Tired Blog

I'm really tired tonight, and I have so much that I need to blog about from the past couple of weeks. I'll just talk about what happened today a little, and I'll really try to get caught up on some updates later this week. I'm just completely overwhelmed with photography business stuff and keeping up with the house.

Nat starts her little Monday-Thursday summer classes Monday, and Olivia and Parker will be going to the summer Mother's-Day-Out program on each Tuesday during June and July. I'm really excited about that part. I don't think Parker will like it, though.

This morning, Billy, Parker, and I went to Ninny and Papa's house to pick up the girls who had spent the night there. Billy's grandpa stopped by for a minute, and when he was leaving, I went outside to make sure Olivia and Parker didn't get in the way of his truck as he pulled out of the yard. When I went out, there was a little boy running down the street from the direction of the park, and he stopped in front of Olivia and Parker. He didn't know how to respond. He sort of made growling noises at them, because they were both looking at him. He started to run back the other way and then turned and started to go the other way. He just didn't seem to know where to go or what to do. He turned quickly and starting running very quickly down the street. By this point, I had been looking for an adult down the road, and there was nobody following him as far down the road as I could see, so I ran after him. There were cars, and he was running so quickly down the middle of the road.

When I caught up to the little boy, I didn't want to just grab him and scare him, so I kind of just put my hand on his back to scoop him toward me and slow him to a stop, while I told him to slow down and wait and I would help him get back home. At this point, I thought he may be autistic, because of the behavior he exhibited when he stopped in front of Olivia and Parker watching him. As soon as I got him stopped, he started crying. I scooped him up, and he collapsed his head against my shoulder. I asked him if he had run out of his yard while he was playing. He cried, "I can't find my daddy." He said it so softly and sadly. I just kept comforting him.

Billy and his dad were outside at this time, and his dad called the police. I stood near the road and tried to keep looking down the streets at the intersection to see if I could see anyone out looking for the little boy. We never saw anyone.

While we waited for the police, I asked the little boy his name, and he said "James". He said that he was 3. Olivia told him that she was "Olivia Grace" and that she is 3, too.

James didn't want me to put him down. He started to cry when I tried to put him on the ground to see if he wanted to play on the swingset with Olivia and Parker and Natalie. He only wanted me to hold him. Billy's dad got him a cold bottle of water, because he was really hot and sweaty and red-faced. So, I helped him drink, wiped his nose, and just comforted him.

When the police came down the street and James saw them, he said, "It's cops!" I told the police that his name was James and what direction he had come. One officer put him in his car, and he took him slowly down the street, asking James if he could show him where he lived. He indicated a house really near Ninny and Papa's. When the officers went into the house, they found an infant and no adult in sight. Child welfare was called, of course.

I just kept crying as we drove home. I wanted to keep James (and the baby).

Apparently, tonight James and the baby are back with their daddy. So, I don't know exactly what the story is and why they were left alone and now back in his custody.

It just makes me sad.

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On a lighter note:

The girls and I went to take some photos of them in fairy dresses by a pond the other night, but by the time we got home from the cherry picking and gathered the clothing choices and accessories and props (like the frog prince), it was getting dark. I took a few shots of them in regular dresses, since we didn't have enough light to go through the process of outfit changes and trying to get the fairy images we wanted. Natalie was really disappointed, and Olivia didn't want to leave when I said it was too dark. I didn't get any great images, but I'll post a couple of them so you can see how much fun the girls have in front of the camera. I had to set ISO high because it was so dark, so even if I had captured a great "pose"/composition, the images wouldn't have worked for competition. (I was hoping to maybe get a good one for a Professional Photography mag. comp., but the deadline was tonight. I entered an image I had on file already.)





Spent 3 hours at a birthday party today. The girls got to go bowling. They tied each other in score. Olivia used the ramp to roll the ball. I'm tired.

K. Better updates soon.

Baby Nest

I had a lot of fun trying out my new bird's nest at a shoot with a 6-month-old a few nights ago. I made the nest really quickly the night before, and I wasn't sure if I would even use it for Miss T's shoot, because she was 6 months. The nest was designed for newborns, but now I know that I can use it for older babies just fine. I had planned on adding more "nest" part to make it a little deeper and fuller, but I might just leave it as it is.

The images are not fully edited yet, but you can get the idea of what the nest is like. I love it.

Cherry Picking

I'll be doing some random "trying-to-catch-up" kind of blogging the next couple of days, so most of these will be out of order.


I took the kids out to their Pappy's (Billy's Grandpa) to pick some cherries off the tree their great-grandma used to use to make Billy cherry pies. The girls and I will make a pie for Billy this weekend - hopefully.

The girls were sweet and helped Parker fill his basket.

I didn't get a pic of the baskets when they were full, but I'll take one when we get them out to make a pie - hopefully tomorrow.

View From the Top

I went up flying with my dad Monday.

Here are a few pics from the sky.

Cement Plant

Natalie, Parker, Gigi, and Olivia.

I'm sure you can recognize our house. :)

You can see where our 3 babies were born.

Maybe next time I'll take pics of the other hospital.

Are We There Yet?

I forgot to mention on the blog about Olivia going to school that the very next morning after she knew we got her enrolled, as soon as she sat up in bed, she said, "Mama, I going on the school bus today?" She really is super excited.

Growing Pots

The kids got kids' meals at Braums that have little pots with seed packets and stickers to decorate the pots. Olivia was in a quiet, grumpy mood, and she only put one tiny flower sticker on hers and said she was done decorating. She just watched Nat and Parker decorate their pots after that.

Summer Slide

Last night, the kids played on a slip 'n slide that Natalie got for her birthday from one of her ballet friends.

The Short Bus

Olivia wants to go to school so badly. It was so hard for her all year long when we took Natalie to school or picked her up. We always said that she would go to school "next year" when she was "bigger".

Since Olivia is far down on the waiting list for the center Natalie attended, because they are based on income levels, with low-income families and families with special needs being accepted first, we began thinking of another center closer to our house, which is run by a "cousin" of Billy's. So, yesterday, I went to the appointment to get Olivia enrolled. Because the center is run by a family member (who apparently received a call from Uncle John telling her she'd better accept Olivia no matter what), we were able to get her into the program for fall.

Gigi came to stay with the kids while I went to the appt. Olivia knew why I was going, and she was very excited to hear that I was enrolling her in school. As soon as I got home, she said, "Mama, I go on the school bus?!! I'm taller!" I told her, "yes", even though I don't know if she'll be able to ride the bus. I don't know if the bus is reserved for families who have no other transportation. We'll find out in July when we receive more details about the center. She should be going on field trips, and she would be riding the bus for those, so I think it's okay to tell her she'll get to ride the bus. She is just exuberant about going to school, and she keeps reminding us that she's "taller". I think she'll be all smiles on her first day of school.

The center is much smaller than the one Natalie attended, but it is so much closer to our house, which will save a lot on gas expense for us and the grandparents who helped transport Nat to and from her school and would have been helping take Olivia to that same center if she had been accepted. (It will especially be a money-saver if Olivia gets her wish and is able to ride the bus to school every day.)

Natalie will be homeschooling in the fall, and I'm sure Parker will want a part of that. He'll be good without Olivia at home to conspire with him to create messes and be defiant. Then, next year, Parker and Olivia will both be in the school together for one year, before Olivia graduates.

Anyway, getting Olivia enrolled for school was one more thing off the to-do list.

Party On

A few more details about the cowgirl carnival birthday party for Natalie...

There were people that we had intended to invite that never received an invitation, and I feel really badly about that. We had more than enough people there to really have fun and make it worth it, but we wish we had taken care of getting an invitation to some of Natalie's other friends in time for the party. Also, it's sort of a bad time of the year for having everyone at the party that we would like, as some of our friends were out of town because of the end of the school year and vacation season starting. Natalie's best friend from school was there, and her boyfriend was there too. All of the kids really had a great time. I just wish we could have invited others and had them there also to enjoy the fun activities and food.

We had to rush through some of the party stuff, because we found out there was another party scheduled for 2 p.m. We started the party at 11:00, and 3 hours was absolutely not enough time for us to have the space. We had so much planned, and the kids had to sort of cut it short outside in the play area, petting zoo, train, pony rides, etc., so we could eat, watch the magic show, enjoy the cotton candy, cut the cake, hit the 2 pinatas, and watch Nat open presents. We rushed through the cake and pinatas, and Natalie only opened a couple presents before we packed the rest of everything away. A bunch of adults were packing up inside the building while we were doing the cake, etc. Billy didn't even get to see Natalie blow out her candles, etc., because he was still busy with the cotton candy machine and cleaning up inside. If we rent the ranch again for another party, we will have to make sure the coordinator doesn't schedule another party so soon after our time. We really could have used a 5-hour slot of time for our party. The ranch owner who is there for all of the parties said that he had never seen another party like that - done so well. He apologized for our having to rush to clean up and get out of there. Anyway, it was a fun party, even if it felt rushed.

When we got home, Billy set up the cotton candy machine and tried to use up the rest of the floss he purchased to make more cotton candy. We have 4 bags full of cotton candy.

I might have more to say about the party, but I can't think right now. I'll post a few more photos.

Cousin Jackson.

The cake we didn't have time to eat, and Olivia dumped it on the ground trying to grab candies off of it while I was holding it getting ready to load it into the car.

Happy Birthday to you...

Don't know this girl's name. She is a friend of Uncle Benji's stepkids.

Elisa. Friend from ballet.

Another ballet friend.

Parker was telling someone that Mama put ketchup on his hot dog, and he didn't like it. He told me he wanted ketchup. They fixed it for him.

Cousin Remi and Jackson were the only two cousins who got to join us at the party. VERY dissapointed that the others didn't come.