The "Academy"

While we were in Carlsbad, my younger brother pointed out that the last few lines of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" was on the wall of the Army and Navy Academy. This academy is a school for grades 7-12. We decided to throw my 80-ish year old grandfather, WWII vet, in the car and head over for a few quick photos. I'm glad we did this--and not just for the photo op with my grandfather, but for the ability to "threaten" my seven year old son whenever he steps out of line. If you think I'm joking....I assure you, I'm not.
I'm desperate.
I used it this week and it worked.


**David...this is to redeem my sons.


For Jace--I didn't know you read my blog ;)



**P.S. Love the "BIG" images??? Here's how to do it...
-load your images onto http://www.photobucket.com/
-then click on "html" under the image once its done loading. (it will automatically copy the code for it)
-go to your blog post and click on "edit html"
-paste the link and you're done!!! INSTA-big images :)

Ask...and you shall receive

Okay..maybe not always, but I felt they were reasonable requests :)

First...for Jill--a quickie peek.

She surprised her sister with a beach session in Cali. The BEST birthday, Christmas, Halloween, New Years, Mothers Day, Valentines Day, Easter gift I can think of.

AND

second-for my mother-in-law. Who asked specifically for a rascal picture...here ya go.

Kenny...here ya go

Here's your sneak peek :)

Now you have to help me with the activity tomorrow night.

Their mother (bless her heart), kept saying "you know she's going to blog this...please please be good..you know she will"....

and I just kept thinkin' "OH YA--I'm bloggin' this...keep it up!!!!"

Don't worry...I'll post some more later :)

I'm glad I don't have to decide

Tough decisions ahead for this mom. She really wanted close-ups of her children and was leaning to all black and white...BUT what do you do when your children have eyes this color???

Of course--I think they translate incredibly into some serious b&w images :) Lucky for me...I don't have to decide!

First Day of School - 2008

So yesterday was Laina's first day of Kindergarten!!! Aghh...how did that happen? Once again I sent another child to school who didn't know their ABC's or how to write their name...guess she'll figure it out just like indy did :)
We dropped off Indy at his second grade class and he saw several boys that were his buddies, and he was fine to see us go...then we took Laina to her classroom-she spotted a friend who sits right next to her, pulled out her crayons and started coloring. No "bye mom and dad"...nothing. She could've cared less...the little girl next to her cared and was bawling her eyes out...but not Laina...I guess I should've realized that school would sooooo be her "scene"-ahhh my little social butterfly.

After school we have a little tradition of eating our "back to school cake". However having just gotten home from a 10 day vacation...I opted for back to school shortcakes...next time I should just go for back to school cans of whip cream since they had no taste for the cake and proceeded to spray an entire can of cream in to their mouths and the mouth of their little brother. Sorry no pictures of that...I was too annoyed ;)

I promise....

That I'll post more later :) But I've had these for awhile--and I didn't want a baby showing up on more doorstep BEFORE I got these images proofed!

So I hope this will hold ya for a few more days :)

okay...one more...since I realized you can't even tell she's 8 months pregnant.

I'm titling this:

"Do you think he has any idea that he's about to be de-throned?"

(a long title I'll admit)

Expectations...

We survived.

We had a great time.

We had a lot of expectations going into the trip...some were realized...some were cast aside-thankfully...and some were totally forgotten.

EXPECTATIONS:

You're leaving for 10 days with your family on the beach...you expect to:

**pack lots of food and make lunches and dinner for everyone--THANKFULLY you abandon this insane idea and find the nearest Rubio's, hamburger joint, pita pit, mexican food and chinese (thank you Vernon) joint--and feast away.

**bring laundry detergent to wash clothes mid-week, but instead find the nearest laundromat and opt for the $20 fluff and fold service!! :) then realize at the end of the week when you thought you'd do another load--that you're content with letting everyone wear the same clothes they've had on for the last two days and just wash when you get home.

**sit on the beach and read a book...and only occasionally glance in the direction of your children who are playing with the knife-like sand shovel that your husband bought for HIMSELF (as well as the tractor he bought for HIMSELF), realizing they're still okay and if the people next to you want them gone they'll have to do something about it, since you are determined to sit and read that book!! (and I did it and it was wonderful).

**get your daughter's hair trimmed and only trimmed since she has great dreams of being Rapunzel someday...but end up with a serious hack job and have to go back in to get it fixed, but in the end it turns out incredibly adorable.

**to go and watch Mama Mia with your mom, sister, and daughter and completely LOVE it and SING through the entire thing--expecting to not really care for Pierce's singing but realizing you have NOT expectations for his singing :)

**to have great photo sessions with all of your clients and enjoy being able to capture fun family times...(more to come on those :)

**to be able to capture your own family but instead end up wanting to strangle your children or at least go and chuck them into the scenic ocean behind you!!!

Expectations....

I'm expecting to sit in front of my computer all week long...and expecting to enjoy proofing all my sessions. I have huge expectations for another summer vacation next year--YIPPEE!!

Here's my attempt at showing my family how we're going to "jump". Had I known that THIS would be the instant that they would all choose to stop crying, whining, sticking their tongues out and crossing their eyes...I would have kept jumping and jumping and jumping!!!