flowers for me

I've been having a hard time at work lately.  When I came in yesterday, the lovely ladies I work with had this great bouquet of flowers for me.  Isn't it awesome?  Definitely cheered this 'buttercup' up!

my motto {stressed, but blessed}

So ... Curt's gone up to the lake to do some 'scouting' ... that'd be slang for looking for deer. Hunting season hasn't opened yet, but Curt always likes to go up early and "become one with the trees." {direct quote!}

That leaves me at home with the girls for "3 sleeps" {another direct quote}. Why is it when he's gone all h _ _ _ breaks loose? Tears here, screams there, falls over there, spilled milk over here.

At one point I had 3 girls talking to me. I swear one eyeball was looking one way and the other the other way, with a finger pointing saying "just a minute" in the other direction. {direct quote from the finger}.

Then there's the fact that I'm trying to drop a pound or two {having some self-esteem issues}, and I tend to grab handfuls of munchies when I'm stressin' ... I wasn't so sure I wanted to share the following thought, but I'm thinking {read hoping} you'll get a kick out of it. So I'm in the pantry with my hand in a bag of goldfish {completely stressed out} when I think the following:

"All I'm trying to do is drop a couple pounds before Curt comes back so I'll feel like having {ahem, I can't write the word} when he comes back."

Okay, maybe that wasn't as funny as I thought it was. But it cracked me up {thinking about blogging about it} and got me through the night.

This is Hunter setting the table for dinner ... she took her job very seriously.

And for the evening entertainment ... hot off the UPS truck ... the newly released 'Tinkerbell.' Here are some photos I captured of the evening. We pulled out the sofa bed, lit a fire, popped some corn and settled in for a little pixie dust. Some of us felt compelled to work on our laptops {and it wasn't me!}.

finished!!

{you need to click on this image to view it larger ... the look on Cameron's face is priceless!}

It's a{nother} wrap!  I finished editing these photos and you can find the full set here.  Lisa, I'll have a set of proofs and disk of the images to you by the end of the week.

Thanks again guys for letting me photograph your family ... enjoy!

{second} invitation

One more quick post ...

If there is any chance at all that you can get to the illustrated sermon I mentioned, I would highly, highly recommend it.

Taylor & I went tonight and both loved it.  It was a great depiction of satan and how he moves to work in your life and fill your thoughts, mind and heart full of deceit and things against God's Word and plan for your life.

Please ... make every opportunity to attend.  You'll be glad you did ...

our saturday {told via iphone photos}

Let's see ... Curt took the girls to McDonalds in the morning, while I stayed home and panicked over birthday gifts for the weekend.  And I also took Taylor & Ana to the school to catch a bus headed to Six Flags for Frightfest.

When Curt and the girls got home, we turned around to bring the girls to an art class at the Wustum Art Musuem in Racine.  Exhibits below:

After dropping Piper and Wynter at the art class ... Curt, Hunter and I headed to the bookstore for some browsing.  And then a quick trip to Starbucks.  Exhibit below:

After Starbucks, we picked up Piper & Wynter, took a quick drive through McDonalds for lunch, dropped Curt at the house to put Hunter down for her nap ... while I took Piper & Wynter to Swan's Pumpkin Farm, where Piper had a birthday party to attend.

Wynter and I headed home to finish up Cameron's birthday gift before she needed to get to his party.  Curt took Wynter to Cameron's, while I stayed home with Hunter {who was sleeping}.  Wynter's party started at 2:30, and then Curt was supposed to swing by Piper's party to pick her up {it ended at 3:00} ... so when he walked in the door at 3:00, I thought something was up.

He forgot to get Piper.  So he high-tailed it to get Piper.  When they got home, I played a bit with the girls and we started talking about dinner.  I thought Wynter's party went until 5ish, so we weren't sure how to handle dinner {we are on the early Racine dinner plan}.

I ran upstairs to check my calendar ... 5:30 was the end time of the party.  So Curt, Piper, Hunter and I headed to Jose's for an early dinner and then we'd go get Wynter.

Had a great dinner {nice small group of 4!} and made it to Wynter's party a little early 5:20.  But if we were early, why was Wynter in Cameron's car {with dad} waiting for us?

"Oh no!  Did the party end at 5:00?" I asked the dad.  He looks me dead in the eyes and says, "4:30."  Yikers ... didn't see that one coming!

We felt absolutely horrible!  Horrible!!

When we got home, we decided to have a little outdoor playtime.  You know, to really get those noses running good!  :)

Exhibits below:

I love that we can still get her to 'smile' ...

Piper jumping off hay bales ...

Wynter climbing trees ...

Yeah, and okay ... about that party pick-up, mis-hap?  Piper had been invited to two parties on Saturday {and two more today}, but because they overlapped, she had to pick one.  The one she didn't pick was from 2:30-5:30, which was the one I looked at when I ran to look at my calendar.

My calendar has a slot to write in each kid's schedule.  Wynter's schedule clearly stated 2:30-4:30 ... my bad!

invitation

Short notice, but I'd like to put an invitation out there to attend an illustrated sermon at my church {basically, a play with a message}.

The sermon is tonight and Wednesday night, both at 7:00pm.  There is childcare available for all ages.

You can find more information here.  Maybe I'll see you tonight?

before & after

I am constantly amazed what a huge difference a little 'touch-up' makes in photography!  Really, it's the difference between amateur and professional {please believe me, i'm not saying these are professional ... i'm just trying to point out the astounding difference}.

Sorry ... I'm plugging away on these and just had to share ... this one was a 'goodie' ...

tip: click on the photo to view it larger ... i try to save all the photos in my blog, so that you can view them larger

a girls night ...

Yeah, we saw it.  And yeah, it was pretty cool.  I'm just glad I had an excuse in the form of young girls that wanted to see it.  :)

I took Piper, Wynter, Taylor and my {other} daughter, Ana to see High School Musical 3 tonight.  We had a pretty good time and the girls really liked it.

Troy ... Gabriella ... Sigh ...

my hero

This is my nephew Brett.  He graduated and received his wings today from the United States Army Airborne School.  He leaves today to go straight to Army Ranger training {a specialized, elite force in the Army}.

Any guesses how proud I am of him?

fun storyboards

Back in May, my dear friend Marta, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer.  Before she started her chemo treatments, we decided to take some family photos.

This was before I started the serious studying of photography that I've been doing recently.  The images had turned out 'okay' {in my mind}, but before I handed them over to Marta, I wanted to make them really special.

What a dear she is for being so patient with me!  I had a one-on-one consulting session scheduled with a photographer whose work I super, duper {yes, super duper} admire, but not until September.  I knew I wanted to bring Marta's photos to see what I could do to make them 'special' ...

Jessica taught me SO much!  I seriously can not hand over a raw {sooc, straight out of camera} photo anymore.  It's a problem.  Both for my time limitations and for the serious case of carpal tunnel I've got starting.

Here are a few storyboards I put together of Marta's photos.  I framed them and gave them to her on her last day of chemo.  Needless to say she loved them!  You can view the rest of her photos here.

I love you Marta!  Thank you for waiting 5ish months for your photos!  :)

Lord help me ...

I did it again!

it's a wrap!

I finished post-processing the Short's photos ... and I think they turned out pretty awesome.

another family session

I took photos this afternoon of my good friend Lisa and her family.  I'd been nervous and constantly thinking about what I would have this family do.  The kids are grown and not as easy to 'play cute.'  The upside is that everyone will look and smile at the same time!

Okay, so this photo?  This young man is 17 and pretty much wanted nothing to do with getting his photos taken.  I'd have to sort of coerce him into a position and beg him to 'act' like he belonged to his family.  Geesh, teenage boys!

Anyway, so in this photo ... I'd had Marissa and Cameron sitting together.  Asking Cameron to try to look like it was a photo with two people in it ... not a self-portrait.  I asked Marissa if she could rest her head on Cameron's shoulder.  He's like "not cool, not cool."  She did it.  I got the shot!  Love it!  The pure anguish of sisterly love!  :)

Seriously though, I've known this family for years ... they are loving, caring and a blessing to be around.

small world photography

My good friend Amy is the administrator at Small World Montessori school in Racine.  It's a fairly new position for her and she's been doing all she can to make a difference at the school.  One small difference {that we all know can make a big impact} is decorating.

So she invited me {and Hunter} to come into the school this morning to take photos of the children.

I had a great time seeing all these children and photographing them.  Thank you Amy, thank you children!  And thank you Amy, for playing with Huntie and keeping her belly full of snacks!  :)

I'm actually going to lay down for a nap {something I never, ever am able to do anymore} ... I think it will help keep hunger pangs away as well!  :)

But I first wanted to post a few photos from this morning.

one more prayer request

See the girl in the middle?  Her name is Stephanie Brandt and she needs prayers.  Lots of them.  Her mom {Cindy} too.

And Stephanie isn't this little anymore ... she's 17.  Today.  Her 17th birthday is today.

Lisa and I were at chemo with Marta last Monday, when Lisa got a call from her husband.  He'd gotten a message from Cindy, that Stephanie was admitted to Children's Hospital with severe chest pains.  She was born with Marfan Syndrome, which among other things causes heart problems.

At 6:30 last Monday night, they had Stephanie split wide open ... and didn't know what to do with her.  They lost her numerous times on the operating table that night.  And at 3:00 am, the doctors came out and told Cindy to start calling her family.

By 7:00 am the next morning, they finished the surgery and Stephanie survived.  The surgeons didn't think she would make it and are surprised she's alive today.

I'd argue to say my God had a hand in this and knows exactly what he's doing.

Stephanie is by no means out of the woods yet.  She's been mostly sedated and gets extremely frustrated and angry when she starts to 'come to' ... because of the tube in her mouth and the limitations everything is causing.

She had a CT scan done today, where they found blood behind her {left?} lung.  They've decided to open her up again and clean things up and see what's going on.  That will be done tomorrow at 7:30 am ... join me in prayer ... please!

After her first surgery, there was a good chance Steph would be paralyzed.  They've since found that she has sensation in both her legs and arms ... both good signs, but still not great news.

Again, I'd ask that you join me in prayer for both Stephanie and her family.