No title needed......

I have been wanting to write a post about Mia for awhile now. Afterall, she is the ORIGINAL reason I started this blog! So here goes:

Recently Mia has been so fun! I think that even though 2 1/2 is a difficult age and she is quite the handful these days this is my FAVORITE age. Well, so far at least. Mia is at the age now that she is fun to actually hang out with. If you don't count having to watch "Cars" over and over and over and over and over.........Recently, we went to Targer to celebrate her first poop in the potty (I know, stop laughing) and we picked out her "prize" and then went to get a slushy. I couldn't think of anyone I would enjoy going to get a slushy with more. It reminded me of my good friend Rachel and our quest for the perfect slushy back in college. We went to at least 15 7-11's in one night to find one that had red, white AND blue so we could mix the perfect one. Mia would totally be up for that! See what I mean about hanging out. If I want to go to the mall and just look around and then eat at the food court then Mia is always ready to go. She is always ready and excited to do things as mundane as going to the bank, the grocery store and the post office. She is a great little sidekick.

The other thing I have been loving about her recently is how she pronounces words wrong. There are a few words that I never correct her on because I don't want her to ever stop saying them in her cute little Mia way. My absolute favorite has to be "pollypop" (lollypop). She loves them and will ask in the sweetest voice "Mommy, Mia wants a pollypop?" Now who could resist that? That reminds me, she does talk about herself in 3rd person which is at the same time endearing and also extremely irritating. Irritating because we then also use 3rd person. "Mia, mommy and daddy are tired and are ready for bed. Daddy are you ready for bed? Mommy is ready for bed. Goodnight, Mia. Goodnight, Daddy. Goodnight, Mommy." Just kidding it's not that bad, but I am ready to hear her say "I" or "me" once in awhile.

So back to cute words:
marshmelon(or sometimes watermelon)=marshmellow
tamorning=tomorrow
toast office=post office
mecinine (meeh-cin-ine)=medicine
Dora M=dora shaped vitamin
hold you=means will you hold me
soap=soda (Dr. Pepper)
and ANY grocery store is called Wal-Mart.

I won't even talk about the things I don't love about this age because the things I talked about above make it worth the other stuff!!

P.S. I'm sure you are wondering as you look at the pictures of Mia on this blog "Does this kid EVER wear clothes"? and the answer is NO. She doesn't. At least not at home. We trip over her getting undressed in the doorway as we come in the house. We're going to have to break that habit before high school. ;)

Joy......

Want to see what PURE JOY looks like?

This is a snapshot of how I want Mia to remember her childhood.......carefree and magical.

July 4th

So I'm a little late with this, but it was a busy weekend!

We had a great 4th. Saylor and I made kebobs on the grill and just hung out and did a lot of nothing. In the evening we went our friends Jill and Brian and their daughter to watch the fireworks. We had fun and the girls had an absolute BLAST! They got to ride in the wagon....that's Jill pulling it and they even ran around in the street........calm down MOM the street was closed and we set up our lawn chairs on the grass median and watched the girls chase each other. It was a great time!




Horrible street lamp lighting, but I still love this picture!

There are lots more, but I have work I should be doing right now instead of blogging!!

a blog addict........

This post is for my good friend, who may or may not want to be outed as a blog addict so we'll just call her "Sally". We've been watching a lot of the movie Cars around here so that is the first name that came to mind. Anyway, Sally knows who she is. Sally and I recently talked about how we both have a serious problem that is know as "blog stalking". We talked about someone that we have never met in person like we've know them for years. I'm not sure if Sally does this, but I am about to admit just how serious my blog stalking is. I check all my blogs first thing in the morning. If they haven't been updated I will check them again later in the morning. I check over and over through out the day until.....FINALLY, the blog is updated. It is like watching a soap opera. You just HAVE to know what happens next. In my case, I read a lot of photographer's blogs and I want to see their newest work. I get really frustrated when I check and check and they haven't updated. I need my fix! I know it is crazy and a little weird, but at least I'm not addicted to something worse. ;)

So for all those of you who are dying to know who I stalk the most here is my list of favorite blogs. I love enabling others. "Sally", have fun checking these out (because I know you will) and don't worry there is nothing wrong with blog stalking!!! At least I hope there isn't!! :)

Ali Edwards -amazing scrapbooker and I love her design style
Tara Whitney -unbelievable photographer and scrapbooker and I love to see the sneak peeks from her sessions
The Image is Found photography -this husband and wife couple are my photography superheroes!!! My dream is for my husband and I to have a fun wedding photography business like theirs someday!
Fred Egan -an amazingly talented photographer and a really nice guy. I seriously stalk his blog because I can't get enough of his images. They blow me away! Plus, I check often to see when "The Misfits" (a Dallas area photog group) will get together again.
Daily Relish -this blog is awesome. Love the photographer's style and creativity. One of my favorites!
Amy Coffey -just added her to my favorites. I just enjoy reading this one
Jessica Claire - WOW!! Check it out!
The Weibners -another wedding photographer couple
Juxtapose Photography -Kate's writing is so funny. I love her images also! She is a fellow member of "The Misfits" too.
Boutwell Studio-yet another awesome husband/wife photo team!
The Poe Family -a client of mine. I really enjoy reading this blog and keeping up with The Poe Fam!
Emory and Blaine's place -a friend of mine. I love to see the pictures of her kid's and hear what they are up to!

There are SO many more!!!! I have probably around 50 blogs that I read regulary. The list above are my favorites. The ones that I check over and over.
Enjoy blog stalking today!!!

Busy, busy bee...

I have been knee deep in senior, newborn, and family portraits for the last few weeks. I am about to get caught up finally. I haven't gotten to post anything of my own in a few weeks so here are some recents so you can see what has been going on outside of "photography land."

First up.......COLORING EASTER EGGS!

Then we had to take a break because the easter bunny came by....

The finished product.....see where I poked a hole in the zero in "2007"....oops!!

Next we hunted eggs. This was Mia's favorite part. She is still talking about it a week and a half later!

Then my mom and dad aka "mom-mom & pop-pop" came by for a quick visit on their way to Wyoming. By the way if you are reading this, mom could you call and let me know you made it safely. Thanks ;)

and now for your laughter...........

FISHEYE CINDY

and FISHEYE SAYLOR

I rented a 16mm fisheye lens and a flash for the weekend and we (or at least I) had a blast with it. I may have to get one someday.

So have a great day I have to go back to editing. Ahhhhh the glamourous life!

Our trip to Lubbock....

I took so many pictures that I figured this would be the easiest way to show them......

We had so much fun:

1. seeing old friends

2. eating, eating and more eating

3. feeding the ducks at the park

4. JUST HANGING OUT!

Another one....

Here is another page that I just finished. I have found a new way to procrastinate AND get something done at the same time. :)

paper and info tag from www.designerdigitals.com

the notebook paper I scanned in myself.....I'm really getting into this!

My first digital scrapbook page....

My friend Samantha has inspired me to give digital scrapping a try. Here is my first shot at it using the photos I shared a couple days ago.
I have to say...I think I may be hooked. I really love traditional scrapping, because I like the messiness of it. The paint and the paper and the rub-ons........I REALLY love the rub-ons!! Although, this method was SO easy and didn't take very long and I didn't even have anything to clean up afterward. I may actually be able to catch up on our family story this way. I am considering making a coffee table book of digi-pages from Mia's second year. I will still do some regular scrapping with some of my favorite pictures, but I would really like to get some of the pictures and stories from the past year in print!


So here it it........What do you think?


By the way......I downloaded the paper for free at www.twopeasinabucket.com and I got the brush surrounding "snow day" at www.designerdigitals.com
I created the snowflake brush myself from a clipart snowflake. The fonts are Butterbrotpapier and Times New Roman. The journaling is from my blog entry accompaning these pictures.

Tomorrow....

Mia and I are off on an adventure. Just the two of us. We are going to Lubbock to LCU's 50th anniversary homecoming weekend. We are going to hang out with the girls (Rachel, my college roommate, and her daughter Kelsey) and see some old friends. I haven't seen some of these friends in years! I can't wait to introduce Mia to them. I will have my camera in hand of course so will be sharing once I return.

In the meantime, think of me tomorrow around 1:00 as I fly with a 2 year old alone for the first time. It is only an hour flight, and she will be in her carseat, but still I'm a little nervous.

Well, I'm off to pack clothes and the bag for the plane with lots of goodies to keep us busy!

By the way...I have updated my website with new pictures and a new shopping cart for my photo jewelry. It is not completely finished (still a few items to add) but still functional!
Go check it out:
www.cindymillsphotography.com

Bad blogger, but I have an excuse.....

O.k., O.k. I know I haven't posted in .......well awhile. I do have excuses though. And the main one is that I have been running. Well, mostly walking really fast, but I have actually been running some too. We got ourselves a treadmill for Christmas and I have been using it every other day since. So far I have lost 2 lbs. Too bad that I gained 3 over the holidays. Thanks for the GIANT TIN of Christmas candy mom!! I'm pretty sure that is where the 3 lbs. came from. It was TOTALLY worth it too.

Also, I am proud to announce that as of today I have not had a Dr. Pepper for 1 week! I have had a Dt. DP, but that doesn't count.

Anyway, since I haven't posted in awhile here is one of Mia with her birthday "cake" and I will post more Christmas pics soon.....I promise.

This is going to be a big one.......

For Thanksgiving Day we went down to visit my parents in the Hill Country at their deer processing place. Here are just some random pictures I took while we were there. I had planned on making a mini book about our whole Thanksgiving vacation, but I'm missing half the vacation. We spent Sat. with Saylor's family and I had the camera IN THE CAR and didn't take ONE photo. I am so mad at myself. Shellee and I did have a great time shopping in downtown McKinney though...........Maybe I can draw pictures of everyone for that part of the book. Ha ha. That would be funny. Oh well.....on to the pictures I DO have.

Mia Cheesing for the Camera

My Sweet Mom

My Goofy Dad....can you belive Mom puts up with him? :)

My brother....Ed.....there's a better one later......sortof better I guess.

Saylor and Mia pole dancing????? Mia LOVED this big area to "walk".

The Star of the Show........The TURKEY!!!!

and making the stuffing.........

Mia "eating"......this is the most she ate the whole time we were there and she was just pretending in this picture.

Mia's Great Aunt............I mean my Aunt Rena. She's not old enough to be a GREAT AUNT.

Rena's youngest.......My cousin Brandon. He looks so grown up to me now! He also bears a striking resemblance to the guy in the next picture...

My goofy brother Ed.......If you want to know why he is this way see the picture of my Dad above. :)

and my Granny Davis. It was nice to have her there for a holiday!

And after lunch because there is not much to do and Cara (my cousin) and I had some time to do our favorite things.........She modeled and I photographed her.