Extreme Makover...

So, as I told you in my last quick post, we were hard at work the entire Memorial Day weekend giving our little guy a total room makeover. His room had barely been touched since he was born - so it was looooooooong overdue! One of his favorite shows to watch is "Extreme Makeover, Home Edition", and he has often asked when it would be "our turn" to get one of those cool makeovers. (um, yeah, right - like I will ever see Ty Pennington at my door with a bullhorn! ) His ideas for his room ran the gamut from hip hop disco, complete with turntables and one of those lovely (gasp!) mirrored balls hanging from the ceiling... to a room dedicated to his love of Pokemon complete with a full wall mural featuring Pikachu and Jigglypuf. Can you imagine? We finally settled on more of a subdued sports theme, centered around his favorite baseball team, the New York Mets. We let him pick a color - blue of course - but I made the final selection as to what shade of blue - nice, light and airy. His room is teeny tiny, so a bit of inginuity on our parts, learned from years of watching HGTV - lol - and we decided to try our hands at some "built ins". Out went the too big old furniture, and in came a captains bed with lots of storage underneath, and some nice white kitchen cabinets (yup, thats right!) which we hung under the window. Across the top of those went a nice white melamine counter, making the piece function not only as storage, but a desk too! This opened the room up quite nicely! Lots and lots of work, but it came together so well! The only casualty of the entire project was my big toe, which was the unfortunate victim of a very heavy bed being dropped on it! Ouch!

Just last night as he was falling asleep, my little man said to me in his sweet little boy voice, "Mommy, thank you so much for my wonderful new room - I love it so much". That makes it all worth it.

Anyway... here are a few pics from our extreme makeover weekend:

Dad painting the ceiling...

Little man was a huge helper!

but he did take a bit of time out for a fun game of shoot the photographer!

back to some serious painting...

This is sooooooo exhausting!

The little king enjoying his new space!

Thanks for stopping by today! ~ Denise ~

Little Boy Thoughts

Hope you're having a terrific Memorial Day weekend! I know the weather here on the beautiful Jersey Shore has been just perfect... but I've been stuck in the house as we tackle some overdue home improvement projects. One of those projects has been a total HGTV style remodel of my youngest son's bedroom, which hadnt been touched much since he was born 8 years ago! Yeah, just a little overdue - lol! I'm taking pictures (of course) and will post them here in the next few days, but thought I'd post just one quick one of my son yesterday when he'd pretty much had enough of the painting and flopped on his bed... not quite sure what he was thinking exactly... but probably along the lines of "get me out of here!"

Thanks for stopping by today! ~ Denise ~

May Showers???

I thought it was supposed to be April Showers? What is up with this weather? I dont know about you, but I am getting pretty tired of the rain. Shoots have had to be rescheduled (ugh!), so I am now getting pretty close to booked up for the month of June. I do have a few spots left, including most Wednesday mornings from now through the end of June - so if you are looking for a Spring shoot, please call now to book your slot!

Thanks for stopping by today! ~ Denise ~

Back in Action!

Regular readers of my blog will recall a few weeks ago that my youngest son was having some health issues... I'm happy to report that he is back in action as of today... just in time for the Brick Bandits (our team!) to face the team from Rumson-Fair Haven. We didnt win :( but I was thrilled just to see him feeling good and having fun again!


There were several adorable pooches enjoying the games...

My litle man arriving on the field...

put me in coach... I'm ready to play!

finally back in action!!!!!!!!!!!

big brother cheers from the sidelines...

It was truly a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by! ~ Denise ~

Photo of the Day!

This image received "Photo of the Day" honors today in the people category at Shutterbugs.biz! Shutterbugs is a highly competitive online photo contest that attracts some of the best photographers from around the world, receiving thousands of entries every day. I am honored and delighted!

Till next time! ~ Denise ~

From Real Simple Magazine...

comes this article:

Note to Self: GET PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF YOUR CHILDREN

I’ve never forgotten an invaluable piece of advice that I heard from an older friend right after my first child was born. She told me, “One of my greatest regrets about my children’s childhoods was that I didn’t have more professional pictures taken.”

“You didn’t take many pictures?” I asked.

“I took tons of pictures,” she said, “but the fact is, professional photographs are so much better than even the best snapshots.”

I absolutely agree—professional photos are better. And keeping her advice in mind, ever since my daughters were born, I’ve been zealous about getting their photos taken professionally at least once a year.

While it’s a lot of fun (and also a pain) to take pictures myself, it’s terrific to have some pictures that are truly excellent. These photos don’t take the place of the on-the-spot pictures that I take myself—I still take scads of photos at birthday parties, first days of school, on the slide, with a popsicle—but these pictures memorialize my children’s childhoods in a different way.

Plus they make great family gifts. I can never figure out a good present for the grandparents and great-grandparents, but they always love to get a really great photograph—especially the relatives who don’t often get a chance to see the girls in person.

Also, research shows that one way to boost your happiness is to reflect on happy times, and looking at photographs helps keep memories more vivid.

It’s a splurge, of course. Professional photos aren’t cheap.

However, I figure that the money I spend on these photographs will strengthen family bonds, enhance happy memories, and capture the fleeting moments of childhood. They give me more pleasure than practically any other purchases that I make. That strikes me as pretty good happiness bang for the buck.

A friend’s family had another great photography tradition. For her whole life, at every milestone, her parents took a picture of her and her brother sitting exactly the same way on their front stoop. It’s fascinating to see them change through the years. Along the same lines, the artist Nicholas Nixon took a photograph of his wife and her three sisters once a year for 33 years. The collection of these photographs, The Brown Sisters, is riveting.

Getting professional photos take is a great example of the tiresome fact that happiness takes thought and effort. These photographs are easy to arrange; in the scheme of things, not terribly expensive; contribute greatly to our family happiness—and yet it probably never would have occurred to me to do it if my friend hadn’t suggested it.

Thanks Real Simple! I couldnt have said it better myself!!!

Little Man "C"

Meet little "C"... a blonde haired cutie with big brown eyes who like most three year old boys loves the movie "Cars", watching Nascar with Daddy, and playing the guitar and singing (of all things) Eagles tunes!

I've got lots more of this cutie... but thought I'd share just a few today! Thanks for stopping by!

~ Denise ~

To all the Moms out there...

Happy, happy mothers day! Moms are definitely the unsung heroes in all our lives, and deserve so much more than just a day. Most go about their days selflessly tending to their childrens every need, putting themselves last on the list. Its the hardest, but most rewarding job on the planet. I am the Mom of two boys myself, and can easily attest to that fact. But I cant imagine my life without them. This was an especially tough week in my house, with my littlest being sick, so I will leave you with an image I think all Mom's can appreciate:




We've all been there... right? HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

~ Denise ~

Black & White

Just a random thought for the day... I love black & white... and for some reason lately I am more drawn to them than ever before. As I've mentioned here before, sometimes a picture NEEDS to be black and white, just screams for it. Color can be distracting when you are trying to tell a story in a single image... two examples:





If either image was in color it would just lose its impact - not draw you into the story. Its a mood, or a feeling, that you get from black and white that a color image just cant convey. Of course, that doesnt mean I dont love color images - I absolutely adore a vivid colorful portrait! But for telling a story... nothing beats good old black and white.

Thanks for stopping by today! ~Denise~

What does your flip flop say?

With summer just around the corner, I thought this would be fun! Here's mine... check out yours!

What Your Flip Flops Say About You

You are hopeful and romantic. You love many people and many things. You aren't unrealistic, but you do imagine things in the most ideal way possible. You are a dreamer. If something exists, you've probably thought about it. You don't think about what is, you think about what could be. Your ideal warm weather place: Fiji

The Flip Flop Test