Contrasting Ideas

I decided to try to get a few photos of the girls to use on my Christmas cards for my business this year, but I decided a little too late. I needed some images for an order tonight, and by the time I decided to try it today, it was getting dark. Anyway, the girls and I grabbed the hat and scarf and headed out in the evening light to go ahead and try a few shots.

I really, really like the old film look, so I don't mind having to bump up the ISO and even adding more of the grainy look of old film when the photos are for personal use. Also, I tend to like a lot of saturation and heavy contrast. Blah, blah, blah...Anyway, these images won't work for clients, but they work for me. There is one that really cracks me up and is so like the girls. These make me smile. So, even though I didn't get to capture the images I wanted for my Christmas cards, I got some unique images that I really like for my personal use.

Here are a few of them. Natalie wanted me to post some tonight, and this is all I've gone through so far. I'll post more of them tomorrow, if I get a chance to play a couple minutes with them. Super busy with EVERYTHING right now.

Oh, I forgot to say again that Natalie amazes me with her natural instinct in posing. She goes so naturally right into the perfect posing. I wish I could take her with me to my next senior girl session and have her there to demonstrate proper posing.

Okay...Done talking. More tomorrow.

Oh, one more thing: Booked my second senior guy today. The guys aren't as much fun as the girls, but I'm happy that I'll have more than one senior guy this year.

Painted Ladies

Here are the cards we painted yesterday.

I didn't get to finish mine.

Inside of Natalie's.

Front of Natalie's.

Back of Olivia's.

Front of Olivia's.

Copy Cat

Every time we go through a drive-thru, Parker repeats everything I say as I order.

I took him to Sonic for Happy Hour after Mom's Day Out. Of course, the girls are still sick, so they got Sprite. Natalie wanted a grilled cheese sandwich, so I got her one and just let her eat half of it for now. Parker wanted a chocolate milkshake.

So, I say, "I'd like 2 small Sprites." Parker says loudly, "I'd like 2 small Sprites." I say, "...a small chocolate milkshake..." Parker says, "...a small chocolate milkshake..." I say, "...one grilled cheese sandwich..." He says, "...one grilled cheese sandwich..." I say, "...and a large Diet Dr. Pepper." Parker says, "...and a large Diet Dr. Pepper."

The woman repeats the order and gives the total. I say, "Thank you." Parker says, "Thank you."

A minute later, I said to Parker, "You've got to stop copying everything I say when I order." He gives his so adorable little smirky smile. A few minutes later, I was watching him in the mirror behind me, and I said, "I'm going to start repeating everything you say, like you do to me." It took him only about 1 second, and he looked at me in the mirror like a dare to go ahead and copy what he said. He said, "pee-pee". Clever little cutie.

Finally, Parker's birthday package from Aunt Janell arrived today. It was mailed on the 3'rd, and he just got it today. I wonder where it's been all this time. He loves the gifts, and the girls loved their little surprises, too.

So Sick of It...

Warning: I just read what I typed below, and it's really, really dull and more like a private journal entry full of rambling. You can just ignore it, but I don't want to erase it because I don't have time to keep an actual written journal.

The girls are both still sick. I just got done cleaning up a diarrhea mess from Natalie - second time today (well, it's early in the day). I've been up since before 5 a.m., because Olivia came in and threw up in our bed. Billy was already getting ready for work. Anyway, then she said that there was diarrhea in her room. Natalie was sleeping on Olivia's floor, with a good pillow sham covering a spot next to her. She had diarrhea and covered it with that. Also, I found a HUGE diarrhea mess in the bathroom floor.

Parker is well, now. He went with Gigi and Grandpa to OKC yesterday and had a good time and behaved well. The girls and I painted cards for Daddy, because I didn't feel much like doing anything else (house stuff). I took care of a couple business things that didn't require too much effort.

Anyway, Olivia will be missing another day of school (missed Friday and yesterday). Parker will have to get to "school" (Mom's Day Out) later this morning.

I have no idea how everything (finishing some organizing projects and cleaning) is going to get done around the house before next Monday. I have to have stuff ready by then and be caught up on everything business-wise by then, because I want to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving week with my family. Well, Monday will be spent editing the senior session and portrait party I have scheduled over the weekend. Then, Olivia's teacher will be coming to our house for our little meeting. Then, I think I can do a quick clean Tuesday and finish editing and just enjoy the arrival of family for our fun Thanksgiving festivities. (Yeah...that's the plan. It's not likely it will go quite like that. There will most likely be some stressing going on and some last-minute rush to complete my projects.)

I really should work on all positive, full-of-gratitude blogs for a couple weeks - in honor of the Thanksgiving season. I really am thankful for so much, I just tend to use the blog to vent my negative energies.

Today, I had an aggressive plan on my schedule, but that will be altered now that I know I have Olivia home another day and both girls creating additional cleaning chores for me throughout the day. At least I'll have a few hours with Parker out of the house. Maybe the girls can just watch a princess movie while Parker is gone, and I can do some cleaning then. I've got to work on some personal budget stuff and make a few changes to some business stuff.

I keep forgetting to mention a few Parker things, and now I've forgotten several I wanted to include.

He's counting well, and his favorite song is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", which he sings with such emotion. Uggh...I can't remember what he said last week that I really wanted to remember. It was so cute and smart. He's so sweet. He's so stubborn. He's so completely adorable - most of the time.

I was wrong about Olivia and Parker not understanding that Uncle Johnny was gone and they wouldn't see him on earth again. I think the fact that Parker ended up at the funeral was a good thing. They haven't once said anything about going to Johnny's house when we go that direction. Friday, Parker stopped playing and walked over to me and said, "Mama, is Johnny really all dead?" I told him yes, and he said, "Oh", in a really sad way. Then, he said, "No. He's not dead. He's not." He said it like an adult says it when you just don't want to accept something like that. I don't know what made him stop and think about it right then. About a week and a half ago, I was driving the kids around, and I turned down the road in front of the building where Johnny worked, and I started to look over to see if his car was there. It always takes a while to adjust to someone missing.

Parker is watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse right now, and it's so cute watching him interact with the show. Now, I'm smiling.

Late-Night Discovery

This is probably not that exciting to most of my readers, but I am really, really excited about it!

I have been struggling with finding a solution to my newest business problem from this past week (preview book issues). I just wasn't satisfied with the provider I was using for the Preview Books/albums, and I couldn't find another one that was cost-effective for me. Finally, I have a solution to the problem (and a new "proofing" method) - I think. I'll know for sure how well it works by the end of this week. So excited, though. I'll tell you more next weekend.

I just thought I should post a blog where I wasn't totally bummed out and bringing everyone down with my negativity. It's nearly 2:30 in the morning, and I just finished making my final decision on the new method, and I'm totally hyped about it. I don't think I can sleep, now! I have more work to do tomorrow to get some things going for this new method - but, Yea!!!! I'm happy and excited - and sleep-deprived!

Lay It On Me

The air is thick with stress in our house.

I don't feel good. Parker is getting over the sickness (upset stomach). Olivia is throwing up tonight, so I'm up with her and not feeling too stable in my stomach myself - as I'm cleaning up her throw up every once in a while. The laundry is completely piled up - as usual.

Billy is sick with a cold thing, and he's no fun when he's sick: "Hello, Mister Cranky, I believe we've met before." Tuesday night, after a really, really, really horrible day with the kids, Billy didn't even get home from work until 8:00 p.m. I hate the hours he's working now.

I am having to make a few changes/additions to my business stuff this week (has to be done by tomorrow), and that takes so much time and is so, so, so hard to do with the kids here. I have so many things backing up, and too many things are high on the priority list. There simply isn't enough time in a day for me to accomplish all of the priorities I have right now.

This week, Olivia didn't have school on Wednesday, because the school's water was going to be shut off for something that day. Also, Parker missed his "school" on Tuesday, because of the sickness.

I guess I'm going to do a little garage sale Saturday, and then I'll do the 3-day thing in a few weeks. I just need to start getting rid of some of it now. I'll just pull out everything I can get the chance to set up Friday night, and we'll go with that for Saturday. I had already blocked off this weekend for the sale, so I should go ahead and use Saturday for that.

The kids continue to destroy their toys, clothes, shoes, etc. They take stuff outside and leave it there to be ruined. Parker actually likes things to be clean and organized, but you wouldn't be able to tell that by his behavior much of the time lately. The girls are awful about packing things for camping trips and ruining all of my hard work to have things organized. It takes the kids minutes to destroy work that takes me a long time to set up and clean properly. I'm so sick of it. They are not getting ANY toys from us for Christmas. Santa is bringing one toy for each of them, along with a note that explains his dissatisfaction with their lack of respect and care for the things with which God has blessed them.

Completely overwhelmed with the lack of time, lack of money, lack of energy, and lack of respect.

It's really, really unfair that moms don't get the privilege of taking sick days, and if we absolutely can't function and have to take a little time out, we have 3 times the work to do when we're feeling better. Where's my nanny, chef, chauffeur, maid, personal assistant, and business manager?

Thanks for listening. I'll try for an upbeat blog next time.

My "Baby" Baby is 3!

Monday was Parker's birthday. We did a somewhat impromptu picnic "party" at our new favorite little park on Sunday afternoon. GiGi made a cake, of course. It was just us and GiGi and Grandpa and Ninny and Papa.

I had planned to do a construction equipment party for him this year (planned since earlier this year), but because of the time of the year of his birthday and the fact that he doesn't have little friends his age that we spend time with, we decided to do just our little family for the party.

On Friday, I told Parker that his birthday was in a couple days. He asked, "I'm going to have a party?" I said yes. He asked, "I'm going to get presents?" I said yes. He asked, "I'm going to have a firetruck on my cake?" I told him he could have the firetruck on the cake if he wanted. Then, I called GiGi and told her to save the construction equipment for the next year and find a firetruck for the cake, because he had requested it. So, he had a firetruck cake.

So, so, so busy right now. More blogs and photos when I can.

Happy News: I had a $950 order at last night's order session. (Would have been more, but I "cut some deals".)

Catch of the Day - Friday's Special

I could start a whole new blog and just post pics of Chicken Nugget's "Catch of the Day", because she just keeps killing rodents and bringing them to the front door to show me - at least 4 times a week (and that's just the ones she catches while I'm here to show before she eats them). Nasty cat.

She gets all kinds of mice, rat-type things, moles, etc. Here is what she brought me just a minute ago. It makes me sad. Poor little guy.

He worked so hard gathering nuts for winter,

and now some other guy will come along and eat them all.

Rest in Peace.

Wild Play

Yesterday, after we picked up Olivia and dropped off some stuff at the recycle bins (conveniently located near Olivia's school, which is close to our house), I took the kids to Sonic and then to a nice little park in a neighborhood. The kids had never been to that little park. It's really clean and has neat stuff, and the best part is that we didn't have to share the park with anybody else. I'll probably take them to that park more often, when the weather is nice. It's a lot nicer than the big park, because it's easier to keep up with them there.

I didn't have my camera with me at the park. Here are some pics of Parker from yesterday afternoon after we got home from the park. He doesn't stay still for longer than a quarter of a second. I feel really bad, because I don't have any good portraits of my own little man. I've got to try to get a real session in with him before the end of the year. Anyway, here's the best I could get yesterday while he played at home. You can see the wildness in his eyes. He's so full of it!

Americas Choice Now - Video

Americas Choice Now - Video

Posted using ShareThis

Thanks to a fellow blogger for posting the link to the great video!

I don't get into political conversations, except with my closest friends, because I'm not very good at debate. I always think of the good responses about an hour later. haha

Anyway, the issue of abortion is one about which I will not remain quiet. I did get into a "heated debate" about it once when I worked at the hospital, and I got so upset, I had to walk out of the department and run up and down the stairs for about 10 minutes. My coworkers had never seen me so passionate about an issue that was being discussed at work.

I'm off to vote! I'll try to get to some catch-up blogs tonight.

Quick Trick

In typical Oklahoma football country fashion, trick or treat night was delayed until Saturday, because of high-school Friday night football.

Parker had a small pumpkin from "school" (Mother's Day Out at church on Tues. and Thurs.), and earlier in the day, the kids asked Billy to carve it. He did it in about 8 minutes, and I thought it looked really good. He wants to start a tradition of carving one for them on the day of Halloween (next year a bigger one).

I didn't get photos of the kids that really show their costumes well. I just didn't get the chance on trick or treat night.

Natalie was a peacock, as planned since last year. The costume was just a quick put-together, but it worked and she was happy with it.

Olivia was just going to be the little poodle that she was going to be for her party, but I couldn't find the stuff I bought to make it, so she just wore the petti skirt and a little crown and was a "princess". She was happy just like that.

Parker was a soldier, because it was super easy. He already had the camo outfit, and I had found a little helmet at Wal-Mart several weeks ago. A couple days before trick or treat night, Olivia was playing with it and lost it. We looked all over the yard and couldn't find it. So, he was without the helmet. Billy actually went back to Wal-Mart to look for another one, but they were out. He bought a police kit that had a helmet in it, and I quickly painted it green, but it didn't look as cute as the soldier helmet. Billy cut him a strip of camo fabric to wear like Rambo, but he wouldn't keep it on. Billy painted Parker's face up with the camo paint, and he looked cute. I just didn't get a shot of his face when it was painted well.

Anyway, we went to Gigi and Grandpa's first. Then, we stopped at Ninny and Papa's and the little neighbor friend the kids have there. It was sad not to get to stop by Uncle Johnny's this year.

Then, we went to a neighborhood where one of the cousins (Billy's second cousin, actually) lives. In that neighborhood, there was a haunted house. Natalie had been begging to go to the haunted houses with us this year, and she was looking forward to the Monster Garage all year long. That was the one put on by the car dealerships last year, and we just drove through. She waited all year for it, and they didn't do it this year on trick or treat night.

So, when she saw the tent entrance to the haunted house in that neighborhood, she was so excited and couldn't wait to get up there. Once we were starting into the tent, she chickened out. Olivia and Natalie and I waited while Daddy and Parker went through. Poor Parker. I saw a creepy clown slowly popping up right at the beginning, and that's when I decided to wait with the girls and the lady who said she would wait with them. I hate clowns.

Anyway, there was some really creepy stuff (chain saw, lady coming up from the leaves in a hole in the floor, etc.). When Billy and Parker came walking out, Parker said in a sort of giggle voice, "It's very scary."

Later, in the car, Billy asked Parker if he wanted to go to the haunted house again, and he said, "No, I did not like that at all. It was too scary."

Billy followed along in the truck, while the kids and I visited some houses. That was the first time we had gone anywhere other than to a few friend's houses for trick or treating. The kids loved it. I'm glad we did it.

Trick or Treating at their little friend's house by Ninny's.

About to get out of the truck at home. He had on a gas mask, but the green paint had all come off by the end of the night - just like the paint on his face. It looked really cute in the beginning.

The only sort of full-body shot I have (at a friend's),

and you can't even see the cute stuff on the front.