The Great White North July 8, 2009

We have just returned from our last vacation of the summer.
We went to New Hampshire, where Matt grew up and we had a wonderful time despite several days of rain.

I also went to Garnet Hill and met all the folks I have been working with…it was really cool.
Plus, I got to go to the employee SALE. Woo-hoo!

I had fun taking pics of the kiddos…they are really low resolution but you’ll get the gist.
The cousins had a BALL together! I never had cousins (at least none that I was close with) so I am so
grateful for the wonderful relationships my kids have with theirs.

We went to an old fashioned 4th of July parade in New Boston…so neat. (By the way, these photos are in no particular order…I have got to get to WORK and don’t have time to organize)

I had nothing to do with the flower in her hair or the leaf on her head. Ha.
She just loves to pose for the camera and will do just about anything to get my attention!

This was taken at Fitches Corner…a farm stand.
Years ago, Matt’s sister took her bridesmaids there to pick flowers for her wedding.

This one is actually in the kitchen, but the berries were so pretty…

Here they are outside on the 4th…Matt’s mom is the hostess with the mostess and always has
fresh fruits and nuts on hand for snacking.

Clara in head-to-toe Hannah Kate…if you are in Knoxville, be sure to come to the home show July 24-26!

and clara in head-to-almost toe clarabelle & the hen.
You can shop online at www.clarabelleandthehen.com or at a
homeshow in your area, or ours! (In conjunction with Hannah Kate July 24-26)

We cleaned out a bunch of antiques from the barn, including this old blanket chest
which is now on my porch at home looking for a final resting place.

The little girls had a great time playing in it (until Clara got a GIANT splinter. ouch.)

Clara is “driving” in this one…too bad you can’t hear her “vrooooooommmmmm” sound.

More Fitches Corner…

F is recovering from chicken pox, and has quite a few bumps and bruises…
she is a rough and tumble girl to be such a tiny thing!

This is her usual “state”…flitting around like a fairy.

My giggly girl whom I adore…

These two were inseparable…so cute. Mr. H is in New Hamshire at
Camp Gram and Gramp until the end of the month. Also going to soccer camp in Vermont with his cousin.

More parade…notice dad checking his watch. ha.

Every evening the whole gang played baseball in the field…everyone but moi
Someone had to take the pictures!

Couldn’t resist the photo of of my new tee label. (Boys tees have a plain border rather than the scallop)

The little wood nymph…

a rare moment…

This is clara-girl with her “uncle” josh–Matt’s best friend since childhood.
Single girls, he is UNATTACHED and SUPER CUTE

You may remember the pics at H’s birthday where Sassy had mastered balloon-blowing. Well now she is
whistling Dixie…CONSTANTLY. When she isn’t talking, she is whistling.

That’s all folks. I have so much to do and can’t seem to sink my teeth in…

I guess I am still recovering from the 16-hour drive. ARGH. Never again! Happy Hump Day!

Clara… May 27, 2009

has a sassy new “do”

it is too cute when she first wakes up and it’s all messy and curly.

Love this pic of her (both taken by AK Vogel)

The only down side, is that most of her blond is now gone ):
That’s okay, that’s what salons are for….

New Photos! January 14, 2009

These are unedited or retouched (note bruise on child’s forehead! and totally yellow shot below it…among other snafus).  I was experimenting with the borrowed camera again! And actually quite disappointed in myself. I made some major technical errors on many of them as I was shooting–a total bummer to get home thinking “yay–I got some awesome stuff and then to see that on half of them something, somewhere was out of focus. But I guess practice makes perfect.

It’s a good thing I took these photos of Sassy Pants because we cut her hair off yesterday! She has a precious little angled bob like she did when she was little.

I’m off to buy myself a navigation system. I have gotten lost for the LAST TIME! ha.

The difference a (few) dollars makes…. November 1, 2008

I had no idea no idea that so much of great photography was because of a great camera. I borrowed an incredible one and spent an hour with it…OMG. Now I will be selling all of my belongings off so that I too, can own one of these miracle-workers (in ten years or so). Geez, they are PRICEY. I had a 2-hour download with a local photographer on the technical aspects of the thing and he sent me off to “practice”. I literally had an hour to spare so I didn’t experiment as much as I would have liked, but anyway, here are a few of my favorite pics (some are very random still life’s):

Sort of creepy I know…an antique doll that was my moms…and my ratty rag dolls (the raggedy ann book is from the 1800s—from hubby’s family)

Okay. Here is the cool part. I am doing a sort of “apprenticeship” with a local photographer. He does primarily weddings but also some portrait work, and would like to do more children’s portraiture._I am actually tagging along for a wedding tonight. I am not responsible for any images, but I get to shoot and see what I come up with. He will continue to train me, and once (and if ever) I am at a level he is comfortable with, I will become a contract photographer for his company. AS IF I have time for this…but maybe I haven’t mentioned it here on the blog yet? I think I have….I quit my job. So this is a nice mental safety net for now. Lord knows I need one! Anyway, I am excited for my photography schooling. Sort of a dream come true!

more cuteness… September 23, 2008

Cutie Patooties September 21, 2008

Ahhh. Sandy Beaches…(NOT!) July 29, 2008

When you think beach, you think sand, no? Well, not to be a debbie downer, I mean, a vacation is a vacation…but the beaches in Maine…well, they leave something to be desired; namely, SAND. We DROVE to Maine week before last…yep, 17 hours in a small box on wheels with two children and everything we own. Okay, so on the way up, we only had one kid (my son went ahead for soccer camp with his cousins in Vermont), and we split up the trip with a night in Virginia with my dad…BUT, on the way home, we drove straight through with both kids in tow and a super crabby mama. 17, count them, 17 hours.

I say it rained the whole week. Hubby says there was sun every day.

How is that for the whole cup-half-full and cup-half empty way of looking at life. What can I say? I have hundreds of orders to fill and I’m a little stressed. But beggars can’t be choosers…thank the good Lord for a growing business, and that I got to go to Maine and eat lobster for 10 days.

My life doesn’t suck (all that much).

Here are some pics (in no particular order). I took a ka-gillion, but folks, I aint got time to
upload ‘em all (go ahead, big sigh of relief..I won’t hear you).

Here’s one of my cutie-patooty nieces. She was ALLLLL about posing for the camera. I kept catching them off somewhere standing in some poetic pose, gazing off into the horizon…with the hopes that I would spot them and say AHA!! What a GORGEOUS PHOTO you would make!!

The four of them had a ball together. They all stayed in a loft with little nook type beds with trundles underneath…it was like being at camp. We had more fun eavesdropping on their conversations.

These two are little pistols. They are gonna be hell on wheels when they grow up.
Off to a really good start already.

We took a ferry over to Monhegan Island…really gorgeous. An artist colony; people all over the place painting the scenery. We hiked by the ocean…on big Rocky cliffs. Pretty doggone cool.

This is on one of the trails we hiked…a beautiful gate someone had fashioned from drift wood.

The flowers we encountered were just amazing.

This one looks like something out of Dr. Suess

Then there was the “fairy” forest. How cool is this? You find all of these little “houses” made out of bark, tiny pinecones, mosses and twigs, tucked into little nooks in trees, on the ground…all over. The kids were enchanted; thinking of course that fairies made them all. Then you suggest, “hey, why don’t we make one too?” and everybody sets to work on a magical creation. On the way out, Stinky Boy says “hey mom. I think I know how those fairy houses really get there. PEOPLE make them!” Bright boy.

This little sprite can run faster than me. 3 1/2 years old…she will be some sort of famous athlete,
mark my words.

More rocky beach pics…

Yep. You guessed it. This is one of those “poetic” poses I mentioned. Ha.

The kids were diggin’ the lobsters. That is, until…well…we cooked them alive.

Ouch. It actually made me sad. Until I dipped it in butter.

Queen Anne’s Lace grows like weeds in these here parts.

One particularly special thing about a rocky beach is the potential for skipping/skimming stones
(which is folks? anybody know?)

Here are the youngun’s pretending to be one big giant starfish.

and for the abrupt finish…that’s all folks!

I will leave you with what I thought was a laugh out loud “funny”.
Last night miss priss walks in, and as serious as a heart attack, says

“daddy?”

“did elvis die on the potty?”

We All Scream for Icecream July 6, 2008

My kids LOVE icecream. I guess all kids do, but truly, there is nothing on this earth that makes them happier. Stinky Boy would give his right arm for a Ben & Jerry’s frappe, Sassy likes it pink–the flavor is secondary.

I think icecream tastes best in a cup…now they like it that way too. Stinky was born at 9 1/2 pounds…he was well-versed in ice cream delicacies (ala peanut butter and Breyers sugar-free vanilla…TRY THIS) before he even joined us on the outside. Another one YOU MUST TRY is vanilla ice cream (this Breyer’s sugar free vanilla takes away a LITTLE of the guilt), stiff peanut butter (too creamy doesn’t really do it–keep your pb in the fridge, and drain some of the oil), slivered almonds and banana–all mashed up. Heaven. I promise you. (Lord, who’d have thought I’d be dishing RECIPES. What is the world coming to?)

is it acceptable to eat icecream for lunch?

Happy Birthday, America! July 4, 2008

It’s just us girls this weekend and we are having a grand old time. Now, this one wasn’t much interested in taking fourth of July pictures (especially after we snuck into the neighbors yard because their grass is PRIMO and the sprinkler system turned on) and then my OTHER neighbor busted me threatening Sassy Pants within an inch of her life to SMILE…but aside from that, we managed a few cute shots. More important though, is the meaning of the day and Sassy Pants gets it (I think). She has been enthusiastically singing Happy Birthday America and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (sort of) all week. And aren’t we all so lucky that for whatever reason God selected US to live HERE in this great country…He could have plunked us in Iraq, He could have plunked us in China, instead, He plunked us RIGHT HERE. That makes me feel pretty special. So Happy Birthday America, and for your special day we all give thanks.

Happy Father's Day! June 15, 2008

I have to get sappy for a sec. My kids really do have an amazing daddy. He ALWAYS has time for them, he plays like a kid, he cooks a mighty mean meal…he adores them, they adore him.
Happy Father’s Day to the best dad in the land

We just returned from Charleston. My mom, and my brother and his family live there.

Lot’s of mornings we hung out in mom’s beautiful garden and had coffee on her porch
(hubby re-screened it while we were there.)

Of course, we also spent lots of time at the beach…

Look! A couple of beached whales…ha

But when these monkeys get down to business they don’t fool around:

Dirty little sand fleas

Here are a few more from mom’s garden. Nothing like a popcicle for breakfast..
that’s what grandmother’s are for!

But alas, all good things must come to an end.

I had to try a few artsy shots…well this one really isn’t artsy I guess, but I was having fun playing. I didn’t take nearly as many pics as I intended…I kept forgetting my camera!

I really like this one.

This one is a little blown out…but I kind of like it anyway

And finally…a tuckered out princess at the end of a big day.

I tried it two ways…with an out of focus background, and one that is all in focus.

I think I like the first one best. Anyway, that’s all I’m going to post. I gotta get back to waiting on hubby hand and foot (I’m actually not even kidding! I made breakfast, lunch and now I’m going to make DINNER TOO. Zoix. Who am I and what happened to Kathryn?)