Photogs Galore!

It's a good day for some photography!

I did a major cleanse of the memory cards for the D90 yesterday, charged up all the batteries, wiped down lenses and screens, and tested the flashes yesterday in preparation for a long day of shooting and editing.

Stop #1: Gobles!

This is a family I met at Towerview; they're a part of our small group and I'm glad to call them friends beyond that, too. Plus, their kids are adorable, and it was a blast shooting them in the comfort of their own home & backyard.


goble family | shiloh

Stop #2: Christine!

From Shiloh down to Waterloo to see Christine, Ava & Thomas. I used to work with Christine, and I was just itching at a chance to shoot her and her daughter. We added in Thomas to the mix and walked away with some awesome shots.

christine. ava. thomas | love the smiles! | waterloo

Edits edits edits coming SOON!
P.S. - Check it Out :)

*Whew! More to come... soon :)

xo | cmd

Workhorses!

I'm friggin' beat. This was the first truly exhausting yet sheerly gratifying day of manual labor I've had yet this year. I loved it!

I started the morning off by sleeping in to a magnificant 8:30 [in mama-world, that alone is the equivelant of a mini-vacation]. Since Sydni was up late last night with all of her little friends here, I crept out of bed and left her to snooze while I got the laundry moving, cleared and cleaned the remnants of dishes and pans from last night, and tackled what ended up nearly an hour and a half cleaning up our basement, which serves as the kids' stomping ground during small group. I topped it off with a house-wide vacuuming, and when it was all said and done, I spent another near hour buzz-cutting our dog's hair down to a 1. It's not exactly the best look for her, but we do it a few times each year for a little relief from the summer heat. Come to think of it, she looks a couple years younger with short hair. Puppy mode :)
 

yeah, that's the same dog :)
before + after

getting started!
step 1.. movin' bricks

Once I'd cleaned up all the dog hair, given her a bath [and myself, since I was by then itchy and covered with dog shavings], Sydni and I loaded up for a pitstop at the store before making our way to the Gobles. We wasted no time getting right down to it; I managed to snag a few shots during breather breaks before and after. It wasn't long before nearly our entire small group was on scene and fully engaged in everything from ripping out weeds, gravel and brick, painting shutters and garage trim, tearing out rock and plastic liner, tilling, planting, mulching, and even chopping wood. In the midst of it, we even managed to have a little fun climbing trees, playing with the kids, and of course eating. Hey... we're actually a pretty cheap labor force: we'll work our tails off for burgers, hot dogs, and chicken, and not be a bit sorry for it! :)




repainting shutters | jackie

takin' breaks to play with the kiddies in the tree :)
becky. tom. cori. raymond. william. jacob!

mulch. lots of mulch.
jackie. tom. julie

ripping up gravel & plastic
jarod. becky. julie. alex

gettin' dirty!
tom. cori. joe. alex. julie

chopping wood
joe!

ax men
jarod. raymond. joe. landon

Tom, Jarod, Becky and I were the last men standing at 10pm as we unloaded the last bit of mulch from Tom's truck into the newly-planted flowerbed in the blasting glow of Jarod's headlights. We tidied up and sank down next to the fire pit to unwind for a bit before calling it a night and heading home with sleepy kids and dirt-creased hands.
Shower.. check. I think I might've even dozed off a few times during. I can't remember.
My bed has never looked so comforting..... Time to oblige it.

Church in the AM!

xo | cmd

Grubbin' with the Gobles | Joe's HOME!

I have an obvious affinity for alliteration; I think this week alone it's been pretty evident. Hope you're okay with that....

:)

So it's FRIDAY! WooT!!


sriracha. hot hot hot!



Jackie had invited me to dinner yesterday, via voicemail left on Wednesday, that I didn't notice until halfway through the day yesterday. To make that less confusing, the abridged version of that really just boils down to us rescheduling a dinner date from yesterday to today. I put together some veggies and took it to work, miraculously remembering to take it with me when I left. I made my way over to the Gobles for my second dinner date of the week, with some more amazing people.

JOE [remember him??] flew back in today and met me at the Gobles' to relax a bit, eat some dinner... and some ice cream, and discuss some final details for the big Towerview yardsale that takes place tomorrow. We re-introduced him to Sriracha sauce, which he now endorses, made a few last minute touches to the donation jar for local missions, and decided to call it a night. We've all got early starts tomorrow.

We thought our day was completely over, but when we walked into our house, we found this little guy, compliments of Jimmy & Mo, awaiting us on the kitchen counter. I don't know everything about life, but one of the few things I know as fact is that the people in our lives are extraordinary [and clearly thoughtful!!!].


cookie cake .. good call, prescotts. good call. haha :)

I'm on a sugar-high right now from this cookie cake, but I'm gonna attempt sleep anyway. :)
6AM is just around the corner; I'll see you at the Tower!

xo | cmd

Sweet Days, Sweet People

With Joe still abroad on his ventures in Spain, Sydni and I made another go at flying solo to church. It was a pretty contained morning, since I was on nursery rotation and thus spent the morning downstairs and outside with Mo and the kids. Good stuff. I love love love those munchkins!


[borrowed]
... but it's so true!



After church, it was off to McAllisters with the Gobles, Prescotts, Babots, and Lara's parents. I wish I'd captured the scene that was Jacob and Sydni sharing their very own table for two, complete with food, drink, and crayons. Quite the grown up time for the two of them as they sat and babbled over games they were playing on individual smart phones. It was so cute... and totally worth it if nothing else than to observe the reactions of passersby as they did the double-take at two toddlers seemingly dining alone. It really doesn't take much to entertain me these days.

We managed to squeeze in a mini nap in the afternoon before it was right back to church for the evening service and choir practice. It's been a good night :)

Actually, it's been a pretty good day, immersed with good people, and of course good food. Life's good. :)

Oh! And Joe gets home tomorrow! It'll be late, yeah, but he'll be here. Praying for travel mercies....

[Meanwhile, it's back to the workhorse tomorrow!]

xo | cmd

It's a Small Group PAR-TAY!

This is the second round of our extended small group meeting at our place, and we sure had a lot to celebrate.


baby evan!

 For starters, the Gobles had their baby last week, so all the women were thrilled that they toted him along for our oogling pleasure. Welcome, welcome, welcome!! Baby Evan is here, and clearly both Mommy and Daddy are good to go, and we wouldn't dare forget about proud big brother Jacob - he's lovin' it, too. I even got to hold him for a bit during the evening; it confirmed any wandering doubt I had left that I do in fact want another little baby like that, just not yet. My oh my... :)

AAAAAND, because tomorrow is Joe's whopping 26th birthday, I had asked Lara earlier in the week if she could funnel her [extraordinary] cake-making skill into something Spiderman-related for Joe. Yes, that's right: Spiderman. She came up with a stellar little thing, and we managed to keep it hidden from Joe for nearly half the evening until it was time to light candles, sing, and do the whole deal. What was great about this was that there were three toddlers present, yet Joe was the one with the comic book cake. Love it. :)

joe. sydni. jacob. landon.
&& spiderman. :)

In other news, we launched into the book of James tonight, which we'll continue to do each meeting, chapter by chapter. Since James happens to be one of my favorite books in the Bible, I'm already excited about delving into it with our small group. We made it through the first chapter tonight, and even had time for discussions.

art in progress

Oh, and Jimmy took our etchy cups to a whole new level tonight; instead of opting for the traditional method of using a fingernail, Jimmy took to it with a craft knife, exacting it into quite the presentable little cup. Haha. It looks like we've got a whole group full of artists :)

God is oh so GOOD! 

Gooooood NIGHT!

xo | cmd