OBVIOUSLY.......a Tyler-ism

Tyler was sitting on me this afternoon as I laid on the couch reading a book.  He appeared to have small toy or something he was turning over and over in his mouth.

"What's in your mouth? do you have a toy in there?" I said.

He looked at me blankly.

"TYLER.  WHAT is in your mouth?"

He opens his mouth, sticks his scrawny little finger up there, points and says, "TEEF!"

The Graduate

I tried uploading this the other day and my computer was being completely wonky so I gave up in frustration.

I'm back today to post the pics...but they're completely out of order and today I'm lacking the patience to mess around with blogger's completely wacky photo placements.

Owen graduated kindy last Tuesday and we of course, are super proud.  It seems weird that he's moved beyond "kindergartner" into the rocky terrain of "elementary schooler".  It literally seems just a week or so ago that i was sniffling in the kitchen writing him a letter as he slept the night before his first day of school.  

Anyway....here he is, pictures all askew, as he graduated on Tuesday.

Good job Owen! We are so proud of you! :)

Looky Looky!

Just put a teaser up on the biz blog, but I'm SO excited about this new project that I'm working on! :)
Over the winter, I had this idea to rent an underwater camera housing for a couple weeks in the summer and offer pool shoots to new and existing clients. It would be a package deal...you'd get a DVD with a combination of video and still shots set to music, with a $$print credit and maybe a few extra prints...something something...I hadn't exactly figured it all out yet.
So I started scouring the internet for a place where I could rent a camera housing. The place that I usually rent gear from wasn't carrying housings anymore so I was totally bummed as I perused the 'net looking for something because just to RENT a housing for about a week would run me in the $600 range. Would i make that money up in sales from the shoots? I wasn't sure....1 week wasn't very much time to promote and squeeze in enough shoots to make my money back.
SO THEN I thought, "well, heck. I live in Georgia and it's warm here 9 months of the year. Why don't I just BUY a camera housing?" Lord knows I'll have plenty of opportunity to use it.

So I did.
And a video camera housing too.

And with a fluttering heart, I read (and re-read, and re-read again) the directions, packed my cheapest camera and a decent lense into that baby and sank it into the pool. GULP. I might as well have taken $1200 in cash and dunked it in.
NO WORRIES!

It worked like a champ - no leaks, no problems and we spent several hours practicing with it. Casey and I played with the video camera, and the regular camera - Steve and the boys were our subjects and they swam their little hearts out.

3 hours and 2 minor sunburns later and we had learned a few things and were ready to hit the pool again the next weekend with better methods (boat anchors, bungee chords, flippers, dive masks, weight belts, wider-angled lenses.....don't ask).

We hit the pool again yesterday with even more success and I'm starting to feel like this could be a REALLY cool thing. How many photographers do YOU know who can take professional photos of your family UNDERWATER??

Anyway....the end product isn't ready to show to the world yet, but I think it'll be pretty cool. A combination of shots in and out of the pool combined with video....I think it would be an awesome treasure for any pool-lovin' summer-lovin' family.
Plus I think the options for creative portraiture are endless.......I won't even tell you the wild ideas I've got in my head for THAT.

What do YOU think??

A.J.

Couple more to see as a teaser on the blog.
And don't YOU feel special because you guys are the first I've told about it. :)
And I'd love feedback....do you think it's a good idea? Would you pay money for it? What do you think would make it even cooler? What would give it more value for you?

The Big 3-0

Yup.
I'm 30.
Exactly 21 minutes ago I turned 30.

If you ask me right now, I'm okay with it. How often do you tell people your age? And does it really matter? Isn't age REALLY JUST a number?
But if you ask me tomorrow, I might be completely depressed about it. Because by then I'll be 20 years old PLUS one day. You know....the more I think about it - I don't think 30 is that bad. I think 31 will be bad. Because then you're not 30, you're IN your THIRTIES.

LOL

Who cares anyway?

Happy Birthday to Me.

So......in light of my 30th birthday, in addition to my newly tradition of taking a picture with Cooper (who was my birthday present from Steve 2 years ago) and a picture-taking tradition we started last year - I decided to ALSO make a list.
Because I love me some lists.

30 Things to Do in My 30th Year
1. Get a tattoo
2. Renew my passport
3. Go camping overnight
4. Take a class
5. fly a kite
6. Catch a fish
7. Take a self-portrait
8. Paint a big painting
9. Get some moo cards
10. Do some charity work
11. be crazy
12. do something meaningful
13. Start a photo project
14. Buy a lottery ticket
15. Romp on the beach with my family
16. Explore some old dreams
17. Reconnect with some important people
18. Get IN some pictures
19. Finish a project
20. Make a Blurb book
21. Visit the Little Grand Canyon
22. Stretch myself as an artist
23. Memorize a piece on the piano
24. Grow personally in tangible ways
25. Invest in a stranger's life
26. Get published
27. Do something spontaneous
28. Write a letter
29. Get a family picture that I love
30. Love. Laugh. Often. More.

AJ's 5 yr. Old Pics

More on the biz blog.....
And more to come once I get around to editing the rest. :)
Life is busy.
Good...but busy.

Personality Based Musical Skills

Several months back, Steve-o was speaking with the band director at his school, who also teaches up the hall from him. Said band teacher was talking about how he chooses an instrument for kids based a lot on their personality. Intriqued, Steve said, "really? What instrument would I play"? and without hesitation, the guy says Clarinet. I'm not sure what that means?

Owen started piano lessons a few weeks back, and he's loving it- which kindof surprised me. Pretty much, I'm planning on forcing the kids to take musical lessons of one kind or another (they can choose the instrument) but I think it's one of those things that is just good for them to learn, whether they like it or not. I tried to convince Owen to do violin, but he kept insisting on the piano. And that made me remember the conversation that Steve had and made me ponder if his personality was suited to the piano.

I found this quiz online that helps determine what instrument would suit your personality. Take it and tell me what it says. Do you play an instrument? Does the instrument you play suit your personality?

When I took it, it said that I should play the piano. Which is interesting, because I do. LOL. Although I'm not sure that this description actually fits me, especially that first sentence.
------------
You are a calm person who always thinks things through before you do them. Sometimes you can be a bit fussy and dont like to do things wrong. The piano is perfect for you, seeing as it takes a calm hand and mind to perfect the art of the piano.
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You try it!

5 Years Ago This Day...

He came into our lives.

Owen was 6 months old when we unexpectedly got pregnant (we're good at that) with baby #2. Shocked, we were attempting to process that news when about 2 weeks later that baby was lost. And with that loss came questions that got us thinking....about what it would be like to have another. What it would be like to have 2 children, siblings close in age. A pregnancy that we had actually planned. LOL :)
The loss of that unknown baby led us to a surprising desire for another child.

9 months later....AJ arrived.

He slept in our bed from the day he was born -- a habit we just recently broke him of about 2 months ago.

He was born with startling blue eyes...a trait I expected to fade over time and turn into creamy brown - like mine, like his daddy's, like his brothers. Today, he is the only blue-eyed member of our family - a characteristic that I bring up frequently and praise for it's uniqueness. I always want him to be proud of his individuality.


He is full of life and laughter, thrilled by the smallest of things - a frog on the side of the house, a trip to the park, a rainbow in the sky - all are exquisite and exciting and worthy to be shouted loudly about.

He is sensitive and caring - willing to give you the shirt off his back. His eyes fill with tears and his lower lip trembles when he realizes that he's hurt his brother or done something naughty enough to warrant disapproval from us.

He is snugly and physically engaging - willingly giving hugs or begging for tickles or a wrestling match.

He is a patient big brother, playing with Ty while Owen is at school - whether entertaining him with his silly antics or sharing his cars, he is thoughtful enough to play with the things that Tyler would like, not what he would like.

He is funny and loves jokes - telling us lies with a twinkle in his eye only to shout "JUST JOKING!!" a minute later with uproarious giggling.

He is all boy - lover of legos and trucks and dirt and Star Wars. Imaginative and playful, most often around the house in costume or a land of make believe - "puming" you with his guns (it's the gun sound - "pume, pume") or "swording you" with his light sabers, jumping from furniture and racing around with his blanket around his neck like a super hero.

I can hardly believe he is five years old already.

Happy Birthday Skittle - we love you and are so proud of you and the man you will become.

Some pictures from the last 5 years....


And some snaps from his birthday celebration over the weekend:

Lately, I've Been.....

procrastinating.
an escapist.
enjoying the spring weather.
feeling inadequate.
wanting to be a better friend.
tired of myself.
wanting a vacation.
thinking I need to join the gym again.
wondering what the future holds.
defining some goals.
floundering in my own lack direction.
irritated by how much I care.
needing to care more, but about different things.
wanting to make a difference.
going to bed early.
wishing i was different.
thinking that change is good.
resisting the urge to move again.
planning to paint some stuff.
ignoring my camera.
twittering.
anxiously awaiting summer.
coveting time with my husband.
looking to reclaim my passion.
realizing my insignificance.
needing a break. from everything.

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What have you been lately??

A Truly Eco-Friendly Playhouse

Check out this eco friendly playhouse for kids, made by artist Judith Needham.
The Dreaming Spires Willow Playhouse is designed to meet the child's need for imaginative play whilst being an attractive feature in the garden in its own right. Handmade in England from natural english willow, the playhouse has impeccable environmental credentials.

At 1200 pounds it's a pricey environmentally friendly play structure, but it sure is pretty.

I wonder if they sell the English countryside to accompany it??

Wove's Etsy Shop Judith Needham's Website

Yes, I Stink at Blogging. Happy Easter

I've had a fantastic week of Spring Break with Steve-o this past week, and by fantastic I mean, I didn't do anything. Most importantly, I haven't worked even one. tiny. bit.
Glorious.

I know I've been a bad blogger. Seems like these days are getting away from me, between 3 busy boys, spring sunshine, and a growing business, I don't have much time for blogging anymore. I'll try to get on here more often for some random bits of goodness though.

Yesterday we're picked strawberries so today I'm home making jam from them while Steve takes the older two boys to an Easter Egg Hunt. I'm not too sure how wise it is to be making jam out of mushy, staining red berries with The Cyclone (#3) at my heels but we'll see how it goes.

Making jam is super easy - I posted a tutorial/recipe on it last year - go check it out and make some today. Super easy, not a lot of "stuff" needed, and just a handful of ingredients. :)

Happy Easter!

The Credit Crunch

We turned in our minivan yesterday. It was a lease, and the lease was up yesterday. For all my years of griping about it, it was a decent vehicle and served us well.
So naturally, we've spent the last week looking at family-mobiles and examining our options. Yesterday I re-read this article I've kept from Relevant Magazine that I thought was interesting. Here's an excerpt:

____________________
From Straight Talk About Debt by Dave Ramsey:

"Taking on a car payment is one of the dumbest things people do to destroy their chances of building wealth. The car payment is most folks' largest payment except for their home mortgage, so it steals more money from their income than virtually anything else. USA Today notes that the average monthly car payment is $464 over 64 months. Most people get a car payment and keep it through their lives. As soon as a car is paid off, they get another payment because they "need" a new car. I you keep a $464 car payment throughout your life - which is "normal"-you miss the opportunity to save that money. If you invested $464 per month from age 25 to age 65, a normal working lifetime, in the average mutual fund averaging 12 percent (the 70-year stock market average), you would have $5,458,854.45 at age 65. Hope you like that car!

If you put $464 per month in a cookie jar for just 10 months, you have more than $4000 to pay cash for a car. I am not suggesting you drive a $4000 car your whole life, but that is how you start without debt. then you can save the same amount again and trade up to and $8,000 car 10 months later and up to a $12,000 car 10 months after that. In just 30 months, or two and a half years, you can drive a paid-for $12,000 car, never having made a payment, and never have to make payments again.

Taking on car payments because everyone else does it does not make it smart. Will your broke relatives and friends make fun of your junk car while you do this?? Sure they will, but that's a very good sign you are on the right track. Having been a millionaire and gone broke, I dug my way out by making a decision about looking good versus being good. Looking good is when your broke friends are impressed by what you drive, and being good is having more money than they have."
____________________

While I don't necessarily agree with his tone, implying that acquiring wealth is the greatest goal to work towards, I DO like the idea of working towards living debt-free. It's taken me months to get over the idea of having a car with less than 20,000 miles on it. I've had this phobia or "thing" about older cars or cars with higher mileage - fretting about their dependability, expecting them to fall apart on the road as I drive them, etc. etc.
Admittedly, I'm a very short-sighted person. Yes, we'd be in debt, but we'd have a GOOD car, a RELIABLE car, and (said to myself) a PRETTY car. Yeah, guess I'm shallow like that. So here we are...looking at cars - and for the first time, I'm thinking: Maybe it WOULD be worth it to drive a crappy car for a couple of years so that we can save $400 a month.

And I'm pleasantly surprised to find that I'm okay with that.

So if you see me in town with my kids in tow in a crappy old minivan or SUV - just wave and smile and laugh if you feel like it. It's taken me a long time to get to the point that I don't care. :)

Vote for me!

I'm pulling out all the stops to get friends, fam, and strangers to vote for me as the area's Best Photographer!

So if you read my blog, like my work, think I'm the sha-zizzle, or even if you don't...Vote for me, purty please???

:)

Vote HERE.

New Phone Number

I could've sworn that I posted this on here, but it's vanished into the blog-o-sphere.

We have new phone numbers.
So in case you missed the email (from two accounts), and the Twitter, and the Facebook update, and the Facebook message, and the post on the biz blog......you apparently live under a rock.

Steve-o: 229-669-8544
Me: 229-669-8545

He needs "your things"

On the way to pick up O from school yesterday, Tyler started yelling and hollering in the car (normal).
AJ: What's wrong Ty??
Ty: DRINNNNKKKK!!!
AJ: You need a drink?
Ty: DINK. *unintelligible blabber*
AJ: mom, tyler wants a drink of milk. We need to get home so he can get a drink from your things.
Me: My things??
AJ: yeah, you know - your things. That babies drink from.

Um.
Yeah.
We had to have a little talk about that.
I think he was a little confused.

Videos, Videos, Videos....

The other day you got a bunch of picture tidbits...so today here's some video tidbits.

Last night the kindergartners and 1st graders at Owen's school had a little performance revolving around Dr. Suess.
Here they are singing Dr. Suess We Love You. In case you don't recognize Owen, he's the cutest one. Right by the boy in the wheelchair.




Here's another song...I think it's called Open Me...or something like that anyway.




And the last song they sang, The Tutti Ta Song....it's the weirdest song ever. But I guess the kids like it. They surprised a couple of the teachers and made them come up on stage and sing it with them. It's funny only because you look like a total moron while you sing the song and do the motions.



Speaking of music, here's Tyler as I attempt to catch him in the act of dancing. He's really funny, because when a fast-tempo song comes on he breaks it down and dances like a wild man. But if you try to video tape him, or take pictures...he looks at you out of the corner of his eye and slows everything down to a little booty-shake. LOL


Here he is again - this is just to show family far away how big he's getting. His vocabulary is expanding every day. He's sitting on daddy's lap here, looking at the laptop - trying to get dad to turn on The Wiggles on Youtube.


And just because you haven't seen or heard from AJ in awhile...here he is after Owen's performance last night. We stopped at Sonic on the way home to get the boys dinner and he was goofing around. As always.



Here he is on the first warm day of spring, outside hitting balls with Steve. I think he only hit one in this video, but give him a break. He's only 4. And he's a little rusty. :)
And yes, he's wearing pajamas.
and giraffe galoshes.
And steve would like to point out that he's a swing hitter.



Have a great weekend!

Some Tidbits For Ya....

A few random things about #1 and #3 for you today.....
AJ is out of town with Steve-o...and has been for two days - so that's why there's no pictures of him from today.

This picture of tyler makes me smile because it's just very....Tyler. With that doofy look on his face and his mouth hanging open. I'm surprised bugs don't fly in there.

couple weeks back, Owen lost his first tooth. Scary pic, yes - but this is what he gave me when i asked him to show me the hole.

Here he is, looking gorgeous and very Ralph Lauren.

Birdhouses that we painted over the weekend.

My favorite from today....

Happy St. Patrick's Day. :)

Garden 2009

In no particular order, because Blogger is being weird and I'm too tired to re-arrange.

Here's our garden that we did last week.

Many thanks to:

The horses from a client's farm: for your poop

Erica: For use of your truck to pick up said poop

Casey:  For taking photos

My husband: For working tirelessly until it was done

AJ: Who worked his little hiney off all day on the garden, happily and without complaint. He even got a sunburn.