Happy Mother's Day {Mother's Day}

Hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Mother's Day. My family spent the day at my sister's as usual, and our wonderful sons cooked lunch for me, sis, my mother and daughter in law and assorted menfolk. I don't know who my son learned to cook from 'cause it sure wasn't me...but he and his cousin did a great job! Saturday, May 9th would have been my late husband's 55th birthday so Gigi (our granddaughter) and I decided Pops still needed a birthday cake. I decided to do cupcakes instead, not realizing my muffin tin had gone missing. So, they came out a bit wobbly to put it mildly...I wanted to show them to you in all their misshapen glory and to prove my point that a cook I am not! Oh well, at least my chocolate covered strawberries came out good!

We did a few pics in the backyard and here is one of my beautiful daughter in law with my little Gigi (who's getting a brother this fall!). She has learned to "cheese" it up (thanks Aunt Jen for that one!) but 2.5 is such a cute age and I know her Pops is smiling down on her and how much she's grown these last 11 months.

The Glass Cactus Surprise Party

Well, I won't say "who" and I won't say "how old" but one of my regular, great customers booked me way back in July for his wife's birthday (it was yesterday...happy birthday)! The party was about two weeks or so ago (I'm so behind right now...) at the Glass Cactus on the Gaylord Hotel property in Grapevine. I had heard about this place and it was great! L, the birthday girl, has a favorite band, the M80's, a faux British 80's tribute band and they were scheduled to play that night, so that's why her great husband picked that night. I am not a dancer - at all - but even I was shaking my groove thing a little bit while I was photographing on the dance floor. The mark of a good band is when you can actually get people on the dance floor and it was full!

So here's a shot of the M80's...got some great shots of the birthday girl up there singing with them but she may not appreciate me sharing them....so I'll be good and just show the band!

Family Treasures

This is my Uncle Gene...a nicer, kinder man you will never meet. He celebrated his 81st birthday last weekend and we had a big family celebration out at his son's ranch. I call it the compound...many acres and several houses on the property for the various family members. It was a great day and so relaxing! I could move out to the ranch right now! My uncle is married to my mom's twin sister and he's always been one of my favorite relatives...he has a gentle sense of humor and he and my dad used to give each other little ribbings when we all got together. I'm so glad I was there and able to get this image of my uncle...we also did a "real" session for their family...all the sons, wives, grandkids etc.

On a sadder note, my cousin on the other side today said my aunt had had some debilitating strokes and the outlook wasn't good. This is the aunt that I definitely got my wicked sense of humor (and housekeeping skills) from! And my uncle by marriage on that side is also not doing well. He's another one of the great "gentle giants." I was blessed with a great family and now that I am in my 50's its sad to start to lose our elder members. Not trying to drag this post down, but I lost my dad in 1995 and I so regret that I wasn't doing photography then because we have so few pictures of my dad. It's very important to take their pictures now, while you still have them in your lives. I got a great image of my mom (77) walking hand in hand with Gigi (17 months) at the picnic...its truly priceless especially since we almost lost my mom last year. Gigi will always have that picture to remember her great grandmother by and how much she was loved by her. Images of our family are simple treasures, something to cherish forever.

So, if you have any prayers to spare, my aunt and uncle and their families would appreciate them.

Shabby Birth Announcements - New!

Love, love, love these new birth announcements! I purchased the templates from an awesome designer and am so happy to be able to start offering these. The first collection I will post is for boys...but the cool things about these is that the elements in the design (background paper/colors/fonts etc) can be changed up so you are not locked in to the design as shown...but honestly, they are so adorable they are ready to go as is!

I will post the girl collection shortly but for now, enjoy these. If you'd like more information on them simply email me (cjzee@sbcglobal.net) and I can give you the 411!