Forgot....

If you get a chance & want to check out some amazing pictures, check out this photographer's site. Simply beautiful work.

http://www.alwphotography.com/index3.php

Decisions, decisions

Everday life forces us to make multiple decisions, some big, most little. Should I let the kids eat popsicles in the living room while they watch cartoons? Can I not get up now & sleep in an extra 15 minutes or will I regret it? Some only take you a second to decide while others you have to mull over for days, even weeks. Jim & I have been going through this the last couple of weeks & trying to figure out how this decision will impact the rest of our life, our family & our marriage. No, we're not getting divorced. Bet you thought we were huh? Nope, we're stuck together. And that's just fine with us. I'll fill you in when the decision is made but it's a big one & I hope the people I care about are supportive enough to understand.
Now on a happy note, kids are wonderful. Jamie is doing great in school & improving leaps & bounds. Kieran seems to be more receptive to the idea of starting school especially when he found out he gets to play on the same playground Jamie does. Remember when all that mattered was that at some point during the day you got to go outside & play? We should be more like that. Forget about going to work, cooking, cleaning & all the other yucky stuff we have to do as adults. We should set aside some time during the day to just P L A Y. Whether it be relaxing with a good book or sitting outside & enjoying this (FINALLY) beautiful weather. My play today is going to be hitting my garage & getting ready for the sale this weekend. Lord knows we have a ton of stuff to get rid of. And at the end of my ever so long day hopefully I will be able to sleep as well as Gavin does.

Inspiration

Ever see something that just gets you going? I was doing my usual lurking in various blogs (I know, I have to stop) and found this link to an amazing photographer in Houston. http://www.kandcphotography.com/main.htm Seriously made me want to grab my camera & start shooting all day. Absolutely amazing stuff. I really need to take more pictures.

Had a wonderful somewhat creative evening with the gals last night. Even Miss Nancie Fancy Pants made it! Stamper's is always fun and has so much stuff it's hard not to blow all your cash there. But I was good! I did buy a ScrapTrends Magazine & it was a little pricey ($5.95) but worth every penny for the fabulous layouts & ideas inside. Also had a great dinner at El Balazo, yummy nachos. All a gal could want on a Saturday night: good food, good fun & good friends.

Finally some pictures!

Boy Shoes

I love me some boy shoes. Comfy, well worn & who cares if they get dirty? Just throw those suckers in the wash & they're good as new!















I finally got some current prints of my brood & was able to download them from disc. Now maybe my blog won't look so BLAH!


Easter vacation & we are loving it. The weather has been beautiful so the guys cleaned up the backyard last weekend & the kids have been outside everyday. I love it & so do they. Baseball is finally back on track & we got a couple of practices in & games this Saturday. And I finally have a shoot that won't be cancelled! Woohoo! Getting the swing of things though I really need to learn more about spot meters, F-Stops (what the hell are those?), etc. Never realized how much I didn't know about photography. But this job is really getting me going & it sounds like we'll be doing some fun stuff in a couple of months. Greg says we'll be doing some action stuff soon & I can't wait to dig right in. FUN!

Here's the first picture of brotherly love. Jamie had Kie in a chokehold. Nice.

Life is good

All's well in the McIntyre house. Kie got over his chicken pox relatively quick. Which makes me wonder if it was something else? Nonetheless, he was better by Tuesday & we are all relieved. We are all off for the weekend so it should be a nice couple of days with the family. Thanks to the lovely rain, no shoots & probably no baseball unless the sun decides to come back out. If I'm lucky I may even get to scrap a bit this weekend. This is exactly what I love about life right now: no stress, not a whole lot of immediate worries, everyone is healthy & we're together. The kids are excited about the Easter Bunny coming on Sunday. I am excited about being with my family this weekend. How simple is that?
Another thing that lifted my spirits this week: I received the newest Martha Stewart cookbook in the mail. How fun! So I poured over it today & picked a couple of things to make this weekend. I don't care what anyone says, I love me some Martha Stewart. Yeah, she's a little stuffy but the girl is talented. It'll be a fattening weekend. Brownies & pound cake YUM!
Hope everyone has a wonderful & blessed Easter!!

Chicken Pox!

So on Wednesday night Gavin was running a fever & we chalked it up to teething. Then on Thursday Kieran was running a fever. Maybe flu? Last night, there's a rash on Kieran's hands & still my dumbass doesn't think anything of it. He's a boy afterall & lord knows where his hands have been. Today he was outside with my mom & Pete pulling weeds (honest, it's not slave labor. He likes doing it. Weird kid.) and comes in & says, 'Look at my hands.' Well now the rash is really red & I notice it going up his arms now. Pull up his shirt, small spots on his chest. His feet all red & rashy. Now I know what you're going to say: Idiot, you have 5 kids. Don't you know what chicken pox looks like?' Well I'm assuming if you give my kids a freakin chicken pox VACCINE that they won't get it. WRONG! Apparently 2 out of 10 kids still get it. Ain't that great? Luckily the advice nurse said because he had the vaccine it will probably be a mild case and so far he isn't itchy. He is just having trouble sleeping & not real hungry but other than that, he's still Kieran. Oh, and here's what he tells me when he shows me the rash: I think it was because I pulled that penny out of the toilet yesterday.' EW!! Like I said, he's a boy.
On a happy note, joy of joys, I have a shoot tomorrow & it's indoors! Yay! No chance of this sucker getting cancelled unless the damn place burns down. I can't wait. Finally a job pushing me towards my goal of becoming a real photographer.
I am also doing my Spring cleaning & purging all the stuff I don't use. If all goes well my mom & I are going to have a garage sale in a couple of weeks to maybe make some dough off of our junk. Now I won't be like Mr. Crab & try to sell my used plunger. I actually have some decent stuff that has just been sitting around here wasting away & gathering dust. Like they say, one man's junk is another man's treasure.
Happy to report my Yankee's put the spank on the A's this week 15-2. But alas, they lost the other 2 games. Can't win 'em all & the season is still young.
If you haven't checked this link yet (or recently) head on over there. http://abiteast.typepad.com/abiteast/ Her name is Keisha & her stuff is absolutely freakin' amazing. I cannot say enough about how incredibly talented she is. I wish I could scrap like her!! Good stuff to get those creative juices flowing. I am off to scrap now. Have a great weekend!!

Rain, rain go away....

So this is proving to be the wettest Spring California has had in ages & I, for one, am not appreciating it anymore. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate not being in the middle of a draught like Texas & I love the rain. But right now it's not only interfering with the photo shoots but totally screwing up Vinnie's baseball season. Granted, it's the beginning of the season but the fields are totally flooded. And they play at 4 different fields!! Crazy!
I did have a productive crop night at Stamper's with Corinne & Daniela. I'd post a pic of my layouts but I am still without digital & haven't hooked up my other computer to scan stuff but take my word, I was on a roll. I even wrote on a layout! Woohoo! Thanks to the wonderful Heidi Swapp book, I worked up the courage & I have to admit, it came out pretty darn nice. Hopefully I'll be connected over the weekend & then I can start scanning & downloading stuff again.
In the meantime, enjoy this rain while it lasts because before you know it Summer will be upon us. Yay! I can't wait!

Crop Night-FINALLY!

It's been weeks since I've cropped but finally the gals & I are getting together tonight at Stamper's Warehouse. It's been too damn long & I am feeling so uncreative. But I am packing my bags & by God I will accomplish something tonight!! I am so looking forward to it.
And can this rain PLEASE STOP?? Both of my shoots got rained out this weekend so here I sit in limbo. Even though the rain isn't here today it did it's damage yesterday so it's like swampville everywhere. Hopefully next weekend will be better.
On a happy note, this means I get to attend Vinnie's opening day game. Yay! At least one field didn't get flooded so we are off to see his game this afternoon. The kids are really excited because they can't remember going to Vinnie's games when they were little. Now they will get to see big brother in action. And I can get some pics of my now teenage son making his way (I HOPE) to the major leagues. Hey, a mother can dream can't she??
All in all it should be a good weekend. We're all off for the weekend, we get to catch a baseball game & my lovely Grey's Anatomy will be on tomorrow night. What more could a girl ask for?
I've been watching that new show 'Big Love' on HBO about the mormon guy who has 3 wives. OMG what the hell? Can I just say, this show is giving me nightmares! It's not scary but (no offense to the mormons who live this kind of life) it is disturbing to say the least. When I dream about shows I realize I just watch way too much damn TV & I need to get out more. Except for Sunday nights. I HAVE to watch Patrick Dempsey or my week just sucks.
So I'm off to pack my scrapbook goodies, get the kids bundled up & then we're off to the game. Wish us luck! Go Vinnie!