JFP photo blog

Yes, Ma'am

When you were little and you used to read (or watch) Little House on the Prairie, didn't you sometimes think it would be fun to go to school in the cute, little, one room schoolhouse?

I don't know....she looks pretty scary!  Where is her strap?  wooden paddle?  Yikes!

Just kidding!  This year my mom's school celebrated their 100th anniversary and she got into the spirit of things for their big event.  Rest assured, I'm pretty certain she doesn't REALLY use that face with her kiddos at school...ask anyone, not a mean bone in her body!

 

That's more like it.  Which of her crazy grandchildren do you think was being goofy behind my back?

 

The whole outift...it was the real deal...petticoat, gloves, boots...apparently it's quite warm.  That's showing some school spirit!

 

OK, happy Friday!  Here's hoping for a beautiful weekend!  Check back next week for some more fun stuff...tiny people and a wedding!

The Summer of Home Ec Begins

This summer I have a dream.  I dream that one day my children might be able to fend for themselves.  Therefore, I am enforcing so "home ec" lessons...some of which are LONG overdue.  There will be cooking (each kid will learn how to make something for each meal of the day), there will be laundry (thank goodness!), we have already been practicing our vacuuming and bathroom cleaning skills, and today we finished our first sewing project of the summer!  Yay us!  Here is a little photographic evidence...

 

Even more "yay" for Amy Butler and  Heather Bailey for the fabulous fabrics and  Frog Legs and Ponytails for the super cute and great for beginners pattern!

 

 

And how crafty are we??  Madelyn put a scrap on her head and it was so cute we actually made it into a fun little head-thingy!  (OK, so it totally made me think of the curtain outfits from the Sound of Music...not so much the fabric or style, but definitely the matching head-thingy!)

A few detail shots...

 

 

Ha, ha!  Look at us with the fancy "topstitching" finishing business! 

 Madelyn really got into it...measuring, ironing, and mostly the sewing.  I think she made about 50 little pouches with any scraps she could find today, and spent all day asking if she could sew more.  I have created a monster...  Anyway, Annie finally got inspired by the final product and chose her own fabric.  Can't wait to see how that one goes...I have a feeling I know who will be doing most of that sewing project!  And even though Henry is not so "into" the whole sewing thing, little does he know that he will be learning to sew on a button and maybe even sew a straight seam.

 

Happy 5th of July!

So I'm a day late...but here are a few shots of what we were up to for the 4th.  The usual suspects did not even make the blog this time..we were camping with some "new to the blog" faces....yippy!  Hope you all had a safe and fun 4th!

 

My cousin and her boys came and spent the morning with us.  Henry was especially overjoyed with the man-time, as his summer vacation tends to be full of girls!  Lots of water fun for everyone, kayaks, fishing, crab hunting, rock throwing, inner tube floating and...especially the super-cool windsurfing lessons!  Thanks to our fab coach!

 

Extreme concentration

 

Job well done...or maybe just "thank goodness we survived"?

 

A little grandpa and Benjamin action...

Hee hee, grandpa actually came camping with us...even on the Wimbledon finals weekend, though I will admit we did find a way to watch the men this morning...those guys are impressive, to say the least.

 

I LOVE this one! 

and just so you can get a feel for where we were....

 

sunset

experimental shot of fireworks down the beach

 

my view with coffee cup in hand this morning...don't you wish you were sitting with me?

Horsin' Around

My baby is a horse girl.  She has been since she was two.  I'm pretty sure everyone knows one of those girls.  Well, she lucked out.  This year it just so happened that her pre-school teacher actually owns her own horse.  These two completely bonded over the horse ALL YEAR LONG.  At the end of the year Annie's fabulous teacher actually invited her over to meet the horse!  Annie was beside herself with joy and once we got to the barn, she was the quietest I have ever seen her.  She was absolutely soaking in every horse molecule possible....in complete awe of everything.  And this was no little pony...well, you can see for yourself....

 

Look at my tiny baby up there on that mammoth horse!  She got to ride the horse, take off her  (the horse's) boots, feed her carrots, wash her, curry & comb her...Annie was completely blissed out.  And you can bet that I heard a lot of "I am going to check the porch everyday to see if Santa brought me a horse" on the way home, plus many tears all evening because she wanted to live with her teacher and horse...never mind boring old me.  Anyway, just a few more from out afternoon at the barn...

 

Hard at work...

 

Such a gorgeous horse...well, I think they are all pretty fabulous...

Even though, in reality the horse belongs to Annie's teacher, it is her daughter who has taken over.  They spend about 3 hours a day at the barn with the horse...now that takes dedication!  This next shot is my absolute favorite of the day.  I struggled with getting the right shot of Annie, it was hard to frame tiny her with the giant horse in a shot I loved.  I guess I just needed a taller human subject to make it work the way I wanted...can you tell she LOVES her horse??

 

Wish me luck dissuading Annie from a lifelong love affair with horses...I'm pretty sure I don't have the funding or patience for it.

Beauty and the Belly

(I was going to make some sort of basketball reference in the title but she's just too gorgeous for that.. just wait til' you see her little bump!)

This last weekend I had the privilege of photographing one super fabulous belly and the family that goes along with it.  What a bunch of cuties!  Can I tell you how much fun I had!  Ahhh, the joys of photographing adults!  "Hey," you say, "turn your chin a little to the left"..and they do it!!  "Let's go out in a field" and they don't run away screaming into the woods!  Doesn't hurt that this momma happens to be on my short list of favorite people and unbelievably beautiful to boot!  Anyway, enough raving, how about some photos??  You might want to grab a snack as this is going to be lengthy...

Let's start with the young man and his momma.  He wasn't so sure about this whole adventure but I think we managed to sneak in a few good ones...

 

So sweet..though slightly unsure.  Thankful to be snuggling his momma.

 

Love me some snuggles!

 

So I love the hands on the belly, delicate, girly hands with rings and bracelets, and then the strong, manly hands with the awesome watch...but don't they make her belly look tiny?  Ok, so it is pretty small...let's see if we can't make it a little more obvious...

 

Hey, I think that lady might be pregnant!  How perfect is her belly?  Just a little round basketball.  Now while I don't want anyone to actively dislike my friend here, I must point out to you all that she is wearing her pre-pregnancy jeans AND they are buttoned!  Whatever!

So now I'll stop all the chit chat and just show you what you came to see...

Yoga momma.

 

I just love this one...how awesome is that bikini top?

 

Peaceful, zen momma.  Gorgeous!  (I think that one might be my favorite...)

Wanted to draw a face to go with that perfect "nose" belly button.

 

So graceful.

and I wasn't kidding about the field..I even had sort of a dream about this one...I'm so lucky to have friends who will go along with me...she even had the perfect dress for it!

 

OK, I refrained from showing you ALL of them...gotta leave a few surprises for momma!  Hopefully, she is laying on the couch, eating carbs galore, and resting!  I truly can't wait to meet the little person that is in there...though it would be great if she (my guess only!) stays in there for a while longer.  Happy almost Friday!

It's All About the Eyes & Cheeks

and maybe the super cute little mohawk on this little guy.  You've seen him before but now he is 6 months old...can you believe how fast that went?  Anyway, here are a few of my favorites of my little friend...

 

I love the little drooly chin!  This is what happens when it is just me and him in there...I wipe his chin, pick up camera, and look what I see...he is just getting teeth right & left!

 

What a cute smile...especially love the "I'm cute" head tilt!  Can you see those two little bottom teeth?  I didn't even notice them until I was looking at the shot on my monitor!

 

Love those blue eyes! I could just eat him up!  Thanks for coming over to play buddy!

Happy Father's Day!

That's for all you dads out there, but especially the one who won the Mother's day contest...because as luck would have it, today is the day I have some photos of his sweet girlies ready to share!  These two little ladies decided to make their appearance a little on the early side....not unusual for twins.   That just meant that by the time I met them they were almost to their due date and they were definitely starting to figure out that there is fun stuff going on around and maybe, just maybe they should keep an eye on things and make sure nothing too fun was going on without them!  Here are a few of my favorites...enjoy!

 

Hee hee!  Don't you LOVE those hats...never mind how absolutely adorable those little faces peeking out are!!

 

I just love that these girls weren't phased at all by being all tangled up together...guess that feels totally normal...and see, just checking to make sure all the adults are behaving themselves.  Just so you  know, these girls come by their calm demeanor honestly.  Both mom & dad were completely at ease the whole time I was there...and I was impressed.  This whole twin newborn thing is enough to rattle anyone and these guys are handling it like pros.  Trust me, if I was as sleep deprived as I'm guessing they must be, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be so calm, cool, & collected.  You guys deserve some sort of fabulous prize...best I can do is award you the big gold star of parenting!  Yay for you!

 

First, don't you love all that hair?  Second, I am completely amazed at how much "eye contact" I got from these two!  Usually with awake newborns you get some crossed-eyes, or a wandering eye, or just looking off into the distance...but these girls must have liked my big black camera because I got quite a few of them checking it out!

 

(So I'm having a hard time narrowing down which photos to post....hang in there, this might be a long one!)

 

Ahhhh, the sleeping baby...so peaceful!

 

This is one of my all time favorites...I love dad's hand with his wedding ring, but most of all, I love the sweet, calm, "I'm drifting off to sleep" face and the little bit of flaky skin that tells you she is still brand new.

Now for the "bits & pieces" shots...hee hee, I love these all together as a series of shots!   

 

Dad with one of the girls.

 

and mom with the other.

 

Hmmm, might make a cool photo wall with your favorite shots of the girls mixed in there...more coming soon!

Anyway, hope all you dads are still in bed waiting for your breakfast service...have a great day!  And a little p.s. for the father of my kids...you are the best and we are all lucky to have you...hope it blows today!

 

On the Eleventh Day of Cupcakes....

my camera gave to me....a busy, bundle of adorable boy energy!  Yay!  Finally another boy!

 

How funny and serious is he?  He was this way pretty much the whole time he was here, which is apparently unusual for him...but seriously adorable seriousness!

 

He's got places to be, people!

 

Little bit of a smile...

 

and then finally, a big, beautiful one for his momma!  What a cutie!

 

Hope you enjoyed the cupcake chaos!  More fun stuff (newbie twin girls, an 8 year old birthday, preschool graduation, a fantabulous horse riding extravaganza, an old-time school marm, a 6 month old sweetie) coming this week & next...though school is over tomorrow so no guarantees on how productive I will be after that!!

On the tenth day of cupcakes....

my camera gave to me.....a funny little doll.

 

She LOVED her cupcake!

 

Any way she could get some more in there....

 

Love the tongue!  She was such a little funny bug.  She apparently has no stranger issues as she jumped right into my arms when they got here and cried a little when they left.  So nice to be loved!

One more day of one year old cuties to go!!

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Cupcake Programming

to bring you my birthday girl! 

(More cupcakes tomorrow, I promise!)

My middle kiddo turned 8 this week which I can hardly believe.  Now I know that the difference between 7 and 8 may not seem major to some of you, but I think of second grade as still being sort of little.  In the third grade you learn cursive and multiplication, for Pete's sake.  That's big people stuff!  And guess what?  I think she just might be ready for it!

 

How big is she?  This year has been her best yet and I am so proud of her!

 

We went on a little picnic/exploration/photo shoot last night and I'm sharing a few of my favorites....thanks to Aunt Fancy for providing the lovely fashion.  The little miss has become quite the fashionista.  She has started asking for Aunt Fancy to take her shopping for her birthday and they always come up with something good!

 

 

Can't get away without a little of her sass...saucy little minx!

Love you big girl!  You are super fantabulous and I couldn't ask for a sweeter, goofier girl!