Foto Flashback

Flashback in photos over the last month . . .

My children being "them" :)

Noah, 7

Finley, 19 months

Maia, 5

These were taken before school, prior to her preschool picture day.

 

Playing with Easter eggs she dyed at school

Such a normal face of my Maia's

As is this one ;)

And how you'll find Noah at least one time every day; playing legos.

 

The YUMMY cake pops my dear friend, Erin, sent me all the way from Winnipeg, homemade by Erin herself.  She has an amazing cake business called "sERINdipity".

Just a fun picture.  You know me.

Went to the zoo last week with Maia's preschool.  This is a fave from the day.  A beautiful moth in the butterfly house.  I didn't have my camera out much that morning because of my little animal named F-I-N-N :)

E, A, K and Maia

Her class

E, M and Maia

And Finn buddied up with C

Flowers make me happy.

And so does summer,
and bright colors,
and flowery scents,
and gardening,
from which I get the love and appreciation for from my mom (thanks, mom!),
and sunlight,
and the pretty light at dusk just perfect for taking any picture,
and bokeh,
and perfect evenings,
and pretty pictures,
and friends to share those pretty pictures with.

Happy Love Thursday and Happy Foto Friday.


photos courtesy of my garden, courtesy of me :)

It's time to . . . PARTY ON!

{ *** This is a "sticky" . . . brand NEW posts below!! One of them being about photography and my work space! *** }


Finally it's blog party time again at 5 Minutes for Mom!

Last year was my first year participating and it was one of the best times in my blogging life. I met so many wonderful blogging women, many of whom I became close friends with, and one of whom I MET IN REAL LIFE just this past October. So I really do consider it a party with other women . . . a way to connect with other stay-at-home work-from-home mommies . . . and a way to find friendships with these super-fabulous women. They're blessings in my life and I am quite excited to meet more of these amazing women starting TODAY! It's a blast of a time not to be missed.

Oh, and apparently I don't know all the rules! You are suppose to tell about your 3 favorite things you'd like to win, among others, so here they are in order:

#12 - $50 gift certificate to Happy Panda
#15 - $50 gift certificate to Kids Magical Wonder
#20 - $50 gift certificate to Paperlicious

I also adore the following prizes, too!
#34, #50, #70 (yum!), #76, #88, #100, #101, #103, #107, #114, #117, #126, #140, and #151.


Phew, okay, so about me!

I will be thirty-two (I don't like seeing the actual numbers!) in 8 days, I have been married 9 years to my amazing hubby (we've been together 15 years!), have two spectacular (miracle) children, Noah (almost 4-1/2) and and Maia (almost 2-1/2). We live in central Illinois. I love where we live because we are within 2-3 hours to Chicago, St. Louis AND Indianapolis so I easily can enjoy the city life while still living up the small-town life as well. I am a stay-at-home mommy, but also a work-at-home mommy. I have had my photography business for almost SIX years now. I am absolutely amazed by that. I never ever EVER thought I would be able to say that. It really does put a huge smile on my face when I think about it. (And I thank those who have helped me get here. I'm so so blessed!)

Let's see . . . I grew up on a farm (corn, beans, alfalfa) and loved every single minute of it. I miss it desperately at times. I have one brother (also amazing) who lives in Kansas City right now. I have a sister-in-law and brother-in-law who are our best friends. Michelle is the sister I never had. I have 4 very special precious nieces. We have a dog and 3 cats. I love love love animals. I also have great passion for photography (obviously, hehe), my friends, graphic design, gardening, traveling and God, of course. I love ketchup, the colors red & turquoise, coffee, dark chocolate, sushi, Oprah, fashion, interior design, coffee table books, old Disney movies, magazines, oh how the list can go on and on. These passions, including my children I will talk about more in the coming week. :c)

With that said, I thank you for coming to my blog and giving me the opportunity to share my life with you. I met a dozen amazing women last year (Erin ~ who I met in real life last October!, Amanda, Jen, to name a small few!) and hope to do the same this year. Getting to know mommies who blog is such a rewarding experience and it's became a huge part of my life.

I have four blogs (1, 2, 3, and this one) and hope you have the time to come visit me at all.

Now for my exciting part . . . I would like to offer a fun little contest called "Things I've Learned About Val". I have these 5 cards with 5 questions on them (click on them to read the questions easier) and some of you will already know a few of the answers, but most of you might not know any. But at the end of this blogging party week, I hope you will have answers to all of them and know a lot about me ~ enough for you to want to stay with me here :o)

So the actual contest . . . next Friday, the 14th, the first person who can email me the answers to all 25 questions will win a . . . drumroll . . . 8x10 canvas gallery-wrap of any personal photo you choose! It's approx a $100 value!!! These canvas-wraps are one (of the many fabulous) thing(s) I offer at VWC Photography.

So just for keeping up with me at my blog for 1 week, you can win one of these!!! (I love them - I have them all over my house!)

I need to have (correct, hehe) answers to me by noon on Friday (as I am leaving that evening for a [my!] birthday getaway). Please email them to me here ----> [ valeliz @ mac . com ] no later than noon (central standard time) Friday March 14th. I will tally the answers and have a winner for you by Friday at 5:00 pm! If I have more than 1 person who answers all 25 correctly, I will put the names in a hat and draw THE winner. Yayyyy!!! This will be sooooo fun! Answers to all 25 questions will be posted throughout my blog entries all throughout the week starting today!

* Oh, and one more thing, you have to have a blog to qualify to win, so when you email me, please attach your full name and name of your blog. Have fun, and thanks again for stopping by! Party on! :c)

The "Things I've Learned About Val" Quiz:



And while you are here, check out Kidazy.com. They are giving away a $100 Toys R Us gift card! I had never heard of Kidazy, but now after looking around, I have added it to my bloglines. I've found some great gift ideas and ideas for my own kiddos. I love ideas for new unique gifts. Check it out!! Hopefully one of us will win!

I'm leavin on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again . . .

We're off in a couple hours for the airport to come back home. We've had a really great trip out here in Okie-land. Little princess is the most precious thing ever. I could seriously hold that piece of perfection forever. It's going to be so hard to leave them all here. I've (only, hehe) shot a few hundred pics. I've downloaded a small fraction of them. Here's about 40 of them to share. Nothing yet since the baby girl has came home . . . sorry. It may be a while before I get to them as I have tons of client proofing to do once I get home this weekend. Wish us safe travels and no 2-yr old breakdowns. We had a 10-minute one on the way out here. I'm not sure I can handle it again unless Neil is awaiting with a glass of wine for me at the gate. :c) Next time I see ya'll, I'll be back on Illinois soil. Oh how I'm going to miss my sis and the girls especially since I don't know when I'll be back again . . .

Bye Oklahoma! Thanks for having us!

Oh, and here's those pics.

A few pictures from last week while Neil was away in China

* A surprise gift that I got in the mail from a friend in Chicago so that we could keep busy (isn't she the greatest?!)

* At these twins' home, I walked in the door and saw this and could hardly believe my eyes.

* Here is one sneak peak into another shoot I did. Something totally different for me!

* While Neil was gone, I experienced a lot of these with Maia. Many of you got emails of panic and frustration from me during this time.

* And here is the color we painted, and the final result. What do you think?!?

* The ketchup Neil brought me back from China

* To see more of my basement and others from this set (which I think contain some fun pictures), view them here!

Happy Birthday, Papa Bill!

Since I was gone allll day yesterday, I didn't have time to do anything that wasn't Katheryne-Aaron wedding-related, so I'm one day late to say . . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAPA/DAD!!!

Here's a few pics of the kids with him at Christmas.

Hope you had a really really great day!




If you would like to see more of our pictures from our Christmas, click on this link. (There's hundreds from most of December!)

I've been dying to show these pictures!

Christmas has came and gone and boy do I have a lot to say and pictures to show (we had a really wonderful Christmas), but before I get to Christmas, I have to show you these photos of my two little people and their cousin, Ella!

We did these about a month ago as a surprise Christmas gift to Neil's mom, dad, step-mom, sister and grandmothers. Since they have all received their special surprise framed portraits, I can now share them with you. I just adore these shots to pieces, and I think Michelle would agree. We only had about 10 minutes as it was soooo cold outside and then it started to rain! This little mini session proves that our kids can still be so totally adorable even under pressure :c)

Sneak peak right here:

* See the rest here. *

Erin's digi pics

"My" Erin sent me some pictures that she took while here. There are some cute ones of my kids jumping on the bed in Erin's "room" (a.k.a. Val's office -- ha!) and then some during our visit to one of my favorite places in the entire world, Allerton Park, which is just literally 5 minutes from my door step. I can't believe I live by such an extraordinary place. She fell in love with it. She said it reminded her of Europe. Now you know why I take almost all my photo subjects out there. It's just an amazing place to land your feet and take your camera :c)

Here ya go. Thanks, Erin!

Oh. And I added more to the party pics that Johanna took on her camera. I think they are at the end of the batch.

Fitting in some photos

I would not consider myself caught up. Just making some time to fit in some things which I haven't done for a while. Like updating blogs. I just added some pictures to my visions page. Next thing is updating Grandma's Diary. I have neglected both soooo badly and I know people are just waiting for grandpa to propose to grandma! :c)

Enjoy the new pictures, even though, technically, they are probably 4+ months old??? Better late than never.

Birth, in pictures.

Well, guess what? After 2 days, I'm finally done proofing the pictures from the birth. I took over 300 pictures and ended up with 205. During the proofing process, different thoughts would pop into my head like "I can't believe Jen and Dan allowed me to get that picture" or "oh my goodness, how amazing is that?!" or "how lucky I am to have had the chance to capture all these!".

I knew while in the birthing room, how blessed I was with the opportunity, but not until I saw the pictures and saw them again, did I really realize it. They allowed me in the room during the epidural. They allowed me in during all her exams. They allowed me in the room during every. single. process. in a 7 hour time-period. All I keep thinking now is how lucky and blessed I am.

I just can't get over some of the shots and how truly astonishing they are. How they capture so much . . . energy . . . emotion . . . life . . . in such a small little frame. I am very very thankful to have been there and even more to have captured it.

So to Jen and Dan I thank you guys immensely. I thank you for the opportunity to expand my portfolio, to start a new adventure with my business, to get to know you guys better, and most of all, I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to have found the peace that I now have. I can't even explain in words or even emotions, how grateful I am for the experience. I pray I get to do many more and that those many more be couples as welcoming and open to sharing such a private part of themselves with me as you guys have done. And thank you, Leann, for helping me to get these opportunities. A good network and very good giving friends really do make a difference. :c)

And now, to the pictures!! Here's just a couple out of the 200+. So very many of them are ones I just cannot show here, but these are a few that I can. I'll post a few others over at my VWC blog as well.

Here's to the beautiful event called "birth".



{adding in later . . .
I have to note this. I asked Neil last night if he wanted to see the pictures. I said "they're pretty graphic" so he said "let me see just one and I'll let you know if I want to see more". Keep in mind that he never saw his own children born vaginally. So I started him through the slide show from the beginning. I got to the actual birth and he said to stop. So I did. He said, "I can't believe this is getting to me, but it is. This stuff has never gotten to me. I feel queasy and light-headed . . . " and then he sat down on the floor. Keep in mind that my husband has dissected every kind of animal you can think of in his lifetime and was going to be a dentist. His major was biology. He is a science fanatic! But, this got to him. I don't know if it's because of what it was, because of the blood and goo (I don't think so, but maybe?) or if it was because of the emotions going on inside himself. He was very taken by it. We didn't talk much about it, but I am hoping it somehow was closure for him also.}

Reality . . . can bite

Anyone know anything about macs? I am seriously very much disliking mine right now. (Re: my previous post.) So no pictures from Georgia from me to show you for a long while probably. In the meantime, please take some time and check out Michelle's blog. She posted some cute pictures from Georgia. And maybe she'll post more since I cannot (hint, hint, Chel!). I miss Sea Island so much, but my dear sis, bro and niece even more. Oklahoma is just way too far away.

Chel, I shot pics of baby James today (he is sooooooo dang cute!!). Ang was saying how she hopes you guys come back sometime to stay. Permanent stay. So it's not a secret anymore, but I secretly am hoping, too . . .

Check out Chel's Sea Island pictures here. We had such a great time. Back to reality now . . . packing boxes and computers crashing. As the movie title says "Reality Bites" sometimes.

Seriously, anyone know anything about macs crashing? What does the blinking flashlight mean? What does the fan on the hard drive going really loud and strong mean? It's not good, is it?