Okay, I know it’s such old news by now, but since I am just emerging from the stomach bug that came to visit our house, I wanted to share a couple pictures from my Mother’s Day of the two who I have the honor of being Mom to. I had spent Friday night and all of Saturday sick as a dog, but for some reason my body decided to give me a break on Sunday long enough to cautiously enjoy the breakfast the family made for me and my visiting mom, and an afternoon at the beach. The grossness came roaring back on Monday morning, so I’m thankful for the reprieve I was allowed.

I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating and being celebrated, remembering and honoring yourselves and your moms. I am ever grateful for the many mothers and mother figures in my life.

I’m excited to share some new stuff I’ve been working on. That will be coming very soon! In the meantime, please check out my new sister site, Jacksonville Headshots. If you or someone you know could use some great photos for your business cards, website, dating site, or even social networking, please consider giving me a call.

I’ve mentioned several times how much I treasure grandparents, and especially how grateful I am that my girls get to have such a sweet relationship with theirs. Here is a series of shots I captured of VC with my mom, whom she calls Lola, hanging out in the shade on our last visit. I loved them so much I thought they deserved their own post, and probably a special place on the walls of my home.

I enthusiastically encourage families to consider doing family sessions that include multiple generations, or where it’s specifically grandparents with grandchildren. Mother’s Day is coming up, and a gift certificate would be a wonderful gift for moms or grandmothers. The photos that result will be treasures for generations to come! Consider this, too, if you have out of town family coming to visit this summer. Gift certificates can be purchased in any denomination.

Even if you don’t have me come over to take them, or until you do, grab your camera and take a few of your own pictures. Not only the ones in front of the mantle with the kids in your or your parents’ laps. The moments where your favorite people are enjoying and loving one another are, in my opinion, so much more meaningful.

…that is what this baby girl’s name means. She is the newest member of my extended family. Lucky for her that she is so photogenic, because T and I joke about how the rest of the family’s photos are always so great, that they look like the sample photo that comes with the frame! I apologize for including SO MANY pics in this post, but I am just so excited to share these with some of my favorite people.

Let’s not forget about big brother. If you were meeting this family in person, you would never have to worry about him being a wallflower to his baby sister. I bet his parents are surprised that I got any photos of him that aren’t a big blur. This boy is always on the move!

We spent Spring Break with family in both Atlanta and and Utah. T and I spent most of our time in Atlanta working, but the girls got to spend lots of time with grandparents, cousins, aunts, and friends. When I’m working with my camera all day, I tend to not want to take a lot of pictures during my family time. However, here is one cute moment that I caught of the cousins snuggling up together for a movie.

Not sure what they were watching at this moment, but I love the expressions.

And here are a few from Lola’s house.

We went from spring in Georgia, to winter in Utah. Easter morning brought about 5 inches of snow! Quite a thrill for my Florida girls.

This was VC’s very first experience with snow. She was not a big fan.

Thankfully, Daddy’s not afraid of snow, or purple flower hairbands.

But she sure was cute bundled up in all those layers.

What VC did love was her newest cousin. More of her and the rest of the B family in a future post!

VC has needed a haircut for longer than I care to admit. I don’t know what it says about me, but I’m not the kind of mom who’s very intent – or good – at styling and accessorizing my girls’ hair. Finally, at lunch one day, I could take the bang mask no longer. I grabbed kitchen scissors and…

I got about two good snips in and she hasn’t let me near her since. She’s no dummy. Eventually I will get a professional to fix it, but when else in life can you get away with a hack job like this and still look so adorable?

Whew. October and November were so busy. I’m incredibly honored and grateful to all of the families who trusted me with their family’s portraits this year. Now that the Holiday Mini Sessions are all complete, I have just a few more sessions to fit in this month and then I am taking a couple of weeks to enjoy my family and get ready for 2010. There are a lot of exciting things in the works, including a new blog, travel calendar, and a big giveaway! Please stay tuned!

Since so many of my recent sessions were intended to be surprises for Christmas, I can’t share too many of those pictures. That’s all the excuse I need to squeeze in a few of my own family. My girls are lucky to have great relationships with all of their grandparents, great grandparents, and even one great-great grandmother! I cherish every opportunity we have to bring the generations together. These are from Thanksgiving weekend.

VC and her “Papa”

CM and “Memo”, her great-great grandmother.

Just one bit of business: Mini Session dates extended through November 24! Check out Investment page for details.

We took the scenic route home from Fort Lauderdale early in the month. This is near the place we stopped for lunch.



Halloween.

There’s not much CM likes better than dressing up. I have to brag on my mom (Lola, to the girls). She made this Alice in Wonderland costume from scratch. CM firmly believes that Lola can fix or make just about anything!

CM’s Halloween decorations.

Funny thing about these is that this was NOT halloween.

Just my happy VC playing with her Lola.

I describe myself as having a green heart and a black thumb. The summer heat has finally broken here so we got out in the yard to clear out all the debris of what we attempted to grow last season, and the weeds that came up instead. It’s so nice to go outside to play and not instantly break a sweat.

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JACKSONVILLE – Just a few slots left for Holiday Mini Sessions! See Investment page for details.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Meet me on the beach! Only mini session slots remaining on Oct 4. Email me NOW to claim one!

ATLANTA – One Day Only – Saturday, October 17 – until 2010! Contact me at jenmen@gmail.com

But then there’s email. I can do that. I already do. All the time. Maybe too much. I decided to start email accounts for both CM and VC so that I can send them notes. Big ones about the things that are really important to me. And incidental ones about little things, like how they made each other laugh this morning. I can attach pictures (of course!), jot down the recipe to a meal I made for them, document interesting little things in their lives in a matter of minutes. I’ve also shared the address with their grandparents and a few special people in their lives so they can contribute as well. They should have quite an inbox by the time I actually tell them about this!

Dear VC, sometimes I worry and feel guilty that your diet is mostly composed of grapes and raisins. But right now all you need is one of those tiny little boxes, and you’re content! It’s hard to argue with that and I’m happy to provide such a simple pleasure. I love you and your sweet little pursed lips…Mommy

I’m very excited about this idea. It’s not mine originally. I saw it here. But I love it so much that I wanted to share it with you and encourage you to do it as well. I wished I’d done this when I was pregnant! I think that the ability to savor a moment frees us up to enjoy the next one, and that this will help me do just that.

I have a lot of fun sessions coming up in the next several weeks. I will get back to posting about other people’s children and families very soon!

And now, some business to attend to…

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JACKSONVILLE – Just a few slots left for Holiday Mini Sessions! See Investment page for details.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Meet me on the beach! Only mini session slots remaining on Oct 4. Email me NOW to claim one!

ATLANTA – One Day Only – Saturday, October 17 – until 2010! Contact me at jenmen@gmail.com

I have my hands full for the next several days, so probably won’t be posting much…have a great weekend!

11 Step Program for People Who Want Kids

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Thinking of Having Kids? Do this 11 step program first!

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2 ~ Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their…

1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child’s breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, an d overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the
last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3 ~ A really good way to discover how the nights might feel…

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can’t get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and
be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4 ~ Can you stand the mess children make? To find out…

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5 ~ Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh..
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this – all morning.

Lesson 6 ~ Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don’t think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don’t look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week’s groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Tele tubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you’re thinking What’s ‘Noggin’?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying ‘mommy’ repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each ‘mommy’; occasional crescendo to the
level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years.. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the ‘mommy’ tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

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BOOK NOW for Holiday Mini Sessions! See Investment page for details.

A few slots left for  Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta families! Contact me at jenmen@gmail.com