a favorite of 2010?

I know the year is young but I think I already have a favorite picture for 2010. This is Layla and she already knows how to "pose". Her eyes are amazing and we spent most of the session laughing at her antics. This girl is 3 going on 30!
LOVE IT!

sessions & cupcakes

This past week I've been back to work. It started w/3 sessions on Saturday and another Monday morning. It feels good to start working again, I was ready for it. David and I put up a 6 roller system w/remote in the studio and a new floor infront of that so I was excited to try it all out. The rollers are so cool except for it's hard to keep them from catching each other so I'll have to figure that out. I've got about 1/2 the pics edited so far.

Today, I had some of my nieces and great nieces over for a cupcake party. I had 10 little girls 6 and under over and surprisingly very little drama, but lots of FUN! They enjoyed playing w/my puppies and then we had lunch and then they decorated & ate cupcakes. My nieces didn't want icing all over their kids clothes so off came the shirts. When they finished their cupcakes they jumped into the hot tub...that qualifies as a bath....right?

I can't remember when I had such a carefree and fun day...gotta do this more often:)

taxes, brownies, and puppies

I've spent the last 2 days working on taxes....ugh! I am SO not a fan of bookwork, which is really funny because in high school I thought I wanted to be a CPA...ha!

I think I'm at a stopping point and just need to wait for one more w2 and I'm good to go.

Today I thought I'd get out of the house, and I don't know, put real clothes on and see if I could go and hang out w/my twin nieces so their mom could get something done but then Caleb got the van stuck in the drive so he took my car to school so I'm stuck home for the 3rd day in a row!

I did need to make chocolate chunk brownies and double chocolate chip cookies for the bible class pancake supper so it was probably good for me to stay home. If only there were someone home to lick the bowl....gotta do it, right?

Yesterday I took some more pics of the puppies that are now 2.5 weeks old. The no longer resemble rats and are now barking and growling like real pups. I'm going to have to take some videos of these guys...they are a fiesty bunch!

fun city

For Caleb's 17th birthday we headed to Fun City in Iowa on Sunday and got home Monday night. The kids (and the adults) had a great time swimming, climbing the rock wall, playing laser tag, and racing go-karts. It's such a fun place for all ages of kids. It's very relaxing for us because we don't have babies to watch closely so we can just enjoy watching them all run. Of course we end up running right along w/them. If I played that hard every weekend I wouldn't have to worry about eating less and exercising more:)

Caleb was allowed to bring a few friends and then my sister Karin decided to come and she brought 3 of my nieces and all together they had a blast.

It's hard for me to believe that Caleb is now 17 years old! My 6 lb, 9 oz little boy is now 5'11"!!! How can time move so fast?

Now if I was a really good mom I'd have just tons of pics from the weekend but I'm sorry to say that I didn't take my camera along (hey, I brought 7 kids!) so I didn't take any pictures. I think Jessica took her's though and Karin was snapping away so I will probably steal a couple of theirs, maybe I'll even post them later, because I'm sure they will be all over face book!

More from Haiti

I've been getting lots of calls from people asking about my sister Joan's family who lives in haiti. I took this picture in July when they were home for a visit. This is the same sister who lost their 5 yr. old son "Gabriel" in October. They are okay and live about 130 miles away from Port so they are in a safe area. We are praying that the political situation stays safe for them also. The following is a letter from her.

God's ways are amazing!!

Today at 5:25pm
I need to share what I did today. Saturday, the container that was sent from Illinois arrived here in our yard in Cayes. I knew that this was the container that had all of the leftover stuff from the garage sale that was held in memory of Gabriel. When I saw the pile of stuff that ended up being unloaded in our garage, I thought "What in the world are we going to do with all of this stuff." There were huge piles of sheets and towels, boxes and boxes of toiletry items including soaps, shampoos, tooth brushes and paste, laundry soap, bleach... the list just went on and on. Tim said that Roger Ackerman just sent whatever they had there to fill the container. Yesterday, we got the e-mail that I shared from our friends at the edge of Port and many of the things that they requested were sitting in my garage. As we opened box after box of supplies I was completely amazed with the incredible wisdom and omniscience of our great God. This container of stuff was packed months ago and here it was right in my garage 3 days before the worst earthquake here in over 200 years. The garage sale leftover clothes, shoes, suitcases and other stuff that was given in memory of Gabriel is turning into a blessing that I wouldn't have even imagined. I was just overwhelmed all day.
Tim, Sarah, Sheila Moser, Jan Gutwen, Alisha Gutwein, and some of the other missionaries are all heading in to the Christianville area tomorrow morning at 4:00 A.M. They will be delivering all of these supplies and then bringing back loads of people who need to get out of Port. Some may stay and try to help with the digging out process. Rod Wray, one of the missionaries has a Bob cat that he is going to take in to Port and help dig with. Most of the houses are built with concrete and without equipment it is almost impossible to dig people out.
Please pray for safe travel for them and that they will not run into any problems on the road. Pray also for any situations they might encounter that they will have the wisdom to know how to handle each and every situation.
Continue to pray for all those who are living in such difficult situations of not enough water, food, and medical help.
Lastly continue to pray for all those who have lost loved ones as we are slowly starting to hear of individuals who have been killed. The death toll is huge and the recovery will be a long time in coming.
Thank you each one for lifting us up. We love you and need you.
Joan

We were able to run down town yesterday early and fill up on propane, diesel, and gas and it is a good thing that we did. As the situation becomes more clear, people are realizing that it may be a problem. Jan said there were huge lines at the stations today.

haiti

I'm sure that most of you have heard that there was a pretty major earth quake that hit the country of Haiti today. My sister and her husband and 4 girls live there. We were relieved to hear that they are okay.
However it hit close to Port Au Prince (the capital) and there is much damage in that area. Many are suffering tonight.

I took these pics when I was in Haiti last Feb. The second and fourth are of Port au prince. I am scheduled to go again on the 21st of this Feb. on another work team. The people there are already dealing w/so much poverty, hunger,& sickness. I can't imagine how much more suffering this will bring to them. Pray for the Haitians tonight. To view more pics of haiti, go to my galleries and click on "haiti".

The funny things Logan says

Since this is my slow season, I've decided to write about the funny things that Logan says.

Logan is 12 and cracking me up lately. He just comes up w/the funniest sayings. The other day he comes running down to the basement where I'm folding laundry and whips off his clothes and puts his swimming trunks on. His dad, who is standing there says "Logan, what are you doing changing your clothes like that right in front of your mom?" To which Logan replies, "What's the big deal, it's not like I've gone thru puberty yet?" AAHHHH!

We were driving somewhere w/the 3 youngest in the car w/us and my husband was telling them about this dream he had about them. He told Logan and Luke they were just bystanders in his dream Logan says "Dad, I'm not in your dreams....I'm in all the LADIES dreams!" Where does a 12 yr old come up w/these things? Funny kid.

It's another snow day here and we just got back from the vet. Our driveway is kind of scary but we made it. Now its back to Peoria to take Caleb in to the Dr. to see about getting the screws out of his arm. They were a souvenir from a vaulting performance in Sprinfield a couple of years ago.

Then pick up the UPS order (hopefully it's in)and back home to grab the rest of the kids and back to Peoria for a birthday party.

This picture is Logan laying next to a dead grass carp from our lake. I won't go into how bad it smelled but it is an impressive fish...yeah, our kids swim in the lake w/these!

Toughest shoot yet!

Here they are, the whole group! Let me tell you, to get all 6 pups facing the same direction is impossible. Their instinct to snuggle up to eachother is very strong so they just kept trying to turn and squirm back into a huddle. Sasha (mom) is doing well but doesn't want to leave them for a single second. We have to put a leash on her and force her to go outside. She hasn't had a litter in 2 years but she wasn't like this w/her other litters. She is a great mom. Tomorrow it's off the vet for their check ups.

I think we got another 6 inches of snow so I'm hoping we can get out of our drive.

I've got all my sittings edited and online and just have one on Saturday. It feels kind of strange to me, not having to work, work, work. I'm actually thinking that now would be a good time to edit my pics from greece and get a few framed for my house. It's that or start on my taxes...all of a sudden editing looks so much more attractive to me:)

Why I'm tired today.

Our Siberian Husky had her puppies last night. I figured she would be having them because of the way that she was acting but by 10:00 nothing was happening so I set my alarm for 1:00 a.m. to check on her but by midnight my son, Caleb heard them squeaking. She had all 6 by 4:00 a.m. 3 boys & 3 girls and all healthy.

At this stage they kind of look like black and white rats but give them a week and they'll be really cute....I promise!

Hello 2010!

Happy New Year! I think I'm actually half way awake for the first time in 3 days. It helps to have more than 4 or 5 hours a sleep at night:)

We went to my sister, Judy's party out at the Old School Center and had alot of fun playing vball and eating, singing, but not very much sleeping. I was way better this year and made myself go to bed by 2:00 a.m. Of course the fact that I went to bed the night before new years eve at 2:00 a.m. and was dead tired might have helped me to be so disciplined. Your reaction time in vball is not too good w/so little sleep.

We got home from the party on new years day about 2:30 in the afternoon. Yep it was about a 17 hour party. On the way home from the party Caleb tells me that he has friends coming over and they might actually be there before we get home. Luckily they didn't beat us home and we were able to unload all of our sleeping bags and pillows and get things mostly put away before we started ANOTHER slumber party. Life w/teenagers doesn't ever stop! I am amazed by their energy. I did go down to the basement to bring some snacks down and found a couple of them zonked out on the couches still sitting up. They were able to revive enough to eat and watch football and play xbox and get into the hot tub later:)

I did end up working through some of the holiday just because somethings can't be put off until after the holidays. I ran out to Streitmatter's barn to take family pictures because their dad was getting ready to start chemo. I am praying that all goes well for them.

I also had a couple of studio shoots on the 30th. The Phillips family has a son going into the navy this week. I took his senior pics last year and so of course I am honored to take this beautiful family's pics. I also got to take little 5 month old Caleb's pictures. This little guy is a charmer!

I am hoping to get these edited and online today or at least by Tuesday of next week. However David got 2 does on Thursday and they are hanging in my garage waiting to be processed...which is probably what we get to do today.....I think I'd rather be editing!