Happy Birthday Becki! Here is your sneak peek!

Just a little detail shot from this weekend’s wedding.

You should get in on this:

Oh and P.S. My galleries have been updated. Check ‘em out!

I’m so proud of myself. This year I’ve taken more family and personal photos than I ever have. I even put an album together with the photos from Thanksgiving to now. Here are some from the past few weeks. We took a trip to the waterpark, and I bravely brought my camera out. We also went camping and were rained out, so my camera made an appearance once or twice… barely.

My stepson Aj has a great smile, he just never shows it.

So does my nephew David. He has no problem hamming it up for the camera.

Remember how I said we got rained out? Yeah…….

He was so happy he caught blue gill, he made me take pictures. He then let them go.

If you are wondering why I haven’t posted many photoshoots or weddings so far this year, it is because I didn’t plan to be shooting much this summer. My husband and I planned to be pregnant this year, so I did not advertise or push to book weddings for 2010. I am not pregnant yet, so feel free to contact me if you have a photoshoot or event you would like photographed this year.

In the mean time I am focusing on my personal photos, so you will see more of those on the blog. This is a photo shot at dusk. Tanner caught a bottle full of lightning bugs. I tried very hard to keep the blue tones of the early evening. Hope you like it too.

Also if you need a daily dose of photos, feel free to visit www.JenandJen365.blog.com to check out a new project I am working on with my friend Jen.

I have been pre-occupied with some family matters this past week, but wanted to share a few photos from the weekend. If you ever wonder why my stepson doesn’t appear on this blog much; Its not because I don’t bother to take pictures of him. He spends his weekends with his mother, so I don’t get the opportunity much. Also he HATES to get his picture taken, it takes too long he says.

Steve and I took Tanner to Maifest in Covington this weekend. It is my favorite festival because it marks the beginning of all Summer Festivals in the greater Cincinnati area. When we got there Tanner had to get some “Ice Cream” as he calls it. I think he enjoyed it.

Then we moved on to Cotton Candy and a very fluffy, powdery funnel cake.

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As we were leaving we saw a group of people making art on the streets with chalk. The way they draw it, you are supposed to see it as a 3D image. I tried to get the right angle to show you the 3D image, but there were a lot of people around. This is as close as I got.

Here is another angle.

The sky was gorgeous on our way home, so I made Steve stop at a park overlooking the city for a photo or two.

Some of you may or may not know my personal history, but if you don’t… You’re in luck. I’m about to spill the beans.

I grew up in a little river town outside of Cincinnati. (New Richmond) We were poor, but I was one of the lucky few who were actually well taken care of. We may not have had a lot of money, but my sisters and I were always fed. Our clothes weren’t name brand or even brand new for most of my childhood, but my mom made sure we had something to wear each school year. Now that I’m a mother, I think back to those days and I know the look on my mother’s face. …Where am I going to come up with the money for two new full wardrobes for my girls?… She never hinted that she was worried that we wouldn’t have “new-to-us” clothes when school started, but now I know.

My Mother, me and my sisters. I am the one in Pink. Debbie is the oldest, and Jodie is the little “Fat Sally” in the babyseat.

I remember every year where my clothes came from. At the end of summer one year, we happened to stop at a yard sale and the woman who’s house it was had two girls just a little older than my sister and I. JACKPOT! We scored slightly worn shirts and pants… enough to cover all of our school shopping! Another year, we slipped into the Family Dollar and bought shorts sets off the racks. I didn’t realize that Family Dollar wasn’t fashionable, I was happy to have matching red printed shorts to go with my red tank top. As I got older, I was proud when I got to shop for my school clothes and Biggs and Meijer! Can you imagine NEW CLOTHES? And as I got even older, I got a job and paid for half of my clothes. From then on, it was name brand for me.

I hope I never seemed ungrateful for what my mom had to go through to ensure we were clothed, because I honestly didn’t even realize I was a “poor kid”. I had it better than a lot of kids growing up in New Richmond. The ones running around with kool-aid smiles, with dirty feet and faces. I imagined their mothers were working all day trying to support their family, while leaving the children to fend for themselves.. nothing to drink but kool-aid.  Ah those kool-aid smiles… They used to bring me to tears. I would literally tear up when I saw a dirty little barefoot kid running around. I worried for them.

My sisters and me. I’m in the middle. 

Me and Jodie

More Photos of Me:

Fast forward to today. I am a mother to a three year old boy who absolutely and unequivocally LOVES kool-aid. The boy who bounces off the walls and runs through my house like a tornado when he comes in contact with red dye is obsessed with kool-aid. After dinner today (where he enjoyed baked chicken, corn, chicken rice and cherry koolaid) we piled in the car and went to get sno-cones for the family. My dirty little boy rolled around in the dirt with his kool-aid smile and was completely and utterly elated! I’ve been thinking about my childhood as I watch my step-son and my toddler grow up. Maybe kool-aid smiles really weren’t that bad after all.

Proof:

Koolaid Smiles

Blue Sno-cone Teeth

Dirty Face, but still oh so cool!

Playing in the dirt.

Guess what? H&M Has their Spring/Summer line out so I had a little fun putting together outfit suggestions for photoshoots.

This year there is a big focus on nautical elements such as blue and white stripes, rope bracelets and boat shoes. I tried to incorporate a few of those in the male options:

For the girls, its all about color:

Meet my friend’s Keri and Scott. I had the privilege of photographing them during “Mustache March”. Imagine how awesome Scott’s Beard would have been had I been able to photograph them during “Facial Hair February”!

I love these two they both have a quirky and freaking awesome sense of style.  (Check out those shoes… On both of them!)

Keri was “Fierce”.

This is just a small selection of their crazy toy collection.

This guy was my favorite… Although I’ll admit, slightly creepy.

And because Keri has waited ever so patiently, here are more!

**I heart this one**