First day of School 2008!

Today was the first day of school for my big girls....FIRST AND THIRD GRADERS!!!!!

Started the morning off with a healthy breakfast...frosted flakes for Clara and honey nut cheerios for Emmie....
we remembered apples for the teachers
the traditional shot in front of the garage for Mama--I was begging them to be sweet...
backpacks and booties....
Cheese!!!--goofy grin from the first grader. She was all smiles today!
someone is too cool for school....

okay Mama---that's enough, you can go to work now......

My babies are getting too big! Seems like only yesterday they were in diapers and now they are chasing boys on the playground.

Biker Babes

My girls jumped in on the end of one of my recent shoots. My friend Joanne and her boyfriend Lance wanted a shoot with the Harley. My girls were in awe of the motorcycle. Lance was so sweet and told them that after we were done with the adults' shoot they could take a few pictures on the bike. Emma took the opportunity to run upstairs, change her clothes and do her hair and makeup. Clara was content jumping on the bike as is, although I did insist that she wash the blizzard off her face before any photos were taken.

Missing 2 little girls

Well, my babies have been gone for 6 days now and I really miss them! They called me this morning to tell me that they were having a good time and that they missed me. I will get them back on Sunday and I'm sure I'll give them a death hug!

Who knew that you could love something as much as your kids...seems like I love them more and more each day!

**photo credit to Amy with her awesome cell phone camera skilz! :)

Alamo at dusk

I'm in San Antonio for some continuing education. It's a great conference and my boss and I are all excited about the stuff we are learning and how it can help our clients. The other night I took the opportunity to walk around the Alamo and snap a couple of shots. Tomorrow afternoon I plan on going to the other missions around here and take some more pictures.

I hadn't been to the Alamo in years, but the second I saw the mission it took me back to my first trip with my grandparents when I was a young girl. It was a hot summer day and we ate snow cones while sitting on the wall outside the front of the Alamo. I was slightly disappointed because I thought it would be larger ;). Ironically I was speaking with a gentleman from Scotland who also thought the Alamo would be larger.

A girl's gotta have her girls!

I'm lucky to have some of the best girl friends in the world. We played around in the studio after dinner the other night and got this shot...

I love my girlfriends. My girls laugh with me, cry with me. We bake food for each other when someone is sick, had an operation, lost a loved one. We watch each other's dogs. We watch each other's kids. We rate the boyfriends in our lives...we listen about the blossoming relationships. We help sew the "voodoo dolls" of our exs and plot schemes of what we will do if we ever see him again. We vent about our husbands, our jobs, our co-workers. We laugh until we snort. We drink too much wine. We pray for each other. We worry about the choices we all make. We are girlfriends---which are just the sisters that God forgot to give us. I love you ladies!

All I want for Summer is My 2 Front Teeth!

Poor thing...wonder how she will eat her sandwich tomorrow?!! She's officially toothless.

When you bake Daisies you get Brownies

Twist me, turn me, show me the elf...I looked into the water and saw MYSELF!
Clara getting her Brownie pin and a kiss from Mama!

Clara's Daisy troop Bridged to Brownies last Thursday night. I am very proud of my new Brownie. She was beaming with pride herself--full of joy and a desire to live a "Girl Scout Life". The sheer innocence in a child is amazing. She is on a mission to be the "best girl scout she can be!" (And she told us that much during our celebratory dinner at Fudruckers!) She does not judge, she does not gossip and she accepts everyone in her life for who and what they are. Lessons that many adults could learn from a 6 year old girl. I'm proud of you Clara!!!