Out of the mouth of babes!!! LOL

It never ceases to amaze me what my children say at times. Taylor, my youngest, is quite the card at times. Yesterday she had me rolling.
Once a month we head up to Highland to have dinner with Mark's family. While we were on the way the kids were eating a mexican candy called Pelon's. Its made with chili pepper but its also sweet. Pelon in spanish means bald. The candy is soft and it is a container that you push up and force the gooey substance through holes on the top of the container, Kind of like growing hair. So anyway way we arrive at my in-laws and proceed to talk etc with the rest of the family that is also there. About 20 minutes or so Taylor comes and sits by me on the couch. One of the kids at the house is the soon to be step daughter of Mark's youngest brother Don. She is darling and pretty shy around us because they havent been able to come to alot of the functions. SO I tell Taylor to go say hi to her. They are both in the 1st grade etc. Taylor gets really quiet and says that she doesnt want to. This is odd because she is usually very friendly. So I continue to try and convince her to go say hi. Taylor gets kind of withdrawn a little.So I ask her what is wrong. She says she just doesnt feel like it. I ask her if she is sure she is ok. This time she leans into my ear and asks me to go to the bathroom with her. Odd request. I ask her if she is hurt. Again she just wants me to go to the bathroom with her. I look at her and ask her what has happened. She now begs me to go to the bathroom. So I follow her to the bathroom.
Once there I ask her what is wrong and she opens her mouth to show me the empty spot where a tooth used to be. Totally shocked Im all excited for her and say"Taylor you lost a tooth!!!" To which she starts sobbing and says " and it wasnt even loose!!" Not quite the reaction I was expecting so I hug her trying to calm her down, tell Talia, who has now joined us to go get Mark. So the three of us are trying to calm this hysterical little girl. She finally tells us that she lost it in the car.THE CAR!!! By now it has been 30 min or so! Not a peep was made in the car! I am totally confused by now. Apparently when the candy cant be pushed through any more the kids use their teeth to pry the lid off the base so they can lick the rest of the candy off the push up part of the container. When Taylor did this it popped her tooth out! I cant believe she didnt even cry! What child takes 30 minutes to tell anyone her tooth popped out? Needless to say it did take her a little while to be convinced that she would be fine even though it wasnt really loose. And when the initial cry session was over she started to be a little excited. Thankfully Talia went out to the car and found her tooth, so the Tooth Fairy could bring her money.
Now after all this Im sure no one can even believe the story does not end there! After all this is Taylor we are talking about! For those of you who may not know her, she is quite unique in her thought process.
Ok so we get the kids tucked in to bed.Taylors tooth is safely snug under her pillow. She is excited about the tooth fairy as we turn off the light. After about 35 minutes Mark and I are in our bed chit chatting blah blah blah. Then we go to sleep!!! OOPS morning comes! I have totally forgotten about the Fairy! I only remembered because of the baby monitor we use because the kids room is at the complete opposite end of our house. Anyway Taylor is telling Cayden that the TF didnt come. I am so lame! Cayden is in her room helping her look for the $$$. Soon they come to my door and as soon as they are allowed in I am told the terrible tale of the missing TF. I said Im sure she came no worries, go eat your breakfast and I will look and try and find it. Taylor says her tooth is still there. I explain that the TF only takes the tooth is the parents dont want to save it and that she know I like to keep the teeth. Not a bad explanation! So the kids eat breakfast and I get up and proceed to grab a dollar out of my purse and head to Taylors room to "magically" find the $. Im thinking this will be the end of the issue and we can move on with our day! Silly me! After "finding" the $, and giving it to Taylor with the story of where it was found,Taylor starts to examine the dollar. She then looks at me and says "mom I dont think the TF gave me this money." why would you say that I ask. " mom are you tooth fairy?" I respond Well I guess you can believe that if you want, but why do you think that?" Then she proceeds to make a comment about the dollar which I didnt quite understand, something about she always gets a 1 with a one one. yah ok??? I ask her what the heck that means and she says never mind. But continues to examine the dollar and suddenly decided that the TF did give it to her because on the side of the dollar are two small pieces missing? HUH? and then and that it wasnt exactly the TF but Orgs? HUH? I ask who Orgs are..She tells me they help the TF out so it was actually Orgs who brought her the $. WOW WOW! The stories this girl can weave! I have never had any sort of concern over the TF from any of the other kids. She is one of a kind! I was getting a little concerned for a moment! The whole time I am trying not to laugh because of how serious she was taking this whole thing.
I know this was a long story but I just had to share! Kids are awesome! I wish I had an imagination like that. OH wait not I dont. I'd have to take pills for that! But it still is fun to hear their stories!

So Cool!

Ok so I got my printer. And it is way cool!! The difference is huge! I feel so professional now! I cant find enough things to print. Its like a new toy for me. Photography is not a cheap thing to get into. There is ALWAYS more to buy. I think Im ready and BAM, I see something else, or a new product comes out. So really I will never be done. I will never have enough. Because there will always be new and improved! Now I can see why "boys" are always wanting more toys to play with. lol. Ok I need to go print some more pictures.hehe

Wow!

Ok I know some of you will not appreciate this entry. But that's ok. I just have to talk about it. So as you all know I have started my photography business. I love it. I love meeting people. And I love the reactions from the photos. One issue I was having is my ability to print the pictures. My printer is not bad but it cant compare to say...Taking my pictures to Pixels and having them print them. And it also took half of my profit, sometimes a little more.
So yesturday, I go to the mailbox and there is a letter from my step mom. I'm thinking no biggie, it was Marks b-day. Probably something for that. NOPE!!! The amazingly sweet, but naughty, woman has sent me the money to purchase the printer I have been eyeing to buy. I totally start crying. My cute daughter, Talia, is asking me a question, and I cant even answer her. So she comes and stands in front of me and asks why the heck Im crying. I am just so shocked and humbled that I just look at her and keep crying. To say Thank-You to something like this just doesnt seem to scratch the surface. I am still in shock even as I put together the printer today. I am truly blessed when it comes to my family. Not just because of this amazingly kind thought, but I truly have a great family. Well thank-you for listening to me spill about something I am still in awe of. I had to share.

Moving forward

Ok I finally did it. I created a portfolio website. It is exciting and scary all at the same time. It is great that I can finally say to potential clients..."to see my work please visit my website". Well at least something along those lines. LOL. The scary part? It seems more official. My photos are out of hiding. Sure I have them on my blog and myspace but I never sent potential clients there. It was mainly friends and family.
The website was a needed tool. Printing out the pictures and keeping them in a portfolio isnt really realistic. Its hard to carry around everywhere. And its just not that professional. The downfall to this right now is photo shoots are becoming, well, interesting. My ever expanding belly and pregnancy pains are quite uncomfortable at times. Especially when working in my studio. Outside shoots arent too bad. In studio shoots I am moving lights, kneeling down, getting up again to grab a toy etc. Not an easy task especially after the 10th or 12th time LOL. I really dont want to make excuses why I cant do photo shoots. I love what I do. It really is worth most of the discomfort. Plus Im worried if I start saying no, the momentum will stop and I will have to start all over again after the birth. Its amazing to me what things can get in the way of dreams and goals. No wonder most people dont make it to accomplishing what they dream of. There is always one more hurdle. I am determined not to allow those to stop me. They may slow me down temporarily but I know this is what I want to do. For me and for my family.
So for those reading this feel free to visit my portfolio. The address is www.tlcimpressions.smugmug.com
Now if you have any comments or suggestions for my site please post them here under comments. Any tidbit is helpful. After all I may not see something that may harm the whole ideal of having an online portfolio.
Thanks for listening to me ramble LOl

So Cool

Im sure not everyone will consider this cool. Tonight I went to a photoshop class with a close friend of mine. Now I have been to this class before, but there is sooo much info you need to go atleast a couple of times. The class is held at Pixels, which is my favorite camera store ever, and is taught by the owner of the store after hours. If any of you have used photoshop, you will know there are tons of ways to do one action. It is such a deep program! But if you can even learn the basics, it is such a blast to play with pictures that you have taken. Seriously I could stay there forever just soaking up all the info like a sponge! Even if you think you know photoshop, I bet you would still learn something at this class.I HIGHLY recommend to even the novice photographer! The cool thing is once you pay for the class, you can go back again for free. NICE!! And trust me you will want to. I love learning new things about programs. Especially when it has to do with photography! The more I learn the more I can offer clients. I mean who doesnt love all the options that say "Kiddie Kandid" gives you. One picture can be turned black and white with some color brought in. They can put different frames etc around the pictures. Special techniques like making the pidcture into a water color.ON and ON and ON. For a photographer this is all beneficial to learn. The more you can offer the broader the clientel.

Anyway I just had to share! It is one of the highlights of my day when I can attend a class like this! Im sure everyone has something unique that just gets them stoked! Hope everyone has a great night. Its almost midnight, time to go to sleep!! Tomorrow I get to play with my pictures, and practice photoshop.YEAH

Quiet Weekend

So one of the things in my life, that Im not a huge fan of, is not having my kids with me 100% of the time. Not that I have a problem with them seeing their dads, I just miss them tons. I have totally enjoyed having all 3 of my kids this week. Cayden and Taylor went to stay with their dad yesturday. Which means Talia and I get some time alone together. We went to Ikea today. That place is crazy! Yummy meatballs though. I love how close Talia and I are. I wish her dad could accept that. Its very sad. Anyway he just came and picked her up for the weekend. I miss my kids. However on the upside....Mark will actually be home tomorrow. It is rare that I get to see him on Saturdays. We are soaking up the alone time we get until Breenan is here. Its such a great thing to have a baby together, but still a little sad it wont just be the two of us sometimes. It has been great for us to still have alone time. It takes alot to have an instant family. But he has done an amazing job. He is one of those rare, amazing guys!! LUCKY ME!! Well I guess I will start to relax and enjoy the weekend. Peace is good for a little while.