Okay, so I’m about a month late with this, but Happy 2010!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.

I know some of you have been wondering “Will she ever blog again?”  Things have been busy busy busy for us over the past few months.  Yes, I will blog your sessions, those of you who have been waiting.  I promise.  But I have been much more interested in getting things mailed out to people than I have been with updating the blog. 

So here’s the latest news.  At the end of 2009/beginning of 2010 I…

1) Married an amazing man, who I thank God for every day.

2) Gained two more children, bringing our combined total to 4, and a tiny dog.

3) Started graduate school again, working on a master’s in American History.  Why?  So someday I can teach at the college level, if I want to.  And because I love school and I’ve missed learning about things other than photography.

4) Had the flu.  Twice.

5) Began renovating a home to sell, and packing to move out of the one I have lived in for the past year,  and started looking for a new one with Dave that’s big enough for our family.

Whew.

So, needless to say, we have a lot going on here.  After reading all that, I’m sure that no one will be surprised that I’m taking a break from portrait sessions for the next few months so that we can get settled, because I just can’t keep up with everything.  Those of you who are already scheduled know that you’re on my calendar, no matter what, but I’m not taking any more bookings for the next few months.  For those of you who haven’t ordered yet or who haven’t paid for their orders in full, I’ll be taking orders and finalizing payments until February 23rd.  After that, the studio computer is coming down for the move, and I won’t be digging into the archives and processing orders until we’re permanently settled again.

I’ll try and get some past sessions up between now and then, and I’ll do some personal blogs, too, so you can keep up with what’s going on in our lives.  Until next time, here are some pictures from our honeymoon in New Orleans. 

And my sweet little husband on Facebook:

Here are a few shots from our trip to Goliad last month.  Did you know they have a fantastic Market Days event on the second Saturday of every month?  There are vendors selling food (“festival food” AND a farmer’s market), plants, jewelry, clothing, and all sorts of really cool stuff.   We had a great time browsing through the booths and talking to some of the vendors we’ve gotten to know over the past few months.  Then we headed over to the Goliad State Park & Historic Site and the Presidio La Bahia.  The park staff was so friendly and ready to answer all our questions, and they even let my kids examine some real cannon balls (which, if you know my kids, was the highlight of the trip for them) and some animal skeletons that they’d recently found on site.  SA and Austin folks: it’s well worth the day trip, especially if you schedule it on a market weekend.

So far this summer I’ve managed to come up with fun projects to keep the kids busy while I’m doing things, but yesterday I was out of ideas. So, I let McCurdy use one of my older cameras. As I heard him clicking away around the house, sometimes in odd places or from odd angles, I thought he’d have one or two “keepers” on his memory card… but I had no idea he would come up with so many cool shots. When he was done, I realized that he had shot in RAW and so we had a lesson on digital darkroom processing.  I think I might need to offer him a job. Here is a sample of what he shot and processed yesterday:

Charlotte painted her a bulletin board for her room, and I’ll share some images from that process later on.

Working on: King, Carter, Reese.

Today’s editing music: “Summer Breeze,” Seals & Crofts (and the sound of this much-needed rain on my windows).

From last night. She is in a remarkably good mood for a little girl who just got 5 shots.

Does anyone know how much a lost tooth is worth these days?

Summertime is here!  I hope you’re all staying cool and having fun now that the big kids are out of school.  We spent today doing all sorts of “first day of summer” activities and now I’m exhausted. I think we’ll all have an early bedtime tonight.  I am determined to work less and spend more time with my kids this summer… and maybe take a real vacation (meaning one that has nothing to do with photography or photographers!).

I know that I’ve been a bad, bad blogger. I’m caught up on orders and phone calls and processing, though, so that’s something!  I’m planning on taking the blog in a slightly different direction this summer, if I can ever get back into the blogging mood!    One big shout-out: BETH, I am getting your emails but I don’t think you’re getting mine, and the phone number I have on file for you has changed. I hate for people to think I’m ignoring them, so I hope you check the blog!

Don’t forget that we have beach sessions scheduled for near Corpus Christi the weekend of the 20th.  I do still have a space or two available.  For you non-beach clients who are considering a summer session, I’m not accepting as many sessions this summer as I have in years past so if you need to get on the calendar please call me ASAP.  We are currently accepting Victoria/Crossroads area appointments, and for you San Antonio/Austin folks my sessions in your area will be extremely limited after July.  Once school starts I just won’t be able to make that drive more than once a month, so if you want to do a portrait session, now’s the time.

And because a blog post without photos is boring… here is a snap of Bugs coloring in the kitchen last night.  I don’t often pick up the camera if I’m not working, and I’ve realized that I don’t have many photos of my kids just being my kids, so that is a personal project for the summer. 

It’s been awhile since we did one of our Monday reviews!  The kids are home from school today for the President’s Day holiday and they have a few selections to share with you.  I can’t believe that they’re about to have birthdays again — my babies will be 5 and 7 in just a couple of weeks.  They’ve been picking out birthday presents since just after Christmas and I don’t want to actually get them anything until we get a little closer to the actual dates, because they’ve changed their minds so often.

Charlotte chose their Book of the Week: Purplicious by Elizabeth Kann.  Our friend Pinkalicious still loves pink more than any color, ever, but all the girls at school like black more, and make fun of her choice of favorites.  Charlotte’s classmates have entered the “you’re a baby if you like ____” phase so we found this book at just the right time, courtesy of the school book fair.  On a side note, when was the last time you actually went to a school book fair?  It’s still as much fun as it was when we were kids.  I love the smell of all those new books, and I love the special deals you can only get on book fair day.

I should have known without even asking what Mac’s pick for Song of the Week (and Movie of the Week, and Video Game of the Week) would be.  We live in the Star Wars Universe right now and I bet we will for the next few years.  I was 7 once, and I remember going to see Return of the Jedi for my birthday that year.  It’s good to know that the Force is strong in my children, too. 

Thanks to everyone who has emailed to ask when the Monday with Mac and Cheese posts would be back!  We’ll try to keep up with them every few weeks until summer break gives us a little more time again.

In the course of almost every session with a new client, I can be pretty sure that they will comment on how many portraits of my own kids I must have at home.  Usually, people say something like “I bet the walls in your home are FULL.”  Well yes, I do have portraits of my kids here.  Quite a few, in fact, and most of them are biiiiiiig.  But I don’t have as many recent photos as people would think, because its not often that I have the time to photograph my own kids.  And even less often that they want to be photographed.  I made a promise to myself to capture more of my own kid’s moments this year, so yesterday when I found myself with some unexpected free time on a beautiful late afternoon, the kids and I headed out to shoot a little.

So… this is what it looks like when a photographer takes her outgoing and adorable “four and three quarter” year old out to do portraits on an unusually cold December afternoon in South Texas.

We had just gotten out to our location and already, her patience was worn pretty thin… she chose the outfit, and she let me choose the location, but she really wanted to do her own posing.  Since Charley’s posing is usually very “Hannah Montana” and that’s not really the look I was going for (since I just wanted a Christmas portrait for the grandparents) I told her she couldn’t art direct these.  But she was cold.  And she needed mittens.  And maybe a cute matching scarf.  With little pom-poms.

So once I realized we were nearing the meltdown stage, I decided to let her wiggle a little bit.  She was cold and she just needed to move a little more.  The whole project was totally worth it just to get this series of dancing shots.  She obviously gets her wicked rock-star dance moves from me.

We were exhausted and very cold when we got home, but the whole experience reminded me of how much I need this time with my kids.  I help other people document their family history every day, and yesterday reminded me of how important it is for me to make sure that my family history is being recorded, too.  And yes, we did get some “pretty shots” of Charlotte.  I’ll need to go back out with Mac, who would always rather be behind the camera than in front of it, but as far as Charley is concerned, we accomplished our mission for the day.

And yes, Laura, the selective color is just for you.  I know how you love it. 

My bff Laura is shooting holiday charity sessions this weekend, and she asked Charlotte to stop by today to test out the set and do a little modeling.  I looooooove how pretty the set looks and the portraits she created of my little bug are just darling.  Here’s one sample.

Thank you, Laura!

If you haven’t had a chance yet, go out and look at the moon.  Jupiter and Venus are very close and it’s beautiful — it’s such a clear night that you can see the event really well.

And just a quick update: I have not received the shipment of portraits or cards from our Holiday Charity event yet, but I expect them any day now.  I’ll shoot you all an email or give you a call as soon as it’s in.  Tomorrow I’m catching up on all the phone calls and emails we recieved in the last week while we’ve been closed for the move and the holidays!  I hope you all had a blessed and safe Thanksgiving with your families.