a semi-quiet morning

So, this is what we find most Saturday mornings. Cereal and J's juice cup watching Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse on Disney.

Back in our day . . . did I really just say "our day"? how old am I? . . . it was Smurfs and Snorkels and Gummi Bears and Garfield & Friends . . . back before all the Japanamation and South Park. Ah, those were cartoons. I'd even settle for Looney Tunes with Wyle E. Coyote and the RoadRunner.

Shortly after this photo was taken there were shrieks of "Get off my foot!" and "Nennie, move over!" and cereal spilled on the floor which the dog immediately pounced on and they both came running in to tell on the other.

But for a minute it was just Saturday morning cartoons and cereal. Together.

Kellhofers - sneak peek

So, I finally got these finished. Love 'em!!

When we were finished with that little sweetie, it was time for a walk in the park.

Thanks again, guys! As always it was a pleasure to shoot you . . . er, well, you know what I mean. Love ya!

because I'm a stinker . . .

Here's the teaser. Now you just have to wait! Hee Hee Hee!

"somewhere over the rainbow - you've got mail!"

So, here's our halloween! G decided to be Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, complete with Toto riding in his basket (and eating her candy).

And J was dressed up as his favorite person in the whole wide world - Dave, our mailman! Everyday he paces in front of our window waiting for Dave to come with the mail so Kev thought it'd be cute to make him a little letter carrier.

Yes, it was still light out when we started but that's when you get the best photos - so sue me!

After showing off to Grandma and Grandaddy and surprising their neighbors, we went with the Bundy's to the Trunk or Treat. Every year a church in town has all their people drive over and park in their huge parking lot to hand out candy from the back of their cars. At first we were all really wary of the idea - seemed like a child-abductor's dreamworld . . . "Come here, little children, and let me distract you with this candy while I stuff you in the trunk of my car!" - but it was really well-lit and we stayed with them and they ended up with a ton of candy without the bother of going door to door. Sorry it's blurry - I guess I was excited (or shivering):

After that we went back to the Bundy's for a party and hung out until Josiah was beyond sleepy and turning into a pumpkin. Had a fantastic time - I love any reason to hang out with friends and eat caramel-covered Cheetos! (Yes, that's really what I said and it's amazing!)

Coming soon: a photo of our little mail carrier with his role model!

my new favorite photo of us

So, to put it mildly, Valerie freakin' rocks!

She shoots,

I photoshop,

and this is the new fantastic-ness that gets hung on my wall.

That's why I love this time of year - The Great (Annual) Family Portrait Trade-Off. I shoot her family and then it's our turn. Then we each take our camera cards home and hit the photoshop to make them just how we want them without the hassle of prying them from an outside photographer's hot little hand. Love it! It's totally a blessing to have a close friend to do this trade-y thing with - and she's even able to get a smile out of Kev at least once during the shoot. (And this time we even got more than one out of him!)

Thanks friend~you're the best!

More to come from this shoot soon -- but I'm gonna make you wait until after halloween photos and maybe even until our Christmas cards go out. Yeah, I'm mean like that. :)

Can you guess what we were for Halloween?

Photos to come!

"what was that?" "believe it or not, personal growth!" - Leonard from The Big Bang Theory tv show

So yesterday I was reading one of my fav blog-lurking sites . . . yes, it was about scrapping . . . are you really that surprised? . . . and the chick was lamenting the fact that she, like so many other scrappers, spends all of her time behind the camera instead of in front of it. She finished with a challenge to us all to hand off the camera to someone, anyone, including our small children, to take a photo or two of us for a potential page. Riddled with guilt for always coming up with an excuse to take the photos . . . hair's not done quite right, no lipstick, it won't be framed like I want it (wow, that's just stuck-up now, isn't it?), Kev doesn't understand why I need 40 photos of the kids doing this so I'd better just do it myself, etc. . . I decided to wait until Gennie got home and see if she could take a new photo for my Facebook profile. And really, I'm almost never seen on here so it was about time to do a photo of me.

I've got to admit handing over my camera to her was quite a leap for me, and don't give me too much credit, this is just my little point-and-shoot, not my big camera (I'm leaping, not crazy!!) :

Honest to goodness, this photo wasn't staged to make a point. This was the first shot she took . . . I thought she had snapped the photo already because she moved the camera and I just knew she was going to drop it on the front porch . . . turns out she didn't press the button hard enough, hence the moving camera. She held on to it just fine, tho, and shot several pretty good pictures in the 5 minutes we were out there. The keeper is the one up at the top.

I guess I can be a little more trusting with her. She hangs on much tighter than I first thought . . . and doesn't protest NEAR as much as her daddy!