How I Got into Photography

When Ethan was about 4 months old, I started talking to a friend of mine that was telling me her love for photography (black and white film to be exact). She used to have a business in NY and missed it.

Well, being a new mom, I was in love with the idea of offering my child up for practice. I agreed to buy all of the film and she'd show up and shoot. (Pardon my head on the below pic, when I was transferring it over, it made it look weird....).

She shot tons and tons of rolls and I fell in love with every one of them.

It was amazing to me how she could capture his eyes in a black and white photo!

This is one of my all time favorites that she took. It won a photo contest too. I had a series of 3 similar ones matted and framed.


As soon as I saw them, I was hooked. Jerry got me my first Minolta Maxxum SLR camera and I've been at it ever since. These were my first attempt at black and white film photography.

Personally, I don't think I did a bad job. Actually, looking at them makes me want to shoot more film.

There is something timeless and elegant about a black and white photo.

Note to self: Self, you need to get back into black and white film photography.

A Dedication Post

Dear Ethan,

It seems like just yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital. You were so tiny but you filled up such a large spot in our hearts.

You were such a good baby and I loved your squeezable cheeks.

You were the reason that I got into photography. I just didn't want to miss a single moment of your life.

You were baptized in Gram's church, and while the church is no longer there, it will be forever in our hearts.

You and your cousin Chas were just like brothers from the very beginning. You loved each other one moment, and the next...you were stealing his binky.

We lived each day thankful that we were blessed with you.

And when you turned one, we couldn't believe how fast the time went.

Our little boy was already discovering that he loved balloons.


You spent a lot of time going to your brother's baseball games.


And you were thrilled with the very first swing that you got.

Your brothers were your hero's, and while you loved to annoy them, they took it with grace...because they love you.

You certainly loved your babies and didn't spend any time without them.

And as you got older, your personality blossomed into one that made us smile every day.

I can't believe you are now five and will be starting school in a couple of months. I hope that one day when you read this....

you will know just how much we love you. I hope that you will never doubt how much we adore you. You are going to go on to do great things and it makes my heart swell just thinking about the wonderful little boy that you have become.

I love you.

Happy Birthday, EE.

Here is one of the video's that I made a few years ago.

Please Forgive Me for Being Absent.

Errr...yeah...I realize these are weeks late but I figure you'll forgive me. Things have been a bit hectic around here. So most of you know that I'm now done with school for a while. I finished my Bachelor of Business Administration and since then I've just taken a break from everything but books. I've been catching up on lots and lots of books that I've put off reading for pleasure.

These pictures are horrible and I almost didn't post them but then I decided that I'd post them anyway. We started Ethan's birthday by taking cupcakes to his school and had a great surprise! Mr. Matt, one of Ethan's all time favorite teachers was there! We snapped a picture of the two of them.

That weekend, we had his real birthday party at Bounce City, an inside inflatable jump place. We had his birthday there last year too. I love his face in this picture.

This is probably my favorite picture of the day. Even though it's blurry, it cracks me up. Do you see how they are holding hands?

These are two of Ethan's team mates and lemme tell ya, he was so happy to see them. They are brothers. Aren't they cute?

They ran around non-stop. Last year, we made the horrible mistake of not bringing drinks. They didn't have drinks for while they were playing and boy did we regret that. This year, we we brought a whole cooler of water and juice.

Since I couldn't give him his cake and take pictures at the same time, my friend Robin took him the cake. We forgot his candle but I don't think he even noticed. As soon as he saw it was a Spider Man cake, he was thrilled.


He had a great birthday. Great friends + fun presents + yummy cake = one happy five year old. I'm still planning on doing a dedication post for his birthday. That's coming up soon.

And since you've been so patient with me, I thought I'd throw in a few of my favorite recent pictures of Butterball. Butterball got neutered several weeks ago and we had to put one of those RCA dog collars on him. Remember the RCA cartoon dog? That's all I can think of when I see this.

Of course, Butterball was not as amused as I was. Actually, he down right hated it.....but how can you resist a face like this?