Prayer Requests

There are several people in my life who are going through, or about to go through, some tough times and I know they can use all the support possible. (Names have been left out for their privacy.)

-Someone I know is about to head over seas to Iraq for 15 months. He is enlisted Army. May God keep him safe and bring him home to his family soon.

-Someone I know's daughter has just been diagnosed with leukemia. She is only about 4 years old. She is currently in the hospital. Please keep that little girl and her family in your thoughts and prayers, they all need as much strength as possible to get through this.

-Someone else I know will be heading over seas to Iraq (Baghdad) for 4-6 months. I cannot thank these men and women enough for their courage, and I thank their familes for supporting them and helping them be the people they are. May God keep him safe and bring him home to his family soon.

-Someone I know has recently been told she has an unexplained mass in her thyroid. She has a needle biopsy scheduled in May to determine if it is malignant. I will be hoping and praying every day that it is nothing serious. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Thank you for your time. I am a strong believer in the power of prayer. Sometimes you feel so out of control and helpless when things are happening to those you love, but remember, you always have prayer.

Still Around, Still Around...I'm Still Around

(as sung by The Beach Boys! lol)

Things are SO HECTIC! Seems like we are all in that same boat lately! Things have definitely been going on, and the longer it takes me to blog, the more stuff I have to blog about, and the less time to blog! Funny how life works!

Chris and I have a photo shoot at my mom's real estate office, we are taking the Realtors professional pictures and doing an 'in-house' service so we can do a bunch of agents back to back. We're very excited. And Sunday we have a meeting with a family who wants to hire us to do their wedding in August...so things are moving forward on the photo front!

I've also decided to start ANOTHER business! Yes, you heard me right! My mom has been suggesting for months that I advertise to Realtors that I can help them with their listings and closings, and I just never took the time to figure out how and if I wanted to do that. I have now. I have a good friend, Amy, and my SIL, Stephanie, who both want to be SAHMs, but need extra income, JUST LIKE ME! So, we are going to start a 'team of virtual real estate assistants'. The great thing about this business is that there is no start-up cost...we have everything we need, including experience...all I have to do is create the website and send the information to every agent in the area!!! I did speak with a 'virtual assistant' in the area and basically she says the demand is MUCH higher than the supply...to not worry about competition because of that...and that with my experience and my contact through mom I will most likely be turning away business in a very short time!!! Promising, right?!?

Xander is doing great...he's precious and sweet and from what I see, a very good baby! Riley still thinks he pretty cool, last night he even ASKED to hold him, which I thought was so sweet.

I've still got our Easter activities to blog about, and tons of pictures, as well as a visit to our friends house where Riley found a perfect playmate, and more! But that will have to wait for another day!

Riley in his tent ready for his special movie night!

He's got his popcorn AND his flashlight - boy is he prepared!

Riley and Jake - Saying 'Night Night' - Aaaaahhhhh



Baby Xander - it's crazy how different newborns look every week...he looked like a different baby than this last night!

Kissin' Cousins!

It's About Time! - Idol Spoiler

I've been waiting to blog about this moment for 6 weeks at least!

Goodbye Sanjaya!

And PEOPLE! Blake was in bottom three?!?! COME ON! VOTE for him!!! :)

Also, thank you for everyone's help on my last post! There is A LOT going on right now and I hope to find the time to blog about it soon...and to read everyone else's blogs as well!

HELP!?!?

I was hoping that the few eyes out there that actually read my blog could help me out. Chris and I really need some free or very inexpensive marketing ideas for our photography business, as things are slow going in the advertising department. Some things that we have thought have include door flyers, leaving business cards everywhere we can, word of mouth to everyone we talk to, and we're looking into the cost of advertising space in 4 different local magazine mailers. We have a great lead at a real estate office for professional portraits and will continue to market to other offices in the area as well. But that's where I get stuck! Someone suggested I contact the local hospitals and see if I can include a coupon in the new parents' packet, and I need to look into that, I'm just unsure where exactly to start. Any ideas that any of you can offer would really help, I've got 3 months to make this successful or it's off to work for me.

Welcome Baby Xander

James Alexander was born at 12:54am, April 9, 2007, at 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 in.

He's adorable, of course! At first glance he looks like mommy, but he certainly has his daddy's feet! Mommy and Baby are doing wonderful. After 11 hours of labor, we were so excited to have Xander enter this world without any complications.

I'm looking forward to visiting him as soon as I can today, and I WILL be taking my camera, so check this post for pictures coming soon!

Thank you for everyone's thoughts and prayers!

"It's so bright!"

Burp Time...I love the 'squishy' face!

Burrito Boy

Absolutely precious


My Baby Brother with his Baby Boy - Unbelievable!

Unwrapped - absolutely perfect

He's on his way!!!!

Steph's water broke about 2pm this afternoon, so Xander is on his way!

Mom and I are about to head to the hospital to wait for my new baby nephew!

Please keep my brother, Danny, and sister-in-law, Stephanie, in your thoughts and prayers as they go through labor, delivery and the step into parenthood.

Updates and pictures to follow, you can count on it!

Misc

Well, nothing and everything has been going on lately, but honestly nothing worth blogging about! I'm mainly waiting for my first nephew to born...as you can tell by the ticker above it could be any day now! I'm missing my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and nieces like crazy, as expected. Now that our schedules have opened up some, we are moving forward on the photo business. We've got new lights, new backdrops, flyers printed and we are ready to go!


We went to visit the Easter Bunny this morning, so I wanted to share pictures of that as well as some other recent photos. Enjoy.

LOVED IT!

Didn't want to stop long enough at first...

Then started chatting with him...

Even gave him a big hug!



Having some fun outside...FINALLY!

He's been waiting a long time for some nice weather

Having fun with Daddy

Having a snack party with his 'friends'

Playing around with Mommy's hat