• personal

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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    A little recap of our day. Jeez, it's been so long since I posted personal stuff that I think I may have forgotten how! The picture above and the next one below I took with my new Lensbaby. Still working on getting the hang of it, but it has one sweet spot of focus and the rest is all blur.

    Timmy and I watched the parade (aka hoorade) in the morning for a while, then the big boys helped me make brownies (the helping consists of them cracking the eggs into the mixer bowl and eating all the batter left on the spatula and in the bowl!). IMG_9447i IMG_9480b  IMG_9482b

    Do you remember Graeme (our adorable soccer coach who was here for Thanksgiving in 2006 and stayed with us for 3 weeks in summer 2007)? Well, his parents happened to be in NYC this week and joined us for this years thanksgiving dinner! They are like our non-related English family. We had such a great time having them with us for the day and I really feel like I already knew them even though we had only spoken by phone once and via email lots of times. Now, if I can just save up enough for a trip over there…

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    I think they had a great time too (I hope so) and had nothing to say but "gorgeous" about everything- the food, the house, the boys! It was so great hearing that accent again and hearing some of my favorite expressions…half seven, cheers, brilliant, etc. We all even got to speak to Graeme on the phone! We miss him so much, but apparently there is hope that he is coming back in the summer for a visit or maybe even back to NY to live permenently! I sent his mom home with a ton of brownies for them all to share. They brought us some great gifts as well. A beautiful royal dalton crystal clock for us, new Liverpool soccer sweatshirts for the boys which they LOVE.

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    We went to dinner at John's parents with the usual crew in attendance (my parents, Joe & Gail, Uncle George and his sons Billy and Bobby, Aunt Anne, Uncle Jim, Dr. Meagher and Feather). My father in law did his usual speech/poem before dinner. Here's how it went (it's long but worth it!):

    We gather again on Thanksgiving Day. We're happy you came and hope that you'll stay.

    We have an assemblage of all stripes and shades that ranges from old folks to young dashing blades.

    There's my brother George the wisest of guys, he's much more than welcome cause he brought the pies.

    And our nephew Bobby and his brother Bill, Aspirant broadcasters with consummate skill.

    And who is that angle no poet can scan, well I do believe its' my kid sister Anne.

    And then there's son John who's had a long journey from Levittown rascal to top flight attorney.

    And of course his bride Beth a permanent fixture, if you're nice to her she might take your picture

    And my grandson Jack a spirit so free, watch out for this guy, he reminds me of me.

    Of course there is Patrick as good as it gets, who always says Grandpa don't sing Meet the Mets.

    And then there is Timmy whom we all admire. Well that's no surprise, his last name is Beyrer.

    Now Marilyn's happy, her husband's a dream In spite of the fact that Ken is a dean.

    When some states are blues and others ar reds, their state is bliss cause they're newlyweds.

    And then there is Joseph, my younger son He bought Jack the Dog, we thought he was done.

    Then Gail said "hey Joe, I've got something to say. there's a bundle of joy that's well on it's way.

    This brought glee to Heather who went on a rant and said, I can't wait to be the kid's aunt!"

    And elicited pleasure from good Dr. Rich who simply exclaimed "well, son of a _______"

    There's someone else, who's free from all sin. He's well known in Cornwall as Mr. James Quinn

    Now I've not forgotten the love of my life for two score and five she's been my loyal wife.

    I love her dearly she's highly prized How she's hung on this long I'm sometimes surprised.

    Now these days are filled with far reaching drama and as we reflect on this great panorama

    We shout out "oh lord, oh man, or my mama" for that great son of Erin, Barack Obama.

    Now some time ago, Graeme brought untold joys when he crossed the Pond to help coach the boys.

    They were inspired, took kindly to him and we welcome his parents Diane and Jim.

    This is a day that we all celebrate cause we live in a country so grand and so great

    Freedom's a blessing there's no inbetween, God bless america…god save the queen!

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    Dinner was delish (or "gorgeous") and we all stuffed ourselves. I brought my brownies and paperbag cookies (Ivy, if you are reading this, I'll save you a few- don't worry!) for dessert. Billy got a hold of the cupcakes- poor thing didn't stand a chance! Also had to mention to be on the lookout for Billy- he'll be making it big soon. He just did an improv show with Robin Williams!

    Nochance

    Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

  • children & families

    the dizd family & the nitk family

    Two fabulous families who live in my parents building. This was the day of mis-scheduled shoots. Although everything was running on time, it just seemed like all the babies and toddlers I photographed either woke up too early, or didn't sleep well the night before…or something else that threw them off and it was (not regularly scheduled but needed nonetheless) naptime during the shoot. We muddled thru and still got some great shots of everyone.

    This was my first time meeting the nitk family who are my parents next door neighbors in the building and they were just lovely. Their little girl is such a peanut and so cute. She got tired and done with me pretty quickly, but we still squeaked out a few great smiles. She did a great job trying to sit up alone- she was able to hold it long enough for some smiles and a few shots before toppling over.

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    The dizd family are all so good looking. You might remember this big little boy from his newborn session a while back. He's gotten so big (well, I guess I should say so much biggER since he was a big boy to begin with). His cousin and aunt were there too, so we did a mini session for them as well. What a cutie he was- lots of spirit and sparkly blue eyes.

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  • children & families

    where’s the pause button? and the coo kids & baga family

    Really, I'd like to hit pause and get off this ride for a little while. I'm hitting that wall–and hard. Thanksgiving should be a nice day off and then i head into my last super crazy weekend shooting schedule. Then just editing and editing and editing and…

    So once again, please excuse the short narrative. Gotta keep up on the backend of cards and edits now so I'm not squashed (well, more like completely buried) next week.

    The coo family are bsquared 'frequent fliers' and it was nice to see them again. I think the best part of the shoot was (for dad) that he didn't have to be in these pictures! The kids were great and as good and photogenic as ever. S, hope your returns to Michaels' went okay!

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    The baga family I met for the first time last year when I did their holiday pictures and they asked me back again this year for another holiday shoot. While the older daughter was much easier to photograph this year, now the littler one is more of the challenge. Just that age! They both did a great job and really stuck it out til the end. Even if some goldfish snuck into some of the pictures!

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  • children & families

    the lang family

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    Some friends of the boys and of mine too. We have a little bartering deal going on…a photoshoot for a massage. I have a back full of knots (I guess sitting at the computer non stop and when I'm not here, I'm carrying around a heavy camera bag and another camera around my neck. Ya think that might contribute to that situation?) but I'm waiting til January for my 'payback' cause doing anything like that now would just be a total waste!

    This is such a fun, together family with a bunch of great people in it. Hope I captured that. It was freezing and getting dark so we worked FAST. Hope you love them G. Get ready cause I'm gonna be a bigger mess by January!!

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  • children & families

    the sylv family & the baun family

    Going to be short on narrative this evening…back (WAY back) in the editing weeds. So far back that maybe it’s jungle instead of weeds. Someone loan me a machette?

    Love this family- they are so nice! I brought Jack along to help out with the baby smiles and they were so good to him- they even fed him! He made fast friends with their oldest and coaxed some smiles out of all the boys with some good starwars moves/imitations. You know I had to have a soft spot for the three boys thing!

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    Another family that you’ve seen before on the blog (last time was at the beach with the whole extended family) and mom was Jack’s assistant teacher a few years back. She’s awesome! Her son is usually a very smiley happy boy…but the day of the shoot? Not so much! He wasn’t having it at all. None of my tricks, nor mom’s or dad’s, or even grandma’s could get this kid to crack a smile. He was so upset and I felt terrible. Mom said he had a rough night the night before, so maybe something was brewing or teething. Who knows?? But we did get a few regardless- just not so smiley.

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