{TEN}

I obviously missed Tuesday, so here is just {ten}

Happy Wednesday!

{1} 3 year shoot

So, Barrett turned three almost a month ago...and I have yet to do his three-year pictures. What a horrible photographer mommy I am!! Actually, I've been waiting for some nice weather, so we can do something fun outside. I don't really want snowy pics. 

I ordered him this shirt.

I have visions of doing his pictures at the fire station in front of the shiny red trucks! BUT, I haven't called them yet. I'm still thinking. Maybe I'll get that done this week or next, while we're having this amazing weather!

{2} pampers rewards

Does anyone else collect Pampers Gifts to Grow points. I got a little behind...okay, way behind. Barrett hasn't even worn diapers since early August, and I had a cup full of these things. I use my points to get free hard back Shutterfly books, so I made myself enter them all in, and collect my points! I've got enough for an 8x8 book. Just need to decide what I want to make a book of.

{3} business

Although I haven't been to busy shooting during January and February, I have been busy behind the scenes of my business. Updating the website with current images, pricing, etc. I also released a new SENIOR SITE recently, which I am very excited about! 

 

I am also busy working on one of my favorite events for my business. My Mini Session weekends!! This Spring I will have my third mini session event. I love everything from designing the web and print advertisements to planning to location and details. I hope to release the complete details on it all soon to my patiently waiting clients. 

{4} a favorite

Just for fun...a shot from my shoot yesterday with six month old Jacob! February has been really slow for shoots, especially with all the snow days and sick days. So I was anxious to get back behind the camera yesterday. This is one of my favorite shots from the day!

See, even that old hand-me-down gold chair from Grandma can make a great backdrop!

Here's a pull-back shot of the set up (and my two little helpers...Barrett loved baby Jacob).
Baby sitting in middle of greenish-goldish chair.
Natural light coming in from my right, creating amazing big catch-lights in his eyes.

{5} Valentine's

Barrett gave out Valentine bookmarks this year to all his little friends. He loved the day. Lots of friends stopped by to give him treats, and he thought that was pretty neat. This year was the 15th (I think) Valentine's Day that Justin and I have celebrated together. We went out to dinner and to see Just Go With It on Saturday night, to avoid the Monday crowd.  I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt. On Monday, we just had a quiet evening at home. We got each other Bluegrass tickets, and made dinner together. After Barrett went to bed, Justin made Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes! An annual tradition for us!

{6} TV

If you don't know by now, I'm a major reality tv junkie. I admit I watch way too much...but I'm okay with that. My work day is from 9pm-2 or 3am, so it's just what I do while I work!

Some of what I'm watching now:
*Bachelor- I have always watched this. Drama at it's best, and I just can't tear myself away. I don't have a favorite this time though, so I could care less who he picks.

*American Idol-Considered not even watching this season, because I was in mourning that Ellen and Simon left, but I'm glad I have been. I actually love Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez! I am excited for tonight's Hollywood week episode, and ready for the competition to start!

my favorites...we'll see if they even make it through Hollywood week:

 Amazing story...rooting for him.

Another amazing story, and I love her unique sound!

Okay, I'm obviously really suckered in by the stories!

This guy was diagnosed with tourette syndrome when he was younger, but when he sings it all goes away. Rooting for him too.

My cowboy pick!


















She's my pick to win it all :)
And she reminds me of one of my friends!

 Last one!














{7} My walls

I just ordered 3 standout mounts of Barrett for my walls! I hope to have them later this week, and can't wait to get them up! I'll have to share pictures later. I used the images from his 2-1/2 year session in Colorado this summer. Some of my favorites of 2010.

{8} Blog book

Yep, two months into 2011, and I have NOT finished my 2010 blog book. Not even close. Despite thinking I could stay on top of it (unlike 2008 and 2009), I didn't. So, I need to finish slurping about half of 2010, and get the book ready to print. I'm hoping they will announce a SALE to get me in gear!

{9} Spring
I'm dreaming of Spring weather and clothes. I want to shop for cute spring shoes. My friend Amanda just did a really fun post on SPRING COLORS & FASHION. Check it out, it will get you inspired too! Who wants to go shopping?!?!

{10} They joy of having boys...
Remember my cute ottoman tray? The one that was part of my favorite things! (#1 shown below)

Well, it is no more! My boys were playing basketball or football in the living room one evening, and Justin fell right back on it...CRACK! I tried not to cry. That's been several weeks ago, and I still haven't found a replacement tray. If you see any, please let me know!

Finally...Our 2008 Blog Book

In the midst of my {busy} season for photography...I somehow managed to finish our 2008 blog book (by Blurb). Only 11 months into 2009! Not too shabby! The big discount and free shipping offered at the end of November, really kicked me into gear. It also helped that I had all of you excited about it and rooting me on-Thanks!

Since I had the discount, Justin and I decided to go all out and make our books the large hardcover with image wrap. These are our family scrapbooks, and we want them to be nice. I'm so excited to think in ten years, we'll have a whole bookshelf full of them. Well, do you think we'll still be blogging in ten years?!? Anyway...we also knew that Barrett would want to look at it (which he does a lot), so we wanted it to be tough enough to handle all that lovin'. My book ended up with 228 pages! That sounds like a lot, but I know my 2009 book might be double that! I think the books can take up to 400 pages, so I might have to do some creative adjusting!!

I checked fedex.com tracking everyday after I ordered it...

Finally, on December 3rd, it came!! I think I was squealing when I saw the truck pull up out front.

Barrett probably thought I was crazy. Why is Mommy so excited about this little white box?!?!

I let him get it from the front porch, and help me open it.

He was so excited to see pictures of himself on almost every page!

I love my book!!
hardcover with image wrap and custom spine

There are tons of options for picture and post layouts. I tried several different things, and now I know which I like and don't like, for my next book. I LOVE the pages with full-bleed pictures!

Back cover

That's it!! I really do love it that our memories, my random journaling and Barrett's first year are all documented and printed out into our very own book! I love holding it in my hands and reading through the posts. Now that I know how it all works, I'm even more excited to get to work on the 2009 book. I need to be ready in case they have another big sale at blurb!!

So, anyone else out there get a Blurb book?? If you did, I want to hear about yours too! If you're not sure you want one...come over and check out mine! I love to show it off!

22 months

Nope, I didn't forget about taking your monthly monkey pictures! We took them on the 18th, just before bed time. You'd had your bath, you were in your jammies, and we were drinking milk and reading stories...then we called Kylie to wish her a Happy 11th Birthday, and she was really wanting to come see her Mr. B! Even though we had the toys picked up, the family room lights out, and we were snuggling on the couch reading, we invited them over to see YOU! I told Kylie it was only because it was her birthday! Mimi, Kylie and Emily all came over to love on you!! You drug ALL the toys back out, you wrestled with the girls, and you laughed and laughed. They were here about 30 minutes, and were worried they'd gotten you all riled up and disrupted your bedtime. But after they left, we read one more story, and you went right to bed. You're so easy!

What a great way to celebrate 22 months!

On another note....
I FINISHED my {2008 Blog Book} tonight! 24 hours before the special ended!
Ahh...it feels so great!

(some screen shots of my book preview)

I ordered the 8x10 hardcover book, with the ImageWrap. My book was around 220 pages, and I told Justin that the 2009 book will probably be MUCH bigger. Yikes! I can't wait to get my book in the mail. It's supposed to ship on or before December 3rd. Happy Birthday to ME!!

Dress-up

Oh my goodness, I've been a horrible blogger lately! I hate that I haven't been posting very often...for my loyal readers, and for the sake of our memories! Things are just so crazy right now with my business, and I hardly have time to even breathe! I am still loving every minute of it, but with portrait sessions, editing, assembling wedding invites, and my duties as a wife and mother...I could really use a few more hours in the day! I am looking forward to next month, when things will slow down and I can enjoy the holidays!

Of course I'm also forcing myself to work on my Blurb book every chance I get!! I have decided in 2010, I will slurp my posts and pictures into Blurb at the end of each month. That way I'm not doing a whole year's worth and then trying to tweak the layout. I am WAY too anal for that business! Plus, I'm finding that it's telling me some of my images are low resolution and may not print well?!?! I don't understand it. Anyone that's done a book know about this? It doesn't make sense...I will have three images in a post (example: 4th of July) that were all taken the same day, with the same camera, uploaded the same way, etc. AND it's telling me that two of them are fine, but one has the little low-resolution "warning" symbol over it? Anyone? It's only frustrating to me because all of my pictures from my 2008 blog are on the PC in our office. I only use that computer if I'm printing invites or envelopes for clients, and I don't have the Booksmart software downloaded on it. I'm not sure what's the easiest way to get these pictures replaced. I don't want to have to leave them out of the book!

AND...what's a post without a few pictures!?!
(A few pictures that might be fun to share with Barrett's first girlfriend)

Barrett loves to dress-up in our clothes, hats and shoes. Every morning while I'm in the bathroom getting ready, he's sitting on the floor of our closet putting on our shoes. He loves Daddy's work boots, cowboy boot and tennis shoes. He likes my flip flops and high heels. He also loves to wear Daddy's hats around. And yes, he's also still sporting the Christmas capri jammies. They're all the rage, people!

By the way...If you were praying for Stellan, but haven't heard the AMAZING news, you'll want to go check it out!
The game is over...and God, Stellan's doctors and Stellan all hit a HOME RUN! Wow!

I'm laying it out there...

Laying it out there...so that you all can help hold me accountable!

You hear me talk (all the time) about how I make updating this blog so important, because it is our family scrapbook. Where I document all of our family memories with pictures and journaling. AND how I plan to print a blog book each year of all my posts, so that we will have an actual scrapbook to hold in our hands. I started my blog in April of 2008, and at the end of 2008, I started working on our blog book for all of my 2008 posts and pictures. I "slurped" all into a book at Blurb. Well, I didn't really know what I was doing at the time, and it was all a little overwhelming to me! Plus I'm way too much of a perfectionist when it comes to things like this.

NOW...it's November 2009!
Almost another year of posting has gone by, and I still haven't printed my 2008 book! Eek!

Here what my book looks like now...in the designing stages of the software:

So, I got just the {push} I needed the other day to FINISH the stinkin' 2008 book and get it printed before the end of the year! An email from Blurb with THIS OFFER! 20% off a book AND free shipping!! If you're interested in making a blog book, I think anyone can use this offer and code. You just have to create an account, download the slurping software (Booksmart), and get started! Don't be a slacker like me though, and take a whole year to print your book :)

Here is a sample of one of the blog books a Blurb user has made....

You can flip through the book HERE

It's easy to see I'm sooo excited about this...so WHY is it taking me forever and a day to get it finished and printed?!?! Not sure, but that's why I'm telling you, my friends! The above offer is good through November 24th, so that is my deadline! I hope to be able to share pictures of my finished book with you sometime in December!

Wish me luck! Happy book-making to you, if you decide to give it a whirl!