Carter

This past weekend I had the pleasure of shooting Carter's senior session. He was an awesome "model" - he seemed to get comfortable in front of the camera very quickly. Here are some of my faves...

How Does Your Garden Grow

I'm growing a garden. Some of you may know that we are spending our first spring in our first house, so this is my first chance ever to garden in anything apart from containers. I found this awesome blog to help get me started, but prepping for a garden in a place that hasn't had much care for a few years takes awhile. We've cut down and torn out most of what was in the yard (most of it overgrown random bushes), and tilled and amended the soil. By the time all that was done, it was a little late for cool-season vegetables, but I planted them anyway. They are coming up but none are ready yet, so we'll see how they do.

I started almost everything from seed. A few things, like tomatoes and peas, I started inside but the rest I sowed directly in the ground. I even drew out a plan to show where everything would go. I thought this was a great idea until one of my dogs (who is intent on letting anyone who walks by know that they are trespassing in her area) ran through my newly planted garden multiple times and mixed things up a bit. So I upgraded the fence I had from 1 foot to 2 feet which seems to be working to keep out the dogs, but now that things are growing, some of them are out of place and I don't recognize everything to know if it's a weed or if it's something I meant to grow. Hmm.




For example, is this eggplant? I sowed 6 plants but this is the only one that is where it's supposed to be. There are others like it in various places around the garden but I'd like to know that it actually is eggplant before I move it to the right place.



Is this broccoli? These things are all over the place and definitely not where they're supposed to be, but I'm pretty sure it is broccoli.


This is a small example of some of the stuff we've been removing. I think this is the last of it!


I do know what these things are....



Basil and marigold


Asparagus (although I think I may not have planted it in the best spot - did you know it grows to 5 feet?)


Blackberries ( I am super excited about these)


Okra


Clematis (not food, but you know, I think it's pretty)


My little helper. He mostly likes to peel clementines so that he can put the peels in the compost pile.


Speaking of my little helper, I'm pretty sure one of us spilled some of the carrot seeds in the grass....


Fig. One of the few things already in our yard that we kept. I hope the fruit is good!


Roses, which were also already in the garden, and even though they aren't vegetables, will be staying because I'm afraid I'll kill it if I try to take it out.

Bye Bye, Butterflies

Our butterflies hatched yesterday. 4 of the 5 came out at almost the same time while we were outside in the yard, so I was keeping a close eye on the last one so that we could see at least one actually coming out of the chrysalis. However, during the 10 minute span of time that I was reading to William before his nap, the 5th one emerged. The picture below is of him, taken just after I found him. You can see his wings are still curled up a bit on the edges.


We let the butterflies spend the night inside and this morning we took them out to release them. William was really excited about holding them and we got a couple to crawl onto my hand and then onto his. I tried to get Louie interested too, but all he wanted to do was get to the dogs' water bowl so that he could play in it. Oh well!

Aly

Aly was my 2nd senior yesterday and also someone I've known for awhile - I photographed her mom and step-dad's wedding a couple years ago. She has grown up so much, too. And what beautiful green eyes! I always wanted green eyes when I was growing up.




Apparently, Aly doesn't wear dresses much, but look at her rockin' this one!




This last photo is an especially special one that I'd like to give a little background on. Aly got pregnant a couple years ago, which of course is a less than ideal situation to be in when you're in high school. As a serious athlete, a pregnancy also meant having to miss out on almost an entire year of basketball, which is something that has been very important in Aly's life. In spite of the difficulties and sacrifices it would bring, Aly made the courageous (and I'm sure very difficult) decision to have the baby and to place her for adoption. This photo that Aly is holding below is of her biological daughter, Alex, soon after she was born. Although Aly isn't raising Alex, she and her family have a good relationship with the adoptive family and are able to keep up with how Alex is doing and growing. It has been a very positive experience for everyone involved and I thought it was a story worth sharing.

Erica

Meet Erica. If you have been following my blog for a long time, you might remember her sister Eunice, who was one of my very first seniors ever (and who also came to help out with Erica!). It has probably been about that long since I've seen Erica, and has she grown up! It is easy taking photos when you've got a model like this - I've decided she looks like a cross between Pocahontas and Kim K. Even though it was HOT, we had a good time and she was a great sport letting me drag her all over the place to get the shots I wanted. Here are some of my favorites from our session...

Painted Ladies

We are "growing" butterflies. For Christmas, we gave the boys a butterfly growing kit from Insect Lore that is actually pretty cool. You get a butterly "house" and a voucher for caterpillars. Then when you're ready, you send in your voucher with $3 and get 5 caterpillars. We got ours a little over a week ago. They come in this little container with food and you basically just watch them eat and grow for a week or so. As you can see, we've had fun watching them grow and change.



Last night they all crawled up to the top of the container and are entering the pupal stage, making a little cocoon around themselves, and in a couple days we'll move them to their house and watch them emerge as butterflies.

Look Ma, No Tooth!

Months ago William fell on his face pretty hard. His front tooth turned grey but the dentist looked at it and said it was fine. Well, last week it started hurting. To the point where he was waking up crying. We went back to the dentist and of course, it was abscessed. So this morning we had it pulled. I was worried it would be traumatizing for him, but honestly I think it was harder for me to watch than for him to experience. It didn't seem to bother him at all and now he's really proud of his tooth-in-a-box and hole in his mouth.

Just before.

And after.




Just as a side note, if any of you are looking for a pediatric dentist, I highly recommend Dr. Joseph Harris. We were referred to him by our dentist and I really like him. He reminds me of the dentist I had growing up.