Hissyfits Photography Blog

Hey friends!! So it has been almost a week since I last updated, I know! Life has been, well, life! Busy. We have had friends here to play, met friends out to play, snuggled newborns, lost our body weight and then some in sweat because it is still SO stinking hot and well, we’ve just been busy!! And we have another busy week ahead of us!

There are some SUPER fun things going on behind the scenes with Hissyfits Photography too! As in an actual website, holiday packages and even some uber {love that word} cute holiday cards being created by a fabulous designer whom I am lucky enough to call a friend! No, we haven’t met in *real life* but we are still friends!! Anyway, LOTS is happening and I can’t wait to share it all!

More on all of that later! For now I have something fabulously fun and special to share. Last week an amazing friend and photographer came to our home to capture some family photos for us. And not just your typical family photos…we are talking 50’s style, retro fun people! TOTALLY up my alley! I think I was born in the wrong era!! Oversized sunglasses, fedoras, heels and swimming suits. YES…I wore a swimming suit not only in front of someone other than my husband but for someone who is going to be sharing these images with the blog world!! And somehow I am okay with that.

Anyway, I have SO SO SO much I want to say about the incredible person and photographer Kamee is and how we came to be friends, but I am going to wait until she has the rest of our sneak peek up so I can post images throughout it!

For now enjoy these. And if you live in the LA area, email her and book your appointment! I can assure you that you WON’T be disappointed!

And check out the sunflare on this one! I have been daydreaming of a shot like this of Gentry all summer and Kamee turned it into a reality!! Only it is 1000 times better than anything I had dreamed of!

Kamee, you already know I adore you and love these images. Thank you for giving us the gift of these magical memories! You are indeed a true gem and I am beyond lucky to call you a friend! Thanks for everything! I can’t wait to see the rest!

It’s Tuesday again already! WOW these seem to roll around fast!! Wanna know a little secret though? I actually start working on these posts a few days ahead of time! When I think of random bits, I come to the computer and add them! That way I am not racking my brain Tuesday morning trying to come up with ten little bits and pieces to share!! As exciting as I like to think my life is, it really isn’t!!

Alright, let’s get this party started!

1. I may have OCD when it comes to certain things, but so does my husband! I was trying to enter a recipe into MacGourmet {the computer program we use} over the weekend and he hovered beside me making sure I was doing it right. I was not. However, with his help, we got the recipe entered the correct way and all is well!

2. I officially joined the world of Project Runway watchers. I have heard of this show forever but never watched it. Well, for some random reason I happened to see it on the “guide” on our TV Thursday night so we set the DVR. I watched it over the weekend and it was actually pretty good! I am definitely more of the “blend in” type when it comes to fashion, but it was fun to watch them work and create!

3. Some of you know that I adore Sheye Rosemeyer. Her story. Her photography. Her style. She is real. She is transparent. Her writing so raw. I have taken both of her online workshops as well as bought her actions for photo editing. {And in case you are wondering, they are pretty much the only actions I use these days…the best!} The other night I was reading her blog update and saw these. I immediately ordered two sets. One of these days I am going to have the sweetest little tea party for Gentry and her friends…and when I do, these invites are going to be sent to all the little guests. And I will remember…remember to cherish each day with my littles for time passes all too quickly. {PS…if you order these, the price is in pounds and not dollars…I spent more than I thought I was but I really wanted two sets!!}

4. Huntler has his first show and tell on Friday! His teacher is great and is super organized! From one organized gal to another, I LOVE that! She has a theme for each show and tell and everything planned out for the entire year. I am certain we would be great friends outside of school! By the way…the theme this week is a picture of your family. It can be drawn or something he took with the camera or a picture of us doing something that means something special to him. I am sending this. It is from when we had our back yard camp out in May that Huntler talked about for MONTHS! He desperately wants to do this again but we have to wait until it cools down a bit! Laying in a tent in 100 degree heat does not sound one bit appealing!

5. I sold every last item of clothing my kiddos have outgrown last week! One friend came and bought all my boy stuff and another took all the girl stuff off my hands! YAY! Now the only things we have left are what currently fits and the few pieces I am hanging onto that I just can’t part with!

6. If anyone feels the need to buy me a new lens, I really want this one. DEFINITELY not the most practical and I am sure I could really use this one before that one, but what a FUN spin the fisheye puts on images!!

7. Speaking of lenses and photography, I am officially moving full steam ahead with this little biz of mine! This summer it has taken a back burner with the extreme heat, but as the last couple of months of temps in the 100’s approach, I am FINALLY getting my website in the works and all of the business end stuff going! I hope to have it all up and running before the cooler weather rolls in so I can get out and shoot like crazy and not worry about all the technical stuff!

8. If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I update a lot. I probably annoy people, but oh well, they can hide my updates or delete me if they need to! I say that, but I totally mean it!! It was nothing personal, but I had to delete some people that were only posting random things that really didn’t mean anything whatsoever to me! Anyway, last week I was yammering on in a couple of my updates about Crazy 8 and their big sale and my little shopping spree! Not so much a spree, but more like buying a few necessities for the kiddos! I found some super cute knee socks and a winter coat for Gentry. Their sale is over, but their prices are pretty reasonable even without the extra discount! Cuteness, hunh? I am LOVING this coat I found for her! I am SO glad that the one I originally wanted was sold out at Gymboree because this green is PERFECTION! Hello photo shoot!!

9. I scored a pair of $30 sandals on sale for $3 for Gentry at Kohl’s last night!! YAY! Gotta love those end of summer sales!!

10. I can NOT wait until tomorrow! A sweet friend who is also an amazing photographer is coming over to hang out and then take some family pictures for us tomorrow evening!! I am beyond excited!

Alright…so maybe these pictures weren’t exactly “lost” in the technical sense of the word, but they did get pushed to the wayside in the order of editing! Or lack thereof I should say!! Not quite as much as the pictures I took back in Kansas that still haven’t been edited though, but you get the idea! {Mom, I PROMISE those Kansas pics are coming…I just have to be “feeling” them before I can get theme edited into perfection!!}

So anyway, we bought the kids life jackets this summer. Well, Chris did, I didn’t! They LOVE them! Huntler is all over that pool like a crazy kid and Gentry has gotten much more comfortable and gets a little more brave each time! Huntler’s doesn’t have a strap on the bottom so once he hops in the water it shimmies right up under his neck, but he doesn’t seem to mind! He looks a little uncomfortable and it makes for memorable pictures, but as long as he is cool with it, then we are too! There is plenty of room for him to grow!

Huntler has really gotten good at getting around the pool this summer. Having the life jackets has been nice from the standpoint that one person can take both kids swimming and not be panicked the entire time that something is going to happen. However, my hair stylist totally reprimanded me on the whole situation saying that it wasn’t a good idea and that the kids won’t learn their body weight and then they’ll jump in without them sometime and sink because we haven’t taught them to swim and blah, blah, blah. No, we haven’t put them in swimming lessons yet. We HAVE been lax on that…I totally admit it. I just am not a big water person so the thought of swimming lessons is less than appealing to me. BUT…that being said, I also realize as a parent it is my responsibility to enroll them. Next summer. In the meantime, there is NO WAY our kids can get into the pool. First of all, every door in our house has an alarm so it sounds off if opened {front door, back door, garage door, etc…}. But the kids never just go out on their own anyway…I always know where they are! But say they did happen to get outside without my knowledge, the pool is totally gated and there is no way they can get in. And it also has an alarm if opened. I am SUPER paranoid about water so we have every safety feature known to man!

Anyway, enough defending myself from my hair stylist! Sorry but apparently I needed to vent! Now to the fun part of the post…LOVE this shot of Huntler!! I added some extra haze to it and am loving the look!! Doesn’t his hair look so red? It is but we keep it super short so you really can’t tell!

And the littlest bean being her ornery self! This shot cracks me up!! It is just.so.Gentry. I mean, everything from her pink life jacket {this is the one she apparently insisted on…Chris said there were much cuter ones but she had to have pink!} to her sweet grin to her crazy hair to her chippy nail polish! Totally our girl!

This is one of the typical faces I get from Huntler when I am trying to get him to cooperate. There are also the mouth wide open, cheese ball smiles and eyes rolled to the side looks that he throws at me so I guess this one is the lesser of the evils! At least he still looks like himself and he IS looking at the camera…weird tongue action and all! I love how you can see his whole body!

Gentry girl and Daddy! She is SUCH a Daddy’s girl! She loves me and is stuck to me like glue every hour of the day, but there is a special place in her heart for her Daddy! And he is pretty darn fond of her too! She is absolutely spoiled rotten and has him totally wrapped around her little finger!!

The more I look at these, the more I love them. I love how real they are. I love the stories they tell and the stories they make those who weren’t there create in their mind. These are the pages of my family…the images that they will one day hold dear, just as I have a little box full of pictures I hold dear. I wonder if one day many years from now when Gentry is preparing for her wedding and creating a video of pictures from her childhood if she’ll scan through the thousands of images on the computer in search of this one of her and Chris. I wonder which ones will stick out in her mind just as I have pictures from my own childhood that stick out in mine. As challenging as being a mom is, these are the moments that remind me I wouldn’t change this for anything in the world!

Happy Friday friends! Just a quick little post today! It has been a long week with sick kids, sleepless nights and lots of work to do!! But I wanted to leave ya with a little something for the weekend!

I found this post over at Jane Says and borrowed it from her! Thanks April!

Pick five  from the following items you would be willing to live without if you HAD to give up five.

1. Computer
2. High Speed Internet
3. Land Line Phone
4. Air Conditioning
5. Clothes Dryer
6. Cell Phone
7. TV
8. Car
9. Microwave
10. Cable or Satellite TV

Here are my five {in no particular order!}:

1. Cable
2. Clothes Dryer
3. Land Line
4. TV
5. Microwave

I could definitely live without the TV and cable!! Most of the shows I really “need” to watch I can find online! And the land line? Yes, it is probably safest to have one, but we never did back in Kansas. It wasn’t until we moved here and had no cell service at our house that we got one! It might be a pain to have no clothes dryer, but I could do it!! And I could also live without the microwave!! And considering that I went without a cell phone in the desert for months, I could live without that one too! However, I have since gotten Chris’ hand me down iPhone and have become quite addicted…mostly to checking my email and updating Facebook from it!! The internet has ruined me!

Wanna play? Post your five in the comments section!!

It is hot here people…I am talking super, miserable, extremely hot. I hate it. We all have a severe case of “Cabin Fever” and can not wait for the heat to move out and the cooler temps to move in. However, I don’t see that happening right away!! Anyway, when it is 110 and you are sweating buckets, you just don’t take a lot of pictures! Despite the inferno we live in, I am hoping to drag my sweet husband and cute kidlets out this weekend to that fab new location Mary shared with me so HOPEFULLY I’ll be coming at ya with some new images soon!

But for now, let’s take a little trip down memory lane! Both kids got hair cuts yesterday which of course had me reflecting!

Here is a shot of Huntler from July 10, 2006…ten days before we had Gentry. This was not his first hair cut, but this is when we went with his signature spiky look that he still has!

Look at that baby face? What has happened to my little guy? He is so grown up now! No wonder I have such a bad case of baby fever…he was simply too cute for words, don’t ya think?

And Gentry girl. This was her first hair cut…September 15, 2007. And what a baby face she was as well! I can’t believe how much and how quickly these two have grown up and changed! Oh, you think we should have another one too?! Leave a comment so I can forward it to Chris in one of my many attempts to get him to come around to the idea!! Both of the kids even want a baby…Huntler a boy and Gentry a girl of course!

Happy Weekend! See ya Monday!

I have made it abundantly clear from day one of our move out here that this is not home…nor will it ever be. In my mind it will simply never compare, never come close to living up to the life I envision we would have in Kansas. Yet for now, this is home. Instead of green grass, charming brick buildings which ooze character and trees as old as time, we are greeted each day with cacti, a variety of earthy toned stucco houses and sand. Instead of four distinct seasons, changes in the intensity of heat mark the end of one and the beginning of another. I could write a novel and then some about how desperately I yearn for the story book life we left behind nearly three years ago. Yet, tonight as I sit here in the quiet, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that had we never opened this chapter in the “story of us”, I would truly be missing something I never knew I needed.

I hate change. I am a simple girl. I order the same two things from every restaurant we eat at. I could live in jeans and sassy cute sweaters…with fab Target or Kohl’s jewelry of course! I could go my entire life without living in the desert or setting foot in the hot sand. Or could I? It is crystal clear to me as I sit here tapping the keys at 2:00 AM that my life is far richer than I could have ever imagined three years ago.

Three years ago at this time I was a basket case. I was sick to my stomach more often than not with nerves and anxiety over leaving home and heading west. I had just given birth. It was a really, really hard time in my life. I cried at the drop of a pin. I wallowed in self pity. I dreaded what was to come with every fiber of my being. Yet here I am, just shy of three years of living in the hottest state there is, and I am okay. I have survived another year. I have overcome my fears. I have found my niche. I am making the best out of the situation. Don’t get me wrong…I would be out of here in a heartbeat if someone said the word, but I am really okay.

I have found a strength in myself that I never would have known otherwise. I have been forced to take risks, to reach out. And along the way I have met some pretty amazing girls. Girls that have listened to me whine. Girls that have made me laugh. Girls that have watched my kids grow up and whose kids I have watched grow. We have shared stories. We have attended parties. We have compared doctors and hair stylists. We have made memories. And we have formed lifelong friendships. I am truly blessed to have found the circle of friends I have…thanks girls…your friendships mean more to me than you will ever know.

I truly believe that people come into our lives and quietly exit at certain times. Mary came into my life about two years ago and while we were friends, it has only been quite recently that our love of everything photography has brought us back on the same page. And even though Mary is a Nikon girl and I am Canon, she is still pretty great!

Sunday afternoon I loaded up my sweet girl and headed off to check out this amazing new location Mary found! We met up and walked around, chatting and snapping pics the entire time. The location is PERFECT and I am so glad she was kind enough to share!

Here are just a couple of the images I captured.

Meet big sis Lauren. She is two and is as independent as she is cute! You can tell she is used to having her mama take oodles of pics of her because she wanted to be anywhere but in front of the camera!! One time she even rolled her eyes at me…I kid you not!! Because she was on the fly, I had to wait to capture her just being a kid to get some shots of her! But that was fine by me…those are the best kind in my mind! Lauren was ALL about this fountain! She and Gentry were both soaking wet by the end of the evening!! But how fun it was! Plus, when you live in Arizona, cool water on a hot day feels better than you can imagine! And believe me, it was HOT!

And meet her lil’ brother James. Now this guy on the other hand was a piece of cake to take pictures of!! He has the biggest, gummiest little grin and was as happy as could be!! Total cutie! I LOVE this next shot!! The baby rolls, the tilted head, the open mouth, the pretty evening light….what a doll baby!!

Mary, thanks again for getting me out of the house and sharing your great find with me!! It was a lot of fun and we’ll have to do it again soon!!

*And on a totally random note, it is 2:30 AM and I haven’t been to sleep yet. I used to NEVER have these issues but it seems like once a week or so now I have a night like this! What in the world is that all about?! I seem to get all philosophical and wordy on these kind of nights!! My alarm is set to go off at 5:00 so I can attempt to work out before anyone wakes us! HA HA HA! Yeah right!

The first step is admitting you have a problem, right? Yes? Good. Well, now that I have that off my chest I can move forward. However, I don’t think I really have a problem just yet. I mean, I have only bought three pair of the said knee socks thus far and I actually just traded those for party goods. So you see, I haven’t actually “spent” any money yet!

So here is the cuteness that will be finding its way to my mailbox in the not so distant future…courtesy of a sweet friend who is taking some party fun off my hands and happens to live close to a Gap! That’s right…these babies are all from Gap!

These next ones are from Gap as well. I didn’t have her pick them up, but maybe I should have? They are super cute too! Don’t ya think? The whole “three sock” thing kinda threw me at first, but the more I think about it, the more I love it! I mean, how cute would little mismatched knee socks be on a certain three year old I know? Totally, super adorable? Yeah, that’s what I thought too!

And just to wet your whistle, here are some more sassy socks I found online!! If anyone so feels the need to send any of these our way, I am more than fine with that! These next ones are from Little Miss Matched! I have had this site bookmarked for a long time now…yet I have never ordered anything! Yet…

Have you ever heard of Mini Boden? Once again, I have never ordered anything, only dreamed! They have some of the cutest clothes EVER! Even for boys!! I think I may have to nose around some more and find some things for Huntler to wear for his five year photos. I am not sure if Chris knows this yet, but we are going to take the kids to to the Flagstaff area and spend a day trekking around and taking pictures!! The place where we ride on the Polar Express is up that way too! We have only ever been there in December when it is freezing so going earlier in the year might be fun!

So are you getting my new love of all things knee socks? Aren’t they just too cute for words? Gentry has two denim dresses that these are going to look darling with and I bought her a “new” denim skirt at the consignment shop the other day! It obviously wasn’t new but it sure looked like it! Can’t beat $4.50 for a Gymboree skirt!

Anyway, that brings me to the next part of this post: shoes. Last year I bought Gentry some little brown Mary Janes at Target and was EXTREMELY disappointed with them. Now you know I LOVE Target, but these shoes did not wear well at all. As in she wore them once or twice and the “leather” finish was peeling off and they looked horrible. {I just read a review online that says this very thing!}

So this year I stumbled upon the same shoe only in hot pink and patent leather as opposed to “regular” leather! HA! I am hoping against hope that they wear much better! I did read one review from someone that has them in black and has been very satisfied!

So do you know where I can find some cute little brown Mary Janes that won’t look terrible after being worn twice? I am all ears so let me know!! Also let me know if you have some top secret site you know of with uber cute knee socks!! Not that I’ll order, but I can look online with the best of ‘em!!

1. I have a paranoia about raw meat. I mean, it doesn’t gross me out to touch or handle it, but I am scared to death of getting sick from it! I will wash my hands three times after touching it to make sure I don’t contaminate myself!! I am also really picky about eating anything raw. I will cook chicken until it is leathery just to make myself confident that it is really done!! I can’t tell you how many times I have asked Chris if he is sure that something is okay to eat!
2. Huntler had a bad day at school on Friday. When I picked him up he was crying. His teacher said that it had just happened. Apparently they were in circle time and Huntler raised his hands up in one of the songs they were singing and accidentally brushed up against another little boy. Well, the other kid hauled off and hit Huntler and it crushed him!! He said it hurt his finger so I really don’t think it actually “hurt” him, but more crushed his little spirit! We made a trip to Walgreen’s for some candy to cheer him up.
3. And speaking of candy, do you know what he got? Candy corn!! I love candy corn and am so excited it is out again!! I LOVE fall…I just wish that in six weeks it would be cool enough to wear jeans and sweaters. That is never in a million  years going to happen, but a girl can dream, can’t she?!
4. My darling daughter is obsessed with her dance clothes. We bought them at Target on Friday and I can not tell you how many times we have helped her put her tights on since then! She is pretty independent and likes to do the rest of it on her own though!! Can I tell you how CUTE she looks?! I can’t wait to snap some pics of her at the studio tomorrow!
5. I have been sorting through the kids’ closets and the two totes I have of clothes they have outgrown. Pretty much all of Huntler’s stuff from last year fits so that is good news! He had outgrown his coat, but we bought him a new one for just $16 during Gymboree’s crazy back to school sale! I would like to get him a pair of “casual” dress shoes {is that a contradiction?} and a few more shirts and winter jammies and he is good to go! Gentry on the other hand barely fit into anything! NONE of her jeans fit, most of shirts were too tight, her socks were from when she was bitty and were way too small…you get the picture!
6. I am working on holiday photo packages! I only just got started but hope to have them all figured out over the weekend! It makes my little heart pitter patter to think that cooler temps ARE around the bend!!
7. I joined Clickin’ Moms last week! I have been hearing about it forever now and finally decided to see what it was all about! There is a TON of information floating around in there…some of which I know, some of which I don’t! Either way, I think it is a great resource!!
8. Write this day down…Chris was up BEFORE me this morning! And I got up at 6:00 AM! I was wide awake at 4:00 and could have gotten up, but my throat is a little sore and I thought I better force myself to sleep longer if I could!
9. I met up with a friend Sunday night at this SUPER fun photo location and had a blast!! There are SO many great places to shoot! I actually didn’t even feel like I was in AZ while we were there…which I LOVED!
10. More fun posts coming this week…I promise! Off to edit some pics and return emails while the kids sleep!

I caved. I gave into peer pressure. I did it. I reactivated my Facebook account. I never thought I would. You see, I LOVE my blog and everything about it. I like updating it. I like the comments. I like the fact that I have all of my thoughts and pictures documented and in one place. It is working perfectly for me! Yet…I have quite  few friends out there who just won’t hop on the blogging bandwagon and therefore my “communication” with them is limited! Very few of them comment here and I obviously can’t pop over to their blogs and say HELLO since they don’t have one, so I decided to branch out!

I initially joined Facebook back in December but quickly deleted my account because it was overwhelming me!! I was getting all sorts of friend requests and emails and I was freaking out so I deleted it as quickly as I could!! But after many conversations and emails from friends telling me to get back on, I did it! I will say that the first couple of days I was consumed by it and wasted WAY too much time snooping around, but since then, I have found the balance and although I do update it often, I just hop on and off and am good to go! I have also figured out how to change my settings so I don’t get emails every time someone comments on someone else’s pictures!

With this though I have pretty much quit updating my Twitter account. I like Facebook better because it is people I actually know and we can communicate!! So, if you are on Facebook and I “know” you {in the sense that you have commented before and aren’t some random stalker!}, let me know and we can be Facebook friends too! Here is my link!

1. I only get the mail about every three days. We rarely get anything “fun” and although the mailbox isn’t all that far, when it is super hot out like it is now, the heat just radiates off the asphalt and I can barely make myself trek down to it!

2. I recently bought some Suave kid’s shampoo and LOVE it!! Why have I been using baby wash on my kids’ hair for the last two years? It smells yummy, but the best thing is that it is shampoo/conditioner and Gentry has NO tangles! Not that she had many to begin with, but her hair is so soft and smooth these days!

3. My kids absolutely love Jon and Kate Plus 8! Huntler sits as still and attentive as an adult…he is totally drawn in by the kids! They are his age and he is just fascinated by them! And then there is Gentry who watches as intently as a three year old possibly can! Which means up and down and jabbering a mile a minute!! The funny thing about her though is that she calls is Jon and Cake. Love it!

4. I REFUSED to eat Chinese until I was pregnant with Huntler. I am super picky and finicky about food and don’t venture much outside of my chicken strip/hamburger world! I know…I am probably missing out on a lot of great stuff! Anyway, I am not sure what compelled me, but I vividly remember Chris and I going to lunch at a Chinese restaurant after one of my doctor’s appointments. I don’t do “buffet style” Chinese, but I do love a good sit down restuarant!! MMMMM! I will say that the only thing I eat is Sweet and Sour Chicken, but still…at least I am eating something different!!

5. I was getting the kids boxes of raisins out of the pantry the other day and totally had a flashback to the California Raisin toys that used to come in happy meals. Remember those? My sis and I had a whole collection! There was a little raisin guy on the box and he took me on a little trip down memory lane! Funny how bits and pieces of the past pop into your mind randomly like that!!

6. We no longer eat ground beef but ground turkey instead. We are big fans of “The Biggest Loser” and have made the switch to the Jennie O turkey they are always talking about! I will say that I did notice at first, but now I think NOTHING of it!

7. We went to Gymboree on Saturday. They are having a big “Back to School” sale and the coat I wanted for Gentry was on sale for $20 {regularly $39}. The sale price paired with my handy 20% off coupon meant I was only going to be paying $16 for it! YAY! WAS, however, is the key word. The coat was completely sold out online and they only had one left in the entire store and it was an XL. Insane, right? Because it has been triple digits and most of those over 110 lately here and the store was sold out? Of winter coats? I could not believe it! But I am not too worried…I did manage to find a coat for Huntler that I love and I am certain that I will find something even cuter for Gentry as fall gets closer!

8. I have been seeing lizards ALL over the place around our house…outside. We will have lived here three year in September and I think I can safely say that up until probably 3 months ago, we only saw a handful of lizards scampering about our parts. Then we saw just a couple. I convinced myself that there were just two or three, a family, and we were seeing the same ones over and over again. Well, that was all fine and dandy until I started seeing them out front, two together at a time, a huge one running across our backyard, lizards climbing up the fence and into the neighbor’s yard and back again…you get the picture. I have no clue how many of the little critters actually call our yard home, but more than I would like! HOWEVER, that being said, I will take lizards any day over scorpions! As far “out” as we live, we are fortunate not to have a scorpion problem as a lot of people down here do!

9. I had over 1600 hits on my blog last week! I know that isn’t a whole ton in the grand scheme of blogging, but it is certainly more than I ever thought I would get when I started this adventure last year!! Now…if only I would start getting more comments!!

10. I am putting Gentry in dance starting tomorrow! EEK! And I am super excited, can ya tell? Since she is still so young, she is actually going to be in more of a dance/play class where they do some tumbling, creative dance play and that sort of thing. Not a whole lot of focus on the moves at this point! She is pretty clingy to me, I am trying to start getting her to gain more independence and thought this might be a place to start. I have to stay {and maybe even participate}, but getting her out and involved will be good for her! Now my big dilemma is what to dress her in! She doesn’t have to wear dance clothes but oh how CUTE she would be in a leotard and ballet shoes with her hair all curled up cute! She is actually very excited! Ever since I mentioned it she has been asking about “dance class!” It is one day a week and for an hour!

This weekend we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. As we were sitting at the table munching on pizza and sipping down root beer, I found myself in another world. Huntler was next to me and Gentry across the table sitting beside Chris. We haven’t been to Chuck E Cheese in over a year so this experience was completely “new” to the kids. As I sat next to my little man, I found myself lost in his world, wondering what it would be like to be almost five and in complete and total awe of what was happening around me. It wasn’t too hard to imagine really. I have very vivid memories of my parents taking me to this place called Show Biz when I was little. It was the 1984 equivalent of Chuck E Cheese…only better. Or at least it seems that way in my mind! Maybe I was four and much like Huntler thought it was the neatest thing ever when in reality it was much like any other chaotic pizza joint with dancing characters luring you in to spend big bucks. But that is the fabulous thing about childhood…your memories are what they are and in my mind, Show Biz was the coolest place around!

As Huntler sat there beside me with eyes as big as saucers sucking intently on his pop, I could only think of how “easy” it would be to be five again. That even though he thinks his life is completely and totally unfair at times, life as a child is so easy. Your biggest worries are what you are going to take to school for a snack and who you’ll play with on the playground. The things that adults are faced with on a daily basis are not even a thought in the back of your mind. Oh how I wanted to be five again as we sat there!

But if I were five, then I wouldn’t be married to the man that makes me whole. If I were five I wouldn’t have these two precious, amazing kids. If I were five I wouldn’t have the knowledge and the wisdom to appreciate what I have and where I am in life. But on the flip side, if I were five I wouldn’t realize that everything that defines “home” to me is a million miles away back in Kansas!

I post a lot of pictures of Gentry…not because I love her more but because she actually LIKES to have her picture taken most of the time! Huntler tends to act out, pout or put on the dorkiest face ever with the cheesiest smile ever to accompany it. Unless it is on his terms, he does everything possible these days to not cooperate for pictures when I want him to. He has always been very serious and very intense. Because of that, I have always loved the images I capture of him just “being” far more than those where I try to get him to do what I want him to!

Last weekend we took the kids to the splash park. We LOVE everything about this particular splash park. It was closed most of the summer so this was only our second trip out, but what a fun one it was. As you’ll see in the pictures, Huntler was having a blast. I took SO many shots of him it isn’t even funny! I finally quit editing them because I figured you didn’t want to look at twenty splash park pics of one kiddo!

To me these tell the story of childhood. Of summer. Of innocence. They are timeless. They are treasures. They are memories made. They are moments cherished. They are perfection in my eyes. A couple of weeks ago I was rambling on about my “funk” and how I was stuck in a rut and really struggling with my confidence and inspiration in photography but also with life in general. This is the first set of images I took after taking a week away from my camera and Photoshop and I love them. And I love that I love them! I love that I love the cropping and the composition and the processing and just every single thing about them! Instead of worrying about what everyone else was going to think, for once I just did what I know how to do and tweaked them so that I love them! This is my style. This is who I am. And that is my story!

I think this next one might be my favorite out of these. I really can’t pinpoint why exactly, but something about it really grabs me!!

The one below is WAY high on the list of loves too though!!

I was SO excited to get one of these that turned out! Considering there are gallons of water that come crashing down at warp speed onto a moving child I wasn’t sure what in the world I was going to end up with once I got home! This was a very pleasant surprise I can assure you!

Happy, Happy Monday Blog World!