Jeannie Papai Photography

Diamond Eyes

2008-12-30T18:12:00.002-05:00

her eyes to me are the most beautiful out of all my babies. I dont know if its because i just have a weakness for blue eyes or what. but I love them totally and completely. These pics here are pretty much SOOC with a bit of noiseware and web sharpening done that is all.

have a pea-tastic day.

weebles wobble but they...

2008-12-27T11:33:00.002-05:00

do fall down. Or at least this one does. See we have a new trick. And we are getting up on all fours too. I can't believe it. She's gonna hit all these milestones right at one time and I want them to stretch out at least a little bit. My last baby is getting so very big.

This here gives me this great idea with this hat i'm getting her for her 6 month pictures. Its gonna be so cool. I love ideas. Now just to get her to sit up a little bit better.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas with lots of friends family and loved ones.

cute sleepy girl

2008-12-09T19:26:00.002-05:00

Just a random picture of miss elizabeth. She's so sweet when she's sleepin or pretending to sleep.

I'm off to go bake some.

My Little Santa Baby

2008-12-09T13:54:00.002-05:00

So I broke out my Santa hat. I love this for the kiddos. Maddie hasn't really liked hats in a very long time so I'm stuck with Elizabeth. And I think she makes the most adorable Santa baby. I'm sure you all will think so as well.

Elizabeth is now 5 months old too. She turned 5 months old on December 7th. Wow can you believe it 5 whole months. I know I certainly can't believe it. Here are our milestones:

rolling back to front front to back.
starting to put more weight on her feet to stand up.
if you hold her hands she will stand herself up.
gaining more control of her head and upper half to sit up on her own.
starting to eat single ingredient foods: rice cereal & applesauce so far.
smiles and giggles anytime anyone gives her attention good or bad.
grabs toys, blankets, well anything we can grab really. Goes straight to her mouth.
so many other things I just can't think right now LOL.

And without further ado our little santa baby. Gotta love her.

Oh and here is what I did to the photo. I first ran noiseware pretty high because i was shooting at f/1.8 and ss30 and forgot to bump up my ISO to compensate. I'll remember that next time LOL. Next I ran a slight lighten with curves, ran Oh Snap from TTR 1, then a vintage action. Put the vintage under the oh snap to get this soft vintagey feel.

Later I'll do some before and afters with a few new pictures I have of her for 5 months.

A Special Holiday Giveaway

2008-12-05T21:42:00.002-05:00

So a fellow pea of mine showed me to this website here: Giving is Awesome thousands of dollars have been donated to families in need of quality pieces of artwork. I was moved by this. People nominating their friends their family their loved ones for these prints. So I will be doing this as well. The rules are simple. They are stated right above but I will state them again.

You know someone. You know someone who's experienced a tragedy, is struggling to stay afloat, is raising kids while holding down more than one job, or is volunteering selflessly despite extenuating personal circumstances. You know someone who can't afford custom photography, but who would cherish it this holiday season. You know someone who deserves a year-round reminder of their family's spirit, love, and beauty.

You know someone. I guarantee it.

I want to know who they are, and I want to give them the chance to experience complimentary custom photography -- $300 worth, to be exact. Whether it's canvas or albums, prints for Grandma, or a slideshow to watch over and over, it's in your power to give them the artwork they deserve this holiday season.

Oh, and the best part? The person who nominates the winner receives a $150 print credit. What better reason to show some love could there possibly be, people?

The rules:

* You cannot nominate yourself, and the person nominated must sincerely be incapable of purchasing my services. (Being unable to make mortgage payments for a two-million-dollar-vacation-home in Paris does not qualify as sincere financial need.)

* The nominee must reside in Ohio. Tell me who you know, what they're experiencing, and why they deserve my artwork. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.

* You must e-mail me the full story : jeannie.papai.photography@gmail.com.

The winner will be announced on Christmas Eve -- get nominating! I can't wait to read all of your entries!

Open your heart to someone this holiday season -- and thanks for giving me the opportunity to open mine.

With love,

Jeannie Papai

~~~~~~~~~~~

it's that simple. The session can be from a newborn/birth to a small wedding. The choice is the winner. And remember if you are the person who nominated them you will also get a print credit as well to use on a session for yourself. Now thats a reason alone to nominate someone you know.

If I have less than 10 nominations by Christmas Eve I will extend the deadline.

So get over here nominate someone who you think deserves it and lets get this ball going.

Life is just a bowl of cherries. : Eat them up they are good.

2008-12-03T17:30:00.004-05:00

So the lab work it went GREAT. and GREAT is an understatement. She wandered around the waiting room... well ... waiting to get called back to get admitted. yes it was just outpatient lab work but we still have to go through admitting process. We did sit nice for a little while but that wore off fast lol.

So get called back all them papers signed computer up to date since she hasn't been to the hospital since she was born they needed the current address and all that jazz. So now we are off to walk back to outpatient lab. Get there they always give you this little pager. It lights up and vibrates. But she didn't get to see that they seen us walkin around and just called us back without making it go off.

next we get back to the little room. I take her big ole coat on because its horrible cold here now. I hate it there is snow on the ground and it sucks. But anyway. I sit her up in the chair give her her carebear to entertain her while everyone gets everything ready. She sits there watchs them get everything out they look at me like i'm nuts taking more pictures lol. I sit the camera down for a few mins and go ahead and hold her. figuring she would scream and cry the whole time.
And now here we are after its all done and over. See no tears for my baby girl. She did so great. Even the techs were proud of her and shocked lol.

But time to make dinner. I will talk to everyone later.

little sweeties : big hearts

2008-12-02T20:42:00.003-05:00

So Madalynne is now 16 months old. She had her doctor appt today. We did have a few concerns paul and i. Madalynne has this dry hacky cough. Its been pretty constant at night mostly and since the weather changed from warm to cold. I did put a humidifier in her room I thought that maybe her throat was just dry because her room is very warm and very dry. Upon talkin to the doctor and other peas... I am pretty sure we are all under the same impression. Looks like my baby here might have Asthma. Although from the sounds of it since she is under 2 it isn't called Asthma. I have heard of a disease that premies are prone to have... but can't think for the life of me what that is called now. Madalynne was born early with resp problems. But I would have thought that any problems she might have because of that would have shown up earlier. But I guess not. I don't know if because she was born early is why she is now having these problems.

Our house is not all that old I think that its maybe like 25 years old. So I would think that mold isn't a big issue with it as it with older houses and was with our trailer. But it might be. I will have to have the landlord check into it for us. I want to make sure she is fine. I don't want to have to put her on medications but if they end up nessicary then it will be done. For now I guess I just have to watch her. Keep a close eye on here see when she coughs up and whats around her when she does. I have noticed within like the past month and a half whenever we punish her for doing something she's not suposed to do she starts to hyperventalite. I'm not sure if thats because of this as well or just her working herself up that much. Scares the death out of me.

I appreciate everyone who have given me their thoughts and experiences with this. It is greatly appreciated.

Now on to some pictures. So I practically filled up my brand spankin new 2 gig memory card waiting around for the doctor.

Here she is getting weighed. She now weighs 28 pounds and is 33 inches long. She is in like the 100th percentile for her age. Man I think I got a big baby on my hands. Her doctor said that is fine. her weight and height are just right for each other. She's tall so of course she is gonna weigh more. Yay mommy worry gone.

Here the nurse we see everytime we go to see our doctor is listening to her heart. Yep its beating and its beating good.

She's got that look down pat. Come on mom do you have to take some many pictures. Yep they all got it and she is no different. But know what I LOVE IT. At least they will have millions of pictures of them growing up. getting bigger to show their kids.

I just love this picture. yes i blew out her face and yes i can probably fix it but its too cute not to share. She is just so dang adorable its not even funny. She's getting a little better at lookin at the camera but only if i catch her in like a split second lol.

I will probably have some more pictures of her tomorrow. She has to have some blood work done. I hate this. She is up to date on her shots until Kindergarden and now has to have this done. Can't these babies ever catch a break huh? She has to have her lead levels checked and her Hematocrit checked. I guess its routine at this age but I dont remember any of the other kids having it done to them. I mean the boys did through the WIC office like a year ago. Tristan's first came back high and the big test came back a little high but not alarmingly high. Just told to watch what he does and eats. So we will be off to the hosipital for lab work in the morning.

I hope everyone has a pea-tastic day. You are all amazing people. I'm going to head to bed now its been a long day.

where the green grass grow : the blue skys shine

2008-12-01T21:40:00.002-05:00

I actually captured a smile on this child. Always seems to be that I can never seem to capture it. She will be 5 months old soon. Can you believe that? I know I can't believe it. I'll so hopefully do a few shoots for her 5 month birthday coming up here soon. But until then here are these to tide you over. These are from the set of pictures I took yesterday of her. Man I got this focus thing down.... well for the most part.

I just love this one. She's staring at the blanket like its the most amazing thing on the planet. She really is growing up. Getting so into things. So focused on things. You say her name and just really look at her and she's all grins and giggles. I love this stage. Soon she will be mobile. I can't wait.... and at the same time I can wait. Can't she stay little forever?

I hope that everyone is having a great day. I'll be taking Madalynne to the doctor at 9 am for a routine check up. I get too find out how big my little porker is LOL. I'll take a few shots at the office like I do for Elizabeth as well. Hopefully she wont try to jump off stuff. Mental note take my bag of tricks with me LOL.

coming out of it...

2008-11-30T15:52:00.002-05:00

my photographic funk that is. Elizabeth was laying on her blanket on the floor so i snapped a few pictures of her. These were taken at settings f/1.8 and ss 30. I'm shocked they aren't blurry as heck.

Now just to pick which i like better.

In a Funk...

2008-11-26T15:29:00.002-05:00

So with everything going on around here I got into a funk. I couldn't really take any kinds of pictures. Yeah i've taken snapshots but sat there and complained about all the technical things that are wrong with them. Poor lighting (most of them were indoors at night lol with just my onboard flash that i refuse to use), poor focus, people moving, not having exactly what I want.

So what did I do. I decided to color my hair... well the first one didnt come out like I liked. And so here is the end result. Do not ask what color this is. I went to Sally's Beauty Supplies like my niece told me to do and got it from there. OOO they have TONS of colors there. I think its like Med. Intense Blonde or something like that.

So I have colored my hair twice in the past week. But I like this end result best of all. I've always wanted to be a red head. I think it suits me.... what do you think?

So I do wish everyone a happy turkey day. I'll be spending it with my babies, Paul, and my grandfather and cooking the whole day. So not lookin forward to that part of it all but it will be worth it. I'll be sure to take pictures of the details and my probably messed up turkey LOL.

Snow Bunny

2008-11-18T19:08:00.002-05:00

Yes... we have a little snow bunny. She is cute and she is pink. Of course she's pink right. Yeah. We love pink esp on little snow bunnies. She didn't like it out there but I had to snap a few pics. I only filled up half a card of them LOL.

On other notes... I would like to say thank you to Jess and Heather for leaving comments. I will take care of myself and the kids. Arianna the oldest is aware of the situation as of right now. They nor I will get lost in the mess. Him and I are currently trying to figure out a good custody arrangement between us. This will be a work in progress. Thank you again girls.

I'm gonna finish playin with these pictures and some of my other snow bunny.

Look in her eyes

2008-11-14T12:11:00.003-05:00

Not really in a chatty mood right now. DH and I have officially decided that our marriage is over now. Its a mutual decision on both of our parts. There are no hard feelings towards each other just figuring out what to do next.

But no post is complete without a picture so here is a new pic of Maddie.

More Lizzy in the Leaves

2008-11-13T13:34:00.003-05:00

So it was actually nice outside yesterday. SO I took my only awake child and tossed her yet again in the leaves. It's kind of decent out today so I might do it to maddie too later after nap time and I have a bath ready for her lol. But here is a couple of shots of her. She is loving her picture bein taken. She's starting to have her own little expressions just like her sisters and brothers.

I love this one because it shows how big she's getting and that arm of hers over there in the side is always there in the side lol. It is rarely ever with her LOL. Its always off to the side somewhere lol. I had to make sure to capture that as well.
I hope that everyone is having a great day. I'll share more pictures tomorrow.

Elizabeth is 4 Months Old

2008-11-07T15:43:00.003-05:00

And she is still just as cute as ever. So here is the run down...

14 pounds even (about average for her age)
25 inches (in the 75th percentile for her age)
Head Circumference is 16 inches
Holds head up
Rolls from front to back back to front
Pushes herself up on her hands
Grabs toys, rattles, and anything else you can give her
Coos, babble, & Giggles
Looks at you when you call her name

And a bunch of other stuff too lol. But here are a few pictures of her. The first two were taken in the back yard couple days ago.

And these were today at the doctors office. I love how the first one focused on her hands. Sooo cute and I love the DOF in this one.
And here I dont have one of her on the scale there yet. So Here is one I took. Next month Madalynne goes for her 18 month check up to the doctor so look out for pics there too.
Hope everyone has a pea tastic day. Loves and hugs to all.

Miss Maddie's New trim

2008-11-05T11:36:00.003-05:00

Ok so I only did the bangs. But isnt she much better lookin now. yes I know they are crooked. Yes I know I should have had our hairdresser do them but I just wanted too. Something about doin the first trim on her that was just so appealing to me.

So to celebrate we went outside to play in the leaves. Yes we like to play in the leaves. Leaves are good. Leaves are fun and colorful... ok well most of them. And here are a few shots from our leaf fun. I hope you likey them.

Now isn't she just so cute. Ok off to pull my boys out of the bathtub I hear Ayden crying.

More family Photos....

2008-10-24T19:44:00.003-04:00

Yep we took the kids back to the same location. I let my 6 year old have the camera yet again. I had to mess with some setting for her and it still turned out pretty good right. So here is another picture of me and Paul.

And here I have a picture of just my girls. I've been wanting one for a while now. And I finally am starting to trust arianna a little bit more with Elizabeth since she can start to hold her head up a bit more and support it more.

And now we have the boys. Yeah Tristan wanted NOTHING to do with this. I was so mad at him but at least I do have one. I love it. Such him lately.

And last but not least... a family photo. OK so I had to put me in there but it doesnt look bad does it. I mean i'm gonna find out here in a few days when I get my prints lol. But what do you peas think.

And thank you yesterday for all the wonderful comments. Yes it took me so long to get these pictures. 5 kids is NOT an easy task. I honestly dont know if I'd ever want to do a family as big as mine LOL. I pity the person I chose for family photos at some point in time. Or I might just try again someday with a tripod and a remote LOL.

And in case anyone forgets here are their ages: Arianna (6), Tristan (3), Ayden (2), Madalynne (15 months), & Elizabeth (3 months). So yes its hard its really really hard lately. I'm at the point of pullling my hair out. But at least the older two realize if they keep messin things up i'll just do it again and again and again lol.

Have a pea-tastic day. I'll be back tomrrow with TONS of halloween pictures. We start our halloween stuff tomorrow.

All I want...

2008-10-23T13:16:00.002-04:00

for christmas is one nice picture of all five of my kids. Yes I'm aware that I am wishful thinking. I don't know maybe its the fact I'm trying to take it. I mean Yes I'm your mom... Yes I want this... Yes I think i'm crazy. I just want one of them all looking at me instead this is what I get...

One picture of three of them walking away from me. Of course they were walkin to the treese where I wanted them to be.

And two very angry babies. They did not wanna sit for NOTHING. Of course we did eventually make them like it. But it only took like 49 tries and still didnt get my perfect picture.

Instead I had to kind of photoshop it, have hubby yell at me for doing it. Because its not natural. I told him I do actions on them too thats photoshop does it mean they are good either. I told him to deal with it LOL.

And here is the a non photoshoped one. I like it I did save like 5 of the 49 so I can have them for little mini albums for them at a later date.

And my Sweet 6 year old is turning into quite the photographer. She took this one of Dh and me. Of course I croped and edited but I didnt crop much. She did pretty good.Now i'm off to make some halloween cupcakes for a party this weekend. Have a fab day peas.

Fixed Tutu

2008-10-12T20:05:00.001-04:00

So I took apart Maddie's tutu today. I wasn't happy with how long it was on her. SO I cut it up. Trimmed the strips by a couple inches. And now i"m really happy with the length. And I think she is too.

Hope everyone has a great day. I should have some witch pictures tomorrow.

Arianna's Tutu

2008-10-11T18:56:00.002-04:00

So since Maddie keeps getting tutus. Arianna decided she HAD to have one too. So she has decided to be a witch this year for halloween. And you know what I love it. Easy and simple her costume cost me like $10 bucks. The hat was donated already had the tights and the leotard. SO we are good to go with her now.

And to anwser a question I was asked about Maddie's. I used 10 Yards of Tulle exactly. Hers is so full its not even funny. Arianna's this is what it was. 7 yards of black, 3 yards of pink, & 3 yards of purple.

Have a peatastic day

Another Tutu

2008-10-10T15:35:00.002-04:00

So I made another tutu today for a shoot I had later this afternoon, but the shoot got canceled my daughter spread this really nasty stomach bug to everyone of our friends kids LOL. Ok it might not have been her fault but still she had it first that I know of LOL. Anyway. This one is light pink and VERY VERY fluffy. She didn't like being a model for me for it. But its OK she warmed up to it.

See now she's happyish. I love this view on her. She started to like the tutu. WHich I'm so glad about.

And I just love this expression on her. I had to share it too.
Have a pea tastic day.

Mommy and Ayden

2008-10-08T20:17:00.003-04:00

So Paul was playing with the camera while we waited for Julie to get there. We didn't have to wait all that long and Ayden wanted to climb up in my lap and first thing I did was give him a kiss on his cheek. Of course I pictured this picture of him giving me one hoping my husband would see this and capture it. Ayden wanted nothing to do with giving kisses. But gettin them we were so up for that.

But i've gotta go I'll share some more pictures soon. Still not up to par yet but i'll be back soon.

Pea-sighting

2008-10-06T21:10:00.003-04:00

Well after Ayden's doctor appt today I got to meet up with fellow pea Julie. She is so sweet. I want to send out a thank you to her for taking some pictures of me. I really really appreciate it. Thank you again and I can't wait to see them.

On a much sadder note. I probably won't be around for POTD for a while or at least a few days. Earlier today Paul's grandma passed away. She was 102 years old and had been in and out of the hospital for a few months now. She was recently put in a nursing home after her last hospitalization. She started to not remember the people coming to see her on a daily basis. Paul is heartbroken right now. So i ask if you pray please pray for him to make it through this. I recently went through this myself. Well almost a year ago but it still seems like just a little while ago when it happened.

I thank you all for being the wonderful people that you are. Thank you so very much.

Goofy Kids

2008-10-05T17:51:00.002-04:00

So when I had everything out the other day to take them pictures of Lizzy for 3 months Arianna grabed this fabric I had out. Now the idea was when I bought it was to wrap a baby in it. Of course not Lizzy but I just took everything out of the van from Logan's shoot last week. So it came with us too outside. So she preceded to wrap herself up with it and of course what does mommy do. She snaps a few pictures of her. So cute. And of course she gave me one of her classic Arianna faces.

So i decided to watch some football today. And i've discovered that if Paul ever decides that I need to be knowledgable in football that will just never happen. I'm just never gonna be that kind of girl. And you know what it doesn't bother me a bit. I mean I'll watch if he wants to watch and I'll watch the Superbowl (just for the commercials really), but i won't understand it. This is about all I understand... throw/tackle/throw/tackle/throw/tackle/throw/tackle/TD/Kick. And from what I hear everyone knows that much so i'm not far ahead of everyone else LOL.

Anyway I gotta go get food going and bathe kids so they can go to the babysitter's tomorrow while I go get ayden's casts off and get my pictures taken. Yes i'm pretty stoked about it. And no i have no clue what i'm wearing yet. Except the bottom half of me.

3 Months Old

2008-10-04T18:22:00.003-04:00

So I started to take lizzy's 3 month pictures. Can you believe it 3 months old already. Well in a week it will be 3 months. I can't believe it. Where has the time gone. And guess what she's doing. She's rolling over too now. WOW I dont want her to get big already. Its so not fair.

Have a pea tastic day.

More Baby "L"

2008-10-03T16:42:00.002-04:00

Here are a few more pictures of baby "L". I was really pleased with how these turned out. They are great. I'm so glad the mom liked them too. So for your viewing pleasures here are a few more pictures. I hope you like them just as much as the mom and I did/do.

Have a pea-tastic day.

Baby "L" Sneeky Peeky

2008-10-01T19:47:00.004-04:00

He was such a sweet little baby. Yesterday the first try didn't go so good but today. Man was I one happy camper. This is the baby to a friend of mine. She was hear visiting from NY and called me up (well myspaced me up lol) to take his pictures. I was so so happy too. I hope that Mommy likes them too.

I'm off to go weed through about 300 more pictures to get the best ones. Hope everyone has a great day.

She is so cute lately...

2008-09-28T22:54:00.004-04:00

I don't know if its because she's my last baby but everything about her lately is just so cute. She makes the cutest little sounds and makes the cutest little faces. Almost makes me wish I didn't get my tubes tied... and then I remember if pattern were to continue I'd probably be pregnant again already and I'm so not up for that.

So I have my first official newborn shoot this week. I'm so excited. I've been starting to make cocoons for it too. I'm working on a white one right now. I've already made a red one, a red hat for Lizzy, and a smaller red hat for the newborn. Its a boy so I couldn't make a bunch of pink ones like i REALLLY really want to do. So once i make this white one and a earthly tone one I'm gonna make a really nice soft furry pink one one for LIzzy. I know silly huh. She's be too huge for it by then but still I'll have my pink one.

Anyway... here's a picture of the whole thing together. Have I told you I hate shooting on white. I don't know how I'm gonna work Tuesday with the newborn I can't order me a new flash until Wed or later because of Rosh Hannah. I don't mind I'm sure I'll think of something. And they will of course look fab. Its a PBing session. She came to visit her family from NY just so I can do these while he's still a little baby. I feel special.
Ok now I'm rambling and I should be knitting. Hugs to all have a fantastic day guys.

Homecoming Sneek Peek

2008-09-27T22:07:00.002-04:00

So today I went over to my SILs house to take some pictures of the kids before Homecoming this year. SO this is what we had. Four overly giddy, loud teenage girls that had a blast. That's what I love about this age. They are fun and hip and great. Thanks girls for such a great time. Oh and thank you Tami for feeding us too.

I'll be sure to post more soon.

Its all FIVE of them

2008-09-21T17:57:00.002-04:00

And yes you read that right. I got all five kids in one photo. Ok so they aren't all looking at me and they aren't all happy either for that matter, but hey they are all in there thats a start.

Now help me decide because I just so can't. I like the color a lot but I like the black and white a lot too so which one should I print. This will be framed on my wall soon very soon.

Have a pea-tastic day.

She's gotten so big...

2008-09-20T20:25:00.004-04:00

in just a few short weeks. About 10 weeks ago this little bit was born. Now she's over 11 pounds almost twice her birth weight. And she's probably 22 inches long. Still a little on the short end but that's ok. I'm a bit on the short end so it works out.

I took her out in the backyard today. This is where we been doing our little shoots. As soon as my cast is off we will venture out to other locations but this is about as far as I can go for now lol.

Ok I came back in here and found another one I LOVE totally to death. She's just toooo cute.
But I'm gonna go back to play with these pictures. I got a lot today that I really really like in here. And these are also gonna be all printed and shown to the family to have them pick out their new prints of her too. They are gonna be on Elizabeth overload.

Have a fantastic day my pea-buddies.

The tutu is done...

2008-09-18T20:55:00.002-04:00

and she so didn't appreciate it. Granted today she wasn't screaming but still. I would have liked her to stand a few times LOL. All we wanted to do was crawl away from me and the camera or to me and the camera lol. So here is a few pictures. I'll post more as I go through them a little later. Right now my foot is bothering me a little bit and I got TONS of clothes to fold anyway so I'm gonna jump off for now.
Hope everyone has a fantastic day. Thanks for lookin.

Maddie's Almost finished Witch tutu

2008-09-16T20:00:00.002-04:00

So I wanted to try my hand at making a tutu. And what better time of year to make one than HALLOWEEN. We all get to dress up in whatever we want. We can be scary or cute or adorable or quirky or freaky. We can be anything we want to be at all. There are no limits when it comes to Halloween.

So last year both Maddie and Tristan won the costume judging contests. Tristan was a priate (again) and won Most Original. Maddie was a cute little leopard. She had a little dress and all. It was Most Adorable. I'm so proud of her. Well him too. And this year Tristan will probably be a priate again because DH loves him and how he looks. And I will admit he makes an adorable pirate. And will probably win.. again this year. Maddie is gonna be a cute little witch. She's got a black shirt, leggings, a black purple and pink tutu (almost finished), and hopefully if I can keep it on her head a witch hat too. So lets hope she wins something again this year.

So I put her half finished tutu on her to get an idea of the size. Yes I measured her before I started but somehow it ended up being a tad big. Well more than a tad so I don't have as much to finish as I thought I did. So looks like I only gotta get about 4 more yards of black and 2 more each of the pink and purple. I wanted orange in there too but EVERYWHERE is sold out of them. Can you believe that? Not a single walmart or JoAnns around here. Man this sucks. Oh its ok. I'll have to make one for some other time with that color too.

But its time for me to go to watch House with DH. Its the new one and I'm excited to see it. He went and got us Subway and we are gonna put all the kids down (only one left now) and have a lazy night together. We really need that. Have a fantastic day everyone.

a few pics from the wind storm we got

2008-09-15T12:03:00.002-04:00

here are just a few pictures of the uprooted tree that knocked out my power yesterday and all night last night. We took the kids to his parents house for the night. My kids are dependent on their ACs lol. And it was very very muggy in my house. I'm not sure what caused the storm if it was part of IKE which i think it might have been by the force of all the winds we had. If not we had some wicked bad storms that I just hate.

But anyway here are some pictures. We do have power back but there was a lot of damage everywhere around here. We even lost some lives in some of the cities. I'll be praying for those lives lost during the storm and pray everyone gets everything restored back to normal.

Unhappy baby

2008-09-11T20:31:00.002-04:00

Remember the pictures of lizzy for her two month birthday... well here's one of our outtakes. We have one extremely unhappy baby. I dont know why i took the pic probably because I was already focused on her. Of course it didn't last too long. She was happy again once she finished her bottle. I was actually shocked that she let me take pictures of her awake and with no paci in her mouth. She's very fond of it, kind of like maddie was for a few months. I was about to go out and buy one of them pretty sparkly ones just for pictures LOL. Thankfully she let me take some without a paci.

Well I dont have much more to report today. I've been kind of layin around today. Lizzy is back to being up half the night again. And Ayden is in my room for a little while until I get the guts to have Paul put him back upstairs to his room since the surgery. And he decided probably like 2am that he wanted to play. Of course just after I finally get Lizzy down for a while. Naturally. So I'm gonna go watch some TV with Paul or do absolutely nothing LOL. Me do nothing.. thats funny. Have a great day girls.

Lizzy 2 Months Old

2008-09-08T21:36:00.003-04:00

So Lizzy (or BethyAnne as my mom wants her called... seeing how i like that.. yeah not stickin for me) turned 2 months old a couple days ago. Well actually yesterday. We had her 2 month check up today and here is where we stand.

we are 10 pounds and 14 ounces (pretty average for her age)
we are 21 1/2 inches long (about in the 10th percentile for her age)
he head circumference is a little below average but we aren't concered because she's grown alot since her 2 week check up.
we are holding our head up (see her 2 month pics for some of them).
we are grabbing things.
we are cooing and smiling now.
and we are just as cute as a button still waking mommy up in the middle of the night and making mommy slightly sleep deprived still.

So I go to the doctor tomorrow afternoon to have my foot re-xrayed. I bet they tell me its broken still. UMMMM i can tell them that and I'm not a doctor LOL. I've been to this office before for my back problems but haven't seen this doctor in there before so I'm a bit wonderin how I will react to him LOL. I'm very picky about my doctors. I went through like 3 OBs before I finally found one that stuck from more than one pregnancy. So I'll update everyone tomorrow on the foot. I'll know more about it tomorrow besides it hurts like heck LOL. Have a great night everyone.

Lizzy Turns 2 Months old

2008-09-06T18:25:00.003-04:00

on tomorrow. So today broken foot and all I took her outside with all my baskets and nice blankets and we did pictures outside. She hasn't been layed on the ground yet in any way shape or form. So this was a good test run. Although in my lasp in judgement on all these dang pills for my pain I forgot that I have to get down on the ground with her to get great shots. Well that didn't bode good for me. I did get a handful of good shots. So here they are via slideshow this time.

But that's all for today. Well except my broke foot. So how many wanna see its progress. I can promise you it does not look good at all. My toes are all black and blue and purplish red. So here they are.Now they claim my toes weren't broken too but you know i'm beginning to wonder if i did or not. But thats all folks. I'm off to put it up and spend some much needed hubby time. Loves all.

Arianna's Butterfly Dress

2008-09-05T18:07:00.000-04:00

So arianna got this new dress from Kari's house that used to be one of the girls. Its so cute. So naturally I had to take a picture of it. She wasn't too up for pictures this morning. I think she's tired of my camera right now, but that won't stop me from taking pictures. But I don't really like her wearing dresses to school unless they have shorts under and this one didn't so I made her put jeans on for school. Well I picked out white ones for her but she didn't wanna wear them. I don't blame her though LOL.

Ayden's doing pretty good today. Doesn't seem to be in as much pain but he's getting his pain meds every 4 hours or so so that might be why he don't seem to be in pain as much LOL. He's crawling around a bit now. But still lounging around a lot too, and that's ok.

Now me I'm doing ok too. My foot is killing me. I wish my doctor would get me in before Tuesday but thats the earliest they can do it. I hate that I have to wait so long. And I swear my dang foot is a magnet for these kids. They've kicked it hit it steped on it and probably everything else you can think of to it LOL. I've decided to stop taking the Hydrodcodone.. legal heroine it seems LOL. It puts me in a total fog and doesn't really help the pain so I'm gonna stick with the Darvacet that I got after my tubal when I had lizzy. It works a heck of a lot better. So Tuesday I might ask for another script for that.

But I'm gonna jump off here. I gotta go take care of babies. They apprently need mommy. Esp maddie she's a crab today.

Ayden's Home

2008-09-03T21:12:00.000-04:00

Well we got home at about 2:30 this afternoon with my brave little man. We go back to see his doctor in a few weeks to have the casts removed and see the progress. His left foot was tighter than they expected it to be as its the foot that has been doing better lately. But that's ok we will see how it looks and acts after its done in the casts for a while. I will explain our stay through what else pictures and here we go.

They weighed him and measured him when we got there to do the nurse assestment. You would have thought I would have asked this. All i know is he weights 12.9 kg LOL. No clue what that is in pounds I'm sure I can find out though lol. At his last surgery in December he weighed 25 pounds. I think they were wrong though LOL, but probalby not.

This has got to be my favorite picture out of over 200 pictures. They were playing in the room while we waited for the doctor to come in and once again explain everything that was going to happen. Its just so so precious.

And here is Dopey. He is our compainion. He has been with us every single surgery and Yesterday's was no exception.

Here is Dr. Shrader explaining things to us again. He's very used to my camera by now.

Ayden's "boo boo hand". Thats what we all called it for him. This was taken right in recovery. Of course afer I held him for a while.

Daddy and Ayden again with a popcicle. He was coughing up a storm from that tube they put in him. Man I remember that from my surgery. It wasn't fun at all. But we did get an awesome expression.

After we checked into the Ronald house for the night and I came back to see him an hour or so later this is how I found him. practically standing up in his crib. I can't believe that. I guess that pain block hadn't worn off yet. Too bad it couldn't last forever. (brb ayden's crawling over here.. ok we fixed him he's back on the couch with his feet up and iced.)

Here is one of our casted feet. We picked out green. Ya think its bright enough LOL.

This is our new little friend.. Birdy lol. Isn't he so cute.

Finally able to go home. He was so excited to see us this morning get real clothes on and get to go in the waggon to go home.
So now we are home. Trying to help him through his pain. I'm sure he will let us know when he's really hurting. He's like Paul and me we try to push through the pain. Not a good thing to have when you just had surgery lol.

On a side note... I did make an appt with my surgon for my foot. I go in Tuesday at 2:15pm to have it Xrayed again and a cast put on it. I haven't taken my dressing off yet to see how its doing but it still hurts a lot. I think I over pushed myself yesterday and today. Thank you to everyone for your warm well wishes and prayers. They certianly were anwsered yesterday. I know my grams was lookin over him too helping him through the surgery. THank you all again.

Last bit of fun before surgery tomorrow

2008-09-01T20:49:00.000-04:00

This afternoon it was just Ayden and me. So after his very late nap today we went outside to play a little bit. THe people behind us had this huge bounce thing for one of the boy's birthday parties yesterday. He didn't get to go over there yesterday and play but they had it up still today so we went back there today. He had a blast. So here is a few pictures.

Here is him lookin out there wanting to go play with them. You can see a good shot of his feet the ones that need fixed and will be done tomorrow.

Here are two shots of him in the bounce thing. Shockingly got some pretty decent ones. I love the one of him peekin out at us watching him play. So cute.

Tomorrow is a big day for us all around here. We leave here at 4 am. I will be updating on the pea board via Craftyluv. She's offered her phone number for me to call when we are getting settled into the Ronald House. So look there for an update after surgery. We will be there tomorrow night and coming home sometime on Wed. I don't know when we will be getting home. I'll share a pic or two from his hospital stay probably later on Wed night. Hope everyone has a fantastic few days. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers for a safe fast recovery. I would appreciate it so much.

Melon Festival

2008-08-31T18:09:00.000-04:00

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)

2008-08-30T20:37:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-29T15:49:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-28T20:13:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-27T18:23:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-26T21:12:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-25T18:22:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-24T22:26:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-23T21:12:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-21T19:16:00.000-04:00

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....

2008-08-20T21:56:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-19T10:10:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-14T20:47:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-13T20:15:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-12T21:00:00.000-04:00

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)

2008-08-11T18:23:00.001-04:00

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

2008-08-10T21:11:00.001-04:00

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.

Lizzy 1 Month Old

2008-08-09T14:21:00.000-04:00

Well I'm a little off on this one. So she turned 1 month two days ago. At least it's not like almost 2 months before I finally get these taken. She was a little cold and didn't really feel like having her picture taken. But I'm ok with that. My settings were a little off. All of these were taken with my 50mm f/1.8 at f/1.8 and ISO 200 other than that I'm not sure what the stuff was. I'm doing good to remember that. I know I could look it up but I don't feel like it right now. But if you ask I will look it up for ya.

So without further ado.... Lizzybeth as my mom and her oldest brother calls her.

This one right here is my most favorite of all the pictures. I might make it into a canvas not sure yet though.

And of course what photo shoot of babies is complete without feet pictures. Yes I've that that feet thing. She's got such long feet and toes that I just have to document it. They are totally cute. I love how the lense blurred her in the back too looks neat to me.

Have a fantastic day. I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures of the other kids or so I hope. We have a birthday party to go too for our great nephews. We have three of them and we are only 27 and 28 LOL. Maybe I'll make DH pose for us too. Thanks for all the great comments on here. Love seeing them.

Gramps & Lizzy

2008-08-09T12:21:00.000-04:00

My gramps didn't wanna hold Lizzy in the hospital when she was born. She was sleeping and still so small. he was afraid of breaking her I think. So when we went over there this week I made sure he held her. It wasn't for long just about as long as it took me to take a picture or two. Then she fussed and I took her back. She wanted food and cuddled. I really like this picture of the two of them. It will definatly be printed and given to gramps in a sweet little frame.

Cutie Maddie

2008-08-08T17:03:00.000-04:00

I know I said I would post more pictures of the other kids but I was so in love with this picture of her. She is so so cute. She was sitting beside me at the table in her little bebe pod. I love that thing but she doesn't like it too much. We were sitting here listening to music and she was just all giggly and smiling at me. Love this shot of her.

I promise I have more kids

2008-08-07T15:32:00.000-04:00

So i'm gonna show my boys off today. First up we have Ayden. He's about the happiest baby in the world I swear. He will go to anyone to that wants to pick him up. Including all the nurses that deal with him during his surgeries. If he only realized what they were about to do I don't think he wouldn't go back with them anymore. Hopefully his surgery coming next month will be his very last surgery. I'm so hopeful for this. They say that 95% of the time it works and they never have another surgery. We can all pray and send thoughts up that this will be his last surgery.

Now we have my boy Tristan. He's not feeling too good today. He got knocked in the head with a shoe... thanks Daddy. Granted Daddy was playing but still. A shoe... Daddy bad. He's got a little cut on his head but all and all just fine. He just has a little fever today. So anyway here is my oldest boy Tristan. He's such a cutie. And has amazing eyes when he gives eye contact which is rare very rare.

And the winner is....

2008-08-06T09:57:00.000-04:00

so I asked you all to vote and you did. I'm so glad you did. and winning by a landslide was picture number 2. That's fantastic. I really love the picture too. I decided to make the print a gallery wrap. This will be my first gallery wrap so anyone has any suggestions where to get it I'm up for any.

SO I'm gonna leave you with some pictures of LIzzy today. I know I said I would show more of the other kids I do promise too. I just have to process a few of them. Hope everyone has a fantastic day.

Help me decide...

2008-08-05T09:52:00.001-04:00

So I need a new picture of Maddie on the wall and what better picture than one of the ones I took on Sunday before the party so here lets vote. I'll let everyone know which picture was picked. Unfortunately that's all I got time for today. I'm not in a really chatty mood today. I'm having some personal issues that I need to deal with right now. So until tomorrow lets vote.

More birthday pictures (image heavy)

2008-08-04T11:12:00.001-04:00

So I started out the day with a little photo shoot. I'm trying to get the hang of the new lens and get my lighting in my house figured out. So what better model than the birthday girl. And I had to have a million pictures of her new dress just for her birthday. I just love this dress. I plan to get more pictures too this week or at least I hope I will.

Of course we have the artistic poses of just her legs or her feet or just the dress. Man have I said that I love this dress yet LOL. Oh wait I think I did already. I took it right off of her after the pictures too I was determined in the few hours before the party she was not gonna mess this dress up. Not that it cost me a ton of money it was just too cute.

She's so not into eye contact right now but when I do get it with her (unfortunately not in any of these) she's got the most amazing eyes I've seen in a long time. I did use some actions on these and did an exposure boost too because a few of them were way off.

She loves to walk now but isn't too up for walking alone yet. So her cousin Becca walked with her everywhere she wanted to go. Which is good for Becca we are tellin her she needs to have a little girl now that she's got two boys. Very good for her.

And of course we have to make a mess of our cake. This cake was made by her grandma. We were gonna buy one but each kid has had a cake made by grandma so we let this one be it. Next year we will have a big fancy cake I'm sure of it.

And of course the bath after she devours her cake and Aunt Mary's ice cream too. She doesn't like to have baths at all. She really hates them I swear hates them completely. Esp the part where you wash her hair and she gets it in her eyes she freaks out seriously freaks out. But we didn't do too bad this time.

And last but not least. After I got her back in her party dress I let her cousin take her outside. Shockingly she likes her too. Maybe she's coming out of this I only want Mommy phase. I hope she really gets out of in by the 16th she's gotta go to a babysitter for the first time. This should be fun.
I'll post more pictures as I get them processed. I hope you like seeing the little princess's party.

Walkin away & Little Chubby Legs

2008-08-03T21:53:00.000-04:00

So Maddie's party was a blast. She had so much fun. And she actually let some people pick her up which is like a miracle for her. She is such a Mommy's girl it's not even funny. I only have processed a few of the pictures and out of them these are my favorites. As we all know I have this fascination with feet and Maddie's feet while she was walkin' around outside with her cousin "B" was no exception to my little thing. She loved just walkin around with her help all around the yard. So I abandon the party guests (don't worry DH is entertaining them) and go snap some pictures. I had to put my camera on Jpeg so I can't process these a lot and I had a few blow outs but overall I think they turned out pretty good. So I will leave you with these and be back tomorrow with some more.

Hope everyone has a wonderful night. I'm gonna go crawl up in bed after I feed Lizzy one more time before 2 or 3 am and have a nice long sleep. Ok maybe not that long lol.

Oh yeah I forgot... NDJane's action was a free action and you can find it here. I love this action and plan to use it a lot with some upcoming senior pictures. Oh and it was also used in each of these pictures too.

One more before i leave

2008-08-03T12:37:00.000-04:00

So i'm about to head out the door to my daughters first birthday party. YAY maddie and I have this one shot from a little mini shoot today. I just love it. I know you can't see her face or anything but Its just one of them kind of shots for me. I used NDJane's Grunge action on the picture. Hope you all have a fantastic day.

I'm so tired already

2008-08-03T07:24:00.000-04:00

and my day hasn't even started really yet. So today's the big day. It's Maddie's first birthday party. This should be fun right... then tell me why am I dreading it. I've got the cake made well my MIL is making the cake actually. I've got the food ordered (chicken from walmart) I've already given her my gift (a stuffed toy from Disney store), and I have 5 kids to bathe dress and feed before the party. I've got me to bathe and get ready before we leave. I still have to figure out what Maddie is gonna wear. She's got like 3 dresses to pick from. Fun huh. Not to meantion about a bizillion clothes to wash too. So we will be ending this post early today as the birthday girl is now awake.

So I leave you with this cute little picture of Elizabeth. Oh and of course Tristan's hand trying to get to her. But at least she's not crying.

Can't think of a title today...

2008-08-02T20:34:00.000-04:00

so we have no title. I've been pretty busy getting things ready for the birthday party tomorrow, but I did take time today to take a few pictures of Elizabeth. She's such a sweet baby. Starting to get a little more curious of the world around her but hey that's expected of her. This picture was taken in my girls room. Right now I have one wall that has nothing on it so I took one of my little tables put my white fur on it and placed it by the wall. I've discoverer now with this new lense that there's a lot of light in that room. I think this one might be one of my new favorite pictures of Elizabeth. Of course I'm sure I'll have a new one tomorrow LOL.

Hope you all have a fantastic night tonight. I know I will DH's only day off so I'm gonna spend some much needed hubby bubby time tonight after he gets off work.

Some Fields

2008-08-01T08:30:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been a sucker for landscapes. These aren't the best landscapes as I was driving down the street when i took them. But they do look pretty cool. I've always kind of hated living here in Ohio where I live. Its the middle of no where's ville and I grew up on several Navy bases. There were no fields of any kind. And now anytime we go anywhere, even in town sometimes, there is some kind of field. Right now there are a lot of corn fields and soybean fields. We grow a lot of that here. We also have wheat feilds too but they are all harvested already so not too pretty for pictures, and there isn't as many as the other two too.

Sometimes I wonder what the fascination is with the fields. I know its good to grow your own food and stuff like that, and its good for the economy as well and brings in these farmers some extra monies. That is all good.. but why have practically everywhere covered in them. I guess I'm still a city girl at heart and would LOVE to go live in the city. Where you don't have to have a car to get somewhere. You can just walk to whatever you wanna go to. Just the way I grew up. I guess its what I'll always want.

Hope you have a fantastic day today. I'm sure everyone will.

New 50mm 1.8 camera lense

2008-07-31T17:41:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to share a few shots with the new 50mm 1.8 camera lense that I picked up this morning. First picture is my daughter blowing a dandelion.

Next we have little miss Maddie. Her eyes are just so beautiful and if you look close enough you can kind of see me in the catchlights. How neat is that?

And here is Ayden playing with Maddie's sunglasses. Neat little kiddo huh.

One very UnHappy Baby

2008-07-30T09:31:00.000-04:00

So we put Maddie in the pool yesterday. It was pretty hot around here and the kids haven't been in it in a while due to the only warm warm days was days we weren't home LOL. Well Maddie wasn't sure what to make of it. Now she HATES the bath. Its like the devil to her or something. She used to like it but now not so much anymore.

First we had to check this thing out. Now here we are pretty calm about it. It looks like it might be fun. Not sure how much fun but maybe some fun. We splashed in it a little bit and it seems like its ok for me.

Then we had to just watch everyone else play in it see how they react to it. They seem like they are having fun. But I'm not too sure about this thing yet. Lets see what do we think... what do we think...

Ok time to take the plunge and we HATE IT. It is the devil just like the bathtub is the devil. THIS IS NOT FAIR and what is Daddy doing. He's taking pictures because he knows I have to have pictures of Everything. The good bad and indifferent.

So there ya go. That was our pool experience yesterday. I think when the older kids go in again today that her and I are gonna sit outside on the grass and just play a little bit. Hope everyone has a fantastic day. Hugs to all.

Maddie's First Birthday

2008-07-29T13:08:00.001-04:00

Maddie turned ONE this past Saturday. So I did take her out back to take some pictures of her. We weren't so into it like I hoped we would be. So I didn't get a lot of good shots of her, but I did happen to get a few of them. My 6 year old was a good distraction for her to get her to giggle and smile for me.

The most fun she had was when she had my 6 year old's baseball glove and ball. It was so cute. That's all for today folks. I'll be around tomorrow with some pictures with my new 50mm camera lense. I can't wait.

Miss Maddie

2008-07-24T11:18:00.001-04:00

So this is my middle girl. Her name is Madalynne Rose. Or just Maddie or Rose (only my mom calls her Rose). She wears lots of dresses and loads of skirts and is a little girly girl sometimes. She's very much so a Mommy's girl too. She won't let anyone except my husbands niece Becca hold her. And she sees her less than she does my grandpa or Paul's parents and she rarely lets them hold her.

So the other day me and the kids went outside next door and let the kids play around. Its always easier for me to watch them all when there are other people around since there is five of them after all. But she didn't want anything to do with it since we tried to put her in the pool that was just NOT happening. So we here have a very unhappy baby.

Once a week we always take the kids to my grandpa's house, we cook him dinner, and just let him play around with the kids. Maddie doesn't like to go out back with them so she stayed inside with me. Sat there at the table like a good little girl.

So there ya have it. Little Miss Maddie. She's a sweetie and a doll face and will be turning one this weekend. So I will have tons of pics to share then too. And I'll have my new lense for her birthday too So happy about that. Hope you all have a fantastic day.

Can't get enough of them feet

2008-07-23T10:57:00.000-04:00

Yes I'm a bit weird when it comes to feet now since Ayden. I never really appreciated how perfect a foot is until I had a baby who's feet weren't perfect. Now Elizabeth takes after Arianna's feet. They are so so long and long little toes too. They are perfect. I guess that means she takes after me and Paul too. We both have huge feet too lol.

I rarely ever take my ring off. I've always thought unless you have to take it off for like cleaning or if while I was pregnant I would take it off at night sometimes because my fingers would get a little swollen and it would hurt to wear it for a few hours in the mornings. But I made an exception here. I love the look of these pictures with the mom and dad's rings on the baby's little toes. I couldn't put Paul's on there too because he was sleeping and its kind of like stuck on his finger as well LOL.

Sometimes I wonder if she ever wakes up. Well I know she does because I have to feed her and change her and every so often I get her eyes open for more than like 10 seconds before I feed her and fill her back up. But pictures like these make me glad she sleeps a lot. She's my sweet little angel when she's sleeping. When she's awake its mostly to cry because she's hungry or she's wet or wants attention. Mental note: print this picture and put it on my wall. It actually reminds me of a picture that we had taken of Arianna when she was Lizzy's age. So sweet.

Well that's all for today folks. Next few days I gotta take some pictures of my other kids. They are starting to feel neglected and people are starting to wonder if I have other kids LOL. So next few days I'll share some of them. Have a fantastic day everyone.

Sweet Pea Elizabeth

2008-07-20T19:39:00.001-04:00

SO Elizabeth is now almost 2 weeks old. I would like to share a few of her newborn pictures. She is so very precious. She still looks so tiny. She's gained a little bit of weight. She now weighs 6 pounds and 11 ounces. So she's gained a whole 7 ounces in 2 weeks. YAY grow baby grow.

She's still so little that she fits just perfectly in this cute little basket. Love that little basket of hers. I hunted and I hunted until I found one that I really liked. Of course my oldest son had to make sure I got this one and ONLY this one. I'm happy I did.

I really have this thing for feet. I don't know why probably because of Ayden (my youngest boy). He was born with club feet and had casts on his feet when he was Elizabeth's age. I never got to take any pictures of his little toes until he was about 2 months old. So I over compesate with the other kids now LOL. So here are some little piggies.
I hope to have lots more pictures to share so you can see how she grows. Be on the look out I've gotta photograph the older siblings too. They might feel a little left out soon lol. Hope everyone has a fantastic day.