happy halloween

Winter in the Desert

The news said today's high was 68. My car this morning, said it was 78. I think it was wrong... but either way, I saw a dad walking his son in a stroller, both with beanies and hoods. Kids flooded into preschool wearing JEANS... like all the way to their ankles. (Except my daughter, of course, whose mother put her in a mini jean-skirt in spite of the weather report she saw on the news.) I went to Souplantation for lunch for a bon-voyage to a friend and ate enough to pack a little extra warmth on for the winter. And I can practically hear pots of homemade soup being made for dinner all across the valley....

It's here. Well at least 'till Saturday. When the weather guy said it'd be 89.

ps. the winds were so bad yesterday, I had to cancel my shoot with this cute little family that's been trying to book it for months. She texted me later to let me know three guys had been arrested like a BLOCK away from where we were going to meet, 30 minutes after we were meeting there, for firing rifles and handguns. Freaky right?

Live Oak Pumpkin Patch

Tis the season for pumpkin patching! I love it. It marks the beginning of it all.

But it looks like I forgot to send Mila the memo. Look at that furrow.

Just a random worker. Check him out. I think he wants you to.

Did I mention how grateful I am that they both got Ross' blue eyes?? And this is a random, cute baby. Is that legal? To put them on my blog when they didn't know I was taking the picture?

We went with Brooke, Tyson, and Sawyer... hope you don't mind the bottom shot, Brooke! Sophia had to squat and pee in the pumpkins... so Sawyer figured it was potty time and came over to join..... I had to get a shot.

hhhhhhhhhhh (that's a sigh...) until next year.

A Halloween Party for the chillens...

Just another day.

The 85 mm doesn't really do it justice... but I was too lazy to put a wide angle on and get the whole room in the shot. But trust me, it was impressive. Tanner and Kate were over and all of the kids were "playing" so well in the toy room--

we soaked it up.

Sophia came out once to tell me they were coloring, but that they weren't done yet. "but don't come in yet, NOT yet, we're not done yet."

She wasn't going to MAKE me come admire? I could stay on my bottom looking at the west elm catalogue with Lizzie ... we soaked it up.

Once the novelty of their mystery fun wore off and the normal, occasional brawling began, we went to put out a fire and found the lovely sight above. An entire roll of butcher paper from the ikea easel, ripped up, and decorating the floor. The entire thing. I know it could have been way worse--- permanant, like the highlighter all over my couch cushions--- not complaining... just documenting... and sighing. Realizing... .what am I doing blogging about a pile of paper when I should be in bed?? It's 12:30 and Ross is passed out next to me on the couch. Every night at like 10:30 I think it's nearing time for bed, and then I blink my eyes and 2-3 hours has passed. what?

gnight.

Holiday Sessions

(One from my most recent shoot--- Linc's birthday party!)

Just because most people I know check this blog and not my photo blog--- I interrupt what is supposed to be the stuff-other-than-photo blog with this message:

If you're still hoping to get a session in before the holidays, contact me soon! The dates are filling up fast and the holidays are suddenly seeming right around the corner. Our winter grass is growing in, there's a hint of chill in the morning (on the shady side of my house, which is unfortunatly the one with few windows), and I may have moved my bedside fan a few inches farther from my face. What a wonderful time of year!

Happenings

Update in the Biesinger home:

- Two sick girls starting last week. I didn't think it was bad, just a cough---- but I HAVE to assume they were feeling pretty crappy because they were both MONSTERS. Seriously, like possessed. Two seconds together and they were brawling. Mila would break in to fits at the most random and unprovoked moments. I was beginning to forget they could ever be sweet, until Sophia came home from school yesterday--- instead of her evil twin. All of the little things were easier, she would laugh at my jokes again, instead of screaming at me that she was "not a dude, she was Sophia! Or a PRINCESS!". She would form actual words with her mouth like a four year old when she needed help, instead of groaning and squealing and pointing like some kind of animal that makes you want to pull out all of your hair. She was back to her usual declarations of love "mommy, I love you--- mommy, I'll always love you--- but mommy, sometimes I DON'T love you"... all was right in the world. (that's right, she gives me that three-part monologue several times a day in her sweetest voice.)

- I didn't want to focus too long on them being awful last week, so I went for bullets. That was a long bullet wasn't it?

- I picked up the craziest, bright yellow, leather chair from the thrift store today. I can't decide if it's going to work in my house yet, but I think I'm in love anyway.

- Turns out a lot of people want pictures before the holidays :)--- guess I should have known that. I'm SOO grateful.... But I'm beginning to wonder when I'm going to find the time for anything else with all the photos I have to edit! Maybe I'll learn to be more efficient??

-We went as Medusa and Zeus to a grown-up Halloween party at Lizzie's this past weekend. Every year we wish we had a real excuse to dress up, and we finally had it! Unfortunately, I had a shoot right before, so I had to parade around as a photographer with a head of french braids and snakes. I wasn't so much embarrassed by the snakes, but trying to braid this shorter head of hair I'm sporting left me with some serious flat-head. Amazing what a little volume (or lack there of) can do for a profile. yikes.

-What's in style right now? I need help. Maybe an intervention. I'm pretty sure I spend 99.9 % of my life in work-out clothes or pajamas. NO exaggeration. If my shower comes before like 4:30 and I can't justify sweats, I'm at a complete loss. Help!

- I rented the amazing 50mm f/1.2 last week because I just couldn't decide if it could possibly be worth the extra $$$ compared to the 1.4. I'm not totally convinced. Anybody with a strong opinion???

- I skipped my 10 year reunion last week. I'm thinking most of the people I really wanted to see weren't going-- but I still think it's a little sad. There's just something about reconnecting with those people that knew you when you had caterpillars for eyebrows.

- Mila's been taking like 3 hour naps and sleeping in until 8:30+ .... besides last week, I'm in one of those phases where I constantly feel SO blessed. Really. So lucky to be home with my girls and calling the shots on what happens in my day. And being able to get away with a life of jammies and spandex. Life is really good.

Have you met Millie yet?

More, of course, over on my photo blog.

This is why I love my neighborhood... even if it is out in the boonies...

Off to Sunday dinners with friends.
And can you tell by the fact that we're outside without our swim suits on, that our weather is... cha-cha-cha-CHANGING!!! My windows are open right now. Well one at least. My blinds are drawn before 11 (well that's just because we happen to have clouds today)... but it's coming. And you might have to hear it often... because I LOVE this time of year... and when my body-temp is cool... I want to shout it from the roof tops. But I won't quote Zee every time. Even though I want to.

p.s. Sophia is the Star Student this week in her class. So she got to take Steve (monkey photographed above) home for the weekend to take on her adventures. I loved it, but had a little taste of what it might be like to have kids with homework.... trying to get her to help me fill out her poster, write in Steve's journal, and print up photos of him on our normal old printer. I think Ross thought I was ridiculous spending so much time and energy thinking about where we should take him all weekend so we'd have good stuff to write... but it was so fun! Like she's in real school doing this fun project---I think it was way more fun for me than her.

It used to TERRIFY me that my kids would be in school some day. But I think I'm into it. Phew.

It's Here!

Cool mornings and nights, decent days, the backyard is even back on our radar. I made SOUP lastnight... granted I was sweaty after I ate it. But it was worth it.

"I feel like I'm falling for fall..... " (noggin anyone?)

Nie Nie

Was I the last to know?

Just in case I wasn't. Nie Nie was on Oprah today, which means the re-run is on tonight at 11--- just in case someone checks this in the next 40 minutes. There's still a chance to DVR it. I was grateful for my 10pm call from Brooke.... thought I'd pass it on.

After an hour and a half wait for the locksmith, me and the girls got into our house a couple of hours ago to finally wash off the grime and exhaustion of our little spontaneous trip to DISNEYLAND! Lizzie called yesterday morning and said she'd booked a hotel for the night to do a two-dayer. I'm not the spontaneous type. I've just sort of come to terms with that. I'd say I'm easy-going, but not spontaneous. But we loaded up, went, slept in one room with our four kids... ate the greasiest, nastiest corn-dog of my life, but the most delicious sundae.... we had a ball. Every time I'm there I remember what it was like as a kid... how AMAZING it was as a kid, and what it must be like for mine. I just hope they're feeling half of that magic I remember. It makes the crowds and the blisters and the midnight growing-pain-scream-fests-in-a-tiny-crowded-hotel-room SOOOOO much more than worth it.

Here's a cell phone pic for proof.

Oh and don't ask me why I don't have a key to my house (I'm still blaming Ross and he's still blaming me) so that when Ross locks the garage door and leaves to San Diego while I'm gone to Disney, and I get home with filthy, tired, and hungry girls and no key in town, we're stuck on the streets. Ok maybe at Brooke's flawless home around the corner, but still----

A teensie bit of potty-talk catch-up.

Sometimes when I have a funny thought I want to remember etc... I put it in my phone and mean to pull it out later. Then I forget, and it gets lost in the sea of grocery and to-do lists I make on my phone. So the other day, I was looking for something, and found a memo entitled "Sophia". When I opened it up, all I had down was this:

Sophia- washing hands in bath tub.

"I'm just washing my hands."
"why? Are they dirty?"
"yeah because I was just touching my bottom but I'm sorry because I thought there was pooh pooh coming out but there wasn't. I'm sorry."

You could argue that this isn't blog worthy. I disagree. Maybe it's because I can hear her intonation in my head. But it makes me laugh every time I re-read it. Thank goodness for technology. I have enough garbage in my purse. I don't have room for sticky-note-memories.


I used to sit down to the computer and start writing... when I was done, I hit publish. Honestly. I didn't even realize there was a spellcheck for the longest time. I didn't ever think of the events I hadn't blogged yet or the backlogged thoughts and stories in my mind. It was like therapy for me to write my thoughts... often daily. And when you write that often, you know you've got it all covered. Where has all my free time gone? I like having all of those random thoughts recorded. Even if they make me want bury my head in the sand in embarrassment later (like my old journals do now.) But I can't seem to get around to it these days. And it's just SO much harder to play catch up on all the little things.

Pooh-pooh story? Check.


One down. Lots to go.


Oooh.. one more... Sophia and Mia's Pump-it-up birthday party... yeah the one I mentioned in a post like a week + ago, --- well a few photos at least: check.

So I think I've got a new goal. Back to my blogging roots. I'm going to write a little... every--- well maybe not every day, maybe every couple of days. Well maybe a few times a week anyway. Forget it, I don't really like commitment. But I'm just warning you... it's a possibility. Maybe.

Oooh-- there's a new baby on the block. I mean blog. Check him out.