My complaint...

Why in the world are the bird-sized-man-eating mosquitos still attacking and swarming in the middle of October like it is the middle of July? Seriously? I have at least 9 bites from my session yesterday, and the poor family that the session was with were TOTAL troopers to fight through the nastiness of them. Gross. And then tonight, as I was getting out of our van, we were under attack again! Hmmm...does frost help this? If so, I say bring on the snow! ;)

Finishing up the beautiful family session from last weekend, and am anxious to get those proofs out. I promise I will have some sneak peeks up from Sunday's family session soon. Not promising tomorrow, because I already promised my little Bean that we would spend all day playing, cleaning (yes, she likes to clean), riding bikes and just hanging out. I spent WAY too much time on the computer working today. I told Bean that I felt like I wasn't as good of a mommy as I could be today and that tomorrow will be better. I don't think it affected her too much because her response was, "Yeah, you should buy me those pink pants that I didn't get tonight, tomorrow." I explained to her that me not buying the pink pants isn't what I could have improved upon today, and told her that I missed her and wanted to spend some time with her and Cakes without the extra interruptions that we have had. The sweetness of a four year old. Both of my girlies are missing their daddy...we have had tears, tantrums and general wondering of when daddy will be home. This is the short trip to NYC...left early (4 am) this morning and is home LATE tomorrow night...so they won't see him until Wednesday evening. I am anticipating another day of the general blues tomorrow...another reason, I won't be "working" at all! Little do they know that the week long trip to TX will be coming in a couple of weeks. That should be fun...blah! I miss him too...

Off to bed shortly, I hope, and probably not back here until Wednesday afternoon. Have a great week!

Today...

I took the girls to Wildwood for a "session". What a pain my own kids are when it comes to photographing them!!!!! I think I just have too high of expectations! Other sessions I don't care if kids don't look at me, I want them to have fun. I should have kept that in mind with my girls today! :) Cakes often refused to look at me, and when she did look, it was with a grumpy face. Several times she said, "I want my Daddy," and then pouted. Beans did a great job...got tons of cute ones of her, BUT my goal was to get a good one of the both of them because I want to blow it up in my family room. I will have to look through them when I am not as bugged. And, as promised, we went to the playground to play for awhile. They had a good time, and I got all smiles from them there...maybe one of those will turn out!!!!!

After that we went to see the Extreme Home Makeover house. Today is demolition day. They were both excited, until we got there and they realized that it wasn't too exciting for them! I want to go back, but Beans flat out told me, "If you go back, find me a babysitter!" Okay, so I won't forcer her to go back. I did get some pics of the equipment. We were so far back that we could barely see the roof of the house. What I could see was an enormous hole in it...and there was lots of screaming, so I am assuming Ty and his crew were up at the front. I can be a "pushy" person to get myself where I can see...but I didn't think it was appropriate today...double stroller, big pregnant body, and kids whining to go home. Hoping to go back...but kidless! The exciting part was, I DID SEE Pauli (sp?). He was with his design crew, and I got a couple good pictures of him. It is pretty cool, and Toledo raised a ton of money for the family. I would like to say that everyone was in good spirits, but when I found a parking spot along the street (didn't say no parking) a cranky old many came hustling out, "Move it...get out of here." "Okay." If I would have been on top of my game, I would have come up with some sort of comment to kill him with kindness, but of course I did not. I got in the car, Bean wanted to know what was going on, so I said that Oscar wasn't happy because we were too close to his garbage can. We found a different spot.

This is quite a rambling, but I wanted to post some pictures from Labor Day weekend. We went to the "pond" with my family and my in laws also joined us for a bit. Corn hole, swimming, digging, sand castles and LOTS of food were had by all. So, I will leave you with those. You will have to stay tuned for pics of my girls from today! :)

Mimi...with all the grandkids...and all of them were SO excited to be having the picture taken! :)

Grandpa and girls...Birthday Boy...pre-pond.

Corn-hole...

All the kids with Uncle R and Aunt B...

Baby H...not a baby, but we still refer to her as Baby H! :)
Cakes...
Cakes Konked Out...fell asleep sitting on Aunt Cheerston's lap (she now pronounces the S...just not the hard K sound!)

C-Man...dipping his hair in water...

and letting it pour down his face.

Call Us Weird...

But our night time songs that we sing to our girls are Amazing Grace and Blessed Be the Name. We have sung them for almost two years...same ones...we used to do different songs, but Beans is a total creature of habit. So last week at the funeral, Amazing Grace - Chris Tomlin version started playing. She immediately looked up at T and I and mouthed, "I know this one." It was very, very sweet. I don't think there was a dry eye in the church as that song played. So, it is becoming the new song on the right.

After we lost Baby Thomas, songs were of great help to my emotional well being...and lots of prayer. So, I borrowed many CD's (thank you N and Mom) and created a CD of some favorite songs. Needless to say, those songs played over and over whenever we were in the car. So, Beans learned all of the songs, and can sing right along. Some favorites from that CD...Praise You in This Storm, Held, Who Am I, Homesick, Wish You Were Here (not Pink Floyd :) )...and we called it our Thomas CD of God songs. Anyways, I believe it was Homesick that played next at the funeral, and she looked at me again, and smiled, and mouthed the words to the songs. It was beautiful.

I have some more beautiful images of Miss O from last week that I want to post...I am getting oh so close to being finished with her session and to being all caught up! Miss KJ's session is next...in case you are reading this L! ;) I will put up more of Miss O tomorrow (after we go to the WATERPARK!!!! )I think I am more excited than my kids...not sure what a prego can do there, but I think the girls will have a blast! If I am on top of things, I hope to take my camera...you would think it is the first thing I pack, but it usually is waiting for me by the door, and most occasions, I forget it...but I know right where it is! :)

Have a good night!

Please Stay Tuned...

Several sessions this past week. Baby KJ (my cute little niece) with her 9 month pictures, Miss I and Miss J last night - the light ended up being fantastic, and another session coming this Saturday with Mr. B. And, we may be squeezing in my sister and her family tomorrow evening. So, there will be lots to post, but just not sure of the time that I will have to post them! I am not sure if I am just slow when it comes to posting, or if it takes awhile for everyone. If anyone has any pointers, I would certainly welcome them!!! :)

On another note, if you would please keep my husband's family in your prayers I would certainly appreciate it. A dear Uncle of his went to be with the Lord today, after a long battle with cancer. Although we know he is dancing pain-free in heaven in the absolute glory of Christ, it is still difficult for those of us here.

Another item of interest. We had an absolutely hilarious conversation with Beans the other night before bed. The thoughts of a 4 year old are sometimes beyond me! I came down that night and wrote out what I could remember of the conversation, so that too will be blogged someday soon!!!! I don't want to lose it, and I don't want her to lose her littleness. Although, everyday, she is getting older, pronouncing words better and the littleness is disappearing.

Lastly, thank you to all of you faithful readers of my blog. I know it can be somewhat mundane, but I appreciate your visits!!!!

Going to watch a little "Olymcips" as Bean would say, while I do a little editing. Have a great night!

Did I miss LOST this week?

I had a nice evening at a friend's party, came home so my husband could go meet his friend, who just came in from CA, and was geeked that I was going to be able to sit and relax and watch LOST! Girls even went to bed like champs, and those who have heard me complain before, that was quite a feat! 8:58...come down, plop on couch...NO LOST!?!?!? Or did I miss it...was it on last night??? There aren't too many shows that I like to watch, especially now since everything is delayed from the writer's strike, but I really was looking forward to brainless entertainment!!!

So, instead, I came down to the computer. One of my favorite spots! I went through some pictures from the weekend and of this week. Here are a few of the girls to enjoy. Also am throwing one in of my niece. They were in town from Dayton, visiting my mom since she had surgery last week. And, if you have talked to me lately, you have also heard about the flood in my parents basement. I am putting a picture up of the heap of garbage that everyone (but me, since I was in sessions, and came at a point where I was useless) worked so hard on getting out of the basement. I DID get to help load it into the dumpster though! :) By the way, the flooding was a total blessing in disguise. It was in need of an overhaul, and it sure is hard to save anything when it is soaked!!!

The Garbage!

Can you tell my kids are used to their mom constantly having a camera in their face?

My niece H...doesn't she look so much like my M??? Cousins for sure!

Dancing with her shadow...again, loving having her picture taken...especially when having the ability to use her free will to do what she wants in the "shoot".

Okay...I am liking this next one. It is a little bit different, but I love that the focus is on her feet. She was working so hard at making herself swing, and kicking her feet out so hard...it was too cute!

M climbing up the ladder to the slide...like a big girl! Can we say "Yea!", Mom doesn't have to place her at the top 500 times in a row this year!!!!



Loves swinging...especially at her BF/Cousin's house!

Her eyes are so darn pretty...

Total G face here...

All in all, the past two weeks have been crazy...scary...lonely...busy...fun...exciting...

Hubby was out of town for a week...leaving me feeling crazy and lonely, but with everything going on, the time went fast and he is home safe...God seems to have things under control with the best timing.

My mom's surgery went sour with a nicked artery...very scary, but God kept her safe and now is doing well. Thank you, Lord.

Parent's flooded basement...adding to the craziness...again, a blessing in disguise!

My brother Noah landed a fabulous job...during normal people hours, making great money...
Lucas got the part in Spring Awakening...read previous blogs for catch ups...
Tyler (lead of Grease this year...also see previous blogs) won Bedford Idol and a $500 scholarship and went on to win the Monroe County Idol competition and a $1000 scholarship and also getting to record a single with Hunter Brucks...
EXCITING, FUN, BLESSED!

So some pretty cool things kept me going through a pretty rough week!

Well, I would like to say now, that this will probably be the longest post that I ever write here!!!! My goodness!!!! Hope you weren't too bored! Time for BED!!!!

Randoms...

N got a new bike for her birthday, and of course with that came the cool new helmet...she is getting pretty good at riding her bike. It is so much fun to watch her grow...ahhhh.


This is just a random of M today. All of her faces, and all of her talkative-ness (is that a word?!?!?) have made all of us laugh right out loud lately. She is a little doll, with a little bit of Diva!



Two fun sessions tomorrow! Can't WAIT! Looks as though it is supposed to be nice outside...perhaps we can even get some outside shots!!!! Wouldn't that be a change of pace from the gloominess we have had today. Can't complain though, yesterday was beautiful (a little chilly) and we were able to play outside!

Sneak peeks of sessions to come this weekend...or early next week!