Suzanne McGrath Photography

Will and Sydney {Overland Park kids and family photographer}

I have been wanting to blog this session for a couple weeks.  Well now, I am finally getting around to doing it!  We have been great friends with this family long before any of us even had kids.  Now that is a long time:)

Without further adieu...

 

Six on Sunday...a Thanksgiving Recap

1.  I can't believe Thanksgiving is already over.  It turned out to be a fantastic day!  We started the day with the Thanksgiving Day 5k run.  I can't believe we actually managed to get everyone out there.  It was only 20 degrees outside!  My hubby and I ran the race (and actually managed to turn in a solid time, too) and everyone else walked it.  #1 and her Grandpa Jerry walked the whole 5k.  I was so proud of her!  Everyone else cut it short since it was so cold outside.  The kids did great, except for #4 who had HAD it by the time we caught up with her.  I can't say I blame her - it was darn cold out that morning.  We learned a lot and I figure the next time we do the race, the kids will be older and so much easier.  In fact, we are planning on running it with #1 and #2 next year!  Yippee.  

After the race, we headed across the street - Starbucks, baby!  I am sure that was the high point for the kids:)  We hung out there for quite awhile while we drank our coffees and hot chocolates and just enjoyed warming up from the inside out.

2.  Thanksgiving dinner was great!  I truly think my favorite part of the meal came at the beginning.  When all of us were finally seated around the tables, we said a short prayer.  I loved the sound of everyone's voices - the way we were so loud.  It was a great reminder that we were all together.

This is what the kids table looked like about 15 minutes into it:  Deserted except for #4.  

3.  Our Huskers won on Friday.  And it was a fun win - not one of those nail biters!  My brother-in-law also brought down some delicious ribs so we all indulged for a second day in a row.  We were very industrious, though.  We managed to polish off quite a few leftovers!  

4.  I managed to make a dent in my holiday shopping on Black Friday.  I finished each girls' WEAR present.  READ is also now 50% completed.  I also managed to find most of their Christmas Eve PJs.  I feel so accomplished!

5.  We still have a few leftovers.  I ran out of gravy, though, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  I can't eat leftover mashed potatoes and stuffing without gravy.  However, I can definitely eat the cheesecake without gravy!  yum.

6.  Lastly, Thanksgiving always makes me stop a minute and think about everything I have which makes me so very grateful.  I mean, my roof leaks if it rains just the right way.  We desperately need new carpet upstairs.  My first two rooms are empty - forever more referred to as the toybox room.  However, I know life is so much more than that.  Those things will get addressed and therefore, I don't worry about them more than I should.  I have a wonderful family, kids, husband, health - so much to be thankful for right now.  After all, life is not about the destination, it's about enjoying the journey and that's what we are doing.

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving, too!

More than Six on Monday

1.  I don't have a good excuse for not blogging last night.  I just couldn't muster the energy.

2.  We had a really fun weekend.  The hubby and I managed to have a fun couples date night.  My sister and her hubby watched our girls for us.  Totally awesome.  As an aside, #4 slept through the night for my sister.  I am now ready to ship #4 off to my sister until she sleeps through the night at MY house!

3.  I am hosting Thanksgiving this year.  I've mentioned it before.  I can hardly wait because I LOVE THANKSGIVING!!  I love everything about it - cooking, drinking wine, hanging out, just enjoying the day.  I can't wait.  Seriously.  Did I say that already?  Yep.  

4.  In order to get ready for the big day, I've cut up the ciabatta bread for the stuffing, bought most everything I can, ordered the fresh turkey, and I'm baking the cheesecake tomorrow night.  The house, you ask?  Yeah, seriously NOT ready for people.  It's a total disaster.  I need help.  Help?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Darn. 

5.  I shadowed a real estate photographer today.  His images are simply stunning.  Watching him work was amazing - the detail he notices and puts into every shot.  The number of flashes he uses in just one shot is incredible!  I think I may have found a new photography niche that is calling my name.  We shall see...

6.  I'm a little nervous for the weather on Thanksgiving morning.  It is supposed to be COLD and our families are all supposed to walk in the 5k - including the kids.  The plan is that the grandparents and my sister and her hubby will walk with the six kids.  That way my hubby and I will be able to run the 5k and pretend to burn off enough calories to eat Thanksgiving dinner without guilt.  (Yeah, right.)  But it should be a good time and then the kids can participate in the fun run at the end.  I just hope it's not too cold to take the fun out of it.  My fingers are crossed.  

7.  Because I can't end a post without sharing an image, here is just one from a session I did a couple weekends ago down at the West Bottoms.  I'll share more tomorrow or Wednesday. 

 

Ava and Olivia {Shawnee childrens and family photographer}

As promised, here is the second session I did a couple weeks ago.  This session was a breeze considering we had a one year old and a three year old!  Lucky for me, Olivia still wasn't quite walking on her own - not that she's not a speedy crawler!  And Ava was a complete and total doll.  See for yourself.

 

James and Phillip and some fun, family pictures {Overland Park family and kids photographer}

It's here!  I promised a sneak peek and it took me just a little longer than normal.  I don't want to show too many images for fear that I may ruin a Christmas card surprise - so I REALLY narrowed it down!  

First up, the family.  They clean up nicely, huh?!  (Just kidding...)  

And here are the brothers.  Let me tell you, getting them to stand near each other was no small feat!!

Next, it's James' turn.  James is into football - watching it, that is!  He couldn't wait to be done so he could go home and watch a very important game.  James also plays baseball, soccer, and swims year round.  Not to mention, he had just won a cup stacking competition that morning.  Man, he's a busy kid!

Lastly, it's Phillip's turn.  Phillip was a HAM!  I have some awesome shots of him that just make me laugh.  Phillip is also a sports nut.  He plays football, baseball, and basketball but only swims in the summer.  I can't imagine coordinating all their schedules!

All right - that's it, folks.  Now I need to get their gallery online.

Six on Sunday...Busy Weekend Edition

1.  This will be quick.  It was a busy weekend!  But a good kind of busy.  The kind where I can go to bed tonight and feel like my bucket is full.  I like that feeling.  I know I accomplished a lot and enjoyed it.  

2.  My parents came down this weekend.  #1 and #2 go to an elementary school that goes ALL OUT for Veteran's Day.  We've never participated and I'm not sure why?  This year, the girls were able to host my dad!  (My dad served in Vietnam back during the Tet Offensive before I was even a twinkle in his eye!)  It was awesome!

Parents at the school donate a wonderful, hot breakfast!  (I got roped into my homemade cinnamon rolls - yum)  The breakfast was at 8am.  There was an all-school program at 9am.  It was so neat.  The students who hosted a veteran were able to walk in with their veteran and sit at a place of honor during the assembly.  After the assembly, there was a group photo.  All in all, 57 veterans were there that day - seven from WWII!  It was just wonderful to realize that our school is really helping students understand what Veteran's Day means to them, personally.  After the photo, some of the veteran's - my dad, included - went to the kids' classroom for a Q&A session.  

Here is a picture of #1 and #2 with their Papa:

3.  My parents were lucky enough to be able to time their visit to coincide with #3's fourth birthday party.  Since there are quite a few November birthdays in #3's class, we had a combined party with one of her besties, Taylor.  We held the party at Jumpin' Jax.  I think the kids had a blast and it was really fun to watch them run around like crazy.  The other great part about Jumpin' Jax is that all four of my girls enjoyed it!  And that is so hard to come by given their age difference is eight years!

4.  I have two sessions ready to go.  I just need to get the galleries loaded.  So you will DEFINITELY see them this week!

5.  I shot a session down at the West Bottom's tonight.  It was decent weather, but a little chilly.  I could have kept going but the kids were done.  I don't blame them - their little hands were COLD!  They were so much fun, though.  And thankfully for me, they were really quick with their genuine smiles!  That's great because sometimes it's really hard to coax the REAL smiles out:)

6.  Lastly, (random, stream of consciousness - just how I roll) I now have 16 people (including myself) that will be here for Thanksgiving dinner!  We'll have nine adults and six kids.  I am really looking forward to it.  I love to cook Thanksgiving dinner.  Seriously.  Love it.

OK.  That's all, folks.  It's my bedtime.  Come back here because it should be a busy week on the blog!  Have a good one.

San Francisco - the last two days

I need to finish what I started on Sunday night!  Again, if you are not interested in my trip you won't hurt my feelings.  You can just skip this entry.

Sunday was all about wine.  And Sonoma.  But mostly wine:)  We had scheduled a group tour but the other three people cancelled, so we had Jerry all to ourselves!  He picked us up in a van right outside our hotel door and drove us up into Sonoma.  We actually had views of the Golden Gate Bridge on our way up.  I managed to snap a few from the van:

This was the view at the first winery.  I like to call this one, "Breakfast of Champions".  (Hey - I had to eat SOMETHING healthy, right?)

Sadly, it poured again on Sunday.  I really wanted to be able to get outside and get some great shots - but that just wasn't possible.  I had to settle for an open door here or there.  I was most suprised by the size of the vines - they are HUGE.  When I see the wineries along the highway here in the midwest, the vines are really, really small.  I thought that was normal.  Uh, definitely not!

Here we are in the cellar at the second winery.  It was really, really dark so excuse the photos!

All in all, we visited five different wineries that day.  It was really fun to see the different tasting rooms and even more fun to TASTE the different wine!  Between the five of us we managed to procure 23 bottles of wine.  Thankfully, they have awesome boxes and we just checked the wine with our luggage on the way home.  Perfect.

If you are going to SF, I highly recommend a wine tour.  It was so nice not to have to worry about driving and figuring out where to go, how to get there, and who was going to be the DD.  It was really great.

Sunday night we went out for an amazing seafood dinner.  I didn't get any pictures but we all enjoyed it!  It's nice to get away and be able to eat a delicious meal without a one year climbing all over you.  (Not that that ever happens in my house.  Ha.)

Monday we lost one.  Tiffany had to get home a day early - so sad.  We mourned the loss by playing tourist.  Again.  We walked.  A lot.  But it was fun.  

We made our way to Chinatown.  I had promised my kids I would pick them up something from Chinatown, so it was definitely a priority.  I had never been there before and it was really cool.  (Also very touristy, but worth it.)

After refueling at a darling little cafe in Little Italy, we ventured down to the wharf again.  It's such a great place to people watch.  And the weather was absolutely perfect that day!  I managed to get a few shots:

Here are the seals sunning themselves.  Let me be the first to admit that my sense of smell is terrible.  Awful.  But even *I* could smell the stench.  So gross!

 

This next picture was taken inside one of the most adorable candy shops I've visited.  And they offered some "ahem" funny gifts, too!

This was one of the street performers.  At first, he didn't even look real.  But it was so cool to watch him.  He even gave one of my friends a kiss on the cheek!

After we'd had our fill on the wharf, we headed around to Lombard St.  How can you visit SF and not check out Lombard St?  It's impossible.  And the views over that way are simply amazing!

This view is looking up Lombard St.  You can barely see it.

And here it is close up.  (I cloned a lady out of the shot.  Can you tell where she was standing?)  

And that, my friends, is it in a nutshell.  All in all, it was a great trip.  Now, however, I cannot wait to take my family back.  I know my girls would just love it!  I need to wait until #3 and #4 are a little older.  I want them to remember it.  

I've gotta get back to "work".  I've got two sessions to edit!  

 

 

Six on Sunday - San Francisco Style

1.  I am re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird.  I had forgotten what a great book it is.  I have basically given up reading because I just don't have time anymore.  By the time I hit the hay, I'm too tired to read.  But this book is definitely worth the exception.  I can't remember how young I was when I read it, but it's almost like reading it again for the first time.  Fantastic. 

2.  #4 has decided she doesn't need to sleep in her crib.  She would prefer to sleep on us - while rocking her in her rocking chair.  We disagree.  We are now in battle.

3.  Tonight I told the girls we are going to change things up for Christmas.  (I was actually prepared for a backlash.)  They were great - so excited.  This year they will get four presents from us:  something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.  They immediately started thinking about what constitutes something they "need".  This one has them perplexed.

4.  My parents are coming down next weekend.  My older two girls have a veteran's day celebration at their school on Friday.  My dad is going to participate and #1 and #2 can't wait.  #3 has been talking about them coming down for WEEKS!  She doesn't know why they're coming but it doesn't matter.  She is so excited!

5.  Speaking of #3, we're having her birthday party next weekend.  She is thrilled that it's finally going to be her turn.  We're actually hosting it with another friend of hers from school.  There are so many November birthdays (did you see item number one above?) at her school that we thought it might be a good idea to combine a couple!

6.  I ordered my fresh turkey yesterday while doing my grocery shopping.  #1 and #4 came with me.  As #1 and I were placing my order, we didn't notice #4 had escaped her fire truck shopping cart.  Thankfully, some stranger came up to me and asked if "this was my daughter?"  Uh, yes, thank you very much.  Geez - apparently I have an escape artist on my hands!

OK.  So that was a quick and easy Six on Sunday.  Now, for the San Francisco portion.  I am going to warn you - this will be L-O-N-G!  You have been warned, feel free to sign off now.  Otherwise, here is the download of our trip:)

It all started off in the KC airport.  Apparently, my "bathroom bag" (that's what we call it at home) is simply NOT cool.  As in, totally vintage.  I love it.  And because I received so much grief because of it, the Lark shall forever more - ALWAYS - attend any girls trip by my side.

Regardless of the harassment I received regarding the Lark, I think any trip that starts off like this is the mark of a good vacation!  Because remember, it's always noon somewhere!

I think I mentioned it before...but the three of us from KC actually flew into Denver.  We met our other two friends in the terminal bar.  We had a fun lunch, a couple drinks, and then boarded our flight for San Francisco.  

Side note.  Funny story.  We made friends with our flight attendant because it turned out he was from Missouri.  So as we were leaving, he serenaded the "Pi Phi Girls from Lincoln, NE".  Cracked us up.  Again, another good omen for the trip!

Friday night we made reservations at Asia sf.  It was recommended to one of us through a friend.  All I can say is, it's an experience we will never forget!  The girls are all stunningly gorgeous!  Check out this shot from my point & shoot.     

Saturday.  It started off a little misty.  It ended up pouring.  By the time we got back to the hotel that night we were soaked.  Needless to say, we ordered in that night.

Of course you can't visit SF and NOT have a bowl of chowder.  This was to die for!!!

We wandered around, bought a couple umbrellas, and hit Ghirardelli square.  I don't know why, but it was really cool to see it up close.

After we were thoroughly soaked, it was time for Alcatraz.  Touring the island was truly the highlight of my day on Saturday.  I'm not sure why I've been so curious about it, but I have been since we visited SF when I was a kid.  The tour was fantastic!  I am only sad that we didn't get to wander around the grounds.  But by the time our tour landed, it was pouring, and we were all wet and getting cold.  

Look closely...can you tell what you're looking at in this picture?  The showers.  And if you look even closer, you can see bars of soap.

A little backstory here...on the plane, they had an article about the most haunted locations in the U.S.  One of them happens to be cell 14D on Alcatraz.  Of course we had to check it out.  This next shot was taken inside 14D.  I was a little freaked out - hence the poor shot.  But the story is cool.  (I didn't notice it feeling haunted.  It wasn't any colder than any other area Alcatraz.  Just my feeling.)

I've talked a lot about the rain.  If this next picture doesn't convince you - nothing will!

OK, kids.  I'm tired and I still have more work to do!  So I'm going to leave you there.  Tune in later this week for the Sunday and Monday edition.  I also have two sessions I'm working on so they will show up in the near future as well.  Have a great week!

 

 

Ten on Tuesday - the Halloween edition

I'm back!  It's been awhile since I've gone more than two weeks without blogging.  But man, have we been busy!

1.  Our family has been hit hard by a nasty stomach bug that's going around at daycare.  #4 went down last Friday night  - right before we were going to leave for our Trunk-or-Treat event.  Therefore, I took the older three girls and dad stayed home with #4.  She proceeded to barf countless times.  Yuck.

#3 managed to make it through Halloween before succumbing to the nasty bug.  She went down about 1:30am Tuesday morning.  She didn't stop until 8:30am.  Poor thing slept ALL DAY yesterday.

#2 went down last night right before her piano lesson.  (Thankfully it wasn't DURING her piano lesson - we would have never been invited back!)  

I technically never went down (thank goodness).  However, I wasn't able to eat anything for about 24 hours because the mere thought of food made me feel nauseous.  I'm hoping we are now in the clear.   Luckily for #1, she seems to have inherited her dad's iron stomach.  

2.  My girls trip to San Francisco was fantastic.  I haven't done that much sight-seeing in years.  But that's all I'm going to write - it deserves a post all it's own.  Below is simply a preview.  

(So, OK, maybe I snuck in an extra girl!  Angie, in the red sweater, wasn't actually there in body but she was definitely there in spirit!)

3.  I have a busy couple of weeks coming up.  I'll be previewing a few family sessions.  I can't wait!

4.  Our Halloween parties were great!  They were fairly low-key (well, as low key as a group of 10 girls can be!).  It wasn't actually all that much work this year.  The girls and I baked a few goodies a few weekends before the parties and put them in the freezer.  Then, the day of the party we just pulled them out and set them up.  Perfect.  We also had a costume contest.  Of course, everyone won a prize.  We had lots of fun categories:  Best Hair, Most Ingenous, Most Macabre, Most Movie-licious, you get the idea.   

5.  Since we didn't put together our Haunted House this year - we played a game instead.  I never played it as a kid, but I have since heard countless stories about others playing it.  We tied a donut to a string for every girl.  Then they had to eat the donut without using their hands.  The first one done was supposed to be the winner.  We didn't actually have any winners but it was still fun!  We actually did this out in the garage.  I didn't want donut smushed into my carpet - even if I do need to replace the carpet! Check it out:

6.  Would you like to see the girls all dressed up for Halloween?  Of course you do:)  #1 was Medusa.  I had to do her hair FOUR times.  By Halloween night, I was an expert.  Now that she's getting older, she had an offer to go trick-or-treating with a friend.  It was kind of strange not to have her around on Halloween night!  

7.  #2 was a vampire girl.  She picked this costume out back in August!  She never wavered - not for one second.  This was all she wanted to be.  And she LOVED the make-up.

8.  #3 picked out her Belle costume back in early September.  But, since she had already worn it to a wedding, she was sort of over it by the time Halloween rolled around.  She would put on her costume for a short while, but that's all she would tolerate.  She's such a character.   (This picture was snapped with her daycare class.  I had to crop it because I don't like to post pictures of other people's kids without their permission.)

9.  #4 was a witch.  I love this costume and remember when #2 wore it.  I even remember that my sister bought it at Old Navy because that was back in the day before she had two kids of her own!  And I loved it back then, too.  Only back then #2 was old enough to tell me it was itchy and she didn't want to wear it.  Well, this time, #4 didn't fight me.  (Of course, she's not verbal enough to tell me it's itchy, either.  Oh well - works in my favor this time.)

10.  This last one is just a cute little snapshot I got after #3 came home.  I had already put #4 to bed and dad took #2 out for some more trick-or-treating!  So #3 and I were able to hang out by ourselves and count her candy.  (I may have sneaked a few - I'm not saying...)

Have a great week, everyone!  I hope to be back later with a great blog entry about San Francisco!