Singin' In The Rain...

These were taken a long while back but I thought I'd share Jeremiah playing in the rain.
How do you have glorious sunshine in the midst of falling rain????
Hmm... there is a sermon in there, ya think?





The wind caught his Curious George umbrella...




Have a great day!

Sydney & Isaac: Married!

Her smile lights up the room. Actually, I think it lights up the world. As she got ready for her wedding day, surrounded by her closest friends and family, you can see how her charm affected everyone in her life. She is confident in how amazing she is but then she somehow makes all those around her feel amazing and important... because they are. Not just to her but to so many others. Sydney is just good like that. Everyone needs someone like her in their life. =)

Sydney & Isaac, thank you for allowing me to capture these moments of the best day of your life (so far!). It was a blessing to meet the people you love and see how they have impacted you two in great ways that made you perfect for each other. As usual, I fell in love with you and your family. I love my job. =)

Some getting ready shots...

Eight Bridesmaids (dresses) all in a row...

Fabulous "Jackie O" hat style veil. She was so excited about it and why not? It's awesome!

Mom helping her into her dress...

Beautiful...


Her sister did an awesome job on everyone's hair and she also did Sydney's makeup. How do you make a pretty girl better? I don't know but Gina was fantastic!


Check them out! Working it in the yard right before the ceremony...

Her brother pulled up in this and of course she had to get on!


FUN bunch!

Keep working it!


The guys were enjoying themselves...

Can you believe they made their own wine for everyone at the reception? They had these adorable little bottles with personalized tags. Amazing!


Seriously, this group was fabulously fun! They performed the Thriller dance! The wedding party worked hard to pull this off and it was AWESOME!!!


Here is a video clip they posted on YouTube...



Kudos to...
...Flower Farm of Rockport, IN for the flowers - gorgeous bouquets!
...Musick Studios for choreographing the first dance and the Thriller dance - awesome!
...AllStart DJ Alliance's Randy Weber for working the reception - fun stuff!
...Lori Decker catered the reception and wow, it was great!
...Brandy for second shooting with me - thanks!

Impulsive and Sneaky Mommy...

I decided that the boys needed haircuts. All three of them - Jeremiah, Joshua and Daddy. Daddy and Jeremiah are easy - just run the clippers all over their head. I didn't think I was ready for Joshua to bear the baldish head but he definitely needed at least a trim. Why is it that I always think "Hmmm... surely I can do this." ????? So I gave it a whirl and decided that if it was THAT bad, I'd just give Ginger a call because that girl does wonders! It's not too bad but it's a bit choppy so I think she may need to come to his rescue soon. lol But here he is looking like the BIG BOY that he is!

Jey got himself a buzz and we all celebrated his cooperation with some brownies laced with spinach and blueberries (naughty Mommy?). But he also got to pick out a box of legos. =)
I'm just happy the days of wrestling with a screaming, kicking kid is over - YAY!


Yes, I said spinach and blueberries. You boil the raw spinach (about 3 cups) for about ten minutes then drain it. Add about 1 1/4 fresh blueberries, a teaspoon of lemon juice and a couple tablespoons or so of water to get a nice smooth puree. I drain out the pieces of blueberry skins if they are a bit chunky. I take a box of brownie mix and follow directions except I use 3/4 cups of the puree to replace all the water in the recipe and 1/2 the oil. The texture is a bit different than I'd like but the kids didn't know the difference and knowing all those healthy things were in there made me more than happy to offer seconds! I made them in a mini muffin tin and the texture was much better this time.

Roo likes them too...


My house is a mess! We are planning a HUGE garage sale with a couple other families August 1st. Lots of baby stuff (pink and blue!), kids clothes and a TON of toys. We have our garage loaded up as we clear our attic and rooms but there is still a lot of junk in our house! I think I have more weeding to do in each room - especially the boys room. I will be happy to have less around here to clean up! YAY!

Birthday Snapshot Overload...

Yes, that is what this is... the Birthday Snapshot Overload. I have hardly been online in weeks and really just need to post some stuff so in a mad rush to compile some documentation of little man's first B-day, you get play-by-play snapshots of the party. I crack up at these because I thought I'd leave the "BIG" camera (5d) at home and take my "little" camera (XT) instead and I used a lens I haven't really used in what seems like forever. The cameras are so different I felt very out of sorts trying to get decent images on the fly. So I just snapped and laughed at myself and just enjoyed this special time in my Little Roo's life. Hope you can enjoy it too!

He didn't seem to know why we all gathered at the church fellowship hall (more room than my house!). He was a bit clingy and wanted Mommy and not Papaw! We always said they kind of looked a like... same expressions? lol

But he cheered up a bit when he saw he could hang with both Grandmas...


Mmmmm.... LOTS of yummy Korean food!


Heehee, see I can't even focus right! I forgot how it can be tricky to shoot at 1.8 when you are too busy participating in the festivities at the same time! A Korean tradition on your first B-day is to set out a bunch of things and see which item the baby picks up first. There is a pencil or book (Jeremiah picked the book) for intelligence, a thread for long life, money for prosperity, etc... I'm not superstitious but we did it for the fun of Korean traditions. Joshua gave us a show as he first reached for the ball... an athlete?


But he didn't actually touch it and he reached for the pencil but again, didn't actually touch it. Then the ball again but nope... barely missed that one too. The little stinker.

He finally settled on the thread. So instead of being smart or prosperous, he'll just be around for a long, long time? lol


(I'm sure it's because he's usually not allowed to play with my thread! lol)

He had no idea why everyone was singing to him, he just wanted to get his hands on the cake! He watched it's formation and whined for some for a whole day until this moment!


We decided on a Curious George smash cake since he's been knicknamed Curious George due to his meddling nosey-ness. And the big cake featured a Tonka Truck to round out his monthly birthday truck pics. The amazing art work on the cakes was by a good friend, the insanely talented Angie! She says her forte is wedding cakes but she sure did a fabulous job on these! If you want her to whip you up an awesome cake, ask me for her number!

Joshua was a bit leery about jumping into the cake...


But he soon figured out it was yummy frosting and savoured every lick...

But this was about as messy as he got...

We were all shocked considering how messy he eats his regular meals!

Poor George...

Jeremiah snuck (sneaked?) a bite of George after eating his piece of the truck cake...


I think he ate more of it than Joshua did but Joshua didn't mind...

He was more interested in the spool of thread...




It was a fun time with friends and family. I can't believe the little guy is a year old already (although he seems to think he's going on 3 - Pffft!). Love you, Little Roo!

Tol! It's Birthday Time!

Wow... I can't believe this day has already arrived! Seems like last week I was calling to tell my mom we were having another boy! And, boy, is he all B.O.Y. Cars, balls, gadgets, the great outdoors... yup, that is my littlest man! LOVE HIM!

My mom and I laugh at the fact that these boys are Korean. Can they look any less Asian with their light hair and blue eyes? Joshua does have that in common with Jeremiah. And that is pretty much where their similarities end.

BUT since he IS Korean, we are having a traditional Korean "TOL"! The child's first birthday ranks up there with the most important days of your life. Seriously, it's a HUGE deal. Your next 58 birthdays are not as important and you have to wait until 60 to get another huge party. You basically get the Birthday Boy (or girl) all dressed up in traditional Korean formalwear and feed anyone and everyone you know tons of Korean food. We are celebrating today!!! Yahoo!

Since we knew we'd be busy this weekend preparing for this party,
we took the boys out Thursday evening to get Joshua's 1 year pics
and hopefully some of them both in the traditional clothing.

Of course Joshua had to get in the Tonka truck:


He's getting big!


Then we attempted to get them together. Fake smile from Jeremiah and Joshua was more interested in the kids on the bikes...


But Joshua perks up when he gets a hug from Jeremiah...


One good close up of Joshua smiling so big?

Well, maybe not. But it's a typical look for him.

And his big brother isn't much more cooperative...


It was HOT HOT HOT. Like, smothering hot and HUMID. BLEAH. Jeremiah wanted to go to the bridge but we told him he had to change his clothes first. He pouted and whined about it all the way to the car until I pulled out the Korean outfit. He stood there starry eyed for a moment. "oooooh...." Then he couldn't whip his clothes off fast enough! They were so great and pleased as punch to run around the park even in the stuffy long-sleeved layers they had on.

Jane's parents sent the one that Jeremiah is wearing and Joshua is wearing the one Jeremiah wore for his Tol. He has the special hat and extra vest marked with wishes/blessings that is worn only for extra special occasions like today!

But you can tell they are KYians... cut me some slack, we didn't have traditional shoes and nothing looks right with them anyway! lol

On to the pics!

Finally to the bridge as promised with two suprisingly happy {Korean} boys...


I told Jeremiah to take his arm off the side and as soon as he did, Joshua made a run for it (he looks like he's going to take off flying!)...


So we tried him sitting but then Jeremiah was fixated on them holding hands...


Amazingly Joshua stood still for a moment so I could get this one to show off his clothes
(they are so "poofy"! lol)...


But a brief moment then boy wonder was off and running again...


We tried a new location...


Joshua ran off again so I tried to get one of Jeremiah in his garb (stiff "cheese" pose)...


And Joshua found the truck...


So I let them take a few trips across the bridge...


Then another attempt to get the birthday boy by himself...


He took off again so I tried to get Jeremiah (more fake cheese *sigh*)...


But in the end I was happy to capture this amazing time in my little Roo's life...

Happy Birthday little man! I love you oh-so dearly!!! You drive me nuts with your busy-BUSY-nosey-ness but it keeps me on my toes and we sure have a lot of fun! You are an amazing blessing to us and I can't wait to see what an awesome man you grow up to be! Well, okay... I CAN wait. And actually would prefer to wait longer than I have too. But only if that means you stay little a little longer, not because you are 30 and refuse to move out. I'm sure I'd want you out by then. lol *SMOOCHIES*

I'm sure I'll have more pics to share from the Birthday Bash so keep an eye out for the next post!

I spent too much time compiling a slideshow of images from his first year and it never did work. So I am really frustrated and bummed about that. But I did manage to get a little one made real quick of all the truck pics:

Random Outing...

So yeah, that trip downtown we took a while back (looong while back)? Here are some random captures from that evening...









Different ways to shoot a dandelion in the sunset...


Vertical...


Or Horizontal...


What can you find around town?