a mom and her camera

it's midnight and since chris would kill me if i woke him up i am going to vent on here.

I was asked last week, on Easter Sunday to be exact, to be a part of our church's capital campaign visual leadership committee.  I said yes, against my better judgment, b/c 1. I was honored to be asked (I think I am the youngest out of any leader) 2. b/c it would be a great opportunity to become even more involved in church and 3. b/c i was intrigued as to what goes into designing a capital campaign.

That was last week.

Now I'm just fairly exhausted by the whole thing.  Don't get me wrong, I still am excited about aspects of the work we have to do and love the fact that I can say I helped with such an important part of our church history.  It's just that the deadlines they have put on us, the creative group, are crazy in my opinion!  They basically gave us one week to design the logo and overall look of the campaign which we will use to unify all the marketing materials from the website to the DVD each family will receive to all the print materials. One week is ridicules! 

Luckily there is a really amazing designer working on our committee also so I'm hoping she will come up with the winning logo and that she will take care of print layouts... but just for a new perspective I created a few logo ideas as well. 

I can't post them yet but I will once the exec board chooses the logo they like best. 

OK, so I could vent more openly but there are people from my church that read this and that would just be mean.

So onto other news...

Bailey is now sleeping in a BIG GIRL BED!  That's right!  We took Parker's crib apart (and put it at the curb as there were a few key pieces missing when we were given it last year), moved her to Bailey's crib, rearranged their room to make the new toddler bed work and VIOLA! A big girl bed in the room and knock on wood, so far so good!  She fell out of bed once last night and cried out once also, but settled right down and never woke Parker.  They slept last night from about 7pm (when they finally fell asleep after lots of giggling and talking) until 5:45am! Amazing!  She's so excited about it I need to get a photo.

There are other things I was going to talk about tonight but my eyes are getting the best of me and yearning for sleep.  Hope you all had a fabulous Monday!

the park.

Although it rained all night, most of the morning and on and off all day we headed out to the park this afternoon to celebrate C's last day of spring break.  Or maybe it was just because by the time naps are over we're all a bit stir crazy, even with church this morning! Either way, we needed some outside time...

{ i love those curls! }

{ bailey took this photo of me and i just love it! }

The Newlyweds is over which means it's bedtime... does anyone else just love this show?

Tomorrow is Monday and my spring is picking up at warp speed (booked 3 photo shoots and worked on 4 design projects this weekend!) so it's going to be a get up and GO kind of day!

Oh, and if you need one more blog to read tonight, go to Candle at Both Ends b/c as usual, I laughed my pants off!

birthdays

Hi all,

today is my bff's birthday and she has officially jumped the border into her 30's!  she turned 30 last year but i feel like this year makes her officially in her 30's and that is crazy to me!  sorry, jess, you're not OLD, just older than I can believe since i've known you so long now!  :)

Here's her blog if you want to wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY:  The Juice from Teguz

And speaking of birthdays, I know mine is not until October, but if anyone out there wants to send me birthday wishes early (or mother's day or just whatever) here are two things I really want:

elsiecake :: best friend print

{i just NEED this! don't you think?!?}

elsiecake :: teddy print

{I want this for Grayson's room... it's supposed to be Michael from Peter Pan and i love the eternal boyhood this portrays}

Also, don't you think Grayson (and every tiny baby out there) needs this???  Bumbo Cover

I could totally get lost on etsy!

Ok, enough playing. Back to work!

Parker is still sleeping so

I have time to post one more thing...

This is for my dad who doesn't know how to use a computer but b/c of my mom has found out (after a year mind you) that I have a blog. And now he checks it, or at least this morning he did (with her laptop in bed). And he actually commented on my sister's blog which amazes me!

So this is for YOU dad! Welcome to the wonderful world of blogs!

and the vandalism continues...

I stayed up late last night editing soccer photos I took for Chris at their first game yesterday (they lost so I won't go into details as he is still pretty mad about it all) so he let me sleep in this morning.  I miss being able to stay up late, even working, knowing that I get to sleep until my body wakes me up... it's luxurious!

When I finally rolled out of bed at 8am (yes, that is incredibly late at our house!) I found this in the kitchen:

*taken with the MAC

Our bank account was broken into!

We keep this massive jar in the dining room to collect change... it's our savings account at this point in our lives.  The girls love it b/c any time they find a penny or get monies from PawPaw they know to hold onto them until they get home and can put them in the jar.  I think it's fun for them to see the money fall and hear the clinks as it hits the other coins.  Parker, however, has taken it one step further and occasionally puts other things in the jar... I think she just loves the putting so she doesn't really care what she puts! So in the jar, along with the millions of dollars we've saved already, is a drum stick, dominos, pens, markers, chalk, trash and a few dollar bills stuck in by C (when he really wants to make a big deposit!).

Anyway, we have no idea how this happened, but Chris heard a huge crash and found Parker sitting amongst the mess!  The jar is almost as big as her and is really really heavy! Luckily it split like that and there were only a few random pieces of glass, so it was easy to pick up, but still!  How in the world did this happen? 

Only Parker knows and she's not talking.

When your day starts with something like this you just know it's going to be an interesting day!

Chris is at practice, the girls and I are headed to the Magic House (and I'm debating actually NOT taking my camera so I can enjoy the moments more... we'll see) and I told Chris to offer less sprints to any kid that will babysit for free tonight so we can go OUT on the jar! 

Happy Saturday! Get out there and GO!

All About Sam

Will be back later with more, but had to give out the link to Abbie's new BLOG!  That's right folks!  I talked my sister into starting a blog!  I'm dying I'm so excited!

Really, it was selfish in that I wanted to be able to see photos of my niece whenever I want... but as all of us bloggers know, this is an amazing outlet for new-mommyhood and also completely addicting!  She'll be a pro in on time!

So go check her out at : ALL ABOUT SAM

And I'll get a permanent link up on the sidebar soon so you all can check in with her often...

the front porch massacre

This morning we woke up to find this outside.

Can you tell what this is?

Oh it's one of two chocolate pudding cups that were smashed on our front porch last night.  Do you think it's a coincidence that it's spring break this week at the school Chris teaches at and the kids are potentially bored and/or partying too much?  The entire front porch is a mess.  There is pudding spread from the floor to the walls to the ceiling (the cup pictured is stuck to the wall next to the front door).  We need to now hook up our hoses for the season and turn the water on to clean up this incredible mess.

And have I mentioned that I am MAD?  I don't curse much but oh how I cursed those that did this today.  It's a sticky disgusting mess and ticks me off how rude and disrespectful someone must be to do this to a family. 

I could be wrong, but I'm blaming this on the stupid kids he teaches/coaches.  And no, I know not all the kids are stupid, and most days you would find me praising them, but not today. Today I am mad and they are getting the brunt of it!

There will be a big reward for anyone who has any information on the Pudding Culprit!

working.

So busy working this week, trying to catch up from the two funerals and one birth that's happened this month!  Hopefully by tomorrow night I will be back to normal posting...there are photos from today's trip to the park I haven't even gotten off the camera yet, which is not like me!

Two big things I got done today were for my sister, Abbie.  I finished editing the photos from our trip up there (there would have been millions more if I'd actually gotten to hang out with them while I was there!) and finished Sam's birth announcement.  Some of you will be getting one in the mail I'm sure, so please pretend like you've never seen it before when you receive it!  I just had to post it b/c I had so much fun designing it... it coordinates (from my memory) with the PB bedding in Sam's room which is fun, funky and colorful flowers.

So take a look at her album over on the left b/c my niece is beautiful!

Also, if you are in the mood for laughing out loud, go HERE! (and read like the last 4 posts!)

It totally made me wet my pants!

Oh, and although this is from the weekend, I have to show you how my SICK ROOM (aka, hotel room) looked in WI:

That was after just one night. One night, 3 bottles of water, multiple pills, snacks and one entire box of Kleenex.  Disgusting huh?

And I guess I'm feeling better, except that for the first time in the midst of this 3 week illness my throat hurts desperately bad.  If I'm not constantly drinking, eating or sucking on something I can barely talk.  It can't go on much longer can it? I mean three weeks is plenty of sickness for me!

Super busy right now with design work but surprisingly not busy with photo shoots... I think St. Louis is still defrosting from this horrible winter and not thinking about going outside for photos! SO, if you know me, are related to me or have worked with me, watch your inbox in the next week for an email from me with a fun spring incentive!

And regular blogging should get back on track by the end of the week!

was easter today?

It's sort of sad how easily a holiday as special as Easter can be skipped over when nothing about the day was "Easter". 

Chris woke up this morning sick so by 8am mom, dad and I had decided that it was time to go.  As much as we wanted to be there to help Abbie and Chris (have I mentioned before that we both married men named Chris?), my dad needed to get back to work tomorrow, I needed to get home to help take care of my two sick kids and now sick husband and we also have my Grandma's wake tomorrow and funeral on Tuesday.

We had brunch at my sister's, a quick photo shoot and then we hit the road.  We were home by 8:30pm tonight after a long day in the car.  It's nice to be home and I can't wait to see the girls in the morning, but I hate that I traveled so far and barely got to see my new niece or help Abbie+Chris out. 

I'm planning on some egg hunting tomorrow with the girls, a much needed grocery store run and just some good old fashioned play time.  Here are a few of the photos I took this morning... more to come as I finish the editing...

my dad and sam

mom, baby, dad, dog. i love this photo b/c it was SO hard to get!

do you see how tall chris is compared to ab?  :)

you might not be able to tell, but i was holding my breath! I was so scared to get her sick, but wanted to get one photo of me and sam to prove I was there with her for at least a minute! and please ignore how horrible i look... remember, I AM SICK!  :)

So that's that. I'm sad we won't see little Samantha for so long, but Abbie and Chris are already amazing parents and they're going to do great.  Thanks for letting the blog be All Sam All the Time the last few days!

i should have known.

I forgot about this photo I took last week, but it should have forewarned me about this illness!

Tomorrow I will post the photos of my sick room (aka, hotel room) b/c it's pretty funny.

Happy Easter everyone!