The Art of Life

I posted these on my personal blog, but thought I’d share here as well, as my girls were just looking too darn sweet not to share with the world! Last weekend, the girls were in their annual dance recital. We went to a new studio this year & I must say, we were all very impressed with the quality of the performances! My oldest danced ballet to “Tiny Dancer” (Elton version) and my youngest tapped to “At the Hop”. They both had a blast & got to wear more makeup than they ever have before in their lives…which made them feel so special. We were so proud of how lovely & poised they looked up there Here are some pics from the recital…

The first half of the year has FLOWN by! And I have proven, once again, I cannot blog to save my life.

I took the first half of 2010 off from shooting sessions, and that proved to be really beneficial to the family…and to me…as it turns out, we are expecting our 3rd little Franke! I spent the greater part of March, April & May in sheer exhaustion as I got through the deadly first trimester, so I was grateful to be “off” work. But now I am feeling better & excited to get back into sessions, which are already booking up quickly. I will also not be shooting any sessions beyond October this year. So, if you are looking to get in yet this year, call now to get on the schedule!

My family also took our first family vacation in May to California! We hit Disneyland & San Diego and it was a wonderful week of fun for all of us. Here’s a few images from our adventures

I am sure someday I will become equipped with the skills required to be a regular blogger (you know… extra time, lots of witty things to say, and the endurance to be on this computer longer than I have to) but for the time being, forgive me for such miserable blogger skills. If its any consolation, my personal blog is in an even greater state of neglect…and believe me, that doesn’t make Grandma very happy. But hey, I’m trying!

I hope everyone had a very blessed Christmas and is on their way to a great start for 2010! I have so many things to be thankful for right now I am just feeling so blessed to start out this new decade! I must say, high on my list of things I am thankful for right now is my furnace…wow its cold out there!

I have been lax on the sneak peeks as well, but I know most of my clients would rather get the whole gallery sooner so that was my focus this fall. However, one of my last sessions of the year was this handsome little fella who I just have to share…ooh I just wanted to take him home with me!

I have now opened up my schedule and am booking now for the winter & spring. I will resume photographing sessions again starting in February so contact me soon to get on my calendar. I am enjoying my little winter break nestled under my heated blanket sipping hot tea & baking up yummy and fattening treats for my family. But eventually I will have to brave the outside world again…and when I do I will be ready! This time of year is always slow, but once the snow melts things really pick up and I usually start booking 6-8 weeks in advance through late spring to fall. So, if you have been thinking about booking a session with me, give me a call or email! I am looking forward to what the new year holds! God bless!

…but things have been very busy! Lots of sessions done this summer & fall and many more to go…yet no time to blog. I will try to get back to blogging more regularly as soon as I catch my breath.

On a similar note…I am currently BOOKED for 2009. And I will not be scheduling any sessions during December or January. If you would like to get on my list for late winter/early spring, just let me know.

I hope everyone is staying healthy and warm…hard to believe winter is nearly here again!

I just wanted to give a quick update regarding business. As many of my readers know we are a homeschooling family…with crazy amounts of {great} stuff going on around here. I have always done my best to balance work with my kids at home with me 24/7…however, this year, with a 2nd grader & a pre-Ker, my level of work involvement will be substantially decreasing. I am so passionate about what I do and it is a huge release for me, so I cannot give it up completely (and my wonderful husband has already made arrangements for additional work to cover the loss of income), but my schedule for work is now very part-time. It has just become impossible to do it all…by the time the kids lessons are done, chickens fed, gardens tended, meals made & cleaned up, laundry, housework, errands, etc. its 10 at night and next to impossible to sit at the computer for hours and work like I used to. So, I just wanted to say that while I am still going to be taking sessions, it will be on a very limited basis. Also, since my office hours will be reduced, it may take me a little longer than usual to return calls…but I can assure you that for those clients I am working with I do give my all!

We had a wonderful summer & I truly enjoyed all the great sessions I was able to shoot this summer…some great friends were made in the process
We are back on the school routine now and waiting for all the activities to start back up.
life is good…

I had the honor of photographic this beautiful family at their friends lake house and I just love love the way these have turned out! So much beauty and love and joy and fun in this family…and lots of action with those three sweet boys! I know mom has been so patiently waiting for this sneak peek…and here it is…

{click on images to see bigger}

Thank you G family for letting me share an evening with you & those oh so handsome boys!

One of the greatest blessings I have ever received from my work as a photographer is the connections I get to make with people and the joy of watching a family grow. I photographed this family the first time for their maternity session of their now 2&1/2 year old beautiful boy…and now, many sessions, laughs, and chats later, I got to photograph their newest addition, baby K. And what a handsome boy he is. Welcome to the world, little man

And lest his equally adorable and wonderfully spirited big brother be forgotten…

Thanks so much P family for letting me spend time with you guys…and for letting me love on little baby K

Hope you all have a wonderful & safe 4th of July! God Bless America!

Just a quick note…I will be out of town next week, the week of July 6th, and will not be able to respond to emails or calls. If you send an email or leave a message I will get back to you when I return. Thank you!

I am still here! Sorry for leaving my faithful visitors hanging for the last 4 months! After receiving a few “where are you?” emails I figured I better post something! Life has been completely busy since fall. I have taken a short hiatus from work and it was much needed. After Christmas my mother-in-law made such a miraculous recovery that she came home and since then has been faithfully involved in rehab and is back to her old self! What a wonderful blessing…we are so thankful to have her back!

At the end of February we began a huge remodeling project of our house, removing a main, weight-bearing wall, gutting our kitchen & replacing the floors in over half of our house. We did all we could ourselves and it was a tremendous amount of work and stress, but we are greatly enjoying the new kitchen and are so thankful to have done it!

We went from this (which we had already painted/removed cabinets & attempted to improve upon the very 1970 hideous kitchen we moved into 2 years ago):

to this:

We designed it ourselves, did all the painting and demo ourselves and we worked with some awesome people to get it finished. It was a LOT of work but I could not be happier…it feels like the entire flow of the house has changed and just finishing something that had felt unfinished for so long was like a weight lifted.

We have also added some new members of the homestead, six ladies and one gentleman:

My dear husband has been slaving away to get their coop build and last night they were finally able to leave our old aquarium and enter their coop! We are really looking forward to enjoying their eggs in a few months!

And…on the subject of adding more animals to our household…our 9 month old tiny girl cat had her own babies 2 nights ago and boy are they cute!

My girls turned 7 & 4 this spring and its hard to imagine how fast the time has gone by! They are growing up…sniff…sniff

[and no...I did not style her like this...she did this all herself...a day in the life of the homeschooled child ]

when did my baby sneak up and turn 4???

I have started slowly taking on more sessions so I have some upcoming sneak peeks and I also have some favorites from last fall to share…so little time to keep up with it all! I have managed to update some of my website galleries so check those out…you may find yourselves on there somewhere! I will try to post again soon…I have an almost endless arsenal of images to share! Just wanted to catch up and say…I am still here! and now once again scheduling sessions on a very limited basis.