So besides signing permission slips and packing lunches I have been busy soliciting help and working on a new blog.  It isn’t finished, or even close to it but I plan to start posting there from now on!  Please come visit….

WWW.POGOSTICKPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

will get you there.

thanks y’all!

~ll

He is so cute! What an arm! Your son has nice manners. We love gushing over our boys and welcome anyone else willing to do so…. it is much preferred to the alternative… Your kid______. Or the phone call… I would like to talk to you about your son… will you please hold a second?… I need to close the door (bad sign). The compliment we treasure the most… Your kids seem happy and content, comfortable in their skin, it is obvious they have a happy home life.

Photographing this family was a delight…these little boys and their parents were so pleasant, agreeable and they all had a special connection. These two just smiled, posed and giggled the whole time and I could sense how happy and secure they felt. I am sure they are living a boys dream…when Mom whipped out this great truck, stuck baby in it and turned them loose (well not completely loose… within arms reach) I knew this was a fun family to be a part of. Happiness definitely is a joyful home.

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Happy Saturday

I skip to the heartbeat of my angel. ~Astrid Alauda

I am behind in my blogging but it is Friday and there is no yellow school bus to catch tomorrow so I plan to quickly update all my picture stuff.  I am buried underneath the mass of worksheets my kids brought home this week- holy cow, how are there any trees left?  We are still getting in the back to school groove and here is the update– they are dong fine, their energy levels are higher than ever, they are making new friends and learning.  My husband is a tad under the weather (worksheets aren’t the only things our kids brought home)… he is one brave trooper… with a cold…. nothing that a little Infants Tylenol Cough  won’t fix (don’t you dare tell him that what was in the Dixie cup I brought him at 12:13 AM).

Yippee for a four day weekend; we are all excited for a short break. Surely I won’t hear from the school on a Saturday or Sunday… right?

Loose, footloose

Kick off your sunday shoes

Oowhee, marie

Shake it, shake it for me

Whoa, milo

C’mon, c’mon let go

Lose your blues

Everybody cut footloose

Kenny Loggins Footloose lyrics

My husband looked across the cast iron skillet in the center of the dinner table with one eyebrow raised.  I don’t even feel like I know you anymore he said.  I mean, what’s next?  

I told you.  It is organic.

My husband’s shock and awe was the result of tonight’s dinner meal.  Hamburger Helper.  Actually Annie’s Organic Cheesburger Macaroni.  

You’ve compromised.  I don’t care what they call it.  It is Hamburger Helper.  Who are you anyway?  my DH went on… and on.

Look.  I thought this would be a treat.  And 2 kids in real school is kicking my butt.  That’s all there is to it. What I mean by real school is.. it counts.. for both of them.  If I don’t send them, people will eventually show up looking for me.  Being a responsible parent is completely exhausting.  In one day I spoke to two teachers, two specialist teachers, someone at the department of transportation and someone in the cafeteria.  I am not even a high maintenance Mom… or I didn’t think I was???

So this is why I pulled out Annie’s Organic Cheese and Macaroni tonight.  I didn’t realize it would get such a reaction.  It seems my health obsession has now come back to bite me in the arse.  Because they wouldn’t eat it!  Not even the baby.  I don’t like hamburger.  I don’t like the sauce. All done.  All done.  All done.  Are these the same people who complained when I put us all on the macrobiotic diet?   Salmon, again? they would ask.  And when I decided we would be better off as vegans my husband took a glance at the colorful array of veggies and said… Laura, just how long do you want me to live? 

I’ll show them. Tomorrow night I’ll be consulting my Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook.  

These are the expressions I saw tonight at the dinner table….

Laurie got offended that I used the word ‘puke’.  But to me that’s what her dinner tasted like.  Jack Handy (Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy Saturday Night Live)

I really like taking pictures. I enjoy the entire process so much I am even willing to do it for free.

I also really like being married.  

Merging these two parts of my life I am finding to be as impossible as dissolving vaseline in water.  My husband, for some reason, wants to take my extreme negative profits and…. at least as he says…. break even. But if I manage my time well, halt giving stuff away (argh.. I love gifts!)  and start charging, I know it will work …. suddenly… like dissolves like.  The water becomes gasoline– the vaseline dissolves.  (Dad- yes I just did say that… and no, I didn’t think I remembered anything from Science class either.)

My husband and I are masters at deal making.  I enjoy it when there is something I know he really wants to do… for the leverage.  You want to go to that water polo in tournament in Hungary?  Absolutely.  But it’ll cost ya.

And for him… Ah… girls night… well then I get to….   You get the idea.  

So now there is something I am passionate about that takes me away from my family. I enjoy spending time capturing a person’s uniqueness.. in doing so my husband is bearing a lot of extra weight.  I guess there are only so many conference calls one can conduct effectively with a baby shouting AHA!  DADA…. AHA!  HEWO?  HEWO?  AHA!  from your lap.  Then beep boop beep boooooop as the dimpled fingers mash buttons.  Balloon volleyball being played in his office… not great for a clear frame of mind either.

I really appreciate all of you who have written inquiring about my photography.  These new opportunities are really great for me… thank you!  And if you are interested in a session before the holidays it isn’t too early to schedule.  I still plan to make a gingerbread house mess, watch Rudolph and take my own kids holiday photos so I won’t have that many dates available.  I  devised some pricing that I think is reasonable and plan to offer a discount while I continue to learn.  If you email me at pogostickphotography@gmail.com  I will be happy to send you more info.  

And Mom, that means you too.  The pictures of the dog in the Christmas getup…. this year…. gonna cost you.  Sorry.  XOXO

I even bought a datebook… and I think I will use it.

In art and dreams may you proceed with abandon.  In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.~Patti Smith, American Poet

His deep blue eyes smile constantly, as if they had by fitness won the secret of a happy dream he does not care to speak.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I really don’t know how this happened.  I am not a mom who squeals and for the most part I am not squeamish.  My kids know to slide a piece of paper underneath an insect, place a cup gently on top and release the bug outdoors.  They know ladybugs eat aphids off tomato plants, honeybees prefer flowers over stinging children and that the only insects we don’t enjoy around here are red ants.

So my son’s spider paranoia was not in my plan and I hate it is keeping him from doing things he used to enjoy. He refuses to go down in the basement or hang out on the porch. I started thinking and… they don’t have enough time outside exploring.

I pulled a book off the shelf called Last Child in the Woods, Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, a very good read.  I was reminded how children crave the peace found in nature.   But when their mom would rather be inside in the air conditioning than clomping through the woods watching out for copperheads… well…. 

So, it looks like I am giong to be dragging out my giant floppy hat and georgia clay stained socks in the hot Georgia sun (I did mention hot right?).  If these boys grow up never having waded in a creek, put a toad in their pocket or licked the tiny drop of honey from honeysuckle. … I will hang my head in shame!  So keep your eye out for me… not at the mall… but in the creek. Ick.

Recently I took pictures of this little girl and it was so refreshing to see how comfortable she is outdoors. I had a great time. There was not a thing I suggested that she wasn’t up for… laying on the grass, playing in the sand, hanging from the monkeybars.  Her love of the outdoors really shines through… this little one is a real pearl.

When I see birches bend to left and right….. I like to think some child’s been swinging them.  Robert Frost

What does a homeschooling mother of three do in her spare time… um, what spare time?  Train for a marathon, of course.

My friend Jen is gifted in so many ways… smart, creative, super organized.   She is skilled in managing money and saving…  yet she is always the first to give openheartedly when she hears of someone in need. Her self discipline is inspiring and she has a great sense of humor.  For me it is Jen’s big heart that stands out the most; she is so caring. 

These wonderful traits of Jen’s have merged and she is now training to run in the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco this October with a group of college friends.   She is racing in honor of a brave young girl who happens to have leukemia and is about half way to meeting her financial goal.  Here is Jen’s fundraising site and her group of friends’ blog.

It is inspiring for me to see the example Jen is setting for her three girls. Take care of yourself, help others and be tough… do it all with style!  Check her out below, I happen to catch her out on her evening training jog. She may not cross the finish line first in the marathon this fall…. but in setting an example for her daughters.. she takes the gold for sure.  Run Jen, run!

“The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.”
          – Bill Squires

don’t forget to donate.. every bit helps!

I rarely sing to my children but tonight I thought I would give it a go.  Surely my son will find the sound of his mother’s voice comforting no matter how out of range. I expected some big time bonding.  So, to the tune of frere jacques I sang…

Mommy loves you , Mommy loves you.

Yes I do, Yes I do.

then………………….from under the covers………….  pfft.

I stopped singing and my son started…

Even if I toot.  Even if I toot.

You still love me.  You still love me.

A mother’s love is instinctual, unconditional, and forever. ~unknown