We want to wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day! Here are our kids sporting their new spectacles. They had been begging for glasses for awhile because they wanted to look like grandpa and grandma. They aren’t real, so don’t let them fool you.  ♥ Enjoy the day with your loved ones!!! ♥

It was a year ago our baby little girl was born.

Here are some images from her birthday photo shoot. The poor little thing woke up from a nap on her birthday with a 102 temp, so she wasn’t quite herself… but was definitely a trooper and loved her cake when it was set in front of her.

Despite her not feeling quite right, we kept her party scheduled. (Thanks to all the family who came and braved the sick zone - She is doing great). Her party  ideas came from Hostess {with a mostess}. We love this site. You can download your own papers here (we tweaked ours a bit). Her cake was made by Janet’s Cakes, and it was SO yummy.

This little girl has brought us so much joy, snuggles, and love… Happy Birthday Briana Skye, we love you baby girl!

…to US!

This month we are celebrating our 2 year mark! It was two years ago when our business became official and this adventure began. We are thankful for times we’ve had and all the new people we’ve met! These past two years have been a lot of fun and filled with many blessings. We wish to thank all of you who have supported us!

Birthday Special: For the rest of 2009 all of our Jenni Jackson clothing will be 20% off. Please see top of blog (under boutique clothing) for more information.

Yep, you read it right. We are expecting our 4th little baby! It seems so unreal. We are early in telling, but we are very excited. I also didn’t want to fake feeling great all the time. We told our family on Halloween by putting what you see above in their trick or treat bags.  

Here are the kids all dressed up…

To see what we *all* looked like this Halloween click here…

Right after waking up, this little girl came down to the studio just as we were checking our lighting before a photo shoot. With all stuffed animals in hand, she was a willing assistant and gave us a hand with our light check. Here is Miss Ragamuffin herself…

Speaking of sleep… We apologize that our blog has been in sleep mode. We are in the busy, crazy photography Christmas season. We are finishing up our Christmas sessions and putting Christmas card orders in. We will get back to posting real soon! (hopefully)

Hey Tater here:

This may seem like a weird post, but allow me to explain.  I have been priviledged to work with the Acute Rehab staff at BroMenn for the past several months and have truly enjoyed myself.  They have all been such a joy to work with.  They surprised me the other day with this potato as an honor to my name.  This is truly one potato that happened to look like Mickey Mouse.  Their artistic ability really did turn this tater into Mickey.

Now for the story behind the name…

Why the name you ask?  Well I get this question a lot, so I thought I would let everyone in on how my nickname (name) came to be.  When I was a baby, I did not crawl as my siblings did.  I would crawl using my head and feet.  I really did not use my knees a whole lot.  I really liked the static electricity that it created.  I would crawl for hours in this position.  When I would run into something, I would just back up and go a different direction.  However, my nickname used to be Taterbug.  Yes, Taterbug!  Mom told me that there was a bug that used to like the potato plants in our garden.  They were kind of hunched over looking, and I must have resembled that because this is how my amazing mom first coined my name.  Now that I am so much more mature, (right), it has been shortened to Tater.  As a child I did not like the name at all and many in the family would tease me about my name.  It really was easier to call me Tater because if you used my birth name, David, then it was hard to distinguish between my dad and me. There are a lot of benefits to having the same name as your dad, but it does have its draw backs and so “Tater” it is.  Many of my friends and colleagues call me Tater, but there are a few that just cannot bring themselves to using that name.  I am really OK with any name. I just am so used to responding to Tater that if you call me David, I may not answer right away.  Again thank you to my parents for a rockin’ name and for a lifetime of explaining myself, really I do love it.

Acute Rehab - Thank you so much for this and for putting up with me.

Tater

Tater surprised us and ordered Elle and me matching Matilda Jane dresses. Here we are in our matching getup on Elle’s 2nd birthday. 

We got these Jones Sodas for the kids’ birthdays. They thought it was so cool that it had their very own picture on the front. They begged to drink their special pop on the new patio. 

For those of you who participated in our Summer Mini Sessions ~ If you receive the Master Blaster Package, you will get a free 6 pack of Jones Soda with your image on the front! A personal message can be placed on the bottle like you see above. Be thinking of what message you would like on yours.

At the beginning of the summer, I had asked Tater to help fix our deck. With 3 little kids at home, I knew I probably wouldn’t be getting out much, so I wanted a little area that I could take the kids out to play. Our old deck was a splintery mess, so we really never used it. The front yard was also a problem. I would get the kids all situated with their toys… before I knew it, I had to run in quick for a kleenex, run in to help somebody go potty, run in to grab a burp rag, run in to… you get the picture. Well, when I needed one little thing, we ALL would come in (so no one would wonder off or go in the street). As you can imagine, we were in and out a lot.

Well, our summer project is now complete! What you see below is the finished product of our new outdoor space. I love it! Tater not only built me a new deck (splinter free!), but we also added on a patio by Concrete Evolutions and window well screens (so the kids don’t fall in) with a stone wall. We also decided at the end to add a bamboo fence for privacy and wind control. 

The kids are enjoying our new outdoor living space too. We put up baby gates on the deck for the times that I do need to go in and out, in and out, and in and out… But this time I don’t have to take everyone in and out with me - AAH!

The party lights that hang above add a special mood to our area in the evenings. We are so thankful, and truly have been enjoying these beautiful summer nights. God is so good!

In fact, we aren’t the only ones enjoying this new space… We got some little feathered friends who are also taking advantage of it. Notice our new little friend “Mr. Owl” (whom I’m bound to get rid of one of these days). He is out there to scare the birds away.

We recently attended a surprise party for a dear friend of ours. We were asked to capture her reaction but of course we couldn’t stop there. Tater is known for “telling the story.” The evening was filled with friends, music, and beautiful surroundings. Here are a few images from the evening.

The band all set up ready to go…

love these mics…

She walked out onto the upper balcony, and we all began singing “Happy Birthday” to her below… 

mingling with friends…

our entertainment on the lake…

We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather…

It was a wonderful evening! We thank God for our friends! Happy Birthday Joy!

• THE ANTICIPATION WAS ABOUT TO KILL ME…

Tater texted me a few weeks ago and said I needed to have the kids and me packed for June 5th - 9th. Of course, I asked WHY and what are we doing!?!?! I knew it probably had something to do with our 6th year anniversary on June 8th. I was so excited!!!

I tried to get as much information out of him as I could and of course he told me NOTHING! Actually, I did get several clues as the days went on:

1. 1305 (which ended up being the address)
2. 9 and 3 (interstate 39 was our driving route)
3. A sticker on Landon’s VBS craft (found out later it was a lion)
4. A place we want to travel (ended up being Africa)
5. Bags don’t need to shut (ruled out flying)
6. dress warm, comfy, and slightly casual

Well, when we entered Wisconsin I guessed somewhere in the Dells. I was right. We stayed at the Kalahari Resort (check out this website). It was a very fun surprise!