Julia: 637 photos and some extra strength Tylenol later.

I've blogged before about how stinkin' HARD, if not impossible, it is for me to take photos of my kiddos.  The other day I took Julia out with her new white dress for some photos for her baptism announcement.  Two hours, 637 photos, a full card, and a spent battery--and I just got a handful.  Oy.  Once again I'm thinking the thing to do is hire someone else to take photos of my kids.  Rawther ironic, that!  HA!

My favorite girl.  These shots?  I like.

And this, my friends, is a glimpse at daily life with this young lady.

Pray for me...

Bed of laundry?

I mean, I know I have some laundry to do and all, but really?

This is what I found a bit ago when I went upstairs to get the name of the cleaner I use to give to hubby.

Grabbed my camera.

Took this:

And never did get the info for Meryl!

Diesel

Brought Belle over to a friend's to play with their new 4-month-old doberman puppy. He's such a sweet dog--but already outweighs our Belle and is the same height!  When he grows into those paws, he's going to be hugeamongous!  But such a pleasant little..er..big?..guy.

Took a couple of pictures of him while there, just cos!

Look at those ears!  Kind of reminds me of a batman costume.  HA!

This photo followed by a nose print on my lens.  Which happened more than once, for the record.

My Belle tired him right out, so into his chair he went...

(Look at those paws!  When he catches up with them, wow.  Huge.)

And crashed. 

Out.

Just because.

Took this awhile ago at a birthday party.

Liked it.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Danielle:::Sneak Peak

The problem with taking so many shots of someone as sweet, easygoing, and natural as Danielle is having to choose which ones to go with!  She was so willing to try anything, and eventually was confident enough to try her own thing and really work it.  I love it when that happens!  "Can I get in the water?" Well YES!

Here's a little sneak peak to share, Dani.  Thank you for letting me be a part of this exciting time.  I can hardly WAIT to see what you do next!

So many more...so little blog space.  :o)

Goin' underground.

Last weekend of the summer, we took a day trip to Laurel Caverns. 

How cool is this???

And how I thanked my lucky stars more than once for a camera whose ISO could be ramped up, coupled with Lightroom to edit

Being in a cave 7-14 stories underground without a tripod doesn't make for good lighting conditions!  And I didn't use a flash on any of these.  Oooh yeah!

See the horizontal line on the left hand side?

That's a fault line.  Freaky--but cool.

You wanna go now, don'tcha?  Don'tcha?

Laurel Caverns.  Highly recommended! 

First Day of school

The house is oddly empty this week.  For the first time in 8 years I'm kid free during the day, and although Julia has been looking forward to this day, when she could bring her little brother on the schoolbus, for the past three years, I'm feeling a bit lonely.

It's all the kids' fault.  They just have to go and grow up.

And this is the scene less than 15 minutes after arriving home:

Crashed.  Out. 

Woke up only long enough to try to eat, little tears of tiredness the whole time.

After that a snuggle then, "Mommy, I can't wait any more..." 

Then bed.

And he's gone to bed before his regular bedtime every day since.

On his own.

No complaints.

I like.