Megan's BIG date tonight!

Well Megan is going on an unofficial date today with an older boy!
Who is the boy you ask?
Well his name is Austin, he is the son of our friends Lance and Michelle. He is 11yrs old and just a sweet kid.
They are going to a Sock Hop tonight at Austin's school. Megan will be wearing a pink poodle skirt complete with petticoat, saddle shoes and a ponytail. I could not talk her into wearing the cat eye glasses though.
I will be for sure taking lots of pictures tonight for sure.

When I ask Megan if she was interested in going with Austin, she asked "why does he want ME to go with him, he is older than me." I said, "well I hear he thinks you are cute." I said "so do you want to go?" She says "well Mom he thinks I am cute so I don't want to disappoint him."
Seriously how cute is that? She has met him before but could not remember what he looked like so I had Michelle send me a picture of Austin on my cell phone. I sent it to Megan and she showed all her friends at school and now has it as her screen saver on her cell phone.

So tonight is finally here and I hope the adults leave the kids alone and they have a good time, and by this I mean I hope Megan's Big Daddy Lloyd doesn't threaten Austin if he gets near Megan for at least two reason. One it is a dance so that requires them to get a little close. Two, because they are just kids and kids at this age are not in to kissing and doing that kid of stuff with each other. At this age kids may say they have a boyfriend or a girlfriend but typically they don't even talk to each other. What typically happens at this age if a boy likes a girl they chase them on the playground or the boy will be mean to the girl. If a girl likes a boy they just giggle and laugh about it with their girl friends. So Lloyd chill out you have nothing to worry about. Please do not tease them or embarrass them. Just let them have fun!

So tomorrow I will post pictures of the dance! I think I may be more excited then they are!

My beautiful smart Daughter-Megan

I am so very proud of my daughter Megan.

Sometimes I look at her and thank God for giving me such a beautiful and smart daughter.

Sometimes I wonder if she is actually mine because she is so smart and beautiful. I know I wasn't that way when I was younger and I still am not.

She is such and animal lover she thinks that every bug has a right to live and that people should never hunt animals. Her first word was DOG, so I am not surprised. We never had dogs when her Father and I were married, but now she has 4. We foster for Arizona Border Collie Rescue and she just loves it. I love animals but I don't quite have the same love for ALL animals like bugs.

We do have some things in common. She has an enormous heart and is very sensitive. Which sometimes can not be such a good thing as it can lead to having a broken heart very easily.

Well here are a couple of pictures of her getting her 2nd quarter Principal list award, and she received one last quarter as well. She received all A's and just one B. I am so very proud of her. She has always been very good about doing her homework since Kindergarten.

They would send home 5 days worth of homework on Monday and she would insist on doing it ALL the day she brought it home.

I blame her being so smart on breastfeeding her until she was 2 years old, but a Doctor told me that it wasn't the case. She said she knew plenty of kids that were breastfed that weren't anywhere near as smart as Megan. The Doctor said it was genes and that I spent a lot of time reading to her and working with her.

Which is true, I have read to her every night since she was about 1 1/2 years old. Given a choice between staying up late but me not reading her a book, or going to bed extra early and that I would read her a book.....she always chose to go to bed early so I would read to her.

I still read to her to this day. I love to read to her and with her.

Her teachers all think that Megan taught herself to read in Kindergarten. I started Megan in Kindergarten when she was 4 1/2 years old. I was so scared that it would be too much for her and she couldn't handle it, yet at the same time I thought she was ready. She could recognize all the letters of the alphabet since she was 2, even before she could sing the song. But when she started kindergarten she didn't know that sounds of the letters. So I thought I was a bad mom. Well by the end of Kindergarten she could read a Dr Seuss book, ANY Dr. Seuss book. At first

I thought that I had read them to her so many times that maybe she had just memorized them, but that was not the case. She could in fact read!

So my baby girl is so very special! I love her and I truly and grateful every day of my life that I have her and that she is my daughter. She is sweet, smart, beautiful and just the best kid!

I LOVE YOU MEGAN RUTHIE!!!!

Weekend Fun

So this last weekend my husband Lloyd decided that we should go Gold panning. Whic it actually was a great time to do it. We had just had a ton of rain with lots of wash and rivers flooding which moves lots of sediment and ground that hasn't been moved in a while.

Of Course we didn't find any gold but it was a good time. When I lived in Northern California I use to go gold panning on the American River outside of Auburn.

We would have stayed longer but it was freezing cold and about to rain. We also really needed to have some sifters to make it a little easier to find gold. Straight panning is very hard and time consuming.

Megan had a great time and it was just a lot of fun for the whole family.

2010

As always at this time of year people start thinking about the up coming new year and what it may hold for them. I am no different and I am hoping for many positive things in this new year 2010.

My husband is running for the office of Constable. I think this would be so awesome. I held public office before and I ran in an elections. It is fun but stressful as well.

I am hoping that my daughter continues to do well in school and be a happy little girl. Her and I are so close and I am always fearful that when she gets older and enters puberty that may change. So I hope in the new year that we remain close and she never stops thinking I am a cool mom.

My husband and I both would like to quit smoking. I would like for my back to improve. Living with chronic lower back pain is a very draining thing and literally effects every part of my life. Although aside from back surgery I don't have much hope that my back is going to get better on it own in the next year. Lord knows I have tried everything in this last year.

I would like things to improve where my ex-husband is concerned. He needs to find a job so he can go back to helping me with Megan's tuition and her medical cost, and get current on the $8,000.00 he now owes me. I would even more like for him to have a better relationship with Megan for her sake. She has already found out he is unreliable, and he very often dissappoints her. The two things about that that bother me is one, it kills me to she her upset by something her Dad did and did not do. Two, because I am always the one that is there to mend her broken heart and it is not fair. I hate that he can not get his life together or at least make her a priority in his life. He saw her the least in 2009 than he has since we have been divorced. Each year he sees her less and less. I love that I don't have to share her and I get to have her most of the time, but I know it is a dissappointment to her that he is not around for her.

She loves my husband but she know that he is not her Dad, and she wants her Dad no matter how many faults he has.

I also would like Lloyd and I to be in better financial shape in the year 2010. I wish we both could get better jobs but unless the economy turns around I don' see that happening anytime soon.

Well tonight I want us to have just some family fun at home to ring in the new year. I am going to get some snacks, we are going to make hats for ourselves that represent our personalities and have a contest. We are going to go outside at Midnight and bang pots and pans like we did when I was a kid. Well that is if all of us can make it until Midnight. If not we will just celebrate New Years' with New York and then call it a night.

So let's all pray that 2010 will be a good year for all of us and for our Country!

Happy New Year!!!!


We welcome 2010!

Christmas and Megan

Megan went to see Santa on Sunday. She is so cute, she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted her picture taken with Santa or to just talk to Santa, but I was able to talk her into a picture.

I am going to miss this pretty soon when she will out grow wanting to do this, and I wasn't sure if this is going to be the last year, so I just had to get a picture of her with Santa.

I have her first picture of her and Santa when she was 3 weeks old. It is pretty funny picture because Megan was so tiny you have to look real close to see the tiny baby in yellow on his lap. It is a good thing I didn't have her wear red that year!

I have a picture of her and Santa at 2 years old, and she of course like most 2 years old was not liking Santa too much and was screaming her head off. I knew after standing in line for 2 hours with 3 of my girl friends that number 1 I wasn't giving up, and number 2 it was hiighly unlikely I could get her to quit screaming a take the picture. So in the picture she is crying and wiggling out oof Santa's lap. No I wasnt being mean making her do it either, all the way up until the point where it was our turn she was very excited to see Santa and to sit on his lap, but some where along the way from her stroller to his lap she changed her mind.

When she was 4 years old, she made me sit on Santa's lap with her, so I have a picture with both of us on his lap that year.

Well here is this years picture and I sure hope it won't be the last time as that means my baby is growing up.....

Models

I recently shot some models at a park in Scottsdale, it was what is known as TFCD or trade for CD of images. They donate their time to me and in exchange they get images of themselves, and I get to use their images for my portfolio. It is a win-win situation for all.

I have more images on my flickr page at: www.flickr.com/photos/kathleen68

As always I am looking for paying photo jobs, I do on location shoots, you choice or mine, you can bring props and multiple outfits to suit you and your family. These are YOUR photos so I want to capture you and your families personality. Standard rates are for up to 4 family members and each additonal person is $25. Please email me for my pricing and to discuss what how I can capture you and your families personalities.