Sledding, snow, and spring | Kirkland, WA Family Photographer

This was MY family enjoying a snow break a few weeks ago.  We loved our time with the sleds and especially loved that this nice white puffy hill was only one hour away.  Convenient.  But, let’s be honest.  I am done with the cold.  I am done with 3 layers.  I am done with my permanently affixed fleece.  I am done with knee high socks. AND I am done with shivering every day.  When will it stop?  I am happy to report that I have noticed spring buds and color appearing around my home BUT I am still searching for sunshine (on a consistent basis) and temperatures in the range of 60-70.  Is that asking too much?  Oh, and I think I am fairly certain that I would not be able to bloom if I was planted in a place that continually brought snow to my doorstep in the winter.

Red Head Boy | Kirkland, WA Photographer

When I look at pictures of this Red Head, I want to reach out my hand and rustle his hair.  I could sit and listen to him for days.  He has so much to say, so much to talk about.  Most of the time if you miss what is being said, he continues as if you are right there with him.  Do you know those kinds?  My son is the same… keep on talking and talking.  He was a bit cautious around me and my camera BUT I can secretly have my camera with kids at the park.  The sand, the buckets, the slides, the teeter-totter, all of it is so much  more interesting than me and my camera.  He was building something fabulous with that blue bucket and blue shovel and stopped for a moment to check my status… “where is that camera?”  There were other friends in the sandbox but he didn’t mind sharing his imagination!  His blue monster rainboots are perfect for Washington and even more perfect for keeping sand out of his shoes (why haven’t I thought about that?).  I loved his perfectly pale skin and that bright red hair.  I loved his big brown eyes and his cute, “I’m smiling,” face.   While shooting on this day, I was really loving the shots above because it emphasizes his size.  He is a creative five-year-old with a great story to tell!

Photo A Day | February 6-12

Moving right along here…  The most exciting day this week was February 10th.  On Thursday I had more energy and giddiness than I have had in a while.  I put that positive energy to good use and took myself out and treat me to a photography date.  You’ll see what I mean…

February 6-its simple… Give Me Sunshine!  Our nightly family prayer. (and a photo already posted)

February 7- Going to the gym… First, I need to get the gumption to go. Then, I need to pack my gym bag because I like to get ready for the day AS SOON AS I am done. Also, I need to pack a towel because the towels there barely go from hip to hip, let alone all the way around my body. My towel never fits in my bag, everything starts to overflow, it bumps against me as I walk and falls down when I try to buckle my son in the car. BUT, I still go hoping that someday I won’t have to pack my own towel because theirs will fit all the way around me. : )

February 8- I love to see her bed made… I check her room before she escapes to school to make sure the job has been done. I always have to smile when I see some lumps under the covers, knowing that her sheets and blanket are all crumbled down. Baby steps… clean the room, then teach the details. : ) The picture on her headboard is her friends from AZ. I love that picture-they have been friends since maybe 2 years old or just before. They are all 8 now.

February 9- The children thought it would be a grand idea to decorate for Valentines Day. This was their idea…”Let’s write on sticky notes each letter of Happy Valentine’s Day and stick it on the door.” They went about their project and are very determined to keep it there for a while. It is more than I have done for Valentine’s Day-bless their loving hearts!

February 10- Look what I found! I had to take myself on a walk today. It was a beautiful sunny day (again) and I haven’t been in the best of moods… I was giddy to get out with me, myself, and my camera. I walked down by the pier and found some cool lightposts, some men enjoying their afternoon pipes and some awesome fluffy blowy thingees. It was a much needed walk!

February 10th continues… Feb 10 must have been a very ambitious day as I have all these pictures to prove it. I have these books in my car at all times, you never know when I will need to break out into adventure mode! They have been in my car for months and months but I love them there. It helps me look forward to things to come (Like the Tulip Festival-who wants to join me?).

February 10th STILL continues… What would a sunny day be without a visit to the park? And, the tire swing. Is there anything more fun than a tire swing with your friends?

February 11- Do you ever wonder about the things you do for you kids… like leave a million lights on at night just as the kids request? I was just about to doze off to sleep and realized OH NO, I haven’t taken a picture for today. i was even proud that it was a Friday night and I was headed to bed early until my realization… So, I got out the camera and just lay on my bed thinking about what I could possibly capture for the day. I took a picture of the clock and was going to put something about Friday night and the time I was going to bed, then I took a picture of my husband watching a movie on his laptop, then, then I looked out toward my door and saw what could have been a neighbor’s house on fire. What is with ALL THE LIGHTS? Oh yeah, its for Flip. I had to smile and think about 1. how much I love him and 2. how to get him to pay the electric bill. :)

More at that junkyard | Queen Creek, AZ Photographer

…real moments, real feelings, real people.  This is it. Hilarious (to me).  This little guy was being silly-so silly.  I photographed him last year during the Queen Creek, AZ mini sessions and he was silly then too.  If you take a quick look on the home page of Lisa Heuer Photography (and be patient while the slideshow loads) you will see him as the fifth one in the show.  He is still as cute as ever and just as goofy as ever.  When I leave a session and go back to load the pictures, I laugh all over again.  I get to be THERE again.  This family had a friend who was photographed just before them and the two of them together were great.  I could have followed them all day, curious to know what they would do, to see them use their imagination.  BUT, the sun was setting and they were getting dirty.  : )  

Photo A Day | January 23-29

Here is another peek into my life.  I am still enjoying the Photo A Day project and doing my best to keep up.  I have joined a 52 week project that will challenge me to think outside the box.  Here it is, my real life…

January 23-So, I put her through Let’s Play Music classes and then on to piano lessons only to learn that it never works out if it is MY idea… she likes things that are HER idea. Needless to say, I am the mother that thought, “If you live in my house, you play piano,” and I am now eating my words. It wasn’t worth the teachers time or my money because she cried, threw her books on the floor, wouldn’t practice, and basically was out to prove that her and the piano would not make a good couple. She made her point, I wanted to stay strong but I couldn’t! I COULDN’T. So, she quits piano and wants nothing to do with musical instruments. Glad to know I win mother of the year here. : ( Anyhow, she now pulls out her music books and sits at the piano and plays and gets excited about it. AND, she shows her brother the music notes and what they mean. Now that it is HER idea, all is well!

January 24- Today I had many pictures to choose from but they all had me in them and quite frankly, I am not loving the double chin and long (for me), flat, hair do. I snapped this picture this morning when she was ready to go out the door to school. I was so proud of her, wanting to get up and walk with me. She set her alarm and when it went off I questioned her commitment but she was more determined that me. I was hoping to go back to bed. : )  Anyhow, I ended the night by taking some scissors to my hair and recommitting myself to either getting rid of chins FAST or learning how to master the liquify tool.
toodles…  

January 25- Just another day in the life…  I was trying to get some blog posts together and scheduled.  I had just cut my hair the night before and couldn’t stop playing with the back of it-feeling that it was ummmm, well… not exactly looking like I got it cut professionally.  : )  

January 26- Call me irresponsible. Call me a chef. Call me disgusting. Call me whatever… I found this in my bread box. I was about to put the bread box in storage because I saw it sitting there and realized I NEVER use the dang bread box. I grabbed it to put it away and thought it seemed a little heavy. Turns out, I DID use it, once upon a time. This was its remains. Ready for dinner? I will cook and bring the bread. ha!  

More on January 26 -See… the bread isn’t too bad. :) kidding. I just took another shot in the kitchen today. The whole reason I was evaluating my bread box was because I was getting my bread OUT OF THE REFRIGERATOR to make a panini. This little doodad is one of my favorite kitchen appliances. Everything tastes good toasted and melted. Moments before, I grilled my chicken breast (well not MY chicken breast, but A chicken breast) on the George Foreman and then transferred to and bread and my hot panini press. It was a delightful lunch. But give a girl some delicious lunch and she will want a cookie!~  

January 27- I actually snapped this last night-the 26th.  I was cleaning up the office and the pile that was dumped after school.  This was hiding in the papers…  Who is this girl?  I cannot claim to be her mother!  For some redeeming value (but it wasn’t as funny) she signed this one Mean One but there was a second note that was the same poem with words like, “You are a rockstar and everybody likes you.” and signed the bottom Nice One.  Thank goodness I found that one too-I was gearing up for a difficult parenting moment!  

January 28 -The night of preparation for the family budget meeting tomorrow. : ) I printed money (nothing like my own Mint) in different denominations to represent the full amount paid on “payday”. It is time to show the kids that money doesn’t grow on trees and NO, they can’t have everything they ask for. (Does that make me a mean mom?)  

January 29 - Budget Day… We have decided to involve out kids in budgeting for many reasons… 1. to help them understand where money goes, 2. to get them to take shorter showers, 3. to stop donating all their toys instead of cleaning them up when asked (putting them on an allowance now), 4. to help us stay on our budget (you know how it is when kids keep you accountable!) I have read Dave Ramsey’s books and love the idea of cash budgets. We also get going strong at the beginning of the year and by the end of the year we think… “budget? What budget?” So, we are going to do better this year! It is an incredible feeling to see and know exactly where money goes (and how fast) each month/payday. We wrote down everything needed for the month. The left side of the table is the beginning of the month and the right side is the end of the month. We showed that we budgeted money twice to cover things like gas and groceries from (from each paycheck). We had every last details such as gifts, clothes, babysitter, allowance, hot lunch at school, violin lessons, violin rental, etc. She voted right away to get rid of the gym membership and reduce the clothing budget. It was a great experience that we plan on doing every 2 weeks! I loved having tangible (even if it is fake) money to disperse where needed! I loved seeing things like Netflix and how it adds to the monthly expenses. I loved showing them how we set money aside for “family allowance” which allows us to have fun together. I think my son was playing with the stack of $1′s the entire time- but SHE learned a great deal and loved being the banker. We are encouraging them to put aside more money in savings so we can save enough to go to Great Wolf Lodge.  

Photo A Day | January 8 and 9 and 10

Sometimes Tim takes on the “to-do” list and it is blissful.  We like to call it divide and conquer.  The only problem is that he can finish tasks in 1/2 the time.  It stumps me but when I ask he says its because I don’t stay focused.  Dang focus.  Anyhow, on Saturday, I sent him in one direction while I was madly editing in my quiet house.  Ahhhh, the sound of silence (a good song to listen to while editing).  A short 3 hours went by and he walked back in with two kids in tow and claimed to have completed all the tasks.  WHAT????  My quiet time is over????  Well, I think he was in a bit of a hurry because he added a task called, “go buy Kinect,” and he did that in addition to the others.  He proclaimed that our family needed it and a side benefit was that we could get good exercise.  Well, he knows a way to my heart.  : )  So, he fired up the Kinect and it was a family affair.  Before I knew it, we had dancing, bowling, and track and field going on right in my family room.  We all participated in the games and laughter.

Our Kinect joined our family on Saturday.

On Sunday, I decided to branch out.  I found a cute headband in my closet.  I purchased the vintage rose wrap probably back in September of LAST YEAR (sounds so long ago) and actually bought a few colors.  I got too nervous and left them sitting in my closet.  It was a little “out there” for me-I have never worn such a thing in my hair.  I remembered I had a few when I says my friend Jilly and Mia of Girls with Good Taste feature it as a give away on their blog. OH yes… I have some of those!  So, I was getting dressed on Sunday morning and spotted them in my closet and I heard it say something like, “Are you ever going to wear me?  If not, maybe you could give me to somebody who will?”  I considered for a moment that I should give them to a friend but then I tied one in my hair and looked in the mirror.  It wasn’t too bad but I ran downstairs and asked Tim to snap a picture.  After telling me that I was going to make the whole family late, he reluctantly snapped a picture so I could see what the headband REALLY looked like.  You know, pictures tell the truth.  : )  Anyhow, I figured I liked enough to give my courageous “branching out” a go.  And funny enough, several other people ended up liking my headband.  After church, I was playing with my off camera flash.  In 2011, (I suppose my 2011 goals are increasing afterall) I want to learn more about off camera flash.  More about that in the future but for now, you will understand the second picture below.  It is a starting point, a point to grow from and one of the main reasons I keep a blog.  GROWTH/CHANGE.  I was the boring subject (wow 2 photos of myself in a day?) but I am the only one that won’t get upset with myself after 50 shots of the same thing.  The results aren’t what I had in my head but the good news is that I have something to work toward.  I named this picture the picture of change… I hope to change personally and in my business.

On Monday, my dear son woke me up by saying, “Mama, will you play with me.”  There is nothing he treasures more than his Doggie and his trains.  He has several and still asks for trains for every holiday-and plays with them all.  His latest addition which was purchased with his Christmas gift card to a toy store, is this train set from Tomica. Doggie has been around since the day he was born and played music for a year or so but the music died and Doggie has been through a few sets of eyes.   He had a little train set up in his bedroom and put Doggie by the train-his two prized possessions.  I loved the scene, as his mother, because I knew the value of those items.  Later in the day he was sitting on my bed and asked, “Do you think one day when I get bigger I won’t like Doggie anymore?” He started to get tears in his eyes at the thought.  He then said, “Mama, he is so special to me.  I will be sad if I don’t like him anymore.  Do you think that I won’t like him when I am like 15?”   He was trying to wrap his brain around the possibility of not needing Doggie in his life.  He went to the mirror and stood there hugging Doggie and rubbing his soft ears.  I loved the moment-his simple life with Doggie.  It renewed my desire to keep up with Photo A Day because someday he will be 15 and Doggie will be somewhere in a bucket like Woody from Toystory.  This project will take snip-its of my life and my family life and my work life and put them together in a story… Photo A Day.

Tiny Dancer | Queen Creek, AZ Photographer

Being a Queen Creek photographer has many perks and sunshine and perfect winter weather is only 2 of them.  On the top of the list is the people I get to photograph in AZ. This darling girl is a dancer and her favorite style is “Interpretive Dancing” because she gets to move how the music makes her feel, is what she says.  Her energy level was unmatched by any other 8 year old, her giggles were contagious and she probably has her dad wrapped around her finger.  : )  Moments with a father and daughter always seem so special to me.  He loves her and wants so much for her (like all fathers)-opportunities and growth, education and fun.  I suppose you could say I learned a few things about her while snapping pictures.  First, she is not shy in front of the camera.  I was having just as much fun as her.  She was dancing and giggling-the entertaining show for sure.   She loves shopping at Justice and wore some awesome gold sequence boots.  She has style at age 8-more than me at age… well, ummm, thirty something-hard for me to remember anymore.

Photo A Day 2011 | January 5

I have made it 4 days into January.  I know it isn’t January 4th and you probably won’t believe me but I am not behind.  I am actually an over achiever at this point.  On some days, I have more than one picture and I am thrilled.  Should I stock pile it for later in the year?   Ha.  I would do something like that.  So, remember that I mentioned “hitting the ground and running” in my first post for Photo A Day?  We got off the plane and dropped my son at preschool on the way home-I mean what says “hitting the ground and running” like that?  : )  We had not seen our house since Christmas day so coming home to the unopened gifts was a treat.  My daughter kept herself busy discovering what she didn’t pay attention to the first time around and voila, that left me with time to catch up with emails.  Oh my goodness the emails. So, routine was back in order which meant schedules and commitments.  So, Day 5 brings me to swimming lessons at Angelfish Swimming…

She is a fantastic swimmer and her swim teacher  (and me, but I don’t count because I am just mom) has tried to convince her that she needs to take swim to the next level.  She is a natural.  BUT this kid goes where the friends go. Angelfish Swimming in Kirkland, WA is a year-round facility with an amazing story!   There are no guaranteed friends at swim team in the winter time.  : (  Much to my disappointment, she has decided that she will not swim for a little while.  Shall I vent a little right here about children and hobbies/talents/lessons?  What is the right way to handle these sorts of things?  I tried force with piano and I learned a very uncomfortable and frustrating lesson-I will just say that forcing is not the way with her…  I really want her to stick with something!  Darn. Anyhow, swimming and schedules and life has resumed, minus the swim lessons.  : )  She is ready for violin she says.

I have loved my project!  I love having my camera and anticipating moments-or waiting for something that strikes me.  This documenting thing is not all that bad.

Eating Lunchables

My conversations with kids during pictures is nothing short of entertaining!  I loved his answers when I asked him how he is growing so big and strong…  “I eat Lunchables!”  We had lots to chat about but I was most impressed by his dedication to lunchables.  : ) 

Dirty at the junkyard | Queen Creek, AZ Photographer

Talk about energy!  He had energy oozing out from him.  I tried to keep up but you see, I am much older.  : (  He is so handsome and so is his mother.  Ok, not handsome but gorgeous.  When we met at the junkyard, I knew that he would be interested in everything!  His hands show that he did indeed play and probably climbed on some things that haven’t been touched in years.  I loved it… no fear-just curiosity!  The nice man who owns this junkyard brought out a bucket of water and some Tide soap so he could clean up.  Now, that is a hostest with the mostest!