Hooray!

...for Friday! :)
...for being done with another chunk of pictures! :) Getting closer to done. I'm on a bunch of group photos now though. Gogo face swapping, blinky fixes etc. It's gonna be a long weekend. :p At least these won't put me to sleep like the basic adjustments do. :)
...for pizza! Yum! :)
...for awesome weather! :) 80s instead of 90s. Yay!
...for Netflix! :) I finally got to see Super Troopers. lol
...for Kirsten! :) She was willing to take a quick picture of me today. ...and for good light at our back door, even if the sun makes me all squinty. ...and for a quick camera and little photographer - we found a hornets nest back there and it freaked us out just a little. We so hurried. lol...for a new squirrely message board! I was missing my squirrely friends. :) If you're a sg and haven't found us yet contact Wendy for the info. Or me, I could direct you to the right place I think. :)
...for my mp3s! :) They keep me sane while Elijah watches stuff like this during the day. I must say Ej dancing is a really cute sight.
It's even funnier when it's Kirsten (who I think found this one in the first place) LV & Ej all dancing. Oh my. But yeah - get that thing stuck in your head... :p

Have a fantabulous weekend! :)

4 days

I haven't blogged in 4 days?! I figure I'd better at least check in. :)

It's been a crazy sort of week, with some really good days (yesterday) & some not so great ones. (Tuesday) :p Today just really needs to be another proof-filled one. :p I'll grab a couple of shots for Laurie too, since it's been awhile. She's being awesome & patient - I'm so grateful for that. :)

Well, seeing as I'm still sleepy and needing to get back to my ps I figured I'd try to find a quick meme.

K this one's from Christy's blog. We'll see how quickly I can do it. :)

A - Age: thirty...something. (A is really for April since I'm not discussing age this year. lol)
B - Bed size: king
C - Chore you hate: it's a toss up between our shower & the kiddos bathroom in general. ick
D - Dessert you love: hmmmm... good cheesecake
E - Essential start your day item: Cuddles and smiles from Elijah :)
F - Favorite actor(s): Will Smith (Yum.)
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H- Height: 5'3"
I - Instruments you play: lol
J- Job title: SAHM, photographer
K - Kid(s): B (17) K (11) LV (7) Ej (3) M (coming in December)
L - Living arrangements: can you picture the craziness? um yeah...
M - Mom's name: Lorraine, nanny, mom.
N - Nicknames: I answer to lots of names - anything but Ape.
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: where I was in the hospital bed? none.
P- Phobia or fear: My kiddos being hurt
Q. Favorite quote: off the top of my head? ummm... All my possessions for a moment in time. Queen Elizabeth I
R - Right or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: one big sister one little brother
T- Time of day you get up- It depends. Somewhere between 7 &10 depending on if it's a school day and if Elijah's sleepy too. :p
U - Unique habit: there's gotta be one, right? blanking here
V - Vegetable you hate: sweet potatoes
W - Worst habit: taco bell. lol
X - X-rays you've had: just dental that I can think of
Y - Yummy food you make: quesadillas get my vote, the kiddos like cheesy potato soup & cheesy broccoli cauliflower goodness.
Z- Zodiac Sign- Leo

Yeah, I'm not all that fast at those things. :p

...and a couple pics for Lauren

twelve things

1. As of today all of my kiddos (except Elijah) are officially in school. I think my babe and I are gonna celebrate the first quiet day with a walk to the park & lunch at Taco Bell. :p
2. I've decided I have to stop logging into my favorite games in the middle of the night when I'm done with pictures for the day, ready to crash. Wanting to say hi to friends is a good thing, but I can't remember what was said in a conversation in the wee hours of the morning or what I wrote in a couple of notes to friends. :p I've been so out-of-it lately anyway, but right before crashing I'm totally zombaliscious. (I can't help it though. I miss 'em too much.)
3. I still can't find my missing mp3 player. :( I haven't seen it in weeks now. Sadness.
4. I think that we finally managed to find me a way to see Super Troopers. It should be on it's way from Netflix soon. Yay!
5. I still haven't posted any pics of Elijah's haircut. We'll fix that right now. :) I love his little face.



He's just the cutest, huh. :)
6. I took a chunk of Sunday off from photo-related stuff and just played WoW. It was fun to see my friends. I don't even know how many instances we ran in the end, but there were bosses downed, badges to be had, trinkets (and other decent loot) and some of my favorite voices over vent. I love me some Lore. And Gig. And Pain. (Even if I didn't actually get to play with the trouble brothers.) :p
7. I'm a little sad that the summer Olympics are over. I kinda watched/listened every night while proofing. Phil Dalhausser was rather yummy.
8. I've been loving Elijah cuddles, Maiah nudges bumps & kicks, LV reading to me, Kirsten making milkshakes and Brandon stopping at my desk with impromptu shoulder rubs. My kiddos are the bestest. :)
9. I'm officially out of my favorite yummy lotion. Time for a trip to Victoria's Secret.
10. Vern just killed another spider down here. There have been way too many of 'em this summer. Ugh.
11. Have I mentioned how exhausted I've been? Yeah, I'm sure I have. I've been crazy tired and trying so hard to be awake. I wonder if I just sleep for a day or so I'll function at a better level. It seems like naps just make me more tired & icky. :p
12. It's been quiet around this little blog lately. On both ends. The counter tells me that people do peek in, but you all are so very quiet. I guess that me being busy with wedding pics and stuff like baby bumps and sleepless nights isn't exactly fantabulous reading material or anything huh. Thanks for sticking with me anyhow – no matter how quiet we all are. :)

Have a great day! :)

Big Share

I thought I'd be all clever and make the pictures as small as possible since I wanted to do a big share for Laurie and Ty, but it only sort of worked. (I'd hoped they'd post side by side and make the post a little more concise. No such luck, it's still monster-long, but now you really have to click on each image to see 'em. ;p Anyhow, this is some of what I've been up to of late. Still have lots to do & we need groceries so off I go. :p Hope you 2 like 'em so far! (...and sorry for any imperfections in getting 'em to look nice web-sized. I did this really quick. :p)

word play

So Helena had this fun wordle site linked on her blog and I thought it would be fun to see what kind of words would show up for me. Not sure what it says about me or this little blog of mine, but it was a fun distraction when I took a dinner break from proofing. She was right about it wanting to choose the same words over and over when trying to mix it up, but hey - it's a fun toy anyhow. Click to find out what kinds of words I tend to type when blogging. :p


...and yes, it's time to get back to work. ;)
'night blog readers!

*peek*

Hola blogland!
Just peeking in. Apologies for being on the quiet side of late. I guess I've been kind of down lately. I dislike feeling like an emotional wreck but I keep finding myself sad, crying or just not feeling well. Probably just the pregnant lady hormones running out of hand, but I'm trying to just get over stuff and find things to focus on and keep busy. gogo hours in photoshop with wedding pictures. :)
I miss my friends like crazy, but at least there's usually daily runs and 5 mans with R & co. Those make me smile. I finally broke down last night & bought Vern his epic flier so he can keep up better on the daily circuit. While I've been busy working he's been going too. I'm hoping he'll keep doing 'em & get all of the shattered sun gem cuts. ;)
I haven't been able to play AoC much either with photo work, sickies & getting ready for school stuff. I think I've officially lost my touch at catching Hy on in any game. Sadness.
Been thinking about LV a bunch today – it's his first full day of 1st grade. He was so nervous this morning. I'm sure he'll do awesome & have him some fun. :)
Ej's been my little sweetheart today. He's decided that mommy isn't allowed to spend any extra time in bed with everyone else gone during the day though. :p I'm thinking naps will shift to when the bigger kiddos get home... lol He's a great little workout buddy though. And we built an awesome geotrax railroad for him. It covers the family room. I sure do love me a happy little Ej - he keeps me smiling. :)

Here's a quick meme & I'll grab a couple of images for Laurie & Ty since it's been awhile.

5 words or phrases in your recent vocabulary
“hug me please” “how does this picture look?” “I miss you” “gonna close my eyes for awhile” “love you”
4 things that make you happy
my kiddos, hugs 'n kisses, feeling Maiah move, pictures that I know will make Lauren smile.
3 things you'd like to accomplish this week
Completing this stage of editing would be awesome. It's the part that takes the longest.
Being there for my kiddos – especially LV & K during their first week of school.
Work hard enough to feel like I've earned some playtime to catch up with friends. (Then I'd love to actually catch Hy online or raid with OC. Or both. lol)
2 songs that fit your mood right now
I'm with You (Avril Lavigne) It just played a minute ago.
Broken (Seether & Amy Lee) Yeah. Another old one, but awesome.
1 place you'd rather be at the moment
On a beach, relaxing in the sun with a nice cold drink and nothing pressing to do.

And just for Laurie...
I'm still not happy with how things sometimes look when I upload to blogger lately. I'm going to have to play with sizing and figure out what I've been doing different. The sometimes crunchy, sometimes soft, kinda wonky & slightly pixillated look is so not cool. :( (Perfect example - That last shot looks great in ps, but soft and wonky here. I did something wrong in sizing it. :p) I have a couple of ideas on what it might be. I should get back to work & try sizing some again later. We shall see. :)

Meanwhile, have a fantabulous day!

school's starting, working hard & seeking sleep

I think my eyes have gone on a PS strike for the moment. I worked on wedding photos nonstop today, which are looking awesome but going much slower than I'd like. I'd still be working if I could see straight, but that's not happening. Hang in there Laurie & Ty - I'll post a sneak preview soon.

It'll be a crazy sort of Monday. Kirsten starts school & I think LV has an appointment with his teacher, but he officially starts Tuesday. I think. I'll have to call the school in the morning to make sure. (We lost the paper that was sent home at the end of last school year, which leaves us to rely on my memory. Not good. :p)

At least everyone seems to be over the stomach bug that hit our house hard this week. Hooray for no more barfies! (Thankfully I escaped that one.)

I am loving having wedding photos as my current project. Images of people so in love are just the most fun - and Lauren & Ty are adorable. I do wish I felt better and was faster and wasn't playing pregnant mommy & photo editor at the same time, and... and... yeah.
At least I love what I do. :)

Well, I'm off to find my pillow.
'night blog readers!

the bump

So since Vern decided to be a slacker last weekend and didn't take pics for me like I'd hoped (or for Lauren like I also hoped...) I had to enlist Kirsten to help me get the belly shot I've been promising a friend forever. It was dark in my room, so we had to bump up the iso a bunch - so they're a little noisy and such - but yeah, consider this a promise kept.
...and an entry that will quickly be pushed off the front page. (for numerous obvious reasons... lol) I can't believe that I'm already at the halfway point. And she's measuring right on - not huge like my boys. Makes me more self conscious actually - I fear that I might look fat instead of pregnant when it's not an obvious basketball belly. It's all growth for baby from here on out though. She may yet become a basketball.)Oh, and for those who wanted to hear names - there is only one. Some of you might remember that Elijah was going to be Maia until he was a boy, and that's still sticking. The h may or may not be at the end, depending on the middle name. Some of the combos that have been kicked around have been
Maiah Jayne (my sis's middle name)
Maiah Sage
Maia Lorraine (my mom's name - and would have been Ej's name)
Maia Lyn
Maiah Rose
Maiah Joy (My middle name)
Maiah Dawn
Maia Rae

Oh, and typed it looks better with the h, but when writing it I like it without better. Brandon & LV vote for Maiah Jayne Petersen, and Kirsten votes for Maiah Lyn Petersen. Vern has no middle name preference. As always, I will toss the thought around until I have to write something down for the birth certificate. I may know what it's gonna be by then, but I'll toss everything under the sun up against it to make sure. ;)

One more

...birthday.

Today it's Kirsten's big day.She's my girl. Kirsten is beautiful, bright, athletic, creative, intelligent, cheerful, outgoing, determined, affectionate and now she's 11.

Happy birthday girly girl. I hope you have a fantabulous day! :)

seventeen

My first baby is 17 today. He's still cute, but isn't even close to being the chubby little babe he once was. The boy has no fat on him whatsoever. lol He's still huggable though. And he's turned out to be a pretty awesome guy if I do say so myself. He registers for his senior year over at the high school today. Such craziness.

I love you B! Happy birthday. :)

Just teasing

...as I've attempted the beginning of the daunting task of sorting photos from our weekend I figured a little tease is in order. I just scrolled through thumbnails and grabbed a few - trying for variety and for ones that wouldn't give too much away. This is, after all just a tease. :)These three together are the epitomy of cuteness.
lol Aren't all of our kiddos the cutest? o.O Yes, I purposely picked a funky one. And yes, Isaac is crying in all of them. Abby just might look her happiest here though. :p
Just now realizing that Vern didn't get a single shot of me on Sunday. :p
As always, please clicky to undo some of blogger's shrinking ickiness. Some of these are driving me nuts even after clicking - they're looking kinda pixilated on here. Oh, and please forgive any momentary imperfections - a quick share means they haven't been given "my touch" in the editing process. (Also please note that pics are subject to change without notice. lol) :p