This is a first!

We are leaving today to go on vacation at Branson. The weird thing is, I am completely packed and ready to go, and my in laws keep having things holding them up( like a traffic jam on the interstate, etc,), so they aren't here yet, and I actually have free time! Usually I am the hold up!! :) I actually need to walk around the house and do a double check, just to make sure we have all the millions of things we need to be gone for a week!
This past week was kinda different, with Johnny gone to camp. Monday my sister Kimberly took the girls for the whole day so I could get some editing done! That was great, but of course, a ton of things kept happening to prevent me from working. A bunch of phone calls, the Terminix guy just showed up, things like that. I did get some work done in the afternoon though! Kimmy took the girls to McDonald's for lunch and then out to camp where they got to see Daddy and go swimming. I went out for supper and picked them up. Tuesday we had a play date with Ava's little buddy, Caleb, so he won't forget us. The girls had fun playing with all his toys and playing outside for a little while, but it was SO hot, we didn't stay out long. It was nice to visit with Melodee too! Then I had my hair cut and highlighted (the dr said it was okay!) so now I look a bit more maintenanced than I had previously been looking! I just told Jamie to do it however she thought would look good, so she did, and I am pleased with the results! Thanks Jamie!
Yesterday I was trying to pack and edit and I was super tired! I was actually falling asleep sitting here in my computer chair! That's not normal for me. I am wondering if the pregnancy sleepiness is already hitting me. About 3-4 weeks after I found out I was preggo with the other 2 I was really sleepy for about a month. That's not going to be fun being super sleepy this month because I have way too much going on! We are going to be on vacation all week this next week, we are going to Little Rock for the FWB National Convention with our youth group July 15-19, and I have 2 weddings this month! I don't have time to sleep! :(
Well, I think we are actually getting the car loaded now, so I am going to hang up the blog for now. I will share some vaca pictures soon!
Jessica

Friends and weddings

Last Thursday was a very busy one for our family! (Yeah, yeah, what day isn't?!) Jamie came over and brought her three girls to play with Maddie Kate and Ava, and Kellie's 2 kids, Mason and Millie. This picture is Mason, Millie, Ava, and Mylie,( Jamie's new baby.) These cute kids are future camp buddies!
And I thought I'd include a pic of the cute mommies too! ;)

It's been nice lately to hang out with friends more. It seems like sometimes I get lost in the Mommy/Photographer world and I don't get much time with friends. We had fun, but I wasn't able to stick around too long, I had to rush off to watch Maddie Kate perform her dance routine that she had learned at dance camp last week. This is her dressed in her "Chain Gang" outfit:
She did a really good job. I was very proud of her little performance. She has watched the video of herself doing this dance about a million times! It was very sassy and full of attitude, just like Maddie Kate!
Then that evening, she had a baseball game. This is her on 1st base, waiting to run!
She is done with the regular season now, because we will be on vacation during the last game. :( So I guess I've seen her play for the last time this year. There is a post season tournament, but it starts the week that we are going to Nationals with our youth group, so the only way she will be able to do that is if our parents take her. I'm hoping all that works out!

Maddie Kate has been sitting across from me asking me how to spell different peoples names, and working hard to write them down. She left to go watch tv, and Ava climbed up into her seat (with her hair sticking straight up because she pulled out her pigtails while she was taking a nap) and said, "Mommy, how spell 'gee-arts'?" and gives me this huge dimply smile. She is so funny! I laugh all the time.

I had a wedding yesterday, and it went absolutely GREAT! I am so excited to get to the editing of the pictures. It usually takes me quite awhile to edit a wedding, and I'm not done with last weeks wedding yet, so it's looking like I'm going to be using the laptop a lot during vacation! I don't really mind though, because I love editing, it just takes time. I'll probably post a load of wedding pics after vacation, but for now, a little preview for both brides!
I love weddings! I did learn one very important lesson yesterday...no more heels to weddings! I wore heeled sandals all day yesterday, from about 10 am until 7pm, and today I have an ankle that won't stop hurting! So no more heels for weddings, I'll just have to look less cute! Plus, this fall, big fat pregnant me won't need to be torturing myself like that anyway! :)

Redneck fun & a little boy session

We have been having a fun week! As I said last time, my friend Kellie is here and our kids have been playing a lot while we hang out! Ava has been a bit of a bully though, to Kellie's little boy, Mason. She keeps hitting him, apparently for no reason! She has been getting in a lot of trouble. Where do kids even learn to hit? Maddie Kate doesn't hit Ava, so where the heck did she learn it? Ava also calls Kellie's little girl Millie, "Mildie" which I think is very cute! Yesterday we went and had lunch with my mom at a fun little coffeehouse place in Benton called "The Buzz". It's one of my favorite places to eat, but they are only open for lunch, so I don't get there very often! The kids were kinda crazy, but we still had fun and the food there is great, so it was totally worth it. Mason and Ava kept wanting to get under the table, and throw marbles that were supposed to be decorative! Silly kids!
Kellie's kids are city kids though (they live in Decatur) so Johnny thought he'd give them a taste of some redneck fun: riding in a swimming pool being pulled by a four-wheeler!

Isn't that silly!? Last night we went out to camp, and it was nice to see all the kids. Our youth group is excited about our new baby, it's like it's their baby! I love it!

And now for some session pictures of one of my favorite little boys of all time!!! This is Tyler, and I babysat him for 2 1/2 years. I love him!

Check out those eyelashes! Any girl would love to have those!!!
I love this vintagy one, he is too cute!This last one is at Grandpa's Schoolhouse, my current favorite location spot. He looks too grown up in this!
Mom, I will have your proof book ready probably by early next week!

Today Maddie Kate has her dance camp program, so we will be going to that this afternoon and then she has a ball game tonight and tomorrow night, such a busy little girl! There's a wedding this weekend that I am excited about, and next week Johnny is the evangelist at camp, so the busyness never ends!!!

A newborn, a carnival, and a BIG announcement!

How about that title? Ha!

First off, a little preview for a dear friend of mine! This little guy was exactly one month old the day we did these pictures.



This is one of my first newborn shoots (other than my own children of course) and it was harder than I thought it would be! I just figured this little guy would want to sleep the whole time, and I could get loads of cute sleeping pictures, but no! He was wide awake and yelling at me and his Mommy almost the entire shoot! He wanted to be held, and he DID NOT want to be naked! :) I think we did pretty good though, what do you think Mommy?! I'll get the proofs to you soon!

I had a wedding on Saturday, and it went well. My new assistants are working out pretty good! I have one doing backup/extra photos for me and another directing and gathering up the people we need for photos; it's GREAT not to have to do it all myself! That's pretty hard to do alone! The only bad thing that happened was right when we got to the church. We unloaded and set up, and no one was there yet, so we decided to go grab a bite to eat, and realized I had locked my keys in my car right in front on the main entrance to the church!! Then one of my assistants tried to open the back door of my Yukon, and the alarm started going off and I had no way to make it stop! The alarm did stop on it's own after a few minutes, but I had to call a locksmith to come open the door for me! I have another wedding this weekend, so maybe I'll just post a bunch when I get some favorite edits from each of them!
Saturday night we took the girls to the carnival and let them ride the rides for several hours. It was definitely the place to be that night, everyone in town was there!

This is how good of a Daddy that Johnny is to his girls! He will cram his knees into a tiny kiddie ride just so Ava could go on it!
They had so much fun! I should have known Ava would love it!
This is Maddie Kate being brave--there is no one riding with her!!!
Me riding the carousel with both girls!

Sunday we went to my parents house and had Father's Day lunch together, and we had big news to tell my family. We let Maddie Kate make the big announcement: We are expecting a new baby! Johnny and I found out last week on our anniversary, so that was pretty exciting! And I think we're due around Valentine's Day, so that's cool too! Our family is very happy and excited!
This week a friend of mine, Kellie, is spending the entire week while her husband works at camp. Our kids are having a fun time playing together and ransacking the house! :)

Pictures (as usual) and our 8th Anniversary!

I finished up the edits from the big session from last week, so I thought I'd post a few! This session was unique, because I took 8 kids pictures in about an hour at our town park, and basically what it comes down to is that our town's Homecoming Committee ("Sesser Homecoming" is like a town carnival that starts tonight and goes through Saturday, it's not like a school dance!) hired me to do photos of these kids. The kids are all competing with each other to sell the most raffle tickets, and whoever does will get a big prize. The raffle pretty much pays for the carnival, so it's a big deal, I guess! Anyway, part of the gift to the kids for selling the raffle tickets is a photo session, and this year they asked me to do it. I was thrilled, because I figure that's pretty good exposure! Here are some of my favorites!
When they wanted the session done at the park, I was a little worried, thinking that there wasn't really anywhere good to take pics at the park, but it appears that I was wrong! We came up with lots of cute spots! I have to say, the little boy peeking through the leaves is my very favorite because it was his idea to do that!! Very creative little mind!
Yesterday was Johnny and my 8th anniversary! All day Maddie Kate kept saying,"You and Daddy have been married for 8 years, and I've been around for 6 years!" It was typical anniversary for us, too busy doing a million other things and not really celebrating! Our church is in the middle of a huge remodeling/building on project and the week 65 men are here helping us get the addition built, so Johnny had to be at the church all day. Maddie Kate had a ball game last night, and afterward, we were all so tired we didn't feel like going out to eat (not to mention the girls were filthy dirty from playing at the game) so we went home, got baths, ate dinner, put the girls to bed and sat down together and watched our wedding video! So that was nice, just to sit together and reminisce! It's not the worst anniversary we have ever had though! Our 2nd anniversary was spent packing to move from Nashville, TN to Sesser, and last year we spent it in the hospital because Johnny had Shiga! So at least we weren't in the hospital this year! :)
Tomorrow I have a newborn shoot and I am so excited. I have been planning for this for quite awhile, so hopefully it will go well! You'll see some pics from it in a few days I'm sure!

Jessica

One of my very favorite things in the world...

...is taking pictures of my sweet crazy daughters!
Yesterday my sister Sweed (Alisa) and I decided to take Maddie Kate and Ava to Grandpa's old schoolhouse for a photo shoot, and it was fun! I really wish that schoolhouse was on my property so I could keep it! It is so great for pictures! Grandpa is planning on burning it down eventually, but I asked him to let me know before he does it, so I can come get some of it! The problem is, I want it all! Here are some of my favorites...there are lots!




















































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There are loads more but I have to stop
editing them for now, I have
real work
I need to be editing instead!



If you would like a "Grandpa's Schoolhouse" photo shoot of your own, you should probably contact me very soon! I don't know how much longer we'll have it!! :)

It's like rain on your wedding day!

This past weekend my mom and my 2 sisters and I drove all the way to Georgia for my cousin's wedding. Wow, it takes a long time to drive to Georgia!! We left on Thursday afternoon and stopped about halfway there to sleep, then drove the rest of the way on Friday. We were very lost once we actually got to Statesboro, and pretty much drove in miserable circles until we got correct directions over the phone from my uncle! We found the hotel and managed to get to the church in time to head over to the rehearsal dinner! It was great getting to see some family that I haven't seen in a long while, like my cousin Shavon. I haven't seen her in 3 years, and we always were best-cousin-friends and used to write each other letters every week! She lives in Virginia though, and I guess things change once everyone grows up and gets married! Not to mention I don't write letters anymore! It was also nice to get to talk with Shavon's brothers and their wives. (David & Christi and Jason & Kimberly) We seem to have several things in common, so there's usually a lot to talk about! My kids don't have any cousins yet and I do feel bad for them that they won't have any cousins their own age. I'm sure they'll eventually have loads of cousins, but they will be so much older than them, it'll never be like it was for me. Oh well, I guess they'll never know the difference like I will!
My cousin Ashley's (I have three brides named Ashley/Ashleigh this year, and I had one last year too!) wedding was very pretty, and she married a guy from my home church in Ina, so that was interesting! They met at FWBBC, in Nashville, TN where my husband and I graduated from. I haven't got too many done yet, but here are a few pics from their wedding!











It was raining ALL DAY the day of the wedding, so we didn't get to take any photos outside, which made me sad, but you gotta do the best you can with what you have, and so far what I have edited I am liking, so I think it's gonna be great! I don't think the happy couple minded the rain, they seemed very happy and so in love! Thanks for letting me participate in your very special day! :)



We headed home right after the wedding, and we drove at least an hour before we got out of the rain. Kimberly drove and she got us all the way to Nashville that night before we stopped to sleep. We did have fun the last day because we shopped at Opry Mills Mall in Nashville and ate at the Aquarium Restaurant, which has good food and such a neat atmosphere. When we got there, there was a diver cleaning the tank at the entrance, so while we waited to be seated, I took his picture with Kimberly!














This is all of us in front of the huge tank with all kinds of fish and sharks in it. You can see a shark behind us. (We just set the camera on the table for this timed shot... like the forks in the foreground?) I would recommend this fun place if you are ever in Nashville! I am glad my mom and sisters and I got a chance to take this trip together! Besides the raining and the driving and the IHOP, we had a good time! (we had a VERY bad IHOP experience that involved a waitress cleaning off the seat of the booth for us with the backside of her pants....oh, yes, and it kept getting worse....don't go the the IHOP in Statesboro, Georgia!) We got home Sunday night and I was very happy to see my family!!
Maddie Kate's game last night got canceled due to the other team not showing up! Apparently the team parents/coaches are fighting and they forfeited! But tonight she played and did well. No home runs, but good hitting and good fielding. I am enjoying watching her play this season! My parents came to tonight's game, so that was nice, especially having PaPa there to play with Ava was great!
Ava can say anything now! My favorite is "Hedo Mommy!" (yes, I am currently "Mommy")but she tells me whatever she wants or needs all the time. It's nice to be able to communicate with her, but she doesn't understand that she isn't supposed to hit! She hits Maddie Kate a lot, and she even pinched me the other day and when I told her to stop, she kicked me! She got in BIG trouble! She is so aggressive, so different from her big sister!
Well, I have loads of editing to do, from the wedding and also a session (that was really 8 separate sessions) that I did on Monday! I will post some of those when I get more done!
One more thing, if you read this: To the person who ordered the cool surprise for their significant other, you need to contact me, your surprise is here! ;)

I just have a second...

to tell you that I updated several things on my website today, if you are interested! I added a Sports session and another choice of Senior Session & added and changed some pictures. I haven't had much blog time lately, but I promise to try to get to this tonight or tomorrow! I'm off to Maddie Kate's 3rd ballgame this week...she has hit home runs in the first two, let's see how she does tonight!! :)
Later!