Where oh Where Have I Been!?

I have been having way too much fun creating these...

You ought to come join me!!!

If Only...

WOW...If only life could be slow and sweet but no...life has been crazy busy. But the school book fair is done!  Now to just get my desktop back up and running after getting slammed with a nasty, pornography showing, computer killing virus! 

Double the Sweetness

For Anderson's second grade year he had an amazing, brand new, single woman as a teacher. She was awesome. And through the years she got married, taught Cayden in second grade and had a beautiful little girl, Avery, just a few weeks after Branson was born. (We are planning a play date as soon as possible!) This year Sydney has the pleasure of having her as a teacher! Jamie is amazing...I have always thought so, but after seeing this new mom of twins in action...WOW.

I had no idea how hard it was going to be to get shots of newborns...times two. I guess for your first ever baby photo shoot it's probably not smart to have double the infants.

The baby girls are beautiful! They are named Audra and Addisyn. They are so tiny as both of them have just cleared the 5 pound mark. It is wonderful to see that at just a few weeks they both already have such distinct personalities. I couldn't tell them apart, but according to Jamie, Grandpa can tell every time. After retouching all these photos I have noticed that one of them has a tiny little freckle on the side of her nose! (I think it is Addisyn)

Jamie, her sister in law Michelle, and I worked together for two hours to get some shots of the twins. We were all very patient with each other...I had a hard time with the angles and lighting and the babies were not in the mood to be models (what baby is?) I am not thrilled with the clarity (I had to turn my ISO way up) so we are going to try again in a few weeks at my house with the big picture windows. I told Jamie that we'll just keep trying till we get it right.

Good Night...Not a Chance

Branson turned two in November but I am all for keeping my toddlers in a crib for as long as possible. Why rush fighting them to "stay in bed" when you can plop them behind bars and off to sleep they go?

We went out of town this weekend and while we were staying in the hotel we used a Pac-n-Play for Branson. The short sides couldn't hold him and he climbed out immediately after we put him in. On our drive home I laughed and said "Hey John, you don't think this will give him the notion that he can climb out of his crib?"

Fast forward several hours later. Two seconds after placing Branson in his crib he was hanging precariously onto the top rail...both legs straddling the bed post. I stood there closely to see what he would do, all the while saying, "Branson, no no you will fall down and get bad owies." (Yeah right mom.) I had to see what he would do because I didn't want to have him try getting out later when I wasn't around. He successfully and rather gracefully dropped to the ground, landing on two feet. With a gigantic smile on his face he ran down the hall. I put him back in his crib and he repeated his acrobatic moves only to cut his escape time by half. None of my kids have ever climbed out of the crib. I'm older now! I need my sleep! So with my youngest brother in need of a crib and worries that Branson would fall and get hurt we did the unthinkable...

We brought in the toddler bed. And thus began the battle...the long "stay in bed" "get back in bed" "mommy will only lay down with you for a minute" battle. And the past two mornings...his bed has looked like this. Empty. And where oh where is Branson? Where did he disappear to in the middle of the night?

Can you say PHOTOGENIC?

On Monday I had the honor of doing a session with some of the most gorgeous, fun-loving kids ever...take a look at the Bunger Family: