ending may

...tired, sick, sore

...catching up on all may photos 

with the exception of two wedding shoots 

that I am still working on

(plan to finish them soon, Lord willing!)

...seeing the calendar fill for a busy month of June

...working on baby ideas

(Miss Chloe Allyson will be here soon!)

(I want a full length girl silhouette, but I can't find one)

...thinking it is late and I need to end this bad habit

of staying up until midnight and after...

the frogs...

Yep...they are back! ugh!!!

Last year, cleaning out the pool took up many HOURS

and many frogs and tadpoles lost their home...

The frog photos make me cringe - so this one is very small.

Lately, the spring rain is filling up the pool again.
It is time to pump it out again.
I hear the frogs croaking at night...
and see them when I walk by the pool.



See the ripple where it jumped as I walked by the pool this afternoon.

And those dark places at the edge of the water - it's not dirt....


...all those dark specks and clumps are alive.
Hundreds of frogs forming - tadpoles galore!

Anybody want to take up "frog gigging" in my backyard?
Ross is in Germany so he is not here to cook frog legs. ha!
Hopefully it will not have all that stuff when he gets back though...

landscape comparisons

Last night, I pulled up photos from a year ago.
A picture is worth a thousand words...so if I slack on journaling,
a picture that captures the day (or details) is important.

I am not sure how we carved out time for renovations, etc last year.
It took a lot of time (and it still does!)
A year makes a lot of difference though...

Last year in May - little purple bushes planted.

This year in May, the purple bushes are much bigger.
Seeing these little bushes grow is exciting!



Last year in June, the front of the porch looked kind of rough...

Planting flowers and bushes in June -
watering all summer long to keep (try to) everything alive.
A few things died...but most survived.

To start June out this year, the view is quite different.

Maintaining is easier than planting.

One of my favorites last year in June...

...is a huge (compared to last year) bush now.

And I can't wait to see how many blooms look like this photo from last year...

Note: I couldn't have all this with just "my" efforts.
I have a lot of time invested outside,
but I have lots of help also - and I have a debt to work on. ;)

spray paint + flower project

What's a girl to do with non-matching, cheap flower pots?

Use some spray paint I bought last year and match 'em all up.

I really should have put more effort into this project.

 (as in I had paint drips and some water drips where the pot didn't dry)

But, I still think they are cute.

The turquoise adds some color to my back porch.

My vintage (it is, for real!) glider needs a cushion and a paint job.

And an outdoor rug would look wonderful out here...

However, those are projects that I am going to wait on right now.

My living room needs help first.

I love these lilies - I planted them from a pack and couldn't wait to see the blooms.

If they would just stay around all summer long...

elaine - 2011 senior

My smugmug site is full of recent uploads...

including a senior session for Elaine in my new hometown.

Pulling off a Main Street shot.

Beside a brick building and the fence.

Using a real prop - cute flower picked near the railroad track.


And I love this wall and door!


I even used my living room for a few shots...
(as well as the field beside my house.)

Nothing like using the local options -
even in really small towns. :)

emma's preK promotion

Emma's Pre-K days are over.

Her promotion program was great!

And her daddy is in Germany, so I carried my old camera

to video some of the action and to take some photos of course.

Allison has the camera with the videos/most of the photos,

but I thought I would add at least one photo of her....

...a cute little ladybug.

shutterfly + graduation

I love Shutterfly - and their graduation options are super-cute!

It makes me wish that I would have
had something like this when I graduated.

I had two codes expiring today, so
I used a lot of time this evening to finalize projects.
I submitted my last order around ten minutes before the deadline.
Nothing like procrastination...

Shutterfly has a new book-making option with Custom Path.
The pages are almost scrapbook-like.
And I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Blue Letter Graduation Announcement

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Tassel Time Gray Graduation Announcement

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portraits for holly

the editing projects are shrinking - a little.

holly's portraits are unlocked,

from an umbrella carrying, camera shielding session.

holding an umbrella and trying to take photos is not easy -

but thankfully the drizzling rain would stop sporadically.

loved the location for the shoot - many options to choose from:

rustic cabins and porches...

steps...

the mansion porch...

and a new love - chain link fences. :)

a small train track, grape vine, swing, picnic table, white fence,

and several other options were available.

and finding some brick is always good...

a black & white photo is always going to be a favorite of mine! :)

sarah + shawn

young love

sweetness

i have known these two since they were toddlers 

wow - where does time go?

some fun moments

some silly moments

some loving moments

another session unlocked....

trent & ralynn

The week before Easter, I took quite a few photos.

Here are photos from a fun session with Trent and Ralynn.

Cute kiddos - with some "real life" scenes and even sweet moments.

I absolutely LOVE black and white photos -

especially using one of the Lightroom presets that I purchased.

Trent came up with a few of his own poses...like this one.

And I thought the cows were a nice addition for a western/casual shoot.

And I have to emphasize the eye shots...

The barn photos had great lighting and highlighted their eyes.

To add some fun into the session, I captured them jumping between hay bales.

I love how they are mid-jump!

Trent told me that he wanted this picture below on my blog.

I forgot how he labeled this jump (dive) - but it was funny.

The rest of the session is on my website,

 but here is one more sibling pose to end this post.

Aren't they cute? =)

cute photo product

I am loving a photo product

from a recent order -

a stand out mount with canvas textured photo.

No framing is necessary and

it is a little cheaper than canvas gallery wrap.

A small gallery wall - 

or 4 photos making up a bigger square - 

would be super cute.

I might just have to find some of my photos to order like this. :)

blooming

my days are super busy -

but not too busy that i don't stop and take time

to "shoot the flowers" ;)

mother's day

my mother dear -

 

my blog is not maintained too well these days

and I probably will not post again until after Sunday

so I wanted to put up an early Mother's Day post

there is nothing like a mother's love, her touch

i am so thankful for my mama!