Thanks, Jill, for coming out today and letting me take pictures of your little cutie!  I can’t wait to show you the rest.

When we found out that Derek’s grandparents (who live in Oklahoma) were going to be in Arlington for the weekend, we did not hesitate to load up the party van and head north for the weekend.  We don’t get to see Grandma and Grandpa Thurman very often.

So this family of 5 left bright and early Saturday morning for a weekend filled with family. Well, as bright and early as possible considering I had not done much packing or prep work on Friday.  I think we were on the road by 10:00.

We enjoyed so much yummy food, good conversation, and even took the opportunity to get a few pictures.

Here we’ve got Pawpaw and Nana (Derek’s grandparents), Grandpa and Grandma (D’s other grandparents), Nonny and Pops (D’s mom and dad), Larry and Shannon (D’s aunt and uncle), and us.

Camryn takes any opportunity to steal the show.  She is such a ham.

And here are 4 generations of Thurman men.

We also got some good cousin time in.  My kids love to play with Madison, Abby, Max, and Sam.  At one point, it had gotten a little quiet inside which can sometimes mean trouble.   Imagine my surprise when I found Madison and Connor engrossed in a game of Monopoly, and Abby and Camryn enjoying some quality book time together.  So cute.

Cousins are the best.

And I loved giving this little chunk of love a big squeeze.  I cannot believe how big he’s gotten since the first time we met.  He certainly doesn’t miss any meals!

All in all, it was a great weekend filled with the love of family.  Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

My parent gave Camryn this tutu for her birthday. So stinkin’ cute.

But Miss Camryn wanted nothing to do with it for several months.
I got it on her body once, but not for long.
She absolutely hated it.

No biggie.
I figured someday she would notice the fabulous pink tutu in her closet and decide all on her own she wanted to wear it.

That day finally arrived last week!  Camryn spotted it in her closet and ended up wearing it to bed one night.  Then the next day, she wanted to wear it all day.  Even when we went to have lunch with the boys.

She happily danced and twirled and posed for pictures.  It made me smile.

I bet it makes you smile, too.  Girls are fun.

1. i love to watch lifetime movies.  you know, those movies that are like after school specials on the lifetime channel.  i love them!

2. most of the time, i think that showers are a waste of time.  fixing my hair and putting on make-up beyond a little bit of powder also falls into the waste of time category.  but the shower thing especially.  i sometimes have to force myself to shower, which i have come to the realization lately is kind of weird and probably a little bit gross.  i can just think of so many things i would rather do than take a shower!  but i promise i don’t stink (i don’t, do i??)

3.  whenever i see an especially long funeral procession it makes me really sad because i think it was someone young who died.

5. remember that movie “never been kissed”? remember the part where josie thinks she is going to the prom with the most popular boy in school and he shows up and throws eggs at her?  that part makes me cry every single time i watch it.  every time.

6.  blue bell caramel kettle crunch ice cream is the best new flavor of ice cream ever.  so good.

7. i like to do laundry.  it’s the one chore that I am pretty good at.  98% of the time, I’m caught up.  I have even started overcoming my dislike of putting laundry away.   now mopping?  cleaning the shower?  i hate those jobs.  Anyone want to trade laundry duty for mopping/shower duty?

8. i sometimes think about having another baby.  in my daydreams, it’s always another girl who is just as sweet and spunky as camryn.

9. Whenever I see a trash bag on the side of the road, I have horribly morbid thoughts about what could be inside the bag.

10.  Obviously, I have some issues.  I mean, what kind of person thinks such horrible things?

11.  When I had children, I never imagined that lessons such as this would need to be taught:

I mean, I really thought that some things were just instinctive.  But judging by Monday afternoon’s drama, apparently they are not.  Being a mom is so much different than I thought it would be.

12.  Public tantrums do not phase me anymore.  I can still remember the embarrassment I felt as Connor threw public tantrums (and trust me….he threw some doozies.  He’s always been my most…shall I say volatile kid.)  As Camryn threw herself face down on the floor at the library this morning because she didn’t get her way, I was able to stay completely calm, totally ignore her, and continue my conversation with my friend.  Two minutes later she was up and we were checking out.  And when she refused to hold my hand through the parking lot and instead sat herself down with a resounding “NO!” which resulted in her being carried kicking and screaming to the car, my blood pressure didn’t even begin to rise.

13.  I’m confident in my parenting choices.  I will not reason with my 2 year old.  I will not give in to tantrums.  I don’t care if people stare; they can think what they want.  Ugly behavior will be ignored.  I am in charge, end of story.  I’m not your friend.  I’m your mom.

14.  I love school supply shopping so much that I don’t think I’ll ever buy them the easy way through the PTA.  I sort of complained about having to go to 3 different stores to find what we needed and even then had to have my mom mail me a few things from Arlington, but really deep in my heart of hearts, I didn’t mind it.

15.  I also love new calendars and planners.  I just got my new MomAgenda calendar in the mail.  Swoon.

16.  I love budgeting and sticking to it.  Nothing makes me happier than having cash for our groceries and entertainment and only spending that and not one dime more.  And don’t even get me started on how good it feels to make that extra car payment and save more.  I get positively giddy about it.

17.  I wish I was a good dancer.  I wish I had taken gymnastics as a kid.  I wish I had played volleyball in college. I wish Houston had weather like California.

18.  i really, really like blogging.  i wonder if i will do this forever?