Sorry about the title. Pop songs playing on Nick. Munchkin’s still up. Really…uhhhhh…OK fine. Even if she wasn’t up I would still probably be watching it. Why do these kids channels suck you in? You want to turn it off, but for some reason you just can’t. You don’t want to bob your head to the beat, but you find that it has a mind of it’s own when the drums thump. Should I know the words to the songs? NO. Do I? Well…since I’m being open, I must say that I do know a few of them. Her Dad has a few on his computer. If you ask him, he’ll probably tell you that they are for Munchkin to listen to, but I can definitely say that I have heard them eminating from the office when she wasn’t home. They’re catchy. And some of the shows actually have a good message to them.

But I digress from my original reason for posting today. I have wonderful news for those of you with mobile devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini, Palm Pre and BlackBerry Storm. The blog is now transformed into a more compatible format for these types of devices. You still have the option to view the website as normal (you can turn mobile on and off in the footer of the site). You can see all the pictures in the blog posts and also leave comments while in mobile view. Bookmark it today!

Finally, and update on the first week of school. 2nd grade seems to be Munchkin’s cup ‘o tea so far. She’s been doing all her homework as soon as she gets home - including reading for 20 minutes. She also finishes up her chores and then settles down to whatever she fancies (coloring, a snack, reading, playing cards, DS, Wii, trampoline, playing with the pups - you get it). She had great behavior all week! Now on to another great week! I hope everyone else had a great first week.

Well, it’s that time again. Clothing shopping, scheduling haircuts, struggling to get back into a routine that involves having a bedtime, and our Back to School Special. For the month of August sessions are 40% off! Yes, that’s right, only $75. Take this opportunity to capture the moment before the hectic schedule of school starts. Book your session today!

Sessions are for up to a family of 4 ($25 for each additional person) and include:

• 1-2 hour photo shoot at outdoor location of your choice
  

• Photographer travel time

• Minor retouching (blemishes, red-eye, tooth whitening, skin smoothing)

• Minor colorization (black/white, sepia, other tonal conversions, selective colorization, vignette)

• A private online gallery for viewing proofs available for 3 weeks

• CD/DVD containing 5 of your pictures printable in 4×6 format only and copies in a smaller watermarked format suitable for sharing with friends/relatives via e-mail or for posting on various community websites like myspace or
  facebook.

Some venues do charge fees for photography sessions. The customer will be responsible for this additional cost (not included in the session fee). Session fee is due at time of session.

Session Cancellation: Cancellations need to be made at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled session. If for any reason the photographer cancels the session, he/she will reschedule the session at his/her earliest convenience. If for any reason the client cancels the session, he/she may reschedule at the photographer’s earliest convenience. If the 24 hour cancellation notice is not met, the client will be responsible for 50% of the session fee. (Can be added to new session if rescheduled.)

This weekend I had a session with a wonderful little man and his momma. At first I was dreading it a little because it’s been a while since I photographed young ones. All photographers know that the younger toddler ages are the hardest to photograph for many reasons - grabbing their attention and getting eye contact, posing, naps, crankiness. Much to my surprise, I had none of these issues with Little A. He was a cutie and a dream to photograph. He had little 1 year old baby rolls, and chubby fingers and stubby toes. AND….contagious drooly smiles. He made not only his momma and me smile, but attracted an audience a few times. Of course I’m not done editing the session, but I couldn’t pick just one for the sneak. These were all within the first 10 minutes, and the smiles lasted all the way to the end.

Here’s where a couple of girls were walking by and he turned on the charm. He smiled and giggled and pointed. Of course, they stopped and “oh’d and ah’d”. Momma’s going to have her hands full when this little charmer gets older.

I have a few of him and Momma together. He loves his mommy so much, and you can just tell how much she loves him by the way she looks at him.

Momma L, I hope these are what you expected and I am working to edit the rest. There are so many…. Thank you for sharing your special little guy with me!

Well, we spent the last week at the ranch. I must say that it was a much needed rest, and I was sad to come home, but glad in the same breath because we came home to our other two babies. I did miss them, even though Ms. Grace has been nothing but a ball of gassiness. We’re planning another trip out there in December, but will probably hopefully make another weekend trip out there before then. We left Munchkin out there for the next 5 weeks. I’m not missing her completely, yet, but I’m sure I will in the coming weeks. I’m sure she’ll come home about 3-6 inches taller and tanner (not that she can get much more tan with her olive, Italian skin). I set her email up on her phone so she can send quickly without logging onto her computer. I’ve already had one email with the subject line “Houdy”. LOL.

We were supposed to go out for the 4th of July Rodeo. Unfortunately, due to the weather, the rodeo was canceled. They did have the parade, but not without sporadic showers. The kids scored tons of candy and the adults got t-shirts and koozies. We headed down to the craft fair downtown after the parade. Dad had a custom cutting board made for Hubster and surprised him with it at the vendor’s booth. I’m sure that day we probably saw most of the 387 population of the small town while we were there that afternoon. That night the girls lit sparklers. Munchkin held her ears as the sparkler dwindled down because she thought it was going to explode or pop in some way. I couldn’t help but laugh.

When we go out, I love taking pictures of the animals and various flowers and other plants out there.

Sometimes I see what I can find in the barn.

If I am lucky enough, I get to snap a quick picture or two of Munchkin.

We were going to head back on Thursday so Hubster could do payroll for work, but he did it remotely, so we ended up staying until Saturday morning. We wanted a day to recoup. Hubster tackled the lawn while I worked on the dryer (he stuck his shoes in there and they scuffed the inside all to heck) and the shower door (gotta love hard water). I also worked on the business a bit. I updated the background image to the blogsite because Hubster wasn’t too fond of the watermelon colored polka dots. To be honest, I wasn’t either. I wanted something a little edgier, but wasn’t sure what to do at the time. I think I’m happy for now.

I also set up a Newsletter Signup. I hope to be able to send out newsletters regularly. If you want to sign up for our newsletter, go here and enter your email.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Recently we’ve had visitors of an eight-legged variety outside our house. Both vehicles have inhabitants either on wheel wells or side mirrors. Butters lives behind my side mirror. Almost every morning he makes a web and Munchkin and I look at it when we get in the car to head off to camp.

On our way back into the house the other night, we noticed some more “friends” camping out on our palm.

This hairy little dude was just hanging out, surfing the leaf that was waving in the wind.

On a close leaf, we found these:

Unfortunately, they’re not there today. I don’t know if they hatched, were eaten (we do have lizards who live in the palm too), or just blew away. A little further up the same leaf we saw this teeny, tiny young lady. (I’m assuming the mother to the above eggs?????)

There are more friends out there. Maybe this coming weekend we’ll go out and take a closer look. What’s in your front yard?

Just a reminder to all of you out there that we are still looking for Senior Superstars for Georgetown and the surrounding areas (Round Rock, Florence, Pflugerville, etc…). If you know of any 2011 or 2012 Seniors who are outgoing and like having their picture taken, please direct them to our site to complete an application form.

More info can be found on our site by either visiting the Senior Superstar page or by viewing the Senior Superstar online brochure.

Webpage and application

Flash brochure

So my friend Eric is going to be traveling to Australia for 2 years for school. The last time Eric and I had a session was August ‘08. I have bugged him and bugged him to schedule another shoot. We were going to try in May, but May came and went. So we pinned down today. We started out wanting to go to Mt. Bonnell, but I wasn’t sure that location would give him the exact feel he was looking for. I made some more suggestions and he picked The Domain.

I arrived slightly early as I always try to do. I have been to The Domain before so I had some ideas in mind, but then we went to the totally opposite end. As I was walking in, I was greeted by a Segway Security Guard. He advised me of the photography policy since the mall is private and there are residential spaces above the stores.

I met Eric shortly thereafter and we headed down the sidewalk. We found a niche that was a walkway leading from the mall to the parking garage. We took some fabulous shots there and then moved on to an elevator and then a parking deck. Eric wanted me to take some shots from on top of a post that stops cars from driving through the front doors of a store. I’m sure I looked like a roly poly red panda trying to climb on top of it. Then Eric suggested that I butt-jump. I wasn’t sure I would make it that high. I mustered up my vertical intgrity and bounced. I made it. Eric assisted me to a standing position and we got some shots. As I made my way back down, we laughed. We then moved on to the top of the parking garage, then back to the car/restrooms for a quick clothing change and then back into the parking garage to do some clone shots. Eric and I did a clone shot before of him talking to himself on a park bench. We tried something a little more difficult this time around. Maybe pictures will be posted later after editing. You’ll have to stay tuned to see.

I do have a sneak peek though. Eric, I had fun and will definitely miss you while you are in Australia, but expect Facebook updates! Here’s the sneak.

We have a new online informational brochure for those who are interested in being a Senior Superstar, but need a little more info about it.

You will need a Flash Viewer to see it.

Senior Superstar Brochure

Tonight was the 1st grade Barnyard Moosical. When I got home we tried running over Munchkin’s lines once again, but she insisted that she knew them. She loved being dressed up. She got to wear a button down shirt like her Daddy wears to work. She even put on an undershirt. She slipped on her boots and tipped her new hat. Every 5 minutes from the office she announced the time. I did tell her that we would have to be there by 6:45 and we only live 5 minutes from the school. Of course it would take about 10 minutes just to get her all together and into the car. So at 6:30 we headed out.

She was right in the middle. She sang those songs the best that she could. Wide open and loud. I couldn’t help but giggle. Then it was her turn at the microphone. I just hoped she was right when we left, and that she had those lines down pat.

She did!!!!!

She says she can’t wait until she has more plays to be in. I’ll be at them, watching the little cutie! I love my little “Farmer 5″. (I have to admit that I didn’t take the photo below just because she was a farmer in the play. I took it because it was the first time I remember seeing her voluntarily wearing a cowboy hat and I just thought it was so darn, stinkin’ cute. Total Mom mode there.)

We all went through a time in our lives when we felt like we didn’t fit in. We felt bumbly, awkward, weird. We were changing, growing up, finding our way. Making new friends while our parents tried to weed out the wrong ones. These were our Tween/Early Teen years. I’m sure some of you are experiencing this with your young adults now. I will be in a few years. Why not take a few hours out of your day to give that special Young Adult their TIME TO SHINE!

From May 1st-15th we’ll be having a special just for ages 9-15. Half (yes, that’s right 1/2) off the session fee!

Is your Tween/Early Teen into music, books, art, dance, have other hobbies, in any extra-curricular activities? If so, props or other items representing your young adult are welcome at this session. Shoes, sports equipment, uniforms, instruments….their imagination is the limit.

The session includes:

• 1-2 hour outdoor session (or location of your choice)
• Minor retouching
• Minor colorization
• Private online proofing gallery available for 3 weeks

More information can be found here.

Click here to book your session today!