I’ve already promised the boys a sunshine and bubble filled afternoon!  Yay for pretty Oklahoma sunshine!

Sadly, the first thing that gets neglected around here during the busy season is this blog. So, those of you who still love me, keep checking in and I promise to try really hard to peek in here every couple of days.  Deal?

With all that being said, I have a few other things to mention…

First, I will no longer be doing newborn sessions.  I love babies.  Really.  I do.  However, something had to give in order to fit in all of my favorite families.  I love my loyal families even more than brand new babies.  I want to be able to see them EVERY year when they call.  Newborn sessions take the most time and most preparation.  It seems logical to me that removing them from my schedule will allow more time to be spent on all of YOU.

Those of you who are pregnant RIGHT NOW, please don’t panic.  I know some very AWESOME photographers to refer your way.  Then, in three months or so, I’ll be happy to chase you around with my camera!

Second, I have exactly 3 spots left on my calendar for sessions BEFORE Christmas (unless you can talk me into giving up one of my days off)!!  If you are wanting Christmas cards or just Fall family photos, please email or call now.  Don’t wait.  Sobs stories won’t work this time. 

Third, I’d like to mention that turnaround times are a bit long these days.  I’m proofing into the night, as usual, but I must be getting older because I can’t handle the late hours like I used to…hence, a longer turnaround time during the holidays.  Please, be patient.  I promise to get them all finished before Christmas!  HA!

Fourth, if you’re interested in a Snapshot Moms class I’m offering on October 23rd, email me ASAP so I can get a headcount.

Okay, that’s enough for tonight.  I hate to post without any photos so here is my FAVORITE FRIEND and her family from last week!

I met up with this crew in Midtown on a Monday morning.

AND, it just happened to be a CHILLY Monday morning.  We considered rescheduling, but decided to tough it out in hopes of getting some sunshine.  I felt so bad after we got there.  The alleys were so breezy and cold, but the Conway boys were troopers.  I can’t tell in even one of these photos that they were absolutely FREEZING to death!  No, really.  I mean they were flat cold…

and yet, they smiled for me anyway.  God love ‘em.

Even Mom showed me a grin or two.

It must have been my CHARMING personality.  Yep, that’s it.

Since Dad couldn’t be there to freeze along with us in the cold, Midtown alleys, this photo is JUST FOR HIM!

Have a GREAT BIG RED LOLLIPOP kind of day!  Happy Monday!

Sutton REALLY loves Star Wars.

My boys love cake.

ice cream.

balloons…

and celebrating birthdays with pretty much ANYONE.

We also love our friend Sutton. 

Up until his party, my boys didn’t really know what Star Wars was…

Now, they think it’s an awesome reason to beat your parents and grandparents about the face and head with light saber pool noodles.  Thanks for that, Tiffany.  My head loves you.

Yes, even Darth Vader made an appearance.  My youngest boy thought it was spectacular (even though he wasn’t sure who the heck it was), while my oldest ran for cover and didn’t come out until Darth was gone.  Poor Darth never got the chance to meet Ty.  How sad…

Wes’ favorite part of the entire party was the Darth Vader pinata.  He was even given the chance to pull a string FIRST (thinking it’d be nice to let a little guy go ahead of all the other big boys).  The only problem was he happened to pick JUST THE RIGHT STRING….

oh boy.

That’s never good.

We had to keep that thing in tact until the birthday boy had a chance.  Thank goodness it lasted.  Whew!

Ty refused to wear what he called a “Yoda” outfit.  He’s way too cool for that.  He did enjoy the party tremendously and is now really into the whole “Star Wars” thing.  Plus, it only took him about 30 minutes or so to warm up after arriving….nice.

For the record, Joe Cool was beating people with his light saber within the first 3 minutes….

Some things will never change.

Note:  these pics were taken in the light of a really horrid, dark gym and no matter what I tried (including a custom white balance gray card) the color turned out wonky.  We’ll talk about white balance at our SnapShot Moms workshop on April 10th. 

As promised, we rang in the new year wearing our sweatpants, eating lots of delicious finger food (I went on a baking frenzy thanks to Pioneer Woman and Kraft), and hanging with family and friends.  It was a laid-back, chilled-out, perfectly imperfect New Year’s Eve.  I loved every minute of it (except trying to get the boys in bed at 1:30am).

After not playing for about 3 years, I’ve discovered I’m REALLY bad at Scrabble.  In fact, I’m pretty sure we (my gals and I) broke every Scrabble rule in the book.  We went up, backwards, around, and possibly added new words to the Scrabble dictionary.  BUT, we laughed every minute of the game.  It was awesome!

I didn’t snap one photo until after the clock struck Midnight.  But, here’s a sample of the craziness that ensued as a result of the “sleepy sillies”.

My crazy (yet adorable) niece, Britney.

My completely and utterly handsome 5 year old.  He makes my heart smile.

And his favorite bud, Sutton…

they really should be brothers, don’t ya think?

The gaggle of goofy kiddos we had present for our “so-called” party.

and these two….

I think it was their mission to get a bad photo of the photographer.  Did ya’ll meet up before and discuss this plan?

I’m pretty sure this is my favorite session of them to date.  We schedule photos each year, but these are just plain cool.  AND, they turned out so awesome – the tracks and train station fit the boys so well, especially Taylor!

If it hadn’t been for the red train car, we may never have gotten him in any shots.  Luckily, we had that to hang over his head for all the others.  We just kept telling him, “if you wanna take some photos with the train, you better shape up.”  HEE HEE!  Worked like a charm!

He’s full of spunk.  I’m pretty sure he has to be to survive his older brothers…

and his dad who is just as ornery as they are!  BUT, he’s pretty sweet on their momma which is totally cool.

I should probably stop posting now since I’m not sure which photos they’ll use for the Christmas cards.  I don’t wanna give too much away.  BUT, the photos are all so spectacular!  IT MUST BE THE PHOTOGRAPHER!

Oh, okay.  I’m just kidding.  They are a nice looking family, aren’t they.

That’s it for now.

I’ll see you peeps again this evening with another sneak peek of that cutie on the right.  We did some senior shots for him, and I thought he deserved a post all his own.

Happy Tuesday!

The crazy part is how I’ve been wanting to meet their gorgeous momma for about 3 years now.  A mutual friend of ours introduced us by way of the internet and we’ve been chatting ever since.  You see, Leila loves photography almost as much as I do, which gives us plenty to chat about.    BUT, up until just a few weeks back that’s all it’s been – chatting online.  Then, I received a message saying she’d be in OKC and would I PUH-LEASE be willing to meet up and shoot some photos of these two knuckleheads.  How could I possibly say no?

Of course, Leila had to be part of the deal.

The cool part – I didn’t even have to twist her arm! 

I took a million photos that morning and even brought Wes along with me.  It proved to be VERY interesting, but I did get some great shots of ALL of them.  These are just a handful I picked randomly.  I had too many favorites to narrow them down.

I hope you’re all having an awesome Fall Break.  The posts around here will be few and far between this weekend since the boys and I loaded up with Grandma and headed to Branson, MO.  We’ll be spending TWO WHOLE DAYS tromping around Silver Dollar City.  I’ll check in as often as I can…

Happy Fall!

I have lots of news and happenings to update you on, but for now a photo montage of our crazy, Canton weekend will have to do.  I hear a DVR’d Grey’s Anatomy calling my name along with my soft, squishy bed.  No more work for me this LATE Saturday night.  Oh!  If you called and left me a message this weekend, I’m just now getting it since phone service in NOWHERE, Texas is pretty much nil.  I’ll be returning said calls on Monday.  If you need me before then, better send an email.

From left to right, row by row:

1) mom and karri  trying on shades at a roadside hodge-podge shop  2) ty finding his own special treasure  3) how lovely, a doggy brooch  4) this sign was actually for sale AND I actually considered buying it  5) fell in love with these locker baskets  6) everybody loves sock monkeys  7) say what?  a dashboard Jesus?  there is something seriously wrong with that, right?  8). bins full of unique letters and numbers – I really wanted to pay $12 for those tiny things but talked myself out of them  9) more letters but these were much bigger  10) found an array of really strange yet fun book titles, more to come later  11)  even more letters  12)  have to stop here every trip   13) wanted this t-shirt, but it only came in small – shucks!  14) sock monkey snow globe – nuff said  15) mom’s new hat  16) nice look – hula dancer headband

While at the lake, we spent a LOT of time swimming but even more time sleeping or lazing around in the house….just enjoying the fact that we could.  Luckily, Reese was there and he was REALLY good at entertaining our children and his.  HA!  By the end of the weekend, I was calling him “Big Guns” Travis.  I think it fits, don’t you?

While snapping these photos, I wasn’t squatting or running in circles searching for the best angle…I was curled up with a blanket in a big squooshy chair.  It was awesome….

Don’t feel bad, Reese got to curl up in the chairs, too.  He recently added to his family and little Sylvie Jane gave him a perfect excuse to hang out on the sofa.  We spent many a moment watching the squirts jump and play…

and take advantage of Sylvie Jane being out of her bassinet.  Who knew it could be so enticing…

Sloane sure looks cute in there, though.  Doesn’t she.

Okay…enough of the house….you guys want to see REAL lake photos, don’t you.

Even Wes loved riding on the SeaDoo.

The boys talked Josh into taking a turn on the tube.  I’m pretty sure they were trying to kill him….

BUT…he had his chance for paybacks…He’s the driver in the next few!

While the macho big guys were trying to show each other up….

Wes and Grandma hung out enjoying the comforts of lake food.  HA!

Even Barney enjoyed some time on the SeaDoo!

and…

back to SCHOOL blues.

especially for this momma…

whose little boy will be starting Pre-K in exactly two short weeks.  My heart is heavy.  I know he’ll love it, but will I?

Lately, we’re I’m trying to keep my mind off of school-related thoughts by spending LOTS of time doing SUMMERTIME activities.  Today we spent the morning at Grandma’s pool with some old friends we haven’t seen in quite some time.

It felt good to relax and smile while thinking back on old times.  Charleigh is one of our (my mom and I) oldest and dearest friends.  I’m happy my boys had so much fun getting to know her better.

By the way, have you guys ever tried to blow water through a wet water noodle?  AT SOMEONE’S face?  It’s kinda fun!  HA!

Poor Colin got the raw end of that deal!

Luckily he bounced back pretty quick.  Speaking of bouncing…

Soon after inhaling water-noodle sprays, he decided to create some splashes of his own!  Go, Colin, go!

Whew!  Hang in there, buddy!  Good one!

Going, going….

Gone.

Man.  After all that splashing, the boys should’ve rested a bit.  BUT, who wants to do that when school is looming just around the corner?  Not us!

Even my little grouch caught some rays today…

At least, he’s a cute grouch.  Right?  It was naptime, afterall.

Alright, alright….out you go boys…time to rest.

I’m pretty sure “shakin’ booties” and flexing muscles isn’t what I meant by taking a rest…

Although, Colin says he’s known for his “bootie shaking” skills.  HA!  He must get it from his daddy…

I’d say it was a pretty good Tuesday morning.  Thanks for the visit, Colin and Charleigh.  We miss you, already!