2-Week To Do List 04/22/2012

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks.  I hope to get my guest bathroom pictures posted on here this week, but I'm not going to hold my breath!  I would like to get the picture/canvas I'm going to paint done first - haha, silly thought.


Monday 4/23 - have a client coming over after work to determine her print order and design a storyboard of her son

Tuesday 4/24 - Brittany's school play at 7pm which gives me just enough time to get home, grab my camera and pick up Dad & Johnathon.  Won't be home until around 9pm so I doubt I get much accomplished at home, may throw the clothes already in the washer into the dryer.  Have to edit one picture for a client - a special request.

Wednesday 4/25 - I need to go in early, early, early to prep for Thursday's meeting, baseball game after work, order pictures for a client when I get home from the game

Thursday 4/26 - get to work in the early, early am hours again, Board Meeting that afternoon (boo - hiss), baseball game after work

Friday 4/27 - Johnathon has a baseball game after work (away game, doubt I'll go - don't tell), design & order a storyboard for a client, most likely have another order or two to place

Saturday 4/28 - cheerleading competition at 10am, lunch with Martin's at the parents house afterwards - hope to get to take a few pictures with the Martin's, grand opening of Stark's Fitness Center in Benton - make appearance & finish registration (I'm joining a gym!!), Spring Gathering in Marion (kind of a big rummage sale of antiques & 'junk') that I have to be at it before it ends at 3pm, 2-year old photo session in the early evening

Sunday 4/29 - two photo sessions - toddler & high school senior, finish up a wedding decorating quote, edit a photo session, maybe clean my house a little?? maybe

Monday 4/30 - end of the month at work (involves a lot of work for accounting), work on assemblying wedding invites I designed

Tuesday 5/1 - first of the month at work (first day of the month means even more work for accounting), spring band concert at SV High.

Wednesday 5/2 - quarterly financial meeting in St. Louis with the banker, lecture that evening on lighting for photography (this is a fun thing for me), spending the night in STL

Thursday 5/3 - on-hands seminar in St. Louis on photography lighting at a local studio!!  I'm really excited about this, it'll be the first training I've ever had on photography.  Johnathon has a game in the afternoon, doubt I make it back in time.

Friday 5/4 - Johnathon has a baseball game after work, finish all the wedding invites after the game (150 with rsvp to make, easy peasy)

Saturday 5/5 - something is going on this morning but I can't remember what right now, deliver wedding invites to the bride, baseball game, Prom night at SV - I have multiple high school students to take pictures of in the late afternoon, and it's my BIRTHDAY!!! 

Sunday 5/6 - shooting an engagement session, edit a few pictures from the previous weekend

Monday 5/7 and Tuesday 5/8 - audit at work, oh the joy


And that's what my next two weeks involve!
I have all the supplies, tools to install my crown molding in my kitchen - now to find the time....

Random Facts

I get ear infections easily, a trait I think I inherited from my father.  Johnathon had two baseball games yesterday and the high temp while we sat there from 11am until almost 4pm was only 50 degrees with a strong northern breeze.  I didn't feel well when I get up yesterday and should have stayed home/inside, I woke up this morning with an nasty ear infection - YUCK.

Johnathon made Varsity baseball, we (Sesser-Valier) co-op with Waltonville in football and baseball.  They play football at SV and for baseball we're the Spartans.  Here are a few pics from this season, when Johnathon gets to play it's typically in center field.  He's gets to pinch run most games (he's fast and likes to steal bases).  He can throw the ball from dead center to home without the ball hoping, meaning no bounce before it gets to the catcher.  He's #27, this is his freshman year and he's a 1/2 an inch shy of 6 feet tall.  We're not sure he's actually hit his growth spurt yet either!

His batting has improved this year.  Pretty sure the major part of the problem he had batting last year was due to an incorrect prescription in his contacts.  Amazing when you can actually see the ball, you have a much better chance of hitting it!

If I'm flipping through channels and find the movie Armageddon is on, about 97 times out of a 100 I'll watch it.  I always cry at the end.  I know Bruce Willis is going to die, but I still cry. (oh, it was on today and of course I watched it)

I HATE folding white socks.  Let me repeat that, I HATE folding white socks.  They tend to sit in a pile on the couch for a few days before I fold them.

Finding men's jeans in 28x33 is darn near impossible - Johnathon needs to gain a little in the waist!

I made blueberry muffins for breakfast this morning and shared one with my puppy.

I order from Schwan's about once a month.  If you haven't tried the "Roasted Baby Bakers" give them a try next time you place your order.  They're probably one of my favorite side dishes from there.  They cook up in less than 20 minutes in the oven on aluminum foil so clean up is quick too.

I think that's enough randomness for one day.  Hope you have a great week!

A season ending

Anyone who knows me, knows that I spend a lot of time at sporting events. When I was younger I enjoyed participating and playing sports but I attend now to support & cheer for nephews and nieces.

Another season of school-fall baseball is nearing an end. The last home game was earlier this week, one of the fathers gathered all the 8th graders after the game for a group picture. This group of 7 boys have been playing sports together since they were old enough to play organized sports......flag football, summer baseball, basketball, school/fall baseball, track....you name it, if it's considered a 'sport' they'll play. While I'm looking forward to watching them play football, I can't believe they'll be in high school next year! Front Row - Luke, Kaleb, Nick

Back Row - Johnathon, Jacob, Zach, Steven

They won some and lost some this year, but supported each other no matter the outcome of the game - they really are a great bunch of kids. I think the fact that they all attend church has something to do with it, but that's just my opinion.

We only have two more regular season games (one tonight, one Monday) and then the regional playoff's. Good Luck on the rest of the season Boys!! Of course I'll see you in a few weeks on the basketball court......oh, basketball starts Saturday, Oct 23rd. I wish there was a way to attend basketball without having to sit on bleachers, those things kill me by the end of the season - I know I'm getting old.

If you like to see some of the pictures of Johnathon click the link below:

CLICK HERE!!

There are galleries of the other players also or you can click on an individual game and watch the progess of pictures from that game on a slide show (shorten version of the game!). I only have about 1 1/2 games posted so far but hope to have more done this weekend - we'll see how it goes. Check back often, as soon as I get the baseball ones done I'll start in on basketball......a BIG THANKS to the coach for allowing me to sit on the field during the home games!! It's great not having to shoot through the fence.

Special Fans!

Siblings........

As some you may know and many more of you don't......my nephew Johnathon has 6 siblings. He has one sister who is my brothers (Brittany) who of course we love dearly and see all the time. He also has 5 more siblings by his mother.

A little history - Johnathon has lived with my parents pretty much since he was born and after a small battle, obtained legal-temporary custody of him when he was around 5 years old.

In the mean time, his mother had many more children. While Johnathon was living in a safe, stable environment with my parents his siblings weren't as lucky and eventually DCFS stepped in and placed his sisters and brother in foster care. They were all adopted by their foster parents when his mother permanently lost custody. Johnathon was of course adopted by my parents.

Johnathon's situation with his mother was a little different than his younger siblings 1.) he was 'aware' of what was going on - even though he may not of completely understood everything 2)he wasn't removed by DCFS since he didn't live with her. He does continue to see her a couple times a year, usually for dinner with my parents present. His siblings though had a total break in contact and due to the nature of the situation, that also meant that Johnathon no longer got to see his siblings (we quickly found out that according to IL law, Johnathon had no visitation rights). He's never met his brother, he was taken when he was only a few hours old - we have yet to meet him but hope to some day.

All that history being said, the mother of the three oldest girls contacted us and decided to bring the girls to Johnathon's baseball game last night! We didn't tell Johnathon they were coming, he hasn't seen them in 3 1/2 years. The game was already under way when they got there......the only downfall to the night was the rain coming down which kept me from getting my camera out.

It was a very emotional reunion. Most of the parents in the stands and the coach had be informed of what was going to happen and I think most had tears running down their checks. The girls mother was a little apprehensive that the two younger ones wouldn't remember him, but the way they lit up when they saw him and clung to him the rest of the evening ended those doubts quickly.

After the game, Johnathon had the girls stand at the top of the bleachers and introduced them to the team - he was so excited for everyone to meet them. For the first time in a very long time, the Junior-High Baseball team BEAT Carterville.....it was believed by the team that his sisters brought them good luck and were made honorary mascots and asked to attend all the rest of the games!

They agreed to have dinner with us uptown, giving the separated siblings time to visit. We hope they'll get to see each other more frequently now and someday we'll get to meet his youngest sister and brother.

It wasn't raining in the Opera House so I got to take pictures..........introductions are now in order.

This is Shelby, she's got the thickest brown hair - cut in the cutest style. She giggled most of the night at anything Johnathon would say........

.......and this is Delany. She was the one most attached to Johnathon before their separation and was the one most attached to Johnathon last night - literally attached as in wouldn't let go of him. She's always had the sweetest personality, a trait that's only gotten stronger. She's such a pretty little girl, inside and out.......
........and Brooke, who has the biggest, prettiest brown eyes. Brooke is more quiet and reserved than her younger sisters. She's grown into a beautiful young girl. Brooke has the same thickness and natural curl/wave in her hair that Johnathon has.

We/I tried taking a picture of all four of them. They were all giddy though and had a hard time sitting still and Brooke kept closing her eyes every time the shutter would close.....oh well, still a cute picture.

Delany wouldn't let Johnathon get but maybe 12 inches from her.

Shelby liked "posing" for the camera.

Brooke was sitting next to me so I wasn't able to get as many pictures of her. She wasn't quite as camera happy as the other two either.
Delany took this picture of Johnathon (I let the girls take a few of the pictures)

They were having fun "playing" with Johnathon's hair - aggravating him was more like it! Johnathon is attempting to let his hair grown out, he wants a shaggy cut and to be able to flip his hair (basketball's coming up though so I'm thinking the growing out won't last much longer). Course I told him that when his hair is long enough for them to part it and play with it, it's time to get it cut!



This one loved the spaghetti at the Opera House.

I think the girls would have let me sit and take pictures of them for hours and Johnathon would have sat and visited with them as long as they'd have stayed there. Toward the end of the evening, Shelby announced "okay, I'm ready to go home with Johnathon now" and just looked at him and grinned.

We're very grateful to their mother for realizing that Johnathon was also a victim of the situation and agreed to allow their reunion. Johnathon was sooooo wound up when he got home last night, it took a long time for him to fall asleep last night.

Even though we had to sit under umbrella's and got a little wet watching as baseball game......SV beat Carterville and more importantly, a long awaited reunion took place.

It was one GREAT night!

Magazine Covers!

Katie's softball coach contacted me about creating magazine covers for the girls on her team (I'd been to several of the games and she knew I had pictures of all the girls). While making them for Katies team I also did one for Matthew.

You can see Katie's team HERE!

Summer Sports

It's official - I'm on vacation for a week! Unfortunately it's going to be a working vacation, good thing is that I'll be working on my house and editing pictures and working on my house some more and taking a few pictures and then working on my house!

We're within the final few days of regular season baseball/softball and then in a week the tournaments will start. Here are a few pics of the kids season (if you're friends with me on facebook you've probably already seen these. Sorry, haven't had time to edit any others so I'm posting the same ones).

A series of Johnathon hitting the ball.....rounding 1st......and 3rd base.....

.....HOMERUN!

Oh I forgot to mention the bases just happened to be loaded when he hit that ball in deep right field.....GRAND SLAM BABY!!!

Yah, he was a little excited along with the entire team who ran out of the dugout.

Katie hits the ball (and throws the batt - almost got an automatic out)....rounding 3rd base....

HOMERUN!!!! Running those bases wears you out!

Exciting game, can't you tell??.......safe at first......called safe at home by the umpire, aka her father, but in my personal opinion I think she was out.

Catching......

Short stop caught a pop fly to end the game with a WIN, just liked this picture with Katie (left #7) and Carlie and the coach celebrating her great catch!

Matthew 'cheesing' for me on first base right before the game started.

Matthews hits the ball deep in centerfield....rounding the bases

......Matthew hits a HOMERUN!!

Oops, missed that one....

Tagged out the runner.......and then in "deep thought"?

This one isn't related to me, just lives down the road though - he's one of the kids on Michaels team - Big D caught a pop fly/line drive quite by surprise.

......and this is what summer baseball is all about
Just look at the joy on Big D's face!

Number 7 [Sesser-Valier Baseball]

SV junior high boys baseball is under way. The season is going okay - we're 4 in 9 and have won the last two games! Below are a few quick pics that I took. Unfortunately the games are all at four o'clock and since I don't officially get off work until five, I don't get to attend many of the games.

You need to keep your eyes OPEN to see the ball Johnathon!

.....and somehow he caught it anyway
ready to bunt
....prepping to steal a base (batter hit a pop and both Johnathon and the batter were out - Johnathon didn't have time to go back and tag up since he was to second when it was caught)
Diving to catch a ball.
Look how happy he looks here.

Also notice the runner on the right, it was a force out - all he had to do was TAG the base but instead he threw it to first just a split second too late. In his defense, this was the first time he'd ever played third base - not that the rules are different from second to third base.

Needless to say, gum was ban during ballgames after these pictures were taken.

Oh yeah that's during the middle of the game when he blowing bubbles attempting to throw out the batter at first!

If you live in the area and want to catch a game, here is the schedule for the rest of the season (all of the games are at 4pm and home games are at the VFW):

8/31 (Mon) at Unity Point

9/2 (Wed) Home v. Johnston City

9/8 (Tue) Home v. Hamilton County

9/10 (Thur) at Carterville

9/14 (Mon) at Zeigler

9/16 (Wed) Home v. Christopher

9/21 (Mon) Home v. Benton