happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Stephanie.... Happy birthday to me!!!!
Yea!

your science lesson for the week

This is what I LOVE about this season:
The kids and I took a walk around the block collecting leaves and acorns. We hit the jackpot with acorns. It was really neat to see Addie's interest in our outing. She was fascinated by how many acorns we found and she picked out some beautiful leaves. I have some cute snaps of her that I will post later. We got home and ironed our leaves and put our acorns in vases and now we need to work on some projects.

We also have busy, busy bees in our garden. This guy was huge and I love how nicely these two are sharing the space of the zinnia!!!!

they drive me crazy...

but boy, do I love them!

our anniversary!

Seven years! Whew!

We were married in Columbus Ohio at St Joseph's Cathedral and our reception was at the Columbus Athenaeum. We had such a great day - it was everything we had imagined. We had the best photographer, Simon Yao. I still remember the details of the day as if they happened yesterday! After a great wedding weekend, we honeymooned in Aruba for 10 days... that was bliss!!!

I looked up the anniversary present for 7 years and it is wool or copper... hummmmm... wonder what I should get Kevin.

addie at the festival

duck decorating, face (and arm) painting, bouncy house, ice cream truck, whew! What more could you ask for??!

another inspirational post!

I'm sure my last post of "hang on" was so moving for you, so here is another one!!

exciting day today -- our little village had it's annual festival with lots of fun activities for the kids. Jack was in heaven because the firetrucks and ambulances were there. More pictures to come... there are some cute ones.

hang on

here is your inspiration for the day...
the road may be long and hard, but hang on!!!!!

no rain today!

The mom of these three really nice kids and I were worried that we'd be rained out today. The weatherman was certainly off the mark -- we tied a high record (88 degrees) and the sun was shining most of the day!

It was a real pleasure meeting these guys. The sisters are so sweet, kind and smiley -- the types of girls that you want your kids to be friends with.

Younger brother -- just want to pinch his cheeks he's so darn cute!


Here's a silly "kid sandwich" shot. Love the laughs!
Thank you, thank you for a great session!

a boys room

here are some pics of jack's new big boy room! It's almost finished and he loves it!

Avery is One!

We had so much fun visiting with our cousin Avery while we were in Beaufort. She just had a birthday yesterday -- the big 1. Here they are on the dock.

red high heeled shoes

It takes a special bride to wear high heeled red shoes, but boy did Kristie pull it off! Stunning bride, wouldn't you say? Beautiful plump bouquet of red roses with rhinestones throughout.
Love the way these two looked at each other ...

and with a little texture added to the photo...

for Nene

found this cute little boy as I was working on pic. Saw it and thought, "Nene will go nuts over this one!"
More from Beaufort to come later... have a TON of work to do, though!

Watch Out!

Wow! Talk about cute. Cute times three... actually, gorgeous! Mom and Dad are going to have a hard time keeping the boys away as they get older!
These three gals and I got together today for a session in Charlotte. Once again I have list a page long of my initial favorites as I browsed the images. Here are just a few of them:

The oldest and very wise sister (favorite subject: math)


The middle (gotta love her because I'm a middle child, too!) - silly, carefree, fun.

The babe - getting ready to have the big "4" birthday in a week or so. Didn't love to share the smiles, but look at her when she did... wow, absolutely lovely!!!!


I asked them to give me their best fake laugh, and this is what I got... Personally, I love it!

Ok guys... shhhhhhh... don't forget these pictures are a secret for Dad... no spilling the beans!!!

9 months old in Charlotte, NC

... and full of joy! I had a lot of fun visiting a new little guy in Charlotte. I've only had a chance to look at half of the images (we're actually still on vacation, but Poppy has photoshop!), but I like what I see so far!! I can't wait to get home and finish working on the rest. One more Charlotte session tomorrow, then we head to airport to fly back home. I am thinking of making another Charlotte trip this fall, so if you are interested in a session please feel free to contact me.

We have been having a great time. We spent a relaxing, sunny and hot weekend in Beaufort. Tons of cute pictures of the kids fishing, crabbing, kayaking and swimming - can't wait to look through those and post a few, too... be on the lookout later this week.

Now it is time for bed! Cheers!