Miles is watching his dad juggle, hence his little crossed arms.

John made me feel so special this mother’s day weekend and he really got the kids into making it a wonderful day for me. Thank you John for all that you guys did for me and for staying up until 1 AM on Saturday night making me your amazing cinnamon rolls. Love being a team with you!!!

Happy Mother’s day everyone! Hope it was a blessed day for you. Much love!

Being a child of the 80′s (born in the, ahem, mid 70′s) I prefer my beverages to be fruit flavored. Plain water? I guess that’s what I had out of drinking fountains. Growing up, my BFF’s and I would drink pitchers of red, purple and green Kool-Aid, Capri-Sun’s (sucked down in seconds) and of course, my teen years were spent sucking down Mountian Dew’s by the jugfull to stay awake during long afternoons of lifeguarding shifts. Needless to say, my tastebuds grew accustomed to being entertained over the years.

These days, as a mom of two with her own biz, my beverage of choice is coffee. Yes, I’m making this confession that I’m pretty sure I’m drinking more coffee than water on some days. (That is SO BAD!) It’s like I’m getting negative hydration since caffeine is a diuretic. If I do drink something else, it’s juice, snuck secretly so the kids won’t ask for it. (Thankfully my kids are great water drinkers, though that’s because I hide sweet drinks from them.)

So I KNOW that water is the best choice, but I just stink at drinking it. I know that drinking more water is what I NEED to do to be healthier, have more energy and look better, but when it comes right down to it, coffee is what I’m reaching for. So I’m coming out with this confession in an attempt to better myself this summer and trade in the coffee for water.

Wish me luck guys! Anybody else out there a terrible water drinker? Anybody else think they might be drinking more coffee than water on most days?

This photo was taken on a particularly sleepy morning this past winter when my coffee maker was on the fritz. I appear to be personality plus without my coffee, don’t I?

Oh and by the way, this did not start out as a portrait as myself! This is me/us in lazy Sunday afternoon, around the house mode. These portraits are really for my kids someday, so it’s good I don’t have make up on or my hair straightened, this is how I imagine they will remember me: no make up, beat up old jeans and my hair back in a bun/headband.

If I could send any message to the world right now, it’s that I’m just so crazy in love with my family. I love my kids so freakin much. I’m tired a lot, don’t always look my best and my house is a constant explosion of toy parts, but good gracious my family makes my heart explode.

If your kid just wants to run away during photos, throw them on your back.

That little monkey Miles is hilarious.

Oh hey, this turned into a portrait of Jocelyn! That’s exactly what happens when I go shopping for myself…I end up shopping for Joss! Same happens when photos are taken. Ha!

Stuff that happened in Maypril:

My birthday came on April first and my favorite gift was Disney on Ice with John and Miles. A BLAST!!!

Two fun commercial shoots in the studio. (One included prom dresses…SO FUN!)

Another visit out of town to hang out with photographer friends I never see. Always flies by and leaves me thankful for my friends from afar.

We got bikes and it was good. See previous post.

A very dear aunt of mine lost her husband after 52 years of marriage. My heart has been breaking for her this past month as she faces all the firsts that come along with her husband’s passing. It has stirred up a lot of emotions that I felt when I lost my own husband and deep compassion for her journey to her new life as as widow. It’s been an emotional month, but I’ve been really blessed to been able to spend a lot of time with her these past few weeks.

I just realized that there are TWO MORE weeks of preschool for Miles and then we are facing KINDERGARTEN in the fall. Good gracious, this is going to be the shortest summer EVER!! (Scary!)

I have to decide if I’m going to put Jocelyn in preschool next fall. I’m so torn. I want to keep her at home, but I know she would LOVE going to preschool. At the same time, I would love to put off preschool for another year to just keep her in our own little bubble. We’ll see…

That’s the latest with me! Nighty night!

We FINALLY got our bikes, just in time for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day all rolled into one and it’s been LIFE CHANGING. Life changing I tell you! It feels so good to exercise with our whole family, chat and see the neighborhood at the same time. On our first bike ride with the family, the kids just laughed and laughed in the carrier. That memory is right up there with Disney World, as one of the sweetest in my heart. The kids ask for a bike ride every night, even little Joss who says, “ride! RIDE!” It’s been awesome. Last night we rolled around the neighborhood trolling garage sales and it was a beautiful way to spend the evening.

YAY for wishes finally coming true! Here are some quick snaps of us the week we got our bikes. (BTW, I got mine first and then John came home from work to his surprise of a bike in the garage for him. As you can see, he was ECSTATIC!)

Oh and of course there are garage sales, which I love, and having a bike just makes shopping even easier. Here’s our latest find for Miles:

Oh and by the way, if you are thinking of hitting the open road, we got all our bike stuff at Target. We still need to encourage Miles to ride his own bike and work on his comfort level, but for now he’s been enjoying riding in the trailer. With kindergarten coming up and all this growing up so fast business, I haven’t minded keeping him little for a bit longer. (Even if it does mean I’m pulling an extra 40 lbs. behind my bike!)

and the pièce de résistance, Miles around Jocelyn’s age:

Ok, I’m walking away from my computer now! Sorry if I spread any baby craziness your way. It’s insidious folks!

The photographs were for an ad that will run for real estate agent Beth Goldsmith. She lost her sister to breast cancer in 2003 and has done an amazing job ever since of doing wonderful things in her memory. This ad, with photography by me and design by Britton Marketing Group, is the latest project I’ve been working on. I think it turned out beautifully.

It was a big competition between Miles and his buddy to see who could pop the bubbles first . Joss even tried to pop it with her stick.

The poor pugs don’t always get to play outside, sometimes they have to watch from behind the screen.

Want to learn how to juggle? You tube to the rescue… Click here to learn.

Summer and fall are the best times to photograph your senior session so let’s get you on the books!

My full pricing information can always be viewed here. To get the convo about your session rolling today, Email Betsy!