I love my kids

And I miss spending time with them.

It's not like I'm gone all the time, but I am not home with them nearly as much as I'd like.

I've missed out on a lot of afternoons like this:





























Running, leaping, twirling, giggling...I'm hoping that I'll have more days like this ahead of me very soon.

Happy 4th Birthday, Emmy!

*Yes, it's a little early...Emmy's birthday isn't actually until the 8th...but I'm going to be working 36 hours over the next 3 days and figured I wouldn't have a chance to blog this. So Happy 4th Birthday Emmy!!*

Emerson, you have always been so fun, so full of energy and full of life. I know I give you a hard time about being crazy, but I wouldn't want you any other way. You make me laugh every single day. You make me scratch my head, wondering how in the world you come up with some of your antics. You love your sister and brother fiercely and would do anything to make them happy. You're so smart and so comical. You're my very best Emmy Hayes. Happy 4th Birthday, sweet girl!

May I Introduce...

I'd like to formally introduce you all to my lovely friend and business partner, Jessica.



Jess and I met a little over a year ago when she booked a session with me for her then-3-month-old baby Henry. When I got home after the session I couldn't help but think "I like her. I wish I had the guts to just ask her if she'd want to bring Henry over to play someday..." And I believe that I did mention something about a playdate when I saw her again, but you know how things go: life gets in the way, the holidays came and went, we sorta' lost touch.
But then one day I discovered that she had a blog! (Yes, blogging brings us together folks...don't try to deny it!) So I left her a comment saying in a non-stalker-ish sort of way "Hey! You should bring Henry over to play sometime when you aren't busy!"
And the rest is history.

Since then we have had countless playdates; workout sessions at the gym; gab sessions about motherhood, wifehood, dreams, and goals... Jessica has gone from being a "client" to being a "friend" to being a "business partner" and honestly, there's nobody else who is better suited for the position than she is.

So if anyone out there ever books a session with me, you can probably expect to see or hear from Jess at some point. She's going to be helping me out with advertising, booking sessions, editing, printing, packaging, and even shooting! I'm really excited about our new business venture.

Welcome to "Jordan Krogman Photography", Jess!

Buh'Bye crib...

...hello big boy bed!

Last night was Hudson's last night in his crib.



I keep thinking that I should be sad about this transition...aside from his bottle and diapers, Hudson has outgrown all things "baby". But really, I'm just excited to get that crib out of my house and pass it on to the next baby in the family (Alex and Ann's). After the last couple of days, I'm more than ready for my kids to do some growing up...I'm thinking 6, 8 1/2, and 11 will be good ages. :c) Only 5 more years until we get to that point. lol

Ahh, I digress...

I've been slowly working on Hudson's room and I'm really excited to get him into his awesome little bed. He's going to try it for the first time tonight, so here's hoping he stays put, doesn't fall out, and doesn't wake up afraid!

Oh, the poop!

*sigh* Where to even begin?

I'm alone with the kids...have been since Sunday morning. Calvin is traveling for work again so I'm braving parenthood alone until he gets back on Wednesday.

You already ready about our craptastic Halloween. Unfortunately, Sunday was much the same with an extremely over-tired Emmy acting like a drug addict coming off of a life-long heroin addiction. Yes...saying that she was sugar deprived would be the understatement of the year. Her hair was frazzled; she had dark circles under her eyes; she was beyond moody; she was wearing -- get this -- a tattered nightgown, bright green tights, and a too-big sweater OUT IN PUBLIC! She was insane.

So I managed to muscle through the day regardless, and got Emmy and Hudson into the tub after dinner. They were having a grand time splashing and blowing bubbles in the water so I was only halfway paying attention. All of a sudden I hear Emmy scream, "Oh my GOD! Hudson pooped! Hudson pooped in the tub and I thought it was a toy and I picked it up!!!!"
Only when I got to the bathroom to investigate, I found that it wasn't just a simple little poop...it was all.over.the.tub. Poop everywhere. The tub neaded to be drained and cleaned, then refilled and the already psychotic children needed to be bathed again.

When they got in bed last night I heaved a gigantic sigh of relief and told myself that Monday would have to be better. And for the most part it was...nobody was particularly crabby. Nobody was sick. Nobody broke a leg or had a concussion. I call that a success, right!?
Yeah, except all three of the kids were in the tub while I loaded the dishwasher when I heard the all-too-familiar screams of "Hudson pooped in the tub again Mom!!!"

you've
got
to
be
kidding

So I cleared everyone out of the tub, started the draining and cleaning process and Emmy absolutely would not stop screaming. I turned around and told her, "Emmy! Please! Shut your mouth for a minute!"
And little Miss Sassy Pants retorted, "That's no way to talk. Now shut up you stupid Mommy!"

Neeeeedless to say, all three kids are tucked into bed for the night and they are all very, very afraid of Mommy. So help me God, if I have to deal with any more poop or any more sass....

Ugh!

One of my favorite things...

I have a lot of "favorite" things about being a photographer, but one of my very most favorites is repeat clients. I looooove watching babies grow into toddlers, and toddlers celebrate birthdays, and kids go off to their first day of kindergarden...*sigh*

Little Hope is one of those repeat clients and it was an absolute joy to spend the afternoon with her and her parents today. We had some sun, and some decent temps, and not a lot of wind. It was perfect.
And little Hope was perfect, too. She was a genuinely happy, perfect little girl. :c)

I can't wait for our next session, guys. By then we'll have to build a little snowman to use as a prop!




















Thanks you guys so much for another fun session!

My Turn!

I've seen so many fun Halloween posts on everyone's blogs already this morning...I must be one of the last to join the club.

Our day yesterday was...um...hellish. It was not the light-hearted fun-filled day I had anticipated. Emmy and her friend Eva were going to be celebrating their 4th birthdays together with a sleepover, cake, trick-or-treating, movies, etc and of course Peyton was invited to join the fun as well. Well, Peyton woke up on the wrong side of the bed -- no, make that the wrong side of the hemisphere -- and was a total pain in the ass all day. I'm hope all you moms out there know that I'm not trying to be mean...I'm being totally honest. I could have sold Peyton to the gypsies yesterday and not given it a second thought.
So she kept pushing us and pushing us, screaming, bawling, slapping, etc. until finally I told her that if she couldn't shape up, she wasn't going to get to go to the sleepover. Well, 0.43 seconds later she started whining and squealing about something again and that was it...no party.
Oh, the horror! Oh, the drama that ensued! She was irate and spent the next hour and a half telling me what a horrible mother I was and how she was going to go ANYWAY...regardless of what I thought.

*sigh*

I don't know about anyone else out there, but when one of my children is mis-behaving, the other one(s) will be suuuuper sweet to try to make me take notice of how they are just perfect and cute and not doing a single thing wrong. Emmy adopted that role yesterday when Peyton was in meltdown mode and just added to Peyton's fury. "Stop it Emmy!" "Shut your mouth!" "I don't want to hear it!" "You are NOT the best girl ever!" "Knock it off Emmy!"

*sigh again*

So we screamed and cried while we got dressed, and we screamed and cried while we fixed hair, and we screamed and cried when we got makeup done and then we went outside to take a picture...

and we acted like a gigantic BOOB!


Yeah, story of my life...


And Emmy continued to be the "model child", doing everything in her power to please her mother.




And then Peyton got jealous of the attention that her sister was receiving, so she decided to show me how she could FLY and Emmy couldn't....so THERE!


Little Hudson was my sweet man, all gussied up in his vampire suit. Be still my heart...


Our first stop was Mr Henry's house for a few buddy pics. Aren't these little dudes TOO stinking SWEET?!


My gosh.

And the whole group:


After a few stops, Daddy, Hudson, and Peyton headed home and me and Emmy went to our sleepover. Yay, Eva!


And it was all fine and good until about 9:30, when an over-stimulated, over-exhausted Emmy began writing around on the floor complaining about how she coudln't sleep....she had to pee...she didn't like her water...she wasn't tired at all (yawn!)...she wanted to go home. SHE WANTED TO GO HOOOOOMMMMMEEEE!!

An hour later, we loaded up in the van (in our pj's) and came home. I told her she had to go straight to bed and stay there, but of course she came up the stairs over....and over...and over....to tell us one thing or another.

And so ended my Halloween 2009. It was one for the books to be certain.

Here's hoping you all had a better time than we did!!

Be Warned....

...you are about to see some of the most horrifying, gruesome jack-o-lanterns ever carved.

The kids picked out the patterns themselves.

*cue creepy, haunting sounds*

Ready?









First up, we have Hudson's frightening pumpkin: Sponge Bob Square Pants


Next is the terror-inducing Tinker Bell


And finally...*shudder*...Snow White!!



Sorry...my kids really had no idea that their pumpkins weren't supposed to be CUTE! lol

One of the main reasons why I haven't been blogging lately is because my laptop has virtually NO KEYS left on the keyboard. Hudson has plunked the vast majority of them off. But my hubby got me a new keyboard last night, so I can manage more than 8 words a minute again. Maybe now I can finally start sharing all of my funny goings-on again!! Hooray!

Emmy is having a birthday sleepover with her friend Eva tonight. Their b-days are within a couple days of each other, so we are having a low-key celebration for the two of them (plus Peyton, of course) involving tons of Halloween candy, pizza, and gifts. Yay! Will blog pics later. :c)