The Story of My Life

My little snow angel....... Cs5 for Mac. Wow.

Revised because of Google searches.......from stupid people. Isn't she the little model? Tucker Park- we trespassed at the cabin and it was worth it. I slipped her over the fence and I stood outside. She went on the porch and did her thing. Can you tell she has had her picture taken a few times??? .........And you know I had to change the title of this original post AND remove the PHOTOS because SICK people out there search for in appropriate things ON GOOGLE AND FIND THIS POST about my innocent beautiful daughter's birthday portrait sitting. You never can tell what some people will take and make ugly. Shame. Shame on you if this is YOU. GO AWAY.

I am really not sure how to begin the tale of Baby Girl's 5th birthday party. We had it at home and her only request was a pinata. Her Daddy got up really early the day of the party and went to a Mexican grocery store to have a good selection and get a "good one". There are lots of pertinent facts from here on in the story. ** It was one of those days when the temperature was in the teens and the high below freezing. **The year prior we had a pinata that you pull strings out of to win. She wanted a real one to hit. Daddy held it last year and the sweet little darlings pulled the strings until all the loot fell out. ***After the helpful employees at the Hispanic American grocery got the...and I quote....Gringo...a pinata down from the huge selection, he happily brought it home where we filled it with bags and bags of treats for the children. Now, you have just read about my family's tendencies to do things that are somewhat out of the ordinary and, well stupid. So I h...

We had a Mini-party last night for Baby Girl WHO TURNS 5 Today!! Note a pizza that she and her Daddy made together has her candle. Her with her present- a DS....and the Birthday dress and hairbow that did not even make it out of the door this morning....but is SO CUTE. Seems like just yesterday we just brought her home from the hospital..... And then our little Princess turned ONE. Then Cutie Pie Celebrated the Terrible.....Terrific Twos! And the Wonderful, exciting 3 year old portrait..... in Sunny Florida. Then the BIG GIRL turned 4! *****On a side, sad note...Here is MawMaw holding her the day she came home from the hospital and at her 1st Princess party. Everyone please say a little prayer of peace for my 95 year old grandmother and Baby Girl's Great grandmother. She is on hospice care and will not be with us much longer. We love you MawMaw and Ally plays the harmonica just like you..... The official party and 5 year portrait will be up soon! I LOVE YOU BABY GIRL!!!

My daughter never ceases to amaze me. Do not get me wrong, my sons amazes me too, but in just totally different ways. Example 1- MY SON LOSES EVERYTHING. MY DAUGHTER KNOWS WHERE EVERYTHING IN THE HOUSE IS. The item of loss this week was his library book. We searched and searched. The next morning, after he lost his library privilege the day before, He was trying to get me to pay for the book so he could go back to the library. I asked Miss Priss if she knew where the book might be. She had seen us looking frantically for it, yet never made a comment. " Um, yes. His book is in the grey car, in front of my car seat, in the pocket where I keep my movies. I put it in there when we went to Tucker Park the other day so it would not get lost." And, indeed it was. Example 2- My DAUGHTER is VERY OBSERVANT. We pass by the same route daily. A new building in front of Publix is going up, quite rapidly. She asked, "What is the new building going to be?" I said I wasn't re...

I love this time of year! I have been trying to teach my children Christmas carols and remind them the reason for the season- Jesus' birth. I am trying to teach them about giving and not just wanting and getting. We attended a Christmas play at CCB church this weekend. Any child who wanted to participate had a time to arrive for a fitting for a chosen costume and participate. Kinda an impromptu Christmas play! A few older kids had the parts that told the story from the animals' point of view and the other kids were ALL the animals. Baby girl was all about it. Little man, not so much. He dressed in his stylin' new clothes and said he would "look" at the costumes to see the choices but would rather just watch his sister. I said that was fine and just wanted us to all go as a family to celebrate Christmas together, secretly wanting my little man to still be my baby boy and be in the play. We arrived and Baby girl chose a cute little bunny costume with ears and t...

I always end up taking more pictures in November and December than the rest of the year combined. Here is Baby girl on her first photo shoot of the season.

A Discussion of Politics Over Breakfast: "Do you know what the presidents is?" "Um, yep... Mama. The President of the United States but, what does that mean?" "It means he is the "boss" of our country, he is in charge." "Oh, then he gets to eat WHATEVER he wants! Is it a girl or a boy?" " A boy." "Oh no! I do not like boys." At Preschool, her class had Ed's Pet World (Homewood) come and bring pets during this past PET week. She held a snake, a scorpion, a baby alligator, a parrot, a tarantula. Last night, she ran from her room screaming BLOODY murder. She was holding her arm outstretched and I full well expected to find a large gaping wound due to the crying and screaming she was creating. It was a lady bug on her finger. I said, after all you held at school today???? She said, "I didn't hold ANY BUGS. I hate bugs." A little boy was trying to bully her at the football game. I was watching from afar...

Are they both preparing for their future careers????? I think Little Man slept in his full football gear! He is so excited!

I have had a few things happen in the last week that have made me stop and think. You know as you get older you are supposed to learn lessons. And obviously some of us are slow learners and developmentally delayed when it comes to life. Lesson #1: When you have a child and are the female parent, you can never, ever take your eyes off of said child for any amount of time when father is out of town. Because if you do, even if your comfy lawn chair is sitting in the middle of your said 2 children, performing two different activities and you are strategically placed, dead center, as to watch both children simultaneously , ONE CHILD will get hurt. And that dear child will be all too happy to throw you under the bus while describing the accident to returning father. "It was because Mom was not keeping an eye on me." And really, do you know HOW people, including the father, look at you, when a precious little princess has a shiner, that looks worse, in many colors of black, blue, g...

I signed Baby Girl up for Pop Star Dance camp and it began today. She and KB and MB all dressed up so adorably......were so excited..... And my little one and Little Princess both say they are not going back tomorrow. We shall see! Dance Camp $125 Leotard, Tights, TuTu, Ballet Shoes, and sequined dance Bag: $100 A shot like this.....priceless. UPDATE: She did finish Pop Star Camp and learned THE CUTEST DANCE to Surfing USA, complete with beach ball and surfboard. After the initial shock of a strict list of rules and paying attention for 3 hour....which is long for a baby girl.....she had a great time and learned a lot. I highly recommend the Brimingham Dance Theater in Vestavia's Pop Star camp...ages 4-7. www.birminghamdancetheater.com

Playing in the same dirt pile...making mud pies....as I did when I was a little girl. Did anyone ever make mud panty hose besides me??

The Wild Honeysuckle Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, Hid in this silent, dull retreat, Untouched thy homed blossoms blow, Unseen thy little branches greet No roving foot shall crush thee here, No busy hand provoke a tear. By Nature's self in white arrayed, She bade thee shun the vulgar eye, And planted here the guardian shade, And sent soft waters murmuring by; Thus quietly thy summer goes, Thy days declining to repose. Smit with those charms, that must decay, I grieve to see your future doom; They died--nor were those flowers more gay, The flowers that did in Eden bloom; Unpitying frosts, and Autumn's power, Shall leave no vestige of this flower. From morning suns and evening dews At first thy little being came; If nothing once, you nothing lose, For when you die you are the same; The space between is but an hour, The frail duration of a flower. - Philip Freneau's poem: The Wild Honeysuckle

Joy and Julie of Sweet Tea Photo did an editorial photo shoot at my home and have a few proofs for me that I had to pass along. They are not done with the finishing touches on some more of my skater boy, but the ones they sent so far are AWESOME! How will I ever choose. I have almost the same camera as they do, but as my son pointed out.... "Mama, why does their camera take such better pictures than yours???" They were my students in high school and I would love to say I taught them everything they know, but NOT. Now the student has become the teacher as I will be getting some lessons from these talented girls very soon. I will post some more of my little man soon. If you are interested in an editorial shoot for your family, let me know, or check out the website. They have been in NYC but are doing some local shoots for a bit. Some of my children are also posted in their portfolio under portraits as well.......