Julie Wolfe Photography

Long time, no see.

Photos from various fall, winter sessions coming soon, along with some random smatterings of my kiddos. 

Gearing up now for Spring and First Communions!

And because I just can’t post without a photo, here’s a sweet one of Gus taken the day before we turned his baby boy room into his new big boy room.

That’s what they’re calling it, anyway.  A very rare Northeast snowstorm all before the kiddos have even gone door to door for Halloween.  It was a heavy, wet snow.  I think we only got about four inches.  But four inches of heavy snow on trees that have yet to lose all their leaves means lots of broken tree branches, downed power lines, and ultimately, darkness and cold.  Yes, we were without power.  But we were among the lucky ones.  We only went about 7 hours without.  We crashed the neighbors for dinner, who were smart enough to cook a pot of chili throughout the day, and we ate by candlelight and sat in front of their gas fireplace.  When we did come home, we lit candles all around the house.  It was quite the sensory experience.  In a matter of seconds, traveling from room to room, you could experience the scent of ocean breezes, cinnamon spice, orange-vanilla (my least favorite, by the way) and the scent of the Christmas tree.  That’s enough to make anyone nauseous.  Haha.  The kids all slept well, and we even went to bed early.  And then, out of the clear blue, our house was alive again with lights, the washer filling up to finish the load of laundry started earlier, the furnace kicks on.  But it’s 1:00 am.  Thankful to have our power back and the house warming up again, but it led to a quick rush around the house finding all those lights that you weren’t entirely sure were turned off before bed.  Those three-way light switches always throw me. 

Today Molly was the only one brave enough to bundle up in all the snow gear and go out and play.  I was the meanie mom who wouldn’t let them go out yesterday while it was snowing.  Oh, how I dreaded digging out all of the snow gear, crossing my fingers that everyone would have “something” that would fit.  Of course, Emily wouldn’t.  The girl’s growing like a weed.  Finding the hats and water-resistant gloves (fleece just won’t cut it in this stuff).  Spend half an hour bundling everyone up only for them to come back in within minutes because they’ve soaked through all their warm clothes and they’re freezing.  Nope, not my idea of fun.  So, I just said no.  But today I realized I am the meanie mom, and guilt got the better of me, so I did all I could to encourage them to go outside today.  Molly jumped at the chance.  Gus was napping, or he probably would have, too.  Emily and Anna opted to stay warm.  Can’t say I blame them.  Regardless, Molly had a blast.

Of course, Thursday is supposed to be in the 60′s again.  Go figure.

…sort of. Actually, it’s been one of those days that I’m just so thankful is finally over.  I’m tired.  Lots of late nights this past week, editing photo sessions and painting my entry. But today was no different than another other Saturday in the fall, really. There were soccer games. Emily and Anna both played this morning. There was dance. Well, there would have been dance, but Emily took the day off in favor of working on a big project for school.  Oh, that project.  Hours and hours we’ve (she’s) spent on that thing.  The kids all played outside for a while. They raked up a big pile of leaves. They jumped in that big pile of leaves. And as even a little bonus, Nick came home relatively early from work. My mom-mobile has been making an AWFUL noise the past two days. As it turns out, there was a rather large tree branch lodged up under the car. That will do it. But after Nick figured that out, he wanted to drive it and make sure it wasn’t something else. So then he was gone…. And gone….. And gone….. After about an hour, I sent him a text to see where  he had gone. He said he’d be back in 5. Ok. Well, he was… back in, oh… OK, maybe 10 or 15… But with a BRAND NEW mom-mobile!!! Wasn’t expecting that! But he said he’d gotten a fabulous deal, but it wasn’t signed yet, and if I wanted to keep my old car I could. But after trial driving the new one, how could I possibly keep the old one? I mean, really? So, it’s silver. Wouldn’t have been my first color choice, but the trade off is getting a darker colored interior than my current light tan color which gets SUPER dirty SUPER fast.  I think I’m going to miss my white exterior, though.  Oh well.  It has lots of cool new things I’m sure I’m going to have fun playing with.  Emily, I think is the only one disappointed in the new one.  She doesn’t really like the body style.  But, Nick negotiated for two extra sets of headphones for free, so maybe once she’s chillin’ back, watching a movie and not having to share her headset with one of her sisters or brother, she’ll change her mind.  And from what I understand, she’ll be able to play her iPod music wirelessly through the speakers from anywhere in the car (when I let her).  So that should entice her.  I, on the other hand, am simply excited over silly things like being able to open the back hatch with a push of a button.  It’s the little things.  Now I just have to wait a few days for it.  The dealer is adding a luggage rack to the top for me.  Big family… we kinda need that.

So, during my fabulous 5 minute test drive, Nick actually put his hands on my baby, I mean camera, and snagged this little gem of Gus.  Who knew he knew how to work it?  OK, maybe not really.  Based on the shots right before this one, I’m more inclined to say it was a bit of a fluke.  But he sure did nail the focus here.  Love this little guy!

Here’s to a happy Sunday!

So, in my last post I mentioned how Anna maybe, kinda learned a little in lacrosse camp.  The proof is in the pudding…

That photo on the right… yeah, that’s how she looked when I first raised my hand to throw her the ball.  She said she was afraid it would hit her in the face.  Somehow I don’t think putting the stick right in front of her face would prevent that.

Throwing was definitely easier than catching for her.

See what I mean?

HAHA!  That second picture is priceless.  Probably won’t catch it with her eyes closed.   But, she loved it, she’s been practicing some, and I think we’ll be signing up for the spring season.