we have an ape again this year!  gigi took rivers to kmart the other week & he picked out not 1, but 2 costumes! his first was a gorilla... (i guess he's grown up from a monkey, which was last year!)

and the other was a red crayon!

he trick or treated in the gorilla, then came home & changed into the crayon, which he handed out candy in.  i'll be back tomorrow to tell you more!

happy halloween friends!

i forgot to mention in my last post that our pumpkins were stolen on sunday night. yes, we woke up monday morning to find that only 2 of our 5 pumpkins were still with us. luckily, mama & baby are still together, but sadly, papa, gigi, and dada are nowhere to be found. you've seen these before, but i figured i'd post them again in case anyone spots them for us! ;)

the big one is papa and the other one is gigi.

and this one was dada.

here are our remaining 2 - mama & baby. we bring them in at night now.

 

to be quite honest, i am feeling violated after this incident. mostly because rivers so lovingly named them. thankfully, nothing else was stolen, just 3 pumpkins, but i'm feeling a little paranoid now.

i'm sorry - i don't have any pictures to share with this post. as much as i prefer a post with pictures, i simply haven't had the time to get to any this week as of yet. so its already wednesday & before the week gets away from me & a new weekend is here, i ought to wrap up our past weekend. saturday was my last wedding of 2010. it was a gorgeous day in pine knoll shores. really, you could not have asked for better weather. the sun was shining with a very soft breeze. not too hot, not too cold. perfect. i also had a lovely bride & wonderful families to capture. this was my whole day saturday as it required a 2 hour drive there, then a 2 hour drive home. jeremy took rivers to gymnastics in the morning & had a show in carolina beach that night. my mom, of course, was happy to keep rivers for us that afternoon until i arrived home from the wedding. jeremy had planned to stay at a hotel, so that he wouldn't be driving home so late at night.

sunday morning rivers woke up asking for pancakes, eggs, and sausage. how can i say no to that sweet face & growing boy?! so off to ihop we went & rivers enjoyed himself and ate all of the above, which he had asked for. i got the pumpkin pancakes & they were delicious! very yummy - i highly recommend them!! after breakfast rivers and i hit up the playground where jeremy met up with us after his drive home. after a good hour or more there we returned home so that i could start on some laundry (the never ending chore) and return some work emails. i had flipped through the pages of the pier 1 catalog at my parents house the night before when picking up rivers. they had a couple of things that i wanted to check out in the store, so next we headed off for a quick shopping trip. this is where pictures in the post would be helpful, but as i said before, i have none. i will be sure to do a follow up post with pictures soon! i found a few things at pier 1 and $100 down the drain later we happily left to have lunch at salsarita's. i had a meeting with one of my past bride's to discuss albums in the afternoon, followed by a session with sweet little davis (courtney's new baby). i'll tell you what, that little guy made me sweat! i've never had such a hard time with a newborn before!! he just did not want to give in to sleep & wasn't happy unless he was being held. made for laying in baskets & posing him impossible! i did quickly look through the images & i did get quite a few nice ones, so all was not lost! again, no pictures to share right now, but i promise i will have them ready soon!

so that wrapped up my whole weekend. my house didn't get cleaned other than a quick vacuum in the living room & just a couple of loads of laundry done. but a lot of pictures were taken & some memories made. i wish i could give you a screen shot of my iphone calendar right now. i have little dots on every day of each weekend for the next month and even some dots on a few week days! its very exciting to see things picking up for me this season, but of course it comes at a price of having a dirty house & always the guilt of not being home enough with rivers. i don't think there is anyway around that, unless i hired a housecleaner & quit my full time job. neither of those are a option for me at this point, so i will just continue on... of course, i also know that this is just the season for being busy. come december, everything will slow down & there will be plenty of time to clean the house & read book after book to rivers on the weekends. so don't feel sorry me - it will pass and i will get caught up!

in other news, i painted my nails yesterday & it is a refreshing change! after the photographers meeting on monday night (a local group of us meet up once a month) i went over to walgreens & picked up a few "necessities". you know - hair dye, nail polish, mascara, shampoo, etc. that was the first bottle of nail polish that i've bought in probably 5 years?! i can't even remember the last time i bought a bottle. so i treated myself to a new hair color (still brown, just slightly darker than last time), new polish, and new mascara. i'm feeling like a new woman! ;) not really, but now that my hair is all 1 color, i am feeling better about myself. i will also give you another product review. i purchased loreal double extend beauty tubes mascara. while i did notice that it helped with the length a little bit, i wouldn't quite say it doubled them. this doesn't bother me at all though as that really seems like it would be unlikely anyway. what i'm most impressed with about this mascara is that it doesn't smudge after wearing it all day like my old mascara did, yet at the same time it was super easy to remove when i washed my face at the end of the day and didn't leave me looking like a racoon. previously i had 2 different types of mascara. 1 was waterproof & i would use it for weddings. when i have a camera to my eye all day, its important that mascara not smudge. but then, it would be impossible to get off.  the other mascara that i had was not waterproof and my eyelids get pretty oily by the end of the day. so my mascara would always end up running. it was easier to get off, but did still leave a bit of residue under my eyes. i've used this new mascara for just a day & a half now, but already i'm so impressed with it, so i thought i would share. i was absolutely amazed last night when i washed my face & the mascara came right off. i didn't have any left on my lashes or under my eyes. it was amazing and that alone made me love it!  :)

well folks, there you have it. my incredibly too short weekend and the beginning of a new week. i'm so thankful its already wednesday!!

i'm not sure if my blog stalkers are stalking my photo blog as well? if you are, then this is old news, but if you're not, then you should be! ;)  courtney had her baby boy, davis, on tuesday morning.  that lucky duck had a very quick labor and a beautiful, healthy boy to show off!  i visited her in the hospital that evening & did a quick photo session for her as well.  i know how thankful i was to have laurie come & take pictures of rivers, jeremy, and myself while we were in the hospital.  i will always cherish those photos!!  and i wanted courtney to have the same.  i was in ohio for a friends wedding when she had jackson & wasn't able to be there for her, so i was happy to be there this time!  maybe its just because i'm a photo-nut, but i think hospitals should have photographers on staff for certain things - births being one of them.  now, i did not photograph davis' birth - courtney wasn't up for that, which was a good thing b/c i would have missed it, it happended SO fast!  but how amazing would it be to be offered that service (for an additional fee, of course)!?  and even if you're not the type to be into birth photography, those few precious hours after having your baby are so amazing and special that they really should be captured beautifully (in my opinion).  so, have you clicked over to my photo blog yet? if not, click here now!!

in other news, its friday!! and i have another wedding tomorrow, back at the beach. this was my year of the beach wedding & i loved it! tomorrow wraps up my weddings for 2010, but i will still be assisting laurie with her last 3 of the year. just because i'm done with weddings soon, doesn't mean i'll have weekends free. in fact, that is far from the truth. i have every weekend booked until november 20th with either engagement sessions for my spring brides, family sessions, or newborns. that's pretty exciting for me! i did have next weekend off (the last weekend of october) until i decided today to offer mini-sessions for next saturday. so far, i've booked 1, so i have 4 more spots available. i'm keeping my fingers crossed i'll have more takers even though it was a last minute offering! if you're interested, here is the info.
 
one of my goals for next weekend is to get the bonus room painted. since we moved into our house, this has been the catch all room. its upstairs, so its easy to stick stuff up there & forget it. (the rest of the rooms in our house are downstairs!) along with being the catch all room, it also serves as my office & computer room, and jeremy's drum room.  do you understand what i'm getting at here?  the room is a mess!!  it is ugly, unorganized, and full of junk!  it needs a makeover & i feel like my workflow will greatly be improved just by fixing up the room.  so paint is first, followed by organization, and hopefully some new (gently used) furniture. i'm feeling pretty hopeful about it.  i'm sure it won't all get done in 1 weekend, but painting would be a great start!  i'll be sure to take pics along the way.

that wraps it up for now - happy weekending blog stalkers!

its already monday again. where did the weekend go? oh yeah, it barely existed. don't feel too sorry for me though, because i got spend my saturday in emerald isle photographing a beautiful wedding, for a beautiful couple. although it does make for a short weekend, i still love being a part of any couple's wedding day. this particular couple, i'm especially fond of. maybe its because the bride was born just 2 days before me on 8/1/82. or maybe its because they are just genuinely nice, real people. or maybe its because i can so clearly see their love for each other in just the few times i've spent with them. when you see 2 people who are so obviously made for each other, it really makes your job as a photographer, that much easier! they are a very sweet couple, who i've really enjoyed getting to know. so that was my saturday and it was lovely. for a super quick, sneak peek, head on over to my photo blog.

jeremy had a show with his band saturday morning. my dad was kind enough to keep rivers for us for a couple hours while jeremy was on his way back from his gig and i was on my way to my "gig". from what i heard, rivs and dad had a great time together and did a little of everything, which included watching a movie, blowing bubbles, walking around & exploring the house & yard, and even a walk through the back woods to the little creek behind the house.

i got home from the beach on sunday by 10 am, so i had plenty of time to work on laundry, clean out litter boxes, change the bed sheets, vacuum, blow bubbles with rivers, enjoy lunch with my two sweet boys, back up the images from the wedding, choose a paint color for the bonus room, boss jeremy around, and have dinner with my boys as well as my parents. does that sound like a busy day? it was and wasn't. busy with just chores mostly, but also quite enjoyable because i was home with my guys - and that's when i'm happiest.

because this has turned out to be a pretty boring post, i'll include a couple pictures of mr handsome. these are from a few weeks ago with his wild hair! i just gave him a quick trim last week, which has tamed his hair for now.  i love when i catch him in his play room reading quietly to himself.

 

i suggested we head outside to play and he was all for it!

 

 

checking out the martching ants...

and last but not least... here he is one evening working on his computer and being just like his daddy. :)

i'll tell you what - i'm on a roll with christmas shopping this year! well, just for rivers - no one else unfortunately. i just purchased a blabla for him. have you heard of these things?! word on the street is, all the cool kids are getting them, so of course, rivers had to have one too! it was a tough decision b/c all of the blablas are adorable, but i decided on "wink the owl" because rivers talks about owls a lot. not sure where he gets that from, but almost every night after his bath we'll go into his room & he'll talk about the hoot owl. maybe its his imaginary friend?! not sure, but anyway, he'll soon have an owl of his own!

while i'm talking about products, i'll go ahead and mention that i've recently started using a new foundation and i'm loving it! almay smart shade, smart balance. there are only 4 colors to choose from (which makes it easy to choose) and they blend right in to your skin tone. no weird lines & looks perfectly natural b/c it blends so well. i randomly picked it up b/c it was on sale & b/c there were so few color options (which made it easy) & i'm so glad i decided to try it. bye, bye bare minerals! (i don't miss that at all!)

that's my product review for today. hope you enjoyed it! ;)

someone is enjoying their pumpkins. not only are they colorful, but they provide a nice resting spot when your head is feeling heavy...

 

this is his totally fake cheeser smile, yet i still find it quite adorable!

 

 

 

happy fall y'all! :)

tonight we were walking jasper and rivers was being his adorably funny self. i asked him if he planned on being a comedian when he grows up. he looked right at me and very matter-of-fact responded, "yes!" then followed that with "surprise!" it seriously gave me a good laugh & if he does in fact grow up to be a comedian i will be surprised! as funny as he is, he can be a pretty serious little guy sometimes.

this little funny reminded me of another, which i had meant to write down, but of course promptly forgot until now. a couple nights ago - again on our walk - rivers went running past jeremy & i and said, "running fast like a turtle!" this was pretty funny for obvious reasons.
1. turtles don't run fast
2. neither does rivers
so really, it makes perfect sense! ;)

my goodness, i could eat that boy right up!

i left for work this morning, only to get here & realize i didn't have my key to the door. so i got back in my car & drove home. jeremy is off from work today (columbus day), so i called him & asked him to bring the keys out to me in the driveway. he couldn't find them. i decided to switch cars anyway, so i put my stuff in the jeep & then saw that i did in fact have the jeep key & my work key in the jetta with me the whole time. it was in the center console - no wonder jeremy couldn't find them! so back to work i went a second time. good morning monday!

in other news, we had a lovely weekend that simply didn't last long enough (as they never seem to do). along with the usual cleaning & laundry we managed to find time to do other fun stuff. i've failed to mention that rivers has been attending a gymnastics class on saturday mornings. this started back in september, so we've been going for a good month now. each class gets better and better for him, which i think is to be expected. being that rivers is home with my mom everyday & has never done daycare he really had no concept of a "class" or doing a controlled activity with other children. it has been a great learning experience for him along with working on his coordination. rivers is not the most coordinated child, which is why i felt a gymnastics class would be a good place to start. i do think it has helped him to be more steady on his feet & will hopefully continue to help him in this area as we get more into it. its also been a fun activity time for us - parents are right there helping them along the way - so its something fun we can do together. he really enjoys himself & seeing the other children (ages 18 months - 3 years), so its been great! another nice thing about it is that its on saturday mornings from 9-10 am. this gets us dressed & out the door at a reasonable time, which allows for plenty more fun on the weekend.

after class this saturday, i happened to be driving past a local toy store that was having their 1st birthday celebration. i decided to follow the car in front of me into the parking lot b/c there were lots of ballons out front & i figured, why not?! they were just opening (it was 10 am) and we were one of the first 20 people inside. this meant we got a goody bag filled with little toys & a balloon, which rivers was pretty excited about! so we walked around the toy store checking things out & i ended up picking out a couple things for christmas. i have to say, i'm pretty proud of myself for starting my christmas shopping early!

next, we headed out to get pumpkins! we started at a farm & while they did have pumpkins for sale, they didn't have a "pumpkin patch", so there was no real photo opportunity there. of course, we did buy 2 pumpkins from them, but then continued on to our usual pumpkin spot. rivers was so excited to see so many pumpkins (and we bought 2 more pumpkins)!! and i, of course, was happy to take some photos. let me add, i remember thinking getting pictures of rivers at the pumpkin patch last year was tricky - well, let's just say, i hadn't seen anything yet! do you know that getting an excited 2 year old to sit still in the middle of a big field of pumpkins & then look at a camera is next to impossible?! yeah, it is. so i just went with it & let him run all around & didn't even worry about the photos...

 

 

 

 

its amazing what 2 years does to a child... you'll see what i'm talking about as you scroll down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this was our 3rd year visiting the pumpkin patch with rivers. i can't believe how fast he's grown...

october 2008 - 3 months old

 

october 2009 - 15 months old

 

 

 

october 2010 - 27 months old - thank goodness he's finally grown some hair! ;)

 

i would be lying if i said those baby pictures don't make my ovaries hurt. he's as cute as a button at 2 years old, but that little 3 month old pumpkin almost makes me shed a tear! someone slap me out of it!!

i have a 2 year old & this morning, he was showing his age! rivers has magnetic letters that stick to our fridge. its one of his favorite toys - are you surprised? this morning he threw all 26 letters off the fridge & onto the floor - right in front of the fridge. he's to a point now where he is able to clean up after himself & understand what to do when i ask him to do it. so i of course, ask him to put his letters back on the fridge. he started, but didn't get very far - i think he put 1 or 2 up there before he started playing with something else. i reminded him again to put the letters back. after a good 10 minutes of this back & forth i warned him that if he didn't finish cleaning up the letters he would have to sit in time out. well, guess what? he had to sit in time out. so off the tv went, toys out of reach, and he had to sit in his chair for 2 minutes. after 1 minute he got up & came into the kitchen where i was. i took him back to his chair & reset the clock - another 2 minutes. this time he stayed, but cried the whole time saying, "baby sad, sad baby!" as absolutely pitiful as it sounded, i knew better, and let him have his 2 minutes of being a "sad baby". when his time was up i went and got him - explained that he was in time out because he didn't listen to mommy & he didn't pick up his letters. i told him he needed to go finish picking them up & then it was time for breakfast. he did exactly what was asked of him, then went right to his highchair & ate his oatmeal. bless his little heart - he really is a very good, sweet 2 year old boy. i really couldn't ask for more!

when it was time for me to leave this morning he said, "i go with you!" and ran to the door & picked up his shoes. now that really pulls at my heart - and this was the second day in a row he's said that! i know he's in good hands - i know he loves being with his gigi - but darn do i wish he could go with me. really, i wish i didn't have to go anywhere at all. i wish i was home all day, everyday with him. even when he is acting like a 2 year old.

let me go back to the "sad baby" part and fill you in. this is one of rivers' latest "riverisms". he has been on a kick of identifying his emotions (primarily when he's sad) as well as his stuffed animals. anytime something doesn't go his way its, "sad baby". this can be something as simple as his milk being gone or jasper eating one of his cheerios. its pretty entertaining actually. especially b/c it is so pitiful, but in such a fake way. he is the biggest faker and will scrunch his face up to make himself look sad. you can see such a face here. but then on the flip side, this morning before getting him out of his crib, he said, "happy monkey", which is one of his stuffed animals that sleeps in his crib with him & always has a smile on its face (go figure!). either way, its pretty neat that he's thinking about emotions. although i think he does the "sad baby" thing just to get our attention & an extra hug & kiss. i'm happy to oblige him as i have an addiction to kissing those sweet cheeks of his!

it really feels like fall. this is pretty unusual for north carolina. its usually still in the 80's & sunny. the past couple of days though have only been in the 60's & the sun is struggling to come out today. but at least its not raining! today is monday, so its back to work we go. i've talked to jeremy a couple times today & work is slow for him at the bank today as it is for me at brytons everyday. that makes the day creep slowly by. after my busy weekend, i guess i should be thankful for having a slow job, but i'm not. i guess i should work on that.

this cool weather has me wanting to sip on chai or pumpkin spice lattes and eat warm, hearty food. not too good for the waistline. i guess i should also be thankful that while i'm at work, i'm stuck here & can't binge on either of those things. ;)  the weather has also made me take a look at rivers' closet & take note of what we have & what we need for fall & winter in terms of clothing.  courtney is always more than generous & shares all of jackson's old clothes with us. we have a good deal of long sleeve shirts & a few pants, but we are in need of new shoes. i think i'll be going out tonight to find rivers some cute fall shoes. of course, i want to keep up with the converse tradition. he's had a pair of converse tennis shoes since birth & i happen to think nothing is cuter than a little boy in converse! i'm hoping to get a pair of those, along with another pair that will be easier to slip on & off. the only problem with the converse is that they require tieing! i'm also in the market for a new pair of brown shoes for myself. i've been window shopping online today, but haven't found quite what i'm looking for. i wish i could shop online for rivers too, but i'm afraid i'm not sure what size to buy him. i think it best to take him with me & try on shoes with a pair of socks to be sure they will fit & be comfortable for him to walk in. wish me luck tonight - shoe shopping with/for a 2 year old could go well, or horribly wrong!

as a side note - i had some warm, cooked apples at the wedding this past weekend that were so yummy & were the definition of fall! i've been teetering between making some for myself & thinking i've lost my mind. i'll let you know if i decide to find & try a recipe. same scenario - could go well, or horribly wrong! with my martha stewart skills, it will probably be the latter of the two, but i'll keep you updated!

happy fall friends, family, and blog stalkers!  :)

oh my - another rainy day! luckily, its not a heavy or steady rain, but its that misty kind of rain. not too bad really, but the beautiful, sunny day we had yesterday was much nicer!

what a weekend it has been!! patrick's show was awesome on friday night!  he had a great turn out - lots of visitors to the gallery, which i know he was so happy about!  his work looked great hanging up & we were so proud of him.  his paintings will be up for the entire month of october, so he's hopeful he'll get a sale.  i certainly hope he does, as i know how thrilling it is to sell a piece of art!  we were able to hang out with them after the show also, which made for a late night, but was so worth it!  i sure do miss them!!  here are patrick & jaime together at the show.

as i mentioned in my last post, i had a wedding to shoot with laurie on saturday. i left the house at 8 am yesterday morning to meet her at her house & i got home a little after 11 pm.  it was a full day of shooting - 11 hours total! such a beautiful wedding though.  lots of details, beautiful decor, and wonderful families who were great to work with! i was sooo tired last night & although rivers slept until 8:30 today, i'm still feeling pretty wiped out. (and i'll admit that i am a bit of a grouch today!)  here's a couple pictures i hijacked from laurie's facebook page.  as you can see, we still have fun even with an 11 hour day!

courtney's baby shower was this afternoon, which meant a trip to target this morning.  :)  she got lots off goodies & adorable outfits (all of which i hope to inherit when she is done with them - assuming we have another baby boy at some point ;).  its so fun to see all the tiny baby stuff at showers & oooh & aaah at everything.  that little baby is going to be well dressed & very much loved!  jackson (the big brother) certainly is.  since i have pictures for everything else in this post, i may as well add them too!

i came home from the shower to a sleeping toddler & a clean bathroom. what a wonderful husband i have! jeremy then left to make a quick trip to walmart & starbucks for our afternoon pick-me-up.  i've been wanting to do a "decor" post on this blog with just a few things for a little while now.  i decided today was the day.  if you're interested, you can click over to my photography blog, where i did a decor post a few weeks back.  you can read all about my decorating skills there.  ;)  for anyone who is too lazy to click, here is my mantle now that it has officially been decorated.

detail of left side...

river rocks. i thought that seemed appropriate to have as decor for our house.  :)

then there is the entryway.  i had been unhappy with this area since we moved in (may 2009).  i always knew i wanted a table there, but i put others "wants" ahead of it.  i finally gave in a month or so ago & bought one.  it came from target & i got it on sale, so it was actually pretty cheap.  i think it fits the space nicely & i love the little drawers that can hide things like the mail.

of course, the canvases are really what make the entryway so special.  this is one of the many things i love about being a photographer!  these images captured just a moment of our family at such a special time - when we moved into our first home.  everyone who comes in now comments on those images.

and just for fun, because its fall & it actually feels like fall outside!  here is my fall wreath that i scored for $6 on sale at ac moore.  not bad, huh?  i love the pop of red against our black door.

and what is fall without mums?!?!  they are just starting to bloom & i know they will be gorgeous once they really get going.  next weekend, we'll be pumpkin shopping for our front porch!

hope all my blog stalkers are doing well this weekend! i call you "stalkers" b/c my stat counter shows there are some of you out there visiting, but no one is commenting!  that's ok - i'm shy sometimes too.  ;)