House Progress....slowly!

We have hit the sluggish state in the building process!! It feels SO close, but yet so far away!! We have TONS to do to the upstairs studio... but no time to do it! I work Saturdays, and we're typically at church most of the day Sunday... SO, I have GOT to figure out some time to get up there and get dirty with some manual labor!!

We just ordered cabinets, and the paint is going up starting tomorrow!! Next is flooring!!! :) We don't even have time to decide on these things, much less do any work involved with it! How did our lives get SO busy?!

Here are some recent pics of the progress!

Here's a pic of the front from today. We just need some shutters, then we're good to go! Notice the driveway and sidewalk are framed out! We should have a driveway by next week!!

Here's the side entry where my clients will come in! This is about a week old, so the sidewalk up to it is all framed up now!
Here's the banister and stairwell up to the STUDIO!!!! See the side entry door just ahead?
Here's coming into the entry way from the front door. Jared found this trim work in a magazine. It carries into the dining room as well. The top where it's just wall will be a light brown color... the bottom an off white.
Here's the living room! You can't tell too much about the fire place yet, but once everything is painted maybe you can see more!

We're getting there slowly now, and I couldn't be more excited (and nervous about interest rates and mortgages)!!!

Sweet Baby!

My Mom used to work with this little guys Mom! I met his whole family for the first time today, and they were all SO sweet! He is 6 weeks old, and you wouldn't know it by how wide eyed and alert he was the whole session!! He was not interested in sleeping one bit, but had the most precious, sweet, content looks! Here's a sneak peak of these angelic little shots!

Country Boy!

You all met Landon and his big brother Ethan a few weeks ago. Today Ethan didn't have to share the spotlight with his baby brother... it was all about him! His Grammy had the cutest idea so we had to go try it out! A bunch of ant bites later (me, not Ethan), and some yucky lighting to work with, I came out with some adorable shots! Ethan is SOOOO adorable, and one of the cutest little guys I've ever met! Thanks Grammy for the fantastic idea!

AND... a special thank you to Mrs. Pat for letting us use her gorgeous property!

I love this age!

I have a list of favorite ages to photograph. Now, there is ALWAYS an exception to the rule, BUT, usually my absolute favorite age is between 9 and 10 months. IF the kids are in a good mood, they usually are all personality, so easy to capture in the camera, AND they can't run away from you yet (usually)! Coming in a very close second, are newborns, seniors, AND the "tween" years! This young lady is exactly why! When I get the opportunity to work with someone this age I always have fun! They usually enjoy the session and I'm reminded how our youth at a young age have SO much to offer! They can be so witty and fun, and just great little spirits! I had so much fun working with this gorgeous young lady, and her sweet little brothers (they were quite handsome themselves)! What a blessing I get each and every day! Thank you Lord for all you do in my life, and for each and every special person you put in it!

Thanks, Mom for bringing your sweet kiddos to me, and Dad, sorry that your baby girl turned out looking older than she even is!! She sure is a cutie though!

All about Maclain

I know I'm WAY behind, but I did school pics for Maclain's Mother's Day Out program, and that got me WAY behind and overworked!! SO, I'm just now getting to it! I will post some of last week's normal sessions later, but for now, it's time to catch you up with Maclain! :) Here's our week in review:

This was last Sunday night! Like most Sundays, we went ALL day long, then we ended it with AWANA from 5-7. Clain LOVES being a little Puggle, and our church has a fantastic program. Because of the days events, no nap, ending with full out Puggle night (with Crazy Hair - our theme that night), we came in about 10 after 7, and by about 7:20 this is how I found Maclain! He didn't even eat dinner that night!! He slept for over 12 hours that night!!!


Then came Monday... what a tough day... I kept Maclain home from school so I could give him one more day of potty training time (since he is NOT a fan of the public potty... he gets that honest)! ANYWAY... I still had to work which kept me occupied, so needless to say he got into LOTS of things! This was the first thing! He decided he had a little dry skin, and needed a LITTLE lotion! There was a LOT more in his room!!! Even his Woody doll got a dose from head to toe... Buzz made it through this one unscathed!

This was the second thing that happened... this was one of his trips to the potty! Have you ever seen the new Curious George movie with Will Ferrell as one of the voices? WELL, in that movie, Curious George fills up the bathroom with toilet paper as he unrolls, and unrolls, and unrolls, the toilet paper roll! When I found Maclain I said "WHAT are you DOING?" He said, "See, I'm like Monkey George"!!!! At this point I was second guessing keeping him at home, BUT, it finally worked! That's right, Maclain is POTTY TRAINED!!! He's 100%, all big boy undies, 24 hours a day (as long as we're at home) :)! When we're out and about, it takes a lot of convincing on the public potties!! If I have to haul his potty around with us, I'll do it!!! :) I'm SO proud of him! I think he'll get the public thing soon... he did pretty good at school Wednesday and Thursday, and did decent at church, but we send him in pull-ups since he's a little uneasy with public potties, AND people OTHER than his immediate family! :) I'm thinking after another week, maybe he'll be in undies 24/7 no matter where he is!

THEN came Tuesday night!!!!!!!!!! We had our first official visit to the ER!!! That's right, we made it three years without one, so I guess we should consider ourselves lucky! Jared and I were working late, and didn't get Clain in the tub til about 9:45. We had a LONG day of school pics ahead of us in the morning, and I still had to pack all of my equipment up! Well, when it was time to get out of the tub, I started draining the water, then was putting the toys up at the back of the bathtub... the same time, Clain decided to try and get out by himself!!! Before I ever saw him he slipped and broke his fall with his chin!! The cut wasn't deep, but when he looked upward at all, it gaped WAY open! SO, off to the ER we go at 10pm. Around 12:30 we left Children's ER in Huntsville with Popsicle, and a very tired little man in hand! LUCKILY the cut wasn't deep enough for stitches, but they glued it! It was awesome! We just had to keep it dry... no bandaging, no cleaning, no nothing!!! Well worth the trip! I don't have a pic on the computer at the moment, but with it all glued, it's not too impressive anyway! :)

Finally... we make it through the week, and I'm starting to get caught up! Not there yet, but took a chunk out of my work load at least! I think this picture was taken Friday. Cute story here... My Dad used to stop at those little machines you put a quarter in, and it drops the claw down and you hopefully grab a toy! I had quite a few toys from those!!! Well, I have a ritual with Maclain now, and every time we leave Wal-Mart (unless he's acted horribly) we stop by the machine and give it a try! I've gotten pretty good!!! We more likely than not end up with another cheap stuffed animal! SO, now his bed is COVERED in stuffed animals! This is what he chose to do with those animals this weekend! :)

One last note! Maclain LOVES these little toy machines. I have no idea what it's called, so I have him calling it "the machine"! He often pretends to "play the machine" using little robot toy arms to reach and grab his toys. He opens, drops, closes, and pulls up... just like the machine! WELL, for his birthday he received a card with money at his birthday. He immediately looked up at me and said "Monies"!!! Then proceeded to use his arm to mock the machine!!! Guess what he wanted to spend his money on!? :) We made a trip the next week and came home with another obnoxiously cheap stuffed animal!!

That is a FULL week's worth of blogs in one day!! :) I will post new house pictures in the next couple of days!!!! I think this is enough for now! :)

Have a great week!

Melts my heart!

These two beauties and their fantastic family completely melt my heart every session! I did a session with the oldest last year when she turned two, and she immediately became one of my favorite clients ever! Then, little sister came along, and now there is some true competition for that title! :) It's so hard to explain, but mom's and those who love kids will understand. There are some children that come into our lives, and for some reason or another, they immediately find a special place in your heart! These two sweethearts have my heart! I could go on and on, dancing around this same thought and trying to explain what I mean... BUT, I think when you take a look at them, you might just know for yourself! TOO amazingly precious!

Thank you sweet family for being such a blessing in my life! Here's a sneak peak! I may never make up my mind picking through the others! :)

Just Gorgeous!

I met this little man a while back, and boy has he gotten even MORE handsome than the first time I met him! I would snuggle him up and take him home any time! He keeps me on my toes, but only cause that's par for the course at this age! :) Even when I'm chasing him, he keeps the SWEETEST little grins on his face! I also got to meet his adorable cousins who joined us for the session all the way from the Shoals area! I was honored to have them join us!