August 22nd, 2009 by Heidi

Two months ago I made a point to say that I was going to blog more. I did for a couple days and then I seemed to have fallen off the planet. In reality, I’m still here! Thank goodness for that. Life gets busy – which is good. That means we’ve had an enjoyable summer and work has been good to me. But sadly my blog has nothing to show for it. I’ve taken the pictures, they’re still just stuck in folders unedited. I think I have a very large project when the weather turns frigid and the business slows down.

We’re 4 days from the start of a new school year. It’s so hard to imagine my baby girl going to her first year in highschool. And now my boys will be in 1st and 2nd grades. My babies are not babies any more. This leaves me feeling a bit wary for the return of school but at the same time I am the one anxiously counting down the days!

Today is the Fargo AirSho. I love this! I love the sound of those jets flying just feet over the top of our house. I love that it rattles things around in here and rumbles my guts. I think it’s all just so cool.

This afternoon Hannah is having 4 of her besties over for a sleepover. First, I’m photographing them downtown for some best friend fun and ‘back to school’ pictures. This should be great fun – I can’t wait to share! What a fun way to spend the last weekend before they go back to school.

James is home. I missed him for 3 very long weeks. We’ve had an excellent week just being together. I do not look forward to Monday morning though.

So here’s me, I blogged! I will find some pictures to add in soon. I’m sure tomorrow will come with much more to talk about – as long as I’ve survived the sleepover of friends.

June 14th, 2009 by Heidi

Yesterday was the one day of the whole year that I really dread. After 9 years, I’d think I’d be used to it, but I’m not. Hannah really enjoys spending the summer with her dad but that’s a month and a half that I miss her like crazy. We woke up early to say our goodbyes. Connor had a hard time too, he cried while they hugged goodbye. It breaks my heart. I watched them drive away and hugged my boys. And just one hour later I drove them out to their dad’s place to let them go for the weekend. I drove home with the radio on loud and a heavy heart.

I came home to an empty house. [minus a couple of super cute Corgis and some kitties] Most days I really live for the silence, the time that I can just be alone with me, to clear my head and do some things that I want to do. But this day was different. I laid down on the couch and slept for 2 hours. I felt bored the rest of the day and into the late hours of the night. I just wasn’t enjoying myself. And James is held up with a broke-down semi and he’s not having any fun either. We were bored together, only separately. sigh. Just spending some time feeling sorry for myself.

But leading up to yesterday, we had a great week. The weather was gorgeous at the end of the week. We had a picnic on 2 different days, we went to the skate park twice, we played outside, went to the library, we just had a good time being us.

The skate park was awesome. The boys have been begging to go for such a long time and my mama fears kept us away. I’m just not sure they were ready to take on something so dangerous. But really – when is a good time? So I gave in. We had a long talk before so that they knew what to do and what not to do. I could only prepare them so much. But it was such a relief when Connor came to me after riding some and told me that his legs were so shaky. I knew this meant he’d be a little more careful, at least for a little while. They really had fun and I know they were so appreciative that I actually let them go. And they’d sit and watch the older kids who could do some tricks and I could see the admiration in their faces. I’m pretty sure I’ll have some BMX trixter kids before long! It’s fun to see them excited and having fun. Of course, I took some pictures to share. They make me smile and I hope it’s just one step to making it through a long summer.

more pictures here.

May 10th, 2009 by Heidi

And for the second year in a row, my sons are not with me. It seems their other parent doesn’t respect the importance of the day for them or for me and has bribed them away on a weekend trip out of town. I was trying to be ok with this only because I have no desire to try to argue with him but because I have the boys with me much more than he has them with him and I have far more Mother’s Days than one  materialized by Hallmark. But then I woke up this morning and was reading my Facebook page and seeing how everyone else is spending their day is really depressing. I’m trying not to feel angry or bitter about my own situation and to be happy that I get to spend the day with Hannah and some with my own mom too. But I’m sad for my sons who are learning inadvertantly to think that this day isn’t important or that if they do think it is, their dad isn’t letting them spend the day with me.

Though before they left on Friday, the boys gave me gifts made in school. Dillan made several art pictures and gave me a painted pot full of violets. Connor gave me some special notes in a neat envelope book. And yesterday, after returning from her class trip to Minneapolis, Hannah surprised me with a cute card and a polar bear magnet from the gift shop at the zoo. She saved some of her eating money and took time to find me a little something all on her own. This warms my heart so much.

I love being a mom.  Well, most days anyway. There are those days that all chaos is taking over and I wonder what the heck I got myself into but those days are totally overshadowed by the fun and the joy and laughter we have. I love seeing who my kids are becoming – watching them strive and succeed and develop their own uniquensses. (is that a word? I hope it is. If not, it is now) I never imagined parenting would be so tiring and challenging. I never thought that doing so much for other people could be so exhausting and rewarding at the same time. But looking into all of their bright blue eyes and hearing them laugh and sharing their excitement puts me in a really happy place.

And I’m thankful to have my own mom just down the road from us. I’m glad she gets to share in the joy of my kids growing up and for being special in their lives. Tonight I’ll cook her some dinner.

And the sun is shining and the sky is blue and the air is fresh and I have my kiddos close to my heart even though they aren’t all here right now. I think we’ll have to do something special when they return.

March 1st, 2009 by Heidi

Ok, so it’s been 2 months since I’ve blogged. Not for a lack of wanting, just for a lack of time and organization. There has been plenty going on, plenty to blog about, I just haven’t made the time for it. And now, the idea of getting caught up and talking about all the things that have gone on, I’m overwhelmed. So I’m going to label myself a blog slacker and fill this post full of pictures from the past 2 months with a bunch of commentary just so I have something to share. Then I hope to take a little time each week to sit down and type some entries and pull myself out of slacker status. I’d also like to update the theme of this blog. I’ve paid for a couple of really cool themes but they lack some of the things I want to put here. I’ll need to take some more time to decide if staying or changing is the right thing to do. Sooner or later you might visit and find things in a bit of disarray or totally different. We’ll see.

I last left off just after New Years. Since then the kids have been busy with school, we’ve been digging out from under snow, and we’ve had some good fun too. How about I just dig out the images and tell the little story as we go along?

We went sledding and James was all bundled up and mountainman-like

When it’s really really cold and you have facial hair, your breath freezes on it

I played with my new camera plenty. Besides doing my Project 365, I’ve just take a lot of neat pictures.

The boys were interested in the coconuts at the grocery store. They could hear the milk inside but have never had it or seen it. I bought one. James tapped some holes in the ‘eyes’ and we slipped a straw into each one so the kids could all taste at once. That did not go over well. We cracked it open afterwards and found it was rotten. yuck! But it was funny to watch.

We mad e a very large pot of yummy chicken soup to go with the awesome noodles mom made us for Christmas!

No day is complete without cocoa,

or silliness.

James spoiled Millie. He does this every day though. But on this day she looks especially spoiled.

More furrbabies

Casey loves to lay by the bedroom door waiting for James to wake up each morning. He’s just so cute.

It has been horribly cold. Downright frigid.

And super snowy. This is our street – our house is almost burried in snow piles.

Connor’s teeth keep falling out. He’s even lost another since this picture was taken. Funny enough, they have yet to grow back in, even a little. He has a big ole toothless gap!

We’ve lost our heads

But we innaugurated an awesome new president

James celebrated a birthday. He treated himself to a spiffy new laptop. Now being away on the road is a little easier to handle  since we can share images and even video chat if the connection is good.

We took the kids bowling for the first time – Hannah had before actually, but not the boys. We went with friends and had an awesome time!

We’ve had our share of the respiratory sickies. I’m so thankful that for the most part, we are a really healthy family. The kids get mild fevers and a day or two of the yucks. Me, I’ve been sick off and on like crazy since September. I haven’t been this way in years. Sinus infections, strep throat, bronchitis, cold virus. Yuck. This picture was Dillan. He had a fever the night before and went to bed very early. He woke up early but fell asleep on the couch again.

For my birthday I got a spiffy new lens that does some really cool things! This is tiny Millie’s nose.

I visited Dillan’s class for Valentine’s Day where they did a little program and we had muffins and helped pass out Valentines. Very cute! One of my favorite pictures of Dillan recently.

There was crazy in the Valentine box!

And James gave me beautiful roses. They look amazing and they smell so good too!

The sundogs have been out. I wish I could get to a better place to photograph them without distractions but they rarely stay around very long. I love the way they light up the sky.

We celebrated Casey’s first birthday! He was so not thrilled to have to be wearing the party hat. But we all think it’s a super cute tradition.

Last weekend, Dillan and I had a day to ourselves. Hannah had gone skiing with her class and Connor was at boyscout winter camp. We got to hang out and play and just be us all day. Here he wanted to do his own silly pose and give himself rabbit ears! that boy…

He went outside to play in the fresh snow and jump on the trampoline. [our neighbor friend in the background] He’s the only one that even attempts a backflip – he nails it every time.

He’s been learning some sign language in school. Now I frequently here, “Hey Mom!” and then he flashes me this sign. I love him too!

For good behavior he’s earning quarters to use in the pencil machine at school. He has a new collection obsession. Here he is showing off his ‘pencil beard’ and ‘pencil teeth’.

Connor and Dillan started swimming lessons this week and I had some fun with processing images.

This is how Corgis be lazy. We love it when they lay like this. You can’t help but smile and giggle.

Little Miss Princess Millie looks so extra adorable on her purple throw on my bed in the winter sun.

Last night, Hannah and I went out with friends for a little Cosmic Bowling. Since we never get ourselves in a picture together, we snapped one before we went out the door. We look a little deer in the headlights and silly but thats’ us!

And I leave you with The Zoo. This is a typical night in my bed. They all come in, one by one, and claim their space. They don’t care that I [or even James as well when he's home] can move legs or not, they get comfy and that’s that. This image is missing Jelliebeanie. She’s not a fan of the group slumber party and usually sleeps on a bed with only one person taking up space. But funny enough, in the morning I woke up and Thomas was off the bed but Jellie was on it! Even with the rest of the crew still on it. At least we are warm!

There’s my big update. It’s picture heavy and if you’re on dial-up, I appologize! But it’s the quickest way to get the goods out there and get myself back into the blogging groove. I’ve missed it really.

December 25th, 2008 by Heidi

From my family to yours!

December 7th, 2008 by Heidi

Business has been good to me this fall. Finally! Just a few short months ago I was feeling discouraged and frustrated and wanting to throw in the towel. I had some great words of advice shared from friends and some good kicks in the rear too. I stuck with it. And it paid off nicely. Enough that I was able to dive in and upgrade my camera – the source of some of my frustrations. It arrived yesterday and while I’m consumed with finishing the last of my session images, I haven’t had much time to fiddle around with it. There is a learning curve with this one – it’s a bit different than what I’m used to.

But so far, I’m so in love. The clarity and color is gorgeous. The low light issues I was having are disappearing. The sound of the shutter makes my heart flutter, seriously.

To add to the love, I photographed my gorgeous and stunning Hannah. How could my heart not do backflips with a natural beauty like her infront of the lens on my spiffy new gear? wowsers!

November 12th, 2008 by Heidi

My baby girl turned 14 years old today! She is my pride and joy. When so many other parents tell their harsh stories of their crazy teenagers I am blessed to have someone as wonderful as Hannah. She’s not your typical teen – she’s so much better! I’m so proud of her in so many ways. She’s a true joy in our lives and I am better because of her. And all of a sudden, she looks so darned grown up! How did that happen? She’s a natural beauty inside and out.