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Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Resolution

I reread Bridget Jones' Diary this fall. She keeps a diary to keep track of her weight, calorie intake, alcohol consumption, cigarettes smoked, and lottery tickets scratched off. These are her bad habits, and she tries unsuccessfully to kick them. But these habits make her lovable, relatable, and darn right human. Her bad habits along with her good ones make her Bridget.
If you know me well, you know that I love to drink this green colored substance called Mountain Dew. I crave one morning, noon, and night. I can drink one at 12:30am and be asleep without difficulty be 12:45. If Mountain Dew isn't available, any soda will suffice. Diet soda is barely tolerable but will work in a pinch. Any soda is better than none. Drinking it is truly enjoyable.
Here's the rub. I have holes in my teeth. I have probably fifteen pounds of extra Melissa. I'm certain that some of my problems with breast feeding the last couple of babies has stemmed from my MD consumption.
I know this. I gave up MD after I delivered d'arcy and within two months I was wearing size 2 clothes. It was truthfully crappy timing because I had just had a c-section. It's true what they say. A good diet makes you look good with clothes on. Exercise makes you look good naked. Stephen never complained, though.
So this bad habit that makes me lovable and human has got to go. I will not drink soda for one year. Lord willing and the creak don't rise. I weigh 130 pounds. I wear size 10 jeans. I had one cavity last month. Let's see what kind of difference this makes.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas is always better when no one is rushed to the hospital.

Have I told you this Christmas story? About ten years ago on Christmas morning, Stephen and I were sitting in his parents old basement along with the rest of his family opening our forgettable Christmas presents when something unforgettable happened. Someone had received an item in one of those impossible to open plastic shell cases and stephen's dad decided to open it up with his fisherman's helper cutco knife. The knife went up along the side of the case and then back down and straight into his gut. A few moments went by before anyone knew what had happened, but then his face turned super white. We paused Christmas to carry him up the stairs to the car and Stephen's brother and mother took him to the hospital. No major damage done. He was back home in time for lunch. Now I can tell the story each year and get a good laugh without feeling guilty.
Here are some shots from this year's Williams family Christmas...a year in which no one stabbed themselves.









Monday, December 26, 2011

How was your Christmas?

This was our first Christmas since we had children to wake up in our own house on Christmas morning. The six years we lived in Texas, we spent Christmas traveling to Indiana to see our families. I was never sad that we missed a traditional Christmas morning with just our immediate family. I thought it was more important that our children make Christmas memories with their cousin, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. But now we are back in Indy and we can have our cake and eat it too.
Our house wakes up a little later than most considering the number of children we have. D'arcy is always the first to wake up around 7:45. The rest of us manage to stumble out of bed by 8:30. I haven't woken up before 5am since the day Maggie was born and I certainly wasn't going to break this streak for Christmas presents. So I decided that I would lay our kids stocking on their beds for them to discover when they awoke. I knew they would still wake me up to share their excitement, but it would at least buy me an hour before I had to make the trek downstairs. Plus, stocking always seem like an after thought. Now the little treats would be savored.
I was not disappointed. D'arcy woke up first, as expected. She ran into my room around 7:45 to ask if her stocking was supposed to be there and could she open it. I had brought my camera upstairs to capture their first excited expressions. Unfortunately, it was pitch black in our room and my lens was having trouble focusing through the dark. I told her yes and so she ran back into her bedroom and told her slumbering brother to wake up and tear open his treasures too. There little squeals of excitement as they shared their finds were priceless. Especially from the warmth of my bed. Julian was in my room soon to ask if he could put together his little ninjago lego set. This first picture is of that moment. It was still very dark in the room, but my flash did it's job.
D'arcy was soon back to show me she had made a Rapunzel braid for her sweet baby.
And by that point, Schroeder heard the commotion and found his little stash.  I think Julian helped him a bit (both to wake up and unload his stocking).  He ran out in the hallway so excited to show me what he'd received.  Here he is showing you Francesco Bernoulli.  Ask him to say it.  Those eyes indicate he'd been awake for a mere thirty five seconds.
D'arcy helped Maggie unload her stocking, and then helped her out of her crib to come show me her teeny baby.  She already knows just how to care for it.


Hansen Family Holiday Session

I was invited to join the Hansen Family Christmas weekend to take some pictures. I love cousins who are close in age and love to play with each. I love that when I asked if they happened to have some leftovor Christmas cookies available, they had an abundance of them. I love that they have a slide going down their stairs. I'm picturing ourselves going down one on our super steep stairs and the end picture involves blood and not happy, smiling children. Here are a few of my very favorite pictures from this morning.
















Thursday, December 22, 2011

Stephen's Wedding Point of View

Want to give a big thank you to my husband for indulging me when I gave him a camera, set it on manual, and told him to take shots at Caitlin's wedding.  I'm not sure he'll ever become my second shooter.  There were some technical problems in his photos, mostly underexposure and blur.  His shots make me think about the way I shot six years ago and the growth as a photographer I've experienced.  His technical problems could be overcome, however, I don't know if Stephen enjoys photographing weddings (I should ask him).  Out of about 350 pictures he took, I'm using 100 to add to Caitlin's album.  Here are a few that I really like.



I LOVE LOVE LOVe the below photo!






This last one makes me laugh which is a super good quality in a photograph.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

No words.

Follow along with me.
Julian wants lunch.  He says he wants leftover pizza.  Great.
Julian there is leftover pizza on a plate in the refrigerator.
Julian decides that this is Schroeder's leftover pizza and that it is yucky.
Fine.  Have something else.
Now he's pouring himself a bowl of cereal.  Good.
Schroeder decides he would also like a bowl of cereal just like his big brother.  Fantastic.
Julian reminds me that Daddy said Schroeder couldn't eat anything else until his pizza from last night was gone.  Point taken.
Schroeder proceeds to throw a fit about his cold pizza.  I warm it up.  He is sort of satisfied but is still eyeing Julian's cereal.
Julian is now stealing Schroeder's pizza.  Schroeder is screaming because all of a sudden his pizza has become a precious commodity.  Schroeder runs to me hoping I'll help him, protect him.
I don't.  Pizza for the fittest.  


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Kids say the darndest things...

Julian just came up to me and said the following that I don't ever want to forget.

Mom, I got this piece (holding up a tiny red piece intended as an ornament) with my lego christmas tree but I don't really need it so I'm going to use it as a self destruct button and put it with my big box of mixed legos.

They always leave those self destruct buttons out of LEGO sets.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Lucy and Virginia (and some misc. adults)



Earlier this week, I received a call from a potential client regarding a wedding. I asked her how she found me. She said that she had found my website and that it seemed "unpretentious". This was such a compliment. I had committed to book only one wedding a month, and I already had for July. It took all I had to turn this wedding down because it brings me great joy to photograph people who put words to the type of business I want to have that I couldn't even come up with.
I don't want people to feel like they "need" crazy expensive perfectly, perfect photographs. I just want people to have a more organic, reasonably priced option to photographs. That translates to, let me take your snapshot instead of letting someone else take your "portrait".
Here are some pictures of Lucy and Virginia and I hope that they are "unpretentious".