Happy Birthday!

To ME! Yes, today is my birthday and I woke up to a yummy breakfast prepared by my girls. They made me pancakes and cut up some strawberries and gave me a little cup of soy milk to wash it down. They also made me a special birthday crown and cleaned up after! In the bag was a frame I wanted and some of my favorite snacks - I love that they pay attention! They also gave me a gift card for a book I've been wanting to buy.

Shelby even got out her camera so I could post some of the pics on my blog. A girl after my own heart!

First Day of School!!

Today was the first day of school for my kids! I think they all had mixed feelings about going back. Clay started high school! Am I really old enough to have a child in high school?? (Yeah, I am lol) It was so strange for me to open the door and just let him walk out to the bus stop. I've driven him to school for the past 3 years and drove him to the bus stop in elementary school. It just felt so weird to let him go out into the world alone like that.

Shelby entered 7th grade so that wasn't anything different since 6th grade is middle school here. I know all of her teachers since Clay had them in 7th. I reassured them that she won't give them the pains Clay did LOL!

Madison is in 4th grade now! Wow, I can't believe after this year she will have just one more year of elementary school. Her teacher seems super nice and I've heard good things about her.

Here are some quick snaps to remember the day. It took some coaxing to get Clay to stand there for 15 seconds, but he humored me.

Sisters

I have been photographing this family for a long time and I just love when they come in to see me! Each girl is so stunning and my camera loves them, as you can see! You might recognize them from past blog posts or from my business cards - I use them all over the place lol.

IKEA Trip!

We visited IKEA last month in MI and I have come to realize that I have an addiction to shopping bags and glass jars. Is this weird? I think it's rather fun lol.

Mark had never been to IKEA before and I think he has seen the light...he now knows what he has been missing all these years. OK, maybe not, but it was still fun!

Yeah, I had to take photos of him walking into the store and some of my new purchases. I want to fill the jars with some colorful stuff, but I'm not sure. I'd love some suggestions!

Lauren

Lauren came to me from Connecticut for her senior pictures last week. I was thrilled when her mom called me about doing the portraits for her and even more thrilled when I showed up to find this gorgeous girl and the property her grandparents live on! Lauren really has a unique look and *I* think she could be a Ralph Lauren model...mom told me to stop saying that LOL.

Sweet new baby

One of my dearest friends just became a great aunt...wow, that is hard to believe! She is a young great aunt, though. :-) Kim came up from SC to visit her new niece so my girls and I made the short trip out to visit with everyone. I think baby P was about 7 days old here. Isn't she precious?! She was a perfect angel the whole time we were there.

My Shelby is in one of these images having a cuddle.

We had a baby....

come visit us recently. I adore baby C as if she were my own. I was there when she was born and have just loved watching her grow. Her mom, http://www.orencrew.blogspot.com/, and I have been friends for about 13 years! When C first arrived to visit us she was very sad and missed her mom. She would only go to Shelby and of course she totally ate that up! C reminds me of Shelby at that age...dark hair, olive skin, a total mama's girl and very petite. I love it! You can see she was just fine after a little bit of time with us. We get to spend the day with her and big brother, G, next week on my birthday!