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Yikes – second post today!  But there is a good reason – by the skin of our teeth I am getting in my monthly family photo!!!!

This month we did the quick and dirty family photo – two kids with hair stiff from swimming in the pool, one dad with his “uniform” of t’s and mesh shorts, one Caroline in a T after a long swim in her pool and one mom.   The front porch was the easiest and fastest way to accomplish the family photo.  The above photo is my pick as the best of the bunch and the photo of the month.  Caroline is one who did it for me – I love how she is looking up a Christina wondering what in the heck she is doing.

Here are a couple “rejects”:

This was Eric’s contribution – have the two girls stand behind us and hold up their arms (??).  Although Caroline’s smile is pretty damn cute.

Yeah, that is why I am the photographer of the family.  And then Christina’s contribution – bring in the cat!!! (aka Ms. Nugget).

Anyway…..August was a crazy month.   But it is all good.

In our little corner of the world, Eric and the kids took advantage of every last second of summer this month.  They went canoeing, camping, took a trip to the fair, and, of course, spent many MANY hours in the pool.  I joined in, but not as much, since it has been busy in my photography world.   But it worked out well – Eric took the kids for a day of fun and I got some quiet work time without hearing “Mom, I am HUN-GEE!!!!”  or “Mom!!!  Christina (insert the complaint of the day)” or “Mom!!!  Kallie (insert other complaint of the day)”….every 1.4 minutes or so.

Which leads me to my next topic…SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION!!!  Whoo HOOOO!!!  Oh, I love being home with my kids, and yes, I love spending time with my kids…but by the end of 3 months of “vacation”, it is definitely time for some structure and routine.  Eric started last week, Christina started Monday and Caroline starts tomorrow.  My little Kallie is going to stay in preschool another year since she JUST turned 5 (and I am in no hurry to lose all my kids).  Tomorrow my Kallie and I will celebrate a bit by treating ourselves to lunch out and going on a bit of a shopping trip.  I think I may have a hard time next year when she is off to school full time.  I don’t really want to think about it.

Caroline has been doing really well.  She did amazingly well with her horseback riding and has one more day before the end of this session.  I am just amazed at how well she sits and how she really does seem like she knows what she is doing.  It will be nice to have her back in school, she really seems to like it and I think it is SOOO good for her.

Christina is so happy to be back in school.  She was up a hour before she needed to be on the first day all dressed and ready to go.  She leaves every day with a huge smile and gets off the bus with another huge smile.  I just hope her love for school and her friends continues.  She is in 3rd grade now.  She loves to read, she loves athletics and she seems to be able to shrug off “mean people”.   Today she was telling us how they started up the kickball games again during recess.  All the boys and my Christina play kickball during recess.  We asked Christina where the girls are and she just said “they watch from the swings”.  She has convinced one girl to join in, but the girl isn’t too keen on the whole thing so she probably won’t continue for long.  I think it is great.    She truly enjoys life and really doesn’t care what anyone else thinks about her.  Let’s just hope THAT continues too.  We’ll see..

Well, it is late and I am exhausted but I refused to miss a month in this project.  I also am participating in Project 365 where I take a photo every day for year.  Unfortunately, I am not doing a great job in that endeavor.

Until next time!

Well, here we are in the month of July – the sixth month of my once-a-month family photo project!

July was a good month.  We finally have had lots of sun and warm weather so our kids have been in the pool almost every day.  Their hair is stiff and full of chlorine, but they are happy and swimming like fish!

So, what is new?  Well, I took this photo with my new D700 camera!  Yesiree!  I upgraded to a full-frame and I am absolutely thrilled.  I love it and am so excited for my upcoming weddings and many senior shoots to really see this sucker in action.  My old camera did a very good job, but this guy will ROCK in the low light!   I also love having a wider angle, I took this photo with my 50mm which is usually too long for a group shot like this.

This month we had a short trip up to my hometown to stay with my parents and enjoy the summer activities.  The kids absolutely LOVE going there and spending lots of time with their cousins.  They are truly the best of friends.  We did everything and anything on this visit – amusement park, beach, party, picnics and my husband and I even got an evening out alone!  You see, July is also the month of our wedding anniversary!  We have been married 11 years this month.  And, the interesting this is, we got married at my parents home and our wedding was on a Sunday afternoon.  This year, we were staying at my parents on our anniversary which was also on a Sunday this year!  So, the hubby and I went out to a little restaurant on the bay and enjoyed some cocktails and some alone time.

Yesterday was my 25th high school reunion – which I, sadly, did not attend.  I had thought about it, but we just didn’t have the motivation to either pack up the kids to stay again at my parents or to find a babysitter for the kiddos and make an one hour trip each way.  So we stayed put.  And now I see all the photos on Facebook and I am really bummed we didn’t go.  Oh well, I guess we have next time!

Our little Caroline is doing really well.  She is going to horseback riding every week and recently has had some remarkable improvement.  She has been going for 4 years, but in the last couple weeks, it is like it all clicked and she started holding on better and sitting on that horse like she knows exactly what she is doing.  It is so sweet!!!!

Kallie has finally ‘taken off the floaties” and is swimming all on her own.  She took swim lessons all winter, but it took some time before she felt comfortable swimming in our pool without floaties.  She is doing so well.

Christina continues with summer swim team a few days a week.  And when she gets home, she gets in the pool and continues practicing her strokes.   She is enjoying her summer, but can see there are moments when I know she would benefit from more structure in the day.  She really thrives in school.  She loves waking early and being busy all day.  So long summer days with no schedule can be tough sometimes.

Our summer has been really wonderful so far.  The kids have finally all reached the ages where they can stay up later and just sleep in longer in the morning.  When they were younger, late nights still resulted in early rising, but also meant very cranky kiddos.  This year we have had so much more freedom to go places and do things without worrying about early bedtimes.   It really has been so nice.

As we approach August, I am nervous that it is all going to go too fast.  Only a few weeks and school will start.  We have so much more we want to do yet and are not sure we will fit it all in.  August is getting busy with weddings and now senior photos and time is quickly running out!

Until next time!!!

Yikes! I am just squeaking by with my month #5 family photo!   This photo was taken yesterday, on Caroline’s 7th birthday!   I am always so excited to celebrate another of Caroline’s birthdays and prove, yet again, to all the experts that the so-called experts can be oh-so-wrong.   Caroline is seven and she is happy and healthy and still going strong! 

So, what is going on this month of June?

Well, it is the first month of summer vacation so I have EVERYONE home.  Every. Single. Day.  Usually that is OK, but some days it can get a bit much.   I definitely know why my own mom used to get so excited for the first day of school.  Summer is NOT a vacation for mom.  I have more kids, more meals, lots of snacks, more messes, more fighting, and a lot less quiet time.  Oh well, I also know these days of little ones go so fast and before I know it, I will have an empty house all the time :(.   So I am also enjoying these days as much as possible.

June has been a good month.  We had a family vacation last week to the mountains of Tennessee.  Caroline stayed home with her grandmother (Mimi) which really was so nice.  Tennesse was definitely not a vacation for Caroline.  We went boating, horseback riding, swimming and some relaxing.  She would have liked the relaxing part, but not the driving, boating, swimming etc.  We missed her so much, and it was really strange not to have to think about her schedule for feedings and meds her for 5 days,  but we know she was SO much happier at home.  And it was nice to have so much more freedom to do things with the other girls.  The vacation home was wonderful – clean and comfortable with an amazing view.  I am planning on blogging more about the vacation later. Actually, I have a LOT to blog about, and should have many new posts very soon! 

Christina is back into summer swim team.  She also spent a week taking golf lessons this month and her Dad is quite excited to get her out on a course this summer.  Hopefully she will enjoy it as much as he does.   Christina is also, as usual, living life to the fullest.   She is my party girl, she loves to have friends and family over to visit or to go visiting, she will stay up as late as absolutely possible, she will only sleep if forced to, and she is usually the first one up in the morning.  She never wants to miss a second of the day.  I wish I had just a tenth of her energy.

Kallie turned 5 this month.  She is as crazy as ever and continues to be our comedian.   She is also becoming quite the skinny minny.  She grew about 1  1/2 inches over the last 6 months…and lost a pound!  She definitely is enjoying having her sister and dad home for the summer.  She loved her birthday party this month and her favorite gift was probably a purple lizard her Mimi got her from the dollar store.  She is such a goof and has developed a love of lizards.  She carries the thing around all day.  He even sleeps next to her in bed.  Kallie also has decided to assume the role of  “Superdog” this month.  She puts on her swim goggles, and crawls around the house.  She has been playing this role for about 3 days now.   She insists that Christina must play Superdog with her, but Christina, understandably, has no idea what Superdog is and how to actually play it!  Fortunately, Kallie finally let her in as to how the game is apparently played and Christina has nicely played along with her crazy sister.

Caroline is doing so well.  She enjoyed a month off from school, but will be back in school in July.  She is also having a good time at horseback riding.  She goes to a handicapped horseback riding program once a week.   She has been going for a few years now.  It is such a wonderful program and Caroline actually seems to enjoy herself.  Caroline also has been enjoying her pool this summer.  She got a pool through Make A Wish a couple years ago.  We have a float rigged up that fits her just perfectly.   She can sit and kick and float around the pool and she absolutely LOVES it! 

Eric is enjoying his summer vacation.  He is helping at the Y with the summer swim team and is doing odd jobs around the house.   I have a few projects I hope will finally get started now that our family vacation is done. 

Well, that is it for now, this 29th day of June!  Until next month!!!

Well, here we are!  It is May and we only have a few weeks before the kids (and hubby) are done with school for the year and ready for some summer vacation!

Things here are going pretty well.  I love this photo, down along the woods at the back of our yard.   You can see Christina and Caroline are fairly happy, but Kallie is a bit upset that she hasn’t had her turn to use the camera remote yet, and Eric refuses to sit on the table because one of the legs is broken. 

So what is new?  Well about 2 hrs after we took this photo, my dear Christina (who had not been herself most of the day) came down with stomach flu!  I felt so bad, because I didn’t really think she was that sick.  She was complaining of being tired and started crying after school for no reason, but then she started playing with her sister and seemed fine, no fever.  Until her dinner came back up right before bed.  Geez I feel like a bad mom.  I guess she had a very good reason for not wanting to eat dinner!  Now I will just hope and pray that this bug doesn’t start spreading through the family!

And why am I SOOOOOO worried?  Well I am scheduled to leave town on Monday for my first photography workshop!!  I am going to spend a couple days with the amazing Amy Wenzel!!  I am so thrilled.  I can’t wait to meet Amy, I can’t wait to meet the other photographers, and I will just cry if this stomach bug ends my plans!!!  So I will wash my hands a lot, eat well and just hope for the best.  Not much more I can do I guess!!

Christina has been doing well (before tonight!).  She and her sister Kallie spend hours just literally running around outside.  No wonder they are two skinny minnies, they just don’t stop all. day. long.  One thing thing that has helped is that I have been stricter in limiting TV hours. Christina gets only 1/2 hr a day, and it is amazing how much happier and how much more fun the kids have when they don’t rely on TV or video games to entertain them.   They create the most amazing games and play for hours.  I wish I would have done this long time ago!

Kallie is still just a happy camper.  She really is (other than in this photo) such a happy kid.  And she is so creative.  My MIL asked me what Kallie needs for her upcoming 5th birthday.  My answer?  NOTHING.  Her favorite toys consist of:  Christina’s swimming ribbons (she pretends they are mermaids), the air filled packing from the photos I get delivered (again, they are mermaids (long explanation)), Daddy’s old belt (it is a snake), Daddy’s turkey decoy (it is, well, a turkey) and a bungee cord (I am not sure what this is, but the two ends talk to each other).  Now these ”toys” are not being used because she lacks for toys.  We have billions of Barbies and Barbie homes and Barbie cars and Barbie accessories.  We have littlest pet shop, Fisher Price little people, Playmobil and more.  And she will occasionally play with her real toys.  But the belt, ribbon and turkey decoy, for some unknown reason, are just much more fun.  I do remember, when I was a little one, standing by the pantry, playing with the cans of food, having them talk to themselves.  I don’t remember exactly what I was doing or saying, but I clearly remember playing there quite often.  So maybe she takes after me a bit!

Caroline is doing well.  She has a back brace now in addition to her braces for her feet.  She doesn’t like it, and cries a bit when she sees it coming, but she tolerates it OK.  She is sitting up on her own much more now (when she doesn’t have the brace on).  She pushes up, sits at a 90 degree angle and looks around for a while until she lets herself fall back down.  That is a big deal for a little girl who was supposed to be just a “vegetable”.  Caroline hasn’t been sick, hasn’t had any seizures, has just been happy and healthy!  (KNOCK ON WOOD!)

Eric is in the midst of turkey season.  I hate turkey season.  He is up before dawn and home again soon after we all wake up.  So he isn’t gone a lot, but he often is snoozing by mid afternoon on the weekend and the evenings are a bit boring when he is ready to crash at 9 p.m.  I will be happy when he gets back to sleeping normal hours. 

Well, I think that is it, this 19th day of May 2010.  

Until next time!

It is April and month #3 in my once a month family photo session.  This first weekend of April was also Easter Sunday, so I thought I would get a photo of the whole crew in their Easter Sunday best!

We are Russian Orthodox and if you know the Russian culture and religion, Easter is definitely the biggest holiday of the year.     

Before embarking on our trip up to spend the day at my parent’s home, I rounded up the troups for our monthly family photos (inspired by Tara!).    I loved quite a few of the photos so I decided to post more than one take.

I love the interaction in this photo – Caroline smiling at me, Christina smiling at Kallie and Kallie admiring Christina’s “bling”!

I absolutely LOVE the perfect smiles on Christina and Kallie and Caroline looks so sweet smiling at her sister Kallie.

And in this one I love the beaming smile on sweet Caroline!!!!

Unfortunately, what I don’t really love are the trees coming up out of my and my husband’s heads!  But when you are balancing your camera on an Adirondack chair and are in a hurry, sometimes you forget some basic compositional guidelines!

So what has been new since our last family photos?

Christina has been doing well in school, as usual. Since she is done with swimming for now, she spends most of her afternoons and weekend running around outside with Kallie and any and all neighborhood friends that wants to join her.  She is always the social butterfly and party girl.  She is obsessed with the Nintendo game Nintendogs and everything Harry Potter. We read the first Harry Potter book together and she is very eager to get started with book #2.

Kallie also loves Nintendogs when she isn’t crawling around the house pretending she is a dog. She likes preschool, but would much rather stay home and play with Christina.

Caroline got her casts off! She was so happy to finally be able to soak her feet and legs in a warm bath. She has been doing so well in school and hasn’t been sick in MONTHS! For a girl who was predicted to be frail and sickly, she is definitely doing her best to prove each and every one of them WRONG.  I don’t think that cutie pie with the big smile looks frail at all!

Eric is done with coaching swimming for another year.   He had a really good state meet in mid March.  He was worried that he may just have one guy to quality for states.  They ended up with 4 and one earned a medal!  But now he is home most evenings and weekends – just in time for the all the spring and early summer yardwork!

And me? Well, as I had mentioned in a previous post, I had a serious scare when I started feeling very weak and shaky and dizzy. I ended up in the hospital due to a very low blood count. I found out I had severe anemia so I am popping iron pills and trying to eat an iron rich diet. Luckily my problem seems to be easy to fix, but I definitely did not like leaving and scaring my kids. Kallie and Caroline were OK, but Christina had a bit of a hard time.

Our weather lately has been amazingly warm. And our forecast is looking pretty good as well! Everything is starting to bloom and green up quite early. However, I am doubtful we are done with snow completely, but I definitely am enjoying this summer-like weather while we can!

Well, that is it for this April 5th, 2010! Until next month!!!

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