A LITTLE RED WAGON AND SIX KITTENS

FREE KITTENS! These were taken about 2 weeks about. I think they were about 3 weeks old. They are now 5 weeks old. I have two given away that I think are leaving today (4.28.08) and I am keeping at least one...I hope not four!

But this day I looked up from my computer (where I am 90% of the time) and there they were...Natalie pulling this red wagon (my new prop) full of kittens. So rather than fussing at her for getting them out...what did I do...get the camera out, of course!

I hope I haven't misplaced the files, but last week she put them all in the dryer. She said, "Mimi, come here...come see". She kept insisting that I come in there and what did I discover my dryer full of kittens. So again I got the camera out, but I am not sure what I did with that card! Then a few days later she was looking for her toy camera. She had put the kittens in there again and she didn't want to miss the photo opt that it was! Too funny, uh?

Natalie posing with the kittens.

ditto

Some of the kittens must know that they are photographer's kittens because it certainly looks like they are posing, uh?
Trying to get Natalie to pose with this kitten.
She's not too happy with this little one. He is scratching her!
So I posed him alone! We think he is so funny looking with his white eyelashes!
Natalie has actually named this one, "Boo,boo". Cari wanted to keep it, but now that their personalities are becoming obvious...it is obvious this one doesn't have much personality. She stays behind often when the others seem more like go-getters. It's like it knows its different.



I still need to post images from the Bridal Shower. I have a cute little story to tell about one of Natalie's gifts, but I don't have those ready yet. Maybe I will before the wedding. I can't belive it is a month away now. I still have a lot to do including buying me a dress, the invitations, and much, much more!



Gotta get back to work on everything!



~~Natalie's Mimi~~

PLAYING WITH MIMI ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 30, 2007

NATALIE'S FAVORITE ACTIVITY A YEAR AGO WAS SWINGING. NATALIE FAVORITE ACTIVITY TODAY IS STILL SWINGING. ACTUALLY SHE LOVES TWISTING IN THE SWING EVEN MORE THAN SWINGING. At this age I already had difficulty getting Natalie to look at me when I had a camera in my hand. She loved singing with me and she would usually look at me when we sang her favorite songs. That's why her lips look funny here. She is singing, but as you can see she won't look at me.

Here she is playing in the rocks.
This is the answer to a questions that she doesn't know the answer to..."i don't know". And I am sure I asked her a question like 'where's poppa?' just so that I could get this reaction. It was one her new things at the time.
These were images from April 30, 2007. I have many images from that one day. Some days we have no images to remember our day and some days well over 100. This was that morning. Natalie and I playing outside. I am sure we had lunch, after that some stories and at that time her favorite was the Elmo Loves You book (so I am sure it was that). After her typical long nap, we went to Natchez to Duncan Park, did the Azela Portraits and then she played on the playground equipment while I captured images of her just having fun. I do remember wanting her to stop and look at me. Yea, right! After we left there we went to the ball park. So if you haven't visited Natalie's World in a while, scroll down to view more images. I have several posts all from this busy, fun day and probably very tiring day with Natalie.

A day with her is quite tiring, but also the most fun days of my life.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS/BEAUTIFUL TODDLER

NATALIE (20 MONTHS OLD) I took these images the same day that we went to the park. The park was the reward (bribe) for doing as Mimi asked. It was such a difficult age in things like this, but rewarding for cooperation had begun by this time. I clearly remember the first time it really worked well. It was when I did the bunny portraits a few weeks early than this.

Cameron, Natalie's Daddy, bought her this dress for Valentine's. When the Azaleas were blooming so beautiful, I realized it would be perfect to photograph her in with them in the background. As you can see in this images, I was right.

I love this funny face expression. I remember my children going through a phase of this too. I am not sure when it ended, but I remember capturing many images with my children when they were toddlers too with this expression. You gotta love it!


There it is again with a little drama added to it!
This was a stressful portrait session to capture. It is always more stressful with your own. Cari was a great help with Natalie. She has been so helpful. I am so glad I have her to help me with Natalie and other things too. She's so good about not complaining when I ask for her help.



I hope you enjoy these. I never have printed them. Digital images are cool in one way, but often they stay on our hard drive waiting to be viewed again.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

PICKING WILD FLOWERS, MARCH 30, 2007

This is a series of images of Natalie picking wild flowers after I had done the portraits of her in the azelas. I love the intense looks especially the first one with her lips poked out!

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

FUN AT THE PARK MARCH 30, 2007

NATALIE HAD SO MUCH FUN THIS DAY PLAYING AT DUNCAN PARK. The above image was one that I posted earlier from that day. It was probably my favorite. Since I forgot my memory card Friday evening, I looked at these and posted two. After looking, I realize that several of these were soooo cute and looked like such fun. I hope you enjoy viewing these as much as I enjoyed watching her have fun. Natalie loves slides!

I found I wasn't nearly as nervous the other day with her playing and climbing on the slides as I was last year. She has much more control over her movements and boy did she move fast! I really hate that I don't have images that captured her enthusiam and excitement of that evening at the park.

She fell as she hit the ground here, but as she can see from her expression...it was still fun to her!

Why do children always want to climb up the slide? Aunt Cari is helping her out.

This image captures the memory that she thought she was just as big as any other child there!
Such great expressions in these images. The joy is written all over her face. This last image is also one that I posted the the other day!
~~Natalie's Mimi~~

AFTER DUNCAN PARK TO THE BALLPARK

THIS IS NATALIE AND RUDY WHEN RUDY WAS A LITTLE BABY... This group of images were taken that same day that I posted last from going to Duncan Park about a year ago. After we went to the park, we (Cari, Natalie and I) met Natalie's Poppa for Natalie's Mommy's softball game. It was their softball game tournament weekend.
Rudy was such cute little puppy.

Here he is giving Natalie puppy love! Natalie's baby sister? No just Mommy's homework. Allie was glad to Natalie was at the game. Allie's older sisters were on the team too.
Both girls were intrigued with Rudy.
After this I part of the day, I photographed Natalie's mommy playing ball. So that's it for this day. I am still going to post images from this day, but none were taken after these.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

A EVENING AT THE PARK

THESE WERE TAKEN ABOUT A YEAR AGO AT DUNCAN PARK. OH MY! HASN'T MY LITTLE SWEETHEART GROWN SO MUCH IN A YEAR. STILL AS ADORABLE AS EVER, BUT MUCH MORE LITTLE GIRL LIKE THAN TODDLER LIKE AS SHE IS IN THESE IMAGES.

AFTER NATALIE WOKE UP FROM HER NAP TODAY AND AFTER I FINALLY FINISHED EDITING MY NEXT TO LAST SENIOR PORTRAIT SESSION, WE TOOK NATALIE TO DUNCAN PARK. WE DIDN'T SPEND MUCH TIME THERE. JUST ENOUGH TIME FOR HER TO WORK UP HER APPETITE AND GET DIRTY. OF COURSE, SHE DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE. SHE WAS SO SWEET WHEN WE GOT THERE. WHEN WERE GETTING READY TO LEAVE, I TOLD HER WHERE WE WERE GOING. SHE DIDN'T SEEM TO REMEMBER US GOING LAST YEAR OR SHE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT I WAS SAYING WHEN I TOLD HER WHAT WERE DOING. (SHE UNDERSTAND SO MUCH THESE DAYS AND HER CONVERSATION SKILLS ARE VERY ADANCED FOR HER AGE, BUT OCCASSIONALLY SOMETHING WILL COME UP THAT SHE JUST DONE UNDERSTAND. AND OH MY! SHE QUESTIONS IT AND ASKS YOU TO REPEAT IT ABOUT 1/2 DOZEN TIMES THINKING THAT WILL MAKE UNDERSTAND AND THAT WAS SORT OF THE CONVERSATION WE HAD ABOUT GOING TO THE PARK WHILE WE WERE GETTING READY. AT ONE POINT SHE SAID, 'YOU MEANT THE BALL PARK' WHICH, OF COURSE, THE PARK THAT SHE HAS BEEN TO THE MOST OFTEN AND THE MOST RECENT. WHAT HER LEARN AND GRASP CONCEPTS ARE SO NEAT TO ME.) BUT AS SOON AS WE GOT THERE AND SHE SAW WHERE SHE WAS SHE GOT ALL EXCITED. SHE REMEMBERED! AS I WAS GETTING HER OUT OF THE CAR, SHE SAID, "I LOVE YOU, MIMI AND I LOVE THE PARK AND POPPA, TOO". SHE THEN KISSED ME. WHAT A GREAT MOMENT TO HAVE HAD THE PLEASURE OF ENJOYING WITH MY SWEET LITTLE NATALIE.



AS I WAS GATHERING MY STUFF TO LEAVE HERE: MY MINI SHOPPING LIST FOR WAL-MART, A BAG FOR NATALIE, MY PURSE AND MY CAMERA BAG...I MADE MENTAL NOTE TO SELF: "DON'T FORGET TO GET A MEMORY CARD OFF MY DESK". GUESS WHAT I FORGOT. YEAH, YOU GOT IT THE CARD. AFTER I GAVE NATALIE TO RANDY, I WENT BACK TO GET MY CAMERA...THAT'S WHEN I REMEMBERED. SO I HAVE NO PHOTOS TO REMEMBER OUR FUN TIME AT THE PARK, BUT I HOPE THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET HOW SWEET AND APPRECIATIVE SHE WAS ABOUT US TAKING HER TO THE PARK. OF COURSE, IT MAKES ME FEEL BAD FOR WORKING SO MUCH ALL THE TIME AND NOT TAKING MORE TIME OFF TO JUST HAVE FUN WITH MY LITTLE SWEETHEART AT THE PARK OR ON THE PORCH DRAWING WITH CHALK (ANOTHER ACTIVITY WE DID THIS WEEK).



I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WORK ON THE IMAGES RIGHT NOW, BUT I AM GOING TO POST SOME IMAGES FROM AN AFTERNOON AT THE PARK WITH NATALIE LAST YEAR. IT'S SO NEAT TO SEE HOW MUCH SHE HAS GROWN AND CHANGED.


OKAY, I WILL HAVE TO ADD AT LEAST ONE TO ENTICE YOU TO LOOK AGAIN TO SEE MORE. LET ME GO SEE WHICH ONE IT WILL BE. OKAY HERE WE GO AGAIN. IF YOU POST IMAGES AFTER YOU POST TEXT...THEY GO ABOVE THE TEXT. SO YOU HAVE ALREADY SEEN THE IMAGES BY THE TIME YOU READ THE INFO.

I HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, BUT I HOPE TO FIND A CHANCE TO POST SOME MORE KITTEN IMAGES AS WELL AS SO MORE FROM THIS DAY ABOUT A YEAR AGO.
~~NATALIE'S MIMI~~

A LITTLE FLOWER GARDEN

This first image is supposed to have appeared further down toward the bottom with the other close-up of her. I was just trying to get her to look at me to capture a few sweet ones of her beautiful face and show off those pretty eyes in the natural lighting that God provides for us. After I accidently deleted it, I had to go back and get it. It was such a good one of her eyes that I couldn't leave it out...sometimes when I accidently delete one (not as often as I used to do), I just leave it out, but not this time. So you just have to view this one out of sequence...oh well.

NATALIE PLANTS FLOWERS... I had this idea of Natalie planting some flowers and watch them grow. So the day we went to the circus we went to Wal-mart to buy some to plant. She picked out all purple flowers (not that they had the greatest selection). We found the cute little Veggie Tales knee pad and Dora gardening gloves. I know I have seen them, but I could not find gardening tools for a child (except the longer handled rack, shovel, and hoe...that was an accident waiting to happen). So I found these inexpensive small tools for her to use. She didn't quite understand what to...how do you explain "dig a hole" to a child who has never dug a hole much less seen anyone dig one.
My first attempt this year to French braid her hair. I could have done better, but she is so tender-headed. She started crying and whining...so this is what you get. But it worked. It kept the hair out of face.

After we bought the flowers, we had all those days of rain. So finally we had a pretty day w/o a million things going on...so we made plans to plant our flowers. This is where they stayed since we brought them home. In this image she is picking up one of the sets of 6 to take over the flower bed that we started.

I tried to get her to stop and pose for me with her pretty flowers. As you can see, she stopped, but she didn't look at me. She felt the need to run them over there.

Papaw trying to teach her to dig.

I did get one pretty good eye contact. Doesn't she has a sweet face?
This is her holding one of the flowers after she planted it.



After about planting three or four flowers, this is where we found Natalie. She helped herself into her swing. She loves this swing. She loves doing "twists" in it....not just a slow twist, really fast. She is so going to love thrill rides at theme parks (like her mommy not her mimi).
THAT'S IT FOR NOW. I TOOK A LITTLE BREAK FROM WORK MONDAY EVENING TO DO THIS WITH NATALIE AND HER POPPA...THOUGH I THINK POPPA ENDED UP PLANTING MOST OF THE FLOWERS. HE AND NATALIE WILL HAVE FUN KEEPING THEM WATERED. GARDENING IS MUCH MORE HIS HOBBY THAN MINE. I JUST LIKE THEM IN THE BACKGROUND OF MY PHOTOGRAPHS (LOL).

~~NATALIE'S MIMI~~