UsOverHere

Love this family

These kids belong to my workout buddy. Love this family to pieces. They are amazing! And the kids are just adorable.

Hope you like these T.

 

 

Auntie E. She wasn't planning on getting her pic taken with her nephew, but it was just too sweet. I couldn't resist.

 

And the adorable little S man! 

 

 
 
 

Blog slacker!

I know, I know, I am such a blog slacker! I must repent. It's just been such a crazy few months, I don't even know where to begin.

It's not just my blog that's been neglected. It's my camera as well.

I do have a good excuse though. My laptop totally bit the dust (or should I say, got catapulted off the couch and the metal pieces holding it together shattered. Not that this was a great computer to begin with (we finally had to get on-line backup because of how many times it would crash on us.....dislike Vista with a passion).

Anyway.... enough excuses. Now for the update.

There really isn't much to update. Just normal life, other than Austin is back to live with us for another year. He came back in May, finished up the school year here, and is fitting right back in like he never left. I'm so excited to have him back. It's a challenge, but I just feel like he completes our family. I know we are supposed to be here for him at this time in life, and who knows what the future will bring.

I don't have pictures to update, but I did want to update some funny things my kids have said this week that I don't want to forget. I'm going to start backwards, leaving the best for last.

Last night we were on our way to a Pool party at the 5M&R ranch (The Martino Family all lives on the same street on a huge piece of land and they have a community pool called "Honey Hall") Anyway....there are ranches all over there, and one in particular had some llama's and a camel. Jillian saw the llama's (she claims she wasn't wearing her glasses) and said, "NOW THOSE ARE SOME SKINNY COWS!!!!"

Then when we got to the pool, there is a pasture nearby with horses. Joylyn was turning the corner and said, "Look mom! Cows!" We couldn't help but laugh. You'd think that with all the animals that are around here my kids would know better. Maybe I should buy them an animal book.

The other day, I had to run to Target to get a few things. I decided to take the kids with me, since they hadn't been out of the house for a couple days due to rain. I wanted to quickly see if they had any bra's on sale. So we are walking through the bra section, when I realize that Nate, my two year old son, is singing his own little made up song. He loves to sing, and will just sing whatever is on his mind. As I listen closer, I realize that he is singing, "We gonna buy some boobs.....we gonna buy some boobs. Mommy needs some boobs!" NICE!!!! Gotta love my little boy!

Well hopefully I will be better at updating, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Two Years Later

Two years ago, I got to take photos for this family. How have they changed? Besides the kids getting bigger, not much. They are still as wonderful as they were two years ago.

(This time, the kids were a bit more cooperative, which makes it so much more fun!)

It started raining towards the end of the photo shoot, so if you guys want some retakes (or to get to do the photos that we couldn't get to), let me know.

Thanks!

And this little boys smile is just contagious! SO CUTE!!!

  

Not all photographers make money!

First I need to appologize for being such a blog slacker. I check other blogs frequently hoping that they have been updated and am almost giddy when I see a new post. However I have neglected my blog something fierce. So I am hoping, anyone reading this felt just a twinge of excitement as they realized that I have in fact written a new post.

Not long ago, I had a young man ring my doorbell in hopes to sell me a "miracle" cleaning solution. It seemed to work well, and in a house with 5 children I was intrigued....until he told me the price. It was well out of my budget and I had to admit, the cleaner would fall in the "want" category, rather than a "need".

I gave the young man, a "thank you, but no thank you" response, explaining that I just couldn't afford it. His response startled me. He pointed out to my car and said, "I see you own your own Photography business, how do you not have enough money?" A little offended by the implication that I was lying, I just stated the honest truth. "It seems that the first thing to go in these difficult economic times, are family photos." It's a sad truth, but a truth nonetheless.

So I've decided to make it a little easier for those who still want family photos. I am lowering my prices. Not only to help others, but I've also made a commitment to learn more about photography. I've learned that taking more pictures, is the best way to learn. So I'm hoping that with the lower prices, I will have more photo sessions.

For a limited time only, I am lowering my prices to $50.00.

This still includes:

 a 1 hour photo shoot at a location of your choice (within 20 miles).

  Photo proofing (cropping, enhancing, black and white, etc)

  and a CD with 20-25 photos from your session with a permission to print form allowing you to have your photos printed at any location of your choosing.

If you are interested, please contact me at my email address:

tarabrooksphotography@yahoo.com

Thank you, and I hope to have more pictures up soon.

Little girls

this little girl was turning 1. she was absolutely adorable. i felt totally in my element. just following a little girl around and taking pics. so  much fun.

 

 

and what would a birthday be without a birthday cake.

and a very messy birthday girl.

 
 
 
 

The Wilde baby

There was a moment during this photoshoot, as I was holding this sweet little boy, that made me want another baby. Luckily, the moment passed quickly. However, I did enjoy photographing this little man. I'll have to do baby sessions more often.

 
 
 

The sweetest things

These are the things that make days like yesterday all worth it.

Yesterday was understatedly a bad day.

Nate and Joy were at eachother all day; poking, pinching, hitting, annoying eachother, screaming. It was pure insanity all day long.

To add to that, we almost got hit by a car as we were walking out of Target in the torential down pour of rain .(BTW people, if driving thru a parking lot, you should probably be looking at where you are going, especially in front of the stores) Luckily, after yelling "hey watch out" a couple times, I was inspired with knowing the mans name and I just blurted out "HEY IDIOT!" It must have been his name, since he promptly looked over and stopped the car.

The day only got longer when Em and Jill's had to be at the church for Activity Days and NO ONE wanted to help clean for Charlie's return home.

However, this morning, has made yesterday all worth it.

I was sitting here looking up the flight info so that I can know what terminal to go to when picking up Charlie and the kids are sitting in front of the piano, using the bench as a table. They have paper towels laid out like place mats and are usuing their lego's like food (see pic below for an idea). Then I hear Joylyn prompting Nathan on what to say for prayer. It is the sweetest thing ever to see your children practicing the things that you teach them. She prompted him to pray that the food would make them healthy and she prayed for each person in the family, and asked that daddy get home safely. Nathan just smiled and repeated the last word of each sentence and then yelled "Amen".

These are the moments that make it all worth it. The hard times seem like they out weigh these moments sometimes. but these moments are what I try to remember.

Sweet Joy asked yesterday as we left for Target; "are we doe-ing to Tardet?" I said, "yes" and she said, "Otay, I want to buy you flowers". She's the cutest thing sometimes.

I hope your day is filled with sweet moments that erase the difficult times.

Preschool Wednesdays

This year we joined some friends in a co-op preschool. There are five children and each mom takes a turn teaching the group once a week. Wednesday is preschool day.

Joylyn LOVES school. She loves learning. And loves feeling like a big girl.

Today was our halloween party. The first half they had school and then last half, the moms and younger siblings came for the party. They played pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern, frosted cookies, and played Halloween bingo.

 

 

 

My two babies

I consider Joylyn and Nathan my babies. She's my baby girl. My last girl. And he is my  my youngest, my only, and my sweetest baby boy. These two can make me smile like no other. (They can also drive me nuts like no other).

Nathan is just starting to talk. Only one word at a time, but it's the cutest thing ever. I never thought "no" could sound so cute. His "yeth" (yes) is even cuter. Or if you ask a question, he'll say "cuth" (cuz). I can just eat this kid up.

This boy loves to run around in his diaper. Hates to wear socks, unless he has his shoes on. He loves his tool chest he got for his birthday. Loves to run and play with Joylyn and he LOVES his daddy. Such a daddy's boy.

We are trying our hardest to keep Joylyn from dressing him up with flower hair clips, purses and pretty girl shoes. (sigh) We encourage backpacks, tools, footballs, and faux hawks.

My baby girl is a sweetheart. But she's also a stinker at times. In one moment she is taking care of her little brother and then next she'll be slugging, pinching or hitting him.

You will rarely find her without at least ONE dress on. She loves to layer her clothes and we once found her in 9 layers of dresses, shirts and skirts. It's never a dull fashion day in her world. She hates her hair brushed. She has a very tender head. She will put multiple hair clips in her hair. She is extremely particular about the way things are done. She and Nate both LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate milk, but you have to pour the milk, then the syrup. She notices if you pour the syrup and then add the milk. Really?

 
 
 

Happy Birthday to you both.  I love you!
 
 
 

Tuesdays are for sleepovers?

I have a friend here in Texas, that her hubby works crazy hours and is gone working most days of the week. With my hubby out of town as well, we decided to have a sleepover. She has younger kids, so no one goes to school yet. The idea was great. The execution.....not so much.

Her poor kids were up most hours of the night. I still had a ton of fun and hope she did as well. We ordered pizza, watched movies, and ate icecream. So much fun. Now it's Wednesday and it's back to reality.