The reason I haven't blogged in a while...

So here it is people. I am starting (or trying to start) my own photography business. It has absolutely CONSUMED me, but I really have never been so passionate about anything in my life. It's something I have always thought I would want to do, but until my loving husband bought me my camera for Valentine's Day, I didn't think it was possible! But after reading books, spending hours on different websites, teaching myself photoshop (still learning, by the way!) and getting my friends and their beautiful children to model for me, I have been able to gain some experience (hopefully enough) to start my own little business.

So PLEEEZ if you have a chance, please check out Bubba-Loo Photography at www.bubba-loophotography.blogspot.com. Feel free to leave comments (cause I read 'em!) and stay posted for the launch of my website! With your support, I hope to keep myself busy (because I'm not busy enough with three kids! yikes!) !

THANKS for all the SUPPORT!

XOXO

Wow! That's BIG!

My Mother's Day present= 20 x 30 inch Portrait of Van to start our 'Family Picture Wall'.

It's big.

REALLY big.

But I love it....

Blackout!

~Mia and her friend Jordyn



So this black out actually happened way back in the beginning of April, but I just came across them and thought these pictures were blog worthy:)

We had NO power from 8am-11:30pm. It was CRAZY! And on top of that, both my kids were out of school for Spring Break AND both had friends come over for playdates! It ended up being one of the MOST fun days with my kids that I can remember:) Roy ended up bringing home a pizza on his way home from work, and we had dinner by candlelight! The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever! Glad to have my power back on and to live in a country where this type of thing is very rare, but it was fun while it lasted!

Mom's Rule!

~The kids all sang some songs about Mothers.
~Mia serves me my special lunch. Doesn't it look YUMMY?
~Me and my Pia
~Mia gives me a special mothers day foot rub:)
~This is what Van did the ENTIRE time. Such a TURD!

It was Mother's Day at Mia's school on Wednesday. It was the cutest thing. EVER.

We were told to each bring a blanket. We got there and sat on our blankets and the students all got up sang a few songs about mothers. Then they were each given a list of instructions. They were as follows:

1. Serve your Mother her lunch (Fresh strawberries and muffins. YUM!)

2. Give your Mother her gift (I got a beautiful card and a picture of Mia's handprint framed)

3. Tell your mother you love her 5 times.

4. Give your mom 10 hugs.

5. Give your mom 15 kisses.

6. Give your mom a 'Special Surprise' (They gave all the kids a squirt of lotion, and we all got a foot rub! ((Mine was more like a 10 second leg rub, but it was still nice!)).

7. Treat your Mom nice ALL week long (Still working on that one!)

I love being a mom. I love my children. They may drive me NUTS most of the time, but they truly fill me with so much JOY! Happy Mother's Day to ME!

Sleeping Beauty

I go in to check on Mia last night and this is what I find...

She had gotten EVERY blanket and EVERY pillow she could find and made a little nest for herself! I have to laugh because I am somewhat of a 'nester' myself and like to be really cozy when I go to bed. But I think we can all agree that Mia has inherited my nesting gene and taken it to the next level! lol!

This kid makes me laugh every day! Love her.

WILD Wild Animal Park

(Meerkats...Aren't they SO cute?!)






(those are giraffe's there in the distance!)




Even though the WAP was crowded and HOT, we still had quite the adventure! It's not every day that you get to see a lion up close, and can let your children run around while giraffe's and rhino's roam feet away! I am sometimes struck with HOW amazing it is to be able to see these beautiful animals and that my children get to have these experiences as part of their childhood memories! It's pretty darn cool!

Love. Where. I. Live.

Latest Photoshop Before & After

I am constantly amazed at how much you can change the appearance of a photo using Photoshop. I Still have NO idea what I'm doing, but I find that if you mess around long enough with a photo, you can get some really cool results!

Birch Aquarium

(Watching the scuba diver swim with the sharks!)
(This is what happens when I tell my kids to just look at the camera and look normal....)

(Next Year's X-mas card?)

(These are not real. But I have a feeling even if they were, Mia would still be holding them!)

I've said it once and I'll probably say it again, but we are SO lucky to live in San Diego. There really is way too much to do in this town!

We decided to spend this last Saturday at the Birch Aquarium. It's a really small aquarium in La Jolla which is perfect since my kids can only last one or two hours before they go insane! It was a beautiful Spring afternoon and it just felt right to be overlooking the ocean while learning about sea life. We ended up purchasing the season pass, so I have a feeling this will be a popular destination for our family over the next year:)

Mia gets award at school

Oh my goodness. Let me just tell you that Mia has been SOOOOOO excited to get her award. This kid LOVES to get up in front of people and have all eyes on her! Mia's award was for being "Fearless in solving math problems, reading and writing hard words and speaking in front of the class".

The fact that her teacher used the word fearless just cracked me up. That is exactly the word I would use to describe that girl! She is going to be an interesting one to watch grow up:)

Love. Her.

St. Patties Day

A leprechaun visited our house in the middle of the night! YIKES! He turned all of our toilet water green (I would have taken a picture but, well...that would have been gross!) and turned our milk green too! He left gold glitter EVERYWHERE he went and left the kids Lucky Charms for breakfast!

Okay, so here's a funny story for you...

So at around 4am Wed morning, I wake up to find the hall bathroom light on. Hmmmm I thought. That's curious. Max prob got up to go to the bathroom and left it on...I look in Max's bed. No Max. Hmmmmm that's odd. Then it hit's me. The little turd saw that the leprechaun turned the toilet water green and went to investigate further...

I walk downstairs. Mind you, it's 4:00 in the AM!!! Max has ripped the Lucky Charms box opened and helped himself to at least 3 bowls. He was ever so casually sitting on the couch playing VIDEO GAMES!!! I kinda just stood there for a minute taking in the scene. I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. Max just looked at me like "What? This is perfectly normal behavior!" Let's just say that when I told him his party was over, he was not too thrilled and I was very clearly told that I was not his favorite mommy!

I hope this is not a glimpse into Max's teenage future! HA!

Spring!

While driving I spotted some BEAUTIFUL orange and yellow flowers on the side of the road. It's a good thing I had my own personal model in the car with me! So we pulled over and took some shots....
I'm getting SO excited for Spring!!!

Mana.

We had such a fun week with Mana, aka Val, aka Roy's mom:) My kids literally count the days until she comes, and there are always tears shed when she has to go:( She was such a great help to me with the kids from getting them ready for school in the morning (ugh!) to watching the baby for me in the middle of the day so I could go get my hair done! Not to mention the fact that she took them to the zoo and let them both sleep in her room!(I think that deserves some kind of award?!) My kids are sooooooo lucky to have such wonderful grandparents who love and adore them!
Thanks again Val for a very memorable week! We love you:)

Sea Lions Rule!!

My mother-in-law took the kids to the zoo the other day while I stayed at home with Van. Excitement and all things fun seem to follow my mother-in-law, because this stuff always happens when she's around! So it wasn't any surprise when I got a call from Mia saying she kissed a sea lion! Apparently Mia was completely at ease on stage and was not the least bit scared to touch the sea lion! I think this experience will be something she will NEVER forget:)