Category Archives: family

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Portrait of a mom

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="momma and her girls"]momma and her girls[/caption]

Since having children of my own, my vision of what motherhood is, should be and was when I was a child has changed greatly.

I remember thinking in my childhood, “why didn’t my mom do XYZ??” But As I find my self doing all the things my mom did with me when I was a kid, it occurs to me - we did a CRAP LOAD of stuff, all the time.  Whatever my mom was doing, we were learning how to do it with her. When she decided she was going to learn cake decorating and be a baker, we learned too.  I can still to this day write my own birthday greetings on a cake if the bakery person is off when I go pick up  my last minute cake. I can also make roses out of icing. Pipe on boarders, make a killer swirl on cupcakes, do icing teddy bears, I learned all manner of cakery.  When my mom decided to do anything, she took us along for the ride. In addition we made Christmas ornaments every year for ages.  We encouraged to try anything we thought we might enjoy.  My childhood was not all roses but it was well and far on the positive side of the tracks. And as I hear my daughter say “I think I need my Gigi,” I know my daughter will have the same fond memories of my mom and my grandmother that I do, and I count us both lucky.

So in all of the things that are swirling around me I wanted to take a second to tell my mom thank you. I appreciate you, and all you do.

Better late than never

bri-wha

Dear Dear internets its been a long day.

*just a note that my nifty little feature I’ve been trying to use at the bottom of my posts should now work - click a picture and tell me if it expands the image for you

I stayed home from work today and got to be with little Miss Bri. Who was STOKED by this turn of events. She kept coming to check like - “hey, you’re still here! Sweet!” then she would walk off to find something else to get into. Did you catch that? my little girl is WALKING ALL OVER THE PLACE! its barely been a week since she took her first step and shes just flying all over the place. She likes to hold a finger still, mostly because she likes to be holding on to you. Shes the most independent dependent person I’ve ever seen.

We went to church Wed. after noon, just because. More because lately I’ve needed to go for me. my husband gets my restless spirit and has been very understanding and open to attending where ever i want to go. I expect I’ll probably try and make bible study this week as well. We’ll see. He’s been very concerned about me as of late and I’ve tried to explain that the first year of any business is a little nerve racking.

All in all I have such little room to be nerve racked, my biggest complaint - things are not moving at HYPER SPACE drive speed. YET.

And that’s a good thing - I’m using this time to get my kids acclimated to longer stretches of me being home and doing the mom thing and then the periodic two or three day stretches where I have a shoot every day during what used to be us time. I’m also making a point of spending more time with the family as individuals. Cammy and I spend a little more time together, I encourage her to help with dinner even if it will cause things to hit the table a little later than planned. I have recently been reminded that over planning in general is probably not the best option for us a family. We have always worked better as a shifting unit. Now if I could just earn enough for somebody to come and do our laundry, I think that is my success point. When i can comfortably say I can afford for somebody to come and do our laundry I’ve done what I need to do, in the mean time I think i may take a page from a friends book and just BUY new clothes. Seems so much easier somehow.

morning-cammy Cammy is such a teenager stuck in the body of a four year old. What pray tell do you do with such a creature? I am not the mom to her I want to be. And I am working on that. Cammy is the kind of kid who should be in all manner of extra circular activities. This fall that is a MAJOR goal of mine. To find the things she would like to get into and well, get her into them. I think we are gonna try a sport, probably dance and swimming, and an art, probably music. We have a piano, she likes to play it. Maybe we should nurture that.

Husband isn’t blogging enough for anything I say about him to be a spoiler over on his blog. I expect alot of his peeps read here cause otherwise you think we’ve fallen off the face of the earth. He’s been workin up a good little storm. He gets along with his coworkers from what I can tell. Its hard not to like Jerry though, you sorta gotta work on that. He’s taken to role playing on line, which I think he enjoys it gives him creative ideas for his writing. So i’m hoping to encourage his writing more. We are both starting to work out more, although since Jerry is a man - his efforts are visible WAY faster than anything I could ever, ever hope for. But we are well, he is a joy to love.  Some days are more interesting than other but man, he does make them colorful.

We went to dinner with our grown up friends the other day. Once a month we make a point to have dinner - not date night mind you but dinner with adults away from the kids. Date night is great and all but it takes more than one night a month to keep things movin around these parts. So once a month we go to dinner with our grown up friends who don’t have kids. Some times its a little more financially taxing cause the night starts off with you 25-40 dollars in the whole from paying a sitter and your single friends they don’t quite get that. Ours are getting better though we had a FANNY-tastic time. Our chosen location was Vin de Set in South City.

We’ve eaten at its sister restaurant on many an occasion but this was our first time there. Things I would recommend, the cheese plate was excellent. Our waiter made perfect recommendations. I had the duck which was beautifully prepared. Funny cause i love ducks in general, it seems odd to me that I order duck when ever I can.

three different people ordered the pork tenderloin special and while it was good, the tender loin that Adam order WAS OFF THE CHAIN. Literally, they easily must have laid a chain next to the plate to prove the point it was so good.  i don’t know if the company made the food better but MAN, we had such a good time. It couldn’t have hurt the meal that the company was awesome. Some of the pictures below are my favorite ever of my friends, yes they aren’t PERFECT but they capture them perfectly.

Highslide JSNow speaking of Perfect I am posting a new session this weekend I had the joy of photographing MommyMae and her beautiful family. She is the most calm beautiful pregnant person I have ever met. I was like DUDE- if it had been like that for Bri we might be having another one! Then reality SMACKED me across the face for saying such a thing. She has three beautiful kids including twin girls who are such genuine characters. I’m looking forward to posting those images soon.
Also we have a little giveaway, i think we’ll do that on Monday so do keep on the look out for that. It is Photography related as it should be over here.

The next few weeks are gonna be a doozy I have two seminars, a field trip with Cammy, TWO additional maternity shoots and This months boudoir shoot!!! I am soooo excited. If you are a bride reading this you get a lovely little discount if you book this particular session. If you are interested in booking a session during my marathon boudoir session This Aug 23rd and 24th please shoot me an email at Pinxit photo at gmail dot com for information.

Why not? is a perfectly good life strategy! Be peaceful be photographed..

grandparents v2.0

Last weekend Cammy got to spend some much desired time with her Gigi, who is my mother and of course her grandmother. Cammy calls my grandmother, grandma, and her Grandmother Gigi. Why? because she said she isn’t a typical grandmother she didn’t want a typical title. But the thing is, in 2008, I think shes way more typical than one might expect.
Now, my grandmother is old school. She is the person who kisses boo boos, makes soul food, cuddles, stretches bed times and lets what few things I deem not okay, slide with the turn of the head. Shes the one who over bundles them in the winter and stiches clothes when torn. My grandma is the frequent baby sitter, (she actually comes to my house to keep Bri every day instead of sending her to daycare) the one Cammy runs to for extra affection and what one would consider typical grand-mothering.

My mother it seems belongs to a new breed of grandparent. Jerry and I often lament that 30 is the new 20, so then to our parents in their forties and fifties, fifty seems to be the new thirty.

My generation can no longer count on our parents to be waiting in the wings for grandchildren to become their evertything. Grandparents now a days are almost as plugged in as the grandchildren they are trying to avoid. My granny is on gmail and uses google talk. Alot. My mom is all about the newest Treo/Palm/Blackberry that will help her manage her business. My dad, is doin, dad things which I only know includes golf, lots of golf. Don’t get it twisted, all of Cammys grandparents pour out of the wood work for birthday parties, Bri’s christening was well attended by grandparents on both sides. If we tell them its important - they show up. Cammy has expressed desire to see her Papaw and he comes the very next weekend for a trip to chuck-e cheese. They are enthusiastic grandparents. But they are not the old school “Hey bring the grandbabies over..” breed of lore.

and honestly I’m not surprised. when I was a kid my grandmother was around, even then she was not like the grandmothers on TV. My granny didn’t even LOOK like the grannys on TV.
by michael cunninghamThis is not my daughter idea of a granny. She is beautiful and this is a beautiful photograph by Michael Cunningham. But, she reminds me of my great-grandmother.
Sista FunThis however - what my kid knows as grandmothers. My mom to the rear in her natural state (aka having a good time) with her sister who is excitedly expecting her first grand child this fall.

They don’t do baking cookies. MAYBE from a package. If you don’t bring the ready made dough, and all the accoutrement necessary mind you, its a no go. They don’t OWN a rolling pin. Well, I gave my aunt one for christmas, after the christmas cookie fiasco of 2007, but I can’t say I think shes yet to use it other than to threaten her husband or son to take out the trash at this point. They aren’t making biscuits from scratch and spending lazy afternoons making lemonaide and watching the grand kids play in the yard. Grandparents today aren’t anymore the 50’s sterotype than we are as parents.
Cammys grandmother aka Gigi moments this weekend came from ordering Room service for the first time and dancing til the wee hours of the night. Learning how to manage her dress while serving with Aintee Syl. There are no arts and crafts happenin at Gigi’s house. While Gigi loves to come by when we are baking cookies or being crafty thats not what Gigis house if for per say. Gigi’s house is full of jewelry boxes to be poured out and perfumes to be sprayed. High heels to parade around in. And its all for Cammy, as my mother has yet to get the cahones to take both girls at the same time. Bri how ever is not going to allow for that much longer. (thats your fair warning Gigi :) )
In our world grands have full schedules and it takes weeks of advanced planning to get the kids in for overnights. In our world we are lucky that we have the multiple generations which give Cammy such VAST experiences with Grands.

how do grandparents work for you guys? Has it been what you expected?

bar baby

I just read the most interesting article about moms and babies and bars. which is funny cause in my last post I was talking about how my mom had her birthday party at the Ritz in the lobby which - has a bar in it. A full, honest to goodness bar mind you, with kick butt mojitos, and a sushi bar in another area. So when I read this article I had to laugh.

It never occured to me to not take my girls with me to wish their grandmother a happy birthday. Cammy was excited to get dressed up in her party dress (she looked way better than me mind you) and I don’t think any less of my parenting because they went and stayed up rediculously late and had a really good time. We didn’t ply them with tequilla shots, and I didn’t drink either. But Cam did help with passing out cake slices and danced with her Granny and followed uncle Erskin around till well after her normal bed time. SHe learned seh couldn’t drink grown up drinks, but learned the joy of a shirley temple. It was a non smoking hotel so we had no issues in our party really.

I don’t take my kids when I want to hang with my girls and really have a drink. I don’t want my kids to watch me get saucy. I don’t take my girls unless I know we are going to be among a group of people who are child friendly, I am usually not concerned about the venue, and I have no intention of drinking. But I have taken my kids to pubs like Llywellens, and Ice and something or other. And I will again, I’m sure.

I beleive if my kids are well behaved and enjoying themselves they can go anywhere I want them to. I don’t allow my girls to throw tantrums - at all - in public places. Cam knows that is a sure fire way to get taken home ever so quickly you might for get you ever left.SO I am always confident about taking my kids where ever I want them to be.

do you guys take your kids to places typically not concidered kid friendly?

side note- Randy Pauch is going to be on ABC News on wed. I watch his lecture once a week. I’ve been watching it since the week after he gave it- when I first saw it - it wasn’t on youtube yet, you had to go down load it from somebody at the school. It helps me remember who I want to be and how I want my kids to be. I would strongly recommend you watch it if you can.

Happy Monday

So this weekend was a score on so many levels, most particularly Sunday.

Weekend lesson learned: even kids need a date night.

What do you mean Raquita?

Oh dear internets let me explain.

imgp5501Since the introduction of dear Miss Bri, who in the previous post picture was eating a lovely Gnome, she has, by necessity taken Cammys place as the automatic sidekick to mommy. When I have to go somewhere, and I’ll be gone for more than say two hours, Bri typically must come with, as she requires my body for meals. Which means either Cammy must stay with her father or She must share what used to be her one on one

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significant days

ah, It has been a time internets.
Yes – We found someone at the party stole cologne and perfume from the medicine cabinet and several bottles of wine.
So, clearly next time the party guest list will not be so open. Just a mild damper on what was a funky good time.
pretty baby Our big fuzzy baby has been hangin out with us way more as Cammy has become much more Anubis friendly in these last few weeks. Which is awesome.

Cammy has certainly started to come into her own. She is dominating the puzzle world. She loves puzzles as much as I do. And I loves me some puzzles. She started off blowing through 24 piece

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so how’d you get engaged Queue?

Everybody is talkin love lately.The holiday season has passed and with it a prime season for marriage proposals. One of the bloggers I read got a sentimental and was wandering down memory lane, and While my street is a bit different it don’t take much to get me to stroll it. Shall we? Okay lets.

My husband and I met - you guessed it - on the internet, then in person at the art museum.  

We’d make a pretty spiffy Match.com commercial.

We did the whole dating thing for a while, and yes it was me who brought up the “M” word. That’s another blog for another time.

But the proposal. Well, dude.

Lets backtrack a bit.

When Jerry and I first started dating he was very

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Grandest Family

The holidays are filled with blogs full of people recounting lost family members. Loved ones no longer physically with them, yet shining through memories and the wonderful stories of their lives and their impact on their family. Grandfather stories, full of cigars, and stiff drinks, lager than life warm characters I wish I could identify with.I can’t.

I am blessed that my family has never suffered, what in my eyes would be, a major catastrophic loss. As I mentioned in a previous post, my grandfathers, both of my grandfather have passed, my mothers father before I was a bloggin, while both

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moment of pause

Most of the people who read here, read over at Mamalouges too, but some of you, I know, do not..

I wish you could see the pauses between sentences here.

They are long. Because, internets I just don’t know what to say.

Shut up, Spoken, I know it’s rare.

Kim-, a fellow Stlblogger brethren(is that how you spell it) has suffered the most major loss anyone cold possibly face, especially at the holidays. And my whole soul bleeds for her. It took a whole day for it to really sink in, that her light will never shine quite as bright, her days will never look quite the same ever again. And I would give anything to make it not so. I really, really would.

Hold your children extra tight when you touch them again. When you let them go make sure you tell them how much you love them. Make everyday count with them. Everyday. Every minute.

Know you are blessed even if that blessing is taken away.

It is times like these that make me pause in my walk with the Lord, and ask the questions I know he will not answer. I feel anger, and sorrow and fear, and sadness, and so many other things.

I want to go home and kiss my babies now. I do not want to let them out of my site. That movie with Brendan Fraiser in it the one wherethey live in a bomb shelter - doesn’t’ seem so bad.

Weekend rewind….

creme bruleeIt has been a full weekend, even if we didn’t have anything planned. Friday night we stayed home, stayed in hung out with the children and hit the sack kinda early. These earlier days tend to catch up to me by Friday, as I don’t go to bed much earlier than I did before I started waking before the sun. I fully intended to go to an open mic this week, particularly my old stomping grounds, Legacy. Alas I got to see Spoken - she brought me her blow torch for to make Crème Brule, which I did at three a.m. when my milk came in and my kid was still sleeping. In the hopes of fostering some all night sleeping I pumped it off and made Crème Brule, and not with my breast milk you silly people.

Saturday morning we woke and dressed and made our way to

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