J Cooper Photography

how much you love your crib.

how you greet me after your nap.

that mouth full of teeth.

those little tufts of hair that never seem to lay down just right.

your favorite spot in your room.

how you scowl when you are thinking hard.

the way your little lips pucker when you say “boat”.

how you cross your ankles when you sit in a chair.

how you scream “booooooks” when you wake up from your nap.

the perfect contours of your little face.

your bust a gut laugh.

I pray I never forget.

I’ve tried no less than 5 times to sit down and write a 10 on Tuesday post (although it is now dangerously close to Friday) to no avail.

So shall we just do 5 on Friday and call it good?

1. I.am.not.cut.out.for.single.parenthood.

2. I only made it 6 days without buying something for one of my kids.  Fortunately, someone was looking out for me and it didn’t fit and has to be returned (am I pathetic or what?)  But in my defense…who knew that Costo would have adorable HANNA ANDERSSON dresses?

3.  I worked a bit on the over-the-bed project for the girls this week.  I had fun trying to come up with something cute that wouldn’t cost much money.  I will probably add to their collages as time goes on but I think I have a good start.  I will take some finished product shots in a few days when the beds are painted and back in place!

Here is J’s collage:  I pulled some frames from my attic and spray painted them all off-white (some were black and others various metallic finishes).  The matted frame was from Goodwill and it even came with that mat (and a lovely angel rendition which I gawked at for a few minutes and then promptly trashed).  The “J” was black too…I had plans at one point to put the kids’ initials in their playroom and then never got around to it.  I found the perfect shade of pink spray paint at Jo-Anns Etc.  The green polka dot mat is from Pottery Barn.  I’ve had them for months.  When we were building the playroom I went overboard purchasing cute things for the walls of the room…only to realize after it was completed that there really aren’t walls   These mats sat in my car for 4 months waiting to be returned.  Good thing I never got around to taking them back!  Finally…a few embroidery hoops with some cute fabric.  I had planned to applique a little owl but found a CHEAP owl iron on and then spent the afternoon blog hopping instead of sewing

All in all…the entire project only cost me about $20 for both beds.

Here is A’s version:

4. I am completely blown away by the generosity of ALL OF YOU who have purchased from my ETSY STORE!!  I’ll be working this weekend to get it re-stocked!  Your goodies should be in the mail soon!

5.  My little man is OBSESSED with a plastic stethoscope.  It is so very strange.  I really shouldn’t be surprised.  My nephews wore plastic buckets on their heads for years (the weirdness must be hereditary).  I’m not joking when I say that he wears it ALL.THE.TIME.  He wears it at breakfast, in the car, reading books…sometimes he puts on the blood pressure cuff as well although that is not mandatory.  I was running errands yesterday and looked down at his sweet little hand in mine at the store and noticed that he had even made it out in PUBLIC with that darn thing on his neck.  I am SO one of “those mothers”

Exhibit A:  On our way out the door

EXHIBIT B:  roaming the house with his blankie

EXHIBIT C:  Chillaxin with a good book

EXHIBIT D: His two true loves

Maybe he’ll outgrow it?  Or maybe he’ll pay for my assisted living someday with his private practice?

HAPPY FRIDAY FOLKS!  Don’t know about you but I am really craving some WEEKEND!

Skipping my normal 10 on Tuesday post tonight to announce the opening of the…

TAKE A BOW ETSY SHOP!

I’ve really got very little other news these days…single parenthood, sweat shop style sewing, and an ice storm have left me completely brain dead!

ALL proceeds from MY SHOP will go towards our ADOPTION FUND.  My goal is to raise the remainder of the money due at time of referral BEFORE we see pictures of our sweet ETHIOPIAN BABY!

Will you consider doing a bit of retail therapy in my store?  I have been working feverishly to get it stocked (meanwhile a few friends were shopping online and depleting my supply as I frantically loaded it in!)  I will be continuing to stock my shop as quickly as I can until I either drop dead or make my way through the ungodly amount of fabric in my studio.

I’d be thrilled if you want to snatch my logo for your blog!

And now I’m going to call it a night…maybe with a good night’s sleep under my belt I can whip up a delayed 10 on Wednesday

for a bit of warmth here.

To all of you in the South who are enjoying warm sun, blue skies, and twittering birds…could you spare a ray or two?

We are covered in glistening ice.  And while it is {lovely} for looking at…and photographing…I would really prefer some warmer temps and a faint whisper that Spring is indeed around the bend.

Because Spring is coming, right?  Or have the cold temperatures and abundant snows made me just delusional? Dear Sun…please come out and play!

And just for some icy kicks here is the above image before edits.  I’m a sucker for before and afters!

{Nitty Gritty}

1/500s

f5

ISO 200

focal length 52.0mm

shot straight into the sun that peeked out for exactly 30 seconds and made my day

These little girls are new-ish friends…they met at church and have been fast friends since their first night together.  Today after lunch while their parents were chatting and eating…they were scheming.  And after MUCH laughter and giggles they made an announcement…”We’ve prayed about it” they squealed in unison.  “We’ve been praying for a  playdate.”  The parents looked at each other and then back at 4 little girls waiting with baited breath.  How could I say no?

A few minutes later they were all snuggly belted into our car and headed home for hours of girly play.  Their favorite game?  FREAKY FRIDAY of course!  They were barely through the door of our house before they were sneaking off to the  bathroom to switch clothing with each other.  Anna became Claire…Julia became Ava…it was all such a whirlwind of dress swapping and hair bow switching I nearly got confused myself.  Then they spent the next few hours laughing hysterically as they called each other by their own names.

Oh to be a little girl once more….

It is never good when my better half leaves (ditches) me for another trip over the big blue pond.  But it is even worse on the weekends.  Something about the endless schedule-free time with all these crazy kids sends me into a bit of a tizzy.  So when the snow started falling (again) this afternoon, I did what I had to do and got out the pom poms

That one in the middle is an owl (stop laughing people…I can hear you.  I told them it was an owl and they believed me and I’m sticking with it.)  The squirrel turned out kind of cute though, huh?  That was supposed to be a little nut nestled between his cute little hands (or feet?)…but the more I look at it the more I’m craving Cinnabon cinnamon rolls.  Maybe it’s just a coincidence.

Amazing how furry little balls of fluff can turn two bickering, whiney kids into loving siblings   I guess tomorrow I’ll be busting out the pipe cleaners (or chenille stems…that IS the PC term now isn’t it?)

Everyone is tucked into bed and I’m off to play a few rounds of forest creature fantasy land

Clothing shopping that is.  And now I’ve posted it…so I have to behave.  I really wanted to participate in Lent this year.  God made the ultimate sacrifice for us and I really see the validity of using the next 40 days (or 38 but who’s counting) to re-focus my thoughts towards that gift.  Of course the spring catalogs are pouring in….and the coupons too.  Will you keep me accountable? I’m planning to keep the grocery shopping at GROCERY stores (no more Target and Walmart for me when I need a gallon of milk).  I will probably have to break my saving streak once or twice in the preparation for Easter.  I thought ahead and have the girls covered but haven’t purchased anything for the Little Man yet.  But other than that I am going to REALLY try to behave (good thing my Matilda Jane party was Monday…I just sneaked that in!)

The good news for you is that now I can share all those great deals (and YOU can buy them!)

So first off…A GYMBOREE COUPON for 20% your entire purchase from now until March 28th.  They are having their BABY and KIDS sale right now so that makes this a really nice deal!

Second…the code for MINI BODEN’S Buy 3 get the 4th for $1.

If you want either of these…leave a comment!  I will try to post more coupons as they come rolling in.  This isn’t going to be easy.  I DO love to shop.  And I DO love clothes (always have…always will)…but I think it is important for me to step back and really think about my priorities and what drives me day to day.  I certainly don’t feel like clothes rule my life.  But does God?

That whole President’s Day thing really confused me.  What day is it anyways??

1.  THANKS to all who came to the MATILDA JANE party.  We all had a great time!  I had planned on taking oodles of pictures of the food, clothing, and mingling guests.  Except I was too busy fondling the gorgeous clothing to remember.  Oh and eating.  And yakking with all the sweet people who stopped by!  I was so glad I held my spring trunk show the FIRST day of the season as several of the pieces are already sold out.  I’ve got a fun list of families signed up for my SPRING MINI SESSIONS now…can’t wait for a bit of warmer weather!

The girls spent hours in the afternoon making this sign for the party.  They thought it was a special treat to get to color on a giant piece of cardboard (note to self: you must really vary the art projects a bit more)…but really it was just a ploy to keep them from running obnoxiously through the house dumping toys

I did snap a few pictures of the some of the goodies before the guests arrived and I became completely sidetracked!

2.  Meet “Bubbles” and “Pebbles” (call me a terrible mother but I can’t for the life of me remember who is who)

These newest members of our family came to live with us on Sunday…after MUCH deliberating at the pet store.  They were a reward (ahem…bribe) for the girls for agreeing to share a room.  Little J was totally stoked about moving in with her big sister.  However…her big sister was not so keen on the idea of giving up her own space and bunking up with her sister.  We have been talking about the move for several months.  But each time I brought it up A would burst into tears about giving up her horse room.  It’s not that I didn’t feel bad for her.  It IS hard to share.  But I really felt like it was a life lesson and there was no other way to accomodate a room for our sweet Ethiopian baby.  We spend 80% of our lives in shared spaces and I really wanted both girls to have fun sharing a room.  The fish totally did the trick.  One day while A was sobbing uncontrollably about the loss of her room I yelled out “I’LL BUY YOU A FISH!” and she burst into a huge grin (wow am I a sucker or what?)  We haven’t had ONE tear since.  So far everyone has been happy and content with the new arrangement…

especially Bubbles and Pebbles who are the most pampered (or tortured?) fish alive.  They are residing near each girl’s bed right now but that living arrangement may need some tweaking after a certain someone  tried to snatch a fish out of the bowl bare handed (any guesses?)

3.  The girl’s new room.

This is far from done.  So far we’ve got their old rooms broken down and the furniture moved into the new room.  We took advantage of grandma and grandpa coming for a visit this weekend to do the BIG SWITCHEROO!  I bet my mother-in-law and I stood in the room for a full 2 hours trying to figure out how to get all of the furniture into the room!  I had a VISION of two sweet twin beds lined up on one wall with a nightstand between them.  Just like the Pottery Barn catalog (only sweeter cause my cuties would be all snuggles up in those beds).  But they just didn’t fit   So we went with an “L” arrangement.

I’m still working on the headboards.  Right now they are primed and A’s is just leaning against the wall so I could see what I thought of the arrangement.  I bought some cute wood decals for the front (flowers) and they will be an antique white like the rest of their furniture.  They both had complete bedroom sets which were (fortunately) the same color!

This is looking in from the door…the playroom doorway is at the foot of the bed.

J’s bed and dresser.  I’d love to do some type of collections of antique frames above their beds with photos and artwork.  I have a HUGE stash of leftover frames in the attic.  I think I will just bring out the spray paint and go to town

The bedding is from Target.  I would have LOVED to use matching vintage chenille bedspreads.  But I opted for cheap   Plus these coordinated with the playroom which is visable from their bedroom so it seemed like a logical choice.  The quilts ARE cute in person.  I’m not sure how well the will hold up over time…but we’ll see soon enough I’m sure.  There is still plenty of flu season left!

This is the other side of the room.  A’s dresser and hutch, their closet, and the attached bath.  That entire hutch is FULL of random ceramic “treasures”.  Heaven help me…WHY do little girls get so attached to EVERY MINUSCULE ART PROJECT?  I’d love to deck that hutch out with some of their vintage toys and special decorative things…but there isn’t an inch left

A little matching canvas I found last week at Target…

Friends Forever

4.  If anyone has any fun decorating ideas for me for above their beds shout them out!  I was thinking mismatched frames…maybe some embroidery hoops with fun fabrics…a letter…tiny shelves…etc.  ANYONE?

5.  Speaking of re-arranging.  For THREE years I have been staring at a LARGE BRASS BODY PART hanging from the ceiling in my foyer.  Everytime I opened the front door I shuddered.  It was THAT bad.  Actually worse.  For Christmas Mr. P and I gave ourselves a new chandelier!  It has been sitting here for awhile now as I got bids for a handyman for hire to hang it for us.  But when they quoted me $250 to climb a 16 foot ladder I figured my own sweet husband could risk life and limb and do it himself.  Which he did (with the help of my father-in-law).  And now I come home to this!

Let’s all say it together shall we….”AHHHHHHHH”.  What a relief!

6.  While I am writing this post Mr. Peepers is running around the basement shaking maracas and wearing a plastic stethoscope.  Where is my camera??

7.  We had a BUSY weekend and a late night Monday night.  Yesterday J could barely make it through her morning violin lesson without falling asleep.  Within 5 minutes of coming home I found her like this.  NAPS ROCK.

8.  OK…better.  Notice the addition of the blood pressure cuff?

9.  Last night our little man was singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” during dinner and it was quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life (although I do say that a lot).  Hoping I can catch it on video.  He even had the moves down…what a ham

10.  I’m out of photos so I’m gonna wrap this bad boy up.  I’m still working feverishly in the sweat shop sewing.  I’m really hoping to have my Etsy shop open soon!

HAPPY WEDNESDAY to you all (it is Wednesday, right?)

So this is usually a slow time for me with photography.  For some odd reason my phone just isn’t ringing off the hook for family sessions out in the snow drifts…go figure?

But I’ve stayed busy with the little ones…this past week was ONE YEAR OLD week.  I ADORE one year olds (maybe cause I have one).  Especially the little men…they are so ornery and sweet and energetic!  This little guy’s mom was worried that he wasn’t going to flash me any smiles…

{Nitty Gritty}

f 3.2

1/125s

ISO 200

Focal length 28mm

{does anyone want to see this stuff?}

I love that twinkle in his eye…he was standing on the window seat in his bedroom.  He SO knew he was up on a ledge…such a little dare devil.  Love his “Do you see me?  What’cha gonna do about it?” smile.

And this one was a winner too.  I don’t always love texture.  Sometimes it distracts from the overall simplicity and beauty of the photo…but sometimes…it adds just the right dimension to make the image pop!  Here we were shooting in their sun drenched living room.  It wasn’t a particularly sunny day…but with floor to ceiling windows there was plenty of beautiful light.  The walls were a soft beige and although the image was nice…it didn’t have that “WOW” factor.

And a few storyboards to share too.  I really, REALLY love storyboards.  I love how they…you know…tell a story   They are also a wise investment because you are getting a lot of images for your dollar!  Here are two examples I included in their gallery to commemorate turning ONE!

I love that either of these prints would look smashing in his red and blue nursery!  I think it is really important for kids to have fantastic images of themselves in their homes.  What better way to show you value someone than to put up their sweet face gigantic on your wall   This is a great time to book a session in your child’s room to document them in their special space!!

lots of fun to share…but for now…just a quick reminder to stop by tonight (or place your order via email) to get your hands on HAMMOND BAY!  6:00-8:00.  My house.  Be there or be square

P.S.  I have yummy food and door prizes