My First Senior Rep!

I am so excited to introduce Laina, my first Senior Rep! She is a junior this year, but I offered to do a little session for her early so she can show off her proofs and maybe drum up some more senior business for me at her high school. :) I just did her session this afternoon, but I have edited a few images, and so far, I think Laina should definitely be a model! Just beautiful!!!
I don't think you can get more photogenic than this! :) I will post more in a day or two when I get done.

Also, I am looking for more Senior Representatives for Jessica Hollis Photography! I need someone who is outgoing, fun, and involved in their school. You will receive a free mini session along with a proof book to show off and rep cards (they are like business cards for a senior, they have your photo with your cell #, your myspace address, etc) to hand out. You will also receive $20 print credit or CASH for any friend who you refer to me who has their senior photos taken with me!
I already have a rep at Sesser-Valier High School and Mt. Vernon High School, and am interested in finding juniors in some of the surrounding schools to do this too! I am looking for reps at Benton, DuQuoin, Christopher, Waltonville, Woodlawn, etc. If you are a junior or know someone who is and would be good at it, contact me!
Email me at info@jessicahollisphotography.com or call me at #618-625-6787. Thanks!

Now I'm off to bed...Cohen's asleep, so I need to be too!!

Super cute twins!

This afternoon I am headed to Nashville, TN with my mom and Kimmy to visit my sister, Alisa. She has been in school there all year, but I haven't made it down yet. I think it has something to do with being pregnant and then having a new baby....anyway, it looks like we are actually going to go today. I am taking Maddie Kate because she and my sister are like best friends, and Cohen has to go wherever I go, but I am leaving Ava home with her Daddy for the weekend. I know that sounds awful, and I do feel bad about it, but we are going to be shopping, maybe garage sales (Nashville yard sales are awesome), and going out to eat and things, and Ava still needs naps and bathrooms to be close at hand! So it would just be rough to drag her around all weekend! But her Daddy is planning on taking her to the circus tonight, and I already told her she gets to see elephants, and she was so happy about that. Hopefully the circus will be a nice distraction and they will have a nice Daddy Daughter weekend! :)

I have to go get packed, but I just finished up a session and I have to get it posted before we leave. These little girls are SO cute and they did so good at their session! They will be one year old tomorrow. Here are Baylee & Chloe:
When I realized I had a set of 4 pictures that showed the girls taking offthe cowgirl hats, I had to put them into a storyboard! We tried to get pictures of them wearing them, but it was tough, because they wouldn't leave them on! Click the image to see it larger.
The ones with the frame were so cute, it almost looked like a mirror image part of the time!
I love so many of their photos, it was hard to choose favorites to post. Hopefully Mom will like them too! Thanks for allowing me to take their pictures, they are adorable and it was fun!
Well, I'm off to pack! Have a great weekend!

JHP GRADUATION SPECIAL!!!

If this is too small for you to read, click on the logo and it will appear larger!
Thanks!

Cousins

Aren't cousins the greatest? When I was growing up, one of the things I looked forward to most was when my cousins came to visit in the summer or at Christmastime, or now and then when we would visit them, that was the best thing ever! Most of my cousins that were around my age lived in other states, but that made it so much fun when they came to play! We built tree forts, played games, climbed trees, wrecked motorcycles, made up a fake radio station that we recorded on tapes and played back for hours in the middle of the night and laughed forever... anyway, that little reminiscing leads me to a fun session that I had the other day with two sets of sisters who are cousins. I would have loved to have had some photos like this with my cousins! Here are Sammy, Bobbie, Hannah, and Emily (hopefully I spelled the names right!)

Oh yes, the pile up pose! Love it!
And we jumped just for fun at the end! It took several tries to get them all in the air at once, but isn't it cute!? Look at the littlest one, she's adorable!
Enjoy one another now girls, because someday you're gonna miss this! :)

Little boy session & an Ava episode

Just finished proofing a fun session I had a few weeks ago. This little boy was so busy! He was pretty hard to keep up with, but he did a great job, and we have some very cute photos of him! We also got big brother Chase, in some of the pictures, and he was so good with his little brother. We went out to their grandpa's farm and they had some great old barns and horses and things, so it was perfect for pictures! This is Nate:






I call this storyboard "The Many Faces of Nate"! Thanks for a great session!

The other day, I had Ava and Cohen with me when I went to Walmart, which makes it kind of an ordeal, but I manage. You have to do what you have to do, you know!? Anyway, Ava had to ride in the basket part of the cart, because Cohen's seat was on the front. She was very patient with all the food and other items that were being piled around, and then towards the end, on her. She didn't seem to mind at all, and was very good, until we got to the checkout line. She stood up, and all the stuff fell down into the hole she had been sitting in. As much as I wanted to make her stay in the cart so I didn't have to chase her, I had to take her out when she started stomping on packages of frozen veggies and salad. So while I was waiting in line, loading the conveyor belt, and paying, Ava was checking out the candy, and of course the toys that they put in the checkout so you will buy them when your kid throws a fit. I don't like to succumb to this blatant scam, so I try my best to not buy junk in the checkout line, unless I have promised my kids some M&M's if they'll be good, or something like that. Well, Ava was playing with some of the little toys, and she kept bringing them and showing them to me, and we already had all of these toys! Little play cameras and cell phones, I think that Ava got most of these items for Christmas from other people. I got her to put them back by reminding her that we had that same toy at home. I got done paying, and of course, there's no room in the cart for her now, so she was going to have to walk. She had a toy Etch a Sketch in her hand and she ran over to the Bear Claw machine by Customer Service, and I was trying to push the very heavily-laden cart. I told her we needed to put the toy back, and as I reached for her hand, she ran away. I had to chase and grab her, but then she went limp and started wailing. At this point, I know we are making a scene, and I'm embarrassed of course, because my kid is being "that kid". I take the toy away and set it down, and put Ava on my hip (because I sure can't trust her to walk at this point) and attempt to push Cohen and the 10 ton cart. We get right by the bathrooms, and Ava says in a panicky voice that she has to use the bathroom. When she says this, we don't have time to spare. It is good that we are so conveniently close to it, but I have this huge cart full of stuff, and a baby in a carseat. I pretty much have no choice but to put Ava down and wrangle the cart past a orange canvas pop up sign that says "Wet Floor" in the doorway of the bathroom, the hallway of which they have set up so that you will NOT attempt to push a cart into it. I finally get the cart into the bathroom, and realize Ava didn't come with me! So I hurry out, and there's Ava standing in the doorway with the orange wet floor sign on her head! I guess I should be glad she hadn't run far away! So I grab her and take her to the bathroom, all the while telling her how yucky and dirty that sign is, and how she should absolutely NOT put it on her head. Then we head out of the impossible hallway once again, and what do you know, by the time I get out of the bathroom, there she is with the sign on her head again! Grrr...
I'm laughing now, but it was not funny at the time! You can't spank kids in public, and this was definitely the one thing Ava needed at that moment. I know I'm not the only mom who ever had a hard time at Walmart, but believe me, I learned my lesson. The next time I went, I waited until Johnny was home and then I went by myself!
Have a great Tuesday! :)

So how about that earthquake?

How many of you felt that earthquake last night? Did it wake you up? Wasn't that crazy? I was a sitting on the couch feeding Cohen when it hit. And in the middle of the night I'm usually in a sleepy dazed state, and it took me a little bit to realize what was going on. At first I thought it was a storm blowing in, because it sounded very windy, but then I realized that everything in the kitchen was clinking and that the the house was actually shaking! I jumped up to run and wake Johnny, but he was coming out of the bedroom saying, "we're having an earthquake!" and by then it was stopping. Then there was that aftershock or second earthquake this morning around 10:15. I thought Ava might notice and freak out, but she didn't. I guess when your middle name is "earthquake" you don't notice the real ones!! :)

My brother Logan decided he wanted more senior pictures so we went and did some the other day. I guess that's a perk of having a sister who is a photographer! Here are a few from his session:
This was the first time I have gotten to use my orangy-wingback chair! I am really glad I bought it, it is going to be great for pictures! Logan just threw it in the car like it weighed nothing... wish it was that easy for me!
It's always fun to take pictures for family because they give me creative freedom! Plus Logan and I tried out some new locations, so it was fun!

Johnny just got this new software program called "Naturally Speaking" and we are loving it! neither of us are fast typers, and this program lets you speak into a microphone and the computer will type what you say! He is using it for his school work ( lots of research papers), and I have been trying it out for blogging. It's working pretty well because I can hold the baby and blog and not have to type with one hand! ( yes, I am a crazy a a multi-tasker! I have to be! :)

Jessica

I FOUND IT!

I have good news! I found my wedding ring! Apparently, Ava and I were both at fault! Yesterday, when I was setting up for my session, I went to get my wireless flash trigger out of my lighting bag, and there it was, in the bag with the wireless. I guess on Friday night when I packed up my lights and backdrop I had left the bag with the wireless on the counter. Later, when I found the wireless still sitting on the counter I went and put it away in the bag with the rest of my stuff. I guess Ava had already dropped the ring in the bag before I did that. For some reason I hadn't thought about the fact that I had put that bag away on Friday night, and we hadn't looked there, though I think we had looked everywhere else in the whole house! I am so glad I found it!! We were on the verge of calling insurance and two people had let me know that they had metal detectors we could use, but thank goodness we didn't have to! Thanks to everyone who left me comments with stories of how they had lost their rings and found them again, it was encouraging!:)

I have a little sneak peek from my session last night!I got to take these girls pictures when they were about four months old and they are about to turn one now. They are so cute and did such a good job, I can't wait to work on the rest of their pictures! More of these cuties later on!
Well, I'm off to Walmart! Have a good evening!

Party, Babies, Expo...and a Sad Story

Last Sunday April 6th, my dad and his siblings threw my Grandma an 80th birthday party. It was fun, because I got to go to my home church and see everyone, plus loads of my relatives who live far away came for the weekend! It was good to get to see everyone. Here's a photo of the ones of us who were able to make it to the party. There are actually several missing! My dad is the 2nd of 8 kids, and there are 20 grandchildren, and so far I think 12 great grandchildren. But everyone couldn't be there due to distance or jobs and such, but there are still an awful lot of us there! It was fun! I also got to see my friends who still go to the church I grew up in, and we got a picture of the babies together.
First, a picture of us all pregnant at New Years.
Then here we are with the babies, 3 months later:
Ellie, born Jan 11th; Morgan, born Feb 15th; and my Cohen, born Feb 7th. So cute!

Johnny did help me take some more shots of Cohen for his 2 month pictures last week. Good thing we did it before Thursday, because that's when he had his 2 month Dr. checkup and had to get shots. He ran a fever for 2 days, slept a LOT and was very grumpy!

I know, this one above is such a Sears photo, but I wanted to show what's on his shirt! :)
I think this one might be my favorite, he looks like he's talking to me! Which he has started to do some, lots of smiling and cooing. It's great to see some personality in him!

Yesterday, I did a bridal expo, and it went pretty much awful. They must have not advertised it well, or no one wanted to get out in the cold rain, but there was like no one there. I think I talked to 3 or 4 brides total! Unbelievable, and very disappointing, especially after I have worked for two weeks to get ready for it! Designing and printing marketing materials, having a few new big prints made, putting together a slideshow, not to mention the booth space money I wasted, and driving all the way over there twice! (once to set up, and once for the show) That has never happened to me before! I did 4 bridal shows last year, and they were always very well attended, and went great for me. Oh well, I guess you live and learn, and I learned that I will not attend that show again! Here's a picture of my booth though (which I took with the point and shoot I keep in my purse for just such an occasion where I forgot my other camera...or brought it but forgot to bring a memory card! lol)I thought it looked nice...too bad only other vendors got to see it! I felt especially bad for a caterer who was there and had a full spread of food including a chocolate fountain. They even had an ice sculpture! But it looked like their sole purpose of the afternoon turned out to be to feed all the other vendors...sad story! :(

But even after all that, that is not the saddest story that I have to tell. Ava has truly outdone herself, I don't think it can get worse than this. On Friday night, Ava somehow managed to lose my WEDDING RING! That is just something that should not happen, and I still can't believe it. I took my ring off and set it on the counter while I was making some homemade pizza, and left it there the rest of the evening. This is something I do a lot when I am cooking, and it's never been a problem before! I saw it there later, Maddie Kate remembers seeing it there, but that night when I went to take my earrings out, I realized I had left my ring in the kitchen, and I went to get it. But it wasn't there, and the only person who would have moved it was Ava. She told us she did it, but can't tell us where she put it. Johnny and I stayed up until 1:30am looking for it. On Saturday, Johnny looked for it almost all day, and didn't find it, and we looked a little while yesterday afternoon when I got home from the ridiculous bridal show, and didn't find it. We have looked in all the toys, down all the vents, Johnny has even cleaned out all the junk drawers in case she had dropped in in there, and he took our exercise bike apart to see if she had dropped it inside the plastic casing. It is still lost, and I am sad! We have about given up, but Johnny thinks we could try a metal detector with a gold setting. If anyone knows where I can borrow or rent one of those, please let me know! And pray that we'll find it!