Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Surgery and books

I have been absent and for that I apologize. But just so you know..I have not just been ignoring my blog, I have also been ignoring my life. I have pretty much for the past 2 months been in such a slump . Chronic pain will do that to a person. It brings you down and all you want to do is curl up on the couch and lay in a pool of your own despair. Its very depressing.
So I finally had my surgery last Tuesday. Some cysts were removed and I was diagnosed with a congested pelvis. When the doc told me this my reply was: "Did you just make that up" She in turn gave me a dirty look and the "as if" face and told me that it was real and I would have to go to ANOTHER Dr to get it fixed..joy.
So me and my congestive pelvis have been coping.. and really though its only been a week the pain hasnt really been that bad. The pain from the surgery hasnt been bad either. I currently feel like I have been beaten to a pulp by a world champ boxer. The bruising is going down and I am awaiting the moment I can sleep on my stomach without flinching.
Once I finally felt like entering the outside world.. I ventured to my mecca, Target, with 2 kids on a Saturday..2 hours later and I was spent.
Sunday I took The hubby and kids out to Target as well :D (Hi, my name is Tasha, I am an addict)
Monday I repeated the trip.. sans kids but with my favorite girlfriend in tow. She makes me laugh and we act silly and goof off together. People probably think we are a menace, but its fun to let loose.
On our little adventure I picked up "The Time Travelers Wife" . I knew the movie was out and I love both of the actors that play the lead and will most likely watch it when it comes on dvd(I am cheap and the hubs doesnt like going to the movies) and since I dont like to watch a movie that was inspired by a book, before reading said book, I bought it.
3 days later and I was balling my eyes out through most of it. It has now topped my fave book list. It was compelling, interesting and I love the way it was written. I fell in love with the main characters right away and felt every emotion that they felt. It was just a beautiful book and I highly recommend it!!
Go out.. get a book, A starbucks and read.
Its almost fall.. and I will be my happiest in the next month or so. That is of course if the cloud of hitting my 30s doesnt find me and rain on my parade. But after that we have Thanksgiving and Christmas!! OOOh.. Can I put the Decorations up now??? I cant wait!!
Have a splendid night!!

Covering all my bases..

Some of you may follow my photography blog (www.freckles-fotography@blogspot.com) or follow me on facebook.. but maybe some of you dont.
Tomorrow is Kit kats 3rd birthday, and as with all birthdays, I have been nostalgic and remember how it once was and amazed at how far we have come!
If you knew me 3 years ago tomorrow, I was tired, whiny, round with child and grumpy. I felt as if an alien had taken over my life and I wanted it back. Katharine came into this world fast and furiously. Thank GOD! She had a knot in her cord and I was told its a good thing she came 4 weeks early... 7lbs 5oz of pure joy. Man could you imagine if she had come on her due date.. I would have had a 13 pounder for sure ;)
Acid reflux, Colic, Dairy allergy, Not sleeping through the night till 15 months. All of these things are long forgotten and replaced with, Singing, dancing, laughing, playing with bubba. She is a funny, goofy carbon copy of her mommy. She loves everything Pink and dresses.. but she wants to wear transformer tattoos like her brother and play in the dirt. *She loves singing along to the radio.
*Her best friend: Keira
*She loves school
*Eats asparagus
*talks in her sleep
and has the kindest spirit. I think she will be a dancer or in gymnastics, but then again you have to have grace and while she is graceful..its usually while falling down or running into a wall.
And to think.. when you would have asked me 4 years ago what I wanted a boy or a girl.. I said I hope its a boy..because I dont want a teenage girl.. What was I thinking.. What are a few years of teenage attitude when compared to a lifetime of unconditional love.
Happy birthday Katharine Marie, You make me a better mommy and I love you.



Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Win A SLR LENS!!

The folks over at MCP Actions are giving away a SLR Lens. They are giving away an 18-270mm Tamron lens or an 28-300mm Tamron lens. Oh the wonderful smiles I could capture with these.
To enter head on over to MCP Actions by clicking here. Follow the instructions and thats it. Easy as Pie!! Good luck!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Summertime

Boy it is a scourcher out there. I spend most of my days inside soaking in every bit of cool air that I can. Once the clock hits 5:30pm, I am usually pushing the kids outside to run off some energy in the 2 hours before bedtime.
I also have been scouting out tons of new places for my photography. Telge Park has always been a fave of mine and we went out there a few weeks ago. It wasnt to hot but we were there at 10am and I must admit by 12 I was itching to jump in a vat of ice cold water.
While we were there we shot off a few good shots of the kiddos. Jakob also got a few good pics himself..! We gave him our old Sony Cyber shot and he is quite the little budding photographer. He has all the secrets down.. He gets down on his subjects level and it appears he might know the rule of 3rds.
So I will leave you with several pictures. The first three are from Jakob. The last two were taken by me .. Enjoy!!





Monday, June 22, 2009

2 months have come and gone..

I cant believe its been two whole months since I last posted. I am sure for the 2 readers out there that you are wondering what the heck have I been doing. Well several things actually. I was really involved with Cypress Calling in April and May and that took a huge block of my time. Also with school ending I had an array of activities to attend. But one of the most exciting things that has been going on is that my lovely husband has encouraged me to start my own business. I am now officially a Professional Photographer. So I have been busy preparing my business plan and taking as many photos as possible to put in my Portfolio and building my other blog, yes Yes I know there is another blog you say. If you are so inclined.. run on over to www.freckles-fotography.blogspot.com and check out some of my work. I would classify myself as a Natural light, Lifestyle Portraiture photographer. I do not use flash, or studio lights. I use what the good lord gave us, beautiful, natural Sunlight.
I recently shot a Cypress calling event. It was indoors so I had to borrow a bounce flash and the lighting was not so great so I had the camera adjusted to make up for it. So the photos are not the best. But I captured the essence of the event. I have a few shoots in the next couple weeks and I am looking forward to those. And then in August I ll have my first newborn shoot. I am super excited for this. I have tons of great ideas and fun props..
So this is my excuse for my time away. I hope you will accept it and wont give up on me. Come back often because I plan on posting alot more.. Have a blessed day!!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Tyler Zoo Pics





This bird "house" was a huge hit for us. They would perch on your finger!

Katharine giving the birdie kisses...


this is a stray dog that adopted Jakob and followed him all day..even waited outside the house on the step till the next morning.. so sweet..

Bluebonnet pictures

A bluebonnet field on the side of 290










running through the field

A small patch of Indian Paintbrushes
Smelling the Bluebonnets
I just love Jakobs face and his pose!


A field in Brenham down a windy road..it was gorgeous!

Times they are a busy..

Between Cypress Calling, Spring Break and Spring cleaning the Schoen household has been a house full of busy bees.
Lets start with Cypress Calling. We had the most amazing meeting with the head of our Churchs Women's Ministry. She is incredible and welcomed us and sang our praises the whole meeting. Then she invited us to a Leadership retreat of all the women leaders at The Met, THAT WEEKEND. So Jenn and I packed our bags and headed to the Piney woods.
We felt like Celebrities! Everyone knew who we were and what we were there for. We(everyone not just Jenn and I) were treated to 3 meals a day and when I say meals I mean.. hearty, yummy meals. It was so nice to be cooked for and not have to cook for two impatient Preschoolers.
We got to talk about CCM and tell everyone our future plans. We met many leaders in the church who gave us great ideas.
I am so excited about the amazing things God has planned for our Ministry.
Moving on to Spring Break. I knew that having Jakob home from school and not having something to do was going to be difficult so we took a little vacation to GGs(great Grandmas) Lake house. I packed up the kids, and hit the pavement for 4 hours. We arrived in Yantis, Population 300, Just after 3. The only issue I have when on vacation is that the kids are so off their schedules and they start acting crazy. So we had that hurdle to get over but aside from that we had a super fun weekend with GG and Papa Richard.
We got to ride in the boat, Jakob even got to drive!! We went to the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler. That was the highlight of the trip and then headed home Friday.
Saturday we went Bluebonnet hunting. We got up early, got everyone looking pretty and headed towards Brenham. We found a small little patch near a fence at first and then decided to do some mild trespassing into a large field. There wasn't a fence so we didn't see the harm. We got some great pics of the kids. Unfortunately we didn't get any good pictures of the whole family but that's ok.. I was having a bad hair day.
After we got home from our bluebonnet trip we started working in the yard.
Now let me tell you that I don't have a green thumb and don't find much pleasure in digging in dirt and pulling up weeds, but I really enjoyed it. I went to Lowes by myself, which was refreshing, and really got to look at the plants and decide which one would be right and that I wouldn't kill ;)
So I ended up with two purple Azalea bushes. We planted them in front of the side pillar and then Dustin went to get 2 more because we loved them so much.
I am also going to plant some begonias and bluebonnets around the tree. I also have some big plans for the backyard but that will have to wait for a couple of weeks.
The weather was so beautiful this weekend I hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy themselves.
We ended the weekend by taking a bike ride(our neighbor gave us a bike) Dustin on his bike, the kids in the bike trailer and me on my new FREE bike!! It was a great weekend with the family.
I ll post pictures in the next post. I hope you enjoy!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Pics!!

Daddy Love

Cousin Adam

Pretty Tree

Jordan vs. Cake icing..

Katharine with her best Joker impersonation

Baby Evyn..

Making music.



My handsome man and me with my new 'do
Katharine showing me her sad face
Jakob
Gizmo, worlds fatest cat!
Sylvester