Missing days

It is always a surprise to me when I realize there have been no posts for a number of days. Why? It always seems to be when more stuff then normal is going on, but by the time I get to posting it doesn't seem to be so exciting to write about.

Yesterday, however, is nice and fresh in my mind. A few weeks ago a friend of mine, Lisa, was talking to someone at church I didn't know about combining their families to spend Thanksgiving day together. They were painting this lovely and fun picture of the day in my head. When he walked away I asked her about it, because my family was unsure if they were coming or not. Basically after talking for a few minutes I realized I knew his wife and asked if I could come should my family not be able to make the trip. Lisa said it should be fine. By the end of the church services they, Kim & Dallas, said I definitely can come. YAY!!! It felt pretty goofy and weird to invite myself. It turned out my family could not come :-(. We also were able to get to know Kim and Dallas a lot better prior to yesterday when I would see her at friends or at church and when we went over to take their new baby, Manon's, photos. She is the latest addition showing on the photography blog.

Another side note about Manon's photo shoot. She is the SECOND baby this year and the second in all my years as a photographer to poo during the naked part of a photo shoot. Ha ha! And Kim was such a trooper since she was in the 'firing' range by continuing to hold her there for some more shots.

Back to yesterday. The kids and I managed to get the car loaded up, and I mean loaded up, with all of our gear. They were so good for about 15 minutes while I made several trips to put stuff in. We took enough bottles for the day, some runny food, diapers, wipes, bibs, burp cloths, jammies, blankets, teddy bears, Blake's binkie, the portable I-Pod dock, the monitor, a floor activity gym, a walker, my camera bag, home made salsa, cheese ball, chips, crackers, pillows and the feeding chairs! Oh, and games too. I called Kim to make sure it was OK to bring 1/2 our house, first. She was very gracious.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way to pick up some more chips, a lemon, a lime, some chili peppers and a vitamin water. On the way in I grabbed a grocery cart by parking right next to a cart return (Thanks again, Aleesha, for that fantastic idea!!!) which did not have two sets of leg holes. I put each kid in with one leg out and the other folded up to the side. There was a car who rolled down their window saying, "What a brave woman. What a brave woman." lol Poor Blake didn't fit quite as well as Madison. I ended up about halfway through the store pulling him out and putting him back into the same place with his legs folded up towards the sky. It was marginally more comfy for him. It took three trips to unload the car at our destination. Luckily Kim and our friend Jessica who had stopped by were available to each grab a baby.

We had a great time talking and eating the appetizers including some cocktail shrimp while they prepared food. Kim and her mom in law made these fantastic home made rolls. I have a left over bag in the kitchen just begging for some special attention today. Poor Lisa had a tough time with the sweet potatoes that were taking forever to cook. She came over about 2 hours late which still worked out fantastically by pushing back a couple of the other foods. When we all sat down to eat we only packed away about 1/4 of all the food! None of us could eat as much as we wanted to. I felt completely stuffed after one roll and a little turkey with tatoes and gravy. Yum yum.

We had planned on playing some games. We ended up just talking. Every single time I went to help with something like the dishes or clean up one or both of the babies needed something! I felt pretty unhelpful on the whole. THANKS to LISA, KIM, DALLAS, and all the KIDS for a fantastic day yesterday! Guy even managed to make it for an hour on his way to work. Everyone had a great time checking out the police car and all his gear. The only thing they didn't do is turn on the sirens. At least I didn't hear them if they did.

Here are a few of Madison's naked photos. There are about 4 shoots photos I need to work on before going back to our personal photos again.

Yes, this isn't a naked picture. We actually started with her clothes on. The cute little dress form in the background was picked up in Naples, Italy when we took a non touristy road down the mountain after taking a return Fanicula down the mountain that only went half way. What a fortunate wrong turn with our fabulous friends Merv & Maureen!!!


Check out the beginnings of curls sticking up from her head. The scarf is one I use as a belt. Her face is just so cute. Look at those fabulously huge cheeks.


She was having a blast playing with the scarves.


Check out her cottage cheese thighs. The parasol in the background is one my parents purchased when we lived in Japan when I was only about 4 months old. It is sooooo fragile!

I absolutely love this shot. Why oh why are people so into only getting smiley photos of their kids? There are so many other fantastic faces we all make.


OK. So the smiles are quite lovely and captivating.