TAGGED!

Hey, I just got my first Bloggy Tag from Katie at Une Autre Mere so I'm pretty excited (and a little nervous...you'll see why) to fulfill my duty.

Eh, hem. Here goes.

You're supposed to do the following:

1. Open the 4th picture folder on your computer

2. Open the 4th picture and post it on your blog

3. Explain the picture

4. Tag 4 people to do the same!

Oh, Yay! I guess I didn't have to be nervous after all. It wasn't a really lame picture of me or a terrible, blurry shot...but, if it were, I'd still post it and have a sense of humor. BUT, instead, it's a WONDERFUL, picture of my Hubs, the Hottie! Woo! I love his smile in this one...and the color. This was taken last fall (only TWO DAYS before we found out we were going to have a BABY!) at a pumpkin patch/Corn Maze just a few miles out of town. It was a fun time. They were closed, but let us snap a few fall shots anyway!

Now I'm tagging...DRUMROLL PLEASE!

SYLVIA at Sylvia's Insight - my amazing jewelry-making, new-mommy bloggy friend!

SARAH at Life in the Parsonage - a wonderful story-teller, delightfully perceptive about life, so-honest-you'll-love-her runner and fellow namebearer.

TARA at Mommy Life - she has some of the BEST kiddo stories EVER...funny and touching. She's a Mom at heart!

LIZ at Oxygen and Oatmeal - a super creative still life photographer friend, who I get to see in few short days! YAY!

Pregnancy Diaries: Us 'R Babies

I just took advantage of some super-sweet deals at Babies 'R Us. Picked up 3 for $20 packages of Newborn Diapers. Good deal. And when Jim came home for lunch, he observed that the Diapers are good up to 10 pounds. He said with a Southern Twang (not sure why he used that accent), "They'll hold up to 10 pounds until we have to change 'er..." :D Bahahahaaaaa....Jim made another funny.

On another note, I also picked up our Pack 'n Play AND the swing that matches (from the Graco Utopia Collection)! Woo! (We already have the stroller/travel system.) All because I waited (amazingly) and saved up (more amazing) for the Pack 'n Play...a few weeks ago I had enough money saved up from photoshoots and babysitting that I could get the Pack 'n Play, but never made it to Babies 'R' Us to pick it up. In the meantime, I got a few emails informing me of some super good deals...and one of them was $15 off the VERY Pack 'n Play I wanted and 15% off ANY Pack 'n Play in the store! So, with all I had saved up, I was able to get both the Pack 'n Play AND the swing (which was also $15 off this weekend). I felt SO stinkin' awesome about it, I stopped by Krispy Kreme on the way home and got a dozen doughnuts, plus one for the road. A Baker's Dozen.

Oh, and to boot, the swing mobile has owls on it! I'm using owls as the decor for Josefine's room (or corner of the room!) and verses from the Bible about wisdom. Here are pictures of my "Inspirations for Josefine's Room."

Photography Blog Update

This was my first newborn shoot. I was so eager to capture little Brody in all his newborn splendor. I just loved all the details in his face, skin and even how he just lies there, content...well, most of the time "content." He had his moments, but those moments were just as sweet and I happened to capture one of those as well. Oh, I just can't resist. Although you can click on the above collages to get to my photography blog to see MORE of Brody, I'll bless you with another preview below. I just love their little tongues when they cry like this. I know, I know what you're thinking. "She's not gonna be lovin' it soon, when she has to deal with it regularly." You're probably right, too. But, still...precious!

Funny Jim

Wanna know how hilarious Jim can be? Oh, it's just too much sometimes.

Here are a few stories from the past few days (and a some that are a bit older) that show you just how much my Hubby makes me LAUGH! And if you keep up w/ my Facebook, you might recognize some of them as past status updates that I'm reusing. See, I'm green.

• While shopping at Motherhood Maternity with Jim, I say things like: "Honey, look at this!" or "Oooh, Honey, do you like this?" and "Honey, this is nice!" Jim says, "There sure is a lot of Honey in this store."


• After a beautiful (but long) day at 2 weddings I say to Jim, "I wish we got married today, than we could be going on a Honeymoon." He replies, "If we got married today, we'd have some 'splainin' to do."


• During said wedding #2's recepetion Jim and I and another couple, Andy and Melissa, were chit-chatting away. We were trying to remember what those little gifty things were called that the couple leaves on the table for you to take home. Usually mints or some other sweet treat. It occured to me that they are called "favors." At this particular wedding, the favor was a little tulle bag of Skittles in a "shot glass" sized plastic "champagne" glass. Andy opens his Skittles to "Taste the Rainbow." Jim says "Hey, you're eating your favor!" (I'm still laughing about this one.)


• Lunchtime prayer

Jim: "Father, I thank you for this gorgeous...wife you gave me, etc."

Sarah: (after aforementioned prayer) "Were you going to say 'gorgeous day' but changed it to 'gorgeous wife?'"

Jim: (with cute crooked smile that means he's guilty) "Ye-eeesss."

My turn to pray - "Father, Thank you so much for this windy....husband of mine...."

LAUGHTER - run to bathroom - MORE LAUGHTER...and to clarify, today (that's actually when this story took place - today) was a VERY windy day!

• During a conversation about buying yarn for a new knitting project - one that I'm STILL working on!

Sarah: "I think I'm going to go down to Des Moines and look for a cute little yarn shop or something."

Jim: with a VERY straight face and no variation in his tone of voice, "They don't sell yarn in Des Moines."

Dude, a knitter can take a hint.

• During a Missions Conference session at Faith, the speaker was hitting joke after joke in his intro, making the whole student body shake with laughter. Jim turns to me and says, with a straight face and no variation in his tone of voice (I use that phrase again because it's so him) "He's funny." My response, "Are you joking? Because most people laugh at funny people." He replies, "No, I'm serious. He's funny." He wasn't kidding about the "serious" part. Oh, my Jim...I'm still trying to figure out his sense of humor!

Man, this guy cracks me up...I'm sure I'll be coming back with more. What's incredibly funny about him is that he doesn't come off as the funny guy type. But, lemme tell ya...it's in him!

And because a post is ALWAYS better with pictures...here he is! My Jim after an I-Cubs ballgame a few weeks ago. I was trying out my camera in the lighting...and he's always a good subject!

Roses for Mama

So, last night Jim just randomly started reciting some old CW McCall sketches he remembered from growing up. Many of them were side-splitting funny. Then, after a few belly-laughs, I asked him to "do another one!" He dug around in his memory and came up with "Roses for Mama." Now, I've never heard of CW McCall, but it was fun to catch a little piece of Jim's childhood through what he could remember. And being it was Mother's Day yesterday, I felt it was appropriate to share it with my readers...and if you're sentimental, you'll probably cry. Or, if you're pregnant. ;)

Now, I will tell you there is an incredibly corny musical interlude between the narrative (don't tell Jim I said that - actually, thinkin' of it, he'd probably agree now, although I'm sure he thought it was REALLY cool when he was a kiddo). Just listen to the story about "Roses for Mama" and you'll catch the message loud and clear.

"The Princess & The Kiss."

I must recommend this book, The Princess and the Kiss, for anyone who has girls, is going to have a little girl in their lives, who ministers to young girls or has a burden to teach girls about purity. It's a beautiful story that brings tears to my eyes, like a good romantic chic-flick (but better!).

Here are some previews of this wonderfully illustrated and well-written book.

Click on the cover of the book (top picture) to buy your own copy! I've already collected a few to give as gifts...and I'm sure I'll be getting a few more!

Photography Blog Update

This photoshoot makes it to my Top 10 most FUN photoshoots. Besides the fact that, while resting on a swing, the swing decided to develop a sense of humor and slip out from under my bum sending me to my doom about a foot and a half below. I bounced, and it was pretty hilarious, I'm sure, to see a pregnant lady slide out of a swing so gracefully! That's okay, I failed to mention that two of my other photoshoots produce similar stories. For a Sr. Photoshoot, a parking lever thingy came down on my head, and during another "kids at the park" photoshoot, I fell, writhing on the ground, with the WORST Charlie Horse in my foot EVER. Thankfully, the grandma was there to save the day and rub it out. Niiice. But, you're not here to listen to me drone on about my on-the-job accidents (which are now numbered 3). And if you ask me to do a photoshoot with you, be ready with an ice pack. I think I'm seein' a trend here.

Anyway, as I was saying. The kiddos, I tell you, were eager to get in front of the camera lens. This made my job VERY easy. Mackenzie was a pro at posing (her mom says we're alike in that way!) and Rylee is the handsomest most expressive little man and I couldn't have asked for a better "subject!" He was really fun to work with! Ashling really lit up as soon as we got outside, as did the youngest, Triona. They were in their element and it showed. I really liked putting together the collages for each child! Kelley and Heather were amazing - they allowed the kids to just be themselves, which really notched up the quality of the photos, for sure! It was really just a "play date" if you ask me. They just had fun and I took photos...this seems to also be a trend in my photography. My favorite family photo is of them all holding hands, facing the water with the quote above that reads "To us, being a family means putting your arms around eachother and being there." They are that kind of family, too...so it's very appropriate. That's a quote from Barbara Bush, by the way. Welp, this is my longest "review" ever of a photoshoot - hope you enjoy the rest of the photos!

Click on any one of the photo collages above to get to my photography blog! There are more collages there that include some of the indoor photos, but if you click on one of those, you can get to the rest!!! ENJOY!

Photography Blog Update

Are we having fun with these kiddo photoshoots or WHAT!!?? I'm really enjoying all these opportunities to capture memorable moments for moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas...these kids are so precious and priceless and deserve to be "captured!" My time with Josiah, Evy and Lily was a joyful challenge. Like their dear mothers (and my friends) pointed out, it's never easy to capture 3 kids under the age of 2! They weren't kidding. But, I am SO pleased with the results and I'm tickled everytime I look at the photos, remembering the chaos (I mean that lightly) that came with them! We had so many hilarious moments! Kids toppling over on eachother, mom's sacrificing their sanity for a smile! ;) I think I know why I love doing this!

Photography Blog Update

This was Reuben's 1 year old photoshoot and boy, did we have fun. He just did his own thing while I shot away! It was especially fun because Reuben's parents are good friends of ours and we turned the whole opportunity into a fun time together including dinner and lotsa conversation! We had a super time...it'll be so fun to watch this kid grow up! He's already a little man...my FAVORITE one of him is the shot in his overalls with his back toward the camera. What's special is that those overall were his Daddy's when HE was 1 year old! Anyway, I love so many of the photos though...they make me giggle because he has such personality!

Photography Blog Update

As you can see, I've been WONDERFULLY busy with photoshoots as of late. Ezekiel, normally camera-shy and very active, was such a fun kid to spend time with. All we did was play, play, play and did the things Ezekiel loves to do. Chase rabbits, play hide-and-seek, and pretend to be Ruby (a puppy). We worried it would be tough to catch this active little guys expressions, smiles and to get eye contact. A few hundred clicks later, we found that, if we just went with the flow, it was pretty easy to get some real personality out of Ezekiel! He can run...and he can hide...but, he can't keep his true colors from shining through! Thanks, Ezekiel, for a fun, FUN, photoshoot!

Click on any one of the above photo collages to get to my photography blog!