Foto Friday Week 121

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Doctor Play Edition:


It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a Foto Friday…..whoops!! 2012 sucked as far as personal photos went and I’m sad and disappointed that I didn’t capture more of us, our real life, the day to day drama…or fun, depending on how you look at it. =) I plan to correct that for the future starting with this little ditty from the Doctor’s office yesterday. Shenzie is prone to ear infections and unfortunately the ENT thinks it might be time for tubes in her ears. =( Booo. Luckily this was a false alarm and no ear infection was found. =) Yay!

*All photos taken with my new sidekick, the Canon G15 (all straight from the camera with no editing other than sharpening the collage). It gets really tiring lugging the big camera around all the time and my poor outdated iphone 4 isn’t cutting it anymore. Enter my new best friend!! It fits in my purse easily, my coat pocket, and if my jeans weren’t so tight, it might almost fit in my back pocket. It definitely won’t replace my DSLR, but it is very convenient to have with me to catch the snapshots I would have otherwise missed. These were taken with no flash and a shutter speed of 1/60. Not bad Canon, not bad at all. I love that is has full HD video, can shoot RAW and manual, has tons of fun effects, is small and light, stops down to f1.8, and is pretty darn speedy for a PNS. The viewfinder is tiny and sucks, but so far that is my only complaint.

Free For All

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That is kinda how I feel about the age six. It is just one big and crazy free for all. I still say newborn twins was by far the hardest age….but six is the age that will drive me to hagdome. Seriously, six is no joke. “Your typical Six year old is a paradoxical little person, and bipolarity is the name of his/her game.” Quoted from Your Six Year Old: Loving and Defiant.

Shenzie quote from the awesome and oh so fun age of six, Jan 14 2013:
“Mommy, for Christmas can we get another mommy and you go to work and our other real mommy will stay home with us….is that cool?”
Luckily by the time Jeff and I got done laughing she had changed her mind and wanted to keep me. Whew!!

Yeah. Even better, before dinner this little tantrum went down:
Daddy: Shenzie, do you want banana’s on your peanut butter muffin?
Shenzie: I hate banana’s
Daddy: No you don’t, you eat them all of the time
Shenzie: I HATE BANANA’S
Mommy: Of course you do, you just hate them so much
She whipped her head to me, threw her hand in the air and screamed “NO I DON’T”

I won’t lie, Jeff and I burst out laughing so hard, and the harder we laughed the angrier she got. It was hilarious!!

But oh man, I just love love love those little crazies. They may drive me to insanity, but when Heaten runs up and squeezes me with his entire body and gives me 100 kisses and I love you’s, it kinda takes the pain out of the crazy. When we’re cooking dinner together and Shenzie looks over at me with love in her eyes and says she loves me, there is nothing better.


If you have a six year old you are shaking your head and probably giggling to yourself partially insane from it all. Right?? And if you don’t, you just can’t even imagine that I am dead serious. Six is no joke. And girl six, forget about it!

I highly recommend reading the series of Development books written by Dr. Louise Bates Ames & Dr. Frances L. ILG. They are not parenting “how to” books, but rather, what is going on with your child at this age type books. I find them VERY helpful in coping with the crazy. Understanding that my kids are not purposely driving me insane. I am finding it quite hilarious that they give two ends to the six year old crazy spectrum. Shenzie winds up on the SUPERDUPER Crazy side, while Heaten ends up on the exact opposite DUPERSUPER Crazy side. Good times going on around here. Good times I tell ya. The upside is around 6.5 they will be back on the equilibrium side of things and life should get a bit less crazy (fingers and toes crossed).

Book Listing 2012

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2012 Final Book Count: 70

Notes: My 5 star’s are in bold (and a few 4 stars that I loved), but really, I would recommend most of the 4 star’s too.
If you’re a reader and not on Goodreads, get on there, I find so many great books from other friends recommendations.
2011 Book list can be found here.

Micro ¤ Michael Crichton, Richard Preston ****
Between Sisters ¤ Kristin Hannah ****
Locked Doors ¤ Blake Crouch ***** -Best horror of the year
A Dangerous Man ¤ Charlie Huston ****
The Perfect Husband ¤ Lisa Gardner ***1/2
New York to Dallas ¤ J.D. Robb ***
Until There Was You ¤ Kristan Higgins ****
Chasing Rainbows ¤ Kathleen Long ***
Break You ¤ Blake Crouch ****1/2
Bad Girl ¤ Blake Crouch ***
Harvesting Her Heart ¤ Jodi Picoult ***
Delirium ¤ Lauren Oliver ***** -Loved this series
The Visible Man ¤ Chuck Klosterman ****
Distant Shores ¤ Kristin Hannah ***
Miracle Cure ¤ Harlan Coben ****
Comfort and Joy ¤ Kristin Hannah ***
Grave Sight ¤ Charlaine Harris ***
Alone ¤ Lisa Gardner ****
Pandemonium ¤ Lauren Oliver ****
Heat Wave ¤ Rickard Castle ***
Serial ¤ Jack Kilborn ***
Matched ¤ Ally Condie ****
Crossed ¤ Ally Condie ****
Home Again ¤ Kristin Hannah ***
Naked Heat ¤ Richard Castle ***
Devil Red ¤ Joe R. Lansdale **** -Love the entire Hap and Leonard Series
Little Stalker ¤ Jennifer Belle ****
Feed ¤ Mira Grant **** -Worth reading if you like zombies
Edge ¤ Jeffrey Deaver *****
Trail of the Spellmans ¤ Lisa Lutz ****
The Drop ¤ Michael Connelly ****
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children ¤ Ransom Riggs **** -Worth reading, awesome photos included in book
Down the Darkest Road ¤ Tami Hoag ****
Quick Study ¤ Maggie Barbieri ***
Vanity, Vengeance and a Weekend in Vegas ¤ Kyra Davis *** 1/2
The Sixes ¤ Kate White ***
Razor Girl ¤ Mari Mancusi *** 1/2
Secrets to the Grave ¤ Tami Hoag ****
Ice Cap: A Mystery ¤ Chris Knopf ****
Bad Bird: A Mystery ¤ Chris Knopf ****
Wool Omnibus ¤ Hugh Howey *****
Don’t Eat Cat ¤ Jess Walter ***
A Discovery of Witches ¤ Deborah Harkness *****
The Maze Runner ¤ James Dashner **** 1/2 -LOVED this entire series
The Last Kind Words ¤ Tom Piccirilli *** 1/2
Gone Girl ¤ Gillian Flynn ***** – In top 5 for year
The Scorch Trials ¤ James Dashner *****
Before I Go To Sleep ¤ S.J. Watson ***** -In top 5 for year
The Death Cure ¤ James Dashner **** 1/2
The Silent Land ¤ Joyce Graham ***
The Kill Order ¤ James Dashner ****
Stolen Prey ¤ John Sandford ****
Cry No More ¤ Linda Howard ****
Prey ¤ Linda Howard ***
Bang: Relationship Assassin ¤ David Wailing ****
Abducted ¤ T.R. Ragan ****
Dead Weight ¤ T.R. Ragan ****
The Expats ¤ Chris Pavone ****
Finding Kate Huntley ¤ Theresa Ragan ****
The Informationist ¤ Taylor Stevens ***** -In top 5 for year
The Innocent ¤ Taylor Stevens ***** -In top 5 for year
The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving ¤ Jonathan Evison ****1/2 – Worth reading
Dies the Fire ¤ S.M. Stirling **** -Worth reading if you like post apocalyptic books
First Shift – Legacy Wool #6 ¤ Hugh Howey ****
Providence ¤ Jamie McGuire **** – Loved this series
Requiem ¤ Jamie McGuire ****
Eden ¤ Jamie McGuire ****
Aloha From Hell ¤ Richard Kadrey ***** -Loved this entire series, but would only recommend to hardcore horror fans
Devil in the Dollhouse ¤ Richard Kadrey ***
Devil Said Bang ¤ Richard Kadrey ****

I see my future….

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and it is just beautiful. I snapped this photo of Shenzie all dressed up for our Thanksgiving dinner. My spunky, sweet, crazy, beautiful, curly haired girl.

Shenzie Weather Echo age 6
Favorite Color: Green and Orange (which coincidentally are mine)
Favorite Food: Anything sweet =)
Favorite Music: Pink
Favorite Friends: Heaten, Linnaea, Marley, and her made up friend Cristina.
Favorites: Rough housing with Daddy, riding bike, singing and dancing, playing with Mommy, playing make believe, reading, writing, art, school, antagonizing Heaten.
Not so favorites: Wearing clothes, going to bed, anything hair related, watching tv, sitting still.

World through my eyes

Las Vegas Children's and Family Photography: Personal | 1 Comment

The minute I found out I was pregnant with the twinzies I started a personal blog called barr babies. For 6 years I spent a ton of love, energy, and time on it, and I am so so glad I did. I have hundreds and probably thousands of photos and writings about the kids, so many awesome (and some not so awesome) memories. Then about a year ago life got crazy, the kids were older and needed more privacy, and I was burned out so I gave up my precious site (at some point I will transfer it all over to book form for the kids to have). I don’t have the time to keep up another site, but I do miss documenting the little things. Now they are six and I am really hoping to do better documenting and photographing so I don’t regret it later. So I guess that is a long way of saying, hope it’s ok that you’ll be seeing a little bit more of these little faces on here.

Keep it Spooky!!

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*Bend, Oregon moon October 29, 2012*

Morning Cuddles

Las Vegas Children's and Family Photography: Personal | 1 Comment

The other day I ran across this article that every mother should read. When I read it, I almost cried, ok, truth be told, I probably did tear up a bit. It touched the Mommy in me, but it also touched the photographer in me. You know how I just love to bully my client Mom’s into photos. In an effort to practice what I preach I had Jeff grab my phone this morning to capture our morning cuddles on the couch….snug as a bug in a rug.

Not the best photo I’ve seen (haha), but I’d rather have a crappy iphone photo with my no makeup and bedhead than no photo at all. This was truly a perfect moment, the only thing missing was Daddy on the couch with us. As my kids get bigger (holy crow they are 6! more on their birthday party later), I know sweet cuddles like this will be fewer and fewer. I cherish every cuddle I get, despite having to watch Barbie Princess on TV, since the amazing cuddles take up all hands leaving none free to hold my kindle.

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