it's a very ten eyck christmas

Once we got downstairs.... the kids checked the note and the milk and cookies to see if Santa had fueled up at his stop at our place... and he HAD! Not only that, but he wrote a thank you note... a testament to his stellar manners :) He even neglected to mention that the cookies Dave and I left him were absolutely AWFUL- not my fault!! Dave is always trying new organic and 'healthy' recipes for sweets, and this one was a BOMB, according to Dave! I'm like, pass the oreos, homes!!

Reason #14,237 why I LOVE my Jack... he insisted that we get Baba a gift- a toy cell phone- and then was making calls to all of Baba's friends wishing them a happy holiday! He was calling Blanky, of course!

This is my awesome gift pile- a testament to how well my family knows me! I got some seat protectors for my kids car seats so they don't damage my leather seats; a book on the Beatles (I am a BIG fan), some colorful wool socks, and other socks from Dave bc I always gank his socks- he gets the BEST socks from EMS, and I just love them, sorry honey! and a big bling ring from Jack in the shape of a heart, because he loves me so...

Here the aptly named 'Pony' eats her breakfast that Georgie Girl sets out for her!

And my boy... in his GLORY! This little guy just loves his trains and man was he pumped to get this Holiday Edition Lionel G Scale train!


Quintessential Georgie.....I have some pictures of me when I was little doing this almost exact pose... I gotta dig those up!!!

Here's my little kitchen helper, she just loves cooking with mama!


That's right people.... real yummy homemade french toast.. made with italian bread but whatever!! :P

I love how they just let me shoot to my heart's content...

You know you are the child of a photographer when you know how to 'smile with your eyes'

Big Daddy Ten Eyck having a tea party with the little Miss


I'm not sure who was cuter on Christmas morning... the kids or Dave! Once Georgie's little kitchen was set up the night before thanks to her grandparents! Dave went running up to the attic and started digging out little accessories that he had squirreled away... like the Hello Kitty trash can we had up there, and the little wooden baby highchair for Georgie's dolls... and then the cutest was the top to some container, he said 'look! a serving tray!' COME ON!!!! Holy cuteness. So Miss Georgie piled her 'new' serving tray high with goodies and went around offering everyone a treat... here Jack makes his selection very, very carefully! (I picked the cookie and the lettuce ;)

Jack's grandfather got him an N scale train, which is the smallest scale, I think... and then they built all kinds of tunnels for it to go thru out of the used up boxes that all of their toys came in... my family LOVES to recycle and be creative!

After the craziness of the morning subsided, Jack and Georgie took a little sibling time to just catch up and have some tea

Now I am about to BUST Dave UP here... he is out of his mind. So frugal. So tight with his wallet with the most random things! I think most people get caught up with this one, me? Not so much! The price of GAS? Really? OK, even if it's 10 cents more at one place than another, you have a 15 gallon tank, right? OK, that's only ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS MORE to fill up at the other place!!! AHHHHH!!! That's IT! Here Dave and his Dad were doing some complicated math equations trying to see if if was worth charging their gas to get back 5% or to pay cash.... really. Really. REALLY!!! But then they'll go blow money on some high end hoo ha or another, and not bat an eye. But I KNOW it's because they saved that $1.50 per fill up... right!

I love my sister in law Kate and her husband Noah... they are just wonderful people. Here Kate and Dave are belting out some Beatles tunes for Christmas! That's just our tradition, don't hate. Now when Dave usually sings he kinda sounds like Kermit the frog- this is not a rank- but an observation, Kermit is cute, right? But this year he got all into it and came up with some interesting vocal arrangements for songs like 'Blister in the Sun' not a Beatles song but a request from Jack, it's a Violent Femmes song...my other new Dave fave is his rendition of Mariah Carey's Christmas song, he couldn't remember the melody and just improvised, it was actually pretty awesome!! (even tho I was giggling while doing the Hello Kitty puzzle while he was doing it) But who is the bigger nerd here? LOL

Just adding more cuteness to the pile of cuteness that is my family...

Here is was just messing with Dave, trying to see how close I could get to him to make him mess up and laugh while he was singing! He is such a good sport :)

And then back to our regularly scheduled tea party... this time with Pony.

One of the things I used to love doing when I was little was talking on the phone. The one that wasn't even plugged in to the wall. Just having pretend conversations. Looks like Georgie is too! Here she is gabbing it UP with her friend Reilly! (who isn't really on the phone, of course)

And...SCENE! How else to end a Christmas without some wildlife? This is what you get when you fill the cats bowl too much... you get an all you can eat light hanging over my house for all of the creatures in the woods! YUCK!

snow day part two thousand and eight

The snow outside here in Connecticut is nothing short of beautiful & amazing- my family, and this includes my husband Dave- are all in their glory this weekend with it!! Now, my car would say other wise- but maybe it'll be better after I get some snow tires on 'er! :P
Here are some shots that I just could not resist taking of my family as they all played outside today- enjoy!

Poor Gigi- she has a tolerance for the snow of like 5 minutes! She went in and out ALL DAY- back in her snow suit, then back out, tracking snow all over my studio and the house...oh well! Here she is watching Jack play, and she gets herself ready to join him

One of the things that Dave obsessed about before we even had kids was being able to go snowboarding with them... it was really something else for me to see this today! It is amazing to me how much like Dave Jack is turning out to be, even the way he rides- so graceful like his Dad!

Another one of Dave's obsessions is going to Vermont- it was one of the things we did regularly- go up to Killington and snowboard / blade - sleep anywhere- dance all night- board all day.... it was FUN! So now, here we may LOOK like we are somewhere other than Hartford.... but we're not! This is right in my backyard- the Park River runs right through it- and it is our little piece of heaven...

Daddy-O and jack Bibbs, pretending to throw snow at me and my D3- such jokers...


The trifecta of Dave's obsessing? Our fire pit!! This guy fires it up like Cheech & Chong at any chance he gets! I can't say I blame him, it makes our outside experience that much more fun!! We had Swingin' Christmas Music on outside, thanks to my outdoor speaker system- a fire pit, fluffy snow, and my family! Now if we had a hot tub Dave would officially be in heaven... ;)

Check out my new favorite mug many thanks to the generous Jacob Bergmeier!!

The Daddy chair lift was in full effect! I would even snowboard if this was how I got up and down our yard... :P

Little Jack Bibbs....this guy is just the best son I could ever ask for- so sweet and polite and loving

And then there's crazy Georgie! Out she comes like a shot- straps into her board and she is OFF- all aggressive too! She bent her knees and had such FORM I was blown away. She tackled the jump Dave made with a big hop with her tounge out!!SHE IS ONLY FOUR!!!!! Burton may be calling us soon... :)

And so I plan our Burton family ad, just in case they call

first day of school aka carla gets her days back

Well.... so THIS is what it feels like....! Am I an empty- nester? I feel like I have been chasing my tail around for the past two hours, like, 'OH! I have sooooo much free time to work and get stuff DONE! Now, what did I need to do again? Wait! Pay bills! OK, wait! no. I'm thirsty! Get some water! ok, no. no. wait. Answer the phone!Ok, that was good another wedding! OK, stop, now what was I doing? Oh! Oh! call Amanda back! Oh SHOOT my aunt is calling now for Georgie's birthday tomorrow...! SHOOT! I gotta get cupcakes! I better not tell Mike! oh wait- what was I doing? Oh for the love of- who put the 'thong song' in my playlist! Gotta change that! Did I send Daddy-o pictures from their first day yet? Wait I did on my iphone but will he read my blog? I better email him! Shoot! I just knocked over my water!!!

etc. etc.

SHOOT! I gotta blog about their first day before I have to go pick them up! AHH!

Gotta start the day with fresh breath and a sparkling smile!

My monkeys right before we run in for the first day

Iron Man + Hello Kitty = super cuteness

Jack looks a bit nervous as he lines up for first grade this morning!

I always love seeing the artwork and stuff on the wall... I'll bet this gets covered in no time

Georgie's cubby for her Hello Kitty backpack!

Our uniforms changed to just khaki and red- even though I was bitter that I had to go buy a bunch more stuff to replace what I had, I have to say it looks super sharp

The kids give their teacher a thumbs up on their way back from breakfast

The little hands on the rail were just so cute

A fresh start for the year for my monkey girl..... she better get to be the line leader or I am going to be PISSED!!! LOL LOL LOL Although she could be the PRESIDENT of the Dramatic Play Assoc...... :) No idea where she would get that from



So..... who's free for lunch???

SERIOUSLY!

You think you've seen me freak out on a shoot? Heard me hootin' and hollerin' over the light and how awesome it is? How everything is just 'OH MY GAWD!!!!' And then more yellin' and stuff...?

Well....you should have SEEN me last NIGHT!! OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!!

Dave and I decided to do a family date night (we normally go on a just a mommy & daddy date night every Friday) to check out the sunflower fields at the Buttonwood Farm in Griswold. I have been looking forward to this for over a year, when the Marantz's did a shoot there. But I just missed it and they cut down all of the flowers. And so I waited!

Then all week it rained! BOO!! And so I waited again! And then with Friday's promise of sun I was internally freaking out all day, looking forward to it and even threatened to leave Daddy-O in the DUST if he came home even a minute past when I said I needed him there... that's how anxious I was to see this!

You know how there are those few things in life that you hold so highly in your brain as things you want to see with your own eyes? The crystal blue waters of a tropical island; works of art by artists like Picasso or DaVinci? Well, vast rolling fields of sunflowers pretty much tops the list for me!

Then add an old stone wall!

and warm delicious golden buttery light??????

Then add my FAMILY to the mix??

Man I am going into cardiac palpitation CITY just thinking about it again!!

Yeah. So it's supposed to be beautiful today but shyte tomorrow so GO ON and GO, check it out for yourself- they are selling bouquets of sunflowers for only $5, all proceeds are going to the Make A Wish Foundation- they have hay rides for only $5 same deal, for Make A Wish.

And then they have homemade ice cream!!! The coconut was incredible!!

I am going back on Sunday, scrapping all other plans and shooting - rain or shine- how cool would these be in the rain??

mayor mike's update!

Last night was such a blast, I want to thank everyone who came out to support not only me but all of the new nine that are currently hanging on the wall! It was a great crowd of people and I had so much fun with my family and friends... so thanks everyone!

So I brought my camera because I SWORE I was going to document it this year but Miss Amanda Harris Herzberger stripped me of my D3 and did the honors! Which was kind of nice for me to just focus on the people's reactions as they saw themselves being unveiled... ends up I couldn't really see but Amanda did a great job of catching them for me, so thanks honey!!!

There were people asking where they can buy more copies of their prints- follow this link and sign up, they should all be up by Friday from the past four years!

http://www.pictage.com/514474


Here are some highlights from the night!

My right hand gal Robin Dini and the illustrious Robert Norman, MD... pre-unveiling

Miss Krystyle double fisting it with not one but TWO Canons!

Mike has stepped over to the Canon dark side, momentarily.... it's OK he had some cocktails, he made a mistake. He is forgiven! ;)

I am clearly laughing at something Robert Norman just said!

My big guy Jack Bibbs

Jack just loves to make fart noises and was demonstrating his skill

During the unveiling Jack couldn't tell me enough that 'this is SO BORING Mom!' Like a thousand times! Thanks big guy! It was his and Georgie's first year coming... and maybe their last! ;)

Hartford Housing Authority head Alan Green with his wife just moments after they saw his portrait

Sandra Stern, another one of the nine is wiping away what I hope is a tear of joy!

Hyacinth Yenne, who is one of FIFTEEN kids...! Checks out her portrait

Little Miss Georgie Picklepuss tries to get my attention during the unveiling - I was on the other end of the restaurant

Donna Berman, who is head of the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, gets some back patting after her portrait is unveiled

Here Donna is taking it all in...

I just can't stop smiling and laughing all night, it was so much fun to see everyone's reactions

The man, the myth, the legend...MAYOR MIKE himself!

Krystyle doing her weird one eyed willy thing while she shoots


Miss Harris talking to who?? Probably Mr. Herzberger!

Miss Freckles herself, Kim Romano!

Our good buddies Nicole & Jennifer of recent wedded bliss fame came by and spent the evening with us all... I can only imagine what Mike was telling Jen


The Marantz's in full effect!

ahh yes, Miz Dini! ooot OOOOOT!