Surprise...sort of.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! We spent ours doing the usual road-warrior thing back and forth for church activities...so we celebrated on Friday. It was kind of nice to beat the rush. We went out for a lunch date, piddled around the mall, and exchanged our gifts Friday while my mom watched the kids for us.

Since Grandma kept the kids, it was nice to go somewhere to eat that wasn't required to have chicken nuggets on the menu. ;) We tried out a Thai restaurant around where we live and really enjoyed it.
I had gotten Billy a t-shirt he had been wanting, and a funny card. Nothing too fancy, but we usually don't go overboard on Valentine's day...especially since his birthday is exactly a week following. He got me the traditional box of chocolates, which we practically demolished before we even left the house for lunch. :) And surprised me with this really pretty coffee mug from Starbucks. I was never much of a coffee drinker until after Tirzah was born, and now I've really gotten to where I love it...so the mug was a sweet idea that I wasn't expecting. I also wasn't expecting this:

It's not here yet, because they're so cute that they're back ordered. But he ordered me this really cute camera back that I've been sneaking peeks at online. One of those things that I really wanted, but kept thinking how many packs of diapers I could get for that kind of money. I would have probably never bought it myself, and not let him buy it either had I known. He knows me well enough to know that, so he just didn't ask. :)

It was fun being surprised...I'm usually bad about weaseling what my gifts are out of him before I get them, and we both are awful about opening Christmas/birthday presents early. We're kind of like kids...so who knows what's going to happen when the real kids around here are old enough to understand presents. We'll be having Christmas in October. He's gonna get paid back with the sneaky-ness on his birthday though. I've been plotting, along with several accomplices. Look out, Billy. ;)

Down on the Farm...

I've never been much of a dancer, in public places at least. I really just mostly dance in my car, much to Merrick's horror. I'm kind of not embarrassed to dance in the car with someone whose diapers I change...I guess that kind of makes us even. I'm not awful or anything...it's just not like I have many dancing opportunities. My Grandma is a good old southern Baptist...so at the risk of her passing away during the reception, we didn't even have dancing at our wedding. ;) I still regret that we didn't, but wouldn't want our wedding to be known as Grandma's last wedding.

So this week at i ♥ faces, when I found out the theme was *I wanna dance*, I knew this photo would not be of me. I remember last spring, we had a chance to go to a friend's wedding on her parents' farm. I took this shot of the bride, who I've known since she we were kids, dancing on a hay bale. It was a great time, and a so-sweet wedding...hay bales & tractors included.

Check out i ♥ faces for more great shots and blogs!

Just around the corner...

My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
:: Song of Solomon 2:10-12









The winter may not be over just yet, but I've got plenty to be grateful for just the same...

Workin' Hard

Lately I've been really trying to get down to business, and work toward actually starting my photography business. I am the most unconfident, self-questioning person ever...well, maybe not, but it feels like it when I am staring in the face of putting myself out there. So scary. People might not like what I do. So I have been putting it off.

I think it gets a little easier the older I get. The farther I get from that awkward teenager thing...well, maybe not. ;) But, I am realizing that I've got a hobby that I absolutely love, and one that I can work at and be better at all the time if I'm willing to work at it. That, in itself, is becoming good enough for me.

I had the amazing opportunity to do my first engagement shoot this week, for my sister, as well as a few bridal portraits, also for my sister. I had a great time, and feel like I already learned a little bit and am more excited for the next time around. We did some more traditional shots, also, but didn't want to risk her fiance seeing those before the big day. So I'm keeping those to myself for now. :)
I guess if I had to pick a job to do to help pay the bills around here, doing something that I love is a good way to do it. I'm still far away from this actually being something that brings in money, which is also ok, but at least I feel like I'm making progress in that direction. And it doesn't give me paper cuts like my last job. ;)
Billy, and my family, are always really supportive, and constantly offering my "services" to anyone who might want anything from a bridal portrait to a facebook profile picture. ;) I am always taking every opportunity to practice on my very unwilling subjects, also known as children.

I'm glad for this challenge, and a new opportunity to do something that keeps me on my toes, engaged, and keeping my eyes open to the world around me. I hope that this hobby never becomes work, but at the same time constantly keeps me working.


This week at You Capture the theme was Work. Check out the site for more great photos and blogs!

Hi, my name is Merrick...

...and I'm addicted to chapstick.

Merrick has been addicted, severely so, to chapstick for months now. He can't get enough. *And yes, he has ingested plenty of it in the process of smearing it all over his entire face* He's like an addict...he sneaks it off my desk, he steals it out of my mom's purse, he begs, he pleads...he has no shame. But I'm glad it's only chapstick...I'm sure there are mothers out there who would love for their child to be addicted to chapstick as opposed to other things. So I really con't complain. But it's messy, and ends up all over his whole head...literally. I find myself asking him, why is there chapstick in your ear??? Were your eardrums chapped??? My mother gave our resident chapstick fiend three of his very own chapsticks for Christmas. I will never understand why she did this, at least until I'm a grandmother with grandkids to spoil myself, and then I'm sure it will make perfect sense to me. He has been limited in his chapstick usage up to this point. I keep it up on the desk where he doesn't really see it, and therefore doesn't really seem to realize he desperately needs his chapstick fix to be filled.

While I was getting ready this morning, though, he must have spotted the chapsticks. Billy called me into the bedroom to show me what had become of Merrick's last 2 "chaps" as he calls them. He had twisted them until they'd just fallen out of the tubes. He kept asking me "mommy, chap up down." Which means I'm supposed to fix them. I did, but not without getting it all over me and the desk. But, all is right with the world again, because his chapsticks are back together again and waiting for him. Ya know, for the next time he decided his big toe is chapped or one of his stuffed animals could use a little touch up.