Pictures in JULY!

I am running a photo special in July. And it is truly special !! (check out the price!). Ryan, who is also my photo manager/sidekick, and I had a business meeting this weekend. In attempt to increase income this summer, we are promoting this special. So come one and come all ! Tell your neighbor, friend, mother, grocery bag boy, bank teller, strangers...whomever!

p.s. If you have already booked with me for July, or are in discussion with me to book for July- this special WILL apply to you! Lucky duckies!

And also...Thanks everyone for all your encouragement lately with this amazing gift that I am so grateful to enjoy!

I love this grass!

So after rescheduling due to rain, I finally got to take pictures of Lucy. There was a small window of dates to reschedule, so we settled on the Andrews coming to my crib on their way out of town to Chattanooga. And boy am I glad we did! Since I look at my yard all the time, sometimes I feel like I lack inspiration. But then...I found this patch of beautiful shade mix grass that Ryan seeded last year and I knew I had to plop Lucy in it. It was glorious!
We sold our house and closing date is June 26th. So if you want some shade grass love as well, I can certainly book something for you !
Any takers?
More of pretty Lucy soon!

It's SOLD!

The first person to see the house Wednesday night put an offer on the house! After a counter offer we settled on an agreement last night!!! We got more than what we have hoped to get!
And yesterday Ryan went with Lawrence ( our realtor) yesterday and found a house! We went later that day as family to see it and we are in love. So we MAY put a contract on it today.
We are completely thrilled and cannot believe how fast the Lord is orchestrating all of this. But please pray about this new house. Ryan is not totally at peace with this home. But regardless, we are still confidant that the Lord will provide the perfect home for us...even if it is not this one!
Here is a bird nest we discovered in a tree right by our door. Every time we leave or come to the house...the mama bird would fly out so fast and scare us. Why it built the nest so low in a tree and so close to the house...I don't know. I got this pic out of the front window because it was raining. The bird kept trying to get back to her nest since I right up in the window so close to her. In this pic she saw me and quickly flew away after I got the pic. You can kind of see one of the blue eggs that had not hatched.

Whenever I ask ER to smile for me...she gives me a cheesy unattractive smile. So one day as I was taking pictures of her...I told her to give me a Cinderella smile. And she delivered!

I think this pic of her hair is neat...I love her hair!

It's On!!!

Our house is on the market! We have had a busy past few weeks and we have both, well Ryan mostly, have worked our tails off. So I sit here, floor just mopped and our house looks better than it ever has!
You can check out our listing at http://www.kaarmls.com/ and our MLS# is 664778. Here is a list of things we have done ourselves...And all done in the past month
Fresh paint in kitchen/dining
Fresh paint on kitchen cabinets
Can lights in kitchen
Fresh ceiling paint in main living areas
Tile in hall bath
Fresh paint in master
Scrapped the popcorn off ceiling in master and painted white
Can light in master
Tile in Wash/Dryer area
Hardwood in pantry, linen closet and coat closet
Crown in both bathrooms
Finished trim on kitchen cabinets
Touch up stain on outside back cedar siding
Landscaped- Ryan moved some bushes from back to front..raked, pine straw ..the whole 9 yards Painted both vanities black plus new hardware
Carpet in all bedrooms ( someone installed it, Ryan just pulled the old stuff up)
Organized/cleaned the garage
Packed half of what is in the house into attic- de-cluttered

So who gets the award for the most amazing man ever!!!??? Ryan Prince!!
He was able to do all the above and still engage me in conversations, take me on a date, play with the kids, work a few jobs with his biz and still maintain his sanity!
Babe, I wish I could get one of those huge gold cup awards they give away at the Master Golf tournaments. You deserve it!
And as I type...he is taking Ella Reese to McDonalds on a special date because she pooped in the potty. And when he gets back he will still continue to work on the house.
You are supercalifragilisticispialidotious Ryan!

Yard work....and letting ER help


ER and I put these two caterpillars in a pot last week and they spun into cocoons!

So if you would all pray for us in the coming weeks...

Pray that as we look at house- starting tomorrow- that we would hold very loosely the material things of this world. Our home is heaven! And as we look at home after home, our tendency would be to crave a perfect dwelling place here on earth. And if it is God's plan for us to stay in this home, ...that we would be perfectly content and grateful to remain here!

Thanks family for letting me and the babies stay with you for days and nights the past few weeks, and thanks friends for asking us how things are going and praying for us!

LPP

I've been posting recent shoots on my LPP blog....so if you are bored head on over!

snack time = happy time

I could not resist....

I am over my head with tasks around the house..cleaning, organizing, wiping bottoms, photo jobs,...and in between all that I can't resist taking pics of the kids! They are both changing and learning in so many little ways~ it is such a joy for me to watch ...and blog about! But a quick version.....
ER is talking NON STOP and in phrases and monologues that make no sense. It is hilarious to listen to. Funny stories...today she came to me and told me she wanted to wear her mucky shirt. I was not aware of a shirt like that. So she came back to me and brought me a shirt that says "Daddy's lucky charm". So mucky meant lucky. Without me reading it....she said "This one! Lucky Daddy's charm shirt!".
Yesterday I made Chinese and I explained to Ella Reese that we were eating Chinese food. To which she said,.." Like me Chinese mommy! And you Chinese,..and Dean Chinese...and daddy Chinese!". I try to tell her that daddy is not Chinese...and she starts to argue with me..." yes! daddy Chinese!". She would not accept that daddy was white. She thinks only crayons and paper are white. And before bed she looked ryan dead in the face and pointed her finger in a very teacher like way and said " daddy, you Chinese.". It was pretty funny trying to get her to say Caucasian!
Dean still takes 3 naps a day! I know! Crazy huh!? He also sleeps from 7:30ish till about 8:30ish in the morning...all through the night. And he eats three times more that ER. Healthy and happy...just sleeps a whole lot! He likes to take things and hang them around his neck. Whatever he can find...blankets, string, ER's necklaces. He also loves to jump. On the couch, in a chair, on ER's bed,....all of which he can climb onto all by himself! I looked up yesterday and saw him on the kitchen table.
He totally copies ER's every move and dangerous acrobatic wildness. So we are about to have two wild babies on our hands. But we love them both to pieces!

Bowlin Bunch

These two guys are actually Princes. Ryan's brother's kids. I did this shoot two weeks ago for Lauren's ( Matt's wife) mother. Is that confusing enough?
I am thinking of maybe posting two more shoots from this same day...but it is waaaayyy too late. Maybe sometime this week I will get to it. And I have two shoots I am itching to get started on...

Oh and by the way...no pics to accompany this thought...but I love my family!
I LOVE my baby daddy Ryan. I love his hands, his jokes, how he tosses the kids around, his embraces...I also love that he cannot find anything in the house without my aid.
I love my Ella Reese...I love hearing her sing all day while she holds the end of her skirt and twirls a little. I love her crazy dress up outfits and how she will affirm everything I say by replying " that's right mama,.."..or " that's okay"...or "sure mom!". I love that the past week she has started coming to my bed early in the morning and then falls back asleep with me for an hour.
I love my Dean-o. I love how he is starting to babble and talk to us and use hands to motion. I love how he kind of bends over and puts his hands on his knees (like an old man trying to look under the hood of his car...) and will turn his head to you and babble. I love how he follows ER around everywhere and thinks getting kisses from her is the best thing ever.

I love my family~

A lot of craziness going on here!

cra·zy (kr z) adj. cra·zi·er, cra·zi·est. 1. Affected with madness; insane.

Yup that is an accurate word for the Prince home right now.
Why may you ask? Here is a montage of words to describe such the state of our home.
Double ear infection. Then other child gets the double ear infection plus an eye infection and sinus infection. House for sale. Tiling. Painting. Toys and tools everywhere. Plaster/construction dust. Paint pans and brushes in my sink-all the time. Washer and dryer out of commission for 4 days. Photo jobs- editing in the pm. Mama and babies kicked out for 2 nights so hubby can work on house. Packing.

And this is what Ryan and I feel like.... Hitting ourselves on the head with Easter eggs.

( note: ER has a swimsuit on inside out. She can never resist putting it on when she finds it )

Yes we are putting our house on the market...and yes we will be staying in K-ville. But where is the question ! This is all new news to us to. Ryan decided we were going to do it like 2 weeks ago. Although you may think I have lost my sanity, I have not! I actually do not mind all the craziness. After two sick babies one after the other...what more is a home under construction? And just in case any of you are wondering...sweeping and wiping plaster dust doesn't really clean it up. I think it only makes it all multiply !

Seth and the gang

I just posted this fun family shoot on my site...which I now have the link to my photo site to the side of this blog. Now I don't need to type out that super long name of a site every time! I am blog illiterate and probably could have done it a long time ago!

Zoo Fun!

We have been thinking of getting a zoo pass for some time now. So when the warm weather hit last week I decided the night before that we would go in the morning. I called around Wednesday morning at 8am to see if anyone wanted to come with. I have pass that gets an adult in free with me. So the lucky gal was Elizabeth and her cutie pie Braden. We had sooo much fun!

Neither of us had ever been. I love love love the zoo!

The kids absolutely loved it. At every stop they both wanted to get out to see the animals. It was a ton of work for me, but it was well worth it!

All of the pics I took of ER have the back of her head. This is the one time she actually did turn around to smile. A fake smile too !

Can I take this thing home with me?

ER's highlight was right around the time this pic was taken. This Zebra pooped right in front of her. She was shocked. Since we are potty training. She could not believe that it used the bathroom on the ground. It is all she talked about that week.

This Gorilla was right next to the glass where we stood. He has some kind of blemish under his eye. When I held ER up to see him, she said "He so sad. He cryin.". She saw the blemish and thought it was a tear. This was her other favorite thing to talk about. That the Gorilla was crying.

It was 2:00 when we headed to the car. We had a fabulous time and the kids were puckered out and Elizabeth and I congratulated ourselves on a job well done having a fun outing for the kids and anticipating a great nap time.

Well.....when I got to my van it would not start. I called E just as she was driving off and we attempted to jump my van. But there was no way for her car to get close enough to my van. If you have ever been, we were parked in the first skinny parking row that leads to the entrance.

After talking to Ryan, we decided for me to pack my kids in E's car and leave the van so Ryan could come and put a new battery in mine. It was dead. ER had apparently hit the emergency lights right as we left and they were on the entire time. But Ryan said it was close to dead if that is what made the battery die.

Soooo...after some nervous moments with sleepy hungry kids sitting in hot sun with no AC on....I started the daunting task of what I call sweaty work- moving the car seats-

We got everyone packed in tight and poor Braden cried- no I take that back...bawled - the entire way to my house. Poor little guy!

ER would every now say "shhh, shhh, shhh" very quietly and sweetly trying to comfort him. Then she would scold him saying, " No crying!". But despite the end of our adventure, we still had an awesome time!

sardines packed in tight

Who loves the zoo....

...we do!

We went again- 5 days later- with Mel and London. And again we had the best time ever! That place is so big! Although we had seen a lot of the zoo, there was a lot this time around that we totally missed! It was so fun.!

This was the highlight for me. We got to the monkeys and there was a baby monkey with his parents right up at the window! He was so cute and sweet and just stared at us. I wanted to take him home! He reminded me of Dean.

Ella Reese was not too excited about the baby monkey....until he peed on the floor.

Since our last visit to the zoo...all she will talk about if you ask her what she saw at the zoo was the Zebra who pooped on the floor. Well, this time when we got to the Gorillas, one of them pooped on the floor too. So she was pretty excited about it. If you ask her now about her zoo experience she will tell you the the Gorillas pooped on the floor and not in the potty. She even told us tonight that the Gorilla did not get Cinderella candy because he did not poop in the potty. ( we give her Cinderella fruit snacks as a treat). Sorry for all the potty talk!

Turkeys are not very attractive up close.


She loved this frog

ER brushed every single goat in there. And London fearlessly pat every goat. She would go around saying "pat, pat, pat". It was so cute!

I guess this is a goat? Looks like a sheep with dread locks.

The cow was not working. I think you can really squeeze water out of it...am I right on that?

ER was squeezing so hard!

This was such a cool place. It is an indoor play area. It has all these stations that help kids pretend to be working at the zoo. So here is doctor Ella.
With her side kick- Nurse London
I love this pic. But I am not sure what my camera was focusing on...it is so blurry!

Working at the ticket booth
End of a long and fun day. No one looks happy, but I promise they did have a blast.

Sun was in L's eyes, ER was ready to bolt out of the stroller, and Dean would not put his sippy cup down.

As much as ER loved all the animals at the zoo...I do not think she should ever work at one...

Who want to come with me next? Leave me a comment or email or call and we would love to take you with us!