'Tis the Season

This is a really busy time of year in the photography business. I think I'm almost past my busiest time of the year. It's been fun but I'm tired. We still haven't gotten out any Christmas decorations. We need to get that done this week. I second shot a wedding last night. I've been doing a few of those here and there. It's really good experience and kind of fun. I'm not sure if the wedding thing is growing on me or not. I'm proud to say that I got hit on last night at the wedding by a less than attractive man. If he had actually been cute, I might have been flattered....still unwilling and uncomfortable, but flattered none the less. Instead I was annoyed. He started calling me "Ice Queen." Nice.

So, that's what's been going on in my life lately. Not a whole lot to write home about.

Today is new driveway day!!

I'm so excited! We're finally getting a new double driveway. We've been wanting to do this since we bought this old house. Jackson liked our old cracked driveway for some reason. I'll totally post pictures once they're done. I know you can't wait for that. It will be a huge canvas for the kids to color on....just what a driveway is meant for.

My truck isn't as toast as I thought

It looks like my truck only needed a new radiator, which Phillip and his dad graciously fixed for me. I am now even more indebted to Phillilp's dad. Great. Thank you both. I'm sorry I almost killed my truck.

In other news, I was directed to this website to help me with inspiration and direction for child photography. And I'm not going to comment on how I feel about that.

my truck is toast

My truck overheated this evening. I should have noticed it was overheating before I did. I'm afraid I may have driven it too long and cracked the head or something else really bad. So I guess we'll know for sure tomorrow but I'm afraid what we thought was going to be a nice shiny new driveway is going to turn into a nice shiny new head gasket. (or something else engine related) Sometimes I don't think we'll ever get ahead. Didn't actually mean for that to be a pun.

Waiting room melt down

I just got back from taking Mikey to the doctor. He's had lots of crud in his nose and has been tugging on his ears. His ears look good but Dr. B prescribed an antibiotic for his sinuses. We waited in the waiting room for about 20 minutes. I'm guessing at the length of time. It may not have been that long...could have been longer. Regardless of how long it really was, it felt like an eternity. Mikey had the biggest public meltdown of his life. He was just absolutely out of control. I wouldn't let him get down and run. I forced him to sit in my lap or on the seat next to me. He was just freaking out. He sounded possessed. He probably looked possessed. It was really bad. I'm so worn out, both physically and emotionally right now. All I want to do is cry.

So this is to anyone who has ever witnessed this kind of total meltdown in public. This is to the people in the waiting room who were gawking at me and my son.

- Don't look at my child like he's a freak. He's a brilliant little boy who has a really hard time controlling himself sometimes.
-Don't look at me with pity. There is nothing to feel sorry for. I am blessed beyond measure with this child. He is perfect to me.
-Don't whisper to each other about my child right in front of my face. Just because I'm busy at the moment doesn't mean I'm too busy to take you outside and teach you a thing or two.
-Don't suggest things to me that might calm him down. There is no calming him down when he's like that. If there were, I would be acutely aware of it and would already be doing it, thank you very much.
-Don't act visibly annoyed or irritated by his behavior. Just get over yourself, please. And if you are really unable to deal with the noise, then remove yourself from the situation. Don't expect me to miraculously make him be quiet for your benefit.
-Don't say ridiculous, trite, obvious statements like "you've got your hands full" or "wow, he's not happy is he?." Seriously??? Wow, I hadn't noticed!!! Thanks so much for pointing that out to me, astute observer!!!!!
-Don't judge us.

Things you can do that won't make me want to punch you in the face:
-Kindly ignore us. That's pretty much the safest thing to do.
-Ask if there's anything you can do to help. I will most likely say no, but I would appreciate the sentiment.
-Tell me there's hope if you have had a child like this.
-Just have some grace. We're just doing the best we can.

I'm pretty sure I'll be fighting with Mikey and for Mikey for a long, long time.

6:00 a.m.

Mikey has been waking up at 6:00 or before 6:00 a.m. almost everyday. It's really, really hard to like him that early. I know he's a gift but it's really hard to remember that at 6:00 a.m.

Too cold to live

It was so freezing yesterday at that wedding. It was outside at 3:00. We were on a little hill with no trees to block the wind. The weather made the whole thing quite miserable. The brides maids were wearing sleeveless dresses. There were little kids, babies, and elderly people out there. But we all toughed it out for them. It went pretty fast once the wedding actually started. I kind of forgot about the cold while I was shooting. The bride really wanted to do lots of shots outside at the wedding location. Thankfully she changed her mind. I've got one more wedding I'm doing solo in Feb. After that, I'm taking weddings off of my to-do list. It is not my thing.

I was supposed to do a family shoot this morning at Varner Hogg. The family has two young kids. We decided to postpone it until a couple of weeks from now. I just didn't think it was a good idea to shoot in like 40 or 50 degree weather, especially with kids. I don't think they were looking forward to freezing their butts off either.

I do not like cold weather at all. My hands and feet are cold almost all the time even when it's not cold. So when it's cold, they just get all numb and purple. Our house is pretty drafty. Anyway, I'm going to go get under a blanket and have some coffee. We'll be skipping church today because Jackson has been running a fever.

What I've been up to

Today I'm photographing a wedding. I think it will be pretty fun. It's outdoors somewhere in Rosenberg. I'm really wishing I had a second camera to have with me today. I don't usually feel like I need a second camera but it would be nice today. I would probably use two cameras on an ordinary shoot if I had two cameras. I might need to think about investing in another camera body soon. We'll see.

For the month of November I have this wedding that I'm doing solo and I'm second shooting a wedding for a local photographer. Second shooting is a total breeze and it's decent money for the hours. I second shot for her in October and I wore heels like an idiot. I was dying after about 3 hours and we were there for about 6 or 7. I'm thinking weddings aren't really my thing. I've got the wedding today and one more in February. At this time I don't think I'll take anymore on. I love photographing kids and families. I don't love photographing weddings. I hope I can be picky enough to do what I love.

In addition to the wedding stuff, I have 12 family shoots in November. (Assuming a couple of them send me payment for their session fees.) I also did the College day care kids. This may not be a ton of stuff for some photographers but it's an insane amount of stuff for me. The shoots themselves aren't that big of a deal but the processing, ordering, packaging, delivering is pretty overwhelming. With working at the preschool MWF mornings and being a mom to two young kids, I feel like I'm working in some way or another constantly. I've extremely happy that I'm this busy with the business. This crazy busyness will probably only last two or three months during Oct-Dec. Then things will probably slow down for a while. I've decided not to work at a preschool next school year. It's just too much right now.

So that's what I've been doing and will be doing for the rest of November and into December. I want to get in here and blog sometimes but with other stuff piling up, I just can't. Last night I actually got about 8 hours of sleep. That hasn't happened in a while. So once I have several cups of coffee I'll feel ready to take on the day.

This and that

Our street has been under construction for a while. Our half of the road is torn up now. We will finally be redoing our driveway in the next few weeks. We've been wanting to do that since we bought this house but have never been disciplined enough to save for it. We're going to be doubling it. This is a good time to do it because the price per square foot is less because of the whole street construction thing. As they're pouring the new road, they'll just take a little side trip and pour our new driveway. I've been thinking about getting out and taking some pictures of our street torn up. But who wants to see pictures of that? I've decided not to waste my time taking pictures of dirt and rubble. Maybe when the cement is wet we'll go out and put in our hand, foot, and butt prints. That might not be good for the resale value if ever we decide to sell. It will be nice to have a decent driveway and sidewalk. Since the duration of this road project we have realized that some of our neighbors are pretty much idiots.

I've been very busy lately with photography stuff. That's good and I'm glad but I feel like I'm working from the time I get up until I finally go to bed at 11:00 or 12:00. It's rare when I just sit down and do nothing anymore. I know after Christmas is over there will probably be a lull. Once I'm really in the groove with this thing and making some serious bank, I need to hire a house keeper...and a pool man.

Between Mikey and the dog, there is someone following me around and/or whining about something all day long. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Sometimes they sleep.

Jackson has renounced toast. He claims that he never liked toast in the first place. Mikey has been on a crash diet the last couple of weeks. He doesn't appear to be loosing any weight. I think he has a stash of cookies in his room somewhere. I need to look into that.

I've encountered some potential clients lately who are pretty flaky. I'm glad they're flaking out on the front end before I spend hours of my life on them. I much prefer to weed out the flakes prior to photographing them. Post photography flakiness is one of my many pet peeves.

Phillip and I are planning a weekend getaway to Houston in the middle of December. I would like to do three nights but I don't know if we can afford that or get our parents to commit to three days of childcare. I'm still working out the details on that one.

I've been working on this post on and off since 6:20. Now I need to get my self in gear and get us ready for our day.

Decision 2008

I am not big into politics. I fully admit my ignorance on many political issues. I fully admit that is irresponsible of me. I sat last night as Barack Obama was declared the 44th President of the United States. I don't fully grasp what his presidency means for America, let alone me as an individual. Even though I did not vote for him, I still feel guilty for my ignorance and apathy. Maybe that same ignorance is what voted him in. Many people voted with their hearts and not their heads. Many people voted with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside and remained uneducated about who and what they were voting for. I am including myself in this.

I think it is truly amazing, given our history, that America voted an African American man to be the President. I think that, in and of itself, shows that were are finally abandoning some of the horrible bigotry of our past. But the more I learn about this man, the more concerned I am becoming for this country. I know God is in control. I pray that he does not remove his hand from us.

Rock Star Babes, okay, maybe not

So, this is how my teaching partner, Holly and myself dressed for Halloween this morning at the preschool. Yeah, kind of scary, I know. I think we decided that our band name was "Hearts Aflame" or something lame like that. My name was Sasha. If you think this is scary, you should have seen two of the other 4 year old teachers. They were dressed like members of the band Kiss. Seriously. At a preschool. I kind of like being a blonde.

The Bridge

I'm a little late posting about this. Many of my other blogger friends have already told you about this.

Anyway, a group of amazing kids from Kenya came to Lake Jackson over the weekend. They are a group of orphans and vulnerable children who are sharing their love of God through song and dance. They are with a group call The Daraja Children's Choir. Daraja means bridge in Swahili. (I think it's Swahili...it's Swahili, right?) They came to our church and it was just incredible. There aren't words. Their joy is infectious. As I heard their stories and watched them sing and dance I just couldn't keep the tears from coming.

I had the honor of meeting three of the young ladies the day they came in at the Stunz's house. I went over with the boys for a little visit. The girls, Marci, Rahab, and Gladys loved playing with Mikey's floppy hair. They were really interested in knowing more about his adoption. They wanted to know what happened to his mother. They wanted to know when we would talk to him about being adopted. Hard questions. I didn't want to leave that night. Jackson didn't want to leave either. He asked me on the way out to the car if he could stay and spend the night. There's just something about being around these children that is just indescribable. You can just feel the presence of God when you are around them. It's like their love of God is not snuffed out by all of the other junk of life. I think in many of our lives, you can maybe see a glimmer of Jesus every now and then. With these kids it is just an ever present radiance that they carry. I want that. I don't know how to get that.

Randy spoke on Sunday about injustice. That is one passionate man! He spoke about the orphan and the widow and the hungry. How are we helping? We can't try to solve every bit of injustice, but we need to do something. And what am I doing? Just doing what I can to keep my own life rolling along most of the time. I have such a heart for kids, especially kids who are orphaned. I have an ache lately to adopt another child, maybe a little bit older child. I know adopting one child doesn't help the many and it doesn't really solve any global problem. But it does help the one. Adoption is rescue but it is so much more than that. Seeing these Kenyan children, many of whom are orphans, just made this desire to adopt again even stronger. Adopting from Kenya or any other country is not realistic for us at this point. There are many orphans right here in our county. There are orphans who nobody wants because of their age or race or abilities or past. They are unwanted because of the label put on them on paper. If we ever were to adopt again, Phillip and I would have to be unified in this desire. We're not there yet. We may never be there. Maybe I'm just living with my head in the clouds. Maybe it's not right for us right now. Maybe our family is complete. I'm not sure what our part is or how we should act. I guess we need to pray. We may not have a lot to give financially at this point in our lives. We do have abundant love to give. This is not meant to be a guilt trip aimed at Phillip or anyone unsure about adoption. It's just where my heart is right now. I don't know how to make it go away.

These children from Kenya touched so many while they were here. I think their presence here stirred something in everyone who encountered them. For me, they boosted my desire to adopt. For others, the desire is to give financially. Others will feel the need to go on an overseas mission trip. Many people are changed from meeting these kids. I hope we won't let it fade. I hope we will seize the desires put in our hearts and know how to make sense of them. I hope we will seek and find our individual ways to act.

I'm lazy at relationships

I'm kind of a passive friend at times. I'm one of those friends that you have to make an effort to be friends with. I'm sure at times it's not worth it and I totally understand. I'm not good at remembering birthdays, inviting people over, or needing to hang out regularly. If I've got two or three people I'm deeply connected with, that's great. I don't feel the need to have a huge circle of friends. But I do have a lot of friends who I really don't stay in contact with all that much. These are people that I genuinely love and miss being around. It just seems that there aren't enough hours in the day to actively pursue deep friendships and I'm just simply not interested in the surface level stuff. And so that's partly why I blog. I know that I can sit down in about 10 minutes and tell all that's going on in my life and whoever wants to read it, can. Then hopefully I won't have to tell everyone who cares about what's going on because they'll already know. Saves time. So occasionally I come across a friend or family member who asks me how I've been and what's been going on. My first thought is to tell them to read my blog. And I get annoyed that they don't read it. If they had a blog, I would add it to my feed reader and read every new post. I want to say, "Well, if you actually care what's going on, then read my blog." That's very lazy of me. So if I've ever said this to you, I'm sorry. I take for granted that other people aren't wired the way that I am. Some people need to sit down and have conversations over coffee or whatever. And I like that too I just don't have time to sit down with everyone regularly. I'm cool with writing about my life and reading about yours and hoping that will keep us connected on some level. That's probably not the way to try to have relationships with people.

Jackson unleashed

Jackson now has his own computer. He has my hand me down imac. Now that he has his own computer, he has decided to start his own blog. He made his first post a little while ago. What you see on his blog is dictated by him and typed by me or Phillip. We will try to get him to post several times a week. Should be interesting. We will pretty much type exactly what he says. He has a poll on there right now for you to take a look at.

We're thinking it wold be best to prompt him with questions about stuff from time to time. So if you have any questions that you would like answered by Jackson, post your question in his comments section. It will have to be stuff on a six year old level and you should expect a six year old answer. We'll probably get him to define words occasionally or tell a story or just different stuff. So if you have any ideas, just let him know. Just keep it clean and keep it on his level. He's pretty bright but he's a first grader.

24" imac

I just got a new computer. It's awesome. That is all.

Jackson: sensitive and demanding

A week or so ago I was looking at the pictures I took of the boys out at Varner Hogg. Jackson came in and wanted to look at the pictures too. We got to a few of Mikey. I said something like,"Aren't we so glad that we have a Mikey?" ....or something along those lines. Anyway, Jackson's eyes welled up with tears and he nodded. I asked him if he was crying and he said, "I just love Mikey so much and I'm glad he's here.".....or something along those lines. We both just sat there with tears in our eyes looking at pictures of two brothers put together by a God who knows exactly what he's doing.


Flip the coin over.


This morning I was asking Jackson what he wanted for breakfast. I gave him a couple of choices, one of which was pizza. I know, pizza for breakfast, what a way to start your day. Anyway, he said he wanted pizza. A little while later I started fixing their breakfast and I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing. I fixed him a waffle and told him to sit down and eat. He looked at his plate with a look of disgust and said, "I ordered pizza." A few minutes later after he started eating his "order" I heard him yell from the other room, "Where's my drink?!"

Now I lay me down to sleep

I found out about the non-profit organization NILMDTS or Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep today. I didn't know this kind of thing existed. This is an organization that pairs professional photographers with families who have just lost a baby or know that they will be loosing a baby soon. The photographer captures the moments that the family has with their little one in the hospital or in their home. It is totally voluntary and the photographer gives the family a CD of their images for free. When I found out about this I knew I had to try to volunteer. I filled out a request this afternoon to be a part of this. I got an approval e-mail a little while ago. Needless to say this would be extremely difficult for anyone to do. And I will be no exception. But I can't not do this. I know first hand how precious those moments are. I'm really glad I found out about this.

Made it through day one

Today was super easy at the preschool. I put a few pictures on my photoblog if you care to look. I'll be posting more tomorrow and the next day.

Busy few days

Today, Wednesday, and Thursday I will be taking school pictures for a preschool in Angleton. I got this gig from a photographer who used to live nearby but has since moved to the Houston area. It's a pretty big deal for me. I'll be photographing over 100 kids and the school staff. It will all be outdoors because I don't have (and don't want) a studio set up. I'm also offering some slots on Thursday afternoon/evening for people to come back for sibling or family shots. I sent home waivers for parents to sign so I'm hoping I'll have lots of new faces for my photo blog and website. I'm offering packages that they have *hopefully* preselected prior to seeing their picture. I'll snap a few of each kid and only edit my favorite and that will be their package picture. I thought about doing the proof thing and ordering after the fact but decided against it. I need this to go well. I'm a little worried because I'm coming down with a cold kind of thing and I'm loosing my voice again.

Next week I'm doing the same kind of thing at a daycare in L.J. That will be more kids in one day. I'm hoping to establish relationships with these two facilities so they will contact me in the future for their pictures. I'm also planning on sending out flyers to every preschool in L.J., Clute, and Freeport.

So I guess we'll see how it goes. I think I'll wear my lucky flip flops.

True Humanitarians

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought you might like to see it. I think you will be truly touched by their act of good will. These guys will grab your heart. I bet these boys are a handful.



So, yeah, not quite sure what to make of this. I will steer clear of boy scouts from now on.

Soon and very soon

My current computer needs to be replaced...bad. It was a great computer when we got it however many years ago. It's an imac of some sort. I'm not even going to attempt to tell you anything specific about it because I have no idea. All I know is that's it's barely able to function anymore. I've got a lot of stuff running on it. Photo editing takes me easily twice as long as it should because of this thing. The "spinning circle of death" is my worst enemy right now. So the plan is to replace this sucker some time in November or December. I'll be getting one of the new 13" macbooks and a new monitor. I'll also be getting the latest version of photoshop and aperture. I was really hoping to upgrade some of my camera equipment but the computer situation is more dire. I still might be able to upgrade the camera anyway. It just depends on how the next couple of months goes with the business. My current camera is fine but that doesn't make me want an upgrade any less. I've really never been much of an accumulator until this photography thing happened.

Jackson knows that when I get a new computer, this current computer will become his. For a 6 year old to have his own mac is pretty cool, I think. Once I get all my stuff off of it, Phillip's going to reformat it or something. I'm seriously totally inept when it comes to technical computer jargon....sorry Phillip. I told Jackson yesterday that I will be getting a new computer soon and he was pretty excited. He decided it would be an even better idea if he gets the new computer and I just keep using the one that I have. He says that he needs a laptop so he can take it with him wherever he goes. Dream on, kid. So we'll set him up with his own desk and stuff in the office. He will be able to go to http://www.hasbro.com/starwars to his heart's content. Actually, his internet time will be closely supervised and limited and all that unfun stuff.

I'm getting pretty busy lately. I've got the next seven Saturdays booked or partially booked and some other days sprinkled here and there. I'm afraid I'm going to get a Christmas rush soon and I'm hoping I don't have to turn people away. I guess that would be a nice problem to have. I've also got six wedding gigs between now and February. Only two of those weddings are actually my bookings. I'll be second shooting on the others for a local wedding photographer. That is a great way for me to get wedding experience without the pressure of perfection.

Mikey just woke up so that means my day has officially begun. It won't officially end until around 11:00 p.m. I better get started.

The dog needs a bath

Scott has probably gained about 8 lbs. since we got him. Every time Mikey is in his highchair Scott sits right there next to it waiting to gobble up anything Mikey drops or throws. The dog will eat pretty much anything. Since he does this he often gets food dropped or thrown on top of him. We have found taco meat stuck in his fur, chicken nugget pieces, bread.... He's got a glob of dried yogurt stuck in his fur right now. That happened yesterday and I haven't had a chance to bathe him yet. Scott is starting to get pretty fat. I used to take him on regular walks but since they've been working on our street I haven't been doing that. I don't want him tracking dirt and mud in the house. Once the street construction is done, Scott needs to start exercising and loose some of that gut.

I've got a hankering

BTW, I did not take this photograph. You can click on the picture to follow the link to this person's flickr page.

Canon AE-1
Originally uploaded by Jumbo Jack

I would like to get a film camera. I think it would be fun to play around with. I was watching Spiderman and Peter Parker was using a film camera. This is one that would be pretty cool. I just think it's cute and I'm sure it can take pretty good pictures if you know what you're doing. This particular Canon film camera does not use the same kind of lenses that I currently have. If I get a film camera, I'll most likely get one of the older model Canon EOS Elans or something.

The problem is that if I got one and took a roll of film with it, then I would have no idea what to actually do with the film. Processing film at our house is not really going to be a possibility. I guess it kind of defeats the purpose of having one of these if you can't process the film yourself. Can you still take film to Target?

I guess spending $200 on a toy isn't very practical. I guess I need to do some more research.

The one for the Christmas card

I guess it's nice to know that I have our Christmas card pictures out of the way. One less thing to worry about. This is the picture of them together. The only one.

Hintze boys fall '08 photo shoot attempt #2

I tried to take some pictures of Jackson and Mikey about a week ago. It did not work out. We tried again this morning and things went much better. Still certainly not the best shoot I've ever had but I'll take it. I think I got one useable picture of the two of them together. Jackson did not feel like cooperating and when he did bother to smile, he looked pretty geeky. And Mikey, well, he was just Mikey. All in all, it was good and I'm glad we gave it a try. Here's a very silly one of Jack. The more I look at it, the scarier it looks.



If you would like to see more, you can go to my photoblog.

To the Mall with Mikey

I went to the Mall this evening with Mikey for about an hour. One hour. I just had to get out of the house. I was feeling totally claustrophobic and tense. I don't really know why I thought going to the Mall with Mikey would ease that. Phillip stayed home and cleaned up the house. We went to the little kid play area. Here is what Mikey accomplished while we were there.

1. Sprinted out of the play area at least 15 times - He runs as fast as he can for as far as he can before I catch him.

2. Tackled another toddler

3. Stole lots of shoes and either ran away with them or threw them randomly

4. Ripped people's bags away from them and threw them

5. Stole a cell phone and ran away with it

6. Got plowed into about three times by very large children - When this happens he basically shakes it off, smiles, and runs away as fast as he can.

7. Stole an unattended drink cup and poured the ice out and proceeded to eat all the ice off of the floor until it was gone

Now keep in mind that I hardly sat down the whole time we were there. This didn't all happen under lackadaisical supervision. I was running all over the place to keep him from or stop him from doing all the things listed above. Now, as gross as it is, I let number 7 slide. Eating someone else's ice off the ground kept him busy enough to not do the other things on the list for about 12 minutes. I think one of these days I need to hire a videographer to follow me around. Someday I might think the whole thing is pretty funny. I don't think I'll try the Mall thing again solo. The problem is that Mikey really needs to get out of the house sometimes. He gets really antsy and bored here. But he's just next to impossible to take anywhere so I'm not quite sure what the answer is. I need to take him to a really big field that's several miles in ever direction and just let him run.

It's a good thing he's cute.

For You

I have to be honest, most of the school work that Jackson brings home ends up filed away in the trash can. I know that probably makes me a horrible mother and I'm okay with that. He brings home 5-10 papers every school day and I just don't know what else to do with them. But occasionally he makes something worth saving.



Look how lovely. In the first picture the man is saying "for you" and handing the other man something. It better not be a honeycrisp apple he's handing him. We don't share those with our friends. I'll have to ask Jackson about that. In the second picture the man is punching the other guy's lights out. I suppose those are tears. I'm really glad its tears and not blood.

The message here is "Give to others instead of punching them in the face." If only things were that simple.

Honeycrisp, The best apples on the planet

Honeycrisp apples are back in season. Maybe they have been for a little while but I just noticed. I noticed at H.E.B. last week after I had already checked out and was leaving the store. I considered, for a moment, grabbing them and getting back in line even though Mikey's head was spinning around. Instead I just grabbed a few and ran out of the store without paying. They're that good. I promise. They're worth risking jail time for. Actually, I got my first Honeycrisp apples this season yesterday at Kroger.

Debbie first told me about these apples a year or so ago. The way she was talking about them, it sounded like they were Eden's forbidden fruit or something. I was thinking, "Come on, they're just apples. How good can they possibly be?" Unbelievably good. That's how good.

If you would like to read about genetic fingerprinting and parentage of the Honeycrisp Apples, you can read that here.

And now I'm going to go have a nice breakfast of honeycrisp apple, strawberries, caramel rice cakes, and coffee. Yum.

Made of devil

Jackson has made a pretty good friend at school. They seem to have equal interest in video games and Star Wars. This kid told Jackson that he has a Wii and a Play Station 2 and that his mommy lets him play whenever he wants to. Jackson says that this kid's mommy always says "yes." Well, good for her. That should work out nicely for her.

Anyway, these two have been trying to get together to play video games after school and that hasn't materialized for obvious reasons. Like I don't know this kid's parents and they don't know us. Anyway, today Jackson told us that this kid told him that he actually doesn't have a video game system. Since all Jackson wants to talk about is video games, I guess this kid felt like he had to lie to find some common ground with Jackson. That's kind of sad. But the kicker is that not only did this kid say he had this stuff but doesn't, he also said today that "video games are made of devil." Not of the Devil. But made of devil. So, devil is now an adjective? So, I'm not exactly sure where this leaves their friendship. It seems that this would be a deal breaker for Jackson. Jackson was quick to tell him that video games are not made of devil. You know this kid didn't make this up on his own. This is probably something one of his parents said, which further confirms that Jackson will not be going to their house. As much as Jackson talks about video games, you might think it is all he does when he's at home. He actually only gets to play on Mon, Wed, and Sat for 30 minutes. Occasionally, if friends come over or if he goes to a friend's house he is able to play on a non "video game day."

So, devil has apparently made its way into our home via video games. That stinks.

Toddler

Mikey has now moved from the crib to a toddler bed. I know Phillip thought I was nuts for even thinking about trying to transition him out of his crib yet. I kind of thought I was nuts too but much to our surprise, it's working out great. We just gate him in his room and tell him to go to sleep. After about 30 seconds or so of crying at the gate and then another 15-20 minutes of goofing off in his room, he gets in his bed and goes to sleep. Not too bad. This kid has always slept and ate really well.

Mikey now signs "I love you" when he feels like it. Like everything that he does, he must be in the mood and it must be on his terms. He has mood swings like you would not believe. One minute he can be throwing a huge fit and 10 seconds later he can be laughing and playing. Phillip mentioned that he had a really moody co-worker one time who took some herb to help stabilize his mood. Now I forgot what it was. Maybe I need to get some of whatever it is for Mikey and myself. We're both quite moody.

Just in case you didn't know this by now, Mikey is one of those so called "strong-willed children." My friend, Erin gave me three books to maybe help me have a little insight into how to handle him. I told Jackson that these books might help me learn how to be a better mommy to Mikey. I also tried to explain to Jackson what it means to be strong-willed. Jackson has asked me several times if I have figured anything out yet. All I have figured out so far is that the people who wrote these books are describing Mikey to a T. Yesterday Jackson called Mikey "Strong-willed Mikey." So the challenge will be to form his will without breaking his spirit or something like that. Honestly, sometimes I would settle for breaking his spirit if I could. I hope whatever teachers he's going to have in his life are going to ready for him. It's so funny that I thought Jackson was so obedient because of my wonderful parenting skills. That's just his nature. You could say that Mikey's nature is quite different.

Phillip and I are amazed at the extremes that are in Mikey. He is one of the most beautiful children we have ever seen. And that is balanced out with being one of the most challenging children we have ever encountered. As a photographer, I love having this beautiful little "subject" always around for me to photograph. But taking a good picture of Mikey is like taking a good picture of Big Foot.

Out takes

After photographing those beautiful little girls on Thursday morning I decided to try to get a few shots of my boys together. I thought it would be so nice to have some cute shots of the boys together in their geeky little clothes. What was I thinking?! We were there for about five minutes before Mikey threw himself backwards onto the gravel kicking and screaming. I took 18 pictures before we called it quits. With the girls we had a wonderful, relaxed 2 hour shoot. I took over 200 pictures and had a hard time narrowing it down. With my boys, 5 minutes, 18 not-to-pretty-good pictures. Here are the out takes. I only got out takes. The one of Jackson is cute but it's not really sharp enough and he's being cheesy. If I ever try this again I'll make sure they don't wear white socks.

Pants on fire

Jackson has been lying lately. And it's not even about anything important. He's just been lying about stupid little insignificant stuff. It's like he's testing the waters or something to see if he can get away with fooling me. So far, I've caught him many times.... probably every time. It helps that he's really bad at it. I can't believe my offspring is so bad at this art but I'm glad he is. I wish I could post a picture of his "lying face" so you all could recognize it if you see it. He won't make eye contact first of all, and he kind of shrugs his shoulders a little and twists his head all weird and opens his mouth funny. All of these things are subtle but they're there.

He told my mom some long drawn out story the other night about the four of us and Phillip's parents and brother flying to New York City. He totally had her going until he told her that the bottom of the plane opened up where lots of cars were being stored for people to drive away in. He even told her that we visited the Statue of Liberty and described to her what she looks like. Just now he lied to me about how many kit kats he ate yesterday. I put two in his lunch box and he told me that he just ate one. He won't be getting any kit kats in his lunch today because of it. I just want to say, "Come on, dude! If you're going to lie, make it worth it!!" Right now I'm working on catching him every time. I want him to be totally convinced that I can tell when he's lying. And I plan on taking away video game time or something else every time I catch him at it. I told him that God knows when he's lying and that I know when he's lying and that it really hurts our feelings. This wouldn't bother some kids but Jackson takes the feelings hurting business pretty seriously. I really want him to stop this before it becomes a habit.

So keep your eye out for the look I described. And call him on it. Remind him that he's really bad at lying and he should just give it up and move on to something he's better at.

Shawshank Redemption

Jackson told me on the way home from school that he and another little boy are "working on plans to escape from school and run to our house and play video games." I told him that he and his little friend can pretend and try to think of cool ways to escape but that they better not actually do it. I told him he would get in trouble if he ran away from school and he asked how much trouble. I guess I need to make sure he's not sneaking off with any kind of ropes or sharp objects in his backpack in the mornings.

Needless to say, he's still not a huge fan of school. He hasn't been crying lately so I guess we're making progress.

Jackson quote

Regarding his new game "The Force Unleashed" for Wii:

"I want to play as Darth Vader's apprentice and destroy Master Ron Cuta. He (Ron) is pretty skilled. I've played as him before on dual mode. That's the challenge I'm looking forward to." - Jackson Hintze

Just a thought

I woke up at 3:00 this morning with a crazy idea. I'm thinking I might audition for Brazosport Center Stages. I missed the audition for "Clue the Musical" by about a week. And I don't think they're having another musical until April. Knowing me, I'll think about this for a few days/weeks and then decide against it. But right now I'm thinking it might be something fun to try. I pretty much hate watching musicals but it could be fun to be one of the performers. And I basically have no fear on stage and I don't really mind looking like an idiot. So anyway, just thought I would share my crazy 3:00 a.m. idea.

Put it in your head

Phillip told me about some "worship video" this morning that's pretty insane. I had to look it up and see for myself and it is truly something to behold. I think the guy kind of looks and sounds like Jack Black except for his ridiculous hair-do. Okay, and what's the deal with the drummer's forehead? Is it just me or does it look like he has a huge bandage on his head? And the way the lead "singer" says "air" is hilarious. Messesah??? What the heck does that mean? Some of the people are really working themselves in to a holy frenzy. And some look like they feel like they should....idiots. Give him glory!!! We love the Lordy?? Praise him with your socks!!! (He didn't actually say that but I wish he had) Wow, I'm flabbergasted. Go ahead and and watch/listen to the whole 9 minute love-train wreck. Come on, you know you want to. I want you to have this song in your head all day too.

I know there will be some of you who will say that it doesn't matter how we worship just as long as we worship. I know there will be those that will say we shouldn't judge the songs or ways that people praise God. I hear you, I really do. But this kind of thing makes Christians look like complete idiots. Of course I can't (shouldn't) speculate what Jesus thinks about this whole thing. But I'm thinking he might be saying, "Dude, put your socks back on. Your feet reek."

Stressed

Okay, let me preface this by saying that we have power at our house. So all these gripes are being made in air conditioning. That may make some of my friends without power want to beat me over the head with a big stick. Some day (very soon I hope) your power will come back on and you'll be free to gripe about some things in air conditioning too. So, please forgive me.

This morning we had some kind of alarm clock malfunction (or mis-operation). We woke up at 7:40. I have to be at the preschool at 8:00 on Wednesday mornings. Jackson has to be at his school by 7:50. And Phillip was supposed to be at his school in Houston at 7:50 or something like that. Needless to say, I woke up and started totally freaking out! I basically just thew some clothes on and brushed my teeth and left. Jackson got up and dressed and Phillip took him to school crying. Jackson ate about half of a thrown together sandwich in the car. It was a pretty bad morning.

I was really stressed out about my pre-school stuff until my kids starting coming in. We have the absolutely best class of 4 year olds that could possibly exist. Each of these children is insanely well behaved and polite and ridiculously cute. I'm already falling in love with all of them and there are a few I want to bring home and keep. Thankfully they're wonderful because all of the planning involved for this class is really tough. I'm not much of a planner/organizer kind of person. I have had to step into that role this year and it is really stretching me. I wish I could just play with the kids, sing songs with them, and just love them for three hours but that's not what I'm getting paid to do. Since we missed almost 2 weeks with them we're having to redo our planning stuff and figure out how we're going to make up what we missed. The whole thing is just really stressful to me. I know it will come together eventually. I'm really glad I have this job to bring in a little extra income because......

Things are really slow with the photography business right now. I'm not sure when people are going to be concerned with getting pictures done in light of all the Hurricane Ike mess. I know people have much more important things to be concerned with right now. I'm really hoping things pick up as Christmas approaches.

Today I got home to realize that they have started tearing up the street right in front of our house. This is the side of the street that you could drive on before today. Yes, that means that there is a section of our street that is totally impassible. So now I can't go the wrong way that way anymore. But I'll have to go the wrong way to come home. Surprisingly, this actually makes me happy because mean old man across the street is going to have to drive the wrong way down the street too. I think I'm going to go out and yell at him the first time I see him doing it. Sweet justice. I've decided that if he comes out yelling at me and wagging his finger at me like I'm a dog again I'm going to walk over there and drop kick him. I could, you know.

Jackson hates school. He cries and begs us to let him stay home. I don't know what the deal is. He is not having trouble with the work at all. He's extremely bright and well behaved. His teacher seems very nice. I'm hoping he settles into his new routine in the next few weeks. It's breaking our hearts to have to take him to school crying. I didn't like school when I was little either. I remember the anxiety that I would feel to have to go. I just don't want him to have this dread in his life. He's too little to feel this way. We may look into home schooling him for 2nd grade. It's just so hard to know what the right thing is for him. He has always loved learning. He is very creative and articulate. I want to preserve that in him not squash it like a bug. Mikey also hates his "school." I'm considering pulling him out. I just don't think he's ready. His BACH therapist is going to observe him in his class next Tuesday so she can help me make a decision. We don't want to coddle our kids. We know that isn't going to help them in the long run. We also want them to feel secure and have a positive outlook. Being a parent is so hard.

Our elderly neighbor

Our street is currently under construction.  It's a good thing because it will be really nice to have new streets and sidewalks.  But right now it's a total mess.  Here's a picture taken from the street in front of our house.  This was after we got back from evacuating from Ike.  You can see the tree down in the last house on the right. The people on the torn up side park in the front yards of the non-torn up side. When they start on our side, we'll park in their front yard.



Anyway, just in the last week our old man neighbor across the street has apparently gotten a "bee in his bonnet." Maybe he's just ticked off that he still doesn't power. The other day he chewed our friend Andrea for speeding down the street and driving the wrong direction. The speed limit is 20 and that's about as fast as you can possibly go without bottoming out in the many pot holes all over the place. Andrea was probably doing about 15 mph when he came out and started yelling at her. He has yelled to me and Phillip that he's written down our license plate numbers and is calling City Hall about us. Uh, City Hall? In my opinion he's just making a fool of himself standing out there in the yard watching people "break the law" all day. Seriously, get another hobby.

And lots of people go the wrong direction down the street. If you drive around Redwood, Ash, Hawthorn, Gardenia it's hard to know which way to go. The streets are torn up all over the place and there are crews working here and there too. In order to go the "right" direction we would have to make a ridiculous detour that would take us several minutes out of our way. Our house is about 8 houses in on the right. So when we need to head out toward Plantation Dr. we almost always go the wrong way down the street. Is it legal? Probably not. Is it bothering anybody? Nobody except our old man across the street. When they first started tearing up our street I tried to go the "right" way several times and got down to the end and had to turn around anyway. So I finally just gave up and I go the "wrong" way. There have been a couple of times that another vehicle has been coming down our street the right way while I've been going the wrong way. So, I just pull over into someone's yard until they pass. We both give each other the knowing wave that says, "Yeah, this sucks but you gotta deal with it."

I'm not a total rule follower by nature, especially if the rules seem to serve no purpose. Is driving against traffic on a one lane street dangerous? Possibly under certain circumstances. Is is dangerous going 10 mph for a couple hundred yards? I really don't think so. Is it illegal? Yes. Is driving 55 mph in a 50 mph zone illegal? Yes. Do we all do it? Most likely.

I'm thinking about making a sign to stick in my front yard that says "Just ignore our old, crazy neighbor!"

I like sweet, cute, happy old people. I don't like the snappy, crotchety, crazy ones. Something tells me I might not turn into a sweet, cute, happy old lady. I guess if I'm snappy and mean I'll probably be too crazy to know.

We have the internet!!!

I think I'm actually more excited about having our internet back than getting our power back.  We got power Friday evening and we've been internet-less until this evening (Mon).  I had 96 e-mails!  That's insane!

We have power!

Our side of Redwood has power.  So it looks like tomorrow we'll be going home and getting our lives back to "normal" whatever that means.  

In other news, I might be photographing a birth tonight sometime.  I'm waiting by the phone to see if things progress fine without a c-section.  I would love to get into doing birth photography.  That would just be the coolest thing.  

Phillip will be out of school until Thursday.  I'm still not quite sure when Jackson will be back.  They're saying Tuesday, I think.  I guess we'll see.  I think Jack's elementary school is still without power.  

My screen on my Mac got dinged up during all of the moving around.  We were taking my computer and hard drive home along with some other things.  And the hard drive feel off the console in the truck and fell and hit my screen.  The computer is still useable but it's just got a little ding in it.   Just one more reason why I need a new computer.  

Some shots from around Lake Jackson, TX

I always feel like I have to apologize when I put crummy pictures on here. So, I'm sorry for the crumminess of these pictures. There you go.

Here are a few post Hurricane Ike pictures from around town.  The first picture is of our fallen tree limb in the back yard.  Missed the house by a few inches.

This house is at the corner of Narcissus and Ash. Not good. I feel pretty bad for these folks.


This is the side of our church's Youth Guy's house. Looks like it went through the side and maybe a little bit of the roof. Hard to tell.


This is a house down the street from us on Redwood. Thankfully the tree fell away from their house and didn't hit anything other than ground.


These next two are from the front of the Willson's house. Their big tree is just everywhere. But it seems to have pretty much missed the house. I was trying to get some pictures of their yard and all I got is tree. It looks like the tree just exploded. Crazy.

As you can see, there's a lot of tree damage.  There are still many people without power and who knows when that will be completely restored.  Just from the little bit of driving around I've done, it looks like most people's houses look okay.  There are lots of wooden fences down all over the place.  And there are traffic lights hanging all weird and out of whack.  We feel very fortunate that our house made it though without any damage.  Sometimes I really wonder why we live on the Gulf Coast.  I can't imagine living anywhere else.  

We are home...sort of

This will be quite short and sweet. We got back into town this evening. The power is up at Phillip's parent'shouse in Clute. The power is still out in our neighborhood. We checked on our house and everything appears to be fine. It's pretty stinky so tomorrow we'll need to go open windows and light some candles. There's a huge limb down in our back yard that missed the house by inches. That's pretty much it for now. Pictures tomorrow. I'm going to check on my mom's apartment and see is she has power.

"Camping" in Belton...Ike is a big fat jerk!

We have evacuated to Belton to wait out Hurricane Ike. We're hoping things are somehow going to be okay back at home. I don't have much time to type this up. Here are just a few snaps from today. Not much to look at, but it's something. The first is our home away from home. Hopefully our actual home is still there when we get back. And then just a few of the boys. See ya later.

Okay, I am officially weirded out!!

What should I be doing? I should be packing up our valuable, clothes, taping windows, packing bags, etc. What am I doing? I'm looking at pictures of ball jointed dolls, or b.j.d.s as they're called. I heard about bjds the other day on the radio. Kind of sounded weird so I decided to google it. They're some new doll craze that's sweeping the nation or something. B.J.D.s are just these incredible life like (odd looking) dolls. They also happen to be anatomically correct, which is just kind of gross. Here's a picture. I found lots of pictures of these doll naked and in very provocative positions. People are just sick and weird. So anyway, just in case you were wondering what B.J.D.s are, now you know. And if you are one of those fortunate people to have your own collection, just know that Jenny Hintze thinks you are a weirdo.

Evacuate

Well, it looks like we'll be heading out of here later today. I hate that we have to go but it just seems like the best thing for us to do. Jackson will be very excited when he wakes up to hear that the schools have closed and that we're going "camping." We plan on telling Jackson that this is an evacuation and we are not planning on having any fun. He can bring his favorite toys and video games but he will not be playing with them. We will not watch any movies or eat any hot dogs roasted over a fire. We will only sit around and look solemn. That's just the way it is. I don't think he'll buy it.

Just random stuff

The tooth is still there. It looks really gross. We've pretty much given up on pulling it out. Today we're out of cash so I haven't pushed the issue. He has already "earned" $3 from that tooth and it's not even out yet.

We've got two little boys who don't want to go to school. Mikey doesn't go to "real" school just mother's day out, but still. I'll be glad when they both adjust and stop all this crying business.

Tomorrow is going to be insane. I'm subbing at the preschool for the music teacher. And right after school we have CPR, which is always an awesome time! Then I have to get Jackson, go home, try to miraculously clean the house a little. Then the dog has to go to the vet at 5:00 for his shots. Don't know where dinner is going to fit in but I'm sure it will find a way.

This storm is threatening all of my awesome plans. I'm supposed to have two shoots this weekend if the storm doesn't ruin it. I've had to move/cancel two shoots already for weather stuff. And I had to postpone another one because the expectant mother ended up on bed rest (yuck!). Anyway, it's been kind of nice to have a little photography break but the break needs to be over. I hate my photo blog being stagnant. It really bothers me to not have new stuff on there. And Mikey and I have much needed haircuts scheduled for Friday. I had to cancel our previous appointments for a photo shoot that ended up being cancelled by bad weather. UGGGHHH!

If we have to evacuate without my father-in-law, that's not going to be fun. Evacuating is never fun, I guess. Donald is in Bulgaria until Sunday (I think). Our friend Roger might end up having to pull the folks' camper to Lake Belton for us since Donald won't be here to do it. Jackson thinks evacuating sounds like a blast. I think it sounds like a bummer. But if we have to do it, we'll just make the best of it and enjoy some time together. And Debbie's a really good cook. : )

Our street is all torn up right now. They're redoing all the streets and sidewalks in our neighborhood. It really needs to be done but it's a huge pain in the butt right now. Jackson is really mad at these guys for tearing up our road. I have told Jack numerous times that they are just doing their job and we should be glad we're getting new sidewalks. He just thinks they are being destructive. He says he wants to go out there and beat those guys up. Also, he apparently really likes the huge crack in our driveway and doesn't want those guys to fix that either. He said he's going to go stand on the crack so they can't destroy it. (Destroy a crack??!!) I guess if he handcuffs himself to our driveway in protest I might be kind enough to bring him water and a crust of bread.

I have a really great preschool class. I can't believe how amazing our kids are. Seriously. There are a couple of little boys who have really latched on to me. Kind of makes me want another little boy to call my own and drive me crazy. One of the little guys told me today that his allergies are "acting up." So funny.

I have the new camera bug again, but I don't currently have the funds to make it happen. If I'm able to double my equipment, Phillip and I could get into the wedding photography biz. Hopefully within the year that could be a reality.

It's 8:00 p.m. and I really want some coffee. I need to get some decaf for these occasions. I don't really want the caffeine. I'm just a total coffee junkie. I just love the feel of a curling up with a hot cup in my hands. I love the feel of the smoke in my face as I go to take the first few sips. Okay, gotta go make some coffee.

We are no good at pulling teeth

Jackson has a tooth that's ready to fall out. It's just dangling there. It's his first loose tooth. Tonight we finally convinced Jackson to let us pull it out. I told him I would pay him $1 in addition to what the "tooth fairy" would give him. He actually sat there and allowed us to try to get that darn tooth out and we could not get it out. Phillip and I both tried. Phillip even got out the needle nose pliers. And the tooth still hung on for dear life. I think the last plier attempt probably hurt. We finally gave up and gave him the dollar anyway for letting us try. I'm sure he will have awful nightmares because of the whole ordeal. Poor thing. I just don't think we're cut out for this whole parenting thing.

What a day! And it's only 1:30

Today was my first day teaching 4 year olds at a local preschool. Considering it was the first day, it went pretty well. We had one little guy who was pretty upset for the first half of the day. I have 10 boys and 6 girls. There's a TON of work involved in teaching preschool. I'm a little worried I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I've got a lot of balls to keep in the air and I just hope they don't all come tumbling down on top of me. (Okay, that's enough cheesy sayings). I got a fortune cookie several months ago that said, "As long as you don't take on anything new, you'll be fine." Well, I took on something new. So I guess we'll see how it goes.

Jackson had a really hard morning. They had to peel him off of me crying at the school this morning. It broke my heart. I wanted to just take him home and say "forget it!" But that's not possible. I'm hoping he calmed down quickly and had an okay day. Phillip and I really need to give him more one on one time when he's home. I wasn't crazy about going to school when I was his age either.

I have had coffee and two graham crackers today and I think I'm close to dying. So I guess I better go eat and maybe take a nap.

This morning

I made pigs in blankets this morning for breakfast. I just put some little cocktail weanies in crescent rolls. Nothing strange or unusual about that. Usually if I put anything in crescent rolls, I leave a couple plain for Jackson but I didn't today. Jackson's response to this was, "Mom, why'd you sneak weanies into these?" Okay, if I was going to sneak any kind of food into anything, I wouldn't be sneaking weanies.

Mikey starts preschool today, or mother's day out or whatever you want to call it. He will be going to his class on Tues/Thurs. I will be teaching 4s at the same school on MWF. In other words, he and I are going to have a lot more time apart. I hope he does okay with that. I'm sure I'll be just fine.

I got up at about 5:15 this morning to start the day. Not sure if that's going to be enough time to get it all done. I guess I should get my butt off of the computer.

Infrequent

My posts on this blog have become less and less frequent. So, this is one of those posts that isn't really a post because it's just a post to acknowledge what you already know, which is that I haven't been blogging lately. How's that for a horrible run on sentence? Alright, then. See ya.

New Website!

Here are a couple of screen shots of my new website.





I think I love it.

It was the 1st day of 1st grade

I can't believe he's in 1st grade. He used to be little enough for me to cradle in one arm. And now he's a 1st grader. I'm going to go pick him up now. I hope he has had a good time. And I hope I don't have to wait i line for eternity while Mikey screams his head off in the back seat. See ya.



Now, Billy Joe McGuffrey
was a really clumsy kid.
On the first day of first grade
I'll tell you what he did.
He tripped over a pencil box,
flew up in the air,
landed on a kangaroo
who pulled out all his hair!
He needed first aid in the first grade,
first aid in the first grade,
first aid in the first grade.
You could buy a zoo with all the doctor bills he paid.
-from the Veggie Tales movie about Jonah

Portrait of a Potato

I love Potato Heads. Whenever I see one we don't have, I can hardly resist buying it. We have "Darth Tater", "Spuderman", Easter Bunny Potato Head, Santa Potato Head, Halloween Potato Head, and just the basic run of the mill Potato Head. I think those are the only ones we have. I've seen the Indiana Jones Potato and I want to buy it but it's more expensive than the others because it has some sound effect thing. And we also "need" to get the Storm Trooper one. For some reason, we don't think to get them out and play with them all that often. But we are playing with them now. Or I was before I felt the need to come blog about it like the massive dork that I am.




In the course of taking these pictures, I misplaced my lens cap. This happens all the time. Anyway, I was telling Jackson that I needed to find it. And he said, "If you don't find it, will you get fired?" And I said, "Fired? I work for myself. Who do you think is going to fire me?" And he said, "I don't know, your judge." Strange, little clueless child.

Please your honor, I was only taking pictures of Potato Heads. It wasn't an intentional malicious act. I beg the mercy of the court. Found it, BTW.

I miss my small team group home

Our church small group has been on hiatus during the summer. I'm ready for us to get back to meeting every week. I need some adult interaction. I need another reason to be away from my children. I miss Tommy's teaching, Dedee's wild laughter, Andrea's reasoning skills, and Roger's ability to use South Texas slang at just the right moments. And the coffee is good too. I miss my group home.

A dream....or a nightmare

I had a dream last night that we got another baby. Actually we got another toddler, which is kind of worse than a baby. The dream seemed very real. A CPS worker brought a 12 months old little boy to our house and left. His bio-mom had already signed relinquishment papers so it was pretty much a done deal. In the dream I immediately started taking pictures of this kid and e-mailing them out to everybody on the planet. I remember that unlike Mikey, this kid was very calm and easy to handle. And that's pretty much all I remember about it.

So for those of you wackos who think this is some kind of sign or something, it's only a sign that I've got to be nuts to even dream such a thing. I think I dreamed this because Mikey is like having two toddlers at one time. And now that Phillip has gone back to work, I'm handling him by myself during the day.

It's kind of funny because I've told Phillip a couple of times that I think I want another one. And he makes a face that pretty much says, "That's ridiculous and NOT going to happen." Can't show you the face on my blog. I pretty much told him that there's not a kid on the planet that could give us more of a run for our money than Mikey. Any other kids that we get would be a walk in the park.

On a somewhat related side note, Mikey is a hilarious, crazy, blast to have in this house. And I can't even remember our life without him. I'm sure it was much calmer and quieter. It was also more empty and not nearly as fun.

Jackson's business cards

I ordered Jackson some "play date" cards. They're pretty cute. He handed out about 7 or so at church on Sunday. I think I'm going to make him start carrying them around wherever we go. Do I want these people to actually call me about scheduling a play date? No, not really. But my photography web address is on the back. Am I using my child to promote my business? Heck yes, I am.

Things, they are a changin'

Phillip and I are in the process of giving J.Hintze Photography a total makeover. And I'm so exciting!! (That's how Jack used to say it when he was still little and less of a smart allelic). I'm not sure when we'll have everything ready to launch. We're hoping in September or October some time. There will be new products, new logo, new web site, new pictures, etc. Going to be sweet.

Question: Do you think there's a market here for Gina Alexander purses? I'm not into purses or trendy stuff, really. So it's hard for me to know. I could be a rep for them but they require a minimum monthly order that I'm just not sure I can meet. Just wondering.

Facebook Flair

Here are a few pieces of facebook flair that I have made. There's more but this is all I feel like posting now. And I made the previously posted my kids are cuter....and my husband is cuter.....flair. I'm getting to be kind of a flair addict. The dyscalculia one looks pretty terrible.

My boy and my dog

Jackson actually wanted to walk the dog this evening and play with him a little. This is kind of unusual. We (I) thought Jackson would like having a dog. He doesn't really mind having a dog but he's just pretty indifferent. Phillip and Jackson just kind of live around Scott. Mikey torments him because he thinks its funny when Scott growls at him. And I pretty much do all the dog owner things. Anyway, here are some pictures of my dog. And Jack.

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire

I'm reading Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. This guy is the pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle Church. I'm not quite done with it, but so far this book is just filled with unbelievable stories about the power of prayer. Their prayer meetings are the anchor of this church. There's one part that particularly struck me as amazing. Kenneth Ware is one of their associate pastors.

"Then he (Kenneth Ware) organized a Prayer Band - a group of people committed to calling on the Lord at church on a continuing schedule. Soon the members of the Prayer Band were praying five nights a week, from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Today they are in the church seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, praying in three-hour shifts or longer. Every request we receive is written on a little card and lifted to the Lord for the next thirty days." p.99

Wow, that's just amazing to me. If you haven't read this book, you really should.

Lightsabers for Jesus

Check out this cool door hanger that Jackson made. Isn't it inspiring? I think the message is "share your lightsabers for Jesus" but I'm not sure.