Luke's friend

Today at the pool Luke and Logan found a lizard and of course my husband had to catch it. These are a few pics right before Luke let him go. Isn't the shirt just ironic?

vacation

We left IL at 4:30 on Thursday night and got into Gulf Shores about 6:30 am on Friday. David and I switched off about every 3 hours or so but it was kind of hard to sleep in the van because we fought a lot of wind coming down so it made the van veer off to the side and felt like we were going off the road sometimes. Other than that it wasn't a bad trip down.

We met some of my family down here and played some beach vball and then hung out at the pool, took a walk on the beach, got to play w/my cute little great niece (Addison), more vball, the boys went swimming, had some pizza, took some pics, had a praise singing on the deck and a game of phychiatrist (spelling?) and went to bed. A full day.

This morning the rest of the family headed home but my in-laws are on their way down so the fun will continue today.

WEE WEE?

Just thought I'd start by sharing another funny story.

A couple of weekends ago our 3 teens were gone for the weekend and we decided to be fun young parents again and take the remaining 2 boys to Chuck E Cheese for dinner. It's been at least 2 years since we've been there and it was CROWDED!

It was the first time that we've been there w/out little kids so we got a table in the main game area and just gave each boy a handful of tokens and let 'em go.

We had a coupon that came w/100 tokens and back in the old days those would be gone in 10 minutes but it seemed like it took forever for them to burn through all those tokens so we had a lot of time to just sit.

Anyway, back to my funny story. So David and I are sitting at our table just people watching (lots of interesting people there) and pretty soon a little girl about maybe 3 years old came running past us screaming her head off. Then she stops in front of us and throws herself down on the floor the whole time screaming. I could see that she had already had an "accident" in her pants and she was NOT happy about it. I know, I know, a good mom would have gotten up and tried to help her but she was seriously having a meltdown and I didn't want to make it any worse and I kept thinking that at any time her mom was gonna haul her off to the bathroom for a change of pants.

That didn't happen, instead one of the staff came over and tried to talk to her and she wasn't having any of that. Pretty soon another mom came over and calmly said "sweety, you need to calm down and tell me what your mom's name is." The girl, still so mad and frustrated that she's all wet screams "WEE WEE!" trying so hard to convey that she'd peed her pants. The helpful mother kind of gives the girl a funny look and says, "really, Wee Wee?" then stands up and starts calling "Wee Wee?, Wee, Wee? Nobody answered....hmmm.

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!


Spent yesterday running to 3 different preschools and now today trying to get orders in and deposits made. We are officially in the vacation countdown here and my kids are soooo excited to head down to Gulf Shores. We are planning on leaving tomorrow night and I've got way too much to do to be sitting here on this computer telling you all funny stories.

Cya

my early morning suprise session

I wasn't planning on taking pics of a foal right after it was born but this morning on my walk we checked on a mare that was due anyday and there she was just having this cute little filly.

My sister, Judy was out of town and since this is her horse I thought she'd really appreciate having these "newborn" photos. I even captured her first steps and that NEVER happens w/human babies:) She decided to take a little rest on my camera bag of all places.

You never know what the day will bring!

Today is my awesome husband's birthday....some people just age well, and he's one of them...I'm a lucky girl:)
(yes, he's right here reading this while I type it:):):)

Funny story for today:
My younger boys are always asking the strangest questions. The other night Logan says, "Dad, would you be mad if mom grew wings?" To which I replied, "well are the functional, like can I fly w/them?" Just wanted to know all the facts w/this wing idea before we decided whether we should be mad or not.

Then yesterday I was combing Luke's hair for church and he says, "mom, you know how dad is so hairy? Do you think he could be part of the Big Foot family?" I don't know....maybe? It would explain alot actually:)

Hope you all have a great day, this is the day that God has made....we've got to be happy about that!!

Love is in the air!

Thursday afternoon I had the most fun running around downtown Peoria w/Shauntel & Chris for their engagement session. We took pics at the coolest places! It was a gorgeous day for shooting outside and we found so many awesome old buildings, I was just clicking away thinking, how are they ever going to choose? This was my absolute fav for the day!

This couple is getting married on memorial weekend and Jenny will be designing some amazing invitations using the pics we took. I can't wait to see how they look!

what's for dinner

Yesterday after school Logan and I decided to go fishing. He recommended a metal minnow w/trebel hooks for me, the same that he was using. He caught 3 big crappie (I have no idea how to spell that) in four casts. All together he caught 5 fish and I caught one dead frog. The kid has the touch, and he obviously didn't get it from me. So that's what we're having for supper tonight (not the frog)!

Nate, meet your competition!

preschools...lots of them

Yesterday I had a sitting at the studio and then went to 3 different preschools, at one I had to drop off orders, another drop off proofs, and the last one take pics of the morning class, then the afternoon class. I realize that this was probably a "run-on" sentence, but yesterday was a "run-on" day. It went on and ON! I was so glad that David was able to come w/me to help because there was tons of equipment to haul and we had to grab groceries inbetween the morning and afternoon sessions. So after we were done w/the sessions we are on our way back to the studio to drop off equipment and my car starts making some scary knocking noises. We couldn't see anything wrong so we decided to try to make it home...keep in mind I have a whole trunk full of groceries. We just make it into Hanna City and take a right to head home and my car sounds like the wheels are going to shoot off of it so we ended up turning around and heading to the local garage. Luckily one of my sister's works right there in Hanna City so we were able to transfer everything out of my car and leave it at the garage and take her van home. Sometimes having a million relatives close by is pretty handy. Butch, from Frenches Garage (yes we do live in Hicksville and that is his real name & he's a really nice guy) called to say that we have a bearing in one of the front tires that's bad and maybe a broken axle...I knew it,our driveway really is eating our cars!
So today I'm home, getting proofs ordered and hoping to catch up on all the other stuff that didn't get done yesterday. I'm actually glad to be stranded at home w/no wheels!

headstart & little boys

Tuesday David and I spent the day at Headstart in Canton where they have 2 morning classes and 2 afternoon classes. We had silly kids, shy kids, smiley kids and not so smiley kids but overall we had a great time w/them. For their group shots we went outside since it was so nice out and took the class pics in front of their bright yellow school bus. While we were out there a huge flock of migrating geese flew over us. There was flock after flock just covering the sky. There must have been over a thousand of them! I think it's safe to say that spring is here...yay!

Then yesterday I spent the entire morning editing the preschool pics and ordering proofs so they will be ready to drop off this coming tuesday when I'm out in that area again doing another headstart.

Yesterday evening I had so much fun taking pics of 3 busy little boys. When I first made the appt I wasn't sure what I would be in for but they did awesome! Their grandma even bought them each their own little trucks that they got to open when we were all done w/the session!

home again

We made it home from Springfield last night around 6:30 and I needed to be in Elmwood for my last volleyball game by 7:00. We were a few minutes late but not too bad considering how much we had packed into this last weekend.

The vaulters did great at the show and I always am thankful when it's over and I can stop praying for safety and start thanking God that no one got hurt.

I spent my time taking pics and working the popcorn machine.

Today I really need to get some more editing done and get organized for tomorrow's Headstart in Canton. They have a couple of Headstarts in Canton and I do one tomorrow and then next week another one so I should have plenty to keep my busy these next few weeks.

I also need to get my car in for another oil change and I'm dreading driving across the dam with it. Okay our driveway is soooo bad right now because of all the work on the dam that I actually picked up 2 car parts that were stuck in the mud after I walked the kids down to the bus this morning. I'm not joking...car parts in the mud....this is getting really bad! I'm sooo ready for a DRY summer!

office & vaulting

So I spent all day yesterday getting a home office set up. I still need to buy another printer and my laptop is moving incredibly slow so I'll still have some figuring out to do there but finally my stuff isn't spread all over the house. It's a relief to have my computer, mailers, release forms, etc all in the same room!

Today we head to Springfield where Caleb will be performing all weekend w/the Heart of IL Vaulters. For those of you who don't know, he still has 2 screws in his upper arm from a show there a couple of years ago so I'd appreciate any prayers you care to say for safety.

We should be home by Sunday and David is staying home to take care of puppies and hold down the fort.

I have some pre-school orders to process, a cd to mail out, packing to do, and about 170 pics from Haiti yet to edit so I'd better hit it.

Have a great weekend!

my trip to haiti

A brief summary of my trip.

Flew out of PIA on Sunday, stayed the night in Miami and then flew out early to Port Au Prince. Got there but luggage didn't. We were told we could wait around for the next flight and it may or may not be on that one. Chose to wait. Got the luggage..Praise God. I had all my clothes w/me but the rest of the team checked their stuff.....silly rookies.

My bro-in-law "Tim" met us at the airport and off to the first church we went. I think about 5 hrs drive. Driving thru port past the tent cities, and rubble was eye opening. It's so sad to think that there are still people's loved ones under all that rubble. Haiti will never be the same.

Got to the village of the first church on Monday night, set up army cots and sheets and blankets, & shared the out houses w/several inch and a half long roaches. On Tuesday we put a roof on a 70 ft long church, built & varnished 10 pews, handed out food, ate goat, took "showers" (this involves a concrete block stall outside, a big tin bowl, and a gallon jug of cold water).

We finished that church by Wednesday mid morning and had some "interesting" goat soup, then we packed up and we were on our way to the next church way up in the mountains by noon. We drove about 3 hours and then blew a tire out on the trailer, found out that the spare was flat and the other spare wouldn't fit. They finally rigged it so we could continue up the mountains w/just 3 tires on the trailer. After another hour we reached the church. It was a good thing because we were running out of road...I think it was more of a donkey trail by the time we quit. Just as we pulled up one of the truck's tie rod broke.
We were met by lots of the villagers who were so happy to see us they carried all of our cots, luggage, and supplies up the rest of the way. Lots of them were barefoot walking up the rocky trail. This is a very remote area w/no water (except what they carry from the river) and no electricity.

We set up cots, bedding, ate some more goat, bathed in the river, & went to bed sharing our room w/some huge...and I mean HUGE flat spiders and a few jumping crickets. While we were lying in bed we could hear the sounds of a RA RA band echoing off the mountains. This is kind of like a chanting/song service that some of the locals who practice voodoo have....it's pretty eerie sounding. The next morning (Thursday) we got to work and had the roof on and the pews built by noon because this was a much smaller church. We ate some more goat & took another dip in the river to wash off once we were all done. Thankfully by then one of the haitians that was on our team was able to take a motor taxi and get the tie rod welded and it held all the way back to Les Cayes but just barely.

We stayed at the guest house that night and then Friday the girls on our team headed up to the clinic to work w/some of the earthquake victims and the guys headed to my sisters to help w/some odds and ends there.

Friday night it began to rain and on Saturday it was still raining but we were planning on heading to the beach so we went anyway. We swam in the ocean while it poured down rain. After awhile it cleared up for about 45 minutes so we were able to get a little sun and dry out.

On the way back to the guest house we saw that the roads were starting to flood. There was lots of mudslides, and water everywhere rushing over the roads and right into peoples houses. We saw lots of people carrying their kids & belongings. We found out that night that 3 people drowned when their car flipped over.

The plan Sunday was to go to church, however the local church was flooded and then Tim got a call that the handicapped home had to be evacuated the night before and could we please come help shovel out the mud and help them clean it up. So instead of church we put our grubby clothes back on and went to work.

The rest of Sunday was spent touring around Les Cayes and then that night we had a Bible study on the roof of my sister's house.

Monday morning we were up early and flew out of Les Cayes about 10:00 am. We got back to PIA at 10:25 pm.

I know parts of this summary probably sound like I'm complaining but I'm really not. I'm just trying to explain as honestly as possible what it's like to go on a work team to haiti. We had a great team and had awesome discussions and laughed soooo hard. It was a super trip!

If I can get some time I will try to get a few more haiti pics up on my Haiti Gallery in this next week.

Now back to real life!