Lauren

I don’t know how I get so lucky, but every kid I shoot is ridiculously cute. I’m serious. Somehow my friends and clients have disproportionally beautiful children. Evidently, we have good water.

Last night I shot one of the cutest of the cute. I met Lauren’s mom, Toni through Alex’s soccer team. Since I’m not exactly watching Alex hammer one goal after another, I have plenty of time to talk with the other moms. I liked Toni right away, and got really excited when I noticed she had a camera nearly identical to mine.

I’m easily intimidated, so I don’t often come right out with the fact that I sort of know my way around a camera. For whatever reason, I took a chance and told Toni that I do children’s portraiture. It was largely for selfish reasons. I wanted to shoot her family. Believe me when I say this family looks like someone peeled them off the page of a Ralph Lauren ad. To top it off, they are incredibly nice.

Toni and I had plenty to talk about. We met for coffee to talk photography and decided we needed to take her oldest daughter Lauren and Meredith out for a tea party lunch. The girls had tons of fun pouring pink lemonade out of tiny teapots and even managed to eat their lunches. Toni mentioned needing some pictures for a project she’s working on with Lauren and I practically begged her to let me shoot some for her.

As luck would have it, this family lives in the same neighborhood as my in-laws. Alex and Grandma have tutoring sessions together once a week, and our timing was perfect. Meredith came with me so she could play with Lauren’s brothers. Our session literally lasted about ten minutes. Lauren is sooooo easy to shoot. I can’t wait to do a full length session with this family!

Brandon's chart

Meredith is the clown in our house. It’s no secret she likes an audience. I fear she comes by it genetically. Much like Brandon, Alex is quietly funny. He’s serious 90% of the time and then he’ll come up with something that has us rolling. Sometimes it’s intentional, and sometimes it isn’t. When it isn’t and we laugh, look out. Alex doesn’t like to be the butt of jokes or the center of attention.

I was bent over tying Alex’s shoes and he said, “Mom, did you know Dad has a chart of all his girlfriends? He keeps it in the basement.” I said, “Oh really?!” Alex could sense the paranoia in my voice and said, “Oh, don’t worry Mom, you’re on it. It says right on it, ‘Leslie Burgah.’ I found you right away.” I immediately knew he was talking about this:


I'm circled in bright green at the top, and I knew some of the other regular blog readers would want to see their velvet draped shoulders. It's too small for you to see, but trust me, we're all wearing pearls.

Welcome Baby Maria Rosalia!

The only picture I have of Jill C.'s new baby girl are on my phone and I'm not young enough to know how to make pictures jump from my phone to my blog. Also, my phone is from 1985, so it doesn't make things easy.

You can bet as soon as we meet Baby Maria, this blog will be loaded with pictures of her! This is Jill's first girl and I'm guessing she and Gaspare are already goners. She is gorgeous, even on my "Wall Street"-era phone.

Not surprisingly, Jill walked two miles on the treadmill in the morning, worked the lunch hour at their restaurant, and as Jill's mom told me, took off her apron, and said, "Let's go have this baby." Viola, no drugs and an hour later and Maria Rosalia was born. The little pumpkin weighed six pounds six ounces and is 20 inches long. I hear she has curly black hair, but it was covered by her newborn cap in the picture I have. I'm guessing she's really a blonde.

Congratulations Cucinellas! We can't wait to meet her and are thrilled for you to have a sweet baby girl in your house. By the way, Jill managed to have her children on October 10th, 16th, and 19th so she can forever do one big combined party. I wish she would come here and organize my life.

Jack Frost on the Pumpkin

This year's jack-o-lantern, featuring a monster Meredith thinks is Jack Frost.

I am kind of lazy about holidays. I love them, but I dread the work they involve. Brandon approaches holidays with gusto. He LOVES them. Every piece of them. Every holiday, except Valentine’s Day, interestingly enough.

Brandon is the reason we have seven trees at Christmas, Brandon is the reason each of the kids have more ornaments than some families. If it was up to me, I’d leave one tree decorated, put it on wheels, and store it in a closet until December.

If you don’t know us well, believe me when I say there’s more to come about our Christmas traditions over the next couple of months. Clark Griswald will drag out his giant ladder as soon as we’re home from vacation the first part of November. Trust me.

I’m getting waaaaaay ahead of myself. We have to get through Halloween first. It’s mainly up to me to decorate for Halloween. I took over after our first year of marriage when neighborhood kids were afraid to trick-or-treat at our house. My decorating consists of a couple of beaded pumpkins I bought on clearance, three plug in jack-o-lanterns on the stairs, and a tiny Happy Halloween sign on our mantel. My mother in law thinks I’m terrible. I should mention you can’t see her fireplace for the pumpkins, and I have an idea where Brandon got his holiday panache.

I do get excited about the doorstep. I bought a new Fall wreath this year, from Costco of course, the same place I bought our enormous mums. I also put out a few pumpkins. I wasn’t sure we’d carve a pumpkin this year since we’ll be away for Halloween. Wrong. I should know better. To be fair, I actually encouraged it because I was in the mood for roasted pumpkin seeds.

Again, if it were up to me, our jack-o-lantern would have a jagged smile with three teeth, and triangles for the nose and eyes. I would carve my geometry lesson and call it a day. Not Brandon. Here are some of his pumpkins from years past. See if you can tell which one was carved for me.

I’ve come to the realization there’s little to gain in arguing. I just go with the flow and try to appreciate Brandon’s enthusiasm until I get our electric bill in January.

Fall was late to the party.

We love tradition in our house. If we do something once to celebrate a season or a holiday, chances are we’ll do the same thing until we kick the bucket.

There are probably upwards of twenty five pumpkin patches and festivals within a thirty minute drive of our home. We still go to the same one we stumbled across when Alex was five months old. We wound up at this patch by accident. We were looking for a much larger farm/orchard and made a wrong turn. Tradition dictates we’ll never leave.

The patch now has a Pumpkin Festival that runs every weekend in October. There is a stage with a revolving group of bluegrass musicians, which I happen to LOVE. There are giant tricycles to ride, areas full of corn to scoop with Tonka trucks, hayrides, “cows” to “milk,” pumpkins to decorate, face painters…you get the idea. If it has to do with Fall in the Midwest--land of tradition-- they have it. Brandon would go solely for the fresh apple cinnamon donuts.

We look forward to the pumpkin patch all year, and I was afraid we might not make it this year. It was ridiculously hot the first part of the month, and the thought of the kids wearing shorts on the hayride made me itch. When I heard there was a possibility of frost this weekend, I knew we’d be set.
The kids ran from one thing to another and had a great time.

Meredith got really into decorating her pumpkin this year. She glued all kinds of stuff to it, brought the pumpkin home, and promptly picked off all the junk and left it on the kitchen table. Alex was in charge of steering us through the corn maze and let’s just say it’s a good thing Brandon was with us and really in charge. I can’t read a regular map, let alone one that involves corn cut in the shape of a cowboy.

Read my lipstick, which I rarely remember to wear.

If you live in Indiana, or live in a bordering state and share a media market with us; you probably know Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin was in town Friday. If you don’t live in Indiana or a neighboring state, but have a phone, I probably called you to tell you Sarah Palin was coming to Indiana.

I was pretty excited Friday. If I’m willing to wait in line with two kids for an hour and a half for a ticket, it has to be something special. Most people would probably do this for a special concert or maybe to see Oprah, but I am willing to do it out of political interest. See, I use my degree!

Megan and I started watching the news around 11:00 a.m. and calling each other every hour to map out an arrival/parking/meet up plan. The parking lots opened at 11:00, for the 5:30 p.m. event. The only other time that happens is when Jimmy comes to town. For the record, that parking lot is more fun. We decided there was no point in waiting in line all day, and would just try to squeeze in at a reasonable time.

Brandon was supposed to come with us, but started getting phone calls left and right about the time we needed to leave. I suspect his team members are Obama supporters. So, he stayed behind and my friend Marianne and I got into Verizon with little trouble and found Megan, her daughter Catey, and our friend Elisabeth (Colburn, not Hassleback).

Marianne, Elisabeth, and Megan

Sarah Palin started speaking right on time. It was really fun to see her walk out on stage. I know it’s ridiculous, but Megan and I both admitted our hair was standing on end. It was exciting to see her! For the record, the governor is in INCREDIBLE shape. Especially after having had a baby six months ago, and it being her fifth pregnancy! My other favorite Sara, Sara Alexander and I decided it must be because she’s too busy to eat.

Sarah Palin delivered a speech that the paper claimed lasted 30 minutes, but I swear it was closer to an hour. It was a speech meant to energize the base, and I hope it did. The kids who were there seemed to love it and punctuated everything she said with claps. I was sorry I didn’t bring our kids, but knew I would have spent half the speech taking someone to the bathroom six times.

Speaking of the crowd…That’s probably the first time I’ve ever been around 24,999 other Republicans. I’ve felt a little lonely this election, so it felt like Homecoming. The crowd was jovial, polite, and very courteous. Jimmy’s parking lot may be more fun, but Sarah’s was a lot easier to get out of at the end of the night. That probably has to do with the fact that they don’t sell margaritas and beer at Sarah Palin rallies.

I don’t know what will happen in two weeks. I know what the polls say, but I don’t make a habit of living by the polls. I’m sure I’m in for a couple of weeks of stress eating. Regardless of the outcome of the 2008 election, I don’t think I’ll forget the feeling of watching a woman I really admire speak to a cheering crowd of nearly 25,000; hoping with all my might I was watching the next Vice President of the United States.


"You have a choice between a politician who puts his faith in government and a leader who puts his faith in you." ~Governor Sarah Palin

Coming Soon! Palin Rally Redux!

I have eggs to scramble, but wanted to make sure you clicked on the video from the GREAT Sarah Palin rally I was so fortunate to attend yesterday! It's a little snippet that doesn't come close to showing the true experience, but you'll at least get a slight sense of what it was like.

The video is about three minutes long, but the young gentleman at the end named Cody is worth watching. He makes me want to write a BIG check to this campaign because I so believe Sarah Palin is the key to the future for kids with special needs.

Stay tuned for more later this weekend!

Blaming the government for my mess.

Most of my days begin with me telling myself that I have the whole day ahead of me and should be able to get a fair amount of cleaning done. Then, I check my e-mail and remember I’ve scheduled lunch with someone I worked with for three months in 1999. As I’m grabbing the cereal boxes out of the pantry, I glance at the calendar and remember I’m scheduled to deliver treats for Cafeteria Workers Appreciation Week. While driving to pick up treats for said week, I realize we’re almost out of gas, and Costco is much cheaper. I drive to Costco and realize I might as well run in and get dishwasher detergent. And on and on, my days go. Rarely do accomplish what I originally meant to do.

I try not to think about it, or I start to feel overwhelmed and like a total failure. Instead I choose to ignore the growing pile of laundry and toy-strewn bonus room and show up wherever it is I’ve committed myself to being. Yesterday afternoon something totally unexpected popped up and ate my entire day.

Sarah Palin’s coming to town; my disaster areas will have to wait! Evidently, word spread that Indiana will still be voting this year, and they’re finally sending in the big gun. As an added bonus, Governor Palin is speaking at a venue ten minutes from our house.

I was on a quest to get tickets the minute I heard about the appearance. I spent a good portion of my afternoon on the horn. After Alex got off the bus, we drove over to Republican headquarters to get in line. The line was the length of a strip mall and wrapped around a Kroger. We waited in line an hour and a half. The kids were really good and had fun chatting with an available audience. We snagged four tickets. It was a long wait, but totally worth it.

We made a promised stop by the Dairy Queen on the way home. When I realized the kids' sundaes would melt while we ate dinner, I let them eat dinner in reverse. They ate dessert first and actually went on to finish their meals. It pays to wait in line without incident in our house.

Today really is Cafeteria Worker Appreciation Day and I got a call at 7:00 a.m. that we’re also including recess monitors and I'm scrambling for extra treats. So my floors will be neglected again today while I deliver muffins and write Governor Palin’s name in glitter on poster board.

I miss sitcoms and news magazines

I’m going to have to stop watching TV. People sometimes ask me if I get lonely with Brandon traveling so much. I am pretty independent and even enjoy time alone, so it’s not really that big of a deal. I also have my television routines to keep me company. I watch a lot of TLC, The Learning Channel. I guess I love to learn. Who knew?!

Last night, I fell asleep to the show about the Duggar family. They’re the people with 17 kids and one on the way. I’m fascinated by other people’s lives in general and this family just has more people for me to study. I was watching their show, when a commercial for some weird medical show came on and showed a man known as “The Tree Man.”

This poor soul has some horrific disease that basically turned his body into something that looks exactly like a tree. DO NOT LOOK AT THIS LINK IF YOU ARE SQUIMISH! I couldn’t look and I couldn’t look away. It apparently made a big impact on me, because I worried about The Tree Man all night. I dreamt about him. I woke up at 4:42 am out of concern. I did a little research, and hooray some American doctor “cured” him with of all things, a huge dose of Vitamin A. Cured is a relative term, but the man looks a heck of a lot better. I hope I can get his bark covered appendages out of my mind. Seriously, he was ALL I could think about this morning. I thought I might finally be forced to get psychiatric help.

Just when I thought I could turn on my television again, I heard Oprah and Lisa Ling announcing that I need to know how the animals that become my food are treated. Really? I don’t need this.

Caramel apples in tank tops

As anyone with a phone line or within a ten mile radius of me knows, I’m sick of the heat. I love Fall, and I feel like we’re going to get cheated out of it this year. I sound like some sort of victim, but I have a feeling we’re going to go from 84 and sunny to 31 and slushy.

In my refusal to wear shorts to the pumpkin patch, we decided we would celebrate Fall this weekend, we would just do so in the air conditioning. GramPam sent the kids Halloween treat boxes and one of the treats was a caramel apple making kit. We tackled this project in our climate controlled kitchen and we were finished in 20 minutes. Next.

I mentioned something about going to Oliver Winery and the family latched onto the idea. So, Sunday we made our way south for a wine-soaked picnic. I can’t imagine anything more appropriate to do with small children on a Sunday. We visited their market and made a picnic out of cheese, fresh baguettes, and crackers. Brandon and I enjoyed a bottle of wine and the kids were thrilled to pick out their own fun drinks. 100% non-fermented fruit juice, lest you question my sanity.

For those of you living anywhere near Oliver, you really should make the trip. The leaves are all starting to turn and their grounds are indescribably beautiful. I just caught myself trying to describe the grounds and I really can’t. Just trust me. Load the kids into the van and make a day out of it. You might even be lucky enough to get a glorious Christmas card shot like this:

In a moment of insanity, we decided to drive on to Nashville, Indiana, Fall Tourist Trap Capitol of Indiana. Nashville is quaint; with little artist studios, stained-glass stores, and 57 fudge shops. It always sounds like a better idea than it turns out to be. It’s crowded, there are few parking places, and for extra fun there was some sort of Harley convention. We bought some fudge. I ducked into a couple of stores only to quickly decide I have no need for a “Welcome Friends” toaster cozy. We bought lemon shake-ups and then we left. Every time we go, I announce it’s my last visit. My latest boycott lasted six years.

Brandon and the kids enjoying our time in Nashville. Alex made the following observation while feasting on sugar, "So, uh, this place looks kind of old fashiony, huh? Is that on purpose, or is it just old?"

Happy Birthday Giuseppe!

Because I’m a loser and can’t seem to beat the mail lady to the punch, I failed to get our little friend Giuseppe’s birthday card in the mail. I called and left a voice mail telling him his card is on it’s way, but that’s a pretty lame thing to do to an eight year old boy. Especially a boy we happen to think is so great!

Giuseppe is Jill C.’s little guy, except he’s starting to be not so little anymore. I can’t believe this kid is eight. Giuseppe was the first baby out of all of our friends, so he was the Prince!

Right after he was born, Brandon and I went to visit the new family and Giuseppe was a little fussy. Jill was a brand new mom and really tired and I was so excited to help her in anyway I could. I was able to get this tiny little bundle to stop crying and I felt like a rock star. I paced and bounced and hummed some tune only a newborn would find comforting. He was clam, Jill was calm and all was well. Then, Brandon told me we had to leave. Things went down hill fast. Giuseppe started crying, Jill took over and refused to let me take her newborn son home, and I sobbed all the way to Interstate 70. I loved this little guy and I wanted to stay and help his mom, whom I’d already loved for years!

Jill and her wonderful husband, Gaspare have another son, who will get his own birthday shout out in a couple of days. The really exciting news around the Cucinella house is there will be a new baby GIRL to love in a matter of days. I am at a stage where I am 99.9% sure our family is complete, and I LOVE other people’s babies. I always loved them, but when you’re chasing your own preschooler and nursing an infant, you don’t get much time to sit and cuddle someone else’s little one. Oh, but my day (I guess it’s really Jill’s day) is near.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIUSEPPE! Auntie Leslie is really, really sorry, for the pathetic hand drawn birthday flair, but it’s the best she can do after a large caffeinated iced coffee. BTW, this picture doesn’t do this kid justice. He is GORGEOUS! This is also the example of a great school picture, that our family fails to live up to.

Why Alex will be sent to Barbazon

Remember the post when I mentioned I was not expecting much out of Alex’s school pictures? I mentioned he always looks really uncomfortable and how I’d coached him on a relaxed, natural smile. Well, the pictures came home last week…

While I’m not a fan of backgrounds, I also know they have their purpose, like for example, a school yearbook picture. So, it’s not that I’m opposed to a posed picture in front of a background. I just know how my son’s picture will turn out, even before he sits on the spinning stool. I opened the package and was instantly reminded why I normally order the bare minimum.

Now, Brandon gave me a really hard time and told me to stop snickering, rolling my eyes, and giving Alex the business for once again looking strange in a school picture. I didn’t behave badly in front of Alex, it was all behind his back, like a good mother. Brandon said, “You’re overreacting.” (I’m going to have a shirt made for Brandon that says just that, because it will save him the 2.5 words he says to me about most situations.) “It’s not that bad. He smiled. That’s his smile.” Hogwash, I’ve seen his cute little smooshed-cheeks smiles and they’re much cuter.

Brandon had a point, because the soccer pictures arrived this weekend…

My son, the mathlete

This little guy, while cute, doesn't like to read directions.

This little one doesn't want to be told "No." Ever.

I need to write this down somewhere…I did an hour and a half of math homework with Alex. I was able to answer all the questions without a struggle. Yes, I know it’s first grade math, but that’s where all my trouble with numbers began. Mad Minutes, be damned.

After what was a fairly relaxing day of a haircut (which is scary short) and lunch with my friend Rebecca, Alex came home with a folder full of worksheets that needed to be redone. An entire folder full. All math. In addition-- pardon the pun--to the sheets in need of retouching, Alex has a spelling test tomorrow and a “baggie book” he needs to be able to read fluently by morning.

I brought it on myself. I just told my friend Sommer today that Alex only has ten minutes of homework per night. In fairness to Alex’s teacher, he only had ten minutes of actual homework. The rest of the work was stuff we had to re-do because Alex apparently left the planet while the rest of the class read directions.

After all the homework, we flew out the door to Cub Scouts. We’re two weeks in and I’m hoping Alex doesn’t want to move beyond a Tiger Cub. We had the meeting at a park and the boys were as focused as cats. Meredith is unbelievably high maintenance at these meetings and I’m the only mom there. Highlight of my week. I’m just proud of myself for avoiding eye contact when they asked for a den leader.

You might think this kid is pointing to something related to nature. You would be wrong, he was pointing out where the snacks were. I'm not kidding.

High Maintenance Harriet, herself.

Does Jesus like Gymboree?

Is it strange to think God wanted me to shop today? Don’t e-mail me. I’m kidding. However, all the cards finally fell into place today and I found clothes for both kids. I’ve had a time of it lately. First, Alex’s pants were an issue and after I solved that, it seemed I couldn’t find anything cute for Meredith. Everything looked as though it had been a victim of a bedazzling.

I needed to exchange some leggings I bought for Meredith and when I walked into the store, they had started their promotion, for which I had a $25 credit, a day early. Not to mention the sales racks were heavy with Fall clothes. I wound up with five outfits for $90. And…I didn’t have to step foot inside the mall. And…Megan and Catey met me for coffee afterwards.

That was my second latte of the day because I also met my new friend Toni earlier to answer some photography questions for her. It was a pleasure to share what little I know. What do you know? There is still a little trainer left in me.

October crept up on me this year and I didn’t realize it was the 1st until I talked to Sara and she mentioned she and her husband Matt were going to spend their anniversary watching the Brewers game. I didn’t flip our calendar over and I totally forgot their anniversary! So, happy anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Alexander...