It was only fitting that the last little fellow I photograph in the studio be the grandson of a family friend. Isn’t he precious?
Author Archives:
I apologize for the lack of posting – turns out that getting a house ready to sell, finding a house to buy, keeping my two children from killing each other happy and entertained, and wrapping up client orders takes up a LOT of time.
Since my business will be on hiatus for awhile, I thought I would use ye olde blog to keep family and friends (and anyone else along for the ride) updated on our big move to Erie.
First off, it turns out Vic wasn’t comfortable selecting a house all by his lonesome, so the kiddos and I flew up last week for a househunting trip. And may I just say right here: Thank GOD for iTouches, iPhones, and children who are old enough to be entertained by them for hours on end. May we all share in a Hallelujah?!?
As negotiations are underway, I won’t say more about the househunting, but hopefully I’ll have some news soon. If it doesn’t work out, I found a nice suites hotel that allows pets. And may I say right here: Thank GOD I’m not moving with a baby this time. Much, much easier.
We did have one nasty hitch during our trip: The lovely staff at the Hilton Garden Inn on Peach St. decided to empty the kids’ room (we had adjoining rooms) the day BEFORE we were leaving. Imagine their surprise to come back to find their clothes, toothbrushes, swimsuits, Ava’s rolling bag, and – most offensively – her stuffed horse Toby were missing. Umm….excuse me? That much stuff in the room and you don’t think to CHECK?? Unfortunately, the only thing that was found was Ava’s bag – now emptied of her Leapster Game system. Needless to say, that was NOT a good day.
As for Erie – LOVED it. The town where we plan to live – Millcreek – is glorious. Mind you, it isn’t November (so don’t hold me to my accolades), but the rolling hills, hardwood trees, gardens, farm markets, flowers, fescue grass, and SOFT SERVE stands so remind me of my hometown. It seriously was like going back. An added benefit is how nice everyone is. No offense to the folks in the North, but being from there myself – y’all know that sometimes “nice” isn’t a word used to describe us. But the Erie folks – everywhere we went we encountered nothing but friendly people – including the sweet older gentleman who sat next to us at WEGMANS and chatted us up for about an hour.
Wait – did somebody say WEGMANS?!?! Oh my goodness gracious – have you ever been in a Wegmans??? The kids and I walked in the door, and we all just stopped and went “Woooooooowwwwwww……” Seriously? The most gorgeous grocery store I’ve ever been in. Can’t wait to shop there all the time. 
The highlight of our trip had to be taking the kids out to see Lake Erie via Presque Isle. You see, to my kids, a lake is something small and treed, and you can yell to the person on the other side. So the thought of living on Lake Erie didn’t thrill them so much. But when they got out of the car, crossed the berm and saw it in person? Shock doesn’t quite describe it. They then spent about an hour skipping rocks and begging to go back the next day.
More soon…and since no post is complete without a picture, here’s a quickie from my little Canon point-and-shoot of the kids playing at the lake.
I’m going to miss all of my little clients here, but perhaps this family most of all. If you’ve been following the blog since the start, you may recall that Paula was Aidan’s Kindergarten teacher – oh so many years ago (and how they fly…). She’s the one I credit most with instilling in him a love of learning and reading. I will always be so grateful!
I first started photographing their family when sweet Jack was a newborn. And now he’s a 3 year old big brother with an absolutely ADORABLE little sister who he loves so much – it was a treat to watch them interact with each other.
And enough blabber, on to the good stuff. I dare you not to smile…
Paula and I were oogling this image on-camera – doesn’t he look like a Crewcuts model? Such a handsome sweetheart.
LOVE this one…
Paula and Clay, thank you so much for sharing your family with me. I will miss you!
Excuse me for a wee ‘proud mama’ moment. After 10 or so seasons playing little league baseball, this year Aidan was selected for the park’s All-Star team. To say he was excited is putting it very mildly. So fitting that he’s selected in his very last season with Sandy Plains baseball.
For the past 2 weeks, our life has been baseball – practice every night capped with a 5 game series. The Red team won the first two games…the Blue team won the 2nd two. Tonight is the final game, and sadly Dad was pulled away for work – but Ava and I will be there (in the horrible heat) cheering him on.
Here’s a little montage of Aidan pitching last night – his expressions crack me up. The boy takes this game SERIOUSLY. GO BLUE!!
Camera note: All of these were shot from my comfy chair on the sidelines, through the chainlink fence, using my 70-200 2.8 @ 3.5 or so on the Canon 5D.
You know why I love my job? Spending time with smiley babies like Jack:
And adorably sweet big brothers like Sam (Sam was looking for scooby doo in my camera when I took this shot – then decided that maybe scooby had escaped – hee!):
And hanging out with Jack & Sam’s parents, chatting about babies, boys, kids, and schools…
Then, when he predictably got tired near the end of the session, seeing Jack’s squeezable little baby cheek on his mama’s shoulder…remembering what it was like to snuggle my own monsters lovely children when they were this age…
