i've been workin'...

Happy last day of September! (it's my brother's birthday today...) Let me tell you, if there's something that can ruin the ever so beautiful sight of leaves falling from the trees...it's pouring rain. Ugh. What is this?

Anyway...I write to invite you to check out a couple new posts on the photography blog (click here). My show n' share includes some pics from a recent family photo shoot and there's also a few designs I've created for holiday photo cards (example picture above). So, take a peek if you'd like.

two minutes in the life...

Our baby girl is up to everything lately. She'll play with anything...as long as it's not a toy, nailed down or rubber banded shut. I followed her for two minutes or less and grabbed some shots of her making good use of just about every inch of the first floor.

Here she is trying to get into some coloring with her sisters. She had already swiped that crayon from Sarah by the time I got there (by the way...Lauren and Sarah are making a sign so that they could stand on the front porch and try to "sell" Lauren's cursive writing to passers by...we ended up buying her out at a penny a page)...

Sunday papers are a big hit for Julia...and like her mommy, she goes for the sales section first!

Ah! She found something to color on without her sisters grabbing it from her! It was so cute how she got down just like the older girls were on the kitchen floor...

If someone in the house neglects to shut the pantry door (I'm not naming names here)...she's hit the jackpot. This is the ultimate for her, until, mommy-the-fun-crusher comes and takes it all away. I'm pretty sure that's why she's giving me this look in the picture...

Why, yes, we do shop at Costco...how could you tell???

snugglerific...

Check out the latest photo shoot with a very sweet little guy. Click here.

right under my nose...

While I was cleaning the junk drawer...which must've been a mission requiring intense concentration and tunnel vision...Julia occupied herself cleaning out another drawer...less that 2 feet from me (and, yes, she did climb inside the drawer to conduct her business of making a mess). Regretfully, these pictures were taken after I picked up the entire roll of wax paper she had unrolled and tossed on the ground.

Oh well, it's a good thing I only clean the junk drawer (which really did only have junk in it) every two years.

walk on over...

If you'd like, check out the family shoot I did over the weekend. Take a (virtual) walk over to the photography blog!

down on the farm...

After picking Sarah up from "pretty" school today, we went to the farm by our house. They've got bunnies, chickens, deer, goats, sheep and tin men (yes, that's right).

Sarah loved the bunnies the best, but was interested to see the other animals, so when I spent too much time at the chicken coop, she said, "C'mon mom...we don't have time to waste here at the farm!"
Julia thought...Mmm, chicken nuggets (I'm guessing)
See...tin men. These are just two in the crop of 'em.
Holding hands on the swing. Hard to believe we're in the second day of fall here!

when the cat's away...

Julia's favorite place to play these days is in Sarah's room. She finds it especially delightful when Sarah is at school and she's got the run of the place.

(Yes...Sarah's loves green...and obviously not the sage green I was encouraging the room to be painted. It's actually a pretty awesome color)

proof in the pudding (or the glasses)...

Two minutes after my previous post, Sarah bounded down the stairs, saw the picture on the blog and wanted to put on my glasses and take a picture. So...here's the cute you were waiting for!

my two square feet of the house...

I thought I'd post a picture of what I spend several hours in the day doing...sitting in front of this glowing square thing. Mom, you'll be proud to see I took your advice and got some el cheepo glasses at Target (I told you I'd find another reason to go). Yes, the computer is blinding me. Mostly work stuff keeps me here, but obviously other stuff like posting pictures of myself on the blog, music hunting, news reading and other random piddlings.


Lately, Julia has not approved of me hunkering down and working at the desk while she's awake. So, I scramble to get a seat when Julia is down for her nap and Sarah is watching "Little Red Robin Hood" for "quiet time". I also catch a few hours after the kids' beddie bye time...which allows Jeff to focus on all things sports related to the remote control.

All the good tv premieres this week (I'm scared to admit how many of the shows I have in the DVR queue)...so I may have to break out the laptop and multi-task...that will really give my eyes a workout!

So...that's me! I know...I'm not as cute as the kids.

super sarah to the rescue...

We hung out in the backyard for a bit this afternoon. Sarah asked that I go get the camera. Well, I'm no dummy...so I ran to get the camera and snap some shots of her lounging in the grass. It took all summer for the grass to get this green and soft enough to lay in...so this is one rare sighting!

I wandered 5 feet to pull a few of 6,000 weeds in the "flower" beds in the backyard (yes, with the camera around my neck). Suddenly, Sarah yells, "Julia is trapped!" I turned, took note of the situation and didn't think it was dire, so I took a few pictures of that too.

I guess me not doing my job in rescuing Julia caused Sarah to hop from her perch on the swingset and take action.

I guess it's a good thing Sarah doesn't have a camera.

julia walking...

Hooray!!! Julia really started walking yesterday. She had been taking steps and teasing us for a couple months now. But last night...she just trolluped across the room like it was nothing. I had to upload video to show you...because a picture can't do justice to a baby learning to walk!

So today it occurred to me that if she's going to be doing this walking thing now...she needs shoes! So I went to Ye Ol' Closet upstairs where hand-me-downs abound and grabbed some shoes to cram her feet in. I found a pair of that worked and this is how she felt about them...

and this is the face she made right before I took them off...

cling to what is good...

Happy Anniversary! Today brings us to 9 years, 3 kids, 2 houses, 5 cars, and 7 or 9 fish. We've lived, loved, lost, gained, cheered, booed, pleaded, praised...you name it. There's good reason for the tiny little wrinkles and sprinklings of gray hairs that weren't in the wedding picture!

I looked back at our wedding scripture this morning: Romans 12:9-12. All of Romans 12 should be a daily read. It's like life's little cheat sheet...pep talk...instruction manual. Nine years and all of the trials and triumphs that have gone with them has brought me a greater understanding of this passage. It's almost with different eyes that I read it now. Funny how that works.

So, we're celebrating with the kiddos today. Lauren especially gets into this. She nags Jeff to get flowers and candles, drills me on what's for dinner and decorates the house with signs and notes. Last night when we went to bed, we found one large sign and this small note below waiting on our pillows...

No, it doesn't get much cuter than that. A lot has happened in 9 rather short years. And today...I'm just hoping the next 9 don't go so fast. Love you babe.

there's another wedding over there...

As the 3,283rd day of my marriage comes to a close...I'm inviting you to check out more photos of the second wedding I photographed this past weekend at the Bellflower Blog.

i thought i ordered sports illustrated...

So, every year Lauren's school sells magazines as a fundraiser. We don't bug people to buy any (your welcome) but we do order several ourselves. Apparently, $100 worth of sales meant 3 prizes for Lauren:

1. A bag of M&Ms

2. A Money Draw...where she pulled $1 out of a hat (which I do not believe even contains the $5, $10 or $20 they say are in there).

3. A "Geyser Tube"...which required that I go buy diet cola and mentos

Tonight, after dinner, we put our official Geyser Soda Contraption together and headed out to the backyard. The look on Lauren's face was much like the dad in A Christmas Story when he won his "major award"...the lady leg lamp. She was very cute. Old Faithful (ala diet coke) lasted about 3 seconds, so the kids wanted to do it again. I'm not sure we budgeted for a weekly geyserfest. I just want my magazines.

there's a wedding over there...

On this 3,283rd day of my marriage (that's two days shy of 9 years)...I'm inviting you to check out some photos of a wedding I photographed over the weekend...at ye ol' photography blog.

i covet my neighbor's...

Bernese Mountain dog. Bessie stopped over today with my good friend and her boys. I told Bessie she could be on the blog since she wasn't a showdog anymore. I think Bess is ok without the attention of judges...she's got a whole lotta lovin' in that house!

Bessie's the kinda dog you just want to snuggle for life. Do you think they make a spray that smells like wet dog? I need to spray that everytime I get the inkling to have a dog of our own. Because right now...I want that gigantic lovable doggy all to myself. Thanks for the visit!

100% chance of rain is not cool, but...

So, after 1 and 1/2 hours of 10 & 2, white-knuckel driving at 45 in a 70 in my wee little Ford Mastercraft boat...I finally made it to my second wedding of the weekend. Rain stinks. However, amazingly after 12 hours of straight downpour in the day so far, the rain cleared for the ceremony and a few pictures after.

The wedding was held at an incredible venue...a huge estate (once abandoned) being restored that is full of history and beautiful architecture and grounds. I loved it. The picture above was taken with the bride and groom's rings positioned on a dictonary I found in the library with an inscription from 1895.

I'll let you all know when I post a few more pictures on the Bellflower blog. Michael Phelps is on SNL, so I better scoot (this oughtta be funny...and maybe not in a ha ha way)...

a break in the clouds...

Last night marked my first wedding shoot. If you weren't in Michigan...you don't know that it rained ALL day long. On my drive out to the wedding on the shores of Lake Michigan, it continued to rain. But the closer I got, the rain just stopped. While the sun only peeked through the clouds twice by my count, it was still a beautiful night for the great couple who waited a lifetime for that very moment.

Now...If we could just do something about today's weather...and the wedding I'm headed to in a few hours...(who knew hurricanes hit in Michigan too? good grief.)

Stay tuned for more pictures from this wedding weekend!

God bless America...from sea to shining sea...

Less than one year after this picture was taken, the towers behind me fell. I can't believe that was seven years ago. I had just found out Lauren was on the way. I freshly remember the fear I felt bringing a kid into a world so cruel.

That day seems like yesterday, regardless of how many anniversaries we've recognized. In those years, we've welcomed Lauren and two more little ladies into our lives...and they just make everything a whole lot sweeter. It's a little surreal explaining this moment in history to my six-year old now. She grasps an inkling of the magnitude of it and it makes her tear up.

My brother is on his way home from the middle-east today...doing his part to make the world a little less cruel. So between the kids and the soldiers...it's all good.

the rest of the story...

So, it appears another family may have had a bigger head scratcher than us. Tonight, after dinner, there is a knock at the door. I look and see a 12ish year ond boy standing on our doorstep. I open the door and say: "Hi".

He is looking at the ground shlepping his one foot back n' forth...he says, "Um...did, uh, you guys lose a doormat?" (as he's looking down at the dirt in the shape of a rectangle in front of our front door...see picture in post below). I smiled (and thought, aha...here's who did it!) and said, "Yes! Do you have it?"

"Um...yea...we, uh went away for Labor Day and came home and found a stack of door mats on our front porch"....."You can come pick out your mat in our van over there."

Still thinking he in some way had to have something to do with it, because surely people don't just drive around returning door mats out of the goodness in their heart, right? Not after all of the other you-know-what going on in this neighborhood. He must be serving out some kind of penance. So, I ask him, "What happened? Do you just have a lot of goofy friends in the neighborhood and they dumped these on your doorstep?"

And then, in the absolute most sweet tone that I wish I could've somehow captured better...he looks at me, and says, "No, um, I just have a lot of doormats."

Sure enough there were a lot of doormats in the car! I talked to his dad, who explained that one of the mats had a last name and they tracked it down to this street and then found that every mat belonged on this street. They had no idea why they landed on their step, but figured people would want them back.

Now, it's not like someone returned a lost puppy or a wallet. Yes, it's only a doormat...but that little act of returning the scrubby old thing (that should be replaced soon anyway) really made the world a bit brighter. In the first half of this story, I asked where the parents were in this neighborhood. I just got an answer.

cross-pollination (′päl-e′nā-shen)...

Thought some of you who visit here, but don't spend very much time at the photography blog would want to know about a Christmas Photo Special being talked about over there... (click here to check it out)

i'm not laughing...

A really random tale, but cathartic (I knew I'd use that word someday!)...

So we came home from a weekend away over Labor Day and found our door mat...gone. We just assumed the wind blew it (a really big and gusty wind...like a tornado, but spotty). I thought, oh well, time to go to Target (any excuse is fine for that trip).

A few days passed and we found out that many, if not all, of our neighbors also woke to missing door mats. This comes after a bizzare prank in our neighborhood, where some kids stole realtor signs from all over and planted them in their buddy's yard. So, yea, this door-mat-mystery looks like a prank as well (where are all the parents around here?).

So, then yesterday we find out the house just down the street had an attempted break in. This of course unravels me and makes any of the pranky stuff immediately unfunny. I don't even want to buy a new door mat, for fear that it's a reason for someone to slither up to my door and swipe it. I'll find other reasons to go to Target...don't worry....maybe I need new locks for the doors. Yikes!

and then there were two...

With Lauren at school all day every day now...these two are becoming little friends. So far their favorite things to do together are play dollies, fight over dollies, and somehow manage to sprinkle the whole house with toys without ever being seen actually playing with them.

Isn't Sarah's t-shirt awesome? Her personality fits the phrase. A story to make the point...This weekend, Lauren was at a friend's house playing (man, Sarah wished she could go!). After we picked her up, she was glowing and telling us all about the things she and her friend did together. Sarah let it go for 30 seconds, before she (loudly) says, "Well, Lauren, I had funner than you at home because [a pause for effect]....I had root beer."

About the babies...It has to be one of the best feelings in the world to see the girls be so sweet, gentle and loving with all 7 of their babies. Julia especially loves babies right now. She will hug, burp, kiss and snuggle each baby (she does seem to love two more than the others...which won't fly in the real-mom world).

the fall kickoff...

Lauren started soccer this morning. We were sans Jeff as the start of soccer always coincides with the Calvin Golf Tourney...so, we were a few minutes late and technically missed the kickoff. We also missed the first practice on Thursday due to a miscommunication from one of the coaches.

Put this formula together and you have one confused Purple Tornado. This league is the next one up from the type of soccer she was playing last year. You know what I'm talking about, "Swarm Soccer"...all the kids move in a pack with the ball. Well, poor Lauren gets there today with no preparation and is told to stand in one position (a term she's never heard) and play defense (another unheard of term).

In her first play, the other team comes at her with the ball and she stays right where she was told to stand and doesn't move in her interpretation of this thing called "defense". She smiles as she does move her head to watch the girl kick the ball in the goal. She is then told to go after the ball. Confused. Then there's a throw in and she's told to "block" a player on the other team. I can't imagine what she thought that meant, but it sure looked like she felt like just laying down for a wee nap. I caught a picture of her trying to communicate her confusion to another teammate (above). At this point, I am on the sidelines, feeding Sarah and Julia their contentment snacks, and just consumed with mommy-guilt for not better preparing Lauren...but, truthfully, I'm not sure the fundamentals of "bump, set, spike" would've helped (I did not play soccer). Towards the end she started to move around a little bit more as seen in the photo below. The most important thing is that she likes playing and I like Saturday morning coffee on the sidelines. I don't know what Sarah likes besides the snacks, but we'll worry about that later.

On another note, I do believe that Gymboree, Gap and Old Navy have absolutely nothing on a soccer jersey and a pair of umbros. She was mighty cute out there!

movin' over...

I'm more than positive you'd like to see more pictures of my little nephew. Well, you are more than welcome to do so by visiting my new blog for Bellflower Design Photography at http://bellflowerdesign.blogspot.com/. How's that for an invitation? (I'd say it's a pretty cute invite...isn't he?)

I know, I'm still dumbfounded by how I went from blogless to two blogs in two months time. Who do I think I am? So, you'll find my take on all things family and otherwise here...and all the copyrighted photographs over there. I look forward to hearing from you...wherever you may be!

"i'm ready to be by myself, mom"...

Well, another one of my babies flew the coop today. Sarah was off to her first day of pre-school ("pretty" school is what she calls it).

She has been so excited about this and wondered today what I was packing in her lunch, where her water bottle was, etc... I had to remind her she was only gone for a couple hours and would be home for lunch. Oh! and to reinforce what I said the other day about her and juice in the morning... I greeted her this morning by saying "Good morning Sarah, today is your first day of school!" She responded, "Ok, mom, but first I need some juice."

So, I dropped her off in the classroom and lingered for a little to make sure she was comfortable. One little guy was crying and she seemed to wonder either a.) "should I cry too?" or b.) "what is all the fuss?" I couldn't tell and didn't ask. After 10 minutes of hanging out, I asked her, "Well, Sarah, are you ready? Or should mommy stay for a little longer." She replied, "No mom, I'm ready to be by myself now." Oh man, I don't know if I am little bear.

Once again, the shoes...

she's got my vote...

Two things...First, I was in to begin with. I knew who I was voting for and the choice of VP made very little difference. Second, I have a problem and I'll be the first to admit it. I have a very hard time allowing female speakers to grab my attention for more than two seconds (yea, I know...not cool).

Yet, tonight, I was very interested in hearing what Sarah Palin had to say at the Republican National Convention. No, it's not just that she spells her name with a "H" (the "right" way in our house). I really wanted to see what she was about.

Well, she may very well be the first female speaker I've listened to for nearly an hour in my life and I was significantly impressed. She had fantastic composure, a personality that punched through and several one-liners that hit the nail on the head. Now, I'm not only voting...I'm excited to vote for this team. I just might go get a button and wear it for the next 138 days.