Sweet Baby Hadley

I took some pictures of my friend's 9-month old, and have been editing all week. She did such a good job smiling that I actually had a hard time picking out which ones to use...so I will post many!!!

She is pretty stinkin' cute huh? Thanks Emily!! You are doing an excellent job of keeping me in business!!!

Life

It has been a very busy few weeks at the Houston ranch. This whole photography thing really seems to be picking up speed, and I am now watching two...yes...count them...TWO five-month old little boys. So busy is an understatement here, and unfortunately blogging has taken a backseat. Stay-at-home mom.....haha! I wish I could just sit on the couch, eat bon-bons (do those even exist?) and watch some t.v.!

**Sigh** Some day I will look back at my crazy days and wish I was back here 'cause you know I'll be bored...but for now, I have to feed another screaming baby, and change my own kids diaper.

On another note, I did 9-month pictures for a friend of mine on Monday, and they are so cute, so I will be posting those soon!

My hobby....My first maternity shoot!

*****DISCLAIMER************ I must mention that these are all naked belly shots, and if anyone is offended by that, don't look any further! They are tastefully done and not inappropriate in any way; however, this is the most perfect pregnant belly you will ever see in your life and should know that "results are NOT typical" in this case:) I am trying to convince her that she should go into maternity modeling and should just be pregnant all the days of her life:)


I was approached by this incredibly gorgeous as well as extremely pregnant (she is due in two weeks) woman who wanted some "naked belly" shots in her final days of pregnancy. This family is about to have their third girl...something I'm incredibly familiar with:o), and they were extremely lovely and I have had tons of fun editing these pics.

Thank you so much Kristal!! I have a feeling that I am going to sell LOTS of pictures due to your shoot!

My mom's big 5-0 was on February 3rd, but since we were packing and moving my dad back then, we didn't really get to do much for her. Diana and I decided to be tricksters throw her a surprise 50th B-Day party!! The craziest thing is that with just our family and a few of her closest friends, there were like 50 people there! Nuts! Anyway, we pulled it off and she was successfully surprised despite calling three separate people who were at the party waiting for her to come:) And as predicted, she was on the phone when she walked in the door.....now...if we can manage to permanently attach that thing to her ear, life would be much easier!

I didn't get one picture of her actual surprise face with this camera because I got it with my sisters, but here are a few pics of the party:

Diana and I always make cakes but decided to go with a professional in order to save ourselves a HUGE headache....the cake wasn't necessarily what we asked for decoration-wise, but we vamped it up a little and made it our own....and MAN, it tasted SO GOOD!! YUMMO! Here's before, it came with pillars to stand the top layer on, and we took the roses off to cut it....

and after we "fixed" it....

Regardless....mom liked it:)

Here's the whole family....Poor Russ had to work "serving and protecting the citizens of Champaign" :)

Mom and her "girls", she's known these ladies most of her life

Mom and dad and their friends The Fricke's...without all the massive amounts of help they gave them financially, I'm not sure they would've made it past the last two years!

My dad couldn't afford to get her any big present this year, so instead, he wrote her this AWESOME SONG! None of us had a video camera (what?), so a picture will have to do! It made everyone cry:)

And finally, I just thought I would share about what a HUGE Mac-Daddy our friend's little boy E is....Maebree decided to wear his shoes, so he took the opportunity to take advantage of the situation...I think his shirt says it all:)

All in all it was a really fun night and I am so glad we pulled it off! Happy B-Day for the 15th time this year mom!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Do you want to know what a 10 1/2 year marriage and 3 kids-Valentine's Day looks like to you?

That's right....Brinner....A night at home with heart shaped, homeade pancakes complete with leftover red Christmas Sprinkles and cheesy eggs (Dear Lord my husband makes the best eggs!).

Dad's Home!!!

Most of you who read this blog know the whole story with my dad. It's been a rough few years, but after almost two years in a Christian rehabilitation facility named Teen Challenge, he has completed and if FINALLY home!! Yeah!! It was a very busy couple of days but we had a great time and are all extremely proud of him for finishing the program. It hasn't been easy, especially for my mom, but the end is finally here and maybe we can get back to some sort of normalcy. Well....as normal as my crazy dad can be;)

I thought I would share some of my favorite pics from the weekend:

Russ and Emmy being silly at dinner, and Samantha and Eli snuggling....

Russ and his girls...they were thrilled to be there, can you tell?

Jon and Noah, his "Mini-Me"....

Dad giving his testimony

A couple of family pics...the first is the great-grandmas with the babies, and the second is our whole fam...

We decided the next day on our way home, we would stop to have some fun since it was my moms 50th B-DAY!!! Whoo Hoo, she looks GOOD for 50 huh? We went to the Putman Museum in Davenport:

Diana talking to a special kitty

Russ and Faith lighting a bulb

Mae and her "Yai-Yai" being children of the corn

Mom and dad snuggling in the boat

When good marsupials go bad

Essies ancestors

Huh? Really? :)

All and all, it was a fun trip, but I'm glad it's all finally over!

We love ya Papa!

Fat Neck

So, I re-colored my hair...yeah...pictures to come soon. Due to the economic downturn, I decided to try and dye it myself, and I totally screwed it up. I then had to go and have a really, super nice and extremely talented "Man/Girl Onch" type of person fix it. (You Soup watchers know what I'm talking about)

Anyway, I don't have pictures yet becuase I realized that whilst I was growing three human beings inside of my abdominal cavity, my waiste size wasn't the only thing that grew and shrank. It seems my neck was pregnant too. And now it is wrinkly and creepy and it looks like I have an 80-year-old neck in pictures. So, when I can get an appropriate picture of myself that I would be happy posting, I will share with you all my very burgundy hair. Yep....it's kinda burgundy....*sigh*