Saturday October 17, 2009
I haven’t been posting as many photography posts this year because for awhile last Christmas it felt as though they nearly ran over my family blog. But the other day I took these and they were so much fun I just had to share. Jo is my sister-in-law and my good friend. I love being with her for many reasons. One because we are good friends and we laugh a lot. Another is just to see her be mom to her kids. She is as relaxed about parenting as I am high-strung. Her kids tumble but somehow manage not to get seriously hurt. Her baby girl climbed up onto a tractor outside while Jo had her back turned and when Jo found her she ran inside to get her camera so we’d believe her while I would have had an unbelievable blood pressure spike as I race to “rescue” my child. 
It’s so much fun to do their pictures because Jo does not stress. Not even if Elliot got completely coated with blackish marks on his khaki pants within three minutes of being out of the van. “Oh, my,” said Jo. “I guess I’ll have some scrubbing to do when I get home.” I can imagine the feelings welling up inside of me after I’d carefully bathed and dressed everyone so we could look perfect for pictures. But Jo didn’t do that and so her kids stayed happy and so did she! I need to be a lot more like her. Even my brand new chiropractor looked me straight in the eye and said, “You need to relax. When you’re driving down the road, you need to say to yourself, ‘relax’. When you are talking to the boys, you need to say to yourself, ‘relax’. You need to tell yourself often, ‘relax’.” I wonder why my mom and David both chuckled when they heard that? 
So here are a few of my favorites. You can find the rest of them here if you’re interested.
LOVE the boat picture! are the boys twins?
i love your work.
awww, adorable family!
Very cool pose in the boat. Neat idea. I like that!
What a sweet family and I love the pics!
Love the pics:) The flip side of being too relaxed is I’m not nearly as organized and caught up on stuff as my stressed frinds are. Not that it bothers me all that much, it would just be kinda nice to be able to find things without looking in every imaginable place then finding it in a totally random, not normal place. Sooo, relax, it’ll all work out. heehee.
I could totally imagine my chiropractor saying that same thing to me, if I had a chiropractor. I don’t know…I guess God just wired each of us differently. And we can learn from each other. I myself want to learn a lot more about being more relaxed and go-with-the-flow. Also, what book are you writing/did you write? Very curious about that.
LOVE that last pic!! 🙂
I think I become more relaxed with each child. However that works.\”/
Oh that makes me chuckle! Relax, now if only it would be THAT easy! lol I admire people like your friend as well, mostly because I naturally don’t respond that way. I then wonder how do they respond that way? is it natural? or are they super something?
Did you then go take care of yourself?! Just a few days ago I was somewhere, maybe even getting my massage, and my mind went to you. I wondered….uhmmm, I gotta get after you! Did he help you any?
Love the boat shot! 🙂
@yodertime –
I’m with ya on that!!
love all these pictures. I didn’t realize that you were a photographer as well, I don’t know where I’ve been 😉 You have such an adorable niece, especially love those big brown eyes!
@mlt10202002 –
the boys are twins … they just turned three this month.
@appalolly –
which one? 🙂 I have two children’s books at the printers now. I will link as soon as the publisher posts them and I will be selling copies from here, too. My sister Christy and I are in the final stages of getting a book for new brides ready to print.
@seekinHISwisdom –
I did go, finally. Now if I could just find a babysitter for tomorrow when I go again. It was my first time there; but I really liked his theory / methods. Kind of like a chiropractor / massage therapy / fitness center all rolled into one. They are big on retraining your muscles instead of putting out brush fires. Definitely my kind of language.
@redladybug18 –
Probably b/c I haven’t been posting much of my work recently. 🙂 I should set up a different site for all the business related stuff but I just don’t have the time to get it started / decide what I want to do.
After reading your post about Dorcas Smucker, I started reading your previous posts and discovered these pictures of my cousin Jo and her family! You described her so well. Her sense of humor is well-developed–a blessing for a mom with three children 3 and under!