HAPPY (early) BIRTHDAY JENNA!

We had to celebrate Jenna's birthday early since we will be in Texas on her actual birthday (July 2nd). Yesterday she had a small party with a few friends. They had a good time doing lots of princess activities - decorating wands and crowns, playing "pin the crown on the princess", watching a princess movie, and eating "magic wand cookies". The highlight of her party was getting a phone call from Cinderella! (Thanks Aunt Brenda and Marcus!!) She was amazed that Cinderella knew her name and how old she was!! Later we had family and friends over to celebrate her birthday once more. We grilled burgers and hotdogs, had pink cupcakes, ice cream, and more magic wand cookies. Jenna got lots of fun "girlie" gifts - Barbies, Barbie clothes, a Barbie house, DVDs, roller skates, and lots more! Thanks to everyone for the great gifts and for celebrating with Jenna!!

Private party

On Monday Jenna was supposed to be laying on our bed, watching Disney channel, and resting (hopefully falling asleep). Well, she never fell asleep and later came out to the kitchen and then went to play. When I walked into our room, this is what I saw:















The girl definitely has an imagination! She had a private tea party on our bed - complete with a laundry basket table and stuffed animal guests.

Butterflies!!!

On Sunday we went with Chris' parents to the Botanical Gardens in Ft. Wayne. They had a butterfly exhibit and Sunday was the last day. We went in a screened in area with butterflies flying all around us. The volunteer told us that there had been a lot more earlier, but they only live 2-3 weeks, so many of the butterflies had died. Jacob had a great time trying to catch one and finally did it by picking up a small flower for the butterfly to land on. Jenna wasn't real sure about the butterflies and definitely didn't want one landing on her...so she stayed out of the way most of the time (look closely and you can see her hiding in the background of the closeup photo of Jacob holding the butterfly).

I told you I had more...

I would honestly share almost every picture from the photos we took last week if I could...but it takes way too much time . So, I'll leave you with one last set of Jenna. She got really into the picture taking towards the end and started getting a little "sassy". She would stand in the middle of the alley with her back towards me and then spin around with her hair flying. She did it over and over until she was sure I captured the moment with my camera. Here's the results:

Part 2

I had too many photos to fit in one entry, so here is part 2...

Believe it or not, I have a few more to share...but I'll wait until another day.

A new outfit....and lots of photos!

Jacob recently got a new outfit at Old Navy that he loves - plaid shorts and a brown t-shirt. I have a feeling he thinks he's pretty "cool" in the outfit...so I suggested we take some photos of him wearing it. He was all excited! Of course Jenna wanted to participate too, so I dressed her in similar colors and we headed off in search of somewhere new to take photos. We found such a great spot! It's a little alley between buildings on Main Street in town. We took over 150 photos just walking up and down the alley - and they all turned out great! I can't wait to use this spot for some other photos in the future. After I loaded the photos onto the computer and looked through them I couldn't believe how grown-up Jacob looked. What happened to the little boy that used to live with us?? Here are a few of my favorites from Thursday. I was really happy with how the all turned out and can't wait to enlarge and frame some for our house.

...and they lived happily ever after

I'm FINISHED!! After a lot of hours put in at the computer this week, the wedding photos are printed, put in the album, and ready for Ryan and Deena to pick up today. It's been a learning experience, but I'm glad to be done so I can focus on something else for a while. I just hope they are happy with them! Eeeks!

The amazing Miss Cheryl stopped over for an unplanned visit today. She needed some help with her camera and I needed some help in photoshop. I have this amazing program, but no clue how to use it. Everything I can do with it I've taught myself. Cheryl taught me just a few more things - like how to make fun collages, tips on how to enhance my photos a little more, and how to scan/stitch 12x12 layouts so I can start submitting them to TwoPeas and maybe even a magazine or two (if I get brave!). So....of course I had to play last night...and look what I made. It's my first attempt, but I think it's pretty cool. I'm going to give it to Ryan and Deena today when they come to pick up their photos (It looks like it's just floating on the page because I left a white border around it. I printed it out to 8x10 size and framed it in black...it looks much better framed!). My head is already spinning with the possibilities for using this or something similar (Brenda...I definitely see some in the making for Carsyn and Payton's photos)!! HAPPY WEEKEND!!

The end is in sight....

I finally finished proofing the wedding photos tonite. I still need to burn the photos onto CDs, get the proofs printed, number each proof, and put it into an album. Then I will be all set to give the photos to Ryan and Deena. Phew!!! I have a little over 650 proofs for them - WOW! (and that's after going through and deleting a lot of photos) I can't wait to see the look on the face of the people who work where I get my photos developed when I tell them I have that many prints to make.

A Sneak Peek

I still have a ton of work to do with these photos....but here's a sneak peek at a few of my favorite photos from Saturday's wedding. I'll try to post some more in the next few days.

CONGRATULATIONS RYAN AND DEENA!!

Miss Jenna

I mentioned it in a previous post....but Jenna absolutely loved being around Cheryl when she came to visit and scrap on Thursday. She hung out with us most of the time and wanted to help Cheryl use her paper trimmer everytime Cheryl went to cut something. When we were outside taking photos of us together, Jenna wanted Cheryl to take some photos of her....and this is what she sent us in an email today. I absolutely LOVE it. We're definitely printing this out for her room. THANKS CHERYL! You're the best!!

I survived!!

I survived my first wedding as the solo photographer. I had to be at the church at 11:00am and by the time I got home at 10:30pm my camera battery was almost dead, I had filled all my memory cards (over 600 photos!), and my feet were killing me. I went non-stop all day except for a quick break between photos and the ceremony and again at the reception when I sat down to eat. I was really nervous in the morning when I first started out, but as soon as I got into it, I was much more comfortable and at ease. The whole thing seemed to go pretty smoothly. I'm anxious to load the photos onto my computer and start playing with them later tonite. Keep checking back...I'll be sure to post some of my favorites on here.

PS The Astros lost the tournament championship game 7-4 and came in 2nd place in the tournament. Jacob was okay with it...and really excited about his new 2nd place trophy!

Go Astros!!!

On Saturday Jacob's baseball team , the Astros, is playing in the championship game of the tournament. He's really excited. Unfortunately I have to miss it - I am photographing my first wedding on Saturday (say a little prayer for me...I'm really nervous and hoping this goes well!) . I'm really upset that I have to miss it...it's hard to miss out on important events your kids are involved in. Luckily, Jacob is very understanding and promised to call my cell phone after the game so I know how they did. GOOD LUCK JACOB....and GO ASTROS!!!!

We're going to miss you, Cheryl!!

I have had the opportunity to meet an awesome person and become quick friends with her. Cheryl and I met through Two Peas and started emailing once I realized she lived in Paulding. After many emails we finally set up a time to scrapbook together over Spring Break. I was so excited to finally have someone to scrap with - especially someone as talented and creative as Cheryl! We scrapped again in May and I took Jenna along to play with her niece, Shana. They had a great time together. Jenna also loved Cheryl! Today she came to our house and we scrapped the afternoon away. We had so much fun doing challenges and just chatting. She is such an easy person to talk to and open up with - she is an amazing person with an incredible story to tell. She has a way of making you feel so comfortable and is so positive and encouraging. On top of that, she is so much fun just to be around! Jenna spent most of the afternoon around us scrapbooking and just talking to Cheryl, too. She is following her dream and leaving for Chicago soon to become a nanny. She will do an awesome job....the family she is going to be working for is incredibly lucky to have her. Unfortunately, Chicago is just a little too far for us to get together and scrap. Hopefully we will have some more opportunities in the near future to get together again. We'll miss you Cheryl! Thanks for coming to play with us today.

Brown Eyed Girls

Look who is finally on the other side of the camera....ME! My friend Cheryl was at our house today and volunteered to take some photos of me for a change. I love these photos of Jenna and I. I definitely need to try to be in photos more instead of always behind the camera (I'm a lot more comfortable there though!).

Mr. Baseball

Jacob absolutely loves baseball. He has had so much fun playing this summer. The regular season ended tonite (they start the season in early May and it's over by mid June). They were tied for first place going into tonite's game, but ended up losing - so they finished in second place in the league. Tournament starts tomorrow. He'll play again on Saturday, but I'll have to miss it. He's going to be so disappointed to see the season end. Last night he had a great game. He made a huge catch - a pop fly right to him in left center field. He was beaming after he caught it (but I didn't have my camera ready!). It's been fun watching him improve. He would truly play baseball every day this summer if he could. Hopefully he'll still have some opportunities to play a little longer this summer. If not, he and Dad will be out in the yard playing. Here are a few photos from his games last night and tonite.

S'MORES!!!!

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is have campfires at our neighbor's house. They supply the fire and then we roast hotdogs, marshmallows, make s'mores and sometimes pudgie pies. YUM! Last night was our first official campfire of the season. It was short and sweet - but we got s'mores (and that's the best part!).



















As I was getting ready to take one last picture of Jenna she made the "I love you" sign. Too cute!

NYC - part 3

I think this is the last of the NYC photos - at least for now. As I was looking through the photos I took, I noticed how many photos of signs there were. Apparently I was slightly fascinated with NYC signs on this trip.