FINALLY... LAKE IMAGES from 08.16.08

NATALIE IS PROUD OF HER DORA LIFE JACKET AND SO HAPPY TO BE AT THE LAKE

The Mallory family joined us for a nice relaxing afternoon at the lake. This is Natalie and Mr. Fred posing with her Disney fishing pole. Natalie doesn't know him yet as well as the rest of the family, but she will soon. She loves everybody!

Tanya and Natalie (we're trying to teach Natalie "Aunt" Tanya because Natalie has become so special to her too)

Natalie and Poppa posing with her fishing pole.

I love this shot. They are so involved in fishing they forget that I am there. Too sweet!

big fishing pole, Poppa: We're not big fishermen (or fisherwomen) so it's not like we have lots of fishing equipement lying around. But I knew it would be fun for Natalie to do on her last Saturday living here.

Natalie loved swimming in the lake.

Cari and Alexa on the jet ski...

Natlie swimming with Tanya again...

Now she's swimming with Alexa.

I'm telling you. She loved swimming in the lake.

I think Cari was the first one to catch a fish! Natalie gave up on it at that point and decided she would rather swim in the lake as seen above.

I suggested Stewart bring a friend since I have no children his age. He brought his friend, Clayton. Clayton on the left and the right is is Stewart.

Randy caught a really old beer can. It was quite funny!

see...

The first time the three of us (Randy, Natalie and me) decide to ride the jet ski it flipped over before we ever left. I knew it was happening. It was like it happened in slow motion. So I sort of pushed Natalie out of the way so neither of us nor the jet ski would fall onto her. Tanya already had the camera in my camera in her hand to take a photograph of her us. I didn't know she had captured this until I downloaded my images to my computer.


okay, let's try again...

Just before we got off...after getting off Natalie said that she enjoyed it "a little bit".

We took a break from the jet ski.

We tried it again. This time after she got off, she said that she enjoyed it a "lot" bit!

Natalie finally caught her own fish too!

and so did Alexa...

This was Natalie's reaction to something exciting...I am sure what!

After Natalie caught a fish, she had more patience to try again...don't we all usually do that! Ask Cari. She sure did!

This was the baby fish of the day. I think Tanya caught it. Isn't he tiny?

The tiny fish was so little you can barely see it in this photo. I guess I should have circled it too. Natalie sees it. Do you see her looking up at it?

Best Friends just chilling before going home!

And what does a little girl do on the way home after a fun day at the lake?


Okay, I will finish these later. I am having problems with the rest of these upload. The rest of the images and story coming.

EDITED:

I did finally get the images to load. I noticed some of the images that I was having problems loading were high resolution images. I usually convert all files to low res so that they will upload and download when are viewed easily. So I converted them and then magically my uploading problems disappeared.

I think I have already wrote about the day we did this. In a nutshell, this was Natalie's last Saturday before moving to B.R. The summer had been so busy that we had not gone to the lake all summer. So what better day that this!

We all had a nice, quite, peaceful day at the lake. I am so glad that I have nice photographs so that I won't forget this fun day.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 8.10.08

Does this image seem a little random? I am not sure what this means, but this is something that I have noticed that Natalie does with her "babies" when she is playing with them. She lines them in a group on the floor. I have no idea what it really means, but it is sweet. I will try to remember to ask her next time I notice it. But this time I didn't notice it until after she had went to sleep. And by the way...the Ernie and Burt dolls were her daddy's when he was little. Cari loved Barney when she was little, Natalie loved Elmo first and now Dora and Diego. Cameron's first love was Sesame Street...especially Ernie and Burt. It's funny how your grandchild or anyone's young one makes you remember your child (children) when he/she was young...what they did, what their interests were, etc. I think that is something that I love about being a photographer and meeting with other parents...it reminds constantly of my babies...when they were babies.

I read her two books: Curious George and her personalized Circus book. She fell asleep about 1/2 way through the circus book. I dozed on the love seat with her for few minutes and then I made myself get up and get back to the laundry.

I love it when she falls asleep in my arms while ready. So precious to me.

When I look at these images, I had to notice the little girl she is---not the baby or toddler that she still is in my mind. She is growing up too fast. I have a little story that I will try to add later, but I need to get back to more washing and unpacking for now.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

SLEEPING BEAUTY: MY LITTLE SWEETHEART

This sweet, sweet, bundle of energy, often strong-will child, Natalie, is often the reason I am so behind on so many things in life (business/work, housework...well, everything). But I think she is pretty darn good reason.
I still remember I was having a bad day the that I photographed these. I had a client send an email that was informing that she upset/disappointed in something. I won't go into details. I did my best to bend over backwards to make the person happy. That morning while I was working on the computer trying to take care of this, Natalie fell asleep on the couch while watching one of her shows. I hate for her to fall asleep before lunch(she needs to eat) like she did this day. I love that she has always taken good naps or I would not have been able to spend as much time with her as I have and still run a business. I often feel like I don't do a very good job anymore with my business. I find I continue to put more and more time into things that I didn't used to put so much time into just trying to make sure that the images "are good enough". I try to photograph less or put less into it, but I can't. I just want to give everybody the best of me...which ends of taking a lot more time than other photographers. I do have intentions of getting some help this summer and after I do and if I still can't seem to manage my business time, I am seriously considering doing something else (clueless as to what) because I know I can't really change my style because my style is my personality. I really don't want to quit, I really just want to learn to manage my style and time so that I can continue doing what I love best. So those of you who do pray and pray for the little things in life, please pray that I can learn to do this. I don't want to quit doing something that has become such a part of my life, I really, really enjoy what I do. I don't enjoy letting people down because of my turnaround time and I don't like being so stressed about that and many other aspects of it all. I just want it all....is that too much to ask for? Well, maybe, but I think you know what I mean.
These images were photographed the same day as the bubblicious fun day that has already been posted...which is probably why I took a break from the computer and played. We all need to play with the ones we love. Don't you think?

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

Natalie Fell Asleep While Eating Breakfast, 8-30-07

I wanted to drop a few lines. I don't plan to post any more today. This could get quite addictive, but quite frustrating right now since I don't completely undertand the system. I kept trying to put the image of Natalie in mid-air in another location and I kept deleting it, but I can't seem to delete or move an image when I want to...though I can seem to edit text. As I stated frustrating, espeically for someone who is used to manipulating images.

I am enjoying doing this, but I must do more other work. So I have to limit myself, but I do think I have a found a new hobby. It should be fun, uh and too expensive (My last hobby turned into a business and I haven't had any time for hobbies since!) I have session that I need to do their slideshow so that I will have their presentation ready.

But as I was writing this, I checked on Natalie eating breakfast in her high chair and I see she is alseep. So I must post one more image and if I am getting this concept of this blog thing, it will appear before the text anyway and you have already seen it. Thus I am changing my title to reflect that...