Something a little different.

My friend Lisa recently started working for the Animal Welfare Society as their Volunteer Coordinator. She asked me to come help with some photos for their website. Should never have gone.....makes me want to take them all home with me! I sat in on an obedience class with the shelter dogs. Volunteers come in for an hour to give these dogs some one-on-one time and work with them for the class......I never knew there was such a need for this type of volunteer! You go in for one hour to give a dog some love and praise and the connections some of them made with the volunteers was so heartwarming...they just want a family!

I'll start with this beautiful hound....how sweet is this face? Don't you just want to bring her home? She's as well mannered as she is beautiful! I put two photos of her up so you could see how friendly she is...shaking hands with her human friend. There was a neat bond between these two - I told the volunteer he really should consider adopting her - she had eye contact with him entire hour.....expect to pose for the photographer! Next is Charlotte. She's a medium sized dog who, like Lacey, is very well mannered too! She looked so cute in her pink bandana (the instructor gave them all bandana's to dress them up for photos). All I could think while I was there was.....why are these dogs here....they are all so sweet tempered and obedient. This is Tucker....I don't even have to tell you about him...the photo says it all! I forgot to put his name on the photo itself....but he's another eager pleaser!This is Becca......Jill, you were right!! I was drawn to this sweet face the minute I saw it. She's ten years old and her owners moved away and couldn't take her. Leaving her must have been heart breaking! We have tried having dogs on two occassions but our lifestyle just doesn't have room for them. Now that the kids are older and pestering us for a dog I'd so love to give them one but I'm still not sure its right for us. (Jean is very sure its not right for us - he says things to me like: "it's the dog or me"). But Jeano.....I watched Caesar Milan's Dog Whisperer the entire plane ride home from Florida and I KNOW I can be a good pack leader now! He showed me all the tricks.....oh please Jeano...let the kids get a pooch! Plus, this ones older and calmer and sweeter and POTTY TRAINED already!
Here's the kicker........Monday, Branden and Cameron will start a program at the AWS for a select few children in their age group. It goes all year long, once a week, and the kids will be working with the animals...cleaning, grooming and learning how to care for all of them. Think its gonna be tough on us when Cameron gets two hours a week with these dogs?? I was only there an hour and I want one! :)

Well, even if you aren't in my area and are reading this and can find an hour a week in your schedule to go give a dog some lovin' they need your help at the local shelters. If you can't give time, the dogs need beds, the cat's need blankets and the guinea pigs need igloo houses to hide in...so any donations are helpful. Unless you walk through those doors and see the need, you just don't know how much every little bit helps!

Lisa has two cats that lives in her office there.....one is a GIANT puff ball with a very sweet face. He just lays around....maybe cause that's all he can do!

If you're interested or know someone who'd like to adopt any of these beauties....more info can be found at: http://www.animalwelfaresociety.org/

Enjoy!
~kel~

Our Vacation - Day 5

This was a kids choice day that turned into Mom's choice - we didn't have plans to get to a park and I wanted the kids to have the opportunity to play poolside and just kick back with their owh choice in how to spend the day. I presented going to downtown Disney for some "shopping" and they all jumped on it. Excited to see what was next.

We saw the Lego dragon and all the other life-sized creatures - very cool!We got some hot wings and cheese sticks at Planet Hollywood. Makenna went to the Build a Dinosaur and stuffed a dino she named Rosie and then she got a hair wrap (a small strand of her hair just behind her ear with colorful string and she chose four beads for the bottom of it - its subtle and cute) while the boys waited patiently on a bench behind her.

The pin trading got heavy this day! To this point, Cameron was a miser with his money and this was the day that all fell apart. There was a pin trading store and his eyes were big and slowly he changed his mind about spending. He wanted to save his money for something here at home and I saw that he was contemplating his purchases pretty heavy - "$8 bucks for a pin!" he'd exclaim. I reminded him that a trip to Disney deserved one or two keepsakes that were special to him and he had worked hard to save that money and now it was time to "treat" himself. Once he broke the $100 bill it wasn't so hard to shop. The boys came home with almost half of their money and purchased a new video game they'd been talking about for a few weeks. Makenna....well, she's my girl....if she saw it, she wanted it, she bought it! She's happy with her purchases and still has $20 left!

We had another character dinner scheduled at the Grand Floridian with Cinderella and Prince Charming. When we got there the manager asked Marleigh and Makenna to introduce the special guests with the magic words "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" Makenna chickened out and Marleigh went for it full force with excitement - Jean got it on video! She was so cute....and said it slow enough for all to understand. The doors opened and Cinderella and Prince Charming took Marleigh by the hand and walked her to her seat. Would love to show you a photo of that but all I got was the back of Branden and Cameron's heads as they followed them closely to get to the food! Makenna's favorite:

Prince Charming took an interest in my mom.....how cute are they?

Drizella (Cinderella's step-sister) took a strong interest in Branden. She told him that if he wanted her to...she'd wait for him to get old enough to marry her.....she was looking for a husband. He was so cute....and at a loss for words so they posed for this photo.

I loved watching the characters in action - Evil Stepmother, Lady Tremaine, was cold and heartless...she offered Branden a job working for her! She talked soft and low in a creepy sort of way....and Anastasia (the other step-daughter) was animated and made the kids giggle (especially Cameron)!

After dinner, we checked out the grounds of the beautiful Grand Floridian. I really wished I had internet access at this point so I could do beach photos and make blog readers feel at home...maybe not....the palm trees don't look anything like the pines here in Maine.

The weekend is only a day away!!!!

~kel~

A new momma & Our Vacation - Day 4

I'm gonna be a great aunt! My niece is expecting her first baby.....soon! She's a young mom and I wanted to give her portraits that are casual and relaxed like her. I tossed in a few tender low-key black and whites for her memory book. It will be good to hold a newborn again...if she lets me!
If you know someone expecting, please give them my name....it is a pleasure for me to capture expecting moms and new babies too!

I still have days like this.....wishing one day I'd wake up to find I'm having another.....don't get me wrong, I do not long for another....just some days I "wish" I could be blessed again. Marleigh keeps me real though....she's three now and as lovely as she is one minute...the next her head is spinning completely around and she's practically oozing green stuff like that possessed little girl in the horror movie. After having four kids, I can tell you this...because I have seen it in every one of them...there is no such thing as terrible two's when you get to the thrills of a three year old!

Best wishes to my girl....I'm here for ya!

Next: Our vacation - Day 4:

Happy 12th Birthday Branden!!! We booked the SciFi Restaurant at Hollywood Studios for dinner so that's where this day took us. The morning was spent with the group split again...the boys went to Universal and the girls hung back to give Burgah a nap and prepare for the nightlife again. Mom and I just loved the nights so much better we found it very easy to find time to "relax" that day waiting for evening to come. I decided to toss some clothes in to wash (the pile was already taking over the room!) This was the day that Makenna was a "Mouskateer" and reported the pool incident - see "pool closed" the sign behind her? She and I ventured off and took photos of the hotel....Next to our pool is a giant walkman radio (four stories high) and a pile of floppy discs (also four stories high). Our staircase was hidden behind a giant rubix cube and across the courtyard from our room was a four story Roger Rabbit (wanna see pics? I've got them....just spared them for this post because they are on the Disney website too).We met the guys at Universal....it worked so great because Jean and the Boys wanted to ride every ride and they were constantly on the go. The girls just weren't into that fast pace - it wore them down so quickly. It was good we travelled in groups. When we met up with them, it was just in time for the street parade (so cool to jump right into all that excitement) and Jean already had show schedules planned out and how things would work before we had to go to dinner. Indiana Jones....Darth Vader (I saw it but I didn't pay attention) and we just didn't have enough time for Kenna to get her face painted before our reservation time. Here they are...Branden making sure we dont miss a thing....Kenna pretending to read (copying Branden) and Cameron with his "let me know what's going on next" face and Marleigh...watching them prepare for the street parade.

Dinner at the Sci-Fi....what can I say.....interesting! The boys loved it....that's all that matters. The waitress was spectacular....she took this photo of us. See that man over there next to Branden in the red shirt? It was his birthday too and when he heard it was Branden's, he came over and gave the boys anytime fast passes to get onto the Tower of Terror....guess you know what we did when we finished eating! They had already been on that ride but not with full stomachs.....FUN!!!! The generosity of strangers is amazing! Thank you man in the red shirt and the waitress (who provided Bran with a free dessert to celebrate) for making my boy feel special on his day!

This photo is a blur because I had to shoot at such a low shutter...but its such a cool sight I had to attempt it....I'm just not a steady hand. See how tiny the people in the shop are...if it doesn't make you seasick to try to find them.

Here are my little darlings enjoying the nightlife.....party girls!

The night ended around 10 PM when we got home and ready for bed. Branden remembers his time of birth from reading his baby book a few years back. At 10:10 PM I always make sure to whisper my birthday wishes to him....I invited the kids into my bed for a photo explaining to Branden that even though they weren't there when he was born...they are here now and we could update his book. So here we are, just like a hospital photo....my boy in my arms and his siblings squeezed into my tiny bed. Shortly after this, the girls were already asleep, Goofy called to sing Happy Birthday to Branden.....it was a special day! ~kel~

Our Vacation Day 3

The big day....truly! Magic Kingdom here we come!!!

The day started with a character breakfast at Chef Mickey.....as you can see, Marleigh was not shy about holding the characters close. It was neat because we were the last table in the room they visited and they would sit at our table to sign the autograph books and the kids thought that was "cool".

Branden impressed me so much. He's at a hard age - 12 - where he's on the verge of becoming a teenager and I wasn't sure if he would find some parts of this as hokey. He didn't want the autograph book (I knew he'd be way past that stage) and I wasn't sure if he'd get into the pin trading but he really did once he saw the Haunted House series. He was excellent about keeping things real for the girls. Makenna thought it was awesome but Marleigh thought it was all real....being with her made it "magical" for all of us! This morning she is wearing sleeping beauty dress again and singing "Just imagine...." (that's all she knows so she just repeats those two words over and over again twirling around the house so that her dress swings out around her). Oh, I got out of the shower this morning and heard her having a total melt down for Jean. She was so upset and acusing him of putting her "sparkely sleeping beauty dress" in the wash. While listening to her melt down is the pits, how she says things is so funny.

Here its......my favorite photo from the entire week......I'm going to print it big for Makenna's room. It makes my heart happy......I even love that there is another family in the background having their photos taken in front of the castle...and my girls are obviously on a "mission" to see it a little closer. Big brother Branden is leading the way....aaahhhhh....maybe nobody else sees what I see....but that's okay....its special to me. Jean, we did it!! Since they were babies....we talked about visiting Disney World, the happiest place on earth. Now I can scratch it off my bucket list! :)

I only did one ride with the big kids....Splash Mountain! I was determined to get there again...I remembered it fondly from our honeymoon. We laughed the hardest and you know how sometimes you have a moment and you think to yourself "I never want to forget this" that's what Splash Mountain was for me. I remembered the tranquil ride watching the animated creatures and how the drop into the water was a complete surprise....Loved it and I hope I never forget that memory!

Lots of the photos I am showing from the Disney trip are taken with Jean's little pocket camera - carrying my big one was too cumbersome. Before we left for Disney, I took all the cameras and the cam corder and downloaded the clips to my harddrive at home so we would have plenty of space for the week. I watched a few of the video clips and was completely embarrassed at how nasty I came across in them. Jean is always chasing me around with the camera and I avoid talking to him on it because I dont like how I look. Watching those clips was just what I needed to see...no more will I run from the camera! I don't want my kids or their kids to see me as a nasty person...Im not like that! From now on, I vow to turn "on" when the camera does.

Jean and Cam were in front of us and he turned to take this photo. I'm so glad he did....I was truly living in the moment and enjoying the time with the kids....
and....without that first one, you'd never get the full impact of this AFTER shot. I got soaked! Luckily I outgrew my 80's BIG hair with 20 pounds of hairspray and this flatter bob style was easier to comb off my face. And look at Makenna's face!! She must have been wondering if there was more of THAT to come! LOL!
Jean took the kids on the roller coaster (cant remember the name)....the boys were so into all those crazy rides. It's priceless to me!
Well....I'm off. I have a shoot this morning and I haven't had my breakfast yet.

Enjoy!

~kel~

Our vacation - Day 2

Day two, our first day waking up in Disney, I decided that as much as I wanted to get the girls to the Magic Kingdom, I didn't want the other parks to seem "dull" after that so we did Epcot the first day. Here's that famous photo spot when you walk through the gates! LOL....thanks for taking it Mom...everyone needs one of these for the scrapbook! You have to know that I am NOT a sneakers wearing kind of girl so I felt sorta clumsy and though I should have felt athletic....I wasn't liking the look at all! I was comfortable and that was all that mattered with all that walking.

When we got there, it was still pretty early in the day and I saw a place where the characters were going to be hanging out....so we got in line. We waited 45 minutes (we girls separated from the boys who wanted thrills and chills - we just wanted Mickey and Minnie). We met a nice man and his boys from Israel in the line - I think that amazed me so much - all the nationalities that come together for the sake of their children. Some did not speak English but it didn't even matter....we were all having fun and the smiles made us relate to each other. This man did speak English and shared with me that he and his family had been traveling the USA for four months. He didn't have any family to visit - just wanted to see the States.

Marleigh was cute waiting to see Mickey. Sometimes the line would move just right and she'd get a glimpse of him....the girls were adorable waiting so patiently. As we got up to their turn, we could see that not only was Mickey there, we would get pics with Pluto too! As we moved on to Pluto, there was Minnie...and Donald...and Goofy too!! Our 45 minute wait turned into a goldmine of characters! I was delighted for the girls!! Goofy was last in the series and the cast member/helper look at me and said quietly...you might want to walk that way, I think there's someone special around the corner. We walked over to the hallway and there was Belle with only a few little girls waiting to see her. My girls were in awe....there she was, right there in front of them....the beautiful lady from the movie....and she was lovely! I admired how she acted so professional and princess-like. She moved with grace and her hands were posed just like in the cartoons! Maybe I should have had my photo with her too!!

Makenna was a bit stiff when it came to posing with the princess....but Marleigh cozied right up!

Before we arrived at Disney, Makenna lost an earring so when we were kicking around in the gift shop the morning we left for Epcot, I bought Makenna Mickey earrings and a necklace for Marleigh...she was delighted with it.

We split the day and went home around noon to give the girls naps. We rested a bit (the boys stayed at the park longer). When they returned, we had dinner at O'hana (a Hawaiian restaurant) and then ventured back to Epcot for the light show. We didn't spend nearly as much time there as we should have....but we didn't push ourselves to exhaustion and I'm feeling good about that!

Marleigh is really into her princess dresses now more than ever. Today she is dressed in Snow White....yesterday she was Sleeping Beauty. We took the kids for an ice cream yesterday and I let her wear the dress - luckily its Halloween time so not many question why she's dressed up....but everyone comments how lovely she looks....she eats it up!

Update on Mr. Freeze (my brother from yesterday's post).....he won second place....which was a cash prize of $150 this year. I wonder what he'll do next year....sure hope I'm there to help him get ready again!!

Well...so much to do today now that everyone is back to school and Jean is back to work.

Enjoy it!

~kel~

I shot this awesome family yesterday!

That sounds bad! I have had permission to shoot beside this old barn for quite some time and when Christine called me and said she didn't care where we went because she trusted me...I was psyched. I originally wanted this old red barn I've spoted but I haven't gotten permission from the owners yet so I decided this gray one would be just as good.

This family was one of the first families I did a few years back when I was getting serious about photography. I was so happy to hear from her again and I really was looking forward to this shoot.

See why....they are all pretty people and I have to give Christine credit on the color scheme...awesome or what!?!It's great when I photograph a family more than once. I think the kids are more comfortable because they know me and that I'm really not as scary as I look. I don't go overboard....when I know I've got some great shots, I end the session on a happy note so I don't make the experience unpleasureable for the littlest members.

When the session was over, I went to pick the girls up at my moms. She was at my house earlier in the day (having withdrawals from not seeing the kids for two days) and we arranged for her to take the girls while I was working. When I got there, my brother and his girlfriend were getting ready for a halloween party. I don't know why but every year, by chance, I just happen to be at the house when they are getting ready and I become the makeup artist for Bryan's costume....which is always well planned. I was so happy that I was there again.....we got him all made up into Mr. Freeze (a villan) in hopes that he could take home a first place prize of $500. Last year he went as Mr. T and took second place to a guy who went as a snowmobile transformer.

Kimmie borrowed a great costume from her aunt. She was a plump old woman who carried around this sign that said "Reward for lost puppy" and when she turned around, the pup was stuck in her bottom! So funny!

Well, Vacation Day 2 will be continued tomorrow...client sessions, etc. will always come first with the trip as a filler.

Enjoy the day!

~kel~

Our Family Vacation Day 1

Decided to start from the beginning while its fresh in my head so when it comes time to print this, its all in order.


Our flight departed Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 so we got to the airport around 12:30. It was a breeze checking in and getting through security ... we have a fairly small airport. The kids were excellent about following the rules and not acting too crazy with excitement.

This was their first time flying so it was all new to them. I thought I'd encounter some anxiety with Cameron (he's my worrier) but he was intrigued by things that went on at the airport. Kenna was dressed for traveling in her yoga pants and new hat and I could tell she was feeling good about herself....sometimes a new accessory makes all the difference, huh girls?

They watched planes come and go....purchased overpriced drinks and got started on a few of the projects we brought for entertainment on the plane.

I wanted a photo of each of them on the plane as we took off...their faces are so cute....the boys had big smiles and I captured Cam saying "whoa". Makenna was too short to see the plane leave the ground but enjoyed watching the clouds get closer. I love this photo of her.....so serene.

I put Marleigh's hair in pigtails to try to control the mess but it ended up falling out of the elastics anyway...she was supposed to be sitting with me but chose the seat with Jean...I'm thankful....she likes to venture to the potty several times. I love this photo.

We got to Florida on time but by the time we got to our hotel, it was pretty late. We still grabbed a snack at the food court and attempted to get some sleep before it got too late. Our room was located overlooking a courtyard and the pool. There was a roudy bunch in the pool that night that made it tough to fall asleep (pool was open until midnight) and then they chose to hang in the courtyard after it closed. We were happy to be grounded though so eventually we all got a bit of sleep before morning came.

~kel~

More Disney......

....but.....you knew that already!

The nightlife this time. Mom and I decided to split our days. It was more walking but well worth it. We would go out for the morning, go back to the hotel to have lunch and give Marleigh a nap then back off to the parks for the evening hours. I loved the evening hours most of all. The crowds were thinner, the air was cooler and we got bonus rides! Taking nightime photos was tough....the flash was not ample enough to take photos far away and I didn't want to drag my accessory flash along with all that walking. I was anxious to photograph the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom and got this beauty! I have several photos of the castle as it changed colors. I was so bummed when the fireworks started, we thought we were going to be in a great place to view them - so wrong....we had to make our way through the crowds to get these. See the heads in the bottom of the photo?

Loved how cute this looked with that little peanut sitting on his dad's shoulders. Doing this a bit backwards - we did go to Epcot the first day and I know that lots of these are traditional photos - but that's what I wanted for my book. I do have more candids and will share those as we go along.

Marleigh and I are enjoying our time together again. I noticed how much she was missing our cuddle times and now that we are home, we have really made up for it! A few weeks ago, she started telling me that I'm her best friend....its heart warming and I gobble it right up! She is a free spirit and I hope she always stays that way. While walking through Disney, she would dance and sing in the streets and not even care how loud she was or if people even noticed her. To Marleigh: I hope that one day when you're older you will read this and see how carefree you were and how the simple things mean so much. Like the saying goes: I hope you always dance like nobody's watching!

Jean is home today and we have some errands to run so I'm going to keep this short and sweet....he's pestering me to hurry along. He just doesn't get that its therapy time for me when I'm blogging!

I'll be back again for more....silly photos coming soon!!!

Happy Friday!

~kel~