Luke and Lane

Can two boys get any cuter than these little guys. Thanks Brittany for this delight to end my weekend. Ashley, I think you have some heart breakers on your hands. They both were very photogenic (which makes my job easy) and it was my honor to capture their innocence. I think my favorite is of Luke pinching Lane's nose~out of the clear blue. Good luck deciding! The gallery will be up sometime tonight on the website under Gunselman. I'm going to put together some storyboards for you Brittany, remind me to show you those on Friday!

Picking Pumpkins

Since I didn't have any sessions today, I thought I would try and get Bryant's 2 year picture. We tried anyway? He is not that easy to photograph these days. I told Doug I have more pics of Bryant walking away from us than facing the front (we hope that's not foreshadowing of his teenage life) It pretty much was a waste with Bryant, but hey, we got some sweet shots of Bennett and Addison. I guess I'll try again some other time with my youngest? My favorite one is the one where Bryant is behind Bennett making faces at him, Bennett looks totally annoyed, as I'm sure he was! We ended our pictures with a run to a local church to pick our pumpkins. Doug and the kids always spend this weekend prior to Halloween carving up super pictures on the pumpkins. When they get those done, I'll post their masterpieces.

Homecoming

One of my students from El Salvador asked me yesterday, "What is the meaning of Homecoming?" So, I sat there for a minute and said, well, to be perfectly honest 15 years ago it was about wearing a big, big mum on your shoulder with ribbons hanging from it that could nearly reach your knees, getting all dressed up and going to a dance after a specific October Friday night football game. I suddenly realized that in 2007, there are no more real celebrations of this event. Yes, we have a pep rally and the students get to decorate cars and participate in a car parade, but the meaning of coming home has changed in the last ten years. I could be sad and think about how great my homecomings were and complain about the lack of spirit these days, but these kids need to be taught that they can create new ways to celebrate school events. After all I am a teacher. I think too much of the time, with all the nat'l and state mandates teachers and adminstrators have been stripped of the "life teaching" that we all enjoy so much. Instead of creating new tradtitions and celebrating homecoming, we are pushing standards and proficiencies. My students are smarter because of No child left behind and all that is expected--hands down, they are smarter. But the other side to an education is that of a teenager finding out who they are and what they believe in. This school supports that area, but our focus the last few years has been to improve their learning....... so for my senior who asked me the meaning of homecoming, you have to define that one for yourself, until we can begin again teaching and creating traditions. Go Bears!

Officially Fall!

We toured Wild Things Farm Saturday with Sherry and Olivia. We had a great time and the weather could not have been better. I love this time of year! I think Bryant could have picked up every pumpkin if I would have let him. Addy got to hold a baby goat. Bennett got to shoot corn! I love fall!

Molly Rose

This afternoon I photographed little Molly Rose. You never know how infants are going to cooperate, she was a trooper even though she was exhausted! We got some precious ones of the family right at the end. The gallery is titled Molly Rose on the website. Thanks Mike and Jennifer, she's a sweetie.

Christmas Cards

Well, I've been playing around and here are some samples of the cards I'm offering this season. I'll continue to play around and post more later. For the most part these cards are 4x6 and 5x7 but a few are 6x6. I print mine just like a photo; so the cost is $1.00 each for the 4x6 and $2.00 each for the 5x7 and $3.00 each for the 6x6. The envelopes can be purchased at hobby lobby of course! The minimum order amount is $10.00. The deadline for the card orders is November 16th.

All you would have to do to place an order is select what style and color scheme, then either I take the photos or you can submit a photo if you want. I'll print them and deliver to you by the end of November. Incidentally, I'm considering doing an all day session here in town with fall foliage on October 27th or November 10th. I would love to schedule families every 45 minutes that day. I am not sure which day yet, simply because it all depends on when the leaves begin to turn. If you are interested in a session for Christmas cards or just because, let me know.

Canterbury Tales

From the Parson to the Reeve, all the characters in this prologue present similarities to our lives today. Which character can you relate to the most and why? Feel free to comment on other students' responses.