It's been a busy December

So it's been awhile since I blogged. And we've been busy. :)

December 8th I shot the annual Holiday Party for Tenet. I worked there for over 8 years so it's great to see people and touch base. Most of them I actually do stay in touch with, but it's good to see the others as well.

Carol is always my assistant. She's cheap labor. I buy her a quarter pounder from McDonald's and she assists. :) How can I beat that deal? Plus she's assisted so many times now that she can actually help me break down without me having a panic attack that something is going to get broken. lol Plus she used to work there too, before I stole her and Marsha to come and work for me. :)

So Friday night (12/7) Karl "bought me" (and by that I mean he told me that's what he wanted to get me for Christmas and made me go pick it up) a flash. So I left work at 4:30. Shillers closes at 6:00. Now this drive SHOULD take about 20 minutes. Well a few things complicated this drive. #1 it was Friday night, traffic is always horrible on Friday nights. #2 I was heading towards the Galleria which #3 is at the 170/40 exchange where all construction is happening. So it took me 30 minutes to get onto Brentwood from 170. #4...this is a big one. My Dear sweet friend Crystal....who I know FULL WELL can't give directions to save her life gave me an alternative route to get to Schillers. Make a left on Manchester she says. When I turned left I thought I think Shillers is West of here, I'm heading East. Then I doubted myself until I got to the city, then I knew I went the wrong way. So I'm melting down, thinking I'm not going to get to the store in time. Calling Karl, calling Crystal....about to abort the whole mission. Between Karl and Crystal I was able to stay calm enough to make it to Schillers 5 minutes before they closed. WHEW!!!!

So I had my new fabulous flash for Tenet's Holiday Party. All went well. Pictures in front of the beautiful tree.

Here are a few

Shirley & Marisa

Angelia and Bernie

(Just shot her mom's retirement party.)

Candace and Lil' Wesley

(Shooting their wedding in October)

December 9th spent the day with the Kayser's (Carol my assistant's family) trying to shoot a family picture. Her granddaughter Bianca moved to Louisiana so she wanted to get a family shot before she left. After 4 or more hours we made the best a several pictures to get this one shot.

Not the best family photo I've ever taken, but it's hard with two babies who are ready for a nap and three teenagers who are trying to make the babies happy and not looking at me. lol The 4 year old was fabulous. He's a bit of a stinker, but he is always good with pictures. :)

December 13th we met up with John Tate and the kids got their Wii. How much fun is that? We had to hide the Wii remote that night so they would go to bed. They love it. :)

Friday December 14...Bunko night. I've been playing Bunko for over a year, I've only won once. And "won" is a relative term. I actually got the prize for being the biggest loser. :) I must really not be good at that game. lol It's a good time to hang out with the girls. Drink a little, talk a lot, eat a lot, and maybe even play Bunko. :)

Saturday we had our first accumulating snow fall of the year. I know the kids were mad because they didn't get to miss school. It hit us in two waves. The first one was not so bad, but by the time the second one was done we had about 7 inches. Our subdivision plows so it's usually no big deal to get out. Plus the Durango is 4x4 so all bets are off. :) They plowed our circle and left the pile at the end of our driveway. Karl and I spend at least an hour out there breaking up the snow bank so I could get my little car out. :)

Here are a few shots of Bree making a snow man. (I fell asleep before the finished product was complete)

This is one round one of the snow storm so you can see the first round was not so bad.

Good wet snow though. It stuck together really well.

The snowball got a little heavy for Bree. Took all her strength to finish rolling it.

This is the face you get when you make your 13 year old put on a snow suit to go out and play in the snow. She was ticked off. And wouldn't go out in front with Bree. God forbid I try to keep her from getting frostbite. BRAT!!

Tatiana didn't go outside until I was already napping so I got no shots of her. I'm not sure if did that on purpose or not. I don't think she like the idea of a snow suit either. lol

Sunday, December 16th, I shot my friend Melanie's family pictures.

I'd love to put all 7 kids up individually but since I'm already recapping the month I'll spare you all the picture overload. lol

Monday, December 17 was Tatiana's make up concert. She did very well I don't think she was happy that I was snaping pictures though.

I got this face first!

(Mom you're embarassing me)

Then this face.

(STOP!)

Then this face. I think this was her final attempt to get me to stop taking pictures. Too bad I don't listen well.

Here she is actually playing.

So December was a busy month. I took off work starting 21st and I don't have to go back until January 2nd. So I'll update you with Christmas pictures very soon.

Right now it's 5:00 and I'm still in my pajamas. Spent the last two days in pajamas too. (I am bathing though) lol

Another hohum week

So I promised pictures from Bree's basketball game last week. After uploading, most of the shots were just her throwing in to some one else. So I passed on uploading them. This week is a different story.

I like to call her "Lil Lisa" (Lisa Leslie) because this weekend, she was on fire. My baby is back. I think the rust of the not playing in a year may have finally worn off.

So here's a picture from before the game. Although sometime you can catch her talking just as much during the game. LOL

Here she is driving down the court. Ok so it was after a throw in and at this level they are only allowed to use a half court press so she really wasn't challenged at this point. But hey, she can dribble, right? :)

This is towards the end of the game. She drove down and was backing up on this girl. If you look closely you can see the scoreboard. Lets just say, they didn't have 14. :) And she drove all the way down, took the shot....and missed. But she's getting there. We've been working on shooting form this week. And by "we" I mean Karl. :)

It's still an improvement. Last year she'd drive down and try to find some one to pass it to, even if she was under the basket. She never had the confidence to take the shot. So we're on the right path, just need to work on actually making the baskets. :)

Today was Tatiana's winter concert. It was cancelled. Apparently if we have a small amount of freezing rain the world comes to an end. They rescheduled for (I think) the 17th. So look for those pictures.

In other news, I've decided that having a full time job, part time job (photography) and being a mother and wife just isn't enough. I enrolled in school. Yeah!!

I'm aiming for my MBA in 5 1/2 years. So Cianah should be finishing her freshman year in College when I graduate.

Starting out in the Associates program for Business Administration in case I want to change my major. If nothing else the additional education will help advance me in my current job.

The truth is, the things I'm passionate about, don't pay. I can't see putting myself through 5 years of schooling to make less money than I do now. Not that I'm wealthy or make a ton of money, but let's be for real. Starting salaries for teachers, $30K to $40K. Social work, let's not even guess how little those poor soles are paid. Psychology...unless I get my PhD I'm not sure I can even get a job. So we're back to what I know...business.

Classes start in 2 weeks. UGH!! Not a lot of time to prepare. I figured the longer I wait, the more excuses I'll come up with to not go. So I'm off to "college." Of course I'm taking online classes so I miss the joys of campus life, but then again I'm not sure I'd fit in there anyway. lol

Wish me luck in my continuing education.

I think Karl may go back too, just not right now. He said to give him another year to live out his childhood dream of being a professional video game player, then he'll reevaluate. :)

It won't take him near as long to finish. He already did 2 years so most of those credits should transfer. So he's ahead of me in the game there.