Melon Festival

So yesterday before i broke my foot. We took the kids to the annual Melon Festival. It was so much fun for the kids. They loved it. Got to eat good food have a good time with good friends. All and all a very nice day. They got to ride rides, and get their pictures taken (of course they are used to this and Ryan and Kari's kids are starting to as well.), and got to eat some good fair food. Thats the best part of these things. Kettle Korn, Elephant Ears, Waffles, FUnnel Cakes, Gyros, and all kinds of other yummy stuff. So lets let the pictures tell the story.


These three were not happy with us. IT was hot and they weren't allowed out of the strollers. But there is always WAY too many people there to let them out of them. So they had to stay even if they got mad.
And check out what we found there too. We found a Mime. How cool huh. He was so funny. Picked on both the guys. Paul and Ryan. It was so cute. He was blowing one of the girls a kiss too. I love Mimes. now if my kids could take a chapter from his book. Being quiet would be a good thing half the time.


and now i'm gonna go in the living room sit up in the recliner and elevate my foot a bit. I'll be here tomorrow briefly gonna spend lots of time with Ayden tomorrow. He's gonna be the only one here in the afternoon he gets totally babied when its just him. I never have only one kid here but becuase of my foot I gotta send Lizzy somewhere for the next two nights. So not lookin forward to that. Have a great day girls

fun events today (image heavy)

We had two fun events today. First off we went to the Anual Labor Day Melon festival in Milan. That was so much fun. And here is a picture of everyone (minus me) that we were with. This is the wonderful bride and groom from that past wedding. We are pretty good friends with them. She says still I can toss her in the lake at some point in time. Not sure when. I'll share more pictures from this tomorrow as when me and the kids got home we decided to....
Go swimming. And get this. Maddie liked it. She didn't scream a one time. How shocking is that. I tell ya compared to our last endevor with it I figured I was in for more of the same. But she surprised me and didn't cry a one time until she went a little under water. All is good she is just fine. Just scared her a little bit.

Ayden had himself a little blast too. First thing he did was run right into it. But then got out and decided to get a little dirty so I tossed him back in there. All and All had fun.

Tristan half the time doesn't wanna be in there but he was so hot today he didn't care. Ran right in there. He's also our big boy today. Mommy forgot to put undies or pull up on him today at the festival and he didn't pee a one time while he was there. I'm so proud of him.
And Arianna is just plain cheezy today. See this grin of her. Man I love this girl.Now I'm off for the night. I hurt my foot today. My shoe went one way and my foot went the other. I'm gonna go soak it for a while see if that helps. Not to meantion take some of my pain pills. So glad I have them right now. Now only if Lizzy would sleep at least till Paul gets home from work. Have a great day girls!

He Missed Daddy

and the funny part Daddy wasn't like 10 feet away paying our van payment today. He put Daddy's tie on and grabed his radio and started sayin, "Daddy I need you, Daddy I need you.) How cute is he. So what does Mommy do. She opens up the van door (excuse my mess) and snaps a few pictures. Now Daddy when he heard first thing he says... it wasn't on was it they can hear that LOL. UMMMM I didn't think about that part LOL. Opps but I doubt he knew he had to push the button on the side and talk at the same time for other people to hear him LOL. Opps.

So Arianna has her first sleep over tonight. I'm so excited for her. Its with our friends Ryan and Kari and their kids. One of the girls isn't gonna be there but that's ok. I'll get a few shots of her getting her things together tonight and stuff like that. And we are having a BBQ over there too before we drop her off for the night. I'm making Taco Salad. Remind me again why I volenteered to do this LOL. Oh I know I like it and don't go to my SILs too much anymore and can't have hers LOL and she does it WAY better than me LOL. The kids are all excited about this too. We don't go to many houses besides his family and my Grandpa. So it will be very good for the kids.

Ok I'm out for the night. We have to be there at 6:30 and its already almost 4 and I still need to take a shower make the taco salad and give two more kids a bath and baby too. And force DH up when the time comes. Have a fantastic night. Can't wait for adult conversations.

Her big new coat

So I'm kind of tired of Maddie's coats all outgrowing her before its even really time to wear it. So this year her light coat for fall I made sure was at least one size to big for her. It was a little cool out the day we took pictures of the kids (still have ayden to attempt again LOL), so I put her coat on. It was so cute how it was just like fallin off of her and hands barely reached the end of her sleeves. Just so cute.


Anyway I had a rough night last night with Lizzy and I'm gonna go back to bed. DH let me take a nap earlier woke me up with the four oldest all jumping on me. Doesn't he know I have back issues LOL. Hope you all have a fantastic day.

Edited to add a picture of the color one using Kristi's action for the color on the side. So cool. We like this.

First day of Kindergarten

So today was the first day of Kindergarten. She was so excited to go to the bus stop and wait for her bus. She didn't get to go down to the same stop as her friend next door but thats ok they still ride the same bus. They gave her a tag that has her name, drop off address, with the phone number too, and what time and where the bus stop is on there. So cool They really don't wanna lose these Kindergartners do they. Hey I'm all for that I tell ya what. I'm all for that.

So here is her and the other girl on the other side of us getting on the bus this morning. Last year she didn't have to cross the street to get on the bus but this year she does. Thankfully Courtney explained to her what to do. Wait here until the driver says to go. Then you walk like this far outside the bus so the driver sees you and since your in Kindergarten and we don't wanna lose you you have to sit up front. She wasn't happy about that but she was ok. She waved me away as they left the bus stop.


And here's a couple photos I snaped of her right before the bus came and my battery died LOL. All and all we had a good first day of school. Now to see how it goes when every one is there tomorrow LOL. That should be fun for the kids. She goes 5 days a week all day classes. Its a big change for her. Last year she was in 3 day full day classes. This year its all week just like the big kids. SHould be fun though. And she got a thumbs up today which means she was good all day and didnt have to change her card over once. YAY Arianna.



p.s. Isn't her name tag so cute. At western they just had these boring buses. Now she has the fun turtles. I love it. On and on the back of the turtle is all her information. Her name, pin number (for lunches and such), our street address, our phone number, and two other people to contact if we can't be found. How cool. I tell ya we are not losing any Kindergarteners this year. THe principal joked with us said that we might misplace them but we never lose them. They are in constant contact with the bus drivers at all times. So that made me feel better. I just don't like how long it takes her to get home from school and she has a bus transfer in the morning and the afternoon since she goes to a different school than the other kids on our street.


Ok whatelse about our first day... oh yeah they made handprints today too. The handprint had this poem on it.

Here's a specail trick i know,
When I'm sad and scared to go.
Take my hand and kiss it here,
The kiss from you, I will hold dear.
Down my hand and up my arm,
Into my heart, the kiss goes on.

To the tune of twinkle twinkle little start.
The kissing hand by audrey Penn

How sweet. At the orintation the teacher read this book to us. Then had us write her name on her little hand and put a little heart sticker, and thats her kissing hand from us. How precious huh.

Ok I'm done rambling about kindergarten. You would think I'm the one going to kindergarten LOL. Hope everyone has a great night.

Tristan's turn now

So i took tristan outside today in the yard and took some pictures of him. I tell you what he is not into his picture being taken. I had to bribe him with candy, money, & a new toy just to get this one picture. Then when I liked it I told him he can have it all Friday just like his brother and sister. i don't think he liked that idea LOL.

I'm like never on topic anymore lately. But I bet if you combine a picture with all the pictures from this week then you will have my family LOL. Then I'll be on topic. Anyway I'm out for the night. We took the kids to the park today and I'm gonna play around a little. Starting to get a little better at this manual mode thing or at least I hope I am LOL. Have a fantastic night girls.

My Little Model is growing up

So all of Arianna's friends started school today. Since she's in Kindergarten she doesn't start until Wed. Well thats when her half of the alphabet starts. I felt bad for her. She was wanting to go outside and play with her friends so bad. So instead I told her we can do a photo shoot and she can be in charge. So I let her take charge. It was good practice on my manual mode. Now its all I ever shoot at. I did do some post processing and some cropping. So how do you like them? I'm gonna be printing these two for family. They are complaining they don't have any good pictures of the kids in a while. I take tons but rarely print LOL. Figures huh.


I'm gonna jump off here. I'm not really up for chatty today. Tomorrow when I'm not in pieces I'll share some pictures of my grams favorite things that my gramps still has around the house. Its been a year today since she passed away. I been missin her all day more than I always do.

A Play with Textures

I decided to give textures a go. I have this massive folder of textures that need to be used LOL. So here is my play with textures on one of Katelyn's Senior Pics. I really like this one. I think it worked pretty good. Let me know what you think.


I'm gonna take Ayden outside tomorrow and hope and pray I can get some pictures of his feet. If we don't succeed tomorrow we will try the next day and the day after that and the day after that. I'm gonna try about every single distraction technique I can think of and have been given. Although I forgot to pick up sidewalk chalk so if I don't got any by Friday I'll be trying that method LOL. I just really really want these pictures. And he's about the only kid of mine that my family won't look at me like I'm crazy for doing these pictures with LOL. Although his doctor the specialist for his feet thanked me for taking pictures of Lizzy's feet in her newborn photos and showing him. He did the same thing with Maddie too although he actually seen her.

Ok I'm out for the night. I'm pretty tired. DH was on day shift today and I'm really used to him being on night shift so it takes a lot out of me to take care of all five kids without any help lol. By the end of his shift I'm ready to rip my hair out LOL. Have a fantastic night girls!

This is Me

This is real, this is me
I'm exactly where im supposed to be now
Let the light shine one me
Now I found, who I am
Theres no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I wanna be
This is me
(demi lavato ~ This is Me)

I know its a cheezy song from a Disney movie but this is how I feel right now. My photography is starting to pick up. I gained two new clients this week due to pictures I've done for family and close friends. I don't know how to explain how happy I am right now about this. I'm getting my DH to start to take more than just a passing interest in my photography. Even though he does see the un-edited shots, he's still my biggest fan. Gets on to me for doing something that doesn't quite look normal to him and even shot in manual mode too. He always changes it to Auto mode. Its where he's more comfortable. If he keeps this up when we upgrade he might get to be my second shooter at weddings. So lets keep our fingers crossed. I ran into some of my old teachers from HS today. Man was that kind of weird. They were all like I knew you would make a go of something. I'm proud of you. A mother of five kids four of which are under four and a photographer to boot. You must be spinning. And ya know I kind of. I don't think it set in until today just how busy my life has gotten. I've really just recently given this photograpy thing a real go for others than just myself. My grandfather was telling me about how in 1948 he went to a wedding for someone on his side of the family and they asked him to shoot their wedding. Of course he said yes he would. And he did a great job at it.. well he says so we take his word for it. But I never really thought about it before. How everyone in my family calls my gramps Flash or Uncle Flash. Its because he always had a camera in his hand. I guess it went down to my generation.

Ok that's enough rambling now LOL. I do want to say thank you to everyone for giving their well wishes and prayers for Ayden on his upcoming surgery. His surgery is in little over a week. I'm very nervous about it, but you all know this already. This will be his last surgery for his feet. I pray that it corrects them enough. Please everyone pray with me. I've recently been praying to my grams. I know that there isn't much she can do up in heaven but she's up there I know she is and she talks to the big guy up there. I miss her terribly. It was really hard yesterday going over there. Realizing that it will be a year on Monday since my grams passed away. Then today we passed the funeral home (which we haven't since that day) and it really hit home. I did take some pictures of her favorite little knick knacks that are still around the house. I seen my gramps showing pictures to Ayden yesterday that had Grams in there. I just wanted to cry so bad. And then realizing that Maddie and Lizzy don't remember her in Maddie's case and don't know her in lizzy's case. It broke my heart.

Its gonna be a rough day or so for me here coming up. I promise not to go away and hide like i so want too, but I might just run to my babies for the next couple of days.

I'm gonna end this, but we can't end it without a picture. DH took this picture of me yesterday after begging and pleading with him. I think he did pretty good. I used NDJane's grunge action on it then used a texture on top of that. So do I look cute or not? I hope everyone has a fantastic night and rest of the weekend.

More of Katelyn

Here are a few more of Katelyn. I thought this first shot was so cool for this. I wanna use it for the cover of her proof book. So I wrote in chalk (an action in cs) Class of 2009. Think it looks neat. I do does that count any.

This shot is one of my favorites. She is so relaxed for pictures. You can just kind of tell in this picture. I wish the grass was greener but hey its Ohio and Apparently green grass is a rarity. Of course lately so is rain to make the grass green LOL.

I really really like this one. I love her eyes in it. They are freakin amazing. I'm so glad I asked her to do this. And I like the action i used on it. And how it make just her shirt in colorish its freakin cool.
She has such an infectious smile its not even funny. I swear we were all laughing the entire time. I had a blast with her. I can't wait for my next senior now.
Thats all for today girls. I know I'm never on theme. I promise one of these days I will be. Have a great day. Hugs.

Publish Post

Introducing....

Katelyn. She was my senior today and she had fun. I loved shooting her. I wish I could shoot her again. Here's a little sneeky peeky at her. I litereally just got home (had to run to the store for some other stuff after her shoot) and just started playing around. I hope you likey. Any CC would be great.


On the personal issues. They are starting to work out. Things aren't totaly worked out but I feel in time they will be. Ayden's doin great as well. I hope this weekend to do a shoot of his feet to mark what his feet looked like before he went into surgery on the 2nd. So lets hope he listen to me.

wedding pictures finally

I should have been in here earlier and showed these off, but I've been super busy. Not only editing these, but talking to a new client. One of the wedding goers (a friend of the bride) asked me to photograph her wedding next year. I'm really excited about this. Ryan and Kari didn't officially hire me but I wanted them to have some good shots of their special day. And because of this I've got my first non-family (or people who feel like family) shoot. Totally excited about it.

But anyway here's some pictures....

First we have one from the ceremony. They asked that no flashes go off during the ceremony and the good photographer I am I respected this... too bad no one else did. I used my 50mm wide open. So it is a bit dark but at least we can see things in it. I'm so glad for that. The rest of them didn't turn out so good.


Now we are off to the reception. Arianna had to be the first to sign their book. She even wrote her name so nice too. Good girl! Something must have stuck with her during school LOL.


And of course we have them shoving cake up their noses LOL. He wasn't gonna do it but we convinced him to do it LOL.


Ryan's sister, Jessica, and I took the bride out front and took some snaps for her. She and we really had fun with this. I think this one might be my most favorite one of them all. We are planning to do a Trash the Dress session sometime soon. I can't wait to do that.


And last but certianly not least. Paul and me. I set my daughter up with the camera and told her exactly where to stand and made sure that no heads were gonna get cut off. I think she did a pretty dern good job for only being 6 lol.


That's all I got for now. Well I do have like 50 more but I'm not gonna overload ya. I do have a little shoot today with the neighborhood girls. They have been asking me for weeks now LOL. So I figured I'd practice a bit on them for a little while. I'll give them a nice print of the favorite pictures LOL. Then Tomorrow I have my Senior Girl K. She's gonna be a total blast too. I hope it stays nice. Its lookin a little gloomy right now.

i'm up

i'm not too much in a chatty mood today. I've got some really big personal issues to deal with right now that is just made much worse by ayden's upcoming surgery and the passing of my grams (this time last year), so I'm just trying to collect myself this weekend. I do have a wedding Saturday and plan to show pictures. Not sure if I'll be around tomorrow, but to leave ya off here's a pic of Maddie at the fair. She refused to look at me LOL. She's sitting in her stroller. She was hot and ready to leave by this time.

The Fair

so today was kids day at the fair. We usually try to go every year but with the babies being so young we haven't gone in the past few years. Paul usually takes the older ones with him but never takes any pictures so I went this year with them. Braved the county fair with the kiddos all five of them including the baby. Here's a few of my favorite shots.




And if you click here you can see the rest of Arianna's little photo shoot at the fair. She was so cute and I got some pretty good shots too.

But thats all for today I'm gonna head out of there. Still got some personal things going on as you all know. I'll elaborate more later on that. Hugs to everyone.

Look at them feet

have you ever really wondered what my feet look like. I always manage to take pictures of everyone's feet, but have we once shared one of mine... nope so here we go. These are my cute little feet. Maybe not so cute but at least their mine.

I'm not really in much more of a sharing mood right now. I'm going through a few things right now girls. It is coming up on the one year anniversary (i use that word lightly) of the passing of my Grams. I'm still trying to figure out how i'm gonna spend that day. I think maybe I will go to her gravesite and take some pictures of her tombstone but I'm not sure yet. I haven't been there since the funeral. I'm trying to muster up the courage to do this. Hope everyone has a great day.

Party Pictures (picture heavy)

This wasn't one of my kids' birthday parties. Our next one isn't until December. Nice to have a break between them all. Too bad I get slammed with 4 of them in three months LOL. Anyway. Yesterday we had a birthday party for our great nephews. It seems so weird for me to have great nephews. So totally weird. I'm only 27 ya know. Weird I tell ya. There was tons of people there. So I had to get a picture of all of them. These are all people in some way related to us. Paul has a really big family. Very nice and blended and fantasticly fun.


The kids had a blast with the Pinata. It was so fun to see all the kids have a wack at it. Jaydon was so happy and giddy I had to capture that for his mom and dad. So fun. And of course my kids had a turn at it too except Ayden. He didn't until everyone was away and all the candy was out I didn't trust him with the bat and tons of kid around LOL.


Paul and his brother having themselves a beer. OF course I took a picture. Paul rarely drinks. So we had to document this in some way. And of course he would have this horrible look on his face like WHY are you doing this to me.

Some people at the party just chillin out and talking. The two on the outside are actually live right next door to us. And its Becca's brother too. We didn't even realize that when we moved in here. Which is so good for our kids. They all get along and have been around each other in some way shape or form at some time. Such fun.

And I leave you with Ayden playing with some trucks. He loves people but doesn't really like to play with them much. He's protective of his toys. That might have something to do with the brother that steals them all the time LOL.Hope everyone has a fantastic night. Enjoy the pics. Go out take some of your own and share with me. I'd love to see them.

A few of Hubby and me

You have no idea how long i've been asking Paul for a picture of me. One that makes me look good and not stupid face i'm making at the time. So here is what I got from him today.

So the first one he cut part of me off but I still like it. Pretty neat huh. And he says he can't take decent pictures. Of course I did edit a bit but still its pretty good for a guy who hates my camera.


Second we have a pretty good one. I'm not one for smiling so these is about the best smile I get without one of my kids in there with me or being told something funny or being tickled. I'm so dang ticklish its not even funny sometimes. You should see my senior pictures lol. Tried so hard to smile and so didn't work. I bet if my boyfriend at the time was there I'd be happier but he wasn't anyway nother story all together LOL.


And I always make sure to get at least one picture of Paul at every function. I did get a few more shots of him and his brother drinking but I thought I would leave that for him to do what he wants too or blackmail later. He rarely ever drinks and esp not at family functions. So I think I did pretty good. Could have done better in his eyes but it was cloudy and gloomy and windy and cold. So I wasn't about to have anyone hold a reflector up and this really just is a snapshot anyway so doesn't matter too much. He likes it I like it we like it all that matters lol.

And now I'm gonna go through the like 127 other pictures I took today. Yes I'm the family photographer. They get used to me quick. The guys next door do too. He even waved at me at the party when i took his picture lol. But I won't be showing them as I don't know if he would be mad at me if I did or not so we don't do. Anyway. Hope everyone has a fantastic night. Good Night and sweet dreams to all.