Up-Do's and Earings

Happy Sunday to you! We started out the day bright and early (actually it was rainy/dark and early when I got up). Last night, after showers, I put sponge rollers in the girl's hair with hopes of having curls today. It actually worked better than I expected. The last time I attempted rollers was when Rachel was four. The curls didn't hold back then. Both girls looked simply adorable in curls and tied in a bandana. And NO, I didn't snap any photos. Sorry. It took so long to get them done last night that I was just ready to send them to bed.

This morning, the up-do's went much better than they had on Saturday afternoon. The sponge rollers really made a difference! I think we'll be ready by the day of the wedding.

Here's a quick photo of the girls right before we dashed out the door for church. I hope you like it, Leah! Sarah's looks better in this picture, but I actually thought Rachel's turned out better. Her hair is just enough darker that it's hard to see in this shot.

So, as the title of today's entry indicates, there are also EARINGS in the day's happenings. The girls and I went to the mall and they each got their ears pierced. We went directly from the mall to an outdoor birthday party (complete with water balloons, silly string and mud) so Rachel was in no condition for pictures tonight.

Their earings match and are white gold "diamonds". We let Sarah go first because she's a bit braver. They each did very well and are extremely excited for all these fun changes. Rachel almost chickened out on the way to have them done, but eventually got over her anxiety and decided that if Sarah was going to do it, she could too.

Scott and Kirk spent back-breaking hours at his parent's house today. The men were splitting wood for our winter warmth. There's enough wood for the entire winter for all three families with some left over. Is it almost that time again? It's hard to think about wood-burning stoves when the air conditioning is still on. Scott and his cousin spent the day scooping up sawdust and hanging out with Grandma.

I have a high-school senior portrait session tomorrow. I'm praying for good weather! At this point it's about 50/50 in the rain predictions. I enjoy the teens. It's fun working with them and they all come with their own ideas. We're planning on a car-photo too.

There's still time to schedule high school senior portraits. Call me soon to schedule your teen. Many Seniors are getting their required photos done where the school dictates and are coming to me for the fun, "everything else" shots. Now that fall is looming, and the heat is less intense, your outdoor sessions will be wonderfully pleasant.

Thanks for keeping in touch. As always, leave me a note or drop me an email when you visit.

Karen Thaemert

She's Unique!

Now that school's back in full-swing, our days are pretty much the same. I babysit the neighbor's little girl every morning. She loves playing with Sarah and they carry baby dolls around almost the entire time.

After lunch I spend time with Scott. I can tell he needs some "Mom time" when he gets home from school. I'm really proud of him. He's so diligent with his homework. He's already completed his two homework pages that were sent home on Monday and due on Friday. They're working on "Letter People" in Kindergarten and have Mr. M (with a Munching Mouth) this week.

For our entertainment this evening, my free-spirited Sarah shows up wearing every one of the new headbands I just bought for the girls. A little while later, she is called up from the basement to get her jammies on and has some new SHOES on her feet. In reality, the shoes are toilet paper wrapped around her feet and ankles and then taped securely.

Of course, these will be the pictures I share with you today. They are just quick snapshots taken with my digital point-and-shoot camera, but it does the trick. What do you think of my little Diva?

There's one more thing to notice in the above photos. Sarah's standing in the newly painted living room. I still need to buy/make curtains and buy new shades. The windows are very plain and exposed, but the nice light tan-colored walls are visible. We also don't have anything hanging on the walls. I plan on taking a family portrait and having a large canvas print created for over the couch. I'll need to go shopping and get us coordinating clothing before we venture outdoors with the camera. Kirk will make the frame and then we'll be ready for the walls.

I have a sample canvas print in my studio. I think everyone should have at least one large family portrait prominently hung in their homes. Let me know how I can help you!

Take care! Jot down a comment so I know you stopped by!

Karen Thaemert

Rachel's new "do"

Well, Rachel's new haircut isn't much different than what she looked like the last time she got it cut, but her teeth are grown in a bit and she's definitely changing in to a sweet young lady. I had to bribe her to do these photos. I gave her a pink lip-gloss and she was "all mine" for about 15 minute.

I moved my lights around to a position that I don't often use and it worked wonderfully for her since glasses-glare is often a problem. Not this time!

So, here they are. Let me know what you think of my "little" girl. (To see a larger version, just click on the image and it'll bring it up in another window.)





I'm excited and can't wait to get some of these photos printed. Let me know if you want one!

We had some excitement around here tonight! The neighbor down the street called and told us that the Mid-grade gas at the station closest to us was only $1.87 a gallon. Word spread quickly and everyone flocked to fill up. Kirk took my car and the gas can. It was only that grade of gas and it wasn't advertised. We think it was a mistake and enjoyed being able to get in on it. Too bad the truck is diesel. My tank in the Neon is so small that my savings aren't nearly as good as someone with a larger one.

Other than that - it was a normal Thursday. Well, mostly normal. Adult Choir hasn't started up yet, so I was home tonight.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll make sure I share your comments with Rachel. Leave her a few - ok?

Karen Thaemert

First day of School 2006-2007

Today was the FIRST day of school. Rachel started third grade and Scott started Kindergarten. It was very exciting for both of them. We dropped Scott off first and then took Rachel down to her classroom. Rachel couldn't wait for us to leave. Ha! She needed to get down to business and put her last couple of things in her desk.

The big news is that I didn't CRY. I did come close to it when I told Sarah and the neighbor baby (the one I babysit) that today was Scott's first day of school and that it was just us at home this year. I quickly got them buckled in the car and composed myself. Not too bad. We'll see how mom fares next year.

Here are two quick shots. I have a couple more, but didn't want to take the editing time away from my other necessary to-do's for this evening.

Don't you just love that second photo. They are holding hands as they walk to the door. So sweet. Those are some pretty full backpacks too, huh?

Oh and I also got Rachel in the studio for a "new hair" session this afternoon. They turned out wonderfully. I'll put them online in tomorrow's blog entry. Make sure you pop in tomorrow. I had to bribe her to get her to come down. I put a little blush and powder on her face and then bought her a pink lip gloss from my Mary Kay closet. Good bribery works every time!

Thanks for stopping by. Leave a message in the comments so I know who was here! I love reading them (and your emails too).

Karen Thaemert

Our Last Horrah!

Today is our last day of summer vacation. I took the kids to the zoo for our last summer outing. This is the first zoo trip without a stroller since my days before kids. A very significant milestone for sure.

Highlights include our search for the waving lizzard. We failed but enjoyed ourselves none-the-less. On our last visit to the herpitarium, there was a lizzard that would wave at us. He was so funny and the kids just loved him. They havn't forgotten and talk about it all the time. It was high on Sarah's list to find him again. Unfortunately, they changed some of the displays again and we didn't find him.

We ate our lunch fairly early and were soon ready for a snack. I splurged and bought 4 bowls of Dippin' Dots. What a refreshing treat. I got Oreo, but I wish I had gotten Rainbow like the kids each selected. Yum!

The orangutans weren't outside today. We have yet to find them active. The giraffe was friendly and was eating hay right by the sidewalk. We arrived at the Sea Lion's area just in time to watch them get fed. We were all entertained by them!

Amazingly enough, after we left the zoo and started the hike back to the car, Scott and Sarah were still RUNNING. One gentleman going the opposite direction made a funny comment. He said, "Mom, you didn't make them walk enough. They aren't worn out." No kidding!

None of the kids fell asleep on the way home either. I was happy about that though, because I wanted them to go to bed easily, which they did. So, here are a few photos. It was beautiful but very sunny!

Last night we starting moving furniture into the newly painted front room. We're making that the living room now and the other one will become the dining room. I love how it turned out. Now I need to find some fabric for curtains and get something to replace the blinds. Photos of the room will be a project for another day.

Until next time!

Karen Thaemert

Happy Birthday Scott

Join with me in celebrating Scott's 6th birthday. He had a very exciting two days. Yesterday we had a party at the bowling alley. There were 5 boys (ages 4-6) and they played Bumper Bowling. Scott had the highest game at a whopping 91. He even beat the girls (Rachel, Sarah and a classmate of Rachel's). Ice-cream cake and presents were done next door at Dairy Queen.

Today we had School Registration Day and picture day and take your supplies to your classroom day. Wow, my kids were wound up! Pretty much all the supplies are at school and waiting for the kids to return on Wednesday. We kept Scott's gym shoes at home for a few more days so that we can continue teaching him to TIE his shoes!

Rachel has a new hair cut. I didn't get her in the studio today for photos. Perhaps tomorrow! Scott however DID make it for his 6-year-old Portrait session. He and I had such a fun time. He was a little "stiff" so I started singing the funny version of Happy Birthday... You know this version: "...You look like a monkey and you smell like one too!" He was laughing so hard. I guess he doesn't remember me singing that to him last year. Anyway, he was a great subject and adorable too. Hmmm, he's growing up, maybe I should say 'handsome' instead.

So, of course, for my photo shares, here are some Birthday Boy portraits. Kirk came home as we were ending the session and I got him to pose for a couple. (Literally - he posed for two shots.) I'm glad I got a good one. I think I need to print a large photo of the two of them. :)

Remember, if you want to see the larger version, just click on the photo and you'll be taken to a new page with an easier to see picture.





Thanks for stopping by. I'll share your well-wishes with Scott.

Karen Thaemert
St. Charles, MO

I love Purple

Wow, today was jammed packed with stuff. Just hearing about it is enough to make you tired. The kids and I made a WalMart run at 8 am this morning. We were home in time for my 9 am photo appointment. Shortly after the photo session, I had two neighbor girls for a couple of hours. This afternoon, Scott had his 6-year-old routine doctor visit. He's doing fine and ready for school. (He's so funny. He puts his STUFFED backpack on and walks around the house).

Toy's R Us sends out $3 gift cards to members of the Birthday Club. So, after the Dr. appointment we went there to spend it (and of course, more of my own money).

The afternoon was spent playing with Scott's new Fly Wheel out in the field (that's what he bought with his gift-card). When we came back indoors, I played a couple of games of Yahtzee with Rachel. I picked that up at the toy store too. A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to play that with Rachel and couldn't find it. I don't know what happened to my old (really old) set. It's a great game for reviewing addition and learning multiplication. I'm glad she had fun too!

My photo share is another sneak-preview from today's session. This little darling recently celebrated her first birthday. I was looking forward to some pink balloon photos, but she wasn't at ALL interested in the balloon. Actually, her teeth are trying to come in and she wasn't interested in being in the studio at all, but we were patient and got a few "keepers".

The purple is my latest paper background. I absolutely love the color. As soon as I got it, I experimented with lighting it and seeing how light a purple I could get and how dark too. I love the clean look of paper and knew that I would love this particular color. Anyone who loves purple is welcome to request it at your next session!

Until next time!

Karen Thaemert

Tax Free

This is the weekend we wait for all summer long! Tax-Free weekend. School supplies and kids clothes (and a few other items) are all not taxed. We went school supply shopping this morning and then went clothing shopping at the Mills Mall. We made a killing on clothes! Of course, we also spent a small fortune.

The kids are all in my nephew's wedding and we bought their dresses today too. Here are some quickie photos of them modeling the dresses. We only took a couple of photos because they were more interested in playing "house" and "dog" or something like that. I hope they are acceptable!

My next dilema is how to do their hair. I need suggestions. There's not much I can do with them. They each have bone-straight hair that doesn't do much. I'll need to practice a couple of times!

Leah, if you made it here to see the photos, let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading.

Karen Thaemert
of Karen Thaemert Photography

Friday Already?

Where did the week go? Wow, it's already Friday. Kirk's been off all week and it went by FAST! The room is painted, the ceiling is done and the baseboards are painted. We still need to clean the carpets before putting the trim back on. The windows still need painting. But, it looks good and soon we'll move furniture back in. Phew!

Kirk took the kids to the pool while I stayed home and cleaned house and had some alone time. Wow, it was so quiet, I didn't know what to do with myself. Hee hee. Really, the time went fast. After I got my chores done, I went outside and watered the plants and grass. Then I came back inside and played piano until they got home with dinner.

I had an extremely cute little boy today for a photo session. I havn't had time to go through all the photos yet, but I did find one that I think will be my favorite. Here's a sneak peek:

What an adorable smile! I am so fortunate to have such wonderful people and children to work with. He had his moments (of course) but it is all worth it when we're able to capture such a wonderful expression. This one may need to go up on my wall.

Let me leave you with a little word of advice if you have a child around this age (6-months). If you want to keep baby content, put some towels in a basket, add a couple of toys and then put baby in. Contentment - for you and baby! Every time I put a little one in a basket like this, I hear the Mom or Dad comment that they should go out and buy a basket (or use a laundry basket from home). Go for it! It'll work for a while at least.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Karen Thaemert
of Karen Thaemert Photography St. Charles, MO

Painted and Playing

Hello friends! It was just another busy day at the Thaemert house today. I did regular house/kids stuff this morning while Kirk was gone. We finally got all the wood off the driveway. There was still a rather large pile of logs that we got from neighbor's trees that came down in the storm a couple of weeks ago. It was finally under 100 today, so we all pitched in and got the wood job completed.

This afternoon, we of course painted. One coat is all it needed. Base boards get painted tomorrow. The project is coming along nicely. I'm getting a little tired of having a cluttered living area.

My photo from today is just a snapshot of the kids playing on the Slip-n-Slide. They helped with the wood for a while, and then needed to play. We invited a friend over and had some wet fun! Don't you think Sarah is **too comfortable** in front of the camera? She's showing off for me.

Tomorrow I have an adorable 6-month-old little guy coming for portraits. I love the babies. He should be sitting for us too (Mom said he was doing well a week or so ago). Here's my favorite pose with this age:

Oh, I just love that adorable face! Her cheeks and eyes and chubby self is just perfect. That little angel will be here soon for her birthday portraits!

So, until tomorrow. I need to spend a couple of minutes in the studio and make sure it's ready and all the lights are in place.

I'm glad you popped by.

Karen Thaemert
of Karen Thaemert Photography

Primed!

Wow, after two days of scrubbing and washing the walls we are primed and ready for paint. The new color is a nice shade of light tan. My tricepts are sooooo sore. Oh my goodness. We've been removing wallpaper for years (since all the rooms in the house except our small bathroom and my office had wallpaper when we moved in) but this was definitely the largest room we've tackled. I literally washed the walls for something like 17 hours. Well, I was scraping glue and washing.

We had a little break this afternoon when the power went out. Yes, it went out again. It was out for less than three hours this time though. Instead of staying home, we ran to Lowes and picked up our primer and paint and some other necessary items. By the time we returned, the power was back on.

No photo to share today. I was much to grimy to even think of picking up my camera. I'll post one tomorrow. We may not paint tomorrow. Kirk is bidding on a job of cutting up a tree and repairing roof damage with his dad. It's so much easier to paint when there are two of us, I'll wait for him to come back.

Again, I want to say thanks for all the nice emails/comments. I've enjoyed seeing your notes in my inbox. Thanks for your encouragement with my photography business. I'm really enjoying myself and those I'm photographing. I was going to use the slang "shooting", but I'm continually reminded of the silliness of photography slang. I don't think I'll get much business if I tell people I'm going to shoot them, blow them up and frame them. Of course every good portrait deserves to be blown up and framed, but it never quite sounds right when talking to those who are not photographers themselves. (And even then it always sounds messed up!)

Well, I hope I've made you giggle with that. It's time for a shower. Then I think I'll sit down with a wine cooler and relax for a few minutes and enjoy our accomplishments from today.

Remember to visit here often and let me know when you've stopped by!

Karen Thaemert
of Karen Thaemert Photography