Smile Out Loud Albums

Memorial Day 2009

Like most people I probably don't teach my children enough about being thankful. About being grateful for the lives we get to live... I try, but for some reason so much of what I have to say gets lost in the paternal translation. On days like today though, I think I see a little of what I've been drumming into their heads surface for the rest of the world to see. As the honor guard passed us this morning my five year old son took his baseball hat off and placed it over his heart. I overheard my daughter recite the pledge of allegiance along with the veterans and their families during a ceremony to honor those we've lost fighting for our country's freedom. Maybe they don't always show it, but I think maybe my children are starting to figure out that they're just part of something much greater than themselves. Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Family Means Everything

Family Means Everything

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there!! What a great time of year to get to take a look around ourselves and see all that we've created... and take a moment to appreciate the woman who created us. It's a beautiful cycle really, to be a daughter and then a mother and hopefully someday a grandmother. I cannot think of a better life accomplishment. I'm so very proud of my own Mom, who endured a lot to bring me into the world and raise me into the woman I am today. I'm also so very proud of my children, who will go out into the world and do (I'm confident) great things. They're what I'll leave behind here on earth and I'm blessed to have someone (a couple of someones) who call me Mom. Now, I'm not a big fan of myself in photos, but I took this one (with the timer) by myself the other day. My treasures!

Figuring Out How To Blog Bigger Photos!

Imagination Station

I am working with the volunteer group in Oconomowoc to support the building of the city's first Universally Accessible Playground.  I joined late, but am finding lots of ways to help, even as the build is set to begin.  A few weeks ago I started going over to the site to take photos of the progress... I've been uploading them to the Imagination Station website so that everyone can follow along.  It feels really good to be doing something helpful, useful and so wonderful for the kids in town that haven't been able to enjoy one of the most fundamental joys of childhood - playing!!! Come on out for the Walk Roll and Stroll event happening May 30th... and stop by to lend a helping hand the week the playground's being built, June 1-6, 2009.  I know the organization would love the help and the kids, well the kids will finally get to enjoy the same freedom you and I probably took for granted.

A New Day

It's a new day - time for a new blog format?  I'm just not the kind of girl who likes to keep things the same, I guess.  I see a blog somewhere else that I really love and I want to have that kind of blog... then a day or two later I see yet another blog that looks great and of course, want to change what I've just created.  It's strange really, because I'm not like that in real life.  My husband jokes that my personal life motto should be 'same, same, same' because that's the way I like it.  Predictable.  Safe. Really safe.  But I'm learning that in photography, being safe isn't going to get me the great shot.  What it's going to get me are photos that are fit for shoving into an album somewhere... but not photos that I'll want to showcase.  So, I'm taking some risks.  Shooting all in manual.  That's a big one for me.  Sometimes it's paying off, sometimes not, but at least it's not boring.  I went along on my daughter's 3rd grade field trip and shot the entire event in manual mode.  Some of the photos are really fun, some are just really dark, but I think I learned more than she did at the museum.  All in a day's work... a new day's work... 

My Brew Crew

This year for my birthday the kids and Jason took me to one of my favorite things - a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game.  I couldn't have asked for a better day, lovely sunshine and smiles all around.  We headed to the ballpark nice and early to get a good spot to tailgate and set up camp.  The kids built a 'fort' in the van while Jason and I fired up the grill for brats and hotdogs. (what else would we eat!) The stadium roof was open and sunshine beamed in on the field and the icing on the cake... the Brewers won!  I'm loving my children at their current ages, eight and five.  They're old enough to go along on outings and be real troopers. Not a single complaint while we waited what seemed like forever for the parking lot to empty back on to the interstate... but young enough that their pure joy at being 

together as a family seeps through into all that they do.  I truly am a lucky woman, with beautiful kids and a loving husband.  Happy Birthday to me!