Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving
from the Hackney 4!

Mid Day Distractions

You know those motivational posters that you always see in someone's office...well these are more my speed. :)

And probably the most appropriate for this blog:

So if you have a sense of humor like mine you can go here (Despair.com) and have a good laugh.

How do you....

celebrate every major holiday?

You watch the Charlie Brown special for that holiday. On tap tonight, "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving"

Oh what a find!

I'm sure you all remember this guy! El Cinco, fun-loving bull that we toted around all summer snapping photos.

Yesterday I was in the dollar store and found this and just had to get it!

We have dubbed him El Cinco's fluffier, less buff cousin, El Cuatro! And wouldn't you know it there was an argument tonight between the 3-year old and the 11-year old about who was going to get to sleep with El Cuatro. I may be headed back to the store tomorrow to buy a backup!

Also, Happy Birthday to the best friend a girl can have! Happy 3?th Birthday Sarah. Love ya friend!

Advent

Tonight we had an Advent Event at the church....catchy huh. We made advent wreaths as a family. I say as a family, but Aaron hijacked the camera and spent most of the time wandering around snapping away. Wonder where he got that from. Here's a sample of his work.

Bad...Bad...Bad

Had one of these on the way home tonight. Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake from Chick-fil-a. So yummy! Yet, so bad as far as the scales are concerned. At least I wasn't the only one being bad. If you're going to be bad...be bad with a friend! :)

This man deserves a gold star!

Last year he "felt like a sausage".

This year - "I look like an elf"

Oh, what Julio will endure for the Christmas photo. Mainly I think he endures it because he loves this one so much!

Oh and this one too!

I "heart' Photoshop!

Oh, and the blue socks on a certain Bohrer girl...they were not blue to start with! :) Click on the photo for a larger version. And I'm still editing. If you don't hear from me in a couple of days, send some dark chocolate and a Diet Dr. Pepper to rescue me!

Props

Spent most of this morning and part of the afternoon shooting portraits for Christmas cards, gifts and the like. Big shout out to Lisa, my ultra-creative friend, for the new prop. Amazing what fun you can have with a 50 cent frame. It got a workout today!

Bohrer Family

I took my pastor's family photos this afternoon. I just never know what to do with them. They're all so serious.

I mean it's intimidating. They're all so stoic, almost dignified, you might say

Ummmm.....that's better

Not quite hot off the press

Something came in the mail this week that I've never received before. I'm holding in my hand the manuscript for a "not yet published" book. The author contacted me to see if I would read the book and write a recommendation. I felt very honored. Now the recommendation may or may not be included in the book when it goes to print next year, but I'm excited to be able to get a look at the book this early. And judging by the author's previous works, I'm sure it will be great. Are you wondering who the author is and what the book is about? Hmmmm.......

Not much to report today. I did laundry, washed dishes, and edited photos. Exciting! So I'll leave you with a photo of this little guy. He was working hard in the tree in the front yard. But since it's dead anyway and we really need to cut it down, I say, "Have at it little woodpecker!"

Smith Family Sneak Peek

This one from last week struck me as funny. Logan is being a normal 5-year old. Rylan is amused, and Madison has this look that says, "Get me away from these people!"

Goodbye Leaves

Almost to the end of the "In the Leaves" photo shoots. Bye to the leaves and warm weather.

Zip it!

Learned a valuable lesson this past weekend. I was finishing up the last photo shoot on Sunday with the Tetricks out at the park. Jessica got to playing around with Andrew they were chasing each other and running through the leaves. Then they tripped over my camera bag. The bag flipped over, the top flew open and the lens that I wasn't using at the time came out of the bag and proceeded to roll....down the hill....toward the pond...picking up speed! I turned and yelled and the chase was on! Also, keep in mind that I don't own this particular runaway lens. It has been borrowed from a friend. In the approximately 3.5 seconds that it took me to get down the hill I had two thoughts. Said friend is going to very....very...aggravated with me and I'm going to trip and go into the pond. Mercifully I scooped up the lens in time all while maintaining my footing. Which was a very good thing because I had the camera around my neck the entire time, and I'm fairly certain that it would not react well to being doused with smelly pond water. As I turned and rescued the runaway lens I heard a VERY loud splash behind me. Jessica apparently hadn't been so lucky stopping her momentum and into the pond she went!

So there you have it...always keep the bag zipped!

IKEA!!

I got up at 5:45 AM this morning to hit the polls as soon as they opened. (Go McCain!) I had to vote early because I had important stuff to attend to. Heather, Sarah, and I headed out to Cincinnati to go to IKEA. Let me just say the drive to Ohio was infinitely better than getting to the IKEA in Schaumburg, IL. SOOOOOO much better. After making a complete trip through the store we decided to pay for our purchases, eat lunch, and then come back for the big stuff. Why? Because we had no kids with us and no schedule to keep! YEA! So we came back for round 2 and loaded up the big stuff. Well...one person's big stuff.

And the bulk of this stuff does not belong to the person in the photo, nor does it belong to the person taking the photo! Oh, hey Sarah, I guess I did take a photo in IKEA after all. :)

Sunday Shots

The camera got a workout today. I squeezed in two family shoots this afternoon. You could have not asked for a more perfect day. The weather was gorgeous and the leaves were at their peak.

Gary & Christina and family - Perfect weather, perfect leaves, Avalyn's actually smiling at me! Aaaahhh...life is good.

Last year I couldn't get this one to smile for me for nothing! I'm glad she finally came around.

Here's part of the Tetrick crew. Leaves...perfect!!

This morning I got to shoot one of these:

Yea! I love to photograph a baptism. Before a baptism I usually end up shooting a few random shots to make sure everything is set correctly. Here we have a bit of practice.

And then another shot of band practice to play around with.

However I have noticed that when I leave my camera unattended, especially in the presence of certain people, that I sometimes end up with a few surprise shots when I download them off of the camera. I'm 100% sure that I did not shoot this particular one.

Play with the camera...end up on the blog. :)

Happy 1st Birthday Makenna

My neice, Makenna, turned 1 yesterday. We spent the day over in Illinois celebrating with Joel, Sarah, Makenna, and the whole crew.

...And I'd like to thank the academy!

I have won an award! I knew it was just a matter of time. :) Turns out another Heidi thought my "spaced out" moment from Thursday was funny enough to deserve an award. So her it is from Heidi in Montana:

Thanks Heidi! I'll try to have more spaced out moments to entertain all. HA! We spent the day in Illinois celebrating our neice Makenna's 1st birthday. She is just too cute. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Now since I have already eaten up the hour we gain tonight driving back home, it's off to bed.