Heidi Stone Photography

One Day At A Time

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:52:00 +0000

That's the phase of life I'm in right now. For the past week or so, we've had the common cold running through our home. Which would not be a big deal, but there are seven of us. So lots of Kleenex have been found in various parts of the house, much whining has been had, many vitamins have been taken, and much soup has been made. And then there's just the normal stuff. Homeschooling. Cooking. (Occasional) cleaning. Working. Forgetting to blog. You know, the norm. ;)

Today I did want to share a few images with you from a maternity session I had recently! This momma is glowing and ready to pop! In fact, her little guy is scheduled to arrive this Friday. I can't wait to meet him!

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:51:00 +0000

I'm so behind on blogging.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGHH!!

Instaweek

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:19:00 +0000

I Love This Boy

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:13:00 +0000

Triplets!!

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:10:00 +0000

These babies were sooooo fun! If you or someone you know is pregnant with multiples, I am still offering a complimentary newborn session for some sweet little multiple models. Email me for more information!
heidi@heidistonephotography.com

Where Do You Find Your Inspiration?

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:13:00 +0000

My office / presentation room has been in the works for several months now and I am finally nearing the time to DECORATE.

*insert excited squeal here*

Here's my current inspiration board:

Floral Rug

Door Knob Hook

Frilly Scarf

Yellow Accent Pillows

Red Lamp Shade (Laura Ashley)

Grasshopper Pillows (Mastercraft Fabrics)

Guess What

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:38:00 +0000

Remember that loose tooth I told you about this weekend?

It's gone.

Instaweek

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:25:00 +0000

I don't know if anyone else enjoys these posts, but they are some of my favorites. They are a fun way for me to look back at the week and remember all the moments. And further down the road, I know I will enjoy looking back and (trying to) remember all over again. :)

Firsts

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 03:42:00 +0000

When my husband and I were babies, each of us got our first set of teeth considerably late. (Or so we've been told.) And, as is usual for people who get their first set of teeth late, we also each got our second set of teeth late. So it was no surprise to us that our kids have sort of followed suit.

Our oldest is almost seven and I am happy to announce that we finally have a loose tooth in our home! He's pretty proud of it. :)

Mini Sessions Are Heeeeeeeeeeeere!!

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:09:00 +0000

Remember those Valentine's Day mini sessions that I mentioned yesterday? Yes? Well, here they are!! I am suuuuuper excited about these! Contact me ASAP to reserve your slot!

I'm Trying To Blog More Often

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:07:00 +0000

But today I have nothing special to say. I'm going to say it anyway though. And I'll put it in numerical list format like Ree. Because I'm a copycat like that.

1. It snowed yesterday. Finally. And I'm not really saying finally like it's a good thing. But for goodness sake, if it's going to be 15 degrees outside and blowing so hard that the wind chill is -1, I want some snow to go with it. You know, to justify the cold.

2. I bought a new Bible yesterday.
After a lively Facebook discussion over which translation is the best and then my husband's input, I went with this ESV study Bible. And I'm pretty excited to crack it open today.

3. I'm drinking coffee.

4. I ate brownies for breakfast. But don't tell anyone.

5. I have been doing a lot of designing lately and I am getting ready to announce some Valentine's Day mini sessions for the kiddos.
You should stick around for that. I'm hoping to get that stuff all together this weekend.

6. The reason I've been doing all that designing is because I'm getting ready to jump into a new realm of custom photography. And I'm super excited to share it with you! When the time is right.

7. It's cold outside. Did I mention that?

8. Last night, I met up with some local photographers in Carmel.
We had a good time laughing, eating, and arguing over the age-old Canon vs Nikon discussion.

9. Nikon won. Duh.

10. My coffee is gone. I better run.

11. Oh! And today is Friday the 13th. So watch out.

12. I'm just kidding. I'm not superstitious.

13. But I'll end on #13 anyway. Just to freak a few of you out.

She Calls Me Mama

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:26:00 +0000

Miracle

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:16:00 +0000

As I lay in bed next to him, I could see the silhouette of his hand, opening and closing. His tiny six-month old fingers clasped and then released each other over and over again. And I thought to myself, "What a miracle."

After nine months in a warm cozy womb, he made his grand entrance into the world. Ten tiny toes. Ten tiny fingers. Two amazingly complex eyes. A beating heart. An intricately designed bloodstream. A distinct profile. SO MANY THINGS that are miraculous to me. And as I look at him, I am amazed at God all over again.

And Then I Shrank The Kitchen Table

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:27:00 +0000

The other day I was cleaning the house. Well actually, it was night. Like 2am night. Because as you know, I have five children under the age of seven. And if I ever want the house to look clean for more than .35 seconds, I have to clean it at night.

So anyway, I was sweeping the floor. I always start in my studio, sweep into the living room, then move to the foyer and sweep into the living room, and then move all that dirt into the kitchen where I deposit all of it under the kitchen table and then ~~admire my handiwork~~ wonder how on earth the floor could have possible gotten that dirty in a matter of hours. Truly though, the reason I do it that way is because I feel like it was worth it when I see a big pile of dirt over several smaller piles. Or something.

As I got into the kitchen and looked around at the crumbs all over the floor, mostly under and around the table, I began to consider how much the size of our table annoys me. You see, we have a square table. (We like to call it our poker table. Even though we never play poker on it.) And yes, we have a family of seven, six of which eat at the table several times each day. But the size prohibits me from doing two things:

1) wiping it down for one side, and
2) sweeping under it from one side.

(Are you seeing a theme here?)

Since I wipe down the table or sweep under the table a few times each day, it becomes cumbersome to me to have to walk all the way around the table doing these things each time, especially since the size of our table and the size of our kitchen are, shall we say, close in dimension. That is, there are walls on two sides of our table and they are in rather close proximity to the table. So, to sum up, the table is annoying.

So right then, at 2am, I decided I was over it. I set down the broom, pulled the leaf out of the table, placed it in the garage and pushed the table - now just two-thirds of the size it was moments ago - back together.

And then I threw a bowl of oranges on it and pretended I was Martha Stewart.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with my broom.

Instaweek

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:54:00 +0000

Looks like I got good use out of my diptic app this week! (That's the one that makes those fantastic little collages!)

Not Pushing Myself

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:55:00 +0000

Sometimes I'm lazy. And setting the timer just doesn't seem to motivate me enough. At times like these, instead of making my children a hot delicious dinner, I walk through the kitchen and grab everything in sight that doesn't require cooking and then I throw it on a plate and declare it "time for dinner!"

As it turns out, my kids seem to appreciate these "meals" the best. So I guess I'm not all that terrible of a mother.

And speaking of being a ~~terrible~~ mother, I read one of THE BEST blog entries I think I have ever read today. At least at this stage of my life. You really MUST go read it:

Don't Carpe Diem

And if you're like me, you might get a little teary-eyed there toward the end. So don't say I didn't warn you.

Pushing Myself

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:52:00 +0000

I've talked to enough people, read enough blog posts, witnessed enough incidents and seen enough status updates to know that laziness is a pretty common thread among humans. It's a natural thing for us to be lazy. Unfortunately, it doesn't exact yield many results in our life when we are.

This afternoon I looked into my disaster of a kitchen and wanted to run upstairs to my bed and never enter the kitchen again until someone cleaned it. But then I recalled something I read recently in a book. So instead of running upstairs, I walked to the microwave, set the timer for 10 minutes and set to work.

I'm pretty competitive by nature, even with things like beating my own personal records, so I thought this might be good motivation for me. I gathered trash, filled the sink with water to soak the dishes, moved things that didn't belong in the kitchen to another area, cleared the table, put away the clean dishes, (asked the kids to pick up the living room), and threw the dirty dishes in the sink. To my surprise, I got everything done except washing the dishes!

Even though it's a pain to clean the kitchen, I know it needs to be done and I know it will bless my husband and my family to do it. Sometimes I just need a little extra nudge. And, at least today, a 10-minute timer was just the thing.

What do you do to motivate yourself when you don't feel like doing what needs to be done?

She

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:19:00 +0000

Is goofy.
Loves puzzles.
Has the best belly laugh.
Takes care of her baby brother.
Likes to snuggle.
Makes me laugh.
Pretends she is a cat.
Loves ice cream.
Will be a great mother someday.
Is sweet.
Loves to help around the house.
Is such a blessing.

The Lunch That Almost Wasn't

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:47:00 +0000

Sunday lunches are by far the most difficult meal for me to figure out. And if you attend church on Sunday mornings with any number of small children, you can probably relate. We literally walk in the door to our house AT lunchtime and....there's usually nothing ready (of course). So last Saturday night, I thought I'd be all smart and get lunch ready for Sunday ahead of time.
I quickly threw together one of my favorite recipes. Technically, it's party potatoes, but I never really follow the directions and I'm always subbing/adding/subtracting ingredients, so I don't really know what to tell you it's called. Let's just say it was cheesy hashbrowny goodness with ham. I'll capitalize it so it feels official....

On Saturday night, I prepared Cheesy Hashbrowny Goodness for lunch on Sunday. There.

So anyway, being the absent-minded person that I am, I wrote myself a note to set the oven timer in the morning and put it in before we left for church. I put the lid on the casserole dish, set in on the middle shelf of the fridge and placed the note on top of the stove so that I would DEFINITELY see it the next morning. Then I went to bed.

On Sunday morning, I went downstairs to make my coffee and saw the note. Ah! I'll do that now so I don't forget!....I thought to myself. So I did.

Fast forward to 12:04pm.

We had just left the church and were headed home when all of a sudden it hit me. I never took the lid off the casserole dish. I NEVER TOOK THE LID OFF THE CASSEROLE DISH!!! Then the internal struggle began....

No no. It can't be. I would never do something like that. I cook ALL. THE. TIME. I know to take a lid off a casserole dish before putting it in the oven. Right? But I definitely don't remember taking the lid off.

My mind raced on until I finally settled on the sad truth that I had indeed forgotten to remove the lid from the casserole dish. I definitely DID NOT remove it. I was positive. So I began to laugh. It was the kind of laugh you do when you know you did something really stupid, but you're not really sure what the outcome will be. In this case, it's the kind of the laugh you do when you realize you left the plastic lid on your casserole dish and baked it for 45 minutes while you were at church.

Since I had never done such a stupid thing before, I'm gonna be straight with you. I looked for billows of smoke on the way home. I mean, how on earth do I know if this would cause a fire?! I even joked with my husband about our house burning down.

(If your home has ever burnt down, I do apologize for joking about such a thing. It's just that I was caught up in my moment of silliness and was nervously cracking jokes.)

I finally realized that our neighbors surely would have called us if our house was on fire. So I wasn't too concerned. (But I was still looking for smoke.)

When we arrived home, I decided I'd head inside first to assess the damage. There were no apparent flames coming from our house, so that was a bonus.

As I unlocked the door and stepped inside, I caught a slight stench and verbally announced (to no one but me) that "It stinks in here." I walked to the oven and decided it might be wise to flip on the light before opening the door.

You know, just in case.
So I hit the light toggle atop the stove, bent down to see inside the oven and to my astonishment...

It was empty.
And then I laughed. I had set the oven timer. I had set the start time. I had even set the temperature. Yes, the oven had run its 45 minute bake cycle. But my casserole? Sitting untouched on the middle shelf of the fridge.

So I pulled it out, removed the lid, flipped the oven back on and set the timer for 45 minutes. And then I laughed some more.

----------------------------------------------------------

CHEESY HASHBROWNY GOODNESS

1. package of frozen hashbrowns
2-3 c. chunked ham
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
3/4 t. onion powder
1/2 c. butter, melted
salt and pepper

2-3 c. cornflakes, crushed slightly
1/2 c. butter, melted

In a large bowl, stir together hashbrowns, ham, soup (do not add water), sour cream, butter and seasonings. Dump/scoop/pour into 9x13" greased pan. Top with the melted butter/crushed cornflake mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until hot and cornflakes begin to brown. MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE THE LID BEFORE BAKING.

Six Months

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:21:00 +0000

I remember his birth so well. It was calm. Relaxed. Dark. Perfect. And he was tiny. So tiny.

Well, okay...he wasn't that tiny. He was almost 9 pounds. But a lot tinier than he is now.

Last week he turned six months old. He is so full of personality and happiness. And his smile! Oh, that smile! It just melts me right into a muddle of melted...ness.

Seriously. I'm melting just thinking about it.

So anyway, I decided this morning that he needed his 6 month portraits taken. And in a moment of stupidity, I thought it might work to take them in his bedroom. So I pulled out my favorite Christmas gift for him, dressed him, and then grabbed one of my studio blankets which just happens to be in storage in his room. I threw the blanket on the floor, picked up my camera, and shot a few images.

Immediately I knew this room just wasn't going to work out. I mean...are those cute? YES!!! But the shadows. Ugh. Actually, it would have been great had I been going for mood lighting. But I wasn't so much. Ya know, with him being a baby and all. So down to the studio we went for the rest.

MUCH better.

Oh, did I mention he's mobile now?

I officially had to tap his hand this morning and say "no touching" for the first time.

Seriously. Do you see why I melt?

Gah. Must go pull myself back together.

Instaweek

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:00:00 +0000

That Kind

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

The other day I was talking with a close friend about a recent tragedy in her life. It was something painful. Deep. Despairingly difficult. I could tell it was cutting her to the core of her being. But she shared with me that she couldn't tell everyone for fear of judgment. She had limited resources available due to her fear, but I agreed that it was indeed a valid concern. I was thankful that she talked with me, but I couldn't let go of that idea. There are those with whom we cannot share just anything. Those who will unfairly judge us. Those who can't keep their mouths closed.

But then there are that other kind. You know them. They are those you immediately think to call when something goes wrong. You know they will love you, support you, pray for you and encourage you. They are the kind you can trust with your sharpest pains, your greatest joys and your deepest secrets. The ones who understand what confidentiality is. The ones who uphold you and walk by you at life's most crucial moments. The ones you hold dearly because they are a rare and precious gem.
I want to be that kind. Lord, help me to be that kind.

1920's Style

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:22:00 +0000

Earlier this month, my husband I went to a 1920's themed Christmas party. When I initially heard the theme, I immediately blurted out to my husband, "Yeah, I'm wearing jeans." But as the time drew nearer, my competitive spirit rose to the surface and I suddenly felt a need to dress the part. VERY the part. I researched clothing styles, accessories, makeup....anything I could get my hands on. And then I threw together our outfits. We had a blast!

More Babies!!

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:17:00 +0000

I always love hearing the news that more babies will be entering our family! I have two pregnant sister-in-laws right now and I am suuuuper excited. I'm doing a really fun project with one of them. But it's a secret. So I can't tell you about it yet. I'll show you a picture though. Doesn't she look amazing?

I Love Seeing This Cutie

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi Stone Photography) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:16:00 +0000