Prelude to the final cut

We moved my mom and dad into their new house on Sunday. Neil and dad worked incredibly hard. What strong boys they are! :c) This adorable (I'm biased) picture is of my kiddies posing in the new kitchen. They love it at Grandma L and Grandpa B's new house. And Noah always reminds me that it's "right next to TARGET!". (And I say, "yes, I know, Noah...") I have a few other pictures, but I just had to share this one right now because it shows Maia with her cute ponies just 2 days ago. Say "bye, bye" to those ponies and her long pretty locks.

I got a call from my friend/hair stylist, Kim, this morning after my frantic email to her last night. She's going into her shop tomorrow for me. . .she is on maternity leave, however she feels my pain! She has a boy and a new baby girl. One day this might be Dawson and Ava! (I hope not for Kim's sake!)

Tomorrow Maia's beautiful hair will probably be all the way gone. I am not sure what Kim will do. My heart fills will tiny bits of pain when I think about it because there's one section that is way up about an inch from the scalp of her head. If Kim were to evenly cut it all the way around, she's have a boy hair cut. (wahhhh!!) I don't know what Kim will do to make this look okay. Think of us tomorrow around noon. We need some prayers that this mommy will make it through without crying and that Maia will sit still for the hair cut itself. It should be an interesting day. I'm already dreading it. Someone may have to drive me home.


Here's just one section where he cut it. It's different lengths like this cut all the way around her head. I can't disguise it because it really does look like Edward Scissorhands began something and didn't finish. Maia wouldn't let me take anymore pictures than this one . . .

..Trail Mix..photography style..

There rarely seems to be a day where you don't find me looking like this:


. . . with a camera attached to me somewhere on my body. So here's what I've been doing on those days . . .

* Alexis and I had the best time ever Thursday night. Robbies, drinks, push-up bras and Matt Damon . . . not much can get better than that! (She should have a post on this soon - she took pictures - I didn't!)

* My mom and dad closed on their new house a few weeks ago. It's such a perfect home for them. I have more pictures of it but am not sure if mom wants me to let you see it yet? But here is a cute pic of mom and the kids the day they closed on the house, sitting on the steps of the breezeway . . .

Congratulations, mom and dad! We're so happy for you!

* This weekend we help mom and dad move their furniture in! I'm sure someone will document it . . . me?

* My wedding was wonderful. We had a such a great time. Mom, Heather and I stayed at a $60 hotel which was quite entertaining doing so. The bride, my cousin, was beautiful! Everything about the day was just perfect. I'm so happy I was able to be such a large part of it.

* I'm exhausted from the wedding. Driving 7 hours, going to bed late, getting up early, being on my feet all day long and running around non-stop is tiring! Yesterday was the best Mother's Day ever because I slept all day and did absolutely nothing. Neil fixed me a wonderful steak dinner and the kids were good to me. It was great! I actually didn't pick up my camera once!

* Right now I'm drinking some coffee and wishing it were stronger because I just can't wake up. I have an espresso machine but don't know how to use it. Go figure. Still haven't picked up my camera today. After I post this, I will be, though. Time to proof some pics . . .

* Tomorrow, Tuesday, I have an all-day date with MATT DAMON! ;-) Camera will be literally attached to my hand!!
Okay, fine, I'm obsessed!

* Last weekend my great friend, Jen, and her daughter, Addison, visited from Mississippi. Here's a couple favorite pictures from their stay. There are tons more at flickr. This is Addison's set. You probably have to be registered to view them? There are 100 or so!


I call this one "Baby Dolls":


A very funny spontaneous moment I happened to catch!:


"Just Like Mommy":


* Last week was a beautiful week with temps in the 70's. The kids and I had some really fun afternoons. Here are a couple faves from the past week. As I've said before, many more at flickr (this is the May 2008 set- you may need to be registered to view them all since 2/3's of them are "private") and will continue to be all week. I hope to proof my newborn session this week, the session I did with Addison and also my wedding. So much going on!



* Happy Mother's Day to my friends and family who are moms. Even those who are moms to furry friends. We know how they become a part of our family just as if they were our own children. Hope your day was fantastic. We all deserve it. :c)

Trail Mix - and tons and tons of Trix

Neil was gone this week traveling to Atlanta, and anytime he is gone, I really don't get much accomplished, hence why I haven't posted. I've also been spending a ton of time in the car driving back and forth to town where my chiropractor is. I'm not sure how much longer I can do that because I'm spending an extra $100 a month just on gas, not to mention the actual cost of my visits. I love my doc and I love seeing Beth 2-3 times a week, but but but . . . I don't know. It's just a ton of driving.

But I'm not posting to complain but to post some happy trail mix bits about my past week. It's definitely been a good week. Let's start with last weekend . . .

It was warm. Very warm. The nicest day we had seen so far this year. (Today it snowed!) We bought a new outdoor table to go with the outdoor chairs we had purchased last year, so we set all that out while Noah "raked" the yard, as you can see here,

and the little miss was on the lookout for bugs. She's so into bugs right now!

Frankie really enjoyed the weekend, too. And aren't her pearly whites beautiful?! We had her teeth cleaned professionally a few weeks ago for the first time ever and they look so good and I know she feels sooooo much better. See how perty?

I think I have mentioned before that my parents are looking to sell their house and buy a new one. Well, they've been getting their house ready for about a year now. Suddenly a (perfect) house just came along and mom went alone to check it out. She loved it. So the kids and I went with her to see it again the first of the week. I loved it, too. The kids adored it. It seemed too perfect for them but there was a lot of "buts" and "ifs" involved. However, dad agreed to see it near the end of the week and THAT NIGHT he just threw out an offer and the people TOOK IT! Today they signed some papers and in less than 2 weeks, they can move in! I'm sooooo happy and excited for them!! I just can't explain how happy I am for them. The deserve it so so much. Congrats mom and dad!

On the way to see the new house that day I drove into this. While it didn't amount to anything bad, it sure was a pretty picture I couldn't keep from taking.
If you didn't know what Illinois looked like, well, there you have it!

Thursday the kids and I made brownies for daddy's return home. Brownies are his favorite and the kids (and myself) love licking the bowls!

Friday night we drove up to Peoria, IL to visit two pairs of great friends of ours, Kristin & Chris and Andrea & Rusty. To make a long long story short, Andrea, Rusty and their family are moving sometime soon to El Paso, TX. We don't want them to go, but well, what can we do but be super happy for them because it's a really good move for their family. So we went up to visit them just in case their move is soon and we don't see them again for a long while (*sob*). We had homemade yummy pizza, salad, dessert and wine :c) Kristin, Rusty, Neil and I went to grade school through high school together and then Rusty, Neil and I went on to college together. Rusty and Andrea started dating and she and I became super great friends. Then Rus and Andrea moved to P-town and she and Kristin got to be good friends. Anyway, it's all so very cool. It's been an incredible blessing having Andrea in my life. I can't imagine her not in it. And then Kristin, well, I think it says a lot that after what seems like a gizillion years, we're still the best of friends. So here we are, Kristin, Andrea and I.
Kristin has a boy, Jackson, who just turned a year and has another baby on the way. Andrea has a girl, Audrie, who is 3 and Anderson who is 6 months. And you all know who belongs to me! We had such a great time Friday night.

Then Saturday evening I set up my backdrop and lights for my shoot with Corie on Sunday. Well, the kids wanted to help with that. Maia put on her ballerina tutu and the kids actually wanted me to take some pictures. They didn't have to twist my arm or anything either!

So the shoot with Corie and Keith went so fabulously perfect. I've had the pleasure of taking pictures of both of them many a times, so this was just another very fun time for me with a couple of my favorite two people, plus this time, one more (!) because of the bun in her oven! :c) We had such a fun maternity session because of Keith making us constantly laugh. I've only had a couple minutes to peek at the pictures and then allow you have a peek, too. Isn't Corie beautiful!?

The ice cream pose is one of my favorite ideas ever! I wish I could patent it . . . hehe. I love how it turned out but if I were to do it again, I'd put her in a color because the white on white really fades into each other but I still really love the concept and how it turned out.

Thanks, Cor, for such a great day and for coming back up from St. Louis for ME!!

Once my lights and backdrops were put up, I helped hubby unload the groceries which he and the kids got while I did the shoot with C & K. Noah wanted the "Trix" opened, so I opened them for him. A few minutes later I hear "oh-oh" and a huge spill. I turn around and see this. It absolutely could be worse. It was a great week, spilled trix and all :c)