"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!

Miss S - sneak peek

Here they are, Katie, finally! Thanks for your patience!

I loved working with this little cutie - she had me running all over the park. Very independant~ and I loved it!!

Thanks again, Katie and Joe!

self-worth and potty training .... not necessarily linked

So, last night we had a mtg with the State Farm guy to talk about life insurance. Before any of you freak out and go directly to "OMG, who's dying?!" let me reassure you that we are just preparing, not anticipating. As Kev puts it, he's recently decided he'd better start taking care of his health situations instead of just enduring them as they come up so we made an appt to go over all the various life insurances he has and what, if anything, needed to be added. Our agent came to the house . . . I know, who does THAT anymore? great guy, that agent . . . so that we didn't have to try to corral the kids in his office and we talked for almost 2 hours. He filled out the application on Kev and wow, the health questionnaire, so now we just have to wait and see if the underwriters will approve it. Easy peasy.

We had asked him to prep a quote for some insurance on me, too, since I don't have anything in place yet. This is where it got funny . . . not funny "Ha Ha" but funny ironic. He put down that I'm a homemaker . . . a term which I used to dispise because it sounded like people (not just moms) who stay home don't actually produce anything that could be considered adding to the Gross National Product so "let's give it some credibility by saying they "make the home", but now I don't mind because let's face it: I haven't actually stayed home all day in months so the term "Stay-at-home Mom" doesn't really fit. Later in the application it asked for my monthly income and had a little chart showing that by State Farm standards what I do is equal to $46,000 or so a year. He gave all kinds of qualifying excuses for that and tried to dismiss it away as a gross underestimation of how much moms are really worth. Really, I wasn't offended. That stuff doesn't bother me because I know a housekeeper/babysitter/chauffer/cook would cost a bunch more than the occasional "trip to the scrapbook store."

But what really made me chuckle to myself was that we were discussing a life insurance policy of $100 grand on me . . . meaning dead I'm worth just more than twice what I am worth alive. Fantastic! I do understand that that's kind of how it works with insurance and most people who have it are worth more dead than alive in terms of actual money in hand. But that $100 grand would not go very far in the event I did kick it and Kev had to immediately find a housekeeper/cook/babysitter.

And Kev says that I have no real choice but to stick around because with all his health issues and keeping all the drs and info straight it would take altogether too long to train a "new one." (Before any of you call to demand he appologizes for such a comment, I made sure he was just kidding. Trust me.)

Anyway, all of this just kind of made me laugh. Nothing like having someone put a price on you.

Oh, and we're gonna try potty training very soon. The potty seat has been bought, the Pull-Ups are in his room -- now we just have to do it!

and we're back.

So, after a bunch of photo editing that wasn't for personal use at all, I finally finished and now have time for me-stuff again. :) Last week was Fall Break for Gennie and Kev (it coincides with the opening of hunting season here but technically we aren't allowed to call it Hunting Holiday, even tho that's what it is) so we went to Salt Lake City for a quick vacation/dr appt for Kev. The appts went well and sorted some things out for him so that part was an answer to prayer. He's doing well and shouldn't have to return for 3 months or so unless something comes up. In between the 3 separate appts he had that day we decided to let the kids run off some energy at a random park we came across. All that riding in the car was soon forgotten and they had a great time chasing each other down the slide.

And everyone knows it's much more fun to go down butt-first with your legs out the side:

Love these beautiful kids!

recent craftiness

So, this past weekend we had a baby shower for two friends from church. In the midst of all the photo editing I've been doing I was able to finish up these blankets for the new little guys on their way - you know how I feel about every baby having a blankie. Both are crochet . . . the green one is a basketweave pattern I found somewhere and is really soft and thick (it took 7 skeins of yarn!) and the Winnie the Pooh is from a drawing of Pooh that I saw on one of the websites I lurk (I added the red strip for his shirt because in the original photo he kinda looked like a floating head) and the face parts I crocheted then sewed on. I had started them a while back but of course I procrastinated and left it all for this past week . . . stick with what you know, I guess. Anyway, by the time I got them finished I didn't want to give either of them away . . . I just loved them both! Oh well, I'll just have to make more someday.

Photos of us to follow, eventually. :)

excuse me for a minute

So, since I've been shooting so many seniors portraits in the last 2 weeks . . . the yearbook deadline is Oct 16 and lots of people wait until the last minute . . . I've barely picked up my camera to shoot anybody around here. I promise I'll be back soon with photos of the kids . . . and us, too. And no matter what, we'll have photos from halloween coming soon.

Amy out.

sneak peek - doch's 1yr portraits

I love working with toddlers.

Thanks again Melissa! I love taking his picture!

1st birthdays - sneak peek!

I got to shoot a first birthday party for two little cuties recently and wanted to put a few on here for their moms to see. I love birthday parties!

CDs are ready for you, ladies! Thanks again, Katie and Melissa!