Happy 8th Birthday today, Natalie!

Happy Birthday to Mimi's Little Sweetheart!



MISSING YOU MONDAY...

SWEET POSING NATALIE

My fine art image from this session...

her new spring Gymboree dress...

a sweet "cheesy" smile in her new spring dress...

Okay, it's almost Monday as I type this text for this post. Sometimes I spend just enough time with Natalie over the weekend that I really miss her even more. So instead of doing laundry this day (Sunday afternoon), I mostly watched movies on TV and worked on Natalie's images from last weekend. {I did do "some" laundry just not enough.} I posted most of my favs (about 30) on facebook. If your one of my "facebook" friends you can view the rest of them...I get confused very easily on facebook...they keep changing it! But it is definitetly easier to load several images at one time than blogger. So I just picked a few of my favs that I haven't previously posted here or at Jami Ainsworth Portraits...at least I don't think I've posted any of these yet.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

Carnival Fun with Aunt Cari and Mimi, too

I took this photo while we were deciding what to ride next. Don't they look like sisters?

Yes, it is carnival fun with Aunt Cari and Mimi, but Mimi will not be featured in any of the photos. She was having enough fun watching and documenting these memories with her camera, besides this is one of those rides that go round and round (not for Mimi!)

A little out of focus, but that's okay because it is our memory not a portrait!

I had to ask them to not spin the ride while I got a few photos!

I tried to remember to take some from a distance to get the full view of the ride since there weren't too many people there I could do that.

The uncropped version of the first one...

The next ride, the dragon ride. The is the one she rode the night before and laughed so hard and so did I. We were sure if she was having that much fun or thought she was suppose to act like she was because she laughed, but she looked scared. It was so hilarious to me! I love that her fearlessness with things like this.

"cheese"

The night before they made each child ride this ride individually (a different child in each car...this was on the Natchez side), but this carnival (same ride, but Vidalia side), they made them ride w/someone. I guess I forgot to post the full view of this, but they had two children in the first car and two in the last. Natalie in this little girl are in the last.

Next was the Carousel, but for some reason...probably because she had never rode in the little sleigh looking ride, she chose to ride it rather than the pretty horses. Cari was going to ride with her to help her on the horse, but she could have rode this one by herself. Cari tried to talk her into the horse, but oh well...another new experience for Natalie.

This image Cari is trying to get Natalie to look to take the photo before the ride starts.

This time she is looking, but not Aunt Cari. That's how it goes.

Next was the cars...

Two Steering Wheels!

She looks so serious about this in this one.

Smiling for the camera...

some actions shots...she's really into steering this car

We're not sure why she is doing this tongue thing, but it was quite cute!

The last ride or would we say SLIDE.

Natalie was so good. I was worried she would expect to stay longer and ride everything again, but when I told her this was the last ride and that he had take some supper home to Poppa, she repeated what I said and was completely fine with it. She had done the same thing the night before with the rides in Natchez. That's so much better than pleading and begging to continue to ride.

It was a fun weekend with Natalie and the rest of my family.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

BEFORE THE PORTRAIT SESSION

Natalie "cheesing" it up and acting silly and a little un-cooperative after her bath. I had to remind her of her PRIZE several times. I often send Natalie little "happies" to remind her that her Mimi is thinking about her. It makes her look forward to checking the mail with her mommy. Early this morning she was beginning to exert her will over mine...yeah, that's how I will put it. I didn't want to punish her or even threaten to do so. I wanted to have the full grandchild/granddaughter experience of just fun and excitement...though I won't hesitate to be the disciplinarian when the time calls for it. I just didn't want it to be this day. We had already had so much fun just being together. So I told her if she would be sweet or however I put it at the time, I had a PRIZE for her. I have a basket of just this little things, happies, that I collect to send to her. This particular happy was a little heavy...I really hate to pay a ton on postage sending her these little gifts [normally things like DVDs, paperback books, stickers, etc.] so I thought this would be her PRIZE for the day and in the end I would save on postage too. So as Brittany put it the other day when we were at the restaurant...it's like Natalie's Birthday everyday.
I told her to show it to me. This is what I got (above image). It as a Diego flash/card game thing for learning counting. She loved it and wanted to play it right now. So we stopped and played a few minutes and then told her she could take them home so "her parents" could play with her This next image really made me smile. I had chose this image to show her looking at it and now as I am working on this, I noticed what an interesting express that is. Too Funny!

["Her parents" to tell about her referring to her parents as her parents recently. It just a little too growning for a three hold...I provided the link in case you missed it.]
As mentioned in a previous post, Natalie really got into her baby doll this weekend. It is the sweetest thing. So I want to be sure and capture some images of her being mommy to her. She even told me "I'm her mommy".
I often photograph, parents holding their babies like this. So why not little girls with their babies. [By the way, Natalie had just go of the shower. Her is still wet. I had keep reminding her about the PRIZE to get her dressed for her mini portrait session.]

After I finally succeeded in getting her hair dried and her settled down, she watched some her shows while I got a shower.

Isn't this one sweet?The Little Mommy in action, this her changing Sally's diaper. I love this little nurturing phase. Is so sweet...
As mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to spread out the images from last weekend over the next two weeks. She will be back this weekend and then I will have more new ones. These images were photographed Monday a.m. before I took her back to mommy and daddy.

I enjoyed my time with Natalie more than words can express.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

10.04.08: Saturday night in Natalie's World

Randy and I had dinner in Vidalia with Natalie, her parents and her other grandparents at their home in Vidalia. Soon after we got their Natalie's Nonna and her decorated a pumpkin with these little parts...sort of like a "Mr. Potato Head". She and Emma had already done the pig and puppy...I think that's what they were.

These next few images are of them decorating Natalie's pumpkin.
So what did Natalie make!
A PUMPKING CAT! TOO CUTE!

After supper, Randy and I came back. I asked Natalie about coming with us. I really wanted her to stay the night and go to church with us. She said..."No, I have t stay with my parents!" It was so funny. But convinced her to come because "her parents" as she interestingly called them (you must admit that this is a bid growny for a 3 yr. old) that her parents were coming too. She still wasn't so sure, but her mommy walked her to the car and buckled up. She was soon very fine with all watching her DVD in the car.

So bathtime was next on the agenda for our evening at home. Last time she was here she played with toys that she had not seen in a while that I found while giving my bathroom a good cleaning or re-organizing. This is one of the toys that I found then too, but we didn't play with then because it was on a taller shelf and I just forgot about it. This was one her first tub toys other than rubber duckies. I bought it for her while she was a very young infant. I found it on clearance at Wal-mart. It said ages 12 mos and up...I think I gave it to her for her first Christmas, but I quite honestly I am not sure. Anyway...it one of those toys that I don't think she has outgrown. It has three little Care Bears with each one on some kind of floating device. They can each slide down the slide and then they have permanently resting place on the toy near the slide. We (and I do mean we) had fun sliding them down the slide!

After much playing (before the water gets any cooler), I remind her it is time to roller over and wash her hair. This is the first reaction I got. Isn't that a cute bottom!!!

Next she rolled around on her back...something she has enjoyed doing in the tub for about as long as I can remember...well, at least as long as she has been old enough to play in the tub w/o assistance. I am glad that I photographed this because I am not sure that I ever have. It's one of those things that's "worth remembering".

She is trying to wrap Precious in a old beach towel that I have been wrapping her in a nighttime before she goes to sleep. Often Precious is a litte cool, but especially this evening since she was groomed the day before. A POSED "CHEESE" WITH PRECIOUS (PRECIOUS DOESN'T LOOK TOO "CHEESY", HUH?)

And lastly she needs to brush her teeth.

Doesn't she look cute in her new Elmo P.J's that I have had in the back of the closet?
That's all I have from the night. Her mommy came in a few minutes later and she didn't want Mimi or Poppa...just her mommy. So I went to bed, but her mommy did have hard time getting her to bed. I think she was just a little overtired!

This was also the first time that Cameron and Brittany stayed the night here since getting married. It was different and reminds me of staying the night at my parents after getting married and moving away. It was nice to visit with all of them. It had been 4 weeks since I had seen my son. It is strange being parents of grown children. But I guess that's our goal in rearing our children... but is is all sort of bitter sweet.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

NATALIE THE "CHEF"

Natalie arrived here Saturday afternoon after her daddy voted. [He is still registered to vote here.] She gave me and Randy the most delightful, enthusiastic hugs ever. Her enthusiasm is always so sweet and sincere. Isn't it sad as adults that we loose some of the enthusiasm for life and the things we love? Too bad we loose....it is so sweet and contagious too!

Next she headed straight into her "room" to start playing with some of her toys. I guess she had actually missed some of them, but for some reason one of the first things she wanted to play with was her kitchen things. She put on her "Natalie" chef hat. This was a gift from us this past Christmas. Doesn't it look precious on her. This is a posed version of it because I wasn't quite ready and missed the original. [My camera still had settings from this weekend sessions.]

I have a few other images from the evening (last night), but I wanted to quickly post this one. She is so darn cute in it and I was thinking you might be having "Natalie" with drawls too. After all it has been almost two weeks since I posted new images of her.

After church, she went with her parents to her other grandmother's. They plan to stay until Emma's soccer game and then I am going to pick her up. She is going to stay one more night with us and I will take her back to BR tomorrow. So I am sure I will have even a few more images to add Monday or Tuesday. But enjoy this one until then.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

MAJOR CUTIE!

These images were captured about year ago to the day. (last year 08.10.07) I was getting ready for a portrait session and Natalie came into my studio and asked me to "take her picture". Who could say no to a request like that to a child who turned two only a few weeks earlier.

If you look really close she has cheeto lips.

This was also about the age of the really fake "cheeses" started occurring very regular. Notice the very last image....SUPER CHEESE!

I was going to post a few images that I took a few minutes ago, but while I was looking around I ran across these. Some of you may have seen these before...it was "pre-blog" days. They were already low res images because I emailed them to several people...so I thought why not post these instead since they are pretty much ready for uploading. I will save the others for tomorrow or the next day.

I have Natalie here this evening. Cameron called me while I was at Wal-mart with Cari getting her school supplies and asked would I watch her tonight while he and Brittany do something. Pretty soon they won't have Natalie's Mimi a few miles away. So I think they wanted to take advantage of it before it they can't. Of course, I am always glad to have her. So I need to get off the computer and go finish her bath that her poppa started just now.

That's it for now.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

Sunday (the after the flotilla)

THIS IS NEXT DAY AFTER THE FLOTILLA: 07.06.08

This is what Natalie was doing when I came to get her in the church nursery after the service.

Here we are the way to lunch.

I wanted a few of her at the new local mexican restaurant. We had went last week, but I did not have the camera. How do you like that cheese?

No one really wanted be photographed this day. I can't imagine why...

So again I asked to be photographed with my little sweet heart.

Natalie and Mimi
This was the first time we attended the church's annual picnic. I really wanted to attend, but I wasn't sure I would because of Natalie and her nap routine. Maybe she knew about this because she was having a difficult time falling asleep. So I told her to get on up and let's get ready to go. We had to stop my Wal-mart for a little food to take. I was so afraid that she would fall asleep before we got there, but she didn't and she had a ball.

Fair warning most these images are very incorrect technically because of the setting from the day before at the lake and by the time I really realized what the problem was my battery died. Before it did, I did manage to get some fun shots. I am not so good at inserting links, but as I finish this I will go to Jonah's blog and add the http address from Nicki's post. She is way ahead of me on posting...so it was a little while back by now.

Natalie playing ball with a "big" kid. Little ones always love big kids.

Jonah holding his box of trinkets.

Scott just being silly.
Jonah and Natalie was checking out Olivia Kate's walking. I guess they thought it was a new toy for them to play with.

Bro. Dan palying ball with Natalie. I didn't capture this, but he was throwing the ball to her and she was hitting it with the bat. It was really cute.

Natalie and Marlie...

http://theglenngang.blogspot.com/2008/07/annual-4th-of-july-picnic-at-church.html

The above link is to another blog. This Jonah's blog...well, actually it is called "THE GLENN GANG" now. If you would like to view more photos...even better photos from the indoor picnic part...check it out.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~