It is late and I should be sleeping.

The baby is making me sort of uncomfortable right now so I thought I'd get up and get myself so tired that it won't even matter that I don't have any room to expand my lungs! Ha. Nah, it isn't that bad really.

So the past week was pretty good. My wedding on Saturday went well. I finished up my portrait sessions that were scheduled. Only one wedding to go (besides Roger's) and then all the editing catching up and then hopefully, baby time! I sort of have a plan that as soon as I'm caught up with work that I'm going to do all the myth tricks to see if any work. Just for funsies.

I HAVE to post a picture soon of the kid's rooms. My mom is super awesome and came down to help me switch the rooms around (and also cleaned my basement while I took Berlin to dance!). So the baby will have her own room...and the other 2 are sharing. Which has been an adjustment. Not going the best lately, but we'll keep trying. Besides the rooms, I need to post a picture of the baby quilt that Judy just finished! It is so perfect! Slightly vintage-y and very pretty!

The Wholehearted Child I've just started reading this book again and I'm pretty impressed with it so far. I laughed when I saw the picture on the front and it boasted "fresh" ideas. But in an effort to continue with my business plan, I've thought that I should read up on the homeschooling stuff since that is something that has been on my mind for our family future. Figure I should take that into account when planning for the business. I'm hoping to find another photographer that homeschools so I can get some input from someone that runs a business like this as well as devotes themselves to homeschooling.


Here are a few pictures from weeks ago. I'm pretty behind on family picture posting at the moment.
Giggle baby, he just loves this thing.



Eli likes to take the stuffed dogs for walks. He really likes animals a lot.

Just hanging out before bedtime.

Berlin in her jammies, riding her scooter.

Sarah's Bridal Shower.

The end of June was Sarah and Roger's bridal shower. Once we found out the guest list was larger than expected, we had to fine a spot to host it and thankfully, Herbal One ended up being a perfect place. Those of you that don't know, my mom owns Herbal One (a super awesome weight counseling place) in Lapeer. We didn't do many shower games but we did steal an idea from Erin's shower and do the questioning the bride and for every question she got wrong, she got a piece of gum. I forgot how big Bubble Yum was! It made it a bit difficult. Also, we had the guests group up and make beautiful bridal gowns out of toilet paper. That was pretty hilarious. And some, surprisingly, made some pretty nice ones. Who would think?! Food was super good. And the dessert was...well, let us just say that you couldn't just have one of those carmel brownies. Here are pics!

Sarah made up these little chocolate bags.

Food!







Okay, enough food pictures.







Aunt Barb looking a little like a mummy bride.

My cousin Sara (who happens to be Sara Jean McNutt...and Sarah will soon be Sarah Jean McNutt.) designing a dress for Sarah's friend. (sorry, can't remember her name...mallory?)

Watching the hilarious designing... Tina, Sarah, Chrissy, Mom

Sarah's boss, Aunt Sally, Aunt Julie



Mom

AND the winner is! (friend, designed by Sara and Ashley)

Runner Up Stephanie.

What is this!?

Aunt Sally doesn't like her picture taken. :)

Cousin Ashley

Get that gum in there!

Getting answers wrong...not a good thing.

She isn't too mad about the wad of gum she had to have. :)

Opening gifties.

Roger's friend picked this gift out.

Very excited about waking up to pancakes.

The bridal party will be doing a dance at the reception...Sarah is demonstrating.

The End.

Tasty Tuesday.

I just love chicken piccata! This was a pretty easy meal that I made thanks to Trader Joes being so darn inexpensive and awesome. Chicken Piccata and Lemon Pepper pasta was a super yummy meal!

Another Baby!

I just found out today that my step-sister Sarah and her fiance' Ryan are expecting a baby BOY! Yippee!! They are naming him Lucas Steven. Yay for babies!

Around the yard.

Berlin likes to ride her scooter and I reserve it mainly for late evening when it isn't so darn hot. So the other day, I let Berlin stay up a little later and after her scooter riding, we walked around the yard looking at plants. She was so excited when she found a pickle plant! Mom, mom... LOOK!! Pickles! I think it is actually called a moneytree. Not sure though. But I thought it was funny.

News update: James tried working this week. He worked the past few days and he is feeling good! He started physical therapy exercises and they seem to be helping now. Hopefully soon he'll be able to stop the chiropractor or at least go less often. We are all adjusting though. It has been months of him home. I miss him being here and so do the kids. James is feeling the lack of free time and thinks it would be way awesome to just be paid to stay home. Don't we all! :) He isn't officially "back to work" yet though. His boss has work for the next few weeks but hasn't taken him off lay off yet. So we'll see. James had decided on school though...but then started working. So hopefully it doesn't derail his plan.

By the way, I just LOVE my camera and my new lens. I know I was getting irritated by pictures not looking right to me and now that my camera is fixed...I'm SO SO happy! Looking back over pictures from the past couple of months, I notice the back focusing so much. Also, I discovered that my new lens is a Macro too! So I can get pretty close for details. And now I can sell my macro lens i had!


Look Mom!! Pickles!
I've always loved the way that Queen Anne's Lace looks when it is dead.
Flies are gross.
How cool does this look?! It feels like wood but is the inside of a dead flower of some sort.

Little Model.

So the workshop on Saturday went okay. It wasn't horrible but I didn't learn anything like I'd hoped. It seemed a little unorganized and the photographer wasn't very friendly. Berlin did good when people talked with her like a kid...but some people liked to just tell her poses and not interact with her...which didn't go so well. She would rebel and say "NO!". I think they made her uncomfortable. Those that interacted with her said they got great stuff though. She is a HUGE HAM with the camera! I haven't gotten any pictures yet but I snapped a couple...not very good because my position and the lighting direction was bad... but you can see her outfit! I thought it was adorable! I MUST get one of these headbands for her!







I picked up this chair at my neighbor's moving sale. The wicker in the middle of the seat is broken but I thought I'd try to fix it up. I saw girls in country dresses in a field on this... or a baby wrapped up in gauze lying on it outside.

Just a random shot of berlin trying to put her foot in the camera...but i managed to get her face. I love the sweater thing she is wearing...got it on accidental sale from Gap (they marked it wrong! :))

Dancing Days.

Berlin started dance class yesterday! It is a preschool dance to just get warmed up. She had a great time! She was a little bummed because she said she wanted to do Plies (i think that is how it is spelled)...but she did do some jazz stepping across the floor...which turned into a twist sort of bunny hop. She cracked the parents up by her spontaneous change of the dance move. We could only peek through this little part in the blinds to not distract the kids...which stinks for trying to get pictures. But here are a few that I took. Also, a random one from this morning. The kids huddled in the coffee cart table thing. Pretty much a daily ritual for them.

Other news, which isn't really news... Eli went to the pediatrician on Wednesday. They don't think the lip tie will have much impact on his speech. They would like me to see a dentist but we can't until he is over 2. They think it will affect his teeth and he will probably need braces. I'm just hoping he won't need it cut. He is going to be seeing a speech therapist for more evaluation. They did order a hearing test and some horrible blood tests. (seriously traumatizing for me and him! he turned purple twice from not breathing and we had to lift him up and sorta shake him. Why they would strap a kid down and do that to test for LEAD?! i really feel like with the next one i'm just going to do the typical shots and tell them to kiss off for the random testing for anemia and lead.) His hearing test is on Monday, although I'm sure he doesn't have a hearing problem. I'm pretty convinced at this point that if the lip tie isn't affecting his speech...it is just because he doesn't want to yet. Berlin talks for him a lot and he is able to communicate pretty effectively.

Ha ha, and in MY week. I had some focusing issue with my newest camera-5D. Which is out of warranty. I sent it in to be checked and found out that to get it checked (without repairing the problem, it is going to be $202...then if there is a problem, it will go up from there.) So that stinks. Then, I'm trying to shoot the other day with my backup camera and I get an ERROR 99 code...which is basically like the check engine light coming on in your car. It could be a number of things wrong including a bad shutter. SO now I have to send that in to be checked and pay for that to be fixed. So now I am camera-less and have 3 sessions next week and 3 weddings coming up. I'm sort of in a panic to try and find a camera or 2 to use. I also just sold one of my lenses to a girl in Canada...and I stupidly shipped it through US Post rather than Priority and international doesn't track....so it has been 13 days and she hasn't gotten it. It could be held up in customs and so I've got one annoyed girl emailing me everyday. Fun fun. BUT in good news, Berlin was asked to be a model for a Child Photography workshop by one of Kate's old friends that is hosting the workshop...the photographer is from Seattle and holds these workshops around the country to teach people techniques on child portraits. Because Berlin is going to be modeling, I get to attend for free basically--I don't get to shoot, but it should be some learning. Plus, I get more pictures of Berlin! :) That is tomorrow afternoon...so pictures should be soon!

Berlin before class.



Waiting for class to start.

A little glimpse of her.