Mommy and Me

Moms, if you are in the Denver area, you have a tremendous opportunity!

My friend Mandie at Been Blessed Studio is putting together a "Mommy and Me Photo Session" package from now until the end of April. For $50, you get a 30-minute photo session, 10 proofs, and I'm teaming up with Mandie to include one of my custom photo pendants as a part of the package! It's an unbelievable value!

Oh, and Mother's Day is coming...

I don't know about you, but we have no shortage of adorable pictures of our kids. As a mom, however, I find it so true that I'm often behind the lens of the camera to capture the kids in those moments, but it's so rare that I'm actually in a photograph with them.

This special offer will capture you and your kids. Together. In an unforgettable way.

And have I mentioned yet that Mother's Day is coming? This would be a great way to treat yourself to a gift that will last a lifetime and beyond.

And wouldn't your mother love some gorgeous photos of you with your kids?

My kids and I had the privilege of having Mandie take some priceless pics of us a few weeks ago. Even with a grumpy boy (not Joey!) and a sometimes-I-just-don't-feel-like-cooperating-by-smiling girl (couldn't be Lucy!), Mandie's talented and trained eye still managed to snag some truly precious moments that I'm going to cherish for ages...






(Click here to contact Mandie or find out more.)

Celebrating a Legacy

This day, 45 years ago, was my parents wedding day.

They met during the summer between their Freshman and Sophomore years in college. My dad was looking for a partner to help him teach ballroom dancing the next year, and a friend suggested my mom as someone who liked to dance. She auditioned with him in her living room in Villa Park, IL, while both of their mothers watched.

He told his mom as they left that day, "I'm going to marry that girl someday."

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for continuing to give us an outstanding example of marriage, love, and commitment for us and for our children.

Happy 45th Anniversary! Keep on dancing!

Aussie wedding

Yesterday afternoon (yes, it was Thursday), we attended a cross-cultural wedding ceremony. The son of my husband's Australian boss married a Californian girl at the beautiful little historic Hope Memorial Chapel here in Parker, Colorado. It was a gorgeous 60-degree day, and we had a great time witnessing the laid-back ceremony as the Aussies "endured" some of our American traditions as well.

John and I consider photography a hobby and we love weddings for the opportunity to take numerous photos as we experiment with camera settings, lighting, and artistic subjects (or so we think).

We took 239.

Here are just a few of them...

The bride and groom kiss in the doorway of the chapel after several kids (and excited adults) took their turn ringing the bell with a traditional pull-rope. The Parker folks honked their horns in approval as we gathered on the sidewalk on Main Street.


The red, gold, and brown colors in the flower arrangements were a beautiful complement to the antique pews inside the chapel.


Mother of the Groom and the flowergirl (her granddaughter and Niece of the Groom) await their turn in the family photos in the yummy late afternoon sunlight.


The reception was at the rustic Hudson Gardens cabin in Littleton.


And besides the pretty photos, we used the opportunity to capture just a bit of the cultural flair and fun:

Okay, so this isn't quite award-winning photo quality, but I just had to document the main course: Roasted Herb-rubbed Kangaroo Strip Steak.

That's right, kangaroo. Think hop-hop hippity.

It was very tender and tasty! This followed an amazing Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Apple and Creme Fraiche (yeah, I'm not sure what that is, but I'm just telling you what the menu said), then a Caesar Salad in a Pecorino Cheese Cup. The roo (as the Aussies refer to it) was accompanied by Sauted Zucchini and Red Peppers, and Garlic Roasted Fingerling Potatoes. And ketchup.

Yum!

All of it was so good.


A pair of glass kangaroos adorned the top of the cake, which was an amazing white almond cake with butter cream. I'm salivating just remembering it...


Again, no awards for this one, but after we were served cake, we helped ourselves to some sweets at the Australian Candy Bar. Think 'salad bar' but with much more high fructose corn syrup. All of these beauties were imported (or perhaps transported by family and friends in attendance) from Oz, and we sampled at least one of each.

All in all, a beautiful, delicious, fun evening, and reportedly much less expensive than a weekend wedding -- that's our kind of party!

I can't really be upset about this, can I?

Lucy has been working herself out of her afternoon naps. To me it feels like it's about time, since she will be turning five in about two months, but she has never really been a very good night sleeper, so making up a few hours of sleep during the day has been essential to survival and sanity for us.

But she is growing out of this need. We've seen this in the fact that on the days she does take a nap, bedtime goes on and on and on. She's not tired at bedtime, and therefore we hear the telltale "Mooooommmmmyyyy" or "Daaaadddddyyyy" every twenty minutes or so until we go to bed. It's draining and frustrating.

So I've been in favor of cutting her naps out for a while, but that made our afternoons rough. Until a couple weeks ago.

So needless to say, we've discovered that bedtime goes much smoother on the no-nap days, she sleeps better through the night, and she is getting to the point where she can generally hold her emotions in check through dinnertime. It's a win for us all.

Yesterday we had plans to have dinner at a friend's house, and in the effort to keep peace while spending time with them, we suggested that Lucy take an afternoon nap.

She slept for a solid two hours.

Dinner was great. No complaining, no tears, no signs of tiredness. It was fabulous!

Then came bedtime.

She went to bed without complaint, but she did call down the stairs several times with various requests -- a stuffed animal that had been left on the couch, adjusting the nightlight, etc. Every so often we would hear thud, thud, thud, thud as she ran across her room and back, but we chose not to check on what she was doing.

Eventually it quieted down and we assumed she was asleep. So, an hour after he had officially tucked her in, John went to check on her.

Her room was clean.

She was still awake, but on the verge of finally falling asleep, and she told John, "I want it to be clean for Grandma when she comes on Tuesday, so I thought I'd clean up since I wasn't sleepy yet."

Sounds perfectly logical to me!

I still can't decide if I should be upset that she was getting out of bed repeatedly, or if I should be proud that she used her time well to clean up her very messy room... I think we all won in this situation, but either way, I think we'll skip the nap again today.