that's life.

today

TODAY: June 22, 2009

 

did you have these mcdonald's plates when you were little?  i LOVE using these for max's lunch plate....i had one original, and then i searched ebay to find the rest.

{got the idea for these questions/answers directly from www.aliedwards.typepad.com  one of my favorite blogs to read...i just cut and pasted her prompts and filled in the info}

Outside my window...the dog has shred two more of her toys.  toy stuffing is all over the deck.  and our hydrangeas are gorgeous!!!!

I am thinking...about starting to clear out the nursery of all the junk that is in there at the moment.  I'm also thinking about changing my email address.....been getting a TON of spam/junk email in my cox email inbox.

I am thankful for...my family.  so much fun to be around all of them.

From the kitchen...hot dogs and beans for lunch with raw veggies and ranch. {as a side note....max now likes to dip his peanut butter and jelly sandwich in ranch dressing....gross!}.  Dinner was good ol spaghetti and meat sauce and bread.

I am wearing...my first day in full-fledged maternity clothes.  so much more comfortable in these....not sure why i didn't just do this two weeks ago when i started getting uncomfortable.  oh, and of course i'm wearing flip flops.

I am creating...nothing at the moment (except peanut willette inside of me.....he or she is doing a ton of growing each week).

I am going...to email my client list this week announcing my pregnancy and offering up options for photos during my maternity leave.  I'm also planning on switching up the format for this blog while i'm on "leave" to include more tips/tutorials, links to local business, and links to children's related items (trying to keep most of the links local).

I am reading...The Bolyn Inheritance and The Happiest Baby on the Block

I am hoping...to find out what the baby is in five short days.

I am hearing...max play hot wheels next to me and my iMix that i'm working on (heavily laden with norah jones)

Around the house...i'm waiting for the ac dude to get here to service our AC units (just a maintenance visit), downstairs looks good, litter box is clean, need to put away two loads of folded laundry, toys are ALL over max's room and the room that will be the nursery.  max has been super busy playing.  lots of pool gear laying around various rooms....swimsuits, towels, etc....and lots of little boy underpants all over our second floor.  not sure what that is all about....kinda cute!

One of my favorite things...thunderstorms on a summer afternoon.

A few plans for the rest of the week...baby shower for neighbor, meeting up at max's school (volunteer stuff), swim pups practice for max, hopefully get to see my cousin Tiffany and her children (which i have NEVER met...sadly), and i'm planning on trying to be nice (i have been especially short tempered during this pregnancy....sometimes just downright mean....i am struggling with this, and i hope to work on it).  i'm also going to get willette to take a belly shot of me this week....can't believe i haven't done this yet and i'm nearly 15 weeks preggers.

 

you can kinda see my belly getting in the way of this photo.....too funny.  i was trying to move so that it wasn't in the way, but that just got too hard.

 

We're a 2009 Nickelodeon's Parents' Picks Nominee!!!!

if you have nothing better to do, take a gander at this link and vote for willette {classic children's portraiture} as Norfolk's Best Photographer.  Voting lasts until July 15th, and it is such a cool honor!  I'm super excited to be among the nominees.  Thank you to whomever nominated us!!!!!

link: Norfolk's Best Photographer

  

you can vote once a day up until july 15th.

my how time flies....

haven't photographed these kiddos in two years, and it is AMAZING how much they have grown!  SO SO fun to be together with them and their hilarious momma again.  Big sister is a total ham.....she was absolutely clowning around for the camera....posing herself!  Little sister is just as sweet as ever!!!  They have such an amazing, loving mother....these girls have FUN with their momma.  GREAT to see all of you ladies again!!!  See you at the pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this GORGEOUS momma stopped in literally the DAY before she gave birth......so so so glad we set this up.....

 

 

 

and then i saw her a few days later with her new addition....a precious, sweet boy, who TOTALLY digs his momma already.  you should have seen him totally holding on her her as she held him. SO SO neat.  TOTALLY looking forward to photos in the future with you guys!

 

 

 

 

we get each other.....

the mother of these beauties and i "get" each other.....i think more than we ever realized back during our days at Maury!  you see, we both come from crazy Irish-Catholic families, so we understand each other's neuroses (is this how you spell this????) and the family drama both of us endure (and create... :D).  Photographing her kiddos was a breeze (even though i think their momma may have stressed about it.....which comes naturally for people like "us").  She had the perfect outfits (oh, did i mention to you, Melissa, that i am placing myself on your little girl hand me downs in the event baby willette #2 is a girl?????).  These chicks have some killer dresses!  Thanks for the fun morning ladies and for enduring me being "in your face" with my giant camera!  See you all VERY soon.....got my fingers crossed that Miss K and Max have the same teacher in the fall!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all it takes are....

AA batteries, a broken air hog helicopter and some animal crackers (for both of us) to get some fab pictures of my buddy Mr. C.  We're super tight now that we know the secret to a great photo session for the two of us...an animal cracker for you, one for me, several sets of batteries to try to power the non-functioning air hog and a dad that knows how to keep it all going.  Phew!  Good times...good times.  Little dude here is precious (and is a total clone of his momma....if you know the family, then you know what i'm talking about...LOL).  Hope you're doing well little man....had a blast with you, and thank you again for the snacks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

good boy.....

seeing such angels in my "studio" brings total joy to me (and gives me hope that not ALL babies are as high maintenance as my son was as a baby).  This little dude just rolls with life....happy to see his momma, happy to have a snack, and TOTALLY digging my camera.  LOVE that!  What i'm really digging with this little peanut are his beautiful, blond eye lashes....totally unfair that this little guy is blessed with these lashes....i know a TON of women who would pay for these. Great to see you again, C family!  See you all in three months when our little pal here is sitting strong (if not before!).

 

 

 

 

repeat...i am NOT a family photographer....

UNLESS you are the B family here.  It is no secret that i typically struggle photographing families. My comfort level is with the kiddos....i typically start twitching when a client asks for a family photo.  Not sure what that is all about...i just know my talents lie with the kiddos.  BUT, when our pals asked us for a couple of family shots, i knew this would be a fun session (and i LOVE LOVE LOVE this family), so i did it, and we had an absolute blast the entire time we were photographing.  i'm not even going to tell you what we were discussing to get such hilarity captured with the camera....all i have to say is that it was VERY difficult to hold the camera still while photographing these friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

two of my fav little lasses....

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these gals.  ALWAYS a pleasure to be in their gorgeous home, capturing their super happy smiles.  Are their dresses not the most gorgeous dresses ever?  you should have felt the fabric they were made of...super dreamy!  great seeing you ladies again....see you VERY soon (and for the twelve month photos!!!).

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

CUTE with a captial C!!!!!

these pumpkins were WAY cute.....i nearly died when i walked in a saw their sweet faces.  SUCH amazingly sweet kiddos.  SO sweet......could have photographed them ALL day long.  They were adorable.  We had a lot of laughs making silly animal sounds and doing some tickles!  Thanks for the amazing session little kiddos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

how do your children grow????

i last photographed these children when little mr. c was a few months old.....my, my, my how time flies.  He is a little boy now....not even a toddler.  This amazes me how fast children grow and change.  And his big sister is just as beautiful as ever (how did overnight camp go?).  Great to see you all again....see you in a couple of years if not before!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cutie cousins....

i love doing family photos with cousins.....so much fun to capture the relationship between cousins (my cousins and i were super close growing up, and we still are to this day!).  So i LOVE adding to the family visual history by capturing this relationship.  These gals were especially cute.....they LOVED their individual portrait sessions!  I almost confiscated these cool vintage owl art things they had on the wall (oh, and i also almost tried to stuff their dogs in my bag to take them home with me...they were SO cute!). Thanks for a fun photo session, ladies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

the next generation....

it is a BLAST to see friends from high school with their kiddos when they're back in town.  AND i think the best part of this is when the kiddos look JUST like mom or dad did back in the day!  Big sister here is a clone of her momma from our days at Maury.  It is uncanny.  And lil' sis appears to be a total Daddy's girl in the looks department.  GREAT meeting you little gals, and it was awesome seeing you again M!  It was great catching up and meeting your kiddos!  The girls were hilarious to photograph....who knew a few silly songs could bring so many laughs and smiles?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

more adorable mcmahon kiddos....

i know i'm a bit biased (and proud and modest), but our family makes some CUTE kids.  Here are some more adorable mcmahon kiddos, visiting from the Lone Star State a few weeks ago.  I'm so, so glad i was able to meet little Miss K for the first time, and that i got to hang out with someone that i don't get to see nearly enough (when are you guys going to move back here, Kara????).  Great seeing you guys as always!  Looking forward to your next visit (hopefully it will be sooner than two years from now).

 

 

 

 

my adorable cousins....

these are my cousin, kelly's (yes, we have the same name) children.....just adorable!  it is ALWAYS a pleasure to photograph them.  Kelly loves some good children's clothing just as i do, so it is fun to see what the kiddos will be wearing....and fun to see how darn big they are getting.  Kinda crazy how they are growing up so fast.  I cannot believe how little Mr. C here just sat and posed for photos.....most one year olds are NOT that still.  He certainly was...i think his big sister has been teaching him a thing or two about portraits!  Great to see you all again!