Thomas Family Sneak Peek

It was a bright sunshiny day but a bit brisk.  The wind was blowing and very cold by the river so Miss N didn't have too many smiles for us.  She was cold and a bit upset that her dolly had to sit by me.

We tried a new location with her snuggled in between mommy and daddy with Baby Agnes.  Still no smiles but getting better.

Since we didn't have any luck with having her dolly in the photo I decided to try something to get a few giggles.  I used my reflector as a slide and propped Baby Agnes on the edge and gave her a little push and down the reflector she went launching onto the grass.  At first all I got was Ryan and Mindy to laugh, then Miss N decided it was a bit funny for her dolly to go for a ride and we got some great smiles.

We tried to warm them up and since we were standing I let Baby A sit on my shoulder and she took a digger face down on the sidewalk.  Miss N didn't know what to think about that.  Sorry Miss N she's all better we gave her kisses and fixed her right up.  

It's even colder on the bridge but Mindy really wanted to try this pose.  Poor little N was so cold her little teeth were chattering.

Mommy went for her coat and daddy tried to warm her up.

And again got another cute shot

Miss N was a bit tired of photos and needed some snuggle time with mommy.  This photo is so precious how much babies need their mommy's to hold them.

Miss N had a few kisses for mommy and daddy before we got done.  

Mindy and Ryan you have a beautiful little girl and make a great little family.  Thank you for spending some time with me to capture your memories that will last you a lifetime.

After the shoot we had a race to a driveway in town that had FREE STUFF.  It was pretty funny how we both were trying to stall the other..... we did get along and stopped to check it out together.  It was a NO for both of us. 

Everyday Photo

Elly's School PIcs

Elly came over the other day for a couple quick school pictures.  Shan absolutely does not like the school pics that they do.  One for the cost and the other for the bad experience she has had with ordering so of course I can give her everything that she needs in a school picture and more.  

Ellyn is in 4th grade already, she is getting so tall and grown up.  She is so stinkin skinny it's not even funny.  She reminds me of my sister DiAnn and at one point I called teasingly called her DiAnn and Elly made a funny face at me.

This first photo shows that skinny little frame and she's even pushing out her little tummy.  

This one is my favorite for a school picture and it was the second one taken.  I could have stopped here but of course her and I had some fun.

I told her that I like her choice of gray shirt with the blue underneath.  It really fits her, she is not a glitzy girl and is pretty plain jane and doesn't dress to impress anyone for anything.  Then we get this conversation

Shannon - "ummmmm she didn't pick that out, I did

Elly - "well mom I could have worn what I had on"

Shan - "oh no you couldn't"

Me - "what did she have on?"

Shan - "a tye dyed t-shirt with a peace symbol on it"

Elly - "what???  I like that shirt and Grandma bought it for me"

Me - "Elly I think this is a much better choice, your momma did good"

Shan - "she has no sense of fashion"

Elly - "What mom, that's just rude"

Me - {giggling a bit}

Shan - "well it's true Elly you will wear anything even if it doesn't match"

long pause.............

Elly - "but I have a sense of pose, right Grandma"

Me - "yes Elly you know how to pose without me even telling you"

Elly - "See mom I can pose"

Here she is with one of her pose choices.  She seriously does have posing down to a science.  She struts her stuff in front of the camera and changes with every shutter click.  I wonder where that came from???

Then she had to rob my jewelry for a few more.  She even had to steal Lynn's rings from when she was a little girl.  And she talked me into letting her take them home.  Every time she comes here for pictures she ends up taking some kind of jewelry home but when she comes the next time she forgot to bring it back.  So of course she has to find more.  Her jewelry box has to look pretty good.

You can't really see it but the ring from Tia (Lynn) is a blue peace sign.  Of course her favorite color is blue and she LOVES her peace shirt.

One last one because in her words.  "I'm good at serious faces grandma let's do one more with me being serious"

Oh little Miss El, I love you very much.

Cottage Fall Clean Up

We have been working like crazy to get the cottage cleaned up and ready for weekends to relax and enjoy it.  Well this weekend wasn't a relax and enjoy.  It was a scrub, destroy, rake, and clean weekend.  Somehow the work up north doesn't feel like work though.  We started on Friday afternoon with a little demolishing of the kitchen.  The stove hood was pretty grimy and I wanted nothing to do with cleaning it so I told John to bust it out of there.  Well it was a bit more than just bust it out.  The hood was wired and working, well we cut the power to the hood, busted it out of the cupboard but couldn't get the wire loose from the hood.  So John says with a snips in his hand just about to cut the wire.... the powers off right...... ummmmm I think so.  The hood was running and I hit breakers until it went off so the power is off.  I stutter.....Uuuummmmmm let's ttttttrrrrry something else first.  Let's take off the front of the hood to see if we can see inside.  So we do and AHHHHHHH there's a dead mouse inside it.  Okay John's done, he doesn't do mice.  I don't really like them either and this is the one and only we have found, there aren't even any mouse signs so this sucker has to be old and dead for a long time.  He's flat so that is another sign of being there forever.... but even though he's flat he's still stuck in a corner of the hood and we have to pry him out from arms distance.  You know the stance your legs are really far back and your arms are stretched out as far as they go and you close your eyes and make lots of swear words come out of your mouth to make you feel better.  Yep that's what happened but we got him out and in the garbage.  Wires were disassembled, re-capped put back up into the hole and sealed up.  Now time to clean this kitchen from top to bottom.  

This is our second time actually sleeping there and the first time we heard so many noises that sleep was pretty interrupted.  This weekend we sleep like a rock and no noises, must have been exhausted.  

Saturday I did more cleaning in the kitchen and John raked leaves.  The late morning was so beautiful that I said the cleaning inside could wait for another weekend and I went outside to help clean up the yard.   Of course I took a few hundred pictures before I started any work.  The sky was gorgeous so I exposed for it and the trees became dark silhouettes but I love it.

This was my job.... pick up all the sticks and burn them.  Best job ever!!

Saturday late afternoon we got our first overnight guests.  Our good friends and neighbors Paul and Kathy stopped in on their way home from raking leaves at their place up north.  We went for pizza, a few drinks and then back home for more drinks and laughs.  Paul was setting up his fishing pole so he could go catch our breakfast in the morning.  I'm not sure playing with hooks was a good idea but he got it all ready to catch a huge fish.  I hit the bed first and I think they were all shortly after me and we slept like rocks with all the fresh air and work that was done. 

I was awake early and heard Paul and Kessler head outside to catch the big one.  I took a picture of him down by the water.  There was ice on the river.... it was cooooold.

The sun started to peak over the trees.  The frost and sun is so awesome. 

Fish for breakfast didn't happen but it was a good try. 

We then walked and explored and found our survey markers on the river side.  We are amazed with our river frontage that we didn't know we had when we couldn't find the marker.  Here are some pictures from our new found frontage.  

Our weekend was fantastic, the company was great and we can't wait to go back.  We got home and started to clean up our yard here for fall..... somehow it's just not fun here.  

Charlie is One - Sneak Peek

Charlie is one and was having a rough day after his big birthday party. 

Getting the family rocking chair was first on the list.  I'm thinking Charlie kinda likes it.

when all else fails let little boys play with sticks, dirt, leaves... whatever it takes.

Isn't he is the cutest thing?

I'm not doing very well on my everyday photo but I'm almost done with my busy time.  This last weekend was crazy busy but most do not want to share due to Christmas gifts.  Maybe next week I'll get back to a normal week, I'm ready for some downtime :) 

Everyday fall

Little Allie Sneak Peek

Little Allie has had some medical issues since the day she was born, but she's such a strong little girl and has recovered from all of her surgery's like a champ.  She's so tiny but so strong and continues everyday to get better.  

Her little smile is so darn cute

Little Allie is the piece that completes this new family.... well for now anyway.  wink, wink

She already has a ring..... nothing better than a girl who knows her jewelry.

We did naked baby picks with this hat but thought we better keep them off the internet so I cropped up close so you could see her cute little hat.

Thank you Nikki and Mike, she is a doll

Sky

The late afternoon sky has been giving us quite a show lately.  Tonight the rain clouds were heading out and the sun was breaking through  making it look like a hole.

Flying South

Jazzed Up Junk Fall Sale is done and was a huge success, thank you to all that came out and took a look around at all the fun stuff we had.  The outcome of the sale was again amazing and we are so thankful to all of you.  We really enjoy creating something fun out of something drab, dirty, lifeless, broken, gross and down right ugly and if we kept it all for ourselves we would have to be on that Hoarders Show, so thank you all for helping keep us off television.  

So I know there are followers out there that just want to see normal everyday photos on this blog again and I for one NEED to get some everyday photos into my camera.  I bought my camera(s) with a passion for photography and capturing everything around me and I've kinda slipped into bringing out my camera only for photoshoots.  I had someone ask me a few weeks ago if I still take a photo a day..... ummmmmm no I don't.  She was so disappointed and thought that was such a cool idea and even though I challenged her to do it she couldn't commit either she still thought I should do it again.  Well that probably won't happen every day for awhile but I'm hoping to capture everyday life a bit more often than I have been.  I hope those that come here everyday to see what I have posted enjoy my everyday photos too.  

So the geese are all getting together to fly south (dang I hate that thought) and there are lots of them.   So I tried to sneak up on them and keep them all gathered together....

And then I started to walk towards them....

and then I ran at them....

and they all flew into the water.

I got some fun photos and I thought it was kinda fun too.  As I'm driving by another area there is a little 3-4 year old boy doing the same thing but of course he didn't have a camera.  Guess I'm still young at heart.

Senior Sneak Peak

It was a crazy busy week but I did get in a Senior session with a very handsome young man.  

He has the best smile ever, it even shows in his eyes.

Got a few with the sun going down

He doesn't take a bad photo so choosing was hard for me I can't imagine how hard a job this is going to be for his mom.