Signs of summer #3....

Swimming in our neighbor's pool!!! We are so thankful to have such a generous neighbor who lets us use his pool during the summer. This year Jenna finally got brave enough to swim in the "deep end" ....and even jumped off the diving board all by herself . She was so excited!!

Randomness....

• This is me....the wedding planner (although Matthew McConaughey probably won't fall in love with me in the end). Yesterday I helped make pinwheels....today I'm addressing shower invitations...tomorrow we are wedding shopping....who knows what will be next. But, I'm loving every minute of it. Afterall, being a wedding planner is one of my dream jobs.

• I am buying this....very, very soon....and I cannot wait!!
  

• I want this! Wouldn't it be fun at a lake house??
  
  
  
  

• Love this idea! We may have to make a list on our chalkboard wall and then let the kids refer to it when they are "soooo bored"!

• Can't wait to see this movie! The book is one of my all time favorites, even if it did make me cry. I hope the movie doesn't diasppoint me. I have to wait until July 7th to go see it though....Brenda, Jill and I are going together!

• Is anyone else watching the Bachelorette besides Jill and I? I can't believe she got rid of Jake because he was too perfect? How can he be too perfect? She needs to get rid of Wes soon...he is on my very last nerve! My pick is Kiptyn.
  
  

Cheryl + Nathan = lots of love...and lots of photos!

Last week I met Cheryl, Nathan , and of course London in Paulding to take engagement photos. Cheryl had the brilliant idea to take photos at the carnival on the square. The bright colors were the perfect backdrop for Cheryl photos - she is truly one of the most colorful people I know! The carnival didn't open until later in the afternoon, so we had the whole area to ourselves. Cheryl even asked one of the carnies if they could sit on the ferris wheel for a few photos. I was shooting double - using both my camera and Cheryl's (which I totally covet!) and I was so excited with how the photos turned out!

Cheryl and Nathan- thank you so much for letting me capture photos of your new little family. I can't wait for July 11th!




These next two are my absolute favorites of the day! We were so excited about the "No Single Riders" sign on the ferris wheel and had to use it in a few photos!!

Countdown....

I am always amazed at how quickly summer vacation goes. The days just seem to blend into each other and pass so quickly! June is usually our stay home month with lots of baseball for Jacob and Jenna and lots of basketball for Chris. July is going to be our busy month - but all the business will be fun things. Can't wait!!

• 11 days until Jenna turns 8
• 13 days until July 4th - no plans yet, but I'm sure we'll come up with something!
• 16 days until my sisters and nieces/nephew come visit...CAN'T WAIT!!!
• less than 3 weeks until Cheryl's wedding
• 3 weeks until beach day with my Dad's side of the family at Lake Erie
• 4 weeks from today I will be sitting at our beach house after spending our first full day at the beach

That pretty much takes care of July....we won't even talk about August. I don't want to rush summer too quickly! It's funny how I count down the days of school left until summer, but I just can't make myself count down the days of summer until school.

Cousins ...

Last week I had the opportunity to photograph my cousins' kids! My cousin Mike was home from NC with his 2 kids and his mom wanted photos of all 4 grandkids together. So Mike, Denise, my Aunt Nancy and the 4 kids came to Van Wert for a photo shoot. I was a little nervous since I was going to be working with 3, 8, almost 12, and 16 year olds...but it actually went very smoothly! Miss Catherine took a little time warming up to the idea of photos, but thanks to lots of smarties candy she and I quickly became friends and she turned out to be quite the little model!


THANKS Nancy, Denise, and Mike for letting me take photos of the kids. I had a great time!!

The boys...Devin and Brandon....

The girls...Amanda and Catherine....

All four cousins together.... Brandon and Catherine....Amanda and Devin....

Miss Catherine....my favorite photo from that day! She was just too cute once I figured out she would do anything for smarties!!

The Suzuki Kids...

Last week I photographed siblings - Taylor, Ian, and Kade. I took photos of Kade (and a few with his brother and sister) last summer when he turned 2, so I was excited to be able to take photos of him again along with his brother and sister. We went to two potential locations I have been wanting to try out and I will definitely be adding them to my list of photo shoot locations! Thanks again for spending the morning with me and letting me capture photos of all three of you!!

Hula Hoops + Kids = Happy times

Last Saturday was the big Peony Parade in Van Wert. Becca hosted a cookout at her house (which happens to be right on the parade route. THANKS again for fighting the mayor for that Becca!) and then we headed out front to watch the parade. While we were waiting to eat, the kids were playing with the hula hoop. They even got Uncle Bill to time them for a while and see how long they could each go. Jenna has got some pretty awesome hula hooping skills - she can go forever! Jacob's skills were not so awesome....but I don't think he was too upset about that!


Little Miss Hula Hooper showing some attitude....

Signs of Summer #2.....

#2....sleeping in!!

Jenna has always been my early bird. Even when she was a baby she would stay up late and wake up early. I am quite the opposite - early to bed and then sleep in! This morning I actually had to wake her up so she could come with me to take photos. I don't know what was more surprising....the fact that she was still sleeping at 8:50am....or the fact that I was awake, dressed, and ready to go at 8:50am.

Celebrating 12....

We had a small family get together the night before Jacob's birthday. It was actually supposed to be on his birthday, but rained out and rescheduled baseball games caused us to reschedule at the last minute. It was just simple...but he loved having his family there to help him celebrate.

Opening gifts and cards....


Believe it or not, this photo was not totally posed. I asked Jacob to hold up his birthday cash and at the last minute Jenna stepped up behind him and made that face! Jacob has been saving for a Wii. Chris made him a deal that he would pay for 1/3 if Jacob paid for 2/3. Thanks to lots of birthday money, he reached his goal yesterday and is now begging us to take him to get his Wii!

Jacob's version of birthday cake - brownies with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream!

TWELVE!!!!

Somebody turns TWELVE today.....and this mom is in denial. It just doesn't even seem possible that he can be turning TWELVE!! How did that happen??

Happy 12th Birthday Jacob!!

Signs of summer.....

#1 ... wiffle ball games in the front yard

There are some things that just remind me of summer, and wiffle ball games in our front yard is definitely one of them. Sometimes it's just a regular game of wiffle ball....sometimes it's homerun derby...and other times it's just pitch and catch between Chris and Jacob. Whatever their game of choice is, our front yard gets turned into a baseball field every summer.

Sunday afternoon Cade, Gage, and Dane came over to play and later two more of Jacob's friends - Gavin and Davis - ended up coming over too. Of course they had to play wiffle ball. At one point in the game even Gavin's dad and Chris joined the game. The only downfall was that wiffle balls kept getting hit over the fence into our neighbor's pool as they were trying to swim (luckily they were good sports about it).

Jenna and Dane were not so much into the wiffle ball scene. They focused on babies instead - bring out 5 of Jenna's dolls , loading them into the wagon, taking turns pulling each other around the block, and then playing on the swingset.