At the end of the day I am tired. No, make that TIRED! All I want is for the babies to go to bed so I can finally sit down and relax, watch some tv, and read. Tonight I did the night routine solo. At 7:45 babies were in their jammies, teeth brushed, and ready for bed. At 8:00 I walked out of Shenzie’s room and sighed with relief. Last night Jeff did the night routine solo. I can’t say how it went, but at 8:30 they were all up here laughing and giggling together. Am I crazy for wanting the day to end or is Jeff crazy for wanting it to last longer?

On a side note: I have been editing like a mad woman trying to get all of my photo sessions done. If you’ve noticed the lack of photos here it is because quite honestly I have zero desire to pick up my camera after taking photos all day long and editing all night long. Tonight I broke the cycle and FINALLY took some photos of my own babies.

Just one for now. I love this photo. Shenzie’s scuffed up knee, the sun, the hand holding and Heaten’s expression. {Sigh} I love those little Crazies.

On another side note: Today I broke 10,000 photos taken on my new camera. Whew. Slow down woman, itis barely 6 months old!!!!

Saturday was a busy busy day! In the morning I headed WAYYYYYYYYYY across town to a newborn twins photo session. I have twins so I was prepared for anything these little ones could throw my way. Or so I thought. All I can say is THANK YOU SISSY for helping me. My sister is just starting out in her photog business and tagged along for the experience. Getting two babies to sleep wasn’t the hard part. Getting two babies to sleep and keeping them asleep while constantly moving them was! Let me just say that newborn twins are hard. Whew. Three hours of shooting 600+ photos makes for some very tired and hungry girls so my sissy and I headed to lunch. Sitting down to eat in a restaurant without having to get up or worry over a child even one time was pure heaven!

After lunch we hit up a couple of stores shopping for photo props. Lately I have been finding the BEST blankets and other props. This week alone I found a little white wicker chair perfect for little toddlers. I’ve been looking for one of these for months and months. Score! And to even make it better it was only $17.99 which I got 20% off due to the chair being a bit worn. I didn’t dare tell the clerk that the more worn the better. =) I have also been looking for the perfect basket and what do I find. The perfect basket!!! I will be using it for another newborn session I have today. Score! Add to that a beautiful soft deep chocolate blanket, a beautiful soft gray blanket, and a beautiful soft cream blanket and I am in newborn blanket heaven!! We also threw in a little clothes shopping. =) Kristy convinced me to put down the gray tank top and get the pink. She reminded me of the “breaking the black” thing so I got the pink against my better judgment. Hahaha. I am now on day two of wearing my bright pink tank and I love it. Thank you again sissy!!!

To top off a wonderful day my Mom and sisters had girls night out. Who0t! Not the partying kind of night out - more of the dinner and window shopping at Town Square kind. After a fabulous dinner the girls and I headed over to MAC. I’m not huge on makeup. I don’t buy the expensive stuff, my brushes are the Tar*get variety, and I’m pretty boring in the makeup department. The MAC counter girl started giving Kristy (the makeup LOVER) a little makeover and watching the transformation made me want one too! I shouldn’t have. I really, really shouldn’t have. She worked her magic on me with contouring, highlighting, eye goodness, powder/iridescent wonder and I was sold. I wave my arm like a Queen and say “I’ll take it all”. Hahahahah. Let me just laugh for a minute. On the way to the counter my sister tells me it is going to be at least $150 bucks. What!?!?!? For a little makeup, no way. No way Jose! Hahahhaha. Let me just laugh for a minute. I won’t give the exact amount for fear my husband will have a heart attack, but lets just say I could have sold a kidney and still not had enough!

Immediately upon leaving the store I was having buyers remorse. Serious buyers remorse. So then of course I start justifying my purchase. In my head it went something like this: I haven’t bought new makeup in like 5 years. Good makeup that is. Or good brushes. It is an investment in my confidence since I hate my horrible skin. It will last a REALLY long time, like 5 years or more so when you add that up you’re talking about 10 years of makeup. It only seemed like a lot because I bought it all at once instead of spreading it out over the 10 years so when you break it down it is really actually very affordable. And on and on and on it went.

I just knew when I got home and showed Jeff my new face he was going be awed by my makeover makeup-ie goodness. Hahahahah. Let me just laugh for a minute. I walk through the door and he gives me a funny look. I twirl and pose and ask if he likes my makeover. Ummm. Not so much. Apparently he likes my face the way it is and didn’t like the contouring, the dark eye makeup, or any of the rest of it. The buyers remorse is back in full force at this point and there is NO WAY I am EVER telling him what I spent for the ugly face (so when you read this dear husband don’t even ask).

All night I think about how and where I can return the products. The next day I get up and once again justify my purchases that I’m eager to use. I think that maybe if I do the makeup myself in “Lesley Style” it might look better (well, not better, just more natural) and sure enough I LOVE them. All of them. I ended up keeping all of my purchases and while every now and again when the guilty rears its ugly head I just push it aside and tell myself I deserve it. =)

Shenzie’s new thing is to pretend to be my little baby. She yells out and cries (more like screeches) like a baby and drinks from her dolls play bottle. The funniest part is when playing baby she has to be wearing my bandanna and cuddled up in her bean bag chair. Apparently that is what babies do - wear do-rags and hang in the old bean bag.

*Update - I started this post weeks ago, but haven’t got around to finishing it until now. Lazy blogger, I know. =) The baby tales have escalated since then. We now have both pack and plays set up. The twin pack and play upstairs and the little one downstairs (and here I thought we were done with them).

Shenzie will ask to get in her “baby bed” and sometimes stay in there for 45 minutes! Heaten has joined in the fun and likes to lie in there with his blanket and watch tv. I think I like this game! It gives me a much needed break to clean the house and sit for five minutes!

Fun at the park edition:

One of our newer parks has 6 full size baseball fields. The babies had a hayday running around the fields and in and out of the dugout (is that what it’s called?)

Somebody smack me silly. Remember how I was JUST posting about having too much on my plate. Silly me went and added even more. Another maternity and two more newborn sessions. Oh my heavens.

I can’t seem to find the right balance of work. I had told myself that I would take one client a weekend which works out great. I get a break away from the Crazies doing something I love. I have time to edit and finish each gallery within the allotted time frame (two weeks) with minimal stress. This month I was taking Mother’s Day weekend off for some much needed R&R. And then I got the call to photograph newborn twins. How could I ever refuse newborn twins?!?!? Then I got a call for a maternity session - she is due in 2 weeks. How could I refuse? And then I got a call for a newborn making its way into the world as I type. Again, how could I refuse? So instead of doing the 3 sessions that I limited myself to I am now up to 7.

This is why I can’t refuse:

Does it get any sweeter or more precious than that?!?

For more baby goodness you can visit my Photography Blog.

I fear I’ve taken a bit too much onto my plate this month. It seems to be the month of newborns - including my first session with newborn twins!! (Excluding mine of course). I cannot resist taking each and every baby that comes my way even if it means my house is a mess and I’m crazy. =) Hopefully regular posting will resume shortly….and wouldn’t it be nice if I made a new banner since this one is now 2 months old. Oops.

Grandkids Edition:

I am very lucky that my entire family lives here (well, minus my sister Kristy who is an hour away). Since we’ve all had kids (well, minus my little brother Levi) we don’t get together as much as we used to so when we do it is always fun (and LOUD). On Easter I got a picture of Grandma with all of her grandkids:

It’s not easy getting 9 kids to look at the camera let alone smile so this is as good as it got.

Shenzie and Heaten with Grandma:

We love you Grandma (Mom)!!

Poor Grandpa was sick so he didn’t make it into any of the photos. =(