Progress Report

I am pleased to report that the unpacking is well underway. The movers were the BEST we have ever had. Unpacking is going so well because they were such great packers. The lamps are all in their own individual boxes! Unprecedented! Details like this are so nice and make the whole process much more bearable.

We are lucky to have "Bay's house" to camp out when we need to get away from the boxes. I swear the whole house has that "box smell." All you military folks will know this smell, I'll bet. Sometimes that smell is overwhelming, and when it is coupled with the inablilty to walk or find anything that you need, it is almost all you can take. So Bay's house is such a blessing! We hope May and Bay won't get tired of us, all of our stuff, and our dogs.

Everything made it in one piece, whew! There are a few small broken things, but so far nothing big. The yard tools were not wrapped with my flag, and the TVs are all present and accounted for, which are huge improvements from the last move, right?

The kids are being troopers, although they are also enjoying having another house with no boxes and 2 granparents a mile away.

"Daddy made it so we could watch TV - yay!!"

Our sweet Stewart is staying at the new house since our Max and Daddy's Abby both like to eat cats. He is sort of too big for his britches right now because I think Stewart may feel that we have gotten him his own house. He is the only one staying there full time. We come to visit, we give him food, water, attention, we clean out his litter box, and we leave. We have gotten him furniture and beds and boxes to play with. You can see why he may be confused about all of this and in for a rude awakening.

Stewart living it up in "his" new house.
Oh yeah, and the fish are at the new house with Stewart. Before the truck arrived with all of our stuff, Stewart was alone in the house with food, water, a litter box, and 2 small fish tanks. Oh what is a cat to do to entertain himself??

Picture it. David goes over to the house to check on Stewart and his fishy friends. He walks into the kitchen and sees a toppled over fish tank and Hannah Montana in the middle of the floor. He sprung into action. He touched her to see if she was still "with us" and she wiggled. He grabbed her and plopped her into Charlie's tank. He called me to get the water conditioner to fix her tank back. He got her all fixed up, and now we are monitoring her closely. Still not sure if she is going to make it. Stewart has been charged with attempted murder, although we have reserved the right to up the charges if Hannah Montana does not make it. He has plead Boredom and Loneliness, but we are not sure if that is a valid defense.

All of the other family members seem to be in good health. I will let you know if H.M. pulls through. . .

The Clampetts move to Illinois

There was no black gold, aka Texas Tea. And we are far from millionaires. And frankly, the kin folk did not say move away and are mostly sad about our move to somewhere very different than Bever-lee. BUT we did move (1/2 is done, at least), and boy was it interesting. . .

The packers were the best we have had (at first) - they were very careful not to pack something they thought you might need. Jessa loved them and drew pictures of them. Spencer spent the first day (Monday) being shy and hiding under a blanket. The second day did not go quite as well. They just got tired and sort of petered out. At 9:30 PM, they were finally finished. Notice I did not say everything was packed, but they were finished. David was so glad to have them leave that we did not notice until the next day how many "things" were around.

I did the math, and at this house, we spent as much time living with boxes as without

The kids are I went to the hotel on the second day (Tuesday) to escape the battles. The TVs were packed, the DVD players were packed, the internet was off meaning no computer games, the toys were in the process of being packed or already packed, and all the outside toys had been pressure washed for the trip. So the only thing the kids had to do was pick fights with each other. Fun. OR they would ask me 27 times, "Can I ride my bike?" And I would reply, "No, it is already clean to be packed." Super fun. At the wonderful hotel, we had toys, books, TV, and NO boxes. Woo-hoo!


Unfortunately, we also had drama. They were all tucked into their bed for a much needed rest. They were watching PBS kids on the tube. They decided they wanted popcorn. Now, I had microwave popcorn in the room, but that is not what they wanted. They wanted freshly popped popcorn from the machine in the lobby. So I weighed my options. No one had on shoes (and in some cases, pants), and they were finally all situated and calm and happy. So I decided to walk down the stairs to retrieve the popcorn. Now, before you call DFACS yourself, the distance from the room to the popcorn machine was no farther apart than we would have been at home. Both of them were instructed to stay put, and they both agreed. I made the decision to not leave the little door thingy so that it was cracked for their safety. I pulled the door closed to lock it. Considering what happened next, not the best plan. . .


In the couple of minutes I was downstairs, Spencer got up, opened the door, walked out into the hall, and the door swiftly closed behind him. This should not be a huge big deal because Jessa was in there and could here him knocking, right? Wrong. She was a little booger and stayed right where she was, all tucked into bed watching Cyberchase. He panicked and started to cry. I am unclear if he knocked on another door OR if someone heard him, but when I walked up the stairs and took the left to our room, I saw a crowd of people all around some hysterical child. I thought, bless his heart, that kid has a crappy mother! Oh wait, that's MY KID! He ran toward me, still clutching a chips ahoy bag in his hands. I was so embarrassed! I could not look any of the people in the eye. I apologized, thanked them, and muttered something about me thinking they were asleep as I hurried back into the room.


Princess Jessa owned up to her part in it all. Yes, she knew he got out of bed. Yes, she knew he opened the door. No, she did not try to stop him. Yes, she knew he was locked out. Yes, she heard him knocking. No, she did not let him in. Yes, she heard him crying and upset. No, she did not remove her diva bottom from the comfort of her bed to check on him, help him, or let him in. I am not sure when I have been more mad at her! She has since apologized, but I may never get the image of me walking into that hotel room, holding my sobbing son to find her chillin' in the bed. And social services never called, so I guess the nice people at the hotel did not think I was as terrible as I felt like I was. Oh, and I did not let Jessa have any popcorn, darn it.


The truck showed up first thing Wednesday to load us up. They already had 25% of the truck full, and we were slated to take up the remaining 75%. I said early in the day to David, "They are not going to make it." He told me they would. As the day wore on, David began to doubt, too. But the truck driver and his crew were confident. At about 5:30 PM, they were almost out of truck. I was starting to sweat a little. The truck drivers wife told me not to worry that they had a tailgate that they could load the outdoor stuff on. I relaxed a little. And they did make it, but it was in a way I never heard nor could I have predicted.


At 6:3o PM, David signed all the paperwork, and they were finished. They had a bunch of our stuff on a plywood shelf on the back of the truck. David said that they had a tent-ish, tarp-ish dome thing that could go over our belongings. They did not use this. Instead, they used plastic wrap. It was basically a huge roll on Saran Wrap. They did the best they could to cover everything. It was mostly all outside stuff, so I guess it will be OK. They also placed some book boxes IN THE CAB with them! They even slid some things under the truck where they store their hand trucks and ladders. He assured me that they would make it work, and by golly, they did.

So I drove away from our 7th home, with this image in my head. The only thing missing is granny on the top of the truck in a rocker. . .

Out of the mouths. . .

A few cute stories before I forget. . .

1. One day in the parking lot at school Spencer was showing me his new bracelet. It was black and white beads. Since they were working on the letter "Z" this week, it was zebra-like. He was telling us as we were walking to the car, "Miss Caffy told me not to take it off or I will lose my beads." Jessa didn't skip a beat, and she replied very dramatically, "Well, I guess you'll have to keep it on for the rest of your life."

2. That night for supper we had (at Jessa's request) bacon and eggs and grits and toast. Their favorite part is the bacon. I have to keep the bacon plate away from them or they eat it all and nothing else. Jessa refused her toast because she did not ask for toast. Spencer, my good eater, always eager to please was just eating away at his plate. After a while, Jessa asked to be excused. Spencer was still eating. After a little while longer, he handed David a bite of crust from his first piece of toast. We thought, how precious, he is sharing. Then he picked up his last piece of toast, which happened to be the last bit of food on his plate. Then he grinned and turned to me and said, "Mommy, look, I cleaned my plate!" Bless his heart, he aims to please!

3. This next one may not sound as funny as it was, but I want to write it down anyway. . . After supper one night, Jessa decided that they were going to play some sort of diner thing. She was like the waitress, I guess, and he was like the cook. So she is on one side of my chair and he is behind it. She keeps hollering back behind her (in her thickest Southern Country fake accent she has), "I need some carrots and some broccoli. I need a tuna fish and some chicken." I guess she is placing her customers orders for them. Spencer has a stack of plastic bowls and is passing them to her after each order she hollers back to him. He is not saying a word.

After a minute, she looks in a bowl full of the pretend food that Spencer, the cook, has fixed and sighs and says, "They don't want it fried!" And hands it back to him. So the he fixes the pretend food again and gives it to her. She again, screams, "Not Fried! My customers don't want it fried!" This goes on for several minutes. He tried to fix the pretend, imaginary, invisible food the way she (and her customers) want it, but he is simply not doing it to suit her. I was contemplating intervening on his behalf when he figured out what she wanted. My sweet, smart boy got a bowl ready and as he handed it up to Jessa, he screamed, "NOT FRIED!" She smiled and still with the accent yells, "Not fried!" as she hands it to her pretend customer. Bless his heart! He "gets her" when no one else does. . . The rest of the time they spent playing, every time he handed her a bowl, he would say, "Not fried." And she was pleased as punch!

4. I have been telling them about the move and saying, "We are moving to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois." One afternoon, I was saying something to someone else about the move and Jessa said, "You mean to Scott?" I smiled proudly and said, "Yes, ma'am! You remembered where we are going!" And she said, "Oh yeah, I got it up here in my brain brain." I said, "What?!" She said, "Yeah, I have two brains so that helps me remember things better."

5. We were getting ready to go to over to the home of some of our college friends who happen to be here at Ft. Stewart. Jessa picked out a dress. She picked out shoes. She picked out socks. She told me how she wanted her hair fixed. She put on her best Barbie Pearl necklace. She found an Iraqi scarf that David sent her. She put on lip gloss. And she came to ask me how she looked. I told her she looked great. She said, "Well, I want to be the most fashionable person there. Do you think I look fashionable enough?" I told her she did. And when we arrived at our friend's house, they agreed!

Soda, not Powder

So I am busy getting ready to make food for the teacher appreciation luncheon. I signed up to bring several things because I want the teachers to have a nice spread, you know? I decided to make a dessert first. I did also had another motive. As we prepare to move, I wanted to find a way to use the sticks of margarine, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and flour that I have in the pantry. I do not like to throw things like that away, but I also do not care to fool with dragging them across the country with us, you know?

I had the "stuff" to make a batch of Toll House Cookies, or actually a pan cookie. I like pan cookies better, plus, they are far lower maintenance - no setting the timer and switching out batches every 9-11 minutes.

I usually measure everything out ahead of time into smaller bowls so the kids can help me without me getting all addled and confused. But I was in a hurry. . . Plus at the time, the kids were no where around. Spencer was even asleep! But as soon as Jess heard the mixer, she came out of the woodwork, dragging her "cooking stool" behind her. Of course, I let her join in the cookie mixing fun. Now, I rarely even look at the recipe because we make these cookies all the time! Seriously, we make once every couple weeks, I'd bet. I could make it in my sleep. I creamed the butter and sugar. I added the vanilla. I added the eggs, one at the time. And then I measured out the dry ingredients to blend them together to add last. I carefully measured the 2 and 1/4 cups of all purpose flour and dumped them in the bowl. I carefully measured out the 1 teaspoon of salt and dumped it into the bowl. I overlooked the BAKING SODA that I had already gotten out and put on the counter as I reached into the cabinet and pulled out the BAKING POWDER. I carefully measured the 1 teaspoon of BAKING POWDER and dumped it into the bowl. I mixed the dry ingredients and added them slowly. Once it was all mixed, I turned off the mixer and added the chocolate chips. I spread the cookie dough into the greased 9x13 inch pan and placed it in the over. I set the timer.

I then decided that since I had 1 egg left and 1 stick of margarine left, I may as well make another half batch. I am not terribly good with math in my head, so I got a scrap of paper to divide all the ingredients in half. As I wrote, "1/2 teaspoon BAKING SODA" it hit me! I added POWDER instead of SODA! Holy cow!

The packaging is so similar, you can see where I might get confused, right??
So I immediately called Momma (did you see that one coming?). She laughed at me and said who knows!? We talked the remainder of the baking time while I watched it very carefully. It looked OK. When I took it out, I thought it looked a little flakier, but basically it looked the same. I tasted a small sliver, it tasted OK, too. A little different, but maybe that is my mind playing tricks one me. I am very susceptible to the power of suggestion. (I am convinced that I would be CURED by a placebo if I believed in it enough.)

I went ahead and mixed up another half batch and baked it, too. This time, I added BAKING SODA, per the recipe. And I decided to set up a blind taste test for my sweet husband.

Such a willing helper. . .

Well, he tasted both cookies. He said they were both OK. He could definitely tell a difference, though. He said that I should send them all to the luncheon because neither batch was bad, just different. He chose the ones with the baking SODA, so I guess Toll House knew what they were doing after all. Hey, I performed a public service for anyone who ever wondered if baking soda or baking powder are the same!! You're welcome.

Next week

When I went into the kitchen on Monday morning to start the week, I found something gross. I glanced down at the dogs' water bowl and saw a big, ugly, disgusting cockroach floating in it. I was glad the sucker was dead, but not happy to be greeted by this sight so early on a Monday. I grabbed the bowl and dumped it outside. I then placed the bowl in the sink, ran HOT water and soap to disinfect the bowl from this yucky interloper and the millions of germs he had brought with him. I am OK with bugs, but only after years of David not being here when I find them. I used to squish spiders with books and then leave the book on top of the carcass. Then when David came home and saw the books everywhere, he would initiate clean-up measures.

Anyway, he walked in from PT shortly after I had disposed of my little friend. He saw the hot soapy bowl in the sink, and I informed him of my discovery. He smiled and said, "I know how we can fix this." I said, "Oh yeah, how?" And he said, "Let's just move to a new house next week." At first I laughed, but then I started to have a small panic attack because he was right! By the end of next week, we will no longer live here. Holy Toledo! I am not ready! I have so much to do! The kids have a thousand end of the year activities: class snacks, teacher appreciation luncheons, field trips! David has a Hail and Farewell. We have Transportation briefs and a premove walk through. I have to wrap the gifts for the teachers - that is if they ever get here! I have to pack. I have to plan. And the packers arrive on Monday morning. And the truck arrives Wednesday morning. And we clear housing Thursday morning. And we will be at Scott AFB in Illinois on FRIDAY night. Oh. My. Toilet.

I must admit that I am fighting the urge to just go back to bed, pull the covers up, and hope it all goes away! So I am trying hard to take it moment by moment. Lots of deep breaths. Lots of lists. I know it will all work out - it always does. I know that we will get it all done - we always do. We have survived the last 8 moves, right? And I am so thankful that David in not in Iraq this time. . .

I am going to try to just look forward to our nice, brand new house at Scott AFB.

Although it does confuse Spencer. . .

Whenever I refer to our moving into the "new house,"

he says, "But Mommy, this is the new house."

So we are now calling the Scott house our "new new house."

Happy Mother's Day!

My Momma and I have always been close. At times, I think David may say too close! Ha-ha! I call her all the time - I know she cringes when she sees my number on the caller ID. Seriously, sometimes 10 times a day! She is a patient woman. I need her to hear all that is going on and I so need her advice. (Like can I substitute something in a recipe? Does this cough sound bad? Do you think this milk is still OK? Can I freeze macaroni and cheese? You'll never believe what I heard today! And so on and so on. I actually took pictures of myself with my phone in a dressing room mirror and e-mailed them to her to get her opinion!) I am glad she did not think her job raising me ended when I turned 18 or got married or had babies. I still need her every day!

When Jessa and Spencer were born, I was a Momma, too. And I appreciated my Momma way more than I ever did before. Having my babies gave my life a whole new purpose and meaning. Now I love Momma in a whole new way because I can understand what being a Momma is all about. And I am so thankful for the wonderful childhood that Lucas and I had. And I strive every day to give Jessa and Spencer a fun childhood that they can look back on fondly the way I look back on mine. So, YAY MOTHER'S DAY!

We celebrated Mother's Day all week at our house. Jessa made me at least 10 cards that involve her saying, "Don't look, OK, Momma?" And then yelling from the other room, "How do you spell happy? How do you spell mother's? How do you spell day?" She is so sly, I am glad she told me not to look. . .

The preschool had lots of plans to honor the mothers of all the children at school. Wednesday was a Mother's Day Luncheon for Spencer's class. OH MY! It was so precious!

The teacher had us come in one at the time. I walked in and Spencer put a beautiful necklace that he made for me around my neck. Then he handed me a single red rose.

He took me by the hand and walked me to my spot. He even pulled out the chair for me to sit down! He made me a place mat and painted me a flower pot, both of which showed me where to sit.

Then the class lined up to sing the Alphabet Song and Twinkle Little Star for the moms. Then they led us in a blessing song. After a great performance, it was time to eat. The kids helped us fix our spaghetti and salad. We ate lunch together - so fun! The kids were all so proud. The teacher even made an awesome dessert for all of us to eat.

After everyone ate, she read "Love You Forever," to all of us. I had to try hard not to just bawl! It was such a sweet day and Spencer was so precious! And let's face it, I have never read that book aloud without crying. . .

That afternoon on the phone, May asked Spencer, "Did Mommy eat lunch with you today at school?" He said, "No. It was just a Mother's Day Luncheon." Get it right! Then she giggled and asked him, "Well, did you give Mommy a flower?" And he said, "No, it was a rose." The kid is detail oriented, what can I say!?

Jessa made me lots of cute things in her classes, too. All to help me celebrate. . . A book of poems with hand prints, a candle holder, a pot holder with her hand, and even some yummy jelly. The teachers outdid themselves trying to make Mother's Day Special for all the Moms at our school.

These are drawings of Jessa and me and Spencer and me -

Jessa's in on the left and Spencer's is on the right.
Jessa also helped David pick out some pink and white roses for me. After they were delivered, David, Jessa, and Spencer brought them to me in my room. Spencer handed me a gift. I asked him what it was, he said, "Magazines." It was actually a new camera, but all he could see was the manual! Yes, I have my 6th digital camera. In my defense, I think I take more pictures in a week than many people take in a lifetime!! And I am HARD on them. My camera is always with me, which sometimes leads to my downfall. My last camera has not worked since we spent Easter weekend at the beach. The crazy wind blew sand in the lens. David had the audacity to say to me that it was somehow my fault for bringing the camera out of the car to the sandy, windy beach. What? I had to bring it and capture the moments. It was Max's first trip to the ocean. I had to have photos. That was a given. It is unfortunate that the camera is pretty much ruined, but I stand by my decision. And I believe that my camera was happy to make the sacrifice and capture the special moments of our beach trip.

Anyway, the point is "YAY NEW CAMERA!!

All my Mother's Day LOOT, except the camera which took this picture. . .
David also cooked me my favorite supper on the grill - hamburgers with corn and slaw. Doesn't that sound delicious??? What a great day to celebrate Mommas!! I am so thankful for my Momma! And I am pretty thankful to David for helping me become a Momma myself. Don't know what I'd do without my babies. . .

Look at these nut balls, they are always giving me something to laugh about:

Stare at the Pig

This is the title of a game. Jessa made up this game. She first suckered David into playing it a few weeks ago. I was not with them, so I did not hear it. He was confused because she is the creator of the game, thus she is the only one who knows the rules. And as you can imagine, these rules are subject to change, and she won't tell you that either. The first time they played, he thought he lost. He asked me if I knew about this game. I did not.

So one night after supper, the babes wanted to go back outside for a few minutes. They had spent a lot of time outside earlier since we have been enjoying the nice spring/summer-ish weather. A positive to this is that I have noticed how much tireder they are at night. They give me way less trouble about going to bed and fall right to sleep, so I am all for a few more energy wasting minutes. And now that Daddy was home, they wanted him to play some, too.


I was busy cleaning up the kitchen, and Jessa came in to tell me that it was time to play a fun new game called Stare at the Pig. I walked outside and saw David grinning at me. He told her to fetch me so another person could witness/participate/try to understand/learn how to play this fun new game that is sure to catch on and sweep the nation.

She lined us up in chairs and told us we were supposed to stare at the pig. Apparently, she was the pig. She explained that we were supposed to stare at her (as the pig) for 5 minutes. And whoever did that was the winner. We were also not supposed to talk. We were slightly concerned about the actual objective. She is a fair judge, though, so we left the decisions in her hands.


The Pig (Jessa) got started. After a couple minutes, without warning, she jumped up and declared Spencer the winner. OK, sure, fine. Now it was his turn to "be the pig." He complied (as he always does with anything that she asks of him). After a shorter time, she announced that David was the winner. He then proceeded to "be the pig." After a minute or two, she stopped him and yep, you guessed it, Mommy was the next winner and new pig. I became the pig. After a minute, she said she was the winner again, and we were right back where we started.


An important aspect of this game is that the audience is a huge part of the fun. Do not think that the pig is doing all the work or getting all the excitement. Oh no! We all took our turns observing and playing the very important role of the ones who Stared at the Pig. After all, staring is the whole point of the game, right? I guess? Who am I kidding? I have no idea, but Jessa seems to enjoy it.

To help you understand this extremely fun and complex game, please enjoy this short video of "Stare at the Pig". Do not be alarmed if after you are still confused, even after viewing the video. This may very well be part of the fun. You will note that no clip of "Mommy as the pig," is included. Although I would like to point out that I did introduce rolling in the mud and wallowing to the activities for the pig to perform. Strangely, there is no footage.

**Something to note, if you are the holder of the camera, you are never in incriminating or embarrassing photos or videos. . . I love being the holder of the camera! Ha!

Don't be jealous of all of our family fun and creative game playing. Jessa is available for workshops to introduce your family and friends to the ball of fun that is STARE AT THE PIG!
Let us schedule one for you today.

It's going to sweep the nation, I just know it is.

Love Notes

When Lucas and I were in school, Momma would many times pack us a lunch. When she did, there was always a note in it. She (of course) knew every detail of our school days and would write messages of encouragement accordingly. If we had a test early in the day, the note would say she loved us and that she hoped it went well. If the test was after lunch, she would wish us luck. I always loved this and treasured the moments I discovered them. Even when we were far away from Mom, we were reminded of how much she loved us and how special we were.

What a sweet Momma I have. . .

David has always written me sweet notes, too. From notes he sent me to my mailbox at NGC to post-its he leaves around the house for me to e-mails from Iraq. When he left for Advanced Camp the summer before his senior year of college, I took him to the airport. I was devastated to see him go. I cried and cried - SIX WHOLE WEEKS! How could I survive without him? I drove back to North Georgia for summer school, and what was waiting for me in my mailbox? A letter from him that he had mailed to me before he left!! It actually said something about the fact that while I was reading it he was flying over "the breadbasket of America." So sweet!

I had never heard that "breadbasket" thing before.

I also like to write him little notes. When he goes to the field or to an army school or especially a deployment, I sneak notes into his luggage, in his socks, in his computer, in his clothes and shoes - wherever I can hide them. Last time, he found a note after he got home. I am a good hider!

From a pair of socks that he never wore during his last stay in Iraq!
I sometimes leave him post-it notes on his ID card that I know he will have to use when he gets to work. We also leave each other notes on the mirror or on the coffee pot. One time, he was deploying to Albania from Germany. He had to be there really early, and I was so devastated about his leaving (boy have I grown up!) that he insisted on driving the car and leaving it at work. I had someone take me over to get it after he left.

He had left me a note hanging on the blinker:

What a nice surprise from D.

Little notes are full of love and thoughtfulness!

When Jessa started to preschool, I desperately wanted to write her notes in her lunch box. She was not a big reader, being 2 and a half and all, so I drew hearts and such. Now, I always write notes for her and Spencer. Some of her sight words are found in my notes because she sees them everyday. Spencer's teacher in Stockbridge said that my notes were her favorite part of the day. She could not wait to see what I had sent. I sometimes color pictures, use stickers, cut out shapes like hearts, snowflakes, Christmas trees, or whatever I think of at the time. I have lots of fun coming up with the perfect idea to let them know I am thinking of them while they are at school.

I was completely unaware of the funniest and sweetest thing. Jessa has been saving every note I write her. It touched my heart, though, that my little "love notes" are so important to her. She started it at the beginning of this school year. Her lunch box has an extra pouch on the bottom where she started storing her notes. It was months before I noticed. She is so proud of her "collection." She even taught Spencer to use an extra storage place on his lunch box to store his "love notes," too. It makes me smile to know that they look forward to my little notes.

Quite the collection, wouldn't you say??

I guess I come by my "love note" tendency honestly, though. To this day, Momma, Daddy, and even Mimi and Poppy do not ever mail us a package or anything without adding a "love note." And nothing can make you feel better than a little note letting you know that someone you love is thinking of you.

Dog Photography

Bless my Daddy! He is as fired up and inspired to try and photograph the dogs as I am. . .

Mom simply laughs at us. It is like that phrase about "herding cats." I am obsessed with having a good picture with all the dogs in it, preferably with no humans. Lucky for me, Daddy shares this obsession.

Our first attempt with Abby, Cooper, and Dunken was in Louisiana. Here are 4 of the 30+ pictures.

This got harder on December 17th when I added a dog to the mix.

The best we could do over the holidays. . .

The weekend of Lucas's wedding, Momma and Daddy spent some time with us. We are more dog friendly than Tybee Island, so we had all 4 terriers with us. What a perfect opportunity to capture the perfect doggie moment, don't you think? We had treats, a place where they were sort of confined, a camera, decent light, and sheer determination. I snapped 158 pictures of the precious puppies. Here are a few that did not go well:

This was the best one:

What do you think?? Should we go into business? Want to order an 8x10 glossy?? At the very least, let's start a new phrase. Instead of "like herding cats," we'll say, "like trying to photograph dogs?"