Hard work pays off.

When we bought our house this past December, we knew it needed some work. Paint, updates, a few repairs here and there, a leveled patio with a french drain...

Work has begun on that new omni stone patio...

Thanks for all you do, Dad.

We let Hannah be a kid and play in the dirt, rocks, and sand which led to two bubble baths that day.

Nikki stopped for a quick visit before heading back home to Ohio.

Hannah loves her.

I am happy to report that our patio is thisclose to being finished. :)

We celebrated a momentous event at 8:59 the morning of the patio renovation...

...a certain someone turned eight months old. My heart hurt a little. I want my babies to grow, thrive, mature as they should. I want to experience every life stage with them. But I want to freeze time, too. They'll only be this little once.
As I waited for the clock to flip from 8:58 to 8:59am, I closed my eyes to better picture where we were that exact moment just eight months ago. I can't tell you how much I love them. How my heart has swelled with love for them daily from the moment I knew they existed.

Raising and loving a child (or two!) isn't easy. It's hard work. But nothing worth having comes easily. Hard work pays off.

I love watching them grow.

I love watching them discover...

I love to love them.

They teach me to love deeper by loving each other.

And that if you fall, all you have to do is get back up again.

And that no matter what is going on, to smile.

Never give up.

Never lose faith.

Never stop believing.

Hard work always pays off.

:) Enjoy your loved ones.

And onto something different.

I've been working on a long, sentimental, sappy blog post for a little over a week and feel like I'm getting nowhere with it. It's probably for the best as I'm sure I would bore everyone with my childhood memories, so at this time, I'm putting it to rest and moving on.

Is she not one of the most beautiful babies in the world?! The other one being my Sarah...

Summer is almost over. I'm relishing in my last two days of summer break before I head back to work for the school year.
The air is cooler, it's breezier, and the sun is setting a bit earlier. Fall is on the way.

I hate to see summer end.


We've so enjoyed ourselves...

I love our memories.

Lastly, I spent some time with my closest friend the other night. She has such a beautiful family. There is so much love between the three of them and I think this picture captures it so well.

...I promise I'll be back again soon...;)

PSA: I will be back!

I upgraded to CS5 this past weekend and have been drowning in the possibilities it holds. I've Googled what seems like hundreds of tutorials and feel like I'm grasping way more than I ever did in PSE9...go figure. I'm loving the change and have actually been using CS5 more than Lightroom lately.

Anyway, I'm drowning in editing trying to finish up a senior shoot I did a few weeks ago before I take on another in the next few weeks. I'm loving it, but it's keeping me busy!

I have so many pictures to share and hope to get them edited and posted within the week! :)

Okay, one more post!

Micah came home from work and surprised me with this:

Antique Brownie...1939

...which is completely and totally awesome! I was so surprised and excited to own a vintage camera...and supposedly it works. I'll need a roll of film (or two) and then I'll take it out for a spin!

Anyway, I snapped the above pictures, and realized when I uploaded that I had completely forgotten about several others I had taken over the past week. Notice a trend? Yeah, this sort of thing has been happening a lot lately. :(

So, I present in pictures and words, our week:

I decided to try out the Bone seamless. Hannah, as per usual, was not a fan and sat for one picture, which I quickly snapped and prayed was in focus. Luckily, it was. Not tack sharp, but I'll take what I can get for the .02345983 seconds she sat nicely for me.

This tutu and leotard called my name at Target and I just had to have it...much to Micah's disdain.

Sarah sat a little nicer for me, but was much more interested in watching Hannah flit about than look at me and smile.

After naptime, Sarah and I like to sneak up to Hannah's room to greet her. This usual evolves into a sweet playtime between the girls. I love that.

The many faces of Hannah:

Hannah does a great job of entertaining her little sister.

I love this.

My beautiful, brown-eyed girl...

And finally, bathtime last night. Hannah didn't want to get her picture taken. Excuse my Dad's blue gym shorts. Hannah insisted he be in the bathroom during baths. She loves her Pap. :)

Happy Monday night out there! :)

Running on No Sleep...

This will be quick, as my eyelids are shutting as I type...problem is, it's 11:45am. Not the best time to need a nap. Oh well.

I downloaded a free 30 day trial of CS5 this weekend. I followed multiple tutorials and decided to play around with a few of the things I've learned.
Here's a simple "postcard" I created quickly. Don't laugh, the little pictures are not sized correctly, so if you look closely, you'll notice distortion. I'll know better for next time...

The girls...via postcard...

Eyes shutting in 3...2...1

Fun with Actions.

My new seamless paper arrived...Savage Coral and Blue Mist. I'm eh about them right now. I can't stand the horrid color casts they throw. I'm not sure if there's a way around this other than editing (which I hate). More research will need to be done in this area.
See the pink color cast? Blech.

I tortured the kids by making them sit on the paper and have their pictures taken. Sarah is always a willing subject, most likely because she doesn't have a choice...;) Hannah, on the other hand, has decided recently that she does not like or want to have her picture taken. She's been rebelling against the whole idea of it, actually. Most shots I have are of her crying, starting to cry, looking straight up at the ceiling when I've begged asked her to smile, or of her back. What can ya do?
Hannah, look at Mommy and smile!

Sarah modeling on Savage Blue Mist...I'm taking advantage of this before she realizes that she also has better things to do than pose for a picture!

I absolutely love her face in this one!

So I played and created a preset...like?

Vintage-y, no? I'm still deciding if I like it, or if it needs a bit more tweaking.

I have several more to post, but I'll have to do that at a later date.