A Picture A Day: 365 Project

So....I have decided to jump on the 365 band wagon. It seems like perfect timing. Yesterday was my last day of teaching. I feel like I am having an identity crisis because sometimes I think you become defined by what you do & I have been a teacher for what feels like a long time! Now I'm not. It is an identity crisis! But it is also freeing & exciting (even though I LOVED teaching) it will allow me more time for what has become my passion. I can do what I enjoy...I can do the thing that challenges my creative side & makes me keep coming back for more & that is PHOTOGRAPHY! I. LOVE. IT. I am inspired right now to learn, create, be better, be different. It is a great time to start a 365 blog because it is kind of "the first day of the rest of my life" hehe - isn't that a song (my new life, so it feels like). I won't always create a frameworthy picture each day because my goal will be to work on creativity with this blog. I hope you follow along with my journey & help keep me motivated to keep up! I will probably jazz this blog up, but for now it is pretty simple. Might even get crazy & have my go to blog girl, Marina Simmons, help me with a design :) Guess you have to come back to see what I do with it! From now on I will try to limit myself to ONE picture per day or atleast ONE series....but really, I need to have motivation to make it just 1 picture because then I will be driven to make that one picture fulfill me enough to end there...plus I don't have enough time for more...haha. Okay, here I go! Hope I keep up with this! Go to kellygarvey365.blogspot.com to check it out. I probably won't be able to keep up with this one anymore (not that I was doing a good job of it anyway!)

potato head

Garrett hates having his picture taken. I have to hide so he can't see me which makes it hard to get good ones! I just wanted to try out my new lens so I took some pics of him in action in his playroom after work/school today. Nice to work on personal pictures every once in a while for a change! He is looooving Mr. Potato Head right now so much.

I want to get him this SO BAD! He plays with one potato head for hours that I bought at a resale store, it doesn't even have a lot of parts or anything & he loves it!

Time to clean!

Garrett's playroom has gotten out of control....ridiculously messy & really quite embarrassing. He had become a dumper who would just go dump everything & ransack it all into the middle of the room. There was NO organization & it was a disgusting mess! He'd trip & fall but still refuse to clean up...it was a battle! Today I decided NO MORE! I was so sick of him saying "mommy come play in my playroom with me" & me not being able to move or sit or do anything! We did the Ikea trip, assembly & cleaned everything out all in one day. Done! I was so tired of it! He is going to clean up everynight now & not get away with that business, I can't believe it had gotten so bad! (These pictures really do no justice to how depressing it was in there!)

He made himself comfortable right away by bringing all his blankets & pillows in & having a pretend nap with his animals :) I think he likes it!

Tea Party

Garrett loves having tea parties!

hi!

Hi from my little guy putting on a puppet showat the museum!

Hi from my little guy partaking in his favorite hobby - good old fashioned nose-picking!

my little lovey...

Shame on me! I am so bad at blogging lately! Well, I told myself I have to put a current picture up here today even though I don't have much to say
bc I just know we have family member who don't get to see this little guy enough. He is growing up so fast! He is not a little baby anymore! Sad! I don't want the day to come where he doesn't want to "be my boyfriend" anymore, where he doesn't invite me to come play in his playroom or ask if he can sleep in "Mommy's bed" (ha, it's only mine to Garrett, not daddy's bed!), or where he doesn't call the computer the "poncuter" anymore or where he stops asking me "please, you snuggle on the couch with me, mommy?" I don't want all this working I am doing to make these moments pass by in a flash. I am trying to find a balance so I can enjoy & take advantage of every moment of this without letting him see that I am exhausted but it's hard! I love to so much about this little guy. I love that he prays before dinner everynight & says "God our father, thank you, man, thank you man for feeding us. Amen." Because I am sure those aren't the real words, but they're perfect to me. I love that he told his teacher his favorite thing to do with his daddy is to "hug with him." I love that Garrett thinks his cousin's dog Max dived (not died), so anytime he sees a pool he says, "Max dived in the water?" I loove that everytime I tell him he is cute, he says "Yes mommy, I know I am cute, telled me that all the time!" I looove that he has developed this crazy vocabulary all of a sudden out of no where because it is adorable, but I don't want him to grow up! I just want more time! I can see why moms cry (or why my mom cried) when us kids went off to college!

Giveaway!

Go check out Carrie Smalls (super talented NC photographer) gift certificate giveaway with Sprinkles for Sprouts - it is a really awesome with headbands & props....
To check it out, go here!

You know it's a bad sign when...

Your son says "go work out, mommy!" BUT....it was the swift kick in the rear I needed, it's been too long! It was the swift kick that lasted me a whopping ONE day but hey, better than nothing, right?! The good news is, I have a new workout partner!

Merry Christmas a little late! And a Happy 2011

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Hope all of you had a great Christmas! We sure did. XOXOXO!

Thanksgiving

I am just now getting a chance to download my pictures from Thanksgiving in Dallas. Garrett & Beckett had a leaf fight which was fun b.c. I don't think we had a pile of leaves like that anywhere in Houston! We miss you, becks & we'll see you again soon!

what a coinkidink...

We went to the park the other day & ran into this guy! Sam Baron! Garrett was very excited about the coincidence of he & his buddy being at the same park. I like how you can tell they "like" each other but sometimes they don't even pay much attention to each other or play "together" necessarily, just in the same general area. Boats n' hoes!

Family Pictures

We just got our family pictures back that we took in October & I am so glad that we did - it is fun having family pics...we haven't done it in so long! We had Marisa Hugonnett take them - not that she reads this blog, but I'll do a shout out anyway - thanks Marisa! I don't think we will be sending a Christmas card this year because life is a little hectic at the moment, but you'll be seeing these pictures again in February for a Valentine's card for sure! Can't wait to order prints for gifts for grandparents & parents....thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Garrett went out with me as my little assistant in some picture taking today. Before we got started I wanted a picture of the two of us but we were alone so this is what we decided to do!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sitting in the tree KISSING....

Sorry I haven't been around much! Trying to finish up editing sessions for people's Christmas cards so I haven't had the chance to post personal stuf.. Here is one I had to post though...I love them! See you after the holidays!

worth a shot

Posting this for a free give away workshop I want to win bad!
ClickinMoms.com/blog - In the Spirit of Giving article says that Lisa is giving away a free spot in her amazing class & I have to re-post this to enter to win! Worth a shot...

Happy Ween!

Here are some pictures from our Halloween at cousin Ben & Braden's house. They had fun! In the words of Braden, "Happy Ween!"

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Woody! (I will post pictures of Garrett decked out in his Woody suit later - haven't taken any yet!) He is super excited!

In Yo Face

I have had to take Garrett's picture ALOT lately. I am in a really good photography class that requires several very specific weekly assignments. I have had to take pictures of him pretty much every night that I am not working a session for 2 weeks. He hates me now! He asks for daddy all the time & ignores me, especially when he sees the camera. He is so hard! He plays hard to get by not doing what I ask him to do, not making eye contact, or not smiling unless I trick him somehow (or buy him ice cream!). I looooove this class, but I can't wait until it's over so I can stop torturing him & he can start liking me again!

Doesn't he look sooo sweet & innocent? You might be thinking yes. Well two seconds later, he chunked that pumpkin right in my face! Change your mind?

Woody!

Woooo we have been busy lately! I can't wait to slow down. I really can't. But in the meantime, here are some pictures of Garrett with his fun cousins in his ghetto backyard!

We found out when we saw them that not only is Garrett going to be Woody for Halloween but so is Ben & Braden is Buzz! What a coincidence! They will be a cute bunch all dressed up together!

G got a haircut today. I almost cried. I asked for "not too short with some textured hair left at the top for me to spike it." HE GOT SCALPED! Oh well, just hair...it'll grow. But I do think it adds about 5 years to him & I miss my baby!

Garrett went to a few parties this weekend. He got to hit a pinata! He got after it! He loved it. SO much that he ran out of the crowd of patiently waiting children to try to steal another whack at it. Pictured: John whisking Woody away.

Two on Tuesday

This post doesn't really have a purpose...basically just because I haven't posted anything in a while. Nothing new here....except being back in diapers for the time being :)

Support JDRF!

Want to join us for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes? It is on the morning of November 6th at Reliant. I am donating money from my business session fees but we'd love to earn more money for JDRF or even just recruit people to join the tean & walk with us!
Go here: www.kellygarveyphotography.blogspot.com/2010/09/join-kgp-in-support-of-juvenile.html for more info.
Here's the link to join the team or donate! CLICK ME!

Pee Update

Okay, so potty training isn't easy, eh? I had a false impression of what it would be like over the weekend! As I expected, I got a text from John this morning while I was at work saying he basically peed all over the whole house way too many times to count & that he was going to put him in a pulll-up for school (he had peed in every pair of undies he has). He peed in his Pull-Up at school once & in the toilet once. I've only been home an hour & he's already peed in the house. Suggestions? He used to have such enthusiasm & now he keeps asking for a diaper - ripping them out of the drawer & trying to put them on himself! This isn't even something I wanted to do, only did it because he was so gung-ho! Now I want to quit, should I or is that a cop out?!

All Aboard the Potty Train!

There he is reading his new potty book. We left with it on the hood of our car & saw it fly away in the distance as we were almost on 290...lol

Sorry that this potty picture is a little TMI....and a little weird...and a little creepy, but homeboy wanted to use his potty while we were taking pictures, so I took advantage of it!

We went to Babies R' Us to buy a gift & I decided to use a gift card I have been meaning to use for a long time. I decided to buy something practical that we'd need to buy in the future anyway so I got a training potty. We had no intentions of using it right away...I just wanted to get rid of the gift card! Well, Garrett was very interested in it & right away we could tell he wanted to use it so we let him. He was sooo excited & proud. We gave him an M&M. He LOVED that. So he went again & again & again. As soon as I saw that he was balls to the wall about this, I ran out to buy some underwear & Pull-Ups! To make a long story short, almost 48 hours later, he has had only one accident, is wearing big boy undies at home & Pull-Ups when we go out & at night. So unexpected! I can't believe how well it's going! He has stayed dry in his Pull-Up, even at night. I don't even know how those things work. Does the pee run right out of them like a swim diaper? Anway, he freaking loves M&Ms & I think he'd clean the house for them in exchange for a handful! This will be interesting to see if our good luck keeps up. I think it may get hairy when I leave for work on Monday. What do I do, send him to school in a Pull-Up with extra clothes? I am new at this & have no training!

He puts his Buzz, Woody & Rex out to watch him pee. I saw him put Rex on the potty & wipe his butt after. Whatever works I guess!

He is sooooo excited & proud of himself. Every time he pees he jumps up & down, claps, says Hip Hip Hooray & asks for his M&M :)

Big boy (well kind of....)

When we met the teacher she said that this year the kids sit at tables to eat their lunch & drink water from cups eith no lids. She said they don't use boosters or high chairs & that they could do the same at home starting now. So...we tried it! Garrett sat at the table with us & LOVED it! He was thrilled! What a big boy!

Disclaimer***About 2 seconds later he poured his water all over the wood table (on purpose, started rubbing spaghetti sauce into the table then threw his food. He finished dinner in the high chair where he will stay for the time being). We will try again some other time!