Homestead Harvest

Last Sunday we went to Homestead Park for their annual Homestead Harvest. Emma had so much fun. They had a petting zoo, pony rides, and she got to pick pumpkins and decorate them. There were also some Norwich Township Firemen there with their firetruck. The kids got to take turns sitting in the front and the back of the engine. The firemen were super nice and Emma thought it was SO cool. It was a HOT day, and Emma needed a nap, so we didn't stay long, but she sure had fun while we were there. Enjoy the pics from the day...and our googly eyed pumpkins!

A Little Piece of Sunshine

I called Shawn on my way home from work this morning and he told me about a conversation that he had with Emma this morning.

Emma: Daddy, it's not morning time.
Daddy: It is morning time, it's just still dark outside right now. It's still early.

*Sun starts to peek over the horizon*

Emma: Look Daddy, it's a little piece of sunshine!

How that melted my heart this morning and made me so miss my little Punky! It is moments like these that make you realize how precious this time is when your kids are little. Emma gets so excited in the little things in life that we take for granted. So, the next time you see the sun rise, enjoy your little piece of sunshine.

A Better Day

Emma had a good day at preschool today!!!! We have been talking the past 3 days about what she was going to do at preschool drop off today. She was going to go in to her classroom, hang up her stuff, turn her namecard over, sit at her table, and kiss Mommy goodbye. And...no crying! We talked about it in the car today on the way to school. And, we had success! Then, her teachers started cheering for her. So, now we see what she does on Monday.

Another bad day at preschool...and a photo shoot

Well, on Monday we had a horrible preschool drop off once again. Emma was crying and would not go in her classroom. I am at my wits ened. We had a long conversation with her again Monday night. So, we'll see if that helps. She did not have preschool yesterday because they were supposed to have a field trip to the farm (which got rained out). We'll see how she does tomorrow.

Tuesday, after I picked Emma up from Miss Carrie's, we headed over to Homestead to take a few pics. She was less than cooperative. She doesn't really let me take pics of her anymore. Anyway, above are a few good onces that I did get of her...even with the cheesy grin.

A Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek at Kristin's senior photo shoot. We shot about 300 images and I have made it through about 100 so far. I think we got some great shots! And, she is a great model!

It's Official

It's official...I launched my photography business. I finally bit the bullet and did it. What better time is the present. I have actually been working on it for several weeks now, and it is now ready to go.

Eras Photography is now booking sessions.
In case you were wondering, Eras was named after Emma. Those are her initials :)

I have several practice sessions booked now and a couple of real paying customers as well!

So Serious

Here are a couple that I took of Emma this morning. She is either cheesing it up with a fake smile these days or I get pics like these. These turned out great, with her serious look. But, it would be nice to have some of her beautiful smile!

Another Session

I just booked another session for my sitter's two kiddos. Woohoo!

Practice Sessions

Well, I did it. I have 5 practice sessions booked now! I am doing my sister's "senior" pictures on Sunday. Then, I have appointments to photograph 3 of my friends' children and 1 family portrait session. I am so excited to see how they all turn out! Maybe this dream of a photography business is going to come true!

Another edit

The original posted pretty small, but if you click on the pic, you can see it larger. For this pic, I got rid of the smudge on her upper lip, got rid of the dark circles around her eyes, and whitened the whites of her eyes. Then, I blurred it a tiny bit.

More Edits

Heather and I were trying to figure out how to get rid of Emma's dark circles. Low and behold...Chapter 7 in my book. Here is the finished product on the bottom and the orginal on the top. I also got rid of a bit of a dirty nose :)

Playing in Photoshop

I spent a couple hours at Heather's house today and we did some playing in Photoshop. I learned alot and got more comfortable with the program. On the way home, Emma and I stopped at Barnes & Noble and picked up a book by Scott Kilby that Heather recommended. In just a few short pages, I learned how to open my jpegs in camera RAW and do some awesome editing on them. So, here is my first attempt at playing. I love how this pic turned out. The top is the straight out of the camera shot and the bottom is the edited shot.

Comfy Dog

Now that is a comfy dog! Heidi has gotten too big for her bed, but she still tries to lay in it. She is so funny when she is all sprawled out on her back. She was so sleepy!

Aunt Kristin

I had to blog this pic...because Aunt Kristin is ALWAYS texting. Her phone is always in her hand and the text messages are flying. I am not looking forward to Emma becoming a teenager! That said, Kristin is such a good kid...and we love having her stay with us. :)

TV Addict

Yes, Heidi is watching Larry the Cable Guy. Some nights she'll sit on the ottoman and watch TV...it cracks me up!

Preschool Freak-Out!

The past two days that I have taken Emma to preschool she has absolutely LOST it! Wednesday she planted her feet and wouldn't move past the door. I had to carry her in kicking and her teacher had to take her from me. Today, she wouldn't go in, and when I tried to carry her in, she lost it. She was screaming bloody murder and ended up running out of her classroom. Her teacher had to come out and take her from me and carried her in crying.

We had lots of issues with crying last year when I left her. But, this year had been better. She had been going in, hanging up her stuff, turning over her name card, and sitting down at her table. This has completely changed, and I have no idea why. Preschool drop off was SO stressful for me last year, and this year is turning out to be even worse. Her teacher said she was fine on Wednesday after I left, so I hope that today turns out to be the same way.

What can one 4 year old...

...do while her mom is on the other side of the country? WOW! Can you believe her playroom? I think she had every toy she owns out. Just for the record, it is now neat and tidy :) Whew!

Gymnastics

Emma went to her 1st gymnastics class while I was out of town. Daddy did a great job getting her ready...and even put her hair in a ponytail! He made sure to take pictures so that I could see all that Emma did. She had SO much fun, and can't wait to go back this week! Daddy is a pro at being a gymnastics spotter now...they showed off her tumbling at home for me :)

Home Sweet Home

Ahh...home at last. I made it home from San Francisco, after a LONG day of travelling. We left SF at 10:30pm (1:30am here) and landed at Port Columbus at about 11am. We had a 3 hour layover in Charlotte, NC. We worked ALOT while we were there, but were still able to work in some sight seeing. We went down to Fisherman's wharf a couple of times, rode the cable car, rode the street cars, and did lots of walking. Overall, San Francisco is such a neat city to visit, but wouldn't want to live there!

It was so nice to get home and see Shawn and Emma. 5 days is the longest I have ever been away from them. My work trips are normally about 4 days. That extra day made a big difference. I didn't take my camera with me because I already was carrying so much from having to bring my laptop with me. So, no pictures to post.

I got home unscathed, but my house did not hold up so well from Ike. We lost a shutter and some siding. So, we will be working on fixing that up tonight!

At the Airport

Well, I'm sitting here at the airport. I got no sleep last night. I had so much to do and didn't get to bed until after 12:30. I got up around 4am. Uncle Joe came and picked me up to bring me to the airport. It was so weird having to say goodbye to Emma last night before she went to bed, and not having her and Shawn drop me off at the airport.

Anyway, I am tired. I am headed to Charlotte, NC for the first leg of my trip and then will be headed to San Francisco.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

...and I'll be back on Monday! I fly out at 7:23am tomorrow morning and I'll be back around 11:30am on Monday. I sure am gonna miss my little punky.

What a Beauty

Success: Day 2 of Preschool

Well, actually Monday was day 3 of preschool, but she missed Friday because Mommy got stuck at work. I was supposed to get off at 7 and got stuck at work until after 9am. Her school starts at 9am and Shawn had to get to work. She ended up going to work with Shawn and I picked her up about 9:30am. The only positive out of that whole ordeal was that I got my PICC line placed...on the 1st attempt! To those of you that aren't nurses, a PICC line is a central line that gets threaded in to the superior vena cava (or inferior vena cava) to provide long term nutrition, antibiotics, etc. You have to take a special class to be certified to place them. I don't get many opportunities on my unit to place them, but got a call to go place one on the other NICU. It was great :)

Anyway, Emma went to preschool on Monday, after a rough first day last Wednesday. She walked right in to her classroom, showed Miss Lori her lunch bag, hung up her back pack at her cubby, turned her name card over, and sat down at her table to start doing her morning activity. I was doing a little happy dance for my big girl because it looked like we were going to have a good day! I kissed her goodbye, she said, "I don't like when you leave," but was fine and told me bye.

When I went back to pick her up after preschool, she said she wanted to go back! She didn't want to go home. She said she LOVED her teacher and had so much fun! I am so relieved. Looks like we're off to a good start afterall :)

San Francisco

I leave for San Francisco on Thursday...yes, September 11th. YAY me. Not.

I'm not scared about flying on the 11th. I'm just not wanting to go on this trip. It's a long trip, we have a crappy flight, both there and back, and I'm going to miss so much going on with Emma. This is only her 2nd week of preschool, and she starts gymnastics while I am gone.

I'm so done travelling for work. These conferences are LONG and we have virtually no free time.

This stinks.

1st Day of Preschool

Emma went back to preschool today. She was so upset that she didn't have Miss Michele again this year. I kept trying to explain to her that Miss Michele taught the 3 year olds and because Emma is such a big 4 year old now, she gets to have Miss Lori. She didn't care...she wanted Miss Michele back! So, we'll see how the day went, because it didn't start out so well! I can't believe next year my baby starts kindergarten!

Home Schooling?

Why does this decison about school have to be so difficult? Shawn and I decided when Emma was a baby that we were not going to send her to public school. We wanted her to have a Christian based education. Fast forward to last year when she started attending preschool at a Christian school that we both love...we were positive that's where we would send her to K-8.

Now, we (or maybe just I) are debating homeschooling? I was talking to a colleague at work who home school's her two kids, grades K and 2. She uses a Christian curriculum and has her kids involved in a couple of home school co-ops where they attend gym, art, etc.

Shawn and I talked about it for just a moment the other day so that I could find out his thoughts. He is indifferent at the moment. I just have no idea what I want to do. I really love the school she is in now...and I definitely don't want to "dumb down" my kid. I just want her to have the best education and all of the opportunities in the world. Do I have what it takes to home school her? Am I doing her a disservice by not sending her to school? I have no idea. But we have to decide by February....yes, you read that right, February, what our plans are for Kindergarten. That's when priority enrollment for the preschool kids starts at her school. So, while 5 months seems like a long time away, it's really not when thinking about all the research we need to do about home schooling.

Ay-yay-yay....I just wish someone would give me the answer.

Bowling

Yesterday, we wanted to get out of the house, so I asked Emma what she wanted to go do. She immediately said, "bowling!" So, we went to Target and got a TV for her playroom, then we headed to the bowling alley. She bowled, I think, a 68? I'll have to ask Shawn about that one! But, she had lots of fun! Then, we went and had dinner. It was a nice, fun, family evening! We need to do it more often.