photography business

So, I've decided to start pursuing getting a photography business more. I figured I can get it all researched and things ready for when we move. I figure maybe in January I will be settled enough to get moving on it. I was considering starting now, but I didn't want to build a client base here then move in a few months (7 months almost). So, I need to decide on a name, I've been throwing ideas around with friends, but I just haven't said "This is it" to any one. One that I've been considering is Everyday Chaos Photography, this is the name of our family website. The other is Kelly My-Last-Name-Here Photography. It seems as though that's what everyone uses and I wanted to stand out a little, not that my last name is terribly common.

Here are some photos that I was finally able to upload. Tomorrow the boys have a dentist appointment in the morning, after we are going to get lunch I think then run to get a handful or groceries. Then it's home and time to look at the checkbooks and pay some bills. I'm still not sure whether or not Tommy will go to school or not, he didn't go today because I just couldn't get him to wake up. I really should take him, but it's been nice to have him home without anywhere we have to go.

At Port Discovery playing with the nearly life sized chess set.

Waiting outside in the courtyard for the adults to decide on where to have lunch.

The Hard Rock Cafe a few blocks away, where we finally decided to have lunch.

Anthony, Tommy, Jason, Tommy & Alex at the National Aquarium.

Jason petting a shark in Norfolk.

Alex playing with the water display in Norfolk.

A horseshoe crab that Tommy and Jason both got to touch.

Tommy finally got the courage to touch the horseshoe crab.

Anthony posing in a little boat on display.

another Sunday over

So today was supposed to be a quiet, relaxing day at home. We were going to play games, catch up on housework and just hang out together. That was until we were finally able to track down a dash kit for our new head unit. Best Buy had an appointment for installation at 11am. We went to drop off the truck, let the boys spend their birthday money on a game each and then had to run to the BB in Fredricksburg because the one here didn't have the iPod cable. Off we went to get it and then back to drop it off. Finally at 1:45 it was done.

In the meantime we dropped off the packages at Staples and sent our fax into the NC DMV. We stopped and grabbed the boys some lunch and wandered around Target for a bit. We didn't get home until after 3pm. The install took a lot longer than I had anticipated. The boys were good though which is a plus, they like to give us a hard time when we go shopping so for their good behavior they each got a new set of Pokemon cards. I bought a laptop bag, brought it home to find that my laptop is just a tiny bit too long for the inside sleeve. I'm not sure whether or not I'll keep it. Maybe I'll keep looking and see if I find anything else I like. I can put it in the middle pouch, just not in the sleeve, which is obviously made to protect the computer a bit more. We'll see, I was just disappointed because I took the time to measure my laptop before leaving, measured the inside of the bag and checked the measurements on the tag and it should fit, but it doesn't.

The start of a new week is almost upon us, Tom has a busy week at work and there is always stuff here around the house to keep me busy. The older boys have dentist appointments on Tuesday and then on Friday, sometime during the day, we are leaving for NC to go hang out with Sam & Chris for the weekend.

Alex is still awake, big surprise there, so I am going to try to make myself productive and get my stuff ready to list on Craig's List and ebay, maybe even clean the kitchen. lol

{quiet} house

Once again my house is down to the usual chaos of everyday. I love having my SiL and nephew here visiting, but the kids start to fight after awhile and it's just loud and hectic.

I have a lot of pictures to sort through and a lot I'd like to print out. So, that got me searching online for little dedicated photo printers. I read a lot of good reviews on Epsons. I found one that I wanted, but it's been discontinued. I can buy that model through a 3rd part seller through Amazon, but it's nearly $200. The newer model that replaced it is only $130 on Epson's site or $99 on Amazon. I think when I can get the money together I'm going to get the one through Amazon.

We turned in our beloved Trailblazer this afternoon. It was a sad day, while we are glad to be out of the payment we had on it, we paid for 15k miles a year and didn't use them all and we loved that truck it gave us absolutely no problems. So, we are back down to having only 2 cars in the driveway again.

I've got a long list (what's new) of things I need to do. Nothing got done while we had company so it'll all be rushed to get done soon. I have to drop off 2 packages at Staples and I also need to fax in some paperwork to the NC DMV. I have some things to list on ebay, Jackie brought me the I love Lucy Barbie that I had left in the closet at my MiL's house. I'm hoping to get all those ready to list on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then next Friday we are going to NC to see Chris off on his 3rd deployment to Iraq. Him and Tom are such good friends that when Sam told me they probably wouldn't be able to swing by during his leave I knew we had to try to see him if we could. Sam said it wasn't a problem to come next weekend, so that is our plan.

Hopefully the next time I post I'll have something off my list crossed off. ;)

busy days

It's been a lot of fun having Jackie & Jason here these past few days. But I must admit that I was really looking forward to sleeping in some. lol Though today was the only day we got up early for a reason. Tom took two days off of work so that we could all hang out and go do some things. So today we went up to Baltimore and went to Port Discovery and the National Aquarium. Port Aquarium was ok, I was under the impression that it was a science museum type center with hands on things for the kids, but it was more like a big hands on play ground. I was a bit disappointed with it, the kids had pretty good time and they do offer a military discount of $2 off per ticket. We ate lunch at the Hard Rock cafe and then decided to check out the aquarium. I was hoping they would also have a military or AAA discount, but the not-so-friendly woman at the ticket counter said they don't honor those there, how you are supposed to receive those discounts then is beyond me. Especially if you decide to go on a whim and the tickets are $22 per adult, any way we can save some money is appreciated. The kids enjoyed the aquarium though, and we spent a good amount of time there, so I guess it was money well spent.

I have a lot of pictures, but I need to re-size them so they don't take up all my storage space.

Yesterday we celebrated Tommy & Anthony's birthdays. I hope it was well worth the wait for them. They seemed to be super happy and enjoyed the attention and all the cool gifts they received. Tommy was very excited to get his beloved Pokemon Diamond game, especially since his cousin has Pearl and they can battle each other.

Well, I should remove my butt from the couch and do something productive, my laundry is piling up (and both boys complained about not having any jeans) and the house is just trashed. We aren't sure what we are doing tomorrow because right now it looks like Anthony doesn't feel so great, but we will see how he feels in the morning. I think we are looking at going to some of the caves that are somewhere kind of near here, going to DC, or a gold mine (Jason has a project to do on gold so when they were doing some research online they found there were some mines around here). If we go to DC we are going to go to the National Zoo (it's free! lol) and maybe one of the Smithsonian Museums. I am hoping to get some time on Thursday to get some organizing, house cleaning and some other things taken care of on my long list of "to get done eventually" things. lol

Here is a picture that I re-sized quick from our trip today.

new sweatshirt {love}

Anthony received a very special gift from my friend Kathy the other day. He loved it! He wore it on Friday and said to me, "Mom, how 'bout we take a picture?" So I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple shots. Unfortunately he insisted on standing in the chair with the light coming in at a bad angle, but we managed one or two acceptable pictures. Thank you Kathy!!


So tonight we had a big dinner since Tom won't be here tomorrow. It wasn't very put together or anything, no one but Tom was really hungry when everything was finished, so much for thinking that one through. lol All the food turned out good. Later we dyed 30 eggs. The color tab kit that Jackie brought didn't work so well so we had to send the boys back upstairs while we boiled some water to make it with the food coloring. In the end we have a lot of bright and funky colored eggs. I have photos but they are all orange due to the nasty lighting in my house.

Tomorrow is a lay around the house kind of day. I need to finish up with my laundry and maybe try to order some prints through Sams Club. I just showed Jackie the layouts I've done and I actually remembered to ask if Sue (my MiL) likes the scrapbook I gave her at Christmas. So, I'll be spending a small fortune to get some layouts printed out here at some point. I really want to get the ones printed that I just did. I should try to print them at home, at least some, or at least the ones for them.

It's getting a bit late, so I'm off for the night.