Embarassing Moment #3

Okay so I have starting making appointments for my photo practice shoots. Well, one of them is going to be at my home tomorrow, so I decided to get my butt in gear and clean my house today. I know no one likes to clean their house but I really hate cleaning and I do clean enough or atleast I thought I did until the boys followed me around the house this morning asking me " Mommy, what are you doing?" I told them I was cleaning, that they had seen me do it before. They both responded with, "No".

Can something really be embarassing if only you heard it?

I leave you with some recent picture of my niece...

Embarrassing Moments Series

Some friends and I were talking about the embarrassing things our children say in public(we laugh if said at home but in public...well)and I thought it would be fun to blog about it every now and then. So I will begin with 2 embarassing moments,(sorry Jenny, this still does not compare to your post office one):

Embarrassing moment #1: Britton begins beating on my butt at the store while waiting in line to pay, then loudly says," Mommy, your butt is a good drum". Which, of course meant that Alexander had to join the band. Thanks Babe.

Embarrassing moment #2: While visiting a local restaurant's bathroom, Alexander says," Mommy it stinky in here. Why it stinky in here?" Since I decided to ignore the question,( I mean how do you respond? Cause someone is doing the number #2 Xander?)Xander decides to repeat the question even louder since of course I must not have heard him. So, I give him that "LOOK" and it worked. Thank goodness because it usually doesn't work that well. So I quickly washed hands.I always knew I would some day have the birds and bees discussion with my boys but everyone failed to mention the "Why the bathroom is stinky" talk. I am sure this will lead up too many more why's. OH JOY.

I leave you with more pictures of my nieces(ah Teenagers are so much easier then little kids)my boys and Joey:

To Stand or not to Stand that is the question

Wow, the boys are finally completely potty trained. They have peed on the potty for a long time now but we couldn't get them to do the dreaded #2 on the potty. Well, Mommy and Daddy were quite tired of wiped big boy butts and decided it was time, so off came the underwear(that's how we were able to get them to pee on the potty all the time in just one weekend)which totally peeved the boys to no end. After a bit of complaining about not having their underwear, they started poopin on the potty. In less the 4 hours flat, our boys were potty trained. No more diapers! I also, and I say I because I think only a woman would complain about this, became the proud(or not) mom of 2 little boys that now STAND to pee on the potty. Now, when did it become so important for a boy(that includes men as well) to have the ability to pee standing up. Is it because its so quick and effortless or because it's part of being a man. ALL I know is that I went from a Mommy who simply had to say "Flush the potty when your done and turn off the light!" to a monster(I mean mommy really I do)who yells," What the heck happened in here and what smells so bad?" It literally looks like Jackson Pollock visited my bathroom and found my toilet not worthy of his pee and decided to bless me with his artistry. Thanks Jackson. Well, nevertheless, for those of you who know how much I enjoy cleaning, if you arrive at my home and find a container of Clorox wipes next to the said potty, they are not there because I rushed around cleaning up for you(which yes I still did rush around cleaning before you came for a visit). They are there for you. If you don't want to risk transferring Mr. Pollock's art on to your bum, wipe first cause my boy's don't tell me when the art lesson occured within the confines of our guest bathroom.

I leave you with recent picture of all of my incredibly talented boys, artistic or otherwise.






Just a card that I made for a Friend's Baby Boy- The inside will read: Just one of the many parts to enjoy. Congratulations on your new baby boy!

Win a free photo book!

Not many blogs are participating in the so your chances are so high in winning a free photo book from MY Pic Tales!! Click on the title above for details!

Its Practice time!

Okay since my kids see my camera and actually run or say "oh NO mommy", it is time I get over the nervousness and start practicing on actual willing subjects(which might actually work for me rather then against me). Here is the deal:

NO session fee
1 hour session(if it goes over it should be no problem) Newborns are 2-3 hours to allow for feeding and changing.

1 Free 8x10 that you can pick from the atleast 10(God willing) free 4x6's I will give you of your session.

Location of your choice as long as it is not tooooo far away(if this is indoors you must have lots and lots of natural light. I do not come equiped with a fancy flash because I love natural light photos, if you feel you do not have enough natural light then let us wait for a month or so for my lens to be purchased for low light situations)

Please give me 1-2 weeks to edit and process your photos then I will contact you.

*** Note*** These are for practice and for building my portfolio so I will need your permission to post the pictures on my website for business purposes. If requested no names will be mentioned or locations and a watermark will be placed on the picture.(Does anyone design watermarks cause I need a nice one)This is the only way I will be able to build business. Once my business has started, I will offer discounts to continue building my portfolio as well.

More info-

Best times are in the early morning and late evening. Pictures can be done during the day but shade, not overly harsh shade is needed. The pictures of the little girl in a tutu on my blog were done at 10am under a tree. Best time for inside your home is when you have the most natural light coming through multiple windows.

Group pictures- White or black is not the best color to wear but can be done. Different colored solid shirts with jeans are great for family pictures or sibling pictures.

Individual pictures can be jeans and solid shirt or something funky like stripes. Hats are great too.

Maternity pictures are best with black or white tank or shirt and NON maternity jeans!( you unbutton them at the belly, trust its much nice then the maternity band showing in pictures...)

Newborns...naked is great or a special outfit like the take home outfit.I do not like to use too many props that mean nothing to you in pictures. So bring your favorite blanket or stuffed animal. Whatever you want in the picture that is special, just let me know ahead of time.

Finally, If you have a certain idea you have wanted for a picture Let me know ahead of time so I can look for the prop if one is needed.. Right now I have one tutu for little girls and some blocks I made. I also have a cocoon aka a snuggler for newborns and a great poka dotted blanket for boys.

EMAIL ME TO SET UP A TIME FOR YOUR SESSION! WEEKENDS ARE ALWAYS BEST UNLESS YOU WANT TO WATCH MY RAGAMUFFINS WHILE I TAKE PICTURES. NOT THE BEST SCENARIO BUT CAN BE DONE. I DO HAVE MOST EVENING AFTER 5PM FREE(MEANING NO CHILDREN).

THIS WILL BE DONE FIRST COME FIRST SERVE ( Chandy, Katie, and Lisa don't panic your up there already)

Thanks again!!
Jolie joliem6201@hotmail.com

Tutu Cute!!

Just a quick post of the session I did with Miss Joey this morning in the tutu I made! I love how this turned out. Here is a storyboard of her pics....

Swimming Lessons

Okay so my boys love the pool, yet they refuse to actually attempt to swim in it. In my opinion they that this unhealthy fear of the pool. Unhealthy because, two children that love to play in the water so much need to learn how to float or save themselves in case something should happen. But, if my boys feet don't come in contact with the bottom of the pool, you can forget them going further in. So, Nana and Papa gave them swimming lessons for their birthday. Alexander and Britton have been attending the preschool session at the peoria pool off of 83rd Ave and Deer Valley since last Monday. These boys, with Kevin's help and the lessons, have made leaps and bounds in the pool. Alexander has surprised us all by always volunteering first for everything; floating on his back(the teacher holds him of course and he has a death grip on her neck I might add), bobbing underwater, and even the superman swim(she holds them while she teaches them the freestyle stroke)! While at home, in the spa, Both boys are jumping around in it, going underwater and holding their breathe(they dont even realize they are floating by this time). Now Britton, even though he raves about swim lessons, spend some lessons completely happy and the others well lets just say we don't call him Drama King for nuttin. He arrives at the pool and starts crying as soon as he knows he has to start, where at this point Kevin and I threaten him with the loss of a toy or no TV(Come on, he needs to learn how to swim for safety reasons) and he Boo Hoo's his way to the teacher. Where through out the lesson, he cries or we look up and he is smiling. When its his turn to bob or float, he refuses a few times then grabs hold of her neck with no intention of ever letting go. He then peforms everything asked of him WITH his eyes closed! You know those moments where you laugh at your child, I mean you know you probably shouldn't but its just too funny not too. This is one of those. Well, I leave you with some pictures of today's lesson....

Miss Joey

Miss Joey, have I ever told you what a wonderful neice and cousin you are! You love Alexander and Britton, and I am so thrilled to know that you will grow up with them and hopefully have a close relationship with my goofy boys. You are totally in love with Cayden and it shows on that beautiful, yet serious face of yours every time you lay eyes on him. C dude returns that love with ews and ahs, and he can't seem to take his eyes off of you. I am so glad that God has blessed us with your presence. I love your witty toddler conversation, your determination to do it all, your twinkling eyes and most of all, I love you!! Happy 3rd Birthday, Miss Joey.

He is growing too fast!

Cayden turned 5 months on this past week! He is just growing up too fast! I need him to slow down and allow me to enjoy my last baby :( I think when you know you are not having anymore, its hard to see your kids get older. You want to enjoy every last minute of it, and I am! Cayden moves his arms, legs, and head around with purpose now. He know what he wants to look at or what he wants to touch. He pretty much sleeps 11 -12 hours at night now without waking up. He still rolls over on his back though and gets ticked off . He will cry until you go in a roll him over and boy can he cry. Mind you, he does know how to roll back over but chooses not to because he hates being on his belly. So far, he loves avocados and bananas. He has been teething forever it seems, even though no teeth have come in. His fist never leaves his mouth and he drools constantly! The Dr. said his gums are red and swollen too. He already cries if I leave the room! He isn't supposed to start that till around 9 months. I think I have a mama's boy!! Here is a second attempt at taking pictures with my new camera, even though I still don't know how to really use it yet, but I can't just leave it sitting there while I read the whole manual. Come on, its just calling my name! These are indoors with natural light as well. My next purchase is a reflector, to help with the darker shadows.

I don't feel 32?

Well, I am now 1 year older, but you know I sure don't feel like it. I know I feel better then I felt even in college so what age have to do with anything right? Well, I had a wonderful birthday. We ate with my mom,day, sis and neice at Abeullo's Mexican Restaurant(yummy) and enjoyed a cookie cake at my parent's house. Kevin gave me LightRoom, which I am super excited about because it makes photo editing soooo much easier. My parents gave me a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure, and Amy is treating me to dinner and a movie. So turning 1 year older wasn't all that bad. Now what I didn't know is that Kevin had a surprise for me about a week later...He ordered me a Canon 40D!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is considered a semi-pro camera that has lots and lots of fun accesories I can buy for it(lens mostly) and now I have a DSLR to finally really start practicing with and taking better pictures to build a portfolio with! Once I get used to my camera, expect me to start to a few free photo sessions to start building my portfolio! My hubby is so wonderful!! Here are the first pictures I took with it indoors(Yes, indoors! I finally have a camera that works in natural light indoors!). NOW, I do not know how to fully use this camera yet. These pictures were just for fun....

Fast Friends

Wow so I know its been a while since I blogged so I am going to slowly try to catch up today and tomorrow. We will actually see if that happens...:)

So on my last day at our 2HTO meeting(my moms group), Shelly came up and introduced herself. Now I have been going all semester and I know I have seen her and probably met her but this was the first time we actually talked. I am so glad she came up an introduced herself to me. She comes up and says,"Are you the other mom of twins that has those great photographs on her blog?" Can you believe that after 3 months in the same group we really didn't know anything about each other?? The Lord gives us so many chances to meet others. People we need in our lives or people he wants us to help. I actually think they go hand in hand. We ALL benefit from our relationships and we need them. So next semester, I am going to find a way to meet more moms in my playgroup, either by not sitting at the same table all the time or by just introducing myself to 1 mom I don't know each session. I could have missed out on having a lasting friendship with another mom of twins, both of them are boys too, who loves photography and wants to practice with me, is a SAHM mom and goes through the same struggles as me, oh, and she is trying to lose weight too! Lord knows I am always trying to do that! I know we will both benefit from this relationship. Thank you Shelly for introducing yourself to me!

So we finally met up at her house the following week and talked forever(really we talked from like 10 am -2:30) while our kids happily played together. We finally got to our cameras, were I started showing her how to work with her natural light photos indoors...and I practiced with her lovely light! So we left at 4pm with plans for a trip to Saguaro Park the next Friday for a just for fun photo shoot of our kids...We both were so excited...

The photo shoots was a blast but of course hot already and poor Shelly camera broke:( And hers is the better camera...but they the kids behaved which I could not believe because mine would really be happy if they never saw a camera again...we then had pizza at my house so I could show her how to use Photoshop elements...A long but wonderful day leaving us all exhausted....

But during that time, Shelly opens up and tells me she feels like she has known me forever! I, too feel the same way and ya know it a really good feeling when you make a friend that way.. So enjoy our fun photo shoot and here is too a long and photography filled friendship!