Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

A new home

2011-01-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

I will be doing all of my personal blogging combined with my work blog from now on. I would love for you to join me. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! BLOG

State Fair

2010-10-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

A brief lull in the work madness to share with you some of our pictures from our annual trip to the Texas State Fair. This year we went on my 31st birthday and we had an awesome time. It was not crowded at all and the weather was magnificent. I had an awesome birthday with my beautiful family. I am so tired, so I am just going to share a zillion unedited photos of our day. I documented the insane fried foods that we have here. You would die. I don't eat this stuff. I eat a Fletcher's Corny Dog and Texas Tater Twisters - which might be the two most delicious foods on earth, but I thought that those of you that don't live in Texas should really see this to believe it.

Annie was scared of most of the petting zoo animals and the rides, which is why she is in way less pictures. She was glued to me or Justin.

And now for the food........

I have no clue how, but I missed a picture of fried beer and fried frito chili pie. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Have an awesome weekend!!!!!

not even sure where to start......

2010-09-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

Hi. Is there anybody out there? This sad little blog still gets over 200 hits a day, so I hope someone will be here to say hello. I am just going to dive right in. It has been 2.5 months since my last post. Seriously? How has this happened? I am not going to make excuses for my lack of blogging other than it has simply been the last thing on my mind lately. Between 2 very busy little girls and their schedules and my work, something had to give, and it has been blogging/following blogs. You would not believe the amount of time I spent in the past doing both. I think that I am going to have to come up with some sort of project again for 2011 because this is just ridiculous. Busy with life and work is fine, but I don't want to not have a journal of the girls' lives someday.

Let's see. Just a few minor things have happened lately that are probably blog worthy. :) Lucy turned 4. FOUR!!!!! I can't even deal with that so I just glossed right on over that one. Annie started her mother's day out program and is loving it. That child is my little social butterfly and she is digging big girl "school." Annie keeps us on our toes all of the time. She loves to stir up trouble, and we find most of her antics quite amusing. However, she is a handful! Lucy switched to her new Montessori school and I could not possibly be any happier with how much she adores it. It is a perfect fit for her. We celebrated the 2 year anniversary of Annie's referral and the 4 year anniversary of Lucy's referral is Saturday. Thank God for those days that we got to see our beautiful girls' faces for the first time. I still remember them so clearly. We have gone back to Annie's private OT for therapy because she just wasn't getting what she needed from the state program. It is nice to be back with our beloved therapist and Annie is doing great! She still isn't talking much, but we are working on it. It is the best feeling ever to watch her when she is able to master something new. She is my lovey. If she could glue herself to me, she would. Lucy is a big girl now. She just seems so mature, well mannered, well behaved, and just plain big. I tell her all of the time to stop growing please and she insists that it is little kids job to grow. I guess she is right, but it is hard to see them both getting big. Some of our very best friends moved far, far away and we are still sad about that.

Lots of little things have happened, but I think why I have avoided blogging all together is because it has just seemed like such an overwhelming task to try and catch up on the past 2 months. So I am not going to waste time stressing about that. I am going to just try and do better. But let me say that October is by far the most insane month that La La will have ever had, so don't expect much out of me then. When things settle down mid-November, maybe I can get back into some sort of routine.

Another thing, these pictures are straight out of the camera. I have enough editing to do with other pictures that I am just going to put these out there. I feel quite certain that the grandparents would vote for unedited over nothing any day. I feel kind of naked putting these up unedited. :) Also, my work blog is sooooooo much easier to post to and these pictures are all out of order, but I am not going to stress about it......

07.10.10

2010-07-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

I am sooooo far from being back into a good blogging routine, but this is way better than over a month between posts, right? Thanks for all of the love and support on my returning post. Here goes on our past week.

We had a really low key 4th of July weekend. Justin was gone all weekend. The girls and I went to our neighborhood parade on Saturday with two good neighbor friends and their daughters. It was really cute. Annie was quite shy at the parade. She stuck right on me. Lucy of course loved it because they were throwing candy, and we all know, that child loves sweets like nobody I have ever seen.

After the parade, I broke down and bought a double stroller. It is made by Combi and the girls are obsessed with it. Yes, we made it this long without a double stroller but I can't do it anymore. They fight over the one stroller we have now. They both used to want to walk, but now they both want to ride, so I had to get one. I am glad I did and really wish I would have done it sooner.

On the actual 4th we went to church and came home and made a FABULOUS flag cake. The cake and icing were homemade and it really was so cute. This is totally ridiculous, but I only have a picture of it on my iPhone. I think my neighbor has a real picture of it, so I will have her email me. ****Edited to add cake picture that Jackie sent me.

But the big news of the past week is that we moved the girls into the same room! Our house has been on the market FOREVER. But we are taking it off the market and going to rearrange a little around here so that I can have an office, which I have needed for 1.5 years. Lucy's room is a giant room. There is loads of room in it for Annie's crib, Lucy's bed, all of their clothes, and all of their toys. So on Monday, we started the process and by Tuesday, Annie's crib was in there.

The girls LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being in the same room. And it is quite hilarious at bedtime. The first night Justin was home alone with the girls because I had my monthly mom's night out with playgroup moms. I kept getting texts from him about how the girls were shrieking, laughing, and screaming in delight of being in the same room. He just let them alone, which is exactly what I would have done because we knew it would take some time for the novelty to wear off. 1.5 hours later and they were still at it. Justin said he got in the shower and when he got out, Annie was kind of fussing. So he went down there to see what was going on. He walked in to find her crib FILLED with toys, blankets and pillows that Lucy had thrown in there - Annie couldn't even lay down. And the funniest part, Lucy had crawled into her own bed and gone to sleep leaving Annie to try and figure out what to do with all of that stuff. Cracks me up.

The second night, we eventually found Lucy IN the crib with Annie because we told her she was not allowed to put stuff in the crib. Obviously stuff did not include herself! Each night the craziness last for a shorter period of time. So they are getting used to it.

My biggest worry was nap time because both girls REALLY need a nap. Lucy has insisted on sleeping in there, so I take Annie up first and let her fall asleep and then take Lucy in. She knows she has to be totally quiet and she has been doing that, so that has been great. We are just really, really happy that they like it. And I cannot tell you what having a desk and office set up has done for my productivity. It is insane, which is great because I have been working nonstop all week processing orders. I have held several sessions rescheduled because of the crazy amount of rain we have been getting. I am supposed to have a couple this upcoming week, so we'll see if that happens.

Here are my pictures from the parade and making the cake. Have a great rest of your weekend.

Where she stayed for the whole parade......at my feet.

Candy, candy, candy!!!!!!!

She eventually waved from a distance.

How Annie saw things.

That's my neighbor, Christy's, cute belly. She looks amazing with only a month to go!

Long time no chat

2010-07-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, after a 1.5 month personal blog hiatus, I am going to make an attempt at a comeback. I have missed you all. I have missed documenting the girls lives. But I am not going to lie, the break has been good for me. I find myself often stretched thin, and the thought of having to edit photos and write something that made sense seemed completely overwhelming to me. July is a good month for me to get back on track here. It is 100+ degrees and portrait season has slowed way down. Since I know in a few short months my crazy fall season will begin, I thought that I could focus on some personal stuff for July and August.

I know I tossed around mixing personal and my business blog. I am still not sure about all of that. It is 1000 times easier to post to my business blog than it is here. I know I could look into moving this blog to a wordpress one, but again, I am not looking to make more work. I have become quite selfish of my personal time, now haven't I? We'll see what I do about all of this. It is still up in the air.

SOOOOOOOOO much has happened since I last posted in the middle of May. Lucy finished her school. She got her hair cut into a super cool asymmetrical bob. Annie has turned into a full blown 2 year old. She is giving me a big run for my money, but she is funnier than ever. We spent 3 weeks in Arkansas with my family. We went to a family reunion. The list goes on and on. But I am not going to stress out about trying to relive the past 1.5 months. I am going to post a few of my favorite pictures and then try and pick back up. Okay? Okay.

I really have missed my blog friends. Please come back if you want. I am going to make an effort to not be gone for so long.

These first pictures are from today. Lucy got a floor length princess nightgown at a Disney store and she rarely takes it off. Seriously, she loves it so much. It is pretty cute.

The cutest trouble maker of all times. Really though, she is simply naughty.

From our family reunion. Lucy was in LOVE with all of the little girls this year. So cute.

John's dad, Adam, found these hilarious mustache's.

My cutie patootie nephews, John and Wyatt.

I love this photo of Wyatt and my dad.

Also a trouble maker. Wyatt and I get into lots of trouble together.

This face is SO Wyatt.

A New Plan

2010-05-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

I posted, but it is HERE. Thoughts?

05.10.10

2010-05-10T18:46:00.001-07:00

A lot has happened since I last posted! First, Justin had a birthday on Saturday. Happy Birthday Dada!! We all love you so much and we just adore being your girls. He even had the whole weekend off, which is not at all the norm for him so we took a quick family trip down to San Antonio. Nana and Grandy met us there, which was so lucky!

We got to do so much stuff. Friday night, Nana watched the girls and Justin and I got to go to the Spurs game. They were awful, but it was fun to get to a game. Justin is a huge Spurs fan, so he is sad they got bumped out of the tournament yesterday. Then we spent all day at Sea World on Saturday. The girls LOVED, and I do mean LOVED it. They were so so good despite all that was going on and no nap. Annie, who is never still for a moment of her life, would sit perfectly still and watch every show. She was just in awe of the whole experience. Lucy's favorite part was definitely feeding the dolphins. She keeps telling us, "Those dolphins sure did love me!" Then Saturday night Justin and I got to go out again while Andy and June kept the girls. What a huge treat for us to get to spend some qt together alone! We went to a concert and to a very yummy dinner and had a few drinks with some friends. It was just awesome.

Then Sunday was Mother's Day and we went to lunch before heading home. Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms, moms-to-be, and women hoping to be a mom soon! I have said time and time again that I have the best moms in my life ever. I am so thankful for my mom and June and all that they have done for us. You guys are the very best. I am also so thankful to be a mom to Lucy and Annie that I can't really put it into words. Being their mom is the greatest gift I could ask for.

I am so close to being 100% caught up with work. I have one more session to edit and then there are still orders waiting to come in, but it feels good to be at this point! I do have a couple of sessions this week, but overall I feel great about work stuff for the moment. June will get me all worked out again. It is nice to be a little slower until that point.

Enjoy the pics from Sea World. What a fun place!

05.05.10

2010-05-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hi. My name is Kelly and I have become a really, really bad blogger. The thing is, the longer I went without doing it, the more difficult is has become for me to get back into it. My mom has really, really had it with me. I am trying to get it together again. I really am.

So, in that effort, here is a little update on my Anners because I still haven't done a 2 year update for her. Bad momma. I still want more pics of her, but these are pretty stinking cute. Lucy would have NOTHING to do with this photo shoot, so no sister shots. :(

Stats: 22.1 lbs (25th%) 31 inches (10%)

Annie is on her own little development path and we are quite happy with all of the progress that she is making. She still struggles with her left side, but she is making progress. Her doctor and therapists are happy with the improvements that they have seen, so we are too! She sees an OT and speech therapist. Lucy calls them her "special doctors" and both girls really enjoy therapy time.

She still drools, drools, and drools some more. Her speech therapist is working with her on improving her oral strength and becoming more aware of what is happening with her mouth and the drool. I have to say, it will be a blessed day when the child decides that it is okay to swallow all of that drool. It is a huge mess!

She is starting to have a lot more words. She is a VERY vocal child, but it is still mostly just jibberish. We are all dying for her to start really talking because I can assure you, she is going to be very, very funny. She says hi to everyone. She can say, "I love you" which is by far my favorite words out of her mouth. She will now imitate most animals and attempt to say what we ask her to repeat. Lucy is our best translator. She can almost always tell us what Annie is trying to say.

She still takes a bottle. The low oral tone makes sippy cups/straws a HUGE mess for her. We love the bottle time with her, so I have no problem with her still taking one. She still feels like me baby most of the time, and I like that. A lot.

She is a big time momma's girl. She definitely clings to me in unfamiliar settings and when she is in her "shy" period around people. She is so funny because she is an extremely social child, but whenever she is around someone new, she pretends to be shy for about 10 minutes. During that time she keeps her head on my shoulder but keeps a close eye on the new person. After 10 minutes, she can't stand it any more and she has to make friends with the new person. She LOVES to be the center of attention. Cracks us up.

She is a lovey dovey, but she has a mean streak to her. When she has even the smallest fear that another child is coming to get her toy (even when they don't care a bit about what she has), she starts shrieking and swinging her arms. We are really working on this. She is a hitter. She is constantly smacking Lucy upside the head and it will be nice when that stops.

She is almost never grouchy. She is just a really happy little person. Sometimes she tries to pretend like she is mad at me, and she lowers her head and looks up at me with this funny attempt to look mean. However, she can't do it without a grin, which makes us all laugh, including her. Even if I have to wake her up from a nap, she opens her eyes, looks up, and immediately says, "Hi momma." Kills me every time.

She is a great napper and an unpredictable night time sleeper. She still wakes up most nights, but it is quick to get her back down. She does always sleep until at least 8, so that is very nice. She is addicted to her green blanket and this pillow that Aunt Cayce gave her for her birthday. She LOVES that pillow and has to have it on the floor each morning while she gets her diaper changed and drinks her milk. It is super cute.

It makes my mom mad when I say this, but she is a naughty child. If we ask her not to do something, she is going to do it repeatedly. The thing is, it is almost impossible to be mad at her. She is just so stinking cute and makes the cutest faces when she knows she is doing something she shouldn't be. We always just end up laughing which is probably creating a monster.

She may be small, but she is a little piglet. She can put the food down like no ones business. Her favorites are any kind of meat, yogurt, cheese, and pb&j. It is really nice to have a good eater.

We honestly love every thing about this child. She just makes life better. She has a happiness that is contagious and she is simply beautiful. God really blessed us when He chose us to be her family. We are so thankful that He did. I wish everyone could know her because she really does just make the world a much better place.

04.29.10

2010-04-29T19:19:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note to say we are fine. Lucy is still not herself, but she is much better. We have just been doing all that we can to enjoy life and do fun things. The weather has been amazing. Unfortunately for grandparents, I am totally uninspired to take pictures of my own kids right now. I really haven't done it in over a week. With that being said, we went to a huge flea market today and got some goodies for photo sessions that will be very cute. Also, I found an AMAZING location that I can't wait to take the girls to for Annie's 2 year portraits. Really, it took my breath away it is so pretty. Maybe I can get that done this weekend, but I am not sure the weather will be cooperating with us. Lee Lee has really had it with me not blogging. So sorry Lee Lee. I am trying to become inspired again. Really, I am!

04.21.10

2010-04-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

She is growing and changing, and it is really hard. But I do thank God every single day that I get to be a part of it.

First, you guys are amazing. Wow. I don't even know what to say. But thank you for your love and support. You all made my last few days wonderful. Seriously, thank you so much for all of the loving comments.

Today was a big deal. First the first time in a long time Lucy did not have a single meltdown. I cannot even begin to tell you all how huge this is. A few weeks ago, I would have told you that she almost never has a meltdown. But something is brewing in that little body of hers and tantrums have become the norm around here. They are not really tantrums. They have been full blown enormous emotional breakdowns. Over anything and everything that you can think of.

It all kind of came to a head the other night. It was Monday and she completely lost it at bed time. Lost it in a way I have never seen before. She was raging. She is not a raging kind of child. Her body was flailing and she really did not have control of herself. I had to step out of her room for a moment and gather myself. I stood there and begged God for guidance because I was at a complete loss of how to handle her.

I went back in, scooped her up off the floor, and held her as tight to my body as I could while rocking her. We did a "time in" where I forced her to be close to my body. Her little tiny body fought me for 25 minutes as hard as she possibly could. I am not kidding, my arms, back and shoulders hurt. I can only imagine what her body felt like. Once she stopped fighting me, she sobbed for 45 minutes before finally falling asleep.

It was an overwhelming experience for both of us. I have never had to do anything like this with her before. She has never needed it. But she is going through some security issues I think. And it was time that I made her realize that I am not going anywhere, no matter how she acts.

Since then, I have seen improvements. Yesterday was better and then today was a million times better. I think we are moving in the right direction. I pray we are moving in the right direction.

These pictures are from tonight and they are minimally edited in Lightroom. Beautiful evening light. We go outside most nights after dinner now and I stand there in awe of the beauty of the light every night. Love it.

We have had this sidewalk chalk for a long time and this was our first time to use it. It was so much fun!

Guess who thought it was hilarious to splatter paint with it? Both herself and the sidewalk.....

See? Could she possibly be a cuter mess?

She just figured out how to actually get off the ground.

Justin and I call her Chucky when she is smiling like this. There is an evil little giggle that comes along with this look.

04.18.10

2010-04-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

I need to get something clear here. This blog was started in an effort to keep friends and family up to date with what was going on with our adoption process for Lucy. Once I started, I loved everything about blogging, so I kept on blogging. Over the years, for whatever reason, a lot of people started reading about our family and looking at our pictures. Most of the time, I am perfectly fine with that. I still love blogging and the community that I have met through this blog. 99.9% of the time, the nicest people chime in on the comments and relate to a story I wrote about or comment on the pictures. I LOVE to hear from you all. Thank you for caring and checking in our family.

It has been a long, long time since I have gotten a rude or mean "anonymous" comment. However, Friday evening I got a very nasty comment, which I promptly deleted. The basic message of the comment was "to get over myself and stop complaining." They also said, and this is a direct quote, "actually we are lucky you have neglected your blog otherwise there is no telling what you would be complaining about." I was actually told on MY OWN blog to shut up. Seriously? I am sorry, are we clear here on what someone gets to say on a personal blog created for family and friends?

Then, a while after I deleted this comment, I got another anonymous comment thanking the first anonymous and that they completely agreed. And a few more nasty jabs just for good measure.

Now, I am obviously well aware of what exactly I have said on my most recent blog posts. Have they been fun, exciting, energetic, or especially positive? No, which is the exact reason that I took a week off from saying anything because I did not like it either. I love this blog. I love documenting our lives and sharing photos. But I also want it to be real. So what do I write about? Exactly what I am feeling when I sit down at my computer that evening. And if that is not all butterflies and roses, that is what I say.

And for the past few weeks, I have felt overwhelmed with a whole lot of things going on in our lives - so I have used this as a place to vent those feelings - because I like to have a place all of my own to say whatever I want. I have been stressed out about all kinds of things. Work has been a lot to deal with. Lucy is going through the hardest phase of her little life that we have ever been through and it is making Justin and me question all kinds of things about our parenting. And these are just the things that I choose to share on here. We obviously have all kinds of other hard things going on.

If you are bored with me or my blog, or tired of hearing me say that things have been stressful, PLEASE stop reading my PERSONAL blog. Trust me, I totally understand. I love having people that read, but I do NOT want people reading that do not want to be here. And by all means, please stop acting like anyone is making you come here. I just have one question, WHY are you still here? Why are you still reading if I make you that mad? I have NO desire to be some giant blogger with a zillion readers. Again, the purpose is to keep friends and family up to date with our lives and make a few friends along the way.

So, after I got the first comment, I was sitting around wasting energy about how it stung to have someone say such harsh words to me about what I choose to say on my blog. And then the second comment came and I turned off the anonymous commenter option and felt even more sad.

But then I had a couple of huge revelations and I let it all go. The first one was: What kind of a person is sitting around on a Friday night reading the comments and a blog that they supposedly hate and then feeling the need to leave extremely nasty comments? Must be a very miserable couple of people. With loads of time on their hands. I am sorry that you are so angry at me and probably the rest of the world. I have no intention of letting you make me feel badly for even one more second.

But a much more important thing that I thought about was how you made me feel. And I want to thank my hateful anonymous commenters because you reminded me how our words can really, really hurt others. And when I get stressed out and exhausted, I can be really snappy and mean with the people that I love the very most. You showed me how hurtful my snappy comments can be to them. So now I can be more aware and try much harder to not say unnecessarily mean things to people. Because really, what good does it do. It sure doesn't make me feel better and I know it hurts the people it is directed at. Do you feel better after attacking me? I almost hope you do.

And one final thing. Sure, I don't know your name because you are all sneaky and anonymous, but I get a lot of information when you leave a comment on my blog. And I see when you come back to see what happens after you leave your nasty comment. The internet is amazing like that. I assure you, you are not invisible. Not on Friday, and not right now.

So, there it is. I feel better getting all of that off of my chest. I will try and not be as negative on here. But if I need a place to vent, this is my space. You are obviously welcome to come and go as you please, so feel free to go if you don't like it. But to those of you that stay and play nicely, I am glad that you are here. Thanks for all of the support that you have given me. And Lee Lee, you are going to have to figure out how to comment now that the yucky anonymous people ruined that. And you too, Justin.

Total change of topic, but I took Lucy to the American Girl store and cafe the other day for a special one on one date. She LOVED it. She kept saying over and over how fancy everything was and how much she loved it all. We picked out a new outfit for Ivy - raincoat, boots and a hat. It was soooooooo nice to see her so happy. She really is going through some very big emotional stuff. It has been heartbreaking to watch because she hasn't been able to tell us what is going on. I am sure she is going through a big developmental growth, but it has never been like this before. It is like she is totally overwhelmed the majority of the day and it results in her completely melting down in a way we have never seen before. I have just been praying for guidance with how to deal with it all.

These pictures are straight out of the camera. This is the only time all week I picked up my camera for personal pics. But they are so cute.

Longing for the dessert that the little girl next to us had.

Her reaction when she got that dessert.

She ate every single bite.

04.12.10

2010-04-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

I am drowning in work and dealing with the girls, so the blog has officially been neglected. I simply don't have the extra time in the day to devote to this blog. Things will slow down again, but not for a while. I have been so busy editing, doing new sessions, booking sessions, and processing orders. I am having a really hard time staying on top of things.

And Lucy is going through some sort of yucky phase. It is really hard. She is battling allergies, transitioning out of her nap, and dealing with both Justin and me working a lot. It has taken a toll on her. I feel really bad for her, but am also maxed out on my frustration level. I have made a huge effort to be extra patient with her because so much is going on, but I have just about had enough with the fits and whining. She is having meltdowns quite frequently, which is just not her at all. Hard on all of us.

Annie's birthday party was this past weekend and it was wonderful! Annie loved every second of being the center of attention. And she blew out her candle on her very first try. We were all quite impressed with that. I hardly took any pictures because I made a big effort to enjoy the time with my kids and friends and not let the camera be my focus. It was nice.

For all of you that have kids ages 7 and older that have any sort of interest in taking pictures, you should 100% sign them up for Jessica's 503 Kids Workshop this summer. You will not find anything else like this out there for your kids that have a love of photography or cameras. What a cool way to encourage their interest and get them doing something creative! There are different classes for different age kids starting with 7 year olds going through high school kids. Jessica is a truly amazing photographer and teacher, so I can assure you that your kids would benefit from this and have fun while doing it. AND, if you are interested, you can enter a contest at The Savvy Photographer to win a spot for you child. So, go enter or sign your kids up asap. They will fill up, so don't wait!

04.08.10

2010-04-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

The girls and I went location scouting this evening and found exactly what I was looking for. I was hoping to get some good shots of Annie for her 2 year portraits, but of course, she was having none of that. I don't know why I always have these brilliant ideas when I am on my own with the girls. Lucy, however, was very willing and I am so thankful she was. I have several people that this is going to work beautifully for. The light is spectacular if you can wait until late enough in the day.

Do you see that precious snail clip that Lucy has in her hair? Well, the AMAZING April of Pink Peanut Designs made it. Quite a while back, she sent me this HUGE box of goodies for the girls. Seriously, there was so much in the box I just about fell over when I opened it. Tons of clips, hats, flowers, etc. She has an Etsy store and you should check her out. Her products are adorable and top notch. I keep telling her I will do a full photo shoot of the girls in the goodies she sent me, but I keep not getting it done, even though we use the hair accessories all of the time. I especially love THESE. Go and check her out. You will love her. She is the best.

We are dealing with some sleep issues with Lucy. She is in the process of giving up her nap, but she is absolutely exhausted. It is very frustrating for all of us.

I am working, working, working. No time to chat. I have a crazy, crazy weekend. My mom is getting here tomorrow. I have a session tomorrow afternoon. Another one Saturday morning, a sip and see for a friend, and then my high school seniors that afternoon. Andy and June get here Saturday morning. Then Annie's birthday party is Sunday. The good news is, I have lots of help with the girls! I think my spring sessions are even more crazy than Christmas season. That is great for us, but my goodness, I am tired.

Annie's overall attitude if I wasn't holding her.

Those lips......

And my two favorites.

04.05.10

2010-04-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

It is water hose time at our house and the girls are beyond excited about that. Lucy, being the bossy older child that she is, gets to control the hose. But that is perfectly fine with Annie, who LOVES to be sprayed and then run from the water. They did this over and over and over this evening. That is until Annie started freaking out. Justin and I figured she had gotten cold and that she was mad at how heavy her diaper had gotten because she was pulling on it. So I ran in and grabbed a towel because she was really crying. I took off her diaper, wrapped her up, and sat in the sun with her. She calmed right down but would not get out of my arms again.

Well, the poor baby had gotten into an ant hill and she has sooooo many ant bites on her feet and where her diaper hit her legs. We felt awful. Ant bites are so miserable and they looked horrible. We ended up giving her some benadryl because they looked so bad. They have gone way way down and she is fine, but I know they are going to be so itchy. Could be a long night with those bites driving her nuts.

I have had my nose GLUED to my computer all day long. I have gotten 2 sessions edited and weeded down another one. I have so much editing to do it really isn't even funny. I have a 2 session/day minimum goal for myself until I get caught up. That takes most of a day to get 2 sessions edited, but while I have Justin home, I have to get this stuff done. I have another baby session on Saturday and then my BIG first ever high school senior session on Saturday afternoon. It is for 3 girls and I am super excited about where this could take my business. I am also a little nervous about it because I want it to go really, really well. The girls are beautiful and one of them is a client of mine that I know is great in front of the camera. I am very excited to break into that market.

Back to work for me. I am loving these pictures from today.

Yes, we are those parents that let their kids play naked in the front yard.

Annie is soooooooooo beautiful. Her little features and skin are just amazing.

04.04.10

2010-04-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Happy Easter to all. What an amazing day to know that Christ has risen! I just love Easter and everything that comes along with it.

First, I know how awful of a blogger I have been. On this blog. All of my posts are HERE. Whoosh. That was one crazy week. I feel like I have been run over by a truck. Seriously. On top of working what felt like non-stop, I slept awful while we were in Little Rock. Being in a room right next to Annie, I could hear every peep out of her, and once I was up, I was just kind of up because my mind would start racing about the upcoming sessions and I could never get back to sleep. Annie slept especially bad last night and then we had the drive home this afternoon, so I can't even post the pics of the girls first thing this morning hunting eggs. Don't have it in me. My brain hurts from looking at so many pictures the past week.

We are happy to be back at home and want to again thank Lee Lee and Papa for all that they did for us this past week. Let's just say they were on babysitting duty pretty much nonstop while I had all of those sessions.

More tomorrow, but again, Happy Easter!

04.01.10

2010-04-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

Happy 2nd birthday to our beautiful, wild, messy, curious, HILARIOUS, and perfect little Annie!! She had a really fun day with family today. We had cake by 10:30 am. Lucy, Lee Lee, and I made her a very special butterfly cake yesterday. It took everything in Lucy to not eat any yesterday after she so beautifully decorated it. We opened presents and spent most of the day outside. My mom made a roast for dinner, which is a favorite of Annie's. It really was a great day for her. We will have her little party next weekend. I will do a full update on her when I get her 2 year pictures done. Just know for now, that she is such an amazing little person. So thankful that she is our daughter.

If you want to see some more really, really cute babies, check out the La La Blog. I have been very, very busy. The weather at my parent's is perfect and the cute babies keep on coming!

Showing off a new dress from Aunt Holly!

Look at how hard this is for Lucy in the background.

03.30.10

2010-03-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note.I have a session sneak peek to work on that happened tonight. It was so awesome! I can't wait to work on the images. Be sure and go to the La La blog. I had two great sessions today and the one from this morning is already posted. Some of the cutest baby girls ever since I have been in Arkansas.

Some of my favorites from my time so far in Arkansas.

From tonight's session. Possibly the most gorgeous light I have ever shot in. I edited one quick one to put on here. This is what I am working on for tonights La La Blog.

03.29.10

2010-03-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

We have had a whirlwind past few days. The girls and I came to my parents on Friday. They are beyond thrilled to be here. Lucy has been talking about this for weeks. The girls fight over Lee Lee and Papa's attention. Sweet babies. Sweet grandparents.

I spent Saturday visiting friends and doing a session in Fayetteville. I had the best time with my girl friends. It was such a blessing to catch up with them! I wish I got to see all of my girls more often. We truly have the best time together.

When I got home, we decided to go ahead and dye some Easter eggs. Lucy has been eyeing the dye kits and there was no more holding her off. Annie stood at the kitchen sink and played in pots and pans of water for an hour. She was so happy and content with her water. Lucy and I did all of the decorating. We are now working on eating the eggs.

The weather is supposed to be amazing all week, which is really good for me since I have so many sessions in the next 5 days. We took the girls to Wye Mountain, which has a HUGE daffodil patch. I mean, really huge. Lucy and Annie just ran and ran and ran. You can even pick the daffodils - $1/dozen. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me. Lucy picked quite a few and we now have two vases of flowers. Love it.

I am off to get things ready for my busy morning. I have two DARLING baby girls tomorrow morning. Yippee!

See what I mean? It is a lot of daffodils!

03.25.10

2010-03-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

I have an absurd amount of stuff to get done tonight, so I have to keep this very short. First, thank you so much to all of you who left such sweet comments about my pictures yesterday. I really appreciate it. The thing is, most days I just feel run down and gross. You know? Even when I try to look nice, within minutes I am covered in drool and food from Annie. She is just the messiest kid I have ever met. So, most days I don't feel like it is worth the effort, and that leads to losing self confidence. Quickly. So it feels good to see a picture and feel good about it. To feel pretty makes anyone feel better, and having good pictures of yourself helps. So, get our your camera, and make someone take a few pictures of you. And feel good about yourself while it is happening. Allow yourself to feel beautiful. Because everyone is beautiful and we all deserve to feel that way.

For those of you that asked about the purple top/skirt outfit - it is from Forever 21. Funny, huh? It looks all fancy and any time I have worn it, people have always complimented me on it, but the whole thing cost about $30. Gotta love that. That store it totally overwhelming to me, but worth the effort sometimes. Bad news, I got it last year.

The picture is from my session this morning with the beautiful O boys. That is 6 day old Peter, who is a truly beautiful newborn. Perfect in every way. The weather was not our friend today. It was dark overcast and we really could have used some sunlight. I am going back in the morning for a few more since the weather is supposed to be beautiful. And here is two more. This is "big" brother Samuel. It is sweet to me that he is a big brother because he still seems like such a baby himself. I can't even begin to explain how much I love their little button noses. All three boys have it and thank heavens that they do.

I couldn't leave out Milam. I just have to say, their momma is going to be beating the girls off with a stick. Really, are they not darling?

03.24.10

2010-03-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

I took no pictures today, but I wanted to post a few pictures that Jessica took of me in Las Vegas. She, and several other photographers, have told me that it is not okay to be scared of being in front of the camera. It makes sense - how can I make someone feel comfortable on the other side of my camera if I can't even do that myself? So, after lots of complaining, I really tried to relax while she was literally inches away from my face with her camera. To me, she is a miracle worker. I actually really like several of the pictures that she took.

After all of this happened, Jasmine Star posted this blog post. And I thought to myself, wow, it really is okay to feel beautiful when you are in front of the camera. I felt empowered by her words and I am going to start making a conscious effort to have more pictures taken of myself, especially with my family. Thanks Jessica, for the beautiful pictures, and thanks Jasmine, for the inspiring words.

03.23.10

2010-03-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

So I am obviously in a blog rut. I just don't even want to think about posting. I don't really have much of anything to say, and I have kind of been avoiding my camera. I have a really, really insane next 2 weeks with spring sessions. I am excited about getting back into the swing of things, but I also know that I have a whole lotta pictures to take and edit in the next few weeks, so I have just enjoyed being away from it all for now. The good news is, starting on Thursday, the La La blog will be rocking. 12 sessions in 10 days. And Thursday will be extra special - a newborn (6 days old), an 18 month old, and a barely 3 year old. Some of our dear friends just had their third son and I really am so excited for that session! It will be challenging since all of the babies are so close in age, but I have high hopes of very amazing pictures.

Annie's 2nd birthday is just a little over a week away. Justin won't be with us for it, so we had cupcakes with him today. She is going to be celebrating her birthday for quite some time. Today, the real day, and her party day. Lucky girl. Lucy and I surprised her with the cupcakes when she woke up from her nap. She was quite pleased when we showed her.

I still haven't had sweets since I gave it up for Lent. It took everything in me today to not have a cupcake. I almost caved, but I held strong. I might have to throw the rest away.

03.21.10

2010-03-21T20:05:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note to say all is well here. The girls and I made a quick trip down to Austin for a few days and we are all home now. It was an exhausting but fun few days. I am not spending time on here because Justin and I have barely seen one another for the past several weeks and I want to enjoy a few quiet hours with him. Good night!

03.17.10

2010-03-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patty's Day! I hope you all had a very lucky day. We had a great day. Beautiful weather and lots of fun with friends. We had playgroup this morning and then came home for naps. Lucy napped today after not napping the previous three days. Yay for naps. After the girls were up, we walked to the park with our neighbors. It was a perfect day to spend outside and we took full advantage.

I am feeling a little brain dead. I did just get our taxes submitted. I feel very happy to not have that weight on my shoulders any longer. Let's just hope that we don't owe any money. I hate taxes. I have started a new organization process for this year and a friend with a husband that works with mine totally saved me. With her help, I am vowing to have a better organized 2010 so that taxes don't stress me out next year.

03.16.10

2010-03-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

I am just posting a quick post tonight to let Lee Lee see how cute the girls look in their St. Patrick's Day jammies. We are ready to go in the morning with our green on.

I absolutely have to get all of our tax info ready and to our CPA tomorrow. In case I haven't made it clear before, I hate tax time. Every single year I vow to simplify this and be more organized throughout the year and every single year I don't do it. The good news is, all of my business stuff is done. It is Justin's stuff that has to be done. He got all of the receipts ready for me, but now I have to get it all added up and organized and to the accountant. Barf.

See ya tomorrow.

03.15.10

2010-03-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

The girls have been sleeping in the past two mornings because of the time change, which is very fortunate for me because I have not been sleeping well. We had a very low key day. I started tackling our house, which was just getting gross. I did a million loads of laundry and started the cleaning process, but I still have a ways to go until I am happy. It always amazes me how quickly the house gets out of control when I don't stay right on top of everything. It is making me tired just thinking about it!

The girls are in love with having picnics in our front yard while the weather is so nice. So tonight we made dinner, laid a blanket in the yard, and ate out there. It really is so nice to not have a dirty kitchen after dinner and they love. So do I. You can see just how happy they were about it in their pictures.

Lucy is going through a rough patch right now. She does not want to listen to a word I say and she seriously disagrees with everything that comes out of my mouth. She is constantly asking me for things that she knows she can't have and then whining incessantly about my answer. It is very frustrating for both of us. Every night we talk about how she is going to really try harder to listen to me and how I am going to really try harder to be patient. Today she just looked at me said, "Momma, I am really having a hard time listening right now, aren't I?" Um, yeah. You are.

Also, the time change has made naps for her very screwed up. She has skipped nap the past 2 days. One day is fine, but two days in a row is a recipe for disaster. She was totally falling apart by bath time. She was dead asleep by 7:05. Hopefully she can catch up a little tonight. Let's all hope!

03.14.10

2010-03-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have to get to work editing tonight, so just a quick post. We had another perfect weather day. The girls and I got up and went to church, Annie took a quick nap, and then we headed over to our friend, Ava's, 3rd birthday party. They could not have asked for a more perfect day for an outside party.

Losing an hour of sleep is always hard, but the payoff is soooooo worth it. That extra hour of the most beautiful light of the day is well worth it. I love it when we can go back out to play after dinner and be surrounded by golden, warm light. Love. Love. Love.

Later tonight I will have some of the photos from the session I had with Cory Morrow, who is a Texas country musician, on the La La Blog. The shoot went really well and everyone has been really happy with the result, so I am REALLY excited about that. I have to finish up editing them, but they will be there soon.

03.13.10

2010-03-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

The most adorable profile ever.

It was a wild day around here. Today was the annual St. Patrick's Day party thrown by our neighborhood. This event is HUGE. The streets shut down and just about every other house is having a huge party in their front yard. Then on the big street, the bars and restaurants sell food and alcohol that people are actually allowed to walk around in public with. This is the one day of the year here where there is no open container law about alcohol. I am sure you can imagine how out of control this all gets. Let me just tell you, it is really out of control. Two of the houses on my street have such big parties that they have hired security and port-o-potties delivered. Insane amounts of people are everywhere.

This year I told our playgroup friends that they were welcome to come and play and witness the madness if they wanted to. Several came over and the kids had lots of fun and we didn't feel like we were totally out of the fun just because we had wee ones running around. The weather is AMAZING!

By this time, the parties have wound down and most people have gone home. Thank heavens because by about 3 pm, it is not a pretty sight to see people who have been drinking since 9 am. I actually had to get out around 5 pm to return some movies and I was not comfortable being on the road with all of the crazies. Most people aren't driving - there were really only cabs out for the most part. But I was scared I was going to run over a drunk person who accidentally stumbled into the road.

I am always glad when this day is over. We did have a lot of fun with our friends though and got to enjoy some truly beautiful weather. I got the girls down, put clean fresh sheets on the bed, took a shower, and look forward to relaxing for a while.

03.12.10

2010-03-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

The weather has been so perfect since I got home. Well, it was really windy this morning and early afternoon, but it settled down for our tradition of after nap popsicles. We have been playing in the front yard a lot lately because it is fenced in and the girls and still be in on the action, but safe from the street. Our neighbors across the street usually come over and play, so it is a nice thing for us to do each afternoon.

We have a lot going on tonight, so I will write more tomorrow. Have a great weekend.

Our Matilda Jane's arrived!! Yipppppeeee!!

03.11.10

2010-03-11T18:23:00.001-08:00

Wow. It has been a long time since I have posted. Feels strange. I missed you guys, did you miss me?

WPPI in Vegas was such a fabulous experience. I feel like I learned so much invaluable knowledge from some of the very, very best photographers in the business. It was the coolest thing ever to meet someone like Jasmine Star. The opportunity to spend 2 hours and 45 minutes with Jesh de Rox is something that I will never, ever forget. I left his session feeling like a different person. I wanted to dive right in and start making changes in the way that I do things. He captivated the audience the entire time and had everyone (including lots of men) crying as he openly shared his knowledge and experience with us all. It was so refreshing that a photographer like him is dying to share what he knows. He doesn't feel the need to hoard his information. Instead he is on a mission to inspire. Amazing. He made the entire trip worth it.

I stayed with two girls that I met at the Amy Wenzel workshop. We had an absolute blast. Amber had this great idea that we could take pictures of one another to update the personal sections of our websites. Um yeah, that was NOT a good idea to me. You all know that I live behind the camera, but when you turn that bad boy around on me, I start sweating and quite literally freaking out. Freaking. Out. The weather was awful most of the time we were there, so I thought I had dodged this huge bullet. Again, this wasn't my idea. I begged and pleaded to not have to take a turn, but Jessica put her foot down and said, "Shut up and get on the balcony." I don't think she realized that I really, really meant it when I told her that I freak out when the camera is in my face. She quickly learned though and told me to please stop making mean and scary faces in the pictures. She assures me that there are some good ones, but I will be the judge of that when I see the images. I would really like to not be a freak for pictures, but I just get so terribly uncomfortable.

Speaking of the girls I was at WPPI with, Jessica does these amazing online workshops for people trying to learn how to really use their dSLR cameras. She is awesome and the workshops are awesome, so if this sounds like something you would be interested in, sign up for her newsletter. The next workshop is already sold out and they sell out very, very quickly when she opens one, so make sure and sign up for the newsletter so you know right when it is that a workshop opens. I can promise you that she will make you a better photographer in a few weeks through her online workshop.

I want to give Justin HUGE props for doing such an awesome job with the girls and the house while I was gone. The girls did really well except for one meltdown on Annie's part after we video chatted on the computer. The house was clean. I really am so proud of Justin and the girls. Thank you also to Nana and Grandy for helping on Sunday and Monday. I know the girls and Justin loved having you guys here for those days.

The girls and Justin picked me up from the airport last night. I didn't land until about 9 pm, so everyone was very tired, but they were so sweet. One of the first things Lucy said was, "I can't wait until we get home so I can give you a huge hug!" Killed me. By the time we got home, it was 10 and the girls were beyond exhausted. I knew they were both going to be very needy of me, and I was ready. I rocked them both together. I got Lucy down and then had to rock Annie for a while. I was so happy to just sit and stare at them both. After about an hour, Annie was awake and very upset. I brought her in our bed and she actually went to sleep on me. She NEVER goes to sleep in our room when we take her out of her room, but she just needed to know I was there. Then around 1:30 am Lucy woke up and we moved the very asleep Annie back into her crib.

They have fought to be attached to me all day. I know me being away from them was hard on them, especially Annie. I will just have to keep reassuring her that I am back. Other than being way over tired today, they really did pretty well considering.

I have more to say, but that is enough for tonight. I promise to get back on track with blogging.

Meet Jessica, photographer/teacher extraordinaire of Cincinnati's 503 Photography. I didn't take pictures of Amber. Jessica got roped in to doing both of our photos.

03.05.10

2010-03-05T18:46:00.000-08:00

So Lucy does not seem to be sick other than this very nagging dry cough that makes it hard for her to get restful sleep. I gave her some cough medicine tonight before bed, and it seems to be doing the trick. The coughing woke Lucy up at 5:45 am and she stayed awake for the day, which meant that I stayed awake for the day because she was in my bed coughing her little head off and flopping all over the place. I am just a tad tired. I have said many times that I am NOT a morning person, so this is really not my best. Hopefully that won't happen again tomorrow.

We are super excited around here because Nana and Grandy are on their way to our house right now! The girls are quite excited about this and I have had to keep explaining to Lucy that she won't actually see them until she wakes up in the morning. I am heading to Vegas on Sunday for WPPI, which is a huge photography conference and trade show. I can't wait!! I hope to learn so, so much. Justin gets home on Sunday and Nana and Grandy are going home on Monday. Justin will have the girls all on his own for 2.5 days. Should be interesting, but I know he will have everything more than under control.

My big photo session with the musician is tomorrow. Say a little prayer that it goes well and the sun is out. I hope to be able to share some of the images on the blog, but I will have to get permission on that. I am giving Justin huge props on this shoot because he came up with some awesome ideas for locations. One in particular required some permission and cooperation from others, and everything fell right into place. Justin's mind really is so creative and brilliant. I am going to start making him give me more input on every session because the things that he can come up with are VERY unique and cool. Love his artistic brain and talent. I am lucky to have such a creative mind always on my team!

I need some sleep so I can be awake for tomorrow.

03.04.10

2010-03-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

It was a BEAUTIFUL day here today. We spent most of the day outside. I really love days like this. It was about 70 degrees, sun shining, perfection. Makes me and my babies feel better. I am a little worried that Lucy is coming down with something. She has been coughing a whole lot this evening. We have had enough sickness in this house!! Annie and I still have quite a bit of congestion, but we are doing fine.

I really have a few things that I want to write about on here, but I am still so tired and not really up to it. At least I have cute pics of the girls climbing in our little trees. In case you were wondering, Lucy is about 2 feet off the ground here. I was laying in the grass taking these.

03.03.10

2010-03-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say I am feeling much, much better. Thanks for all of the get well wishes. They were greatly appreciated. My mom makes everything better. She did 100 loads of laundry when she was here, kept the girls smiling the whole time, and just made me feel better. She is gone now and I was very sad to see her go. We all were. I have not felt much inspiration to pick up my camera the past few days, but hopefully tomorrow I will get back on track. I am off to watch American Idol. So glad that Crystal is back because I really like her. Night night porch light.

02.28.10

2010-02-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

From yesterday, they LOVE to have the windows down. Annie waves at everyone and every animal she sees.

From today. What big sister does, little sister must try and imitate.

My get well soon "flowers" from Lucy. Such a sweet girl.

I am sick. Really sick. So sick that I broke down crying on the phone with my mom today and she called back a few minutes later to say that she had booked a ticket and would be here tonight. For the millionth time, I have the best mom. Ever. She is amazing. I haven't been really sick in years and years. This is by far the sickest I have been since a while before we had kids. I have never been home alone with the girls and felt like this. I started feeling kind of yucky a few days ago. Yesterday morning I was still doing okay. I knew I was far from 100%, but I was fine to be up and doing stuff. I even took the girls to a birthday party yesterday morning. But as the day went on, I got worse and worse. I went to bed early last night and woke up feeling like I had been run over.

The weather has been gorgeous here the past few days. I took the girls outside this morning and they played for hours while I sat in a heap on the front porch. I made them a little picnic and they ate outside, which they really did think was the greatest thing ever. And I had no mess to clean up. They took great naps and I seriously have thanked God about 200 times today for how good my two girls have been. Lucy has been nothing short of amazing. She could just tell how miserable I was and she stepped right up, like a little adult. She entertained Annie, she was so kind and caring, she cleaned up, and listened to every single thing that I asked of her. I am unbelievably proud of that child. Annie was great, too! So thankful for this because I could barely move today.

I am off to lay in bed until Lee Lee gets here. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to see her.

02.26.10

2010-02-26T18:31:00.003-08:00

All of my ebay auctions for the girls clothes end this weekend. There are still lots of CUTE things for cheap prices. Check them out HERE!! Happy bidding.

We had a much better day today. Annie and I are both fighting off a nasty head cold, but the overall attitude of everyone improved dramatically today. Thank heavens.

Lucy had a serious case of the giggles in the bath tonight. She was hilarious and had us all cracking up. I am about to take some cold medicine and pray for a good nights sleep. Annie has been having a horrible time at night because she is having a hard time breathing. Poor baby. This morning when Lucy came in my room, I said something along the lines of being in disbelief that it was morning. I felt like I had never been to sleep. She told me how great she did last night and how she stayed nice and quiet in her bed all night long. She was right! Thanks baby girl.

Have a great weekend. Night night.

Annie eats the bubbles, in case you were wondering.

02.26.10

2010-02-26T18:31:00.001-08:00

HERE

02.25.10

2010-02-25T18:57:00.001-08:00

Whenever Justin's schedule gets going, the girls get out of whack. Wow. Did that ever happen today. We did not have our best day. To top it off, Annie's nose is totally congested and she is not feeling her best. Lucy has literally disagreed with every single word out of my mouth. So frustrating.

Big glass of wine is in order for me tonight. I will say, my day dramatically improved when my best girlfriends from college kept me quite entertained tonight with an ongoing dialogue of hilarious emails. I get to play with a bunch of them for one night in about a month and it should be a whole lot of fun!

Our friends came over to play this morning and thank heavens that they did. It broke up our crazy morning and broke the pattern of our rotten day for at least a while. Thanks Katy, Ava, and Madeline. You save me for a few hours. Lucy and Ava played dress up and they were being so funny chasing one another around the house in their pettiskirts. Such cuties.

02.24.10

2010-02-24T18:27:00.001-08:00

We love you sweet Dada!

I forgot to write this on Monday, but I don't want to forget it. When I was carrying Lucy in to school on Monday, she squeezed my neck and says, "Momma, you are the very best momma in the world." I squeezed her back, fought back some tears, and told her that she and Annie were the best daughters in the world. This came out of nowhere. It is so great to hear your baby say things like this, especially when you have days like today when she and I just butted heads most of the day. Love my girls.

After I dropped off Lucy this morning, I met up with a dear photographer friend and chatted all things camera. Love that. Justin got to spend some qt with Annie. We let Lucy skip nap to spend some extra time with Dada. Lets just say she was tired by the end of the day. We had a showing on our house tonight from 6-7, so we played with our neighbors during that. I got the girls bathed and right to bed when we got home. I am going to enjoy some quiet time now that all babes are to bed. Can't wait to catch up on American Idol.

I have a really cool photo session coming up next weekend with a musician that I am so excited about. It is going to be something totally different and new for me. I think some awesome things could come of it if it turns out the way I am hoping. The point of the session is his new album artwork and his promo stuff - like the posters posted at venues advertising that he is coming. I am off to start doing some research of things that I like when it comes to a session like this. Justin is going to be so helpful in my inspiration for this session. How cool would it be to get to photograph musicians?!?! Pretty freaking awesome if you ask me. It make me nervous, which is actually really exciting to me to be totally challenged to step outside of my comfort zone and challenge myself. Fun stuff.

02.23.10

2010-02-23T18:13:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of pictures from today. I am so sick of being on the computer. I have listed 72 items on Ebay the past few days. Seriously people. That is a lot of things. I really hope that some of you win a whole bunch of the items so that I can ship batches of stuff together!!!!! Go and find something really cute for really cheap right HERE!! You know you want this stuff. My ridiculous shopping habits for the girls are your lucky treasures! Happy bidding!!

I am done with the computer for the night. Peace out.

02.22.10

2010-02-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry for no post yesterday. I tried to get it done earlier in the day, but ran out of time. First of all, yesterday was my dad, Papa's, birthday. So a big huge birthday shout out to Papa. Wish we could have celebrated with you. Lucy made you a few of her famous pretend birthday cakes yesterday, so we did celebrate. You really are such a super duper dad and I am so thankful that you are my Dad!! We all love you so much.

We went to dinner with our neighbors last night because tomorrow is Steve's birthday. We had a lot of fun, but I was way too tired to post last night when I got in. The pictures outside are from yesterday.

I know you guys think that I am crazy for letting Annie have that paci in the pictures from today, but just look at how happy she is about it. Lucy actually gave her that this afternoon when she found it in the cabinet. I let her play with one last week that I found in the bathroom. She was really happy about it. She wasn't really sucking on them, but kind of playing with them. She did get annoyed with it today and threw it down, so I am not worried that we are going to make her really want a paci.

I have been working on a HUGE project all day today. I have started the process of listing the girls' clothes on Ebay that we don't need anymore. Things that they have outgrown are getting out of here. I have gotten 35 things listed so far, and I have stacks of stuff still left to list. I am going to be working on it tonight and some tomorrow. It is so much work, but if I want to get the most out of it, I think Ebay is the way to go. For those of you that love the girls' clothes, here is your chance to get your hands on it!! You can view what I have listed so far HERE. My seller id is klf0929 if that makes it easier to see what I have listed so far. This is all really, really nice boutique clothing for dirt cheap, so check it out and tell your friends about it. I wish that I would have bought more of their stuff in places like ebay because honestly, most of the things I have listed have been worn 3 times or less and I have paid a small fortune for this stuff. I am working on some of the super cute stuff - like Misha Lulu dresses - right now. I am sure some day we will have another little girl and I am going to be so sad that I sold this stuff, but I just can't justify keeping it any longer. It will be nice to earn some money from it.

So yesterday we were outside barefoot, and today it is freezing and tonight we are supposed to get snow again. This has been the most bizarre winter ever.

02.20.10

2010-02-20T19:03:00.000-08:00

This is her. Laughing the most awesome laugh in the entire world. She was so tickled. Wish you could actually hear the joy that I did when this was captured.

Lots of pictures today. Just having fun outside before dinner because it was about 65 degrees and the girls got bubbles at a birthday party this morning. I have to give Justin huge props for taking both girls by himself to a birthday party this morning while I had the Matilda Jane show at the house. Lets face it, birthday parties are exhausting and Justin has certainly never done one alone with both girls. Lucy sometimes gets really overwhelmed at birthday parties, so you just never know how she is going to do. She truly has such a hard time knowing that there is cake and that she has to wait until the very end of the party for it. So funny to me, but so true. She and I are a lot alike with our love of sweets. By the way, I am doing great with not cheating, but I am still craving sweets big time. Hopefully that will go away soon! Anyway, the party went well and both girls apparently had a great time.

The MJ show was great. Lots of people came and I am beyond excited about the new goodies that will be coming for the girls. Oh my it is the cutest stuff. As always, I want it all!!!! The girls are going to be looking precious this spring/summer.

I know I am biased, but I swear, they are beyond beautiful. They really are.

She was just in the best mood. Giggling the entire time.

Admiring the neighbor's dog. She is such an animal lover.

Those long toes come in handy when she needs a little boost.

A couple of the images of Lucy are just really killing me today.

She laid down and told me she was going to watch the clouds for a minute. Love.

02.19.10

2010-02-19T18:26:00.000-08:00

I don't think I ever mentioned on here, but I am having my Matilda Jane spring trunk show tomorrow from 10-12. If you are interested in ordering some of this DARLING clothing for your little ones, email me at lucyintheskyblog@gmail.com. You can only get this line through trunk shows, so if you want, your order can go in with my show. To view the spring line, go to www.matildajaneclothing.com - and the new line is Hammond Bay.

We had a good day. Not much to report. I got a lot of work stuff done and the girls were in great moods for the most part. Yay for us! Annie's sleep is still way off, but getting a tad better. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

02.18.10

2010-02-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

We had a MUCH better day today. The weather was gorgeous. We spent almost all day outside. Nana and Grandy, you will be so happy to know that Justin and I got the yard all cleaned up today. I had the hedge trimmers going like no one's business. We got all of the broken branches cleaned out and it really looks so much better. It felt so great to be outside in such beautiful weather and we all enjoyed it so much. Lucy LOVES to help in the yard. She was carrying big branches to our giant pile to be picked up. She would drag them to the pile and come running back for more. Annie was so happy the whole time. She just wandered around and played in everything. It was such a great morning. And we headed right back out after very short naps.

The girls were so worn out after a big day outside and such short naps, that Lucy asked to go to bed at 7:05. That never happens. Annie went to bed right after her. Annie was up at 8:45 with an upset tummy. Really yucky diaper and she was hysterical. I brought her to our room so that she would settle down. She laid with me for 30 minutes without wiggling even a bit. Annie is NEVER still when she is awake, so this was a special treat for me. She calmly went back down. I truly love snuggling with my babies.

02.17.10

2010-02-17T18:19:00.001-08:00

This is me pushing through the blogging rut. I gave up sweets for Lent today. Really people, this is a HUGE deal. I am a sweets, candy, cookie, cake, brownie, CHOCOLATE kind of girl. I crave it all of the time it feels like. I swear I didn't used to be like this. So last night I ate a chocolate bar with almonds that was about as big as me. I savored it and thought how sad I was that I wasn't getting it again until April 4th. The next few days are going to be not easy until I get used to not craving sugar all of the time.

On top of the missing sweets, Annie is getting up a minimum of 8 times a night right now. And when she is awake, things are really not pretty. She is just a wreck most of the day. We finally have just had to laugh about it. The only thing that I can think could possibly be making her this nutty again is 2 year molars. She will be two April 1st (what?!?!?!), so maybe they are forming and making her crazy. It is such a sad day when you can no longer blame your child's behavior on their teeth. 4 more to go for Annie and then she is out of luck. I took this picture tonight because I was so overjoyed that she was happy for a minute.

Need. More. Rest.

02.16.10

2010-02-16T17:39:00.000-08:00

I think the reason I have been in a rut is because we have had a touchy past three days. Annie is especially off. She has been very fussy, whiny, and super needy. We all know how exhausting that is, so Justin and I have just been worn a little thin. And Lucy isn't so fussy, but she isn't quite 100% either. We drove all the way to gymnastics today and made it about 5 minutes and headed back home. Lucy just did not want to do it and kept saying that she wanted to go home, even though I was sitting with her in her class - which is not how it works on a normal day. So, I told her she could just sit with Justin and watch and I would do Annie's class with her. When I joined Annie, she only wanted to sit in my lap, so we said we would see them next week. Lucy has told me that she still wants to go to gymnastics, so I might see if we can do a makeup class for her later this week. We'll see how the next few days go.

Watching American Idol. I can't wait to see who makes the top 24.

02.15.10

2010-02-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

I am in a blogging rut. The past few days I have just not wanted to do it. And even though I haven't committed to blogging every day this year, I still feel the need to do it a lot. I really love having the pictures to look back on. So until I snap out of it, here are just a few quick pictures.

02.14.10

2010-02-14T18:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Tet (Lunar New Year) and Happy Valentine's Day!! I hope you all had a wonderful day with your loved ones. I know I did and I am off to enjoy the evening with my sweetheart!! More tomorrow.

Aunt Holly, the girls were SOOOOOOO darling in the dresses you gave them. They finally fit them and they were perfect Valentine dresses. Yes, they are a tad spring-ish for as cold as it is, but again, they were perfect for V day. Precious!

The girls took awesome naps today. Annie was down for so long that Lucy and I headed down to decorate our Valentines cookies and snap a few pictures. I always love the images when I get the chance to have time with each girl one on one, and the ones of Lucy with the apple are too cute to me.

This one is my favorite. I didn't set this up, which is why I love it so much. She didn't want to hold her apple while she looked out the window, so the floor seemed like a great place for it. I LOVE the tiny little nibble out of it. Kills me.

Ahhhhhhh......

02.12.10

2010-02-12T19:53:00.000-08:00

The snow is beyond amazing. Those of you that live in the NE, I can't even imagine what it would be like to have this for months! I know I wouldn't love it then, but this has been such a treat for us. It was reported in my neighborhood that we got 11.2 inches. Seriously people, we almost got a foot of snow. It broke the record for biggest snowfall here. We got lucky and never lost our power. Thank heavens because there has been a lot of people without power because huge trees are falling from the heavy accumulation. I would not have been having such a great time if we were freezing without power!!

When I looked outside this morning, I was shocked to see our crepe myrtle tree branches touching the ground. Lucy was of course ready to head outside immediately, and we did get ourselves ready to go out much earlier today so that I could knock the snow off of the trees in an attempt to save them. I think all of our trees will be okay, but they are really pitiful looking right now. I was in awe of how beautiful our neighborhood looked covered in the white powder. I wish I was a better still life photographer because I do it no justice with my pictures.

It has been melting all day because our temps were above freezing all day, but there is still a lot of snow out there. It will probably take another few days for it to melt away and hopefully Lucy can have one more day playing in it. I can't even begin to tell you how much she loves it. She would run and dive into the snow. She had no concern about being cold or wet. When she asked me why it was falling off the trees and I explained it was starting to melt, she was so sad. She told me about 100 times today that she was going to miss the snow so much when it was gone. Even Annie liked it better today.

One of our crepe myrtle trees, who's branches are normally FAR from the ground.

02.11.10

2010-02-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

We got our snow, and it has been so much fun!! I knew Lucy would come to get in bed with us last night. She was not happy about having to move back into her room after Papa and Lee Lee have been using it. And sure enough, she showed up sometime in the wee hours of the night. When she showed up, Justin said, I am going to her room. He couldn't handle another night of her wild sleeping, so it was just Lucy and me. When she woke me up in the morning, I crawled out of bed and just barely peeked out of the curtains to see if the snow was coming down. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was totally white outside and still really coming down. I flung them open and told her to take a look. She was beside herself. It was so precious. Of course, she wanted to go straight outside at 7:45 am, which wasn't going to happen, so that part was not her luckiest.

By the time I got some coffee, we all ate some breakfast, and I figured out something that should keep them warm, it was about 10 am. Our entire yard was covered in this fluffy, white, beautiful snow. It was the perfect snow for a snowman, which is all Lucy could talk about. That and snowball fights! So we made Sherman, our snowman. And Annie watched from a safe distance on the sidewalk. She was perfectly happy and content as long as she was not boot high in the snow. As you will see in the pictures, she got quite angry with us when we moved her into the actual snow.

Lucy loved it so much that she didn't care that her boots were full of snow and her jeans were soaked from the snow angels she made. She was just happy. She told me that today was the perfect day. So sweet.

When we were done playing outside, me and both girls got in the big bath tub because they were cold and I figured this was the best way to warm them up. Then we made hot cocoa before lunch. Again, this is all heavenly for Lucy. She did get a little crazy before nap because she was just so excited and wound up that it was VERY hard for her to settle down. Both girls took great naps though and we had a fun afternoon with friends.

I seriously am so thankful for this snow because Lucy has been talking about snow since this summer. For some reason, she just has been dying for snow to play in. We NEVER get this much snow. We ended up getting over 6 inches, which is just crazy for us. Since living in Texas, I have never seen this much snow. Fun, fun, fun. It was a lot of work trying to protect my camera from the very wet snow falling. I rigged up a plastic bag to keep it safe.

What I am not thankful for, is the build up of snow on our satellite that is prohibiting me from watching my tv shows. That is not making me happy at all!

02.10.10

2010-02-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

A last second photo at the end of the day. Nana and Grandy, we still love this truck. I barely got this done. Just not into it today. My parents left this morning and we are all missing them. I am REALLY hoping that the snow that the weatherman has been promising actually happens. Lucy would seriously be beside herself if she woke up to snow.

I am off to watch the rest of AI. Night night.

I ♥ Faces - Kissing

2010-02-09T19:11:00.000-08:00

This week the theme at I ♥ Faces is kissing. My husband clicked this picture of Annie and me this afternoon. I admit to the editing and camera settings, but Justin did a great job clicking away. I swear, I think I kiss her yummy little cheeks a million times a day. She is my little lovey. And with her precious lips, she gives pretty great kisses, too!

02.09.10

2010-02-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

We had the craziest day ever today. The schedule was literally nonstop from the moment we got moving. Therapy, gymnastics, church meeting, Valentine's party with friends, and dinner out with my parents. By the time we got home, it was straight into the bath and get the girls ready for bed. We are all ready to just sit down and relax. We did get to keep Lee Lee and Papa for another day!! Lucky for us! They got to see the girls do their gymnastics, which was fun.

I had an awesome meeting with the pastor of our church that gave the sermon about who gets to go to heaven. I left with a feeling of clarity that I have never had and I am so thankful that he took the time to sit down with me and explain this complex topic deeper. I will write about what he taught me later this week. Today I am ready to just do nothing but watch the Biggest Loser.

I caught a bunch of signature Annie faces this afternoon. She was in a great mood while we were waiting for her therapist to arrive. Lucy was still napping and she just loves to be the center of attention!!

Poor Bruiser. She just can't leave him alone even though Bruiser has NO love for her. This one is for you Seashy! You asked for Bruiser and you received.

Her "wink"

She got her own cupcake at the Valentines Party. She thought she was SOOOOO big sitting at the table with the big kids. Thanks so much for such a precious party Ashley and Molly!

02.08.10

2010-02-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

I have a new love. The store Paper Source. Have you ever been there? It is AMAZING! I wish I would have never gone in there last week, because now I want it all. Everything in there. I will take one of everything, please and thank you! My mom got this Valentines wreath making kit in there and Lucy just loved working on it. So sweet and what a great idea!! They have all kinds of fun things in there for little ones to do. But really, I want everything. If you have one in your area, check it out. Or you can go online but it is not the same as seeing it in person.

My mom went to Bible study with me this morning. I loved having her there. They are supposed to go home tomorrow, but might be staying an extra day because of bad weather at their house. I hope they have to stay another day! :)

02.07.10

2010-02-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

Here is Papa doing manly things like watching the Superbowl.......with a tiara on. He is used to this kind of thing after raising 4 girls!

Sorry for no blog yesterday. Justin and I got to have the day off from kids and we spent the day together. Thanks SOOOOO much Lee Lee and Papa! We even spent the night out. So nice and loads of fun. Yesterday was Aunt Cayce's birthday, so Happy Birthday Cayce. Hope you had a great day!

I am VERY tired. I literally can barely hold my head up. I stayed up very, very late and I need some sleep. Night, night! Hope everyone has a great week!

02.05.10

2010-02-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

Lee Lee and Papa got here this afternoon!! We are so excited that they are here and I am off to visit with them instead of hanging out on the computer. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! We are going to.

02.04.10

2010-02-04T18:02:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those days where everyone in the house was just off. We all kind of woke up grumpy and it just got worse until after nap when everyone got a break from one another. Life was much better after nap! We needed that time to regroup. Mornings like that are just not fun, for anyone.

I am glad that the light stuff yesterday was helpful. I will really try and post more photography stuff. I really do love to talk about it and I am happy to share what I have learned. The problem is there are a lot of nights when I don't have the energy left to write much of anything. I will try and do it weekly though. I do want to point out the articles that I read online that really helped me get a grasp of how things with my camera worked.

Ironically, this one was just reposted today on Pioneer Woman. It explains aperture in a very basic way that makes it easy to understand. If you haven't read this, I highly recommend it.

And here is her explanation of shutter speed.

And finally her article on ISO.

I think the Pioneer Woman's photography website has all kinds of great articles, so if you get the chance, browse through it. Once you have a solid understanding of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, your pictures will drastically improve because you will be able to start shooting in manual. Here is how my thought process works for deciding what my camera settings will be.

I always choose my aperture first. There are a few times where shutter speed would be more important, but it is very rare. I make the decision about aperture above all else 99% of the time. I almost always prefer portraits with the aperture as wide open as possible. I learned this from Amy Wenzel, and I completely agree with her once I started doing it. So, if I have a prime lens on my camera, my aperture is almost always set at 1.8-2.8, but most of the time 1.8. I love the really shallow depth of field and I love the bokeh (blurred background) that is created when the lens is wide open. When I have more than one person in the photo, I will set the aperture to 2.8 or 3.5, but that is pretty much my limit. Then I watch the exposure meter inside of my camera and adjust the shutter speed until it shows it being properly exposed. I usually will overexpose just a tad because I prefer a brighter image to a darker one. The final step is to adjust the ISO if the shutter speed is too slow. I can get a very sharp photo of a NON-moving subject, like a sleeping newborn, at a shutter speed of 1/160 and maybe as low as 1/100. However, I prefer never going slower than 1/160 and with moving children, no lower than 1/250. So, if I have set my aperture and shutter speed and see that it is slower than what I feel comfortable with, I start bumping up the ISO and adjust the shutter speed accordingly. I usually start at an ISO of 200, but if I am outside or in a really bright area, I will start at 100.

All of this takes a lot of practice to really figure out. If you are just starting out or trying to figure out your camera, this probably makes little to no sense, but it will. I promise. I really didn't think that I would ever understand what all of the numbers meant, but I do and it is not that hard once it all clicks. I am not a manual reader. In fact, I don't think I have ever opened the actual manual to my camera even though I PROMISED myself I would when I spent the money to upgrade to my D700. But it is so boring and it really doesn't make a lot of sense. I just figured it out as I went and read articles that I thought were easy to understand - like the Pioneer Woman. The ONLY way to really understand your camera and how it works is to put it in manual mode and start taking pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. And you will get lots and lots of horrible ones, but you will learn adjustments to make and they will slowly start getting much better much quicker.

I was asked about shooting in RAW. I shoot exclusively in RAW all of the time. I just like knowing that I always have the chance to fix things if the exposure gets way off for a few images. I have had lots of people tell me that they are scared to start shooting in RAW, but it is totally worth figuring out the editing process because of the ability it gives you to fix way overexposed areas and get the detail back that was lost. Owning Lightroom and knowing how to use it makes RAW files so easy to work with. I highly recommend the software. I will give a run down of my workflow in a future post.

I was also asked about my equipment and editing software. Here is my gear:

Nikon D700
24-70mm 2.8
50mm 1.8
85mm 1.8
105mm macro 2.8
18-200mm - I never use this lens and need to sell it because it is not a lens I need.
*My dream lens for now would be to sell both my 50 and 85 for the 1.4 versions of both.

MacBook Pro - laptop but I would love to have the Mac Pro desktop in addition to this with a huge monitor. Not in the budget at the moment, but hopefully at some point this year
Photoshop CS3 - there is an upgrade for this, but I don't know why I would need it at this point
Lightroom 2.0 - also an upgrade and I will probably look into that

So there you go. Two photography posts in a row!

02.03.10

2010-02-03T16:48:00.000-08:00

I think that sickness is about to take over the girls. No, no, no! Lucy went to school today, but she came home with watery eyes, constant sneezing and a runny nose. She clearly doesn't feel well. It really resembles allergies, so I am praying that maybe it will be cleared up a tad tomorrow. Justin's allergies have been making him crazy, so maybe???? Lee Lee and Papa are coming on Friday, so I really don't want sick babies.

I made turkey chili tonight and it was really yummy. Justin especially loved it and it was really healthy. It had lots of veggies in it. And, it will feed us tomorrow. Justin loved it so much he said I didn't need to cook tomorrow night because he wanted it again. I have to say, it has been really easy to eat so well since my reformation. Way easier than I would have guessed and I am having so much fun searching for recipes and cooking. I will admit that switching over has been really expensive. But in a few weeks when I have switched most of my foods out for healthier choices, I don't think it will be that much more expensive. But I have replaced most of the stuff in our fridge and pantry, so that is going to be expensive.

I had a few questions about the light in the pictures from my session yesterday, so I thought I would share a little of what I have learned about light to those of you that care to learn something about photography today. All of the pictures from yesterday's session where taken in natural light. No external flash and I used my 24-70mm 2.8 lens. I will say that I would normally use a prime lens for an indoor session where I can get the aperture set to 1.8. But I used the 24-70 because it focuses SO quickly and I knew that I really couldn't go any lower than 2.8 with a group of children. Otherwise the depth of field would have been too shallow and the focus would have been off for at least one of the kids.

The room that we were in had 2 very large south facing windows. Most photographers will tell you that they prefer northern facing windows, but I have learned from my own home that I always prefer light coming from a southern facing window. It just has a warm, even quality about it that I love more than any other light. I will also say that I prefer indoor light over outside light a whole lot of the time. But it is not always easy to make it work indoors. However, when it does work, it is my favorite. Always.

My clients home had incredible light. The windows were really big and they had big wooden shutters, so I could manipulate how it was coming in the room. They were tilting upward to prevent any bright spots of sun coming in the room. It was a sunny day, which was very important, too. The room we were shooting in was very lightly colored. The walls were a light neutral color and there was lots of white in the room. All of the baby bedding was white and the comforter on the bed was white. All of this is good, good, good. Let's all say I was very pleased when I saw this room and even more pleased when the sun agreed to come out because this was the only time in a week that we have seen it.

Even with the great light, I still had my ISO set to 400 because I needed the fast shutter speed with my moving targets. I didn't want a shutter speed lower than 1/250. The great thing about my camera is that it can handle a high ISO very well. The second photo above of Annie has an ISO of 1250, which is really high, but the noise is still really low in the image. If I was just doing the newborn yesterday, I would have used my 50mm or 85mm lens with an aperture of 1.8 and the ISO could have stayed much lower. But an ISO of 400 for my camera is no big deal. However, when I had a D200, an ISO of 400 was so grainy and yucky.

If you want to see the entire sneak peek of this session, go to my NEW photography blog. It is a work in progress. I worked on it for several days, then got sidetracked, and haven't worked on it much more. But bookmark it because this is where all sneak peeks will be from now on.

So, my advice is to find a big southern facing window, get your subject as close to it as you can, and snap away. I bet you will like the results. Here are the camera settings for a few of the images. I always think this is helpful to see when another photographer posts it, so I thought I would share this today. Is this kind of info helpful to those of you that care about photography? Or what would you prefer to hear about?

Light: Kids are facing the windows and I moved the chair closer to the window.
ISO: 400
Aperture: 2.8
Focal Length: 38mm
Shutter Speed: 1/250

Light: This room had large northern facing windows directly to the right of the kids, but it was a darker room than the baby's room, so my ISO had to increase.
ISO: 640
Aperture: 2.8
Focal Length: 55mm
Shutter Speed: 1/200 - a slower shutter speed was fine here because the kids were going to be blurry and the feel of movement was what I was going for

Light: Southern facing windows directly to the right of the kids. See how even and beautiful it is!
ISO: 400
Aperture: 2.8
Focal Length: 70mm
Shutter Speed: 1/250

This is also the light of a southern facing window in the late afternoon. It was coming through a set of french doors, so floor to the top of the door light coming in.
ISO: 400
Aperture: 1.8
Focal Length: 85mm
Shutter Speed: 1/250

02.02.10

2010-02-02T16:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, no pictures of Lucy or Annie today. Sorry grandparents! I had an amazing session this afternoon and I have been obsessed with looking at the images and starting the editing process. I have my mom's night out, so I had to get a few of these up for these precious babies' momma. Sometimes an image just takes your breath away, which is what these do for me.

Probably my favorite image of all times. Even the baby is smiling about it.

02.01.10

2010-02-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

We did awesome with our eating today. We even had a vegetarian dinner that everyone ate so well - even Justin who had 2 helpings!! We had whole wheat pasta with sun dried tomatoes, zucchini, and beans. It really was delicious, and even I was a tad skeptical. We also had a salad and roasted cauliflower. I want to pass this cauliflower recipe along because it is so easy and I seriously love it. I got it from Stacey Snacks. I am always looking for a new, healthy way to cook veggies and roasting is my new fave.

Take your cauliflower florets and spread it out on a baking sheet. Lightly drizzle it with olive oil. Then I toss it around so that it all gets lightly coated in the olive oil. Then sprinkle it with kosher salt and pepper. Pop it in the oven at 425 degrees for around 20-30 minutes. You want it to start to brown on the top. I really like mine to be really roasted, so I leave it in closer to 30 minutes. When you get it out, add some capers to it, and lightly sprinkle it with grated parmesan and red pepper flakes. This is DELISH! If it is too dry when you get it out of the oven, you could add a little more olive oil, but I never need to . One week ago I would have told you that I HATED cauliflower. But now I crave this because it is so good!

Still cold, dark, and dreary here. Yuck. Ready for some sun. I had Bible study this morning. Love it. My goal of reading the Bible is going so well. I have spent devoted time focusing on it every day since I started and I am still doing two days worth of reading each day until I am caught up to where I am supposed to be for the year. It has kind of surprised me how focused I can get. I have always been worried that I would be bored and unable to pay attention while reading the Bible, but that has not at all been the case.

01.31.10

2010-01-31T18:31:00.000-08:00

The girls were playing tonight and Justin and I had the Grammys on in the background. We obviously love the Grammys. When Pink came on to perform, both girls stopped dead in their tracks, sat down, and silently watched the performance. It was a cool performance, but it was funny how captivated by it they were. They both seem to love music. And Lucy has great taste in music, but she wears a song out like nobodys business. Her absolute all time favorite song is Yellow, by Coldplay. Awesome song, but I can barely stand the sound of it now because we have to listen to it so much.

Quick question. I am watching the Bon Jovi/Jennifer Nettles performance right now. There are three of them all singing into the same microphone. The only thing I can think when I see people sharing a microphone is that it would be so gross to be that close to their breath and you know they are spitting on each other. Ick. Anyone else ever had such a thought? So random, but it always crosses my mind when I see such a thing.

For those of you that asked about the cleanse I am doing, it is THIS. We did great with eating today. Yeah! I had an egg white omelette for brunch after church today that only had veggies in it. The whole thing was under 350 calories. And for dinner I made homemade chicken noodle soup. Yummy. It needed more salt, but that was an easy fix. Both girls ate it really well and everything in it was organic and fresh. I got all kinds of things at the store today that I have never bought before. I am about to be so healthy you aren't going to recognize me!! :) We are even going to visit a gym tomorrow. Wow!

The other thing that I did today was completely clean out my pantry, fridge and freezer. It felt awesome. Tons of the stuff in the pantry was unopened, and I am giving it to our church tomorrow for their food drive. It shouldn't just go in the trash, so now someone can have it, just not us! The fridge is stocked with organic fruits and veggies. The pantry has all kinds of weird grains and rices in it. Emily - I even got a Moosewood cookbook and we are going to do at least 2 vegetarian dinners a week. I hope to shed the 8 lbs I gained last year. I just feel so flabby and bloated all of the time, but that is all changing! Woo hoo! I seriously am so motivated to do this.

01.30.10

2010-01-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

Last night I finally watched the movie Food, Inc. I agree with others who say that it is an absolute must see. It is shocking and totally disturbing but it is information that no one in America should be without for another minute. It will change the way you view food forever. I honestly hope that the feeling that I have right now sticks with me forever because I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back to viewing fast food as quick and convenient. I don't want to go back to be addicted to sugar and constantly craving it. And I certainly don't want to go back to exposing my girls to such things at such a young age. They deserve better, Justin deserves better, and I deserve better.

So, after watching it, here is my plan. First, there is no way we are going to realistically become vegetarians. The movie doesn't say to do that, but you feel like you should after seeing it. What we are going to do, is reduce the amount of meat that we consume and I will only be buying meat from Whole Foods from now on. No ifs ands or buts about that one. We will only be eating free range, organic chicken and when we do have beef, it will be from grass fed cows. I am not sure I can go back to pork after seeing and hearing the pig slaughter house in NC. That was more than I could handle. I am sure we will still occasionally eat pork, but again, only from Whole Foods.

Fast food is out. It is just too disgusting and too easy to rely on and I am over it. Chickfila is one of my favorite places, but I just can't handle chicken filled with antibiotics and hormones after seeing that movie. I really don't want the girls eating it.

Tomorrow morning I am starting a 14 day cleanse from Whole Foods. It is just pills that you take in the morning and evening. Some day I would love to do a more disciplined detox, but this is all I can handle at the moment. The lady working there told me it was a really great choice and that I would definitely notice the difference. I will keep you posted on that.

We will be eating a boat load of fresh veggies and fruits from now on. I am also reading the book Eat This and Live. My mom sent it to me and I literally can't put it down. It is an easy read and I will have it done by tonight. I am taking notes of all of the foods and supplements that I will be getting for this upcoming week. I can honestly say that I am excited for this change. I know we will all feel better and our bodies deserve to be treated better.

If you haven't seen the movie, please go and rent it. Seriously, you need to. The girls weren't into pictures today, so you just get Bianca. The rain and cold and ugliness of the past many days is making them a tad nuts. We will be ready to get some fresh air asap.

01.29.10

2010-01-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

Every night when both girls are in bed, I fall on our bed and breathe a deep breath and relish in the silence of the house. I love that moment of each day. The girls have really been so great lately, so our days have been lots of fun, but even in the easy times, the silence of the evening is still so heavenly.

Lucy didn't nap today, but she was okay until the very end of the day. She was a little more snappy with Annie, but overall she was fine. I was working in our room while she was supposed to be napping and I listened to her read herself about 20 books and sing herself about 100 songs. Then I heard her little feet heading my way. She popped into our room and says, "Momma, I didn't really nap today. But that's okay!"

She was such a chatterbox all day today. She actually told me all about her day at school, which is not the norm. She is normally very tight lipped about what happens at school. Then after her rest, she talked and talked and talked some more. When she gets like this, the most random things come out of her mouth. In the middle of her ramblings, she says this:

I really hope that John and Wy Wy can come and visit at my house one day.
Do you think their mom will ever let them? (I would answer her but she doesn't pause for one second)
I really hope that she will. Or I could go to their house, right mom?
Momma, do you know what I really hope for? (Again, no time for an answer from me)
I really hope that next year you will put a star on our Christmas tree. I really want a star on our tree.

Lee Lee has a star on her tree and obviously our tree topper just ain't cuttin it for Lucy. I certainly didn't know that it bothered her so much that a month after the tree was down she would totally randomly bring it up. We were not discussing anything Christmas related at any point. She went on to spout out anything that crossed her mind for the next 30 minutes. These conversations are my favorite when Justin is around, which he wasn't today. He just looks at me with this look of: Why do all girls talk so freakin much and what have you done to get her to talk this much already? Bwahahahahaha. He is in for it once Annie figures out the whole talking thing.

Annie has been doing so well lately. Her death cling to me has reduced drastically. She has been back to her happy little self. She has been trying very hardly to get more words out. I love hearing her work it out as she learns to say things.

It has been storming all day for two days now. It is really cold and dark outside. We got a VERY fun package in the mail that I want to show off to everyone, but I have to wait until I have some light to do that.

We all wore rain boots today.

Do you see Bruiser down there? He ALWAYS has an eye on this crazy girl.

Bath time is loads of fun with these two monkeys.

Lucy likes to "help" rinse Annie. She gets a great thrill out of dumping the water on her head.........

but Annie loves for Lucy to help with anything.

I cannot get this child to not drink the bath water. Yuck!

This is so funny!

01.28.10

2010-01-28T20:59:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the late post from me tonight. A dear friend from high school recently moved here, and she came over for dinner with me and the girls tonight. I was happy that she decided to stay for bath and bedtime so that we could visit kid free for a while afterwards. We had so much fun and I was laughing all night long. I love reconnecting with friends that I haven't spent time with in a long time and being able to just pick back up. I think I am going to bribe her to let me do a photo shoot with her because she is so gorgeous and I think it would be so much fun. She has always been a fan of the camera, so I bet she will let me. When we were about 10, Anna and I did a photo shoot of each other and the pictures are the funniest thing I have ever seen. I think we could really do something amazing now, though.

I am so tired I will have to write more tomorrow. My little bed buddy just showed up to climb into bed with me with all of her blankees and pillows in tow so I am off to snuggle with her for a minute. She has her jammies unzipped because she says she was hot earlier. Cute girl!! :) I have been staying up so late all week and it is finally catching up with me. Nighty night.

01.27.10

2010-01-27T19:13:00.000-08:00

I rushed Lucy outside this afternoon when the sun peaked out for just a second because it is supposed to get really yucky around here the next few days. Boo. We are apparently going back to really cold and storming. I love the light in these. Pretty stuff and it makes me long for spring weather when the sun will be out all of the time.

I made a roast in the Le Crueset dutch oven today that was DELISH! And I think I should make a note of Annie's eating. The child has turned into the most ravenous carnivore that I have ever seen. She wants almost nothing but meat. It is totally bizarre to me, but the child will eat 4 or 5 helpings (big helpings) of whatever the meat is we are having for dinner. She will flip out in her highchair until we bring her more. She loves chicken, pork, beef, fish, turkey. Anything. I really need to do a post on how Lucy and Annie are polar opposites in literally every possible way. Lucy has almost always been a self made vegetarian. Lately she has changed on this a little, but for the most part she could easily do without meat.

I am not feeling the blog tonight, so that is about it.

01.26.10

2010-01-26T18:13:00.001-08:00

Just a quick post tonight to say that both girls really loved their first day of gymnastics. Lucy was a champ! She did perfectly fine on her own with her little class. At the beginning of the class they did stretches, I think the teacher's jaw hit the ground when she saw how flexible Lucy is. I swear she is made of rubberbands. I am always so proud of her because her teachers always compliment her on being such a wonderful listener. Sweet girl. Now Annie, she was all over the place, but she is with me and still so little, I fully expected that on day one. We'll see how she does after a few weeks of getting used to how things work. And just for the record, I do of course realize that Lucy is wearing a dance leotard, not a gymnastics one. But I have three steadfast rules when it comes to dressing my girls:

1. No neon
2. No crushed velvet
3. No mesh

If you can find my a gymnastics outfit without one of those things, PLEASE let me know. I haven't looked extensively, but so far that is all that I can find, so we went with a standard dance outfit and skirt. Much cuter.

I have a fun, fun, fun blog that I want you guys to check out. Nicolle is doing a 365 Project with her flip video camera. Each day she posts a video of something from her day. Some days they are totally random, but that is why I love it so much. THIS video is especially hilarious to me. She can do some pretty cool editing and I always love what she has to say. I would pay attention to her because some day she is going to be a big country star! She is a song writer and musician. Some days you are lucky enough to see her in action on the videos. I know Nicolle because she is from the same teeny tiny town in Kansas that both of my parents are from. It had been a million years since I had seen her (like she was a little kid when I saw her) and then she met Justin through the music scene in Nashville. Really, it is a small world out there. Anyway, her blog is all kinds of fun and I think you should add it to your reader so you can see what she comes up with each day. If you think taking a picture each day is hard, editing a video everyday is a million times harder, so go and cheer her on!

I am off to watch The Biggest Loser. Have a great night!

She went right to these when we got there and wanted so badly to be able to reach them.

01.25.10

2010-01-25T18:14:00.000-08:00

She takes my breath away. Every day. Over and over. They both do.

I love Mondays because it is my Bible study morning and it just gets my week started in the right direction. I feel like I get focused and refreshed every Monday morning that I make it to this group of Moms. This semester, we are studying the book of James. As I said yesterday, I have not spent a lot of time studying the Bible, so I am happy we are tackling a book that I feel like I can really apply to my life. James is a really short book of the Bible, so we are breaking it down in really small segments each week. This week we looked at James 1:1-18. The verses talk about facing trials in life and turning to God to get you through them without doubting Him. This is huge for me. Whenever I hear of something really horrific happening to people, I have found myself doubting God and what in the world He is doing. But what I need to be doing is turning into Him and His love to find peace and wisdom.

This point was really amplified when one of the moms in the group spoke out about going through something that, as a mother, I can't even begin to imagine - the loss of a child. Remember when I mentioned before Christmas about the infant son of one of the Bible study's mom being in the hospital? Well, that sweet baby boy was taken to heaven to be with Christ shortly after Christmas. And his mom was back at Bible study today with her precious infant daughter (the little baby's twin sister). And as we all discussed going through trials in life and how we have handled it, I think the whole room was wondering what she must be thinking. And then she opened up to a room of 55 women and spoke of how this was was the most awful thing that she could have ever imagined happening but how through it all, she has found herself in the deepest relationship with Christ that she has ever had. And let me just tell you, she and her family already had a remarkable faith, one that I admire and aspire to be like. But now, she told us how she finds herself clinging to God to get her through every single minute of the day. And she said that she is now so thankful for things that she has never even thought about in the past - like getting some sleep at night or having the mental strength to just walk through the door into Bible study. Oh how I hope to have faith like hers one day.

I had three people in mind as I was in that class this morning. The mom I just spoke about, a dear friend of mine who lost her baby in the 38th week of pregnancy this past summer (today that little girl would have been 7 months old), and the husband of Amy Wenzel, who is the photographer who put on the workshop that I went on this past September - her husband's name is David Wenzel. Before I get started on David, Amy just posted on her blog, which I linked to above, her spring workshop dates. If you are looking for a workshop to attend, PLEASE check her out. She is amazing. Beyond amazing and she teaches you everything that she possibly can in a few days with her. My photography changed after that workshop. I learned so much.

Anyway, back to her husband, David, who I got to meet at the workshop. Last year he was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. After extensive research and prayer, David and Amy decided that the best way to treat his cancer was through alternative medicine. I beg you to go and read his blog that I linked to above. David and Amy have an amazing relationship with Christ. David is fully confident that God has lead him to the path that he is on with his treatment. He also says that the brain cancer has changed his relationship with God so much for the better that he wouldn't go back to life before the cancer. He would never choose to have inoperable brain cancer, but because of it, his faith has become so much more rich. I couldn't get him out of my mind this morning during our discussion about this passage in James. God is very proud of David, Amy, and the two moms that I have mentioned and all they are doing with their lives. They inspire me in more ways than I will ever be able to explain. My faith has forever changed because of people like I have mentioned in this post.

I know my blog has turned into me talking a lot about faith lately. Honestly, it is kind of strange for me because I have never talked so much about it publicly before now. I just have felt like writing down what I am actually feeling right now. I am kind of documenting the growth that I am doing in my relationship with Christ. I really feeling like it is changing so much for the better and I kind of want to shout it from the mountain tops. So, that is what is going on with me at the moment.

This scene right here, ALWAYS equals trouble.

There is no chance she is getting into something she is supposed to be. And can I just say it again, this girl is TROUBLE!

I ♥ Faces - Texture

2010-01-25T15:44:00.000-08:00

This week the theme at I ♥ Faces is using textures in your photography. To be perfectly honest, textures added during post processing are one of those things that I see some other photographers do, and I love it, but I struggle doing to my own photographs. I started playing with it again last week with a few images of the girls because I knew this theme was coming up. I have purchased several sets of incredible textures because the artists that created them have inspired me so much. But then I get them and I am overwhelmed by them and I just stop trying. But I am inspired again and think I will start trying again. The textures used on this image of precious Samuel are from Flora Bella's fine art textures original set. I used Elysium {b&w} on soft light and French Canvas {b&w} on overlay, both at reduced opacities and both removed from the face using the Gaussian blur technique that was taught when you purchase the textures. I think my main drawback to textures is that I often see them overdone on images. But when someone knows what they are doing with them, like Shana and many others that I follow on Flickr, they add a magical quality to photos. I am still working on that!

01.24.10

2010-01-24T18:18:00.001-08:00

I am so unbelievably proud of Annie today because she went to the church nursery, cried for a very short period, and then did really well. This is the first time ever that we haven't been buzzed on our pager to come and get her. I obviously tell the staff that if she is hysterical for 15 minutes, to please page me. And they always do. But not today!!! AND, she didn't cry when we came to get her. She smiled and then she waved goodbye to the sweet staff that loves on her. When I asked her how she did, they told me that they had to stroll her around a bit (which is what they do with any babies that are upset) and they stopped in the little baby room for a bit and she was so pleased that she got to "help" with the babies that she was a happy girl after that. Annie LOVES babies, both real and pretend, so I am not at all surprised by this. Also, she is such a social child, that I knew if she would ever give it a chance, she would love church. I think she did better this week because Lucy gave her a pep talk the entire car ride to church that went, "Annie, church is soooo much fun. Don't worry, Mommy and Daddy will always come back to get us." Killing me with sweetness.

Church was awesome again this week. I went back to the contemporary service, and Justin agreed to come with me. We both really miss the organ and choir when we aren't at the traditional service, but the sermon is absolutely worth it to me. This was Justin's first time there, and he really liked the pastor and the sermon. The question in the sermon this week was "How do I know what God's will is for my life?" The message was powerful and what I really, really walked away with was that I have got to turn to God's word. I have really never spent the time studying the Bible that I should. I do a mom's group that I call my Bible study, but this is the first semester that we are actually studying a book of the Bible. We usually choose a book on a Christian topic, like prayer or marriage. I have always had an excuse as to why I didn't spend time with my Bible, but today I decided no more excuses. I went to Barnes & Noble during nap and decided on a One Year Study Bible. Until I get caught up for this year, I am going to read two or three days worth of reading. I did two while I was at B&N and there was no chance of distraction by little people. I actually feel really excited about doing this and know that God will be revealed to me in ways I have never experienced. Yay!!

The girls took great naps and we have just been lazy around the house this afternoon, watching football and putting on "shows." Lucy loves to give us each a job, and then she is the announcer, and we all do a little performance. It is very funny and she was in rare form this afternoon/evening. Lots of fun when they are in such awesome moods.

The past three days I have been overwhelmed with feelings about the girls' birth mothers. I never know why exactly these days come, but they do and it has been a constant the past few days. I think because both girls have been so much fun the past few days, that I find myself watching them and consumed by feelings of amazement that I am their mom and that somewhere in Vietnam, they have another mom. Today as Annie stopped everything she was doing to watch the National Anthem performance, I just sat on the couch and watched her in awe. She stood there and pretended like her Backyardigan toy was a microphone and just "sang" along with all of her little heart. Then she giggled about it and carried on with her business. And last night as Lucy was dancing naked in the bathroom after bath giggling her precious little laugh, I did the same thing. I just sat with my back against the wall and watched her love life to the fullest. And then I am sad that their birth mothers will never have these memories that I get to have with these girls because my goodness, they are both so unbelievably amazing and I hate for anyone to miss it, but her especially. But I also feel so blessed, thankful, and happy that we get to be their parents. That is the thing about adoption that is hard for me, there is always a bit of sadness knowing that the girls have lost so much to get to be with us and that they have another momma somewhere that is missing seeing just how amazing the child that she created is. I just wish we knew more about their birth mothers. That part is so hard for me and I always wonder if it will be hard for them, too. I hugged them both extra tight tonight. I just love them so much that it makes my heart feel like it is going to burst wide open. They are both so special.

Wow. This feels like a long post. I absolutely adore the images from today. The light in our bedroom at 4:30 this afternoon with the white sheets on the bed being a natural reflector was simply perfect. My suddenly WAY too big girl, Lucy, painted her own nails. She was beaming with pride when she was done and it was perfect because Annie was still napping at that point and not in her way. Then Annie woke up and was so sweet reading books on the bed. I love day to day photos that are actually beautiful, and that is how these are to me today.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and that the spirit of the Lord fills your heart with happiness and love.

01.23.10

2010-01-23T18:44:00.000-08:00

I FINALLY, after talking about it forever, got both girls signed up for gymnastics today. I am interested to see how it goes. They go at the same time, but Annie will be in a mommy and me class and Lucy will be in the 3/4 year old class. I hope that Lucy will give it a chance because I have a feeling she will be a little hesitant at first. She is such a naturally athletic child, that I think she will be great at whatever she decides she likes. She is flexible like no one I have ever seen, so maybe it will be dance or gymnastics. We'll see. I have held her out of most things until now because I wanted her to gain self confidence before she was put in a situation that would likely make her uncomfortable. I guess we will soon see if she is ready!

Our neighbors grilled such a yummy dinner tonight. They have a little girl around Annie's age and we all had a really fun time. It was such a nice evening. Justin got home a few hours earlier than originally planned, which was lucky for us!

I got second place this week at I Heart Faces. I am really excited about that because the guest judge, Audrey Woulard, is one of my favorite children's photographers. She shoots the Pottery Barn Kids magazines!! The picture that got first place is really awesome.

01.22.10

2010-01-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

We are have had the most amazing weather the past few days. It was sunny and 75 degrees today. You gotta love that for January. We spent a large portion of the day outside. Annie and I picked up Lucy from school and we met some friends at the park for a picnic. I will say, there is a lot of allergy junk in the air because by the time we got home, my eyes were burning and bright red, but it was well worth it to be outside and playing.

Lucy had pajama day at school today. Of course she chose to wear Christmas pjs. She was quite excited about this. They were learning the letter P this week, so for show-n-tell she took her purse with a pig in it. She tries to take her purse to school most days, but that is not allowed, so it was very special to get to take her purse today.

I opened up our french doors this afternoon and just let some fresh air fill the house. Annie was so pleased with herself being able to come in and out freely. She is such a riot. She is such a handful, but I swear she makes me laugh 1000 times a day. She hardly has any words, but let me tell you, she lets you know what she needs, when she needs it, and she means business!

01.21.10

2010-01-21T18:48:00.000-08:00

I am all caught up with editing sessions. Justin and I both had a few days of fighting a miserable cold or allergies, but I feel great again and finally got my past two sessions edited and to the clients. I still have so much I want to do for La La before the year gets back into full swing, but I think things are going to pick back up quickly, so I really need to get on it. I need a good graphic designer to help me develop a logo, but I am overwhelmed with the choices. Any suggestions out there? I really need branding advice.

I just don't have much to say today. I am off to watch Private Practice. Have a great night. My littlest stinker didn't want her picture made today, so she just has a foot on today's post.

Annie's pjs had a blowout tonight. She kept pointing at them and saying "Uh Oh!" These jammies have lasted a long time. Lucy wore them forever and now Annie has been wearing them for months. This is their last night. :(

Pretty good, huh?

01.20.10

2010-01-20T19:53:00.000-08:00

First, I am HIGHLY annoyed right now because I wrote a long blog post that I really don't want to re-write. They are never the same and I have never just completely had a post disappear - draft and everything. Ridiculous. I will try and recall what I wrote.

Today I visited the Montessori school that we will most likely put Lucy in next year. I loved it, I see her loving it, and I see her really thriving in the environment. It was so calm there. Lucy loves calm. I really do think she would blossom in such a setting. It was so interesting to sit in the classroom and observe. Again, I really liked it and think it is a good fit for her.

Tonight for dinner we had halibut, polenta, carrots and salad. The girls had avocado with theirs and they both ate SO well. I am so impressed with them and their eating since we have been working on this. Justin, not such a good eater tonight. I knew fish was pushing it, but he was a baby about it.

Since I missed church for so long because I felt like Annie was too insecure to leave in the nursery, I am going back and downloading a lot of the sermons from iTunes. Our church does a podcast of both the contemporary and the traditional service, so I can go back and hear all of the sermons that I missed. How cool is that? I would love to share the name of our church so that you guys could listen if you wanted to, but I just don't feel comfortable sharing that info with so many people reading that I don't know. I listened to one from October on patience, since this is a HUGE struggle for me. Here is my thought for the day that I took from the sermon.

When have to wait at a restaurant for a long time to be seated, we don't take control of the situation by going to the kitchen and making ourselves something to eat because we are hungry and don't want to wait any longer. When we have to wait at the dentist office way past our appointment time, we don't take control of the situation by going on back, getting out the drill, and going to work on our mouths. Obviously, it would be ridiculous to act in such a way simply because we were being impatient with having to wait. So why is it so easy to be impatient with God when He doesn't answer our prayer requests immediately with the answer that we want to hear? I have lots of areas in my life that I pray consistently about. When I don't get an instant response, the natural thing for me to do is try and take control myself and do things the way that I see fit, which is not the same way that God sees fit. God answers our prayers with one of three answers - yes, no, or wait. I don't do too well with wait. I am working on that. My life would be a lot simpler if I would just let go, and be patient to see God's plan unfold.

Have a great night!

01.19.10

2010-01-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Justin got me a Le Crueset dutch oven. It is something that I have wanted forever, but didn't want to spend the money on. He TOTALLY surprised me with this and I was very excited. He got me the green one because it matches our lovely green kitchen. But we hope to sell our house and my dream kitchen someday is bright yellow with dark espresso cabinets. So I have always had my eye on the citron set from Le Crueset. I finally got around to switching them today and I broke that bad boy in tonight. I didn't do a recipe where it slow cooked in it all day, but the food turned out awesome and I can't wait to cook a roast in it.

Thanks for the food websites! I am going to have lots of fun going through those. Tonight I made a pork loin with a mustard bread crumb crust. And for sides we had Pioneer Woman hot crash potatoes and also squash and zucchini. Justin loved it, which is what makes me most happy. It made enough for our family, our neighbors, and I dropped some off at a friend's house that has been sick. We are horrible about eating leftovers, so I love it when we actually eat everything. There was nothing leftover, so it was rather tasty.

We have also implemented the policy with the girls that they must eat what is made for dinner. It is no problem for Annie. She is a disposal. Lucy has always been a challenge at meal times. But she is doing so well. She ate the pork, vegetables, and fruit tonight. I am so proud of her. Go Lucy!

And finally, here is a quick Lucy story. We were watching American Idol tonight. She is laying beside me and hadn't really said a word. Then a cute Asian boy came out to sing (he was the first one to get a golden ticket on the second day in Chicago) and Lucy says out of no where, "Well, he sure is a handsome boy." Justin and I just looked at each other and smiled. He really was such a cute boy and it was just so funny that she called him handsome.

One more quick thing, for those of you who were following the religion discussion from 1.17 - go and read my friend Elizabeth's comment that she left this afternoon. She is beautifully articulate and I absolutely LOVE the way that she described her thoughts on the issue. I think it is the last comment on that post.

01.18.10

2010-01-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to the comments in the past few posts. Religion is such a personal thing for every person, that it can be difficult to talk about in a way that isn't offensive or pushy. I have often had a hard time clearly expressing what it is that I want to say. I actually have a few other questions for my pastor that I have emailed him and hope to get even more clarification on soon.

Whenever I find a website or book that I think is really helpful or useful, I like to share it. Today my friend Emily shared a recipe blog that I am now officially obsessed with. The site is Stacey Snacks. I planned our entire week's menu from this blog today and tonight I made the Roast Chicken with Orange Glaze - the very first recipe that pulls up and I made the green beans with shallots and walnuts. It was so yummy. Both girls ate SO well - Annie ate as much chicken as Justin did and Lucy (with a little pushing) even ate green beans!! This is huge for her. Both recipes were so easy and so delicious. Check out this blog if you are looking for some great new recipes. I love to cook, but Justin is kind of picky and I have a hard time finding recipes that sound good and are not too complicated. I love to read through cookbooks, but I get overwhelmed by just how many there are out there. So I LOVE a recipe/cooking blog. If you know of any other great ones, please share. I obviously love The Pioneer Woman, but I don't know many others.

The girls and I went to play group this morning. It wore them out, so they were ready for naps when we got home. I planned our menu and then went to Central Market for the goods. I love when I have a plan at the store and don't just wander around filling the cart with crap that we shouldn't eat. It didn't take me long at all to prepare the chicken and get it in the oven. Both girls went to bed pretty early tonight, so Justin and I have just been enjoying some quiet time.

Nana - Lucy danced around in her ballet shoes all evening. So cute. I knew she would love them.

I ♥ Faces - Family

2010-01-18T17:43:00.000-08:00

This week the theme at I ♥ Faces is your best family shot. This is one of my favorite images from all of last year. Precious little L was dancing her heart out on the sidewalk while her sweet parents just sat back and laughed. One of my favorite things about kids is that they ALWAYS dance like no one is watching. Her little face is just radiating joy, and that makes me happy.

Be sure and check out some of the fun entries over at I ♥ Faces!

01.17.10

2010-01-17T11:05:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for Justin and our 6 years of marriage. It is our anniversary. Justin got back home this morning and we had a very low key day, which was fine with me. Thanks for being a wonderful father, my partner, my one true love, our provider. You are an amazing man and I am lucky to call you mine. I love you.

We are sad around here because the Cowboys sucked big time today and got their butts whipped. Such a bummer. I really thought that they were going to win today. But they just couldn't get it together today. Maybe next year.

This is a long post for me, and not the norm, but I feel compelled to share this.

The girls and I went to church this morning before it was time to pick up Justin at the airport. I decided to go to the more contemporary service for the first time ever today. I am not drawn to this type of service, which is why I have never been before. I like the traditional service because I love to hear the choir and the organ. I love the feel of the old, beautiful sanctuary and to sit in the pews. The contemporary service has a band and giant computer screens. It has movie theater type seating. Not my thing for church, but all of my friends keep telling me how amazing the preacher is and how the sermons are worth checking out. Justin really resists the contemporary service, so I thought I would try it today while he was out of town. Of all of the days for me to go, this was the day. The pastor is giving a series of sermons called Frequently Asked Questions and each week he addresses one of the hard questions we have to deal with as christians. Today the questions was: Do my non-christian friends go to heaven?

Before I talk any more about this, I want to explain a few things about myself and my faith. I feel pretty confident in my faith in Jesus Christ, most of the time. I really want to deepen my relationship with Christ this year, as I have already talked about. I know I have LOTS of growth that I need and want to do. I want it to become more natural for me to constantly turn to God for guidance in every aspect of my life. I genuinely want to give Him control and allow Him to guide me. With all of that being said, there are a few aspects of christianity that I struggle with. The first is understanding why really horrible things happen to really good people. I just don't get it. I really don't get it when babies and children are involved. The second thing that I really have had a hard time with is an understanding of where people who don't believe in Jesus Christ go when they die. In particular, people that have never been exposed to the word of God because of geography - what happens to them. They were never given a chance.

The reason that I really have a hard time with this particular issue is because of my girls' birth mothers. Both girls are from a very rural part of Vietnam. I feel confident that their mothers have never heard of Jesus Christ. So, some day as the girls grow older and they start digging deeper into their beliefs and faith in God, I foresee the question of, "Is my birth mother not going to heaven because she probably doesn't know Jesus Christ?" And the bottom line is, I do not believe that that is true. I do NOT believe that someone who has different beliefs than me is excluded from heaven. But I haven't ever been able to express why or how I think that they might be going to heaven. Until this morning, when this exact struggle was addressed in the sermon.

Here is what I got out of the service. There tends to be two extremes on how christians believe people get into heaven. Some people are exclusivists. They believe that the ONLY way into heaven is through Jesus Christ and professing your faith in Him. I have friends and family members that firmly believe this. And to be honest, when someone says this to me, I find myself getting angry with them. And I know that this is backed by passages from the Bible where Jesus Himself says that He is the way and the light to Heaven. And that no one gets to heaven except through me. Jesus says these things before His death as He is trying to convince the disciples and courts that He is in fact the Messiah. But here is the thing that the pastor pointed out with exclusivists that always makes me upset - the gray area that they are often willing to overlook. For instance, an infant who dies way before the child is able to take Jesus Christ as their savior. Or a mentally retarded person who will never be able to fully understand the concept of Jesus and taking Him as their savior. Exclusivists will often make an exception for these examples. So, if they get to be an exception, what about my daughters' first mothers? Are they excluded because they were born in a Buddhist country where they have never heard of Jesus Christ?

The other side of the spectrum is the Universalist who says that everyone gets in. That God made every single person and therefore, everyone is getting in. I don't believe this either, and these believers have their own gray area where they start making exceptions to their rules, too. For instance, Hitler? Do they believe that Hitler gets into heaven? I feel like it is often said, "Well, maybe not Hitler. He probably doesn't get in." And so on and so forth. There are always these gray areas, and that is what I have had a hard time with.

The thing is, I am seeking my God and Savior throughout my life. But a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Jew is doing the exact same thing, just to a different God. They are seeking their God and living their lives for their Lord. And even though their Lord is different than mine, I have never thought that it was my place to judge them for what they have been taught or decided to believe. And under no circumstance do I believe that they are going to hell because their beliefs aren't the same as mine. I just don't believe that.

So, what I learned today was that it is okay to believe that God made every single person on this earth and that when every single person dies, they will get the chance to stand in front of Jesus and God and say, "I didn't know Lord. I didn't know that you were the son of God, but now I do, and yes, I want to come to heaven." Or they can choose not to go to heaven. So now comes the argument that so many christians have: But that isn't fair. I served Jesus Christ my whole life and this person just decided that they want to come to heaven and that is it? They are in just like that? That is not fair.

And I have come to the conclusion that yes, I think that they get in, just like that. Because God is a Lord of grace and love. And that is what I believe and I feel confident in this belief. And I was taught today that there is a Biblical parable that explains just this. If you are interested in reading it, it is Matthew 20:1-16. I am not going to type it all out because it is long, but I will summarize it. It is a story about laborers in a vineyard and the very first sentence says, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard." So, you can see in the very first sentence that Jesus is clearly relating the story to the kingdom of heaven. The story goes on to talk about the owner of the vineyard going into the market in the early morning and hiring workers. They agree on a fair wage and the workers go off to work. When the owner goes back to the market a few hours later, he sees more men standing idle, and he hires them to work as well. Then a few more hours pass, and he hires more men and then again later in the day sends even more workers into the vineyard. At the end of the day, the owner pays every single man the same pay, even though some of the men worked the entire day and some, hired later in the day, only worked for an hour. And of course the men who worked all day got upset that everyone got paid the same amount even though they did the majority of the work. And as the men grumble about this, the owner says to them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for your wage. Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first, and the first last."

Who gets into heaven is the choice of God, not us. There is no reason for us to spend time being upset that we lived our whole lives for Jesus and some live just a few hours for Him. Instead, we should celebrate that we got to know Him our entire life and be thankful for that. I feel like a lucky one for getting to know and love Him. And I am going to spread His word so that more people can be filled with His love. As far as I am concerned, the more that get to rejoice in heaven with Jesus the better.

And that my friends, does it for me. I am comfortable with my belief now and I think that Jesus explained it perfectly in this story. I believe that EVERYONE on this earth will have the opportunity to stand before God and Jesus Christ, even in their last hour, and say, "I take you as my Savior. As my Lord." And they get to go to heaven. I like this belief. It makes my heart happy and puts my mind at rest. So, I had to share it.

I am always open to discussion. If you have something you want to contribute to this, please do. But please do so in a respectful manner because it is okay that we don't all believe the same thing. That is what makes the world interesting.

01.16.10

2010-01-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

I am glad that my girls are peacefully sleeping in their beds! This afternoon has been a trying one. Lucy didn't nap today, which she does maybe once a week. Normally, she really is okay on the days that she doesn't nap, but she is ready for bed by 7 or 7:30. Today she decided she didn't need to nap. Everything was great until about 3:30 when she just completely fell apart. She was purposefully doing things to be mean to Annie and wouldn't do anything that I asked her to - like apologize to Annie for shoving her down. She and I struggled through the rest of the afternoon until she just completely melted down. I let her do her thing for a while and while it was happening, I could feel myself getting more and more frustrated with her. I really am trying to work on understanding what the girls must be feeling given the fact that they are 1 and 3, and not forcing upon them what I want them to feel. So, after a few minutes, I just picked her up and hugged on her. Within seconds, she was calmed down and decided to eat everything on her plate for dinner. What I wanted to do was get mad at her. I was mad at her. She chose not to nap. She chose to repeatedly not listen and be mean. But I stopped everything and said a quick prayer.

Please Lord, give me patience and understanding. Please don't let me lash out in anger because she is just a baby. She is tired and I don't want to make things worse, so please guide me to be a better parent to her.

I said this in the laundry room where I could at least have her out of my sight. I stood in there for about 30 seconds and just breathed in and out. Then I went out and picked her up and hugged on her. I didn't say a word to her until she calmed down, which happened quickly. Once she was calm, I could deal with her in a loving manner instead of out of anger.

I wish I could always do this. It is so easy to get so frustrated with our kids when they are acting totally unreasonable. Even after she calmed down and ate her dinner, I was still a little rattled because she had just pushed me to my limits. But taking a moment to myself and relying on God, truly did help me more than I can ever explain.

I was happy to bathe the girls and put them to bed. It has been nice to have a little time to myself to recover from a crazy afternoon. I think that if I would turn to God more often in my parenting decisions, life would be quite a bit simpler. That is another goal of mine for 2010. I need to turn to God for everything. Big or small. Every time I do, things get better. Every time I relinquish control to God, life is more enjoyable and the stress goes down. Why is it so hard to always give up control to Him? Why do I feel the need to try and push Him to the side and think that I can be in control and do things better? I promise, every time I surrender control, He handles things better than me.

Note to self: Stop being a control freak. He has you and your family wrapped up in His hands. He can help you with everything.

I almost didn't blog tonight. I just didn't feel like it. But I am glad that I did.

Why are my babies so beautiful?

01.15.10

2010-01-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

The girls and I went over to Mandy's this afternoon for a play date and ended up eating dinner over there. Thanks for a yummy, healthy meal Mandy! I ate brussel sprouts for the first time ever tonight and I even liked them. It was so nice to get out with friends for a while. We had to rush home, get through the shower, read books, sing songs and get the girls to bed. And they were still 20 minutes past their normal bedtime. Annie has moved to an 8 pm bedtime now. She went to bed at 7 forever until the past few weeks. She was just ready to stay up later now and she has been sleeping in later, which has been nice.

Finished our bedroom in my cleaning program and tomorrow will be the sitting area at the top of our stairs. I can't even begin to explain the amount of dust I have found in places that never get cleaned. I pulled out the bed side table in our bedroom today and holy dust!!!!! It totally grossed me out, but it is gone now. Thank goodness. Annie was very cooperative today while Lucy was at school. She has been doing so well lately. Not nearly as clingy and fussy. It has been very nice. Let's hope we can keep that trend up.

Have a great weekend!

01.14.10

2010-01-14T16:46:00.000-08:00

The girls got Build-A-Bear gift cards from the Corley family for Christmas and then right after Christmas we got a thing in the mail for $10 off your $30 purchase, so we had money to spend on some new friends today. Lucy chose a Polar Bear and Annie chose a traditional floppy eared bunny. They are both very cute. Lucy chose a metallic gold coat for her bear - great choice I might add. Annie didn't care about clothes, so we skipped those for her. Lucy also chose a little sound thing for her bear. Annie was really only interested in pushing the store's sample stroller around while Lucy looked through everything. After you build your animal, you put your info into a computer program so that a birth certificate prints out. Naming the babies is always a big ordeal for Lucy. She currently names all of her babies Sarah, so of course her bear was named Sarah. Then we were filling out what Annie's bunny would be named so we asked Lucy what she thought Anners would like. She replied instantly with, "Noodle Doodle," so went put Noodle on the birth certificate. When we were walking up to pay, the lady was handing our birth certificates to the cashier and I overheard the lady say, "Here you go. Here are the papers for Sarah and, ummmmmmm, Noodle." And she made this funny face. It cracked me up. Cayce - the girls are loving their new babies. Such a fun idea.

I got my living room cleaning done today and I finished tackling my closet. Well, kind of. It is very clean and organized. I still need to get out loads of hanging clothes and things in the drawers, but we are out of room for all of the cleaning out that I have been doing since I really do want to have a garage sale this spring. We have been taking it all over to the storage unit we have and there is no more room, so the other clothes will just stay where they are until the sale day. I also cleaned out the storage under my bathroom sink. Yikes. I filled up a huge bag of trash from the bathroom and closet. I love that it is gone. So nice.

I started something new today and I wrote down my daily goals. I am almost done with them. I still need to finish editing the session I planned on doing today, but I can do that while I watch my shows tonight. If I hadn't written them down, a few things - like putting away the clean laundry - would have just gotten ignored. But since I had written it down, I felt like I had to do it and I am so glad that I did. I am going to try and start writing down the 5 most important things that I want to accomplish each day. I think it will make me more accountable.

I want to say how awful what has happened in Haiti has been to watch. If you can donate anything at all to helping the Haitians begin to recover from such a horrific event, I think you should - anything is better than nothing. We donated through World Vision, but there are lots of wonderful groups to send some relief through. I just can't even imagine what it is like being there right now. Our church had 12 missionaries there. They have all been accounted for, thank God, but there are so many others who haven't been so fortunate. It is just so sad and that country is at the very top of my prayer list for now.

01.13.10

2010-01-13T16:38:00.000-08:00

Is Annie not the biggest ham? I was walking over to put a bite in her mouth and she plopped her head in her hand like this. Justin, Lucy and I all cracked up laughing. She actually stayed like this for a long time. Of course, I got my camera out and she had moved, but Justin showed her and she did it several more times. Cracking me up. The funniest part was that she knew it was so cute and she was working it.

I deep cleaned the dining room today. I am feeling so great about my project. I am loving how clean the downstairs is getting. Up tomorrow is the living room. I started the process of cleaning out my closet. It is LONG overdue and I so far have cleaned out four giant bags of stuff to sell or give away and I haven't even started on my big drawers or the hanging clothes. That is just ridiculous that I have kept so many things for so long that I would never wear. I need to do better about this.

I had an awesome session this afternoon. It was actually warm enough to do it outside. It was still rather chilly by the end of our session, but it felt GREAT to spend an hour outside this afternoon. It is a CUTE session, so be sure and check out the La La Blog for Miss Parker later tonight. I am posting one small peek here to hold her momma over until after my girls go to bed and I can actually edit some more. But when I downloaded them, this one was way too sweet to not edit immediately. My monkeys are hanging from me now, so I am outta here.

One more of my little posey girl.

01.12.10

2010-01-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for the return of American Idol!!! Woot woot. So pumped it is back! Love, love, love it and can't wait until we get to the part with Ellen. I don't think that show will make it without Simon. Do you?

Today has been nonstop. Annie had therapy early this morning. As soon as that was done, I started deep cleaning our kitchen. I decided yesterday that I was going to deep clean each room in the house one day at a time. I have just felt like the house is dirty because well, it has been dirty. So I scrubbed the appliances, every cabinet and drawer, dusted the blinds, washed the base boards, dusted, mopped, and organized. It was a TON of work, but I feel very good about having it done. I chose the kitchen first because I knew it would be one of the most difficult rooms. My closet will be a ton of work, too. But tomorrow I am going to do the dining room. I am moving room to room down the house.

We met with a real estate agent this afternoon. We took our house off of the market, but plan to put it back on soon. Our previous agent was doing NOTHING to get people in here. And things are selling in our neighborhood, so it is not just a dead market. We just haven't had our house marketed at all. We really hope to sell it, so say a little prayer for us!

I am off to finish AI and then go watch Biggest Loser. Fun times.

Even Annie got sucked into AI!

She was being tortured!

I ♥ Faces - Best Face

2010-01-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to I ♥ Faces!! I have been terrible about participating in the contests lately, but it is just because life and work have been so crazy. I am happy to get back in and hope to do more this upcoming year. There are some amazing judges this week, so I am just excited for any of them to be on my blog!! You had to use a picture that you took in December or January that you thought was your best face photo. This is from a recent session with the precious Miss Ava. She is a doll. This was taken on January 3, 2010.

Be sure and check out some of the fun entries over at I ♥ Faces

01.11.10

2010-01-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

I am not really in the blogging mood tonight, but wanted to throw up a quick picture. It has been a busy day and I need to be editing recent sessions. I just want to say, I have on The Bachelor because nothing else was on tv. It has been years since I have seen this show. I used to LOVE it, but then just had no desire to ever see it. I am so embarrassed for these girls. Eek.

01.10.10

2010-01-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for the way that Annie hugs. She really squeezes your neck and she pats your back. The entire time she is hugging you she says "Ahhhhhhhhhhh" and then she raises up her head and kisses you. It is so so so cute and sweet. Tonight when I was rocking her to bed, I was saying a prayer with her and she just grinned the biggest grins the entire time. Then when I said Amen she gave me about 10 kisses in a row. And she doesn't say night night, but instead she says "Bye!" when she is going to bed so in between each kiss she told me bye. She is just precious, but SUCH a handful. That child has been into EVERYTHING today. Nonstop destructo.

Here is a cute Lucy story. She goes through phases of coming into our room in the middle of the night and getting in bed with J and me. She will do it every night for months and then not do it at all for months. She is back in a stage of coming in our room and when she showed up last night, she was handing me all of her stuff - 2 blankees and a pillow and she had this huge smile. Then she says, "Mom, I flash lighted my way down the hall tonight!" and she shows me her flashlight. It was so funny to me, mostly because she was so proud of herself. It was pretty smart of her.

My Bible study starts back tomorrow morning and I am so excited about that. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I just love today's pictures. Annie was such a smiley girl for the camera today, which is not the norm, but they were having so much fun playing hide and seek behind those curtains this morning.

It appears as though Annie has a pair of dog ears!

She is always getting herself in tight spots.

01.09.10

2010-01-09T15:08:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for getting to snuggle on two precious baby girls. This is so strange, but I had two newborn sessions earlier today - both girls, both born on December 17th around 3 pm. I thought that was so bizarre that both sessions were within minutes of age of one another. The picture above is of sweet Ava (playgroup friend) and her brand new, teensy tiny baby sister, Madeline. How amazingly beautiful are they? Seriously? I am so jealous of their hair. I think Madeline already has thicker hair than I have. These are some of our dearest friends, and since I wasn't in the mood to take more pics of my own girls, I thought I would share this one. Plus, I didn't want to make Katy wait to see it. I have Mandy's birthday party tonight, so I can't get sneak peeks up until tomorrow. Anyway, big sis Ava was an absolute dream today for their session. We were so proud of her. And Madeline was a piece of cake. Sweet girls. Don't worry Katy, you will get a full blown sneak peek tomorrow. I just had to share this one today because it is killing me.

01.08.10

2010-01-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for breakfast with Mandy and Annie this morning. I love breakfast dates. Annie was so good and sweet. She loves her some Mandy snuggle time. And I am pretty sure Mandy enjoys it, too. I get to go out for Mandy's girls night birthday party tomorrow night. Should be all kinds of fun.

After breakfast, Annie and I ran a few errands and then it was time to pick up Lucy at school. I am working on putting some stuff on Craig's list to sell. I have never done this before, so hopefully I can unload a few of the bigger things we want to get rid of. Was anyone else disgusted by how much junk they have after Christmas? Justin and I loaded up 4 giant yard trash bags full of toys that don't get played with or that have been outgrown. This was just so we had room to put all of the new toys in the play area. It really is too much. I have this overwhelming feeling to give and give and give to the girls but it is just too much. They don't need all of that stuff. Now that some of it is cleared out, they can actually get in there and play and enjoy the toys that they do love to play with. When it warms up, I plan on having a giant garage sale and then giving the rest away. I would like it to get warm soon because I can't deal with all of our junk much longer.

Justin and I are about to watch (500) Days of Summer. I have been wanting to see it, so hopefully we will like it.

Lucy loves to serve Annie bath water tea. Ick.

01.07.10

2010-01-07T17:58:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for our fireplace. I love it when it is really cold outside and we can have a fire. We can really only use it when Annie is sleeping because it scares me too much to have it going when she is awake. She is just too curious about everything and absolutely refuses to listen to the word no.

Lucy told me this afternoon that she wanted to take her nap in her "camphouse" aka her new Princess tent. I said that was fine as long as she actually took her nap. I figured I would have to move her, but she got right in there with her sleeping bag and books, read for a bit, and then went right to sleep. So cute.

I am off to watch the BCS Championship game. I am cheering for Bama!!

Lucy's favorite book at the moment is one that Justin gave her for Christmas - The Story of Ferdinand. It is so sweet and she already knows it by heart.

01.06.10

2010-01-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for Lucy thinking that the picture below from US Weekly was her momma!! I was holding the magazine and she says, "Look Momma!! You're in the magazine!!" Justin jumped up from his chair because he was so excited to see who Lucy thought was me. He quickly said, "I have gotta see this." We both had a good laugh. This is Bridget, one of Hef's former girlfriends from Girls Next Door. I felt good about Lucy's thinking because I pretty much ate around the clock from Thanksgiving until now. I would be more than a little scary in a bikini right about now, but my girl, she still thinks I look great!! Gotta love that.

I knew when we got the Hello Kitty gum ball machine that it would be Lucy's favorite present. She LOVES gum. I was right. I also knew that it would be the most annoying present because we would have to limit her to one or two pieces a day. I was right about that, too. She talks about wanting gum all of the time. Since she knows it is driving us nuts, she has started reverse psychology on us and constantly says, "I can't have any gum right now." When we don't respond, she then says, "Right mom? I can't have any gum right now?" I confirm that she can't and then she gets a little sad. She never throws fits about it, but she talks about it all of the time.

01.05.10

2010-01-05T17:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all of the advice and encouragement on Annie and the attachment stuff. I know it will pass and we will all be just fine. Today was a much better day. She still had her moments, but overall it was a million times better. Through all the ups and downs, we still love our precious baby girl so very much and can't imagine a moment of life without her. She is a true blessing to our family and I don't want anyone to think for a second that we don't realize that.

I just got home from my mom's night out and I was really excited to catch up with everyone and see how Christmas and New Years was for everyone. We ate at one of my favorite places, so I got to eat a really yummy meal. It was a really nice break from all that has been going on. I am so thankful for my girl friends.

01.04.10

2010-01-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for long, long nap days for the girls, which is exactly what we had today. Both girls napped for 3.5 hours today. Let me tell you, this is NOT the norm for us. But they are trying to catch up from the holidays and family time. Annie was up for a long time in the middle of the night. June was up with her. I thought that they were both sleeping in there because I knew June had been in the for a long time, but when I heard Annie cry and went down there, June said she had been wide awake for 2+ hours. Not Annie's best work.

While the girls were napping, I went to Barnes and Noble and got a new planner for the year and chose a few books. I love to go and sit in B&N and browse through books, especially photography books. After I got back, the girls continued to nap for so long that I had time to write in my planner, write in my journal, and read a few chapters of a book. One of my new years resolutions is to work on my prayer life much more seriously. My mom's Bible study was about praying and I loved the book and what we talked about, but now I need to put it into action. I plan on starting to keep a prayer journal. I think it will help and it was a nice release today. I just want to pay more attention to my prayer life and my communication with God. I could use His guidance much more than I rely on Him right now.

I am having some worries and frustrations over Annie and her attachment. To an outsider, it would appear that she is quite happily adjusted and attached to both Justin and myself. When other people are around and there is a lot of activity, she is happy as can be and such a joy to be around. But it is her attachment to me that has me concerned. If I am not in her sight, she will play and laugh and run around. I will sometimes just sit in the other room so that I can hear her so freely playing and enjoying life. But when I come in the room, she melts down. If I am not holding her and focusing 100% on her, she is screaming bloody murder. She doesn't want to get down and play. She wants her head glued to my shoulder. If she knows that I am about to put her down or hand her to Justin, she immediately starts crying. This obviously is not the case 100% of the time, but it holds true most of the time. A perfect example is tonight after dinner she was just a wreck. I was trying to help Lucy with dinner and she was just not going to have any of it. So Justin took her upstairs so I was out of her sight. She cried for a minute or two and then settled right down. I couldn't hear a peep out of her. The second Lucy and I came upstairs so I could get them showered, she melted down. She was snuggling so sweetly with Justin on the bed when we walked in and the second I walked in, she fought her way down off of the bed and started immediately crying. She got herself so worked up that she continued to cry all through her shower - even when I was holding her.

Some days are much better than others. She has had a snotty nose for a month now and she got a horrible night of sleep last night, but this happens a lot on days where she is totally well and also well rested. I obviously prefer her to want to be with me over not wanting to be with me. But this is really, really hard and exhausting. It is frustrating because she makes it SO difficult for me to do much of anything for Lucy. I have to just let her cry sometimes because there is no possible way that I can hold her all day long, take care of myself, and give Lucy what she totally deserves.

Today was a bad day for this and I just needed to vent about it. I will continue to hold her and assure her that we love her more than she will ever understand and always be there for her. I just hate that she is struggling so much over very clear insecurities. I hope we can all work our way through this soon. It really is hard.

The sun is shining brightly but it is cold. I really do not know how you Northerners do it. I could never live in the North.

01.03.10

2010-01-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

01.02.10

01.03.10

I have to admit it felt totally bizarre to not post yesterday, but it was a perfect example of why posting every single day can be such a drag. Today I am thankful for the very fun evening that Justin and I got to have last night. Nana and Grandy are at our house for the Cowboys game, so they watched the girls for us last night and J and I went to the Jack Ingram concert. If you do not know who Jack Ingram is, check him out. He is awesome. I really prefer his older music, but the new stuff is great too. And girls, he is cute. Like really, really hot. And I hung out with him last night and thoroughly enjoyed myself. :) Don't worry, Justin knows that I love Jack. He has just accepted it. They're friends and I am sure Justin has told Jack that I love him in an attempt to embarrass me. And not only was the show fabulous, but I got to hear him sing Goodnight Moon with just him and a guitar to about 15 people. A-MAZING! All of this made me a very, very happy girl. And to top things off, I got to sleep in this morning, so the many vodka sodas that I had didn't hurt quite so badly. It really is such a treat to get to do something fun with Justin and know that I don't have to worry for one second about the girls because they are in very good hands. Thanks Andy and June. You guys are the best.

Today was the highly dreaded "Take Christmas Decorations Down" day. I really despise this day. It is so much work to get Christmas up and back down. Lucy and Nana were my very big helpers. June pretty much had to keep Annie out of everything because she was not pleased when we were all trying to work. The trees are totally undecorated but still up until tonight when Justin and Andy get home from the game and can get them down. Justin lucked out of this fun day and got to go to the Cowboys game instead. He owes me big time. June helped me dust and I bet I vacuumed up a pound or two of glitter. It feels nice to have the house back in order. Well, kind of back in order, but this was a big step in the right direction. And very very unlike myself, I actually completely unpacked myself and the girls when we got home yesterday. I am very glad to have that awful task over with, too.

Lucy got a sleeping bag from Santa and she loves it so much. Since Andy and June are here, she is in our room. She normally sleeps in the bed with us, but she wanted in her monkey sleeping bag. When we got home from the concert last night, I wanted her to get in bed with us, but she refused because the sleeping bag was much cooler than sleeping in our bed. :( She has just been being so precious in the middle of the night lately. She just wakes up and smiles at us and lets us love on her and then goes right back to sleep. Sweet baby. I wish Annie would sleep with us sometimes, but if she gets out of her room chances of her doing any sleeping are slim. I still try a lot and it never works.

Lucy and I said goodbye until next Christmas to every single ornament.

January 1, 2010

2010-01-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

You didn't really think that I would leave you hanging on the first day of 2010, right? How could I not post after so many of you came out and introduced yourself yesterday and today. Today I am thankful for getting to know who some of you are now!! I am so excited to hear that several people are doing a 365 project this year. I look forward to following along on your journeys. I still plan on posting a lot in 2010. And as I said, I hope to take pictures everyday - usually of the girls, but not always since that is part of what made last year so difficult.

On the first day of 2010, we got up at 8 and ate pancakes, I spent a lot of time gathering up our stuff which is all over my parents house, Annie and I took a nap, I had my first session of the year with a truly darling 6 month old baby, we ate dinner at Purple Cow with my parents, and Lucy exchanged a Leapster game that she got two copies of - and much to our surprise, it was buy one get one free day, so she ended up getting two new games. Lucky year for her so far!! :)

I don't know if you have ever seen the toy in the pictures today, but it has been a huge hit at Lee Lee's house this year. It is this plastic roller coaster and all four grandkids have loved it so much. Our dear friend Mandy (Happy, happy birthday to you!!) has one so I knew Lucy liked it, but Annie was all over it, too.

She keeps her eyes closed the whole way down. So cute.

My big pumpkin decided she didn't need to nap today and I am not kidding, she was out about 2 seconds after her head hit the pillow. And I took this picture because she has resisted covers until about 4 days ago. She never wanted anything on her other than her own blankees. Now she wants under the big comforter and she really snuggles in. I love it. I went in to check on her and she was all bundled in the down comforter.

Last night I did go to a friend, Kathy's, house because they just moved in and I wanted to see their new home. Plus, I had canvases of her beautiful family to give her. I ended up hanging out with them and ringing in the new year with Kathy and her family. Justin had to leave on Wednesday and work yesterday, so I was on my own. When I got home, Lucy was awake in her bed. She was being so precious and just smiling at me when I walked in. I told her Happy New Year and said how wonderful of a year we were going to have. She hugged me tight and told me that she loved me. It really was the perfect start to the year. I hope you have all had a wonderful January 1st, 2010 and I hope that God blesses us all in this new year.

365/365

2009-12-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for all of the pictures and stories of the girls that I have from 2009. I can't believe that one day they will be able to look back and see a picture of themselves from every single day of 2009. That really is pretty cool. Now I just need to figure out exactly what to do with all of the images. I think I will make a very fancy album for each girl with my favorites of each month. I should have time to work on that in January and February. We'll see when I actually get it done. I am going to try really hard to keep taking pictures of them most days because I love that I have all of these.

I thought it was fitting that Lee Lee was in today's pictures since she is my number one fan on the blog. Thanks for all of the comments, Mom. I am quite certain that she has commented on every single post. Sweet momma of mine.

Holly, Adam, John and Wyatt left today. The chaos level at the house went down tremendously since the kids all kind of wound one another up. Right before they left Lucy and John were running wild having a pillow fight. The noise level around here was never low. I know Lucy and Annie are missing their playmates already.

I have no New Year's Eve plans, which is perfectly fine by me. I have never been a huge fan of NYE. And now it just seems dangerous to even be out and about. I am so old and dorky! :)

I hope that 2010 is a wonderful year for each and every one of you. I think 2009 was kind of a hard year, so I have big plans for this whole decade being just fabulous. Happy, happy, happy New Year to all!! This has been a fun year on the blog. Thanks for sticking with me. I am not going to lie, I would love to hear from lots of you since this is my 365th post in a row.

364/365

2009-12-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for it being time to start a new year. I have so much that I want to accomplish next year and have so many changes that need to be made. I am looking forward to the changes and hope that I can stick to my plans better than I have in the past. First and foremost, I am trying to get dedicated to eating better. I am going to work a lot harder to have a healthy meal plan every week. I am also going to work a lot harder to stick with a budget and start saving more. I want to get a lot done for La La. I really do have big plans for 2010 and I am excited about it.

You would think on the second to last day of my 365 project that I would be on top of taking a picture today. Nope. It is so nuts around here that I forgot my picture today - but I think the sleeping picture of Annie is so sweet.

363/365

2009-12-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

You can see evidence of the cold that has been passed around from family to family. Papa and Adam are not feeling well. There are just a few germs being passed around this house at the moment.

Today I am thankful for all of my awesome clients that trusted me this year to capture their families. I still am shocked at how well things went for La La in my first year of business. I have lots of fun things for 2010 and I can't wait to get started. This whole year has been a big learning experience, and I feel confident that things can only get even better from here. Again, thank you to anyone reading this that has had a La La session.

I am going to do what was suggested in a comment and post my favorite picture of the month of each girl from the past 12 months. I feel so lucky to have so many precious pictures of my littles from this year. A few months I couldn't narrow it down to just one per girl.

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:
(Justin will get mad if I don't give him credit for this photo!)

362/365

2009-12-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for everyone that has read this blog and followed along for the past year. Especially those of you who have stuck with me through the boring times, like lately. Your sweet comments always make my day and I love to hear from each of you. Some of you are especially great commenters, and don't think I don't notice. Your support is greatly appreciated. I wouldn't have stuck it out this year if I hadn't heard from so many of you on a regular basis.

Mom and I kept all 4 kids while Dad, Justin, Holly and Adam went to a movie. Lucy got loads of make up for Christmas so she was playing with it. The boys were interested in it, so I went ahead and put a full crazy face on them. And Wyatt got a ponytail. I really hope Holly and Adam have a girl some day because she sure would be a cutie! My dad was not amused by the boys in make up! Ha.

We are off for a big domino match here. We have Holly and Adam hooked. Cayce - Holly and I came back and won the second match after being down 4 games!! It was so awesome. I know that Justin was shocked we won so many in a row. So, Holly and I have one a round and Justin and Adam have won a round. Tonight is a big night!

361/365

2009-12-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for getting to take Lucy to her first ever movie theater experience. Holly, Lee Lee, John, Wyatt, Lucy, and I all went to The Princess and the Frog today. Lucy absolutely loved it. She sat perfectly still and quiet in my lap the entire movie. I was amazed at just how well she did. She ate some popcorn and drank some juice. It was lots of fun. We have wanted to take her to a movie for a while, but this was the first one that I didn't think would scare her. She will definitely be a fan of the movie theater from now on.

I really can't believe I only have 5 more days to post. I haven't decided exactly what I am going to do next year. I will say I am not committing to posting every day again. I just can't do it again. I am really tired of knowing that I HAVE to do it each night and I would like the pressure to be gone. I do plan on taking a picture every day - just not necessarily of the girls each day. I would like to work on some more artistic images. We'll see.

360/365

2009-12-26T17:08:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful that on this day exactly 3 years ago we met our Lucy Goose in Vietnam for the very first time. We spent about 2 hours with her in the orphanage and it was such an amazing experience. She was so alert and studied us the entire time. She never made a single fuss. The nannies repeatedly came over and took her from us and cried and cried and cried as they held her. It was heart wrenching, but we felt so confident and happy about the love that she had received in her 5 months in Que Son. I used to really not like December 26th - you are the furthest from Christmas day that you can possibly be. But it has such special memories and meaning to us now.

We actually got out and braved the crowds a bit today. The only thing I cared about was going to this one particular store to get half price Christmas decorations. We called last night to see if they were opening early and the message on their machine just said the holiday hours. I trusted this, but my sister Holly was worried this was wrong. The message said they opened at 10, so we were there at 9:55. Holly was right, they opened at 7 am and EVERYTHING was gone. I had to honestly fight back tears because I had several specific things that I really, really wanted. This place has the most amazing Christmas things that you have ever seen. I am still so sad about missing it all. Ugh. Next year, right?

359/365

2009-12-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for the birth of Jesus Christ, time with family, a big delicious meal, lots of presents, and the excitement that the kids had all day long. Today has been just wonderful. I couldn't have asked for any more. Lucy, Annie, John and Wyatt have all played so incredibly well together and have really had a great time trying out all of their new toys. They got way more than they could ever possibly need or want, but they seem to really like it all.

I hope you all had a merry day and ask that you take a moment to pray for the little baby boy that I told you about a few days ago. His status is still the same, but his twin sister has been released and been given a clean bill of health. I am sure this has been a hard day not having their family home and healthy.

I am off to enjoy the rest of the day with my family and sit on the couch and enjoy a moment or two of still and quiet. Merry Christmas.

358/365

2009-12-24T17:31:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for everyone getting in town today! Holly and her family are still on the road, but Amy and Katy are here. The girls are beyond excited about everything going on. We set out the cookies and milk for Santa, set out some carrots for the reindeer, and sprinkled our magic reindeer food on the yard. Lucy is so into it. She didn't nap today, so she is in bed already. Annie was squawking before going to bed and Lucy told her, "You have to get quiet and go to night night if you want to open presents tomorrow."

We have a lot to do tonight to be ready for the morning. I want to wish everyone a very, very Merry Christmas. I hope that you are all having a wonderful time with family or friends. I made sure to talk with Lucy about tomorrow being Jesus' birthday because it is so easy to get wrapped up in the other side of Christmas and forget the importance of the day. She loves birthdays, so she loves to talk about Jesus' birthday.

There is just nothing like being on this side of Christmas with little ones. It is just a magical time for them. Hugs your family extra tight tonight.

357/365

2009-12-23T16:46:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for the Grizwold Christmas party that some of my dear friends throw every year. It is tonight and it is seriously so much fun. You wear the tackiest Christmas outfit you can come up with, and last year my bff Katie and I wore full 80s ball gowns - Kate was green and I was red. It really was hysterical and some of the things people come up with are just amazing. I am not sure what I am wearing this year because the weather is so bad that I am having a difficult time committing to such a serious outfit. It is pouring rain and not supposed to stop. Yuck.

Lee Lee and I did all of the grocery shopping today. Our Christmas meal should be quite yummy. Okay, I have to run because I have outfit planning to do before the party.