The new playroom slash MAN Cave…

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The new playroom slash MAN room, originally uploaded by island artist.

For those of you who are a bit curious (and those of you who aren’t), this is a photo of the new playroom!  I don’t have a lens wide enough to get a full view but this will have to do for now.  Ken worked his fingers to the bone to get it down before the kids and I got home from our Alberta trip.  It’s totally awesome in there and I’ve been enjoying it.  We bought a little ‘personal’ space heater for the space which keeps it so nice and toasty- I could just curl up on that couch and spend my whole day in there.  The room is about 10′x10′ in size with a 32" tv that Ken picked up for 25$.  We’ve got cable, dvd player and the Xbox in there- what more could you ever want?? 
I added a table lamp in there today that we had kicking around and all we need is a small side table to put it on and I think it will b e perfect in there.  Maybe some art to hang on the walls too- but there’s no rush for that.  I will still need to paint the moulding before I start painting artwork… I better not get ahead of myself!
Anyway, the kids can hole up in there and play and you don’t even hear them!  It’s what I refer to as HEAVENLY.

Once again I’m in awe of my husband to worked really hard until the job was done.  Have I mentioned how awesome he is??
Thanks Ken, I love you. A Lot.

~jen

Faiku Hiday

Tis the season for
all things pumpkin and spices
Getting my bake on

What exactly is going on in my hood??

let’s see, since I last blogged we’ve been busy! We’ve had a play date, the first one with a new school friend. The mom was great, she made fresh cinnimon buns, cheese pizza, veggie trays for the kids and coffee for her and I. All that AND she has a 2 month old baby along with a 2 year old and her older sister. Amazing.  I plan on inviting them over for an afternoon, but If I plan on keeping up with her, I better start planning now.

Nolan got his first shiner.  Paige dropped a large plastic ‘Kermit the frog’ piggy bank on his face and it landed on his cheekbone right underneath his eye.  Over the last week we’ve watched it turn all the colours of the rainbow.  The looks from other parents has also been interesting, looks that are begging for an explanation.   Of course, I always provide one… but one of these times I’m going to say something like, “I told him to stop making so much racket while CSI was on…”
Every night when I have to put the kids to bed for the sake of expediency I lay down with the kids in my bed.  The lights are turned off and we sing a couple songs and then go to sleep.  Before we actually close our eyes I always say “Goodnight, Sleep tight, don’t let the Bed Bugs bite!” and paige will reply the same to me.  Then one night Nolan said “Good night Mom, don’t get Bug bites!”  and he stuttered and stammered and said it over a few times because he knew it wasn’t coming out quite right but I thought it was the cutest thing ever.  He also told me ‘Don’t come get me, Stay at home Mom.’ as we were walking him to preschool.  He absolutely loves it there and fits in like a pea in a pod.  It’s wonderful to watch.  We’ve also finally got him to leave the building without having to be slung over my shoulder kicking and screaming which is also nice.   Now we just need to get that whole potty thing out of the way… any tips?

Paige has started what while probably be her last level of early swimming.  Called Water Whales, she will now learn to swim laps!  She loves it, first of all because she loves swimming, second of all she loves the new bathing suit I had to buy her (long story) and Nolan can’t see why she gets to go in the pool and he can’t so next time we all will go in the water.  Oh yippee.
Kindergarten is going well.  This week was parent/teacher conference week so Kinder classes have only been an hour and a half long.  It’s ridiculous!  Today, after returning from walking Paige to school,  I chatted with my neighbor for a while, climbed into the truck and drove for a coffee with Nolan.  We then parked in the school parking lot for 30 minutes and waiting for our time to pick up Paige.  I had a chuckle when i saw a couple other moms ALSO sitting in their cars with coffee.  After going for my one hour to see what Paige’s learning at school I was quite impressed with her skills.  I did see a little bit of her having a hard time focusing at first but soon she was showing off with pride.   During our playdate, I noticed Paige and her friend playing using most of the french words they learned at school (colours and numbers)- I was impressed!

Anyway- enough of this brag book- but I wanted to blog about this stuff for my own recollection if nothing else.

In my own personal business, I just did a mini photo session with my neighbors.  I wasn’t too impressed with the results so I’m not going to charge her anything and offer to do it again at a later date.  What are friends for right?  Also I was flagged down at my Gym by a woman whom I did photos for LAST year at this time!  I don’t know how she recognized me, but she did stare at me for about 10 minutes while I was on the recumbent bike.  She got me paranoid that I had a nasty case of body odor!!  I’m excited about this shoot, because the woman has a BEAUTIFUL home and she wants to do it in her home, her kids will be another year older and easier to corral, not to mention this year I’m using my new camera that can handle low light and not my ultra zoom point and shoot.   It’s going to be good, I’m excited.  Now I definitely need to get my but in gear and design my new business cards tonight.  No more fooling around!

 Okay, off i go but Check the blog out this friday for this weeks Haiku, I just love doing it.

Take care all,
~jen

Blogged with Flock

Haiku! Bless You!

Coffee is my drink
of choice because it’s tasty
do you not agree?

It’s 4 O’clock (in the morning) and all is well!

Well hello out there… long time no blog!  I have been on the computer a lot and commenting on most of the blogs out there so I’m not completely MIA.  The reason is that I’ve been so busy WORKING!  I have had my first two photo shoot under my business name of ‘Jen’s Lens’!!  They happened to both be on the same day as well so I’ve been bustin’ my butt to get all of the photos edited and have them ready for the customers this week.  I would have been done tonight except I fell asleep with the kids at an early hour. 
I really needed it because I’ve been having a lot of late nights (working) and then early mornings (kindergarten) and naps are a lot harder to come by these days. 
One of the jobs was to take photos of a 2 year old- which was fun but very trying (as two year olds tend to be) and the second was a teenager/aspiring actor who needed up-to-date head shots.  I’ve posted a couple samples in my blog- both shoots were very fun and exhiliarating.  I can’t wait to do more.

On the home front, Ken is away for the week and is extrememly missed.  While driving in the Santa Fe the other day Paige yelled at me to turn up the radio.  The song ‘Far Away’ by Nickleback was on and she said it reminded her of her dad because he always plays it in his car…  so I turned it up.  Then I started listening to the lyrics and got all misty!!  I’m such a sap!
Paige is really enjoying school and is frustrated that her Kindergarten half days are so short.  I’m right along with her on that one.  She’s been letting me do her hair lately which is nice, and after a stern talking to- is only changing ONCE in the morning (instead of 4 costume changes before we leave for school).   Suzanne taught her how to tie a bow the other day, in about 30 seconds!!  I coudln’t believe it.  She brought home the test cardboard and practiced all night.  I have the video clip on facebook and as soon as I figure out how to get it to show here (may have to upload to youtube) I’ll post it.

Nolan has been a little two year old machine.  He plays with his cars and trucks constantly.  Loves to eat yogurt on my couch and get it ON my couch.  He plays Starfall any chance he can get and LOVEs it.  He met a new friend that lives across the street named ‘Cody’ and it melts my heart to watch them play together and hear Nolan talk about him with such affection.  Cody only lives with his mom part time so we don’t see him very often, that doesn’t stop Nolan from talking about him though!  Potty training has gone backwards.  He doesn’t want to have anything to do with it so I’m not forcing the issue.  Which sucks because he’s starting nursery school tomorrow (today actually)- two days a week!  He’s pretty excited about that even though it didn’t work as incentive for potty training.  So, two mornings a week for a couple hours I’ll be completely child free.  How exciting is that??!?!? VERY exciting.

I know that there have been a lot more things going on and if I was blogging regularly I’d have documented it.  I’ll keep trying! 
Post a comment, if only so that I have an easy link to get to your blog and comment, which is all I ever have time to do these days!

Hugs to all,
~jen

Having a Haiku friday.

My little baby
growing big like a weed sprout
tears are happiness

The terrible twos
a force to be reckoned with
rotten toddler

incase you couldn’t tell the first one is about Paige and the second is about Nolan.

Introducing our family’s newest addition…

My new Canon 30D.

We have spent the last few hours getting to know each other and there is still so much to know!!  I am excited though, the photos that I’ve managed to take so far are head and shoulders above anything I’m used to capturing.  What a thrill. 

I haven’t had a chance to upload anything to flickr yet (except this one that Suz took and this one I snapped right out of the box)- I only JUST managed to figure out how to get the photos off the camera and on to my computer… progress!

It’s the start of a new photographic era for me- the Canon Era! 

Are you as excited as I am???

Bearing Gifts.

I just got my parcel in the mail from this patch swap.  I am so lucky!  It contained a Gorgeous embroidered Pink Squirrel from Cathy and a very intricate blue bird from Kristin.  Last but certainly not least, Faun included some iron on patches featuring her artwork.  All together it made for quite an impressive package. 
Like a dorkus, I forgot to write my name on the fancy envelopes I put my patches into… so one recipient has had to do a little ‘Nancy Drewing’ to find me.  Oops!  I’m glad to know that they will be going to homes that appreciate them.  And now I wish I’d done a better job…

My success is on the horizon

It’s official.  As of yesterday at noon I had my first two clients!  One of the customers just shot a wedding and needs someone with ‘mad skillz’ to edit a bucket load of her photos because she just doesn’t have time.  After this is taken care of, she wants me to sit down and teach her how to use Photo shop Elements.  This is right up my alley, and more than do-able.  The second Lady saw my ad posted at the gym and wants me to come to her house to take photos of her three kids.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little nervous about my first actual photography job.  BUT, the customer has seen my work (on the poster ad) and they liked it so there is nothing to be nervous about.  This whole nervousness thing is just a little thing I’ve become so good at doing over the last 32 years that it’s a hard habit to break.  In my new frame of mind, I keep talking to myself positively, seeing- in my mind’s eye- everything work out according to plan and me glowing in my success.   

Like my neighbour Laurie says, "I’m going to be a busy lady."

I still have so many things to do- wedding invites for my brother, brochure for Laurie, upload many photos and videos so family can see them…. wow.  This is going to require that I buy a NEW daytimer if only for the bigger writing space.

later gaters,
~jen

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…

No Dad, it didn’t snow.  I’m referring to all of the christmas standards that I just finished downloading.  Gawd, I love those old christmas standards.  Here are a few of the tunes you need to find:
Rudolf the red nosed Reindeer – Perry Como
Twas the night before Christmas- Perry Como (gotta be Mr. Como)
The Christmas song – Nat King Cole
Mele kalikimaka- Bing Crosby
White Christmas- Bing, again
Rockin’ around the Christmas tree- Peggy lee. 
That is just a sampling of my playlist… Pretty much anything by Perry Como or Bing Crosby is where it’s at.  This music sends me back to when I was a young kid and the excitement I felt around the holidays.  I still feel the cold air on my face, and my snot freeze on my cheek when I hear this music… okay, maybe not the snot, but
you get the idea.