I couldn't have said it better...

So, Kev has been running himself ragged all week setting up the computers for the school district testing . . . he's in charge of his school's comp lab and has to log in more than 100 computers EVERY morning this week and next, before school so they are ready when classes start . . . not to mention deal with EVERY crash and malfunction and the everyday stupidness of computers. And he leaves Sunday for 3 days of School Improvement Conference in Cheyenne. You know the worst part? He keeps rubbing it in that he gets to have Olive Garden while he's there and I don't. Big jerk.

I have 5 senior sessions, one newborn, one family and one wedding in the next 2 weeks . . . the seniors have to be edited, printed and sent by the students to the yearbook by Oct 15 . . . and I'm SOOOOO excited about all of them. I'm really just trying not to think about how much that really is and hoping that I'll squeeze in some sleep somewhere in there. Photoshopping without sleep can turn out some really fun portraits but only if the person is into abstract art.

More later, when we've resurfaced.

lately

1. Josiah has had just as much fun with that kitchen set as Gennie has. His fav game these days has been to take the smaller foods and hide them in fun places around the rest of the house. The other day I had to move a hotdog bun off the toilet lid, Kev found a shrimp and a doughnut in the shower, and Maggie doesn't understand the chicken legs left in her bowl. Can you find the french fry?

2. Finished a layout about that first day of preschool this year. Journaling reads:

I just don't get it.
Mom said we have to take Gennie to preschool today but why didn't she get back in the car with us? I tried really hard not to cry but when we got back in the van she wasn't in her seat and I couldn't help it. Mom said we could go to McDonald's for hashbrowns to cheer us up - and it worked for a while. But I just don't get it - when will she come back?

Gennie got all teary when I read it to her when I was finished. I think they kinda like each other or something. :)

3. Made another doll. I've been messing with the pattern to see if I could make it a little easier to sew around the neck, etc., and came up with this little guy. His name is Henry and he's in his jammies and has his blankie for bedtime. Gennie and Josiah often argue about whose he is. I think I like him best so far. And yes, his jammies have cavemen on them, carrying off the nearest cave-hottie and lifting prehistoric weights. 4. Got to scrap with my kiddo. I was working on a new minibook and she wanted to do some in the scrapbook I made her so I printed off some photos of her in her new pool last summer and she had a blast with the stickiness. Start 'em young, I say!

She wanted to take a photo of me, too. Wahoo.

My arm is too short for this kind of shot. Kev does it better, what with his gigantic wingspan.

Just a few things we've been doing lately.

wedding #3

So, I just finished editing these from back in ... ahem ... August and thought I should post a few for no reason at all. Enjoy!


I fell in love with this balcony as soon as we arrived and knew I just HAD to shoot something on it, but the only way to it was thru the bar and no one would let us in. Grrrr. Finally we got in after the ceremony and were able to use it, although I think the bride and groom thought I was nuts, shooting from across the street and up to the second story:
My fave part: The ring bearer was done with the ceremonious-ness and fled.
Loved the footwear! And of course, nothing rattles the confidence like Grandpa whipping out his pro photog equipment . . . the same equipment Kev and I were toting around all afternoon. Fabulous!

a sad little piggy

So, I came upon this last Sunday morning. A broken piggy bank, pennies all over the floor, and a little girl with her face buried in her pillow crying hysterically because she was sure she'd be in trouble for breaking her piggy. Once I got her quieted down enough to figure out what had happened, she told me she had been getting clothes out of her dresser for church and the piggy came out of the drawer with the pants and fell on the floor. I couldn't get mad at her because the piggy was in the drawer for moving purposes and hadn't been taken out yet and I was the one who had put it in there to begin with. We cleaned the mess up, thankfully before her brother was out of his bed or he'd have been right there in the middle of it eating porcelain shards because they crunch.

I've gotta say. . . there's something absolutely heartbreaking about a tiny broken piggy bank. We'll have to think of another place to store her beloved pennies.

Traegar - sneak peek

It's a rare thing to find a senior guy who is cooperative and actually doesn't mind getting his portraits taken. Thanks for letting me work with you, Traegar!

with a nod to easter island. . .

So, while I could really enjoy a road trip (and airplane ride) these days, we didn't really travel all the way to see these in their natural habitat. Western Wyo Comm College, in an effort to try and add culture and world view to our little corner of the world, has built a few of these tikis on their campus in RS. Kev had to take finals this week so the kids and I went with him to get out of the house. He went inside to take the test and we stayed out in the beautiful sunshine and rolled in the grass at the feet of this guy. Gennie was too scared to venture close, but had no problem shoving her brother in for a closer look:
He wasn't impressed. She decided it was more fun to do as many summersaults as she could in a row and to run around screaming at the top of her lungs . . . the latter much appreciated by the students in their classes, I'm sure. By the time we left, Josiah had gotten up the nerve to get this close:
and talk to the big stone guy. They had quite the conversation.

Maybe next time we'll go in and see the dinosaur exhibit.

i'd like you to meet two new members of our family . . .

Had you going for a minute didn't I? These fine friends are Alex (Alexandria? ) and Oliver and they have been adopted by Gennie and Josiah. We've been looking for quite a while for a baby that Josiah (yes, boys need doll friends, too) could drag around as a cuddly-something since he likes to terrorize his sister by stealing her babies, stripping their clothes and poking them in the eyes. Gennie could only take so much before she started closing her door to keep him out, then one night she decided to lock the door handle and leave the room, closing the door behind her. . . she was sure a locked door would be better to keep him out permanently.

Yeah, well, it kept us all out permanently until we found something small enough and long enough to fit in the release hole of her 1950's door knob. Good times.

Anyway, I saw these delightful little friends on a blog I lurk and LOVED them right away (Allie, if you're reading this, thanks a ton! They're perfect!) She had found the pattern and made them for her 3 yr old daughter and posted photos of them and I just had to try them out. I didn't want to pay for the pattern because let's face it . . . when it comes to this kind of stuff, I'm cheap and usually want to see if I can do it myself before I shell out the cash for the real thing. Then if I can't get it to work I happily run to the store and buy it to relieve the frustration.

For Alex and Oliver I found some photos of other dolls made with that pattern and kind of combined them to make my own pattern. Alex's face isn't quite right but I didn't notice until I had her sewn and stuffed . . . and Gennie loves her to pieces so who cares? I did better on Oliver but they aren't as big as I'd like them so I revamped the pattern to make it more what I wanted. I'll be working on some more in the near future so if any of you out there in blogland love homemade stuff as much as I do and want/need a new friend, holler at me and I'll give you the info.
(Gennie was home with a cold this week so Alex arrived just in time for some cuddling.)


ETA: Relating back to the stealing of his sister's babies, the first thing Josiah did with Oliver was to tug at his sleeves and poke him in the eye. Some things just don't change, I guess. :)

Karilynn - sneak peek!

So, I finally got them done! Isn't she beautiful? When we moved to GR, she was in 9th grade . . . she says she can't believe it's actually time for her senior portraits already. Thanks for letting me play, Karilynn! Hope you like them as much as I do. And don't worry, there's lots that are up close - these were just some of my favs:

This next one - my grandma used to sew clothes for people and had stacks of Butterick and McCall's pattern books sitting around. I remember as a kid looking thru them at all the drawings of sophisticated models in fashionable dresses. Then when I was editing these photos and got to this one -- she totally could have been one of the models on the pattern envelopes:
And now, my favorite:

sniff .... sniff .... and she's off.

So, this has been the scene at our front door for the last week . . . ready for preschool. She's had that backpack packed and ready for days and all that's in it is a spare set of clothes in case she spills on herself.

And of course, the carefully-chosen first-day outfit. She just got the shirt and went thru her whole dresser for something to go with it. Quite the stylista, isn't she?!

Parents have to walk the kids down the stairs and check them into the school for safety so I was expecting the possibility of a little breakdown from being nervous but she walked right in, put her coat and backpack in her cubby, threw a "Hello, Ms. Suzy" to the teacher and the playing commensed. Her "best school friend" Hailie was there already and they ran off to play in the house. A "Bye Mom" later and the school year began. Sniff . . . .

We had a few tears . . . from Josiah, actually, not mom or Gennie . . . he didn't understand why she didn't come back to the car with us. But a McDonald's run for hashbrowns fixed that right up.
And thus beginneth the 2008 school year in our house. I'm trying not to think about it.

Karilynn, I promise I'm working on them . . .

conclusions you can draw from these photos.....

1. We have incredible friends. Avah got one of these kitchen things for her birthday last month and then she got another from her neighbors so they shared this one with us! My sister Krista and I ALWAYS wanted one when we were kids but never got one so when Kendra asked if we wanted this for Gennie I jumped at it. No one will know if I sneak in and play with it while the fam sleeps . . . Kev doesn't understand the whole "play food/kitchen" thing. He feels that if you're going to spend half the day in the kitchen you should have something edible to show for it.
2. Yes, we're in long sleeves and pants/sweats, etc. It's been in the 30's in the mornings and Kev had to scrape the windows to go to work these last few mornings. We finally broke down and turned on the furnace . . . love me some heater-rot smell . . . and we're having a chimney sweep come to check out the pellet stove. The kids have been sleeping under 2 blankets each. I love fall but this one seems to be coming upon us too quickly. Good-bye summer!
3. We're teaching them about chores early. Josiah hasn't left the sink in this thing since it arrived last night.
4. Our daughter is 4 years old going on 14, with the phone and the attitude. Apparently I'm not very nice to the telemarketers who still squeak thru even though we're on the Do Not Call list. Some of her conversations are quite spirited and, ahem, colorful (without obsenities, of course). . . wonder where she's learned it?
5. Josiah had quite a time at the park yesterday. He fell down twice and both times scrubbed his face on the cement. He's still wobbly when it comes to sloping sidewalk and he lost his balance and face-planted, butt in the air and everything. I thought it was just on the top of his nose but today the scrapes showed up on his eyelids, forehead, upper lip and chin. It didn't look this bad at the time but he's a mess today. Thankfully he didn't lose any teeth.