Whadda Bunch of Weiss Guys

published!

2008-07-29T12:27:00.002-05:00

How exciting to asked to be part of Digital Scrapbooking 2, the special digital edition by Scrapbooks Etc/Better Homes & Garden.
Pages 68-69 and 84-85, as well as a little write up on plug-ins. On shelves August 12th!

have you ever seen...

2008-07-19T12:27:00.001-05:00

have you ever seen..., originally uploaded by KimWeiss.

a baby shake her bootie? and this is mild, she has really get into it!

peek-a-boo

2008-07-17T00:15:00.001-05:00

mom & babies pose for me, originally uploaded by KimWeiss.

just some of our neighbors hanging out in our backyard.

dance!

2008-07-08T19:05:00.001-05:00

dance!, originally uploaded by KimWeiss.

Sophie is a dancing fool! Just using Photo Booth to try and capture her getting down. On a chair. Don't mind the tired worn out Mom on the side... just look at the crazy dancing baby!

my right hand gal

2008-07-03T22:56:00.001-05:00

abby, originally uploaded by KimWeiss.

I all too often forget to let her know how much I appreciate all she does to help out around here. Not many 13 year olds have SIX little brothers and sisters to put up with and help out with. Even though I still have to remind her too often to clean her room and put away the dishes. :)

my spunky girl

2008-07-03T22:52:00.001-05:00

sweet gracie, originally uploaded by KimWeiss.

she is loads of work and can be so trying.... but gosh I love my spunky girl!

cute little 'tude

2008-06-05T14:20:00.001-05:00

DSC_1631, originally uploaded by KimWeiss.

I'm sure this won't be SO cute when we aren't playing around and she's a teen... but for now, I love when she likes to, on her own, show her little 'tude when we play photo session.

birthday cake!

2008-05-28T16:19:00.003-05:00

Sophie's party was Sunday and was loads of fun! My mom made her wonderful cakes!

and of course here are loads of the devouring!

we have a graduate!

2008-05-23T09:19:00.001-05:00

Last night was Gracie's Kindergarten graduation!

birthday girl

2008-05-21T16:54:00.007-05:00

Sophie is one today! She's just getting over pink eye, so my cake smash photos were put off for a bit. Her party is Sunday.

Remember this photo?

Here she is a year later.... she didn't want to be still a year ago, and she certainly wouldn't be still today!

must get bow out

as still as she got... may look serene, but this was a nano-second

mostly I got this

my sweetness

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T10:48:00.004-05:00

from my two ~~dorky~~ funny older kids.

They were apparently playing around in Photobooth while we were out on date night.

birthday, half birthday, and almost birthday

2008-04-21T09:18:00.004-05:00

Gracie is now six years old! She now needs two hands to show how old she is. Big stuff! She had a party at The Little Gym with all her friends from school and had a BLAST! Confirmed we *really* need to get this girl in gymnastics... she LOVED it!

Then she also had a family party at home. She requested that my mom make her a unicorn cake. Simple enough. Only mom figured it would be fairly easy to find a unicorn cake pan at local stores. And it wasn't. So Grace picked out a carousel cake... and being the uber cool grandma, so altered the carousel horses to be unicorns. Gracie was THRILLED!

April also marks Thomas' half birthday... he's 3-1/2 now! He cracks us up several times a day.

and baby girl is now 11 months! She's still such a peanut, it's hard to believe I'm planning a first birthday party already! She's such a great joy and always happy. She's getting very close to walking... well, I think she's just going to be running instead of walking first.

big changes

2008-04-01T22:50:00.006-05:00

We finally moved Sophie out of our room and into her own room in a crib! (well, technically, she's sharing a room with Grace, but Grace sleeps in Abby's room every night)

she's really saying "hiiii!" and not ready to bite like a caged animal

nice and snuggly

and a sign of Thomas' potty training success:

he earned a Cars car for each dry day during the training period. As much as I dragged my feet in pushing the potty issue, he trained very easily.

10 months!

2008-03-21T15:12:00.003-05:00

Sophie is TEN MONTHS OLD today! Unbelievable to me really!

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (can you just about hear her? imagine the highest pitch squeal you can... and that's her hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii)

Can you already see she's perfected the fake-smile-so-I-can-be-done-with-all-these-pictures look?

Showing off her upper teeth (she's got 4 on top, 4 on bottom... and she griped about each and everyone of them!)

and she's offffffffffff

coming to get you. be afraid. be very afraid. she'll melt your heart in an instant!

She's also pulling up, cruising around, letting go a bit, so I think she might be walking by the time she's 11 months. She's busy busy busy and no fear. Climbs the stairs and about gives me a heart attack every time she gets a chance.

Snow days

2008-02-23T12:43:00.003-06:00

Well, technically they were ice days. 2 days off school. While I love the not having to do the whole morning rush thing, the kids and I definitely have gone a little stir crazy since they can't even get outside to play.
So I am definitely ready for spring!

Photo from 2-20-08

2008-02-21T12:58:00.002-06:00

Much too cold to drag out the tripod to take pictures of the lunar eclipse. I did manage to get a couple shots. Definitely need a tripod to do this correctly!

Photo a day

2008-02-19T23:15:00.003-06:00

So, I stink as a blogger. But I take lots of photos. Heidi proposed the idea on the DesignerDigitals photography forum of posting a photo a day on our blogs. So here's my first day. Billy's 2nd basketball game. They had enough spots on the school team to allow 4th graders to play B team. He *LOVES* it, but that's not surprising since he is all about sports. Obviously, this is more than one photo, so a bonus even on day one!

A very happy NINE year old

2008-01-07T21:22:00.001-06:00

Hard to believe it was 9 years ago that Jonathan FINALLY made his appearance into our family. Yes, he's only 13 months younger than Billy... but he was also due on December 22nd. If you do the math, you know that's 16 days. 16 long and miserable days to that pregnant momma. My mom had flown to California where we were living at the time to be here for the birth. She flew out the day after Christmas, so already past my due date. And we waited and waited, and Jonathan never came. And Mom had to fly back home as she only had a week off work. That's just our Jonathan though... he does things on his terms and in his time. A stubborn and ridiculously smart kid with a gentle nature.

So it's also hard to come up with birthday ideas when your birthday is so close to Christmas. He'd been undecided on what he wanted for his birthday. I tried to steer him in the direction of a new bike... he needs one, good gift. But I think Jonathan figures that's something he'll get regardless, so why waste a good gift.
Two days prior, he came up with the perfect gift. An electric guitar. Huh? Yes. An electric guitar. Black. I guess he figures he does decent on Guitar Hero he can now play electric guitar. So Dad took him shopping after his birthday dinner and they came home with this. And he's loving it. My ears. Notsomuch.

2007-12-28T22:54:00.000-06:00

I can hardly believe Christmas is behind us, and 2008 is right around the corner.
The last few weeks of December were a whirlwind, but we had a fabulous Christmas.

Loads of pictures to follow
Baby Girl is starting to crawl

We got our first real snow storm

Gingerbread House fun

more torturing the baby girl

and Santa dropped quite the load under our tree

Daddy has been off all week, so it's been nice to relax and enjoy the downtime with him home.

And lastly, I decided to finally take the plunge into turning the photography obsession into a little business. Thanks to everyone who has been such an encouragement that I can, and should, pursue this!
Kim Weiss Photography

Best wishes for a wonderful 2008!

one happy 10 year old boy

2007-12-10T08:27:00.000-06:00

Billy turned 10 on Thursday. Double Digits. A Big Deal.
He'd been asking for an iPod. Sneaky me kept telling him I wasn't sure he was old enough. They are too easy to lose. All the while snagging a good deal at the Apple store on a refurbished old generation nano.
The look on his face was absolutely priceless as he opened it up, it took him a few seconds to realize what he actually had in his hands, but then once he realized, he couldn't contain himself! Even Thomas got super excited. Either just because Billy was so excited. Or he was cracking up that Billy didn't even get so much as a TOY.

and just for fun, sophieroy was here:

Santa came early!

2007-12-02T22:12:00.001-06:00

My husband is, once again, much too good to me!
I've been feeling the need to upgrade my camera and when the latest model of Nikon came out, he was more than willing to indulge me! So I'm the proud new owner of the Nikon D300
Here are my first shots with the new camera of my only willing subject (though the older boys promised they would let me practice on them tomorrow. we'll see!)

2007-11-29T22:20:00.000-06:00

Heather asked for more layouts to be posted... and it's not for lack of WANTING to... I've just been in a serious scrapping drought!
This is from last week. I've never had a baby more eager to start foods! Heck, until Thomas, I never had a baby who would even really eat baby food! But this girl was eager and READY and is eating like a pro.

credits here

And this is it this week... just using the pictures I just posted below too!
What I forgot to mention about those photos is that it was my first practice shoot with my birthday present from my marvelous wonderful husband, an Alien Bee 800! Isn't he the best?! It gets even better because Santa Bill also has a brand new Nikon D300 on order for me for Christmas!!! Who needs diamonds when you can get sweet new photography gear!?

credits here

Yeah, I'm a slacker

2007-11-28T13:10:00.000-06:00

Seriously busiest time of the year!
But managed to get a few new pics of our SIX MONTH OLD! How the heck did THAT happen?!?

she's trying her darndest to get it all together to crawl!

the whole fam damily

2007-11-05T10:24:00.001-06:00

My PSA for the day, don't attempt a self family portrait with 7 kids. Thomas was not in the mood, thus Jonathan progressing to putting a death hold on him to get him to stay put. Even Grace was holding his hand in an attempt to keep him in his spot. And now I can see I didn't do a good job at arranging everyone, but we were rushing for light. And, despite her checking continuously, Abigail is NOT taller than I am... our backyard just has an incline. She is getting close (I'm 5'7", she's 5'4" at last check).

poor little shorty Gracie... but all us girls!

my beautiful girlies!!

and handsome boys!

the only shot before Thomas completely bolted

horror of horrors

2007-11-01T19:18:00.000-05:00

I didn't take a single. solitary. photo on Halloween night. I should be shot. Can't believe it myself. But after trying to get them all fed, dressed, out the door, I was too tired to think about it. I did. briefly. As Daddy had them all halfway up the street. o'well!

I did manage to (somewhat) get a s hot of Sophie's new teeth. Can you see them?? (may need to click to see larger)

ummm.... she's not giving me sign language, is she?

Daddy, after my protest, let the older boys pick put scary costumes this year. I even tried to play the "Thomas will be too scared" card, but Thomas only cracked up at them in costume. And he wore Jonathan's Scream mask all morning today. :::sigh:::

you say it's your birthday....

2007-10-22T12:03:00.001-05:00

well, it's Thomas' birthday too, yeah!

cutest little butterfly

2007-10-21T01:18:00.000-05:00

I tried Sophie's costumes on, and couldn't resist snapping a few! Will need to break out a wider lens and get better shots, but she's too cute not to share!!

and just in her sweetness

this & that

2007-10-17T22:41:00.001-05:00

Forgot to post that this sweetie is 4 months old (13.8 pounds and 25 inches... still a little peanut)

and this girl is still over the top in love with her

Thomas *loves* dancing around the the Mario Party 8 Wii game. Just the start screen. Yes, the start screen.

Kids were off school on Friday so we headed off to pick pumpkins. Thomas took this job very seriously. He thought it was his job to pick up EVERY pumpkin. Every one. And carry it to the wagon. He was only convinced he could leave the rest of the pumpkins by being distracted by the playground.

Abigail definitely picked the very best pumpkin

Our humorous attempt at a pumpkin patch group photo. Resembles the Sea World photo in the header, no? Full of Gracie-tude for sure!

Costume Success!

2007-10-10T15:37:00.001-05:00

So Thomas pretty much hated his *adorable* monkey costume last year. The hood specifically. I had him look at costumes with me, in hopes he'd find something he loved. Froggy? Penguin? Tiger? Every cute animal imaginable. None measured up to the Diego costume he spotted. ::::groan:::: Was really hoping to NOT do the character thing for a while (if ever). It's a super cheesey cheaply made thing too, I just know it! I also fear that after paying a stupid amount for something so cheap, that he will just refuse to wear it. But I buy the thing, as Thomas claps for his Diego costume, complete with Rescue Pack. Earning my Good Mommy points!

So it arrives today. My boys FLIPS! "Diego on, now. pweeeease." Has not taken it off yet. Right over his jeans and T-shirt. Including going to pick the kids up from school. Yes, Diego was waiting for them at the curb today.. hehe!
I said, "I'd like to get your picture sometime soon in that." And he said "Okay! 'wets go!" And ran to get his picture taken. He's not usually (ever!) that cooperative with pictures.
I don't think I'll get it off him for his bath tonight. I guess that was money well spent.

Grace had to run and get her costume on too!

Dontcha love the navy polo under? She did her hair herself!

showing off her mad Belle skillz!

Round 2

2007-09-26T12:01:00.000-05:00

Washington DC Part One

2007-09-25T09:44:00.000-05:00

So Bill, Sophie, and I took a little trip to the Washington DC area. Bill went to some huge deal World Motocross race to watch. Sophie and I just tagged along. It was a nice little getaway, but glad to be home! We decided to check out DC and see if it is something the kids would enjoy. We found parking is a bit of a challenge, but we've got it figured out now. We also realized our kids would probably prefer a trolley or a bus tour since it's a lot of walking. We enjoyed it, even though it was a bit warm... but we could almost already hear our kids with "my legs are tired." "how much farther." "I'm tired." and on. So we'd definitely do a motorized tour. We also didn't get to see as much as we would have liked since we got a late start and then traffic getting into DC was heavy. But oh so neat to see all the monuments!
Here are the first round of photos! (click to see larger version)

What a bad blogger!

2007-09-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

I was crazy to think once the kids were back in school, I'd have more time. HA!

Anyway, here's Miss Sophie!

Baby Girl is 3 months and a Naughty Boy

2007-09-04T23:30:00.001-05:00

Miss Sophie is 3 months old! (I'm a little late in blogging)
This is as good as it gets for "official" 3 month shots. Even with the kids back in school, we seem busier than ever and so I haven't taken a lot of time to take photos here lately. Need to do better for sure since she's growing like crazy!

She's such a sweet girl. Loves to "talk" and smile and laugh, but also really likes to study people. And nosey. My, is this girl nosey! She needs to be right in the middle of the action, seeing what's going on. She started rolling over a few weeks ago. Yeah, seems a wee bit early, but she's not following anyone's time table.

She's also really gotten herself into somewhat of a schedule. And doing very well in the sleeping at night thing. Don't want to type HOW good for fear I'll jinx myself.

She loves this little Bumbo seat. Such a lifesaver when I need to cook dinner and do dishes.

And my naughty boy. I hadn't finished putting away everything from our family get-together on Sunday. Including a yummy box of cupcakes. And Thomas was still up. And Thomas loves cupcakes. And Mom needed to feed Sophie. And Dad was a mere few feet away "watching." ahem. I'm sure you know how the story ends.
"wasn't me!"

trying to hurry and lick off the evidence

BUSTED!

First Day of School

2007-08-15T15:29:00.000-05:00

Everyone was excited and ready to get back to school! It went great and they are TIRED!

Our brand new Kindergartener

New 2nd grader:

New 3rd grader:

New 4th grader:

and new 7th grader:

Group pose

Grace was the only one that allowed photos to be taken in classrooms. Poor thing had 2 boys at her table that were crying. She just looked so timid and little. She ran out to meet me at the end of her day and said, "Mommy, I get to come back tomorrow too!!" So safe to say she had a wonderful first day!

New Sophie Pics

2007-08-05T18:14:00.000-05:00

She's 12 pounds 7 ounces now, putting her at the 80% on the growth chart. We still hear constantly how teeny tiny she is. She's a happy girl the majority of the time.... loves watching all the action that happens in this house. Especially loves when someone talks with her... she gets super excited and coos and SQUEALS loudly.

T-minus 10 days until school starts! WOW!

2007-07-28T17:12:00.001-05:00

I love my boots....

2007-07-21T14:14:00.000-05:00

da boyz

2007-07-18T20:21:00.001-05:00

8 weeks

2007-07-17T11:39:00.000-05:00

Sophia is 8 weeks today. Unbelieveable! She's finally at the point where she looks like she's getting big. She actually *is* on the big side, but her features are so petite, all we ever hear (and say) is how teeny tiny she is. She's filling out, is pretty long, and about 12 pounds, so really not so teeny tiny. Bittersweet.
She's definitely a talker too. Loves to coo and squeal... so adorable!

The girls are all about Webkinz right now! (shhhh... the boys too) This is Gracie's new one she wanted pics with.

Guess I should explain

2007-07-16T11:52:00.001-05:00

my "power cord death" title. I thought I did, but obviously it didn't get published right... LOL
My power cord on the AC adaptor for my laptop bit the dust. I noticed it coming on and off when I moved it. Upon further investigation, it must have got too hot and looks almost melted in the spot where it attaches to the laptop. So, not using THAT again. Sneaking in on the desktop now, as I wait for my new AC adaptor and cord to be overnighted to me. Withdrawals, seriously!

power cord death

2007-07-14T22:32:00.000-05:00

The boys talked Bill into a Wii

My Mom's fondant class assignment (super yummy too!)

my ebay find (the baby scale.. LOL)

fireworks and two-thirds of the Weiss girls

2007-07-08T17:18:00.001-05:00

I was excited about the idea of taking some photos of fireworks. I read up on how best to capture them... set up the tripod, remote shutter release... and it was HARD! These were just some private fireworks, not a display.. so maybe an organized display where they all go up in the same spot would be easier. But I had a hard time judging where one would go... and if it was even one worthy of pressing the shutter for. So I got a few I thought were okay... and after all that, wondered just what the heck I'd do with a slew of fireworks photos anyway.

After reading Julia Greer's article on using an SB800 flash with a softbox and get studio looking results, I put all the assesories I'd need on my wishlist at B&H. Bill found said list and got me all the goodies including the 85mm 1.8 lens I'd also had on there.
Here are the results of the first attempt with the set up (I'm using a Westcott Apollo 50x50 softbox and large reflector opposite it).
My oldest girly who is getting way too close to turning 13 for me... and definitely looking it! ACK!

and the youngest sweetie... who will be 7 weeks on Monday... already!

Turkeys and Pediatricians

2007-06-28T15:08:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of our other backyard pets. I saw the big guy sitting there, and it wasn't until I was snapping away that I realized there was a friend behind the tree.

Miss Sophie on her way to the pediatrician for her one month check-up

So, as tiny as she looks, she's not so tiny!

She weighed in at 10 pounds 12 ounces, which puts her at the 80%.

And is 22 3/4 inches long, which puts her at 75%.

He asked if she was beginning to smile in her sleep or on occasion. I had to laugh as she was smiling responsively right then and there. Umm, yeah, she's been smiling responsively for about 2+ weeks now.

Then he asked if she can turn her head side to side while laying on her tummy and begin to lift it a little. HA! She's been pushing and holding her head up and looking around pretty much from the start.

So, developmentally, she's doing awesome and ahead of the game!

Does it get any sweeter?

2007-06-23T13:29:00.001-05:00

One month!

2007-06-22T10:57:00.001-05:00

Hard to believe Sophie is one month old already! But it's true!
She's such a sweetie! Started giving us real on-purpose smiles last week and I was able to capture it earlier this week. She got a bit confused why Mommy would talk and smile with her and as soon as she smiled back, the big black camera would be in her face... LOL

Haven't blogged in a bit, so I'll just toss up some recent photos

just typical Gracie

Sam & Little Sam... LOL

New baby fawn in the back yard

Abigail has been busy the last two weeks with basketball and volleyball camps, so none of her for now!

overload of pink!

2007-06-08T22:42:00.000-05:00

Some recent layouts... full of pink!

credits here

credits here

credits here

and some silly Sophie photos... surprise, more pink!

You wanna take more photos? Put up your dukes!

and we'll go with the "she's flashing the peace sign" and not an obscene gesture.. ;)

just total cuteness

okay, ONE more photo... that's it!

You don't listen very well, do you?

why I outta....

here's what I think of your photo shoot!

Super Thomas, First Baths, & Other Stuff

2007-06-03T21:05:00.001-05:00

Totally random blogging.

After bath the other night, Thomas had Abigail tie a bandana around him like a cape. He ran into the family room to show Daddy and Daddy says, "Oh look, it's Superman!!" To which Thomas says, "No! I Super Thomas!!" :::pause::: "to da re-cue!"

Miss Sophie had her first bath this weekend. She was none too thrilled with it to say the least!

She does, however, *love* to be swaddled up... and then I call her my "baby burrito"... only Gracie couldn't quite remember the burrito part, so calls her "baby nacho"

Was trying to get some classic newborn shots... which aren't so easy when you are mommy and photographer. I could not get the timing right with set up, having her fed, happy, maybe sleeping... so I get shots like these.
Her trying to eat her hands:

and then holding her head up and then trying to eat the backdrop

on her side isn't much better because she has to be constantly moving

not completely what I had in mind... but she's sleeping and adorable

and don't you just know she's already saying, "stop with all the photos already, please!!"

Birth announcements are done and ordered from the printer!

Officially....

2007-05-27T18:53:00.000-05:00

off the phototherapy bed!!

So in love

2007-05-27T13:23:00.000-05:00

So we are completely biased, but everyone here thinks Sophie is THE most beautiful baby.
She's still on her little glow bed... hoping to hear that her levels this morning have gone down and possibly able to come off the lights.
She's eating SUPER well... so well that she's surpassed her birth weight and is now 8 pounds 7 ounces as of this morning! (for breastfed babies, the goal is to get back to birth weight by 2 weeks... so she's doing REALLY well)

Few more pics:

She's here... finally!

2007-05-25T14:15:00.000-05:00

And I think if it were up to her, she'd still be happily inside me.

But, the eviction date was set and carried out on Monday, May 21st.

Took until 3pm to get anything going, but then it happened quickly and she was born at 4:25 pm.

Born completely wrapped up in her cord. I knew she was a busy baby, but she was REALLY busy. Cord was wrapped tightly around her neck... around her body... TWICE!! and then once around her foot!

She is our smallest baby at a mere 8 pounds 6 ounces and 22 inches long. Such a little peanut!

And no red hair. In fact, not a whole lot of hair to speak off... what she does have is dark. So while she looks like all the others, she also looks completely different being so tiny and bald.. haha!

She also spiked her bilirubin levels very early on, so she's been confined to a bed for phototherapy. Thankfully we were able to get one for home, so it didn't slow us down from coming home. And she seems to like it... it keeps her warm and snug and has a low humming noise. But since she can only come off it to feed, we are all really dying to sit and snuggle with her for any length of time!

The kids all love her to pieces. Even Thomas.... he's probably dare I say, the most in love. Which is a nice surprise! Sometimes 2 year olds don't respond so positively from they baby status being usurped... but he is head over heels in love!

Of course I have photos. Not a lot because of the jaundice treatment!

at the hospital right before she was put on phototherapy:

at home on her bili-bed

we call her our little glow worm

monkey toes

big yawn... after her first pediatrician visit

Still no Sophie

2007-05-17T17:46:00.000-05:00

Abigail is gone to camp with her 6th grade class... so it's just as well, she'd be bummed to miss the birth. She's back tomorrow afternoon, but I'm still thinking Sophie is going to hold out until her induction date Monday. :::sigh:::

I've had all my camera gear packed and ready to go and not really using it... just in case. So I got the camera out today with the 50mm 1.8 lens. Gorgeous weather we are having!

Billy had his school play on Friday. He was so nervous about memorizing lines! But he did a fabulous job... and even sang and acted out all the songs too! So proud of him!!

and just some sweet photos I scrapped of Thomas and my Mom... this boy *adores* his Nonnie like no other... and the feeling is quite mutual!

Still waiting for Sophie

2007-05-14T13:34:00.000-05:00

No real surpise... I'm over due AGAIN! Induction date is set for May 21st... still holding out hope I won't make it that far, but my hope is fading! Definitely in the uncomfortable stage!

Was hoping maybe for a Mother's Day baby... but here are the flowers Bill & the kids gave me to cheer me up:

Weekend party

2007-05-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

We finally got to have Gracie's birthday party this past Sunday. Long story somewhat short, Bill had an accident on his motorcycle, ended up in the hospital on the day we had planned to have her party. He's okay... had a really bad concussion and so was out of it for a while (as in, "we have 6 kids with #7 on the way?!?! That's CRAZY!!" type of things coming from him)... and broke his wrist pretty good that required surgery to screw it together. He's good now, completely banned by me from riding the stupid thing again.

So, a little late, but she still had a nice party, albeit pretty WARM for this preggo Momma being outside! Here are the pics:

He *loved* the "wa-wer-me-mon"

Samuel is a biggest lover of watermelon though!

This boy loves his Nonnie so much!

our niece Taylor with the most amazing eyelashes

who says boys can't wear pink sunglasses?

really wanted to get some fun twirling photos in her new fave outfit... but she wasn't in the mood

she was excited about present time!

nothing like sweet CASH!!!

Latest Digi Layouts

2007-04-28T00:04:00.000-05:00

In no particular order

friendship credits here

I don't play your rules credits

the world is a canvas credits here

37 weeks credits here

call me credits here

love my dollhouse credits here

firecracker credits here

Five credits here

Photoshoot

2007-04-25T17:31:00.000-05:00

Our Brother-in-law has always called Gracie "Firecracker".... and appropriately so. Not only is her fire red hair a reason, but her firecracker of a personality more so! Last night in Target, I pass by their Fourth of July T-shirts (already?!?!)... and I always like to check them out, $4 t-shirts can't be passed up! And what do I find but one that reads firecracker across the front! Sweet!

So since I also just got a WhiBal card I wanted to check out and Gracie was wanting to wear the shirt and get some pictures to show Uncle Kevin, I decided to set up the backdrop stand and do a little photoshoot. Plus Thomas got a haircut recently and I wanted to get some of it (cute little 20's looking haircut on him.)... but he's just not as cooperative as Miss Firecracker!

(techy notes... natural light... 30mm 1.4 lens... aperature 2.8 on most, shutter speeds varied from 125 up to 200)

scoots all the way back to lean on the backdrop

thought I could use a reflector to fill in light since he refused to face the right way to light his face... HA!

oh so innocent

yeah, he's done

Happy 5th Birthday to Gracie!

2007-04-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe she's FIVE now... she says she still feels four though... LOL!
We had some fun shooting some pics in her room today... it was her idea since she had her birthday shirt on and all! Of course, Thomas is included.

A few recent layouts

2007-04-03T12:28:00.000-05:00

Still plugging through all the vacation photos, but thought I'd put up some recent layouts.
(click to enlarge)

brother credits here

gamer credits here

the oldest boy credits here

bury me credits here

princess (indeed!) credits here

our little tattoo artist credits here

beach fun credits here

The posed photos

2007-03-30T22:57:00.000-05:00

This was actually on the way down... at night... at a gas station... in the van. My 50mm 1.8 was attached to the camera, so what the heck... opened up the aperature wide open and upped the ISO to 640. Jonathan grabbed Bill's sunglasses and struck his best Terminator poses!

And we totally bribed the kids with ice cream to get these. My favorites are actually the ones of their backs (I may even order one on a canvas)

Bury me!

2007-03-29T10:08:00.000-05:00

Totally Thomas' idea!!

Hey, Grace... no sand in the face!

COMPLETE!

New load of beach photos!

2007-03-27T12:59:00.000-05:00

We seriously couldn't keep Billy out of the ocean.. he LOVED it!

Abigail quickly posing!

Gracie serious about her sand play

Thomas too!

Let's build a village

Everyone, including Nonnie working together

Samuel wasn't completely thrilled with the ocean's frigid temperature, but still jumped in!

Jonathan is another ocean lover

And Thomas being tempted by the water

Checking it out more closely

Whheeeeeeee!!

"Mom. Dad. Water cold!" (he said this about 500 zillion times)

And we had a quick fly-over by the Blue Angels! Neat surprise!

Beach Beauty

2007-03-26T10:41:00.000-05:00

Oh how Gracie loves the ocean... just pure joy from jumping and splashing in it!

And once she caught me taking pictures, she felt obligated to pose for me. Only, I'm not sure how concerned I should be at her poses... oh my. All her own and I have no idea where she comes up with stuff like this... LOL

Loads more to come... just had to share these real quick!

Spring Break!

2007-03-26T07:58:00.000-05:00

We are back from a wonderful and relaxing trip to Gulf Shores for Spring Break. We had a fabulous time and are a little sad to be back to reality!

We rented a house on the beach to stay at:

Our master bedroom... can't beat that view!!

The living room with not the most comfy of furniture, but really, who wants to be sitting inside with that for your back yard?!

Kitchen, breakfast bar area

but who really cares about the house when this is out your back door??

The water was FREEZING, but it didn't slow down the older kids from jumping right in!

Thomas LOVED playing in the sand

Kids in swim suits in the ocean... wimpy Dad bundled up... LOL

*way* more photos to come!!! (this was just our first day... haha!)

bloggin' again

2007-03-15T15:55:00.000-05:00

just a new layout and pics from yesterday... (and it's the two littles again.. they are the ones home all day with me)

Nice tats, eh? Guess he's trying to earn some serious street cred

So completely busted!

switching

2007-03-14T13:13:00.000-05:00

So I've come to realize... I'm not very good at this blogging stuff. But, I'm also not quite ready to give it up all together. So instead of tossing Typepad $9 each month and not using it, I'm switching over to the free Blogger service. And hopefully make more of an effort to at least just post some recent photos and layouts. Because goodness knows I haven't stopped taking lots of photos and making layouts!

Here's one I just completed... with pictures from yesterday (yes, it really is that warm here.... for now... enjoying it!)