Framed

The first thing people say when they come into my home is "Wow, you have tons of pictures of your kids everywhere!". (That is if they come over for a planned visit, if someone were to stop by their first words may be more like "Wow, how do you walk in this place!"). My kids are my art. I love having pictures of them everywhere because every photo has a story behind it with vivid memories of the time I took it. This is one I have framed in our living room..

This explains my children so perfectly right now. It was the middle of the day and we were having a PJ Party and they volunteered for a photo- so rare.

 Pictures of the kids mixed in with some watercolors that they painted.

                                                                Honeymoon Pictures

How do you display art in your house? Is it through actual artwork or photos or something else creative??

My Mornings

I've never been one for waking up early. As much as I'd like to be a "morning person", I just can't drag myself out of bed super early unless there is something I absolutely have to do/somewhere to be. At this point in my life, sleep is something I don't get a lot of. My husband works the typical 8-5 job (with a commute that's 7:30am-6pm) so we often stay up pretty late just so it feels like we get to see each other. I have to admit though, right now I am loving morning here at our house. The older kids ( just turned 4 and 2 yrs 9 months) wake up when Nathan is getting ready to leave and they lay in bed playing or watching scooby-doo dvd's, and I get to snuggle with Harper and doze in and out of light sleep...it's heaven!
 Have you ever realized that your first actions and thoughts of the day can really affect the outlook of your whole day?? If I wake up and immediately have a bad attitude when the kids start screaming "MOMMMYYY GET ME CHOCOLATE MILKKK!!!" then that attitude stays with me all morning and sometimes all day. If I decide to hop out of bed cheerfully it makes all the difference. I know that I can't have the good attitude on my own and saying a little prayer that God will give me patience and joy for the day helps tremendously! I really encourage you to wake up and have a positive attitude as soon as you open your eyes. Choose to be joyful and thankful for every blessing and you will have a better day. Happiness really is serving others! **Plus most of the time Harper stays asleep while I'm helping the other kids and I get to hop back in bed and cuddle with her some more :)


Proverbs 17:22  A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Carolyn

I'm glad that I live in the mid-west. We have every season, and usually Summer is very hot and winter is very cold with spring and fall being somewhere between the extremes.  Right now I'm looking outside at over 6 inches of snow. It's white everywhere. The night I took these photos it was H.O.T. I had just finished a senior session and had my friend Carolyn come out because I wanted to do a session for fun, for me. Isn't she gorgeous?? The sad thing is that this has taken me 6 months to get around to! It was July so I was verrry pregnant and then August I had the baby, and then I worked and worked and worked until January. So here they are, so worth the wait. I can't wait to do this again, a little more planned in not so hot weather with more daylight, we ran out here and had to call it quits too soon. Enjoy.

Corey:2011 High School Senior

I'm sure you remember Taylor, well meet her brother, Corey! I was able to shoot their sessions together which made it easier on all of us- unfortunately for them we had to start bright and early on a Saturday morning (I hate doing that to high school seniors, I remember how much I loved sleeping in on Saturdays!). We started in one of my favorite spots around Longview's old dock, then we headed down to Westport and Corey got his guitar out..and his awesome shoes that were custom made for him (http://www.evolved-footwear.com/).  Thanks to StreetSide Records for letting us shoot inside (and use their bathroom for outfit changes! :). Here are some favorites from our session, you can see more at my facebook fan page...