Truly:

-I woke up to a nice breakfast (well, a bowl of oatmeal, because I am allergic to Gluten, Egg and Dairy, so poor Brian had a limited menu to choose from)

-Went to a sweet little event in Lydia’s Sunday school class.

-Listened to Miss Alayneous sing a sweet song to mothers in church.

-Came home to Brian’s sweet lunch of gluten free, egg free, dairy free muffins that were a little more like muffin crumble (it’s the thought that counts).

-Went as a family to the Milwaukee County Zoo, which I love and had a wonderful time together, the monkey house was everyone’s favorite (me, the elephants).

-At the zoo, I asked my husband to take a few photos of me with the kids. It’s so rare, me in front of the camera. All mom’s should be there more often!

-Came home and took a nice nap,  wow!

-Had a bon fire with hot dogs (delicious and awful) and s’mores and time together.

I almost felt like a queen. Queen for a day! Thank you, Brian, Ty, Z, Layn and Bug. I love you so much. -Mom

Congrats on winning a Milwaukee Short & Sweet Session on June 30th with nationally recognized children’s photographer Anna Mayer. See our previous contest post for details.

To celebrate our first ever Milwaukee

1st: Short & Sweet Session (inc 11×14), a Mini-Album, & $250 in prints!

2nd: Short & Sweet Session (inc 11×14)

Contest closed

Great! How do I enter?

Tweet to enter the contest with an original tweet  (can’t RT ours; you’ll see why later)

I want to win #FunFreshFree from @annamayerphoto http://amay.me/funfreshfree Tweet

How much do you want it?

The more you want it, the harder you can try.

• What the heck, it’s worth a shot.

• Just enter with your tweet

• Would be cool to win: +1 each

• the above plus …
• Follow @annamayerphoto Click to Follow
  
  Follow @annamayerphoto
  
• List @annamayerphoto on a public list
• Like our Facebook page: Click to LIKE

• Subscribe to our email list: Click to subscribe
  
  

  Sign up!

• I would LOVE to win: +1 per day*

• the above plus …
• Include #funfreshfree in a tweet
• Mention @annamayerphoto (replies are great, but don’t count for totals)

• I really, really want to win this thing!!

• the above plus …
• Get Creative. If we see a particularly creative tweet including @annamayerphoto and #funfreshfree, we’ll RT it and you get +1
• Get ReTweets. Get others to RT (both kinds count) your pleas to win and you’ll get one more for every RT you get!

To get RT’s you could tweet something like

RT this to help me win #FunFreshFree with @annamayerphoto http://amay.me/funfreshfree
Tweet it

We’ll calculate totals based on entries earned through the end of April 3rd. We’ll have the random drawing on April 4th.

Go get ‘em!

*Limit 1 extra per day due to Twitter’s contest rules

I thought cake came from a box and that you “just add water”. I believed that macaroni and cheese was meant to be the color of traffic cones. I had never seen tomato soup come from anything but a white and red labeled can. Vegetables, I imagined, came from the freezer isle, flash-frozen and nuked to mushy perfection. I didn’t even know you could make bread at home; what a thought! **

It’s been a good decade since I learned of cake “from scratch”, that vegetables can grow in my own back yard and taste so amazing, that macaroni and cheese is best with real, aged-cheddar and aught to be hued more butter-cream than plastic-pylon, and that  the best tomato soup comes from roasted, fresh tomatoes, red peppers with fresh spices and a dollop of Greek yogurt. I even know where the best breads come from (although my success is still limited in this department. Thanks honey, for eating it anyway.)

Despite all I know, it’s been hard to make the lane change from the quick-fix boxes of macaroni and pre-made-everything to nourishing my family as I once did each of my four babies; from food as God intended it;  fresh, whole, real. I am, after-all, busy. I have a small business, traverse the country once a month for work, have four kids ranging in age from 5 to 17. We run all over the Midwest visiting family and manage all the other day-to-day tasks of life with four kids and a dog. Our dishwasher died. Our kitchen sucks (just ask someone who’s used it). Fresh food is expensive , too time-consuming and our American life doesn’t leave room for old-fashioned home-cooking. And, frankly, some days, I just want to order a pizza!

These are all pretty “reasonable” reasons to just keep the status quo, but I’m not going to let my objections win this round. For one month my family is going to eat “From Scratch” or at least “Pretty Much From Scratch”. I figure if I go full-on, cold turkey, no cheating, in the end I will come out with fresh understanding of where my food comes from, some new skills (like maybe bread that actually rises to a fluffy softness) and my kids will have learned a thing or two, as well.  I will document my successes and failures here. I am sure it’ll be entertaining, educational and hopefully, the photos will be pretty, even though, well, let’s be honest,  my kitchen sucks. Stay tuned, it should be quite a trip!

**Disclaimer, my mom is a great cook. She makes a lot of things from scratch these days, maybe she always did, but somehow I missed those lessons along the way. Maybe I was too busy out playing in the dirt? Who knows, but at any rate, it’s not her fault. I promise.

We will be offering 10-minute mini-shoots at the Los Gatos GapKids store for only $50! To make the most of the opportunity, the Gap Brand Experts will be on hand to provide styling from their upcoming spring collection. To make a sweet deal even better, bring your session confirmation email into the store between now and your session and you will get a 20% discount on your entire purchase!  Additionally, we will be offering 20% off prints as well.

Location: Los Gatos GapKids (120 N Santa Cruz Ave)
Date: Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
Times: 10-Noon and 1-3pm
Price: $50

These sessions are gonna go fast, so
get more info and/or BOOK NOW at annamayer.com/gap

Crazy Four-Day deal!

Buy it now – book it later! JUST $150!

Before midnight on Monday Nov 29, buy a 2011 Winter/Spring Photography Session for only $150! Weekday, Evening, or Weekend doesn’t matter!  Whether it’s a milestone birthday, a newborn, belly photos, or a family photo session, you can’t go wrong. This offer is only available online through Monday, so don’t delay!

… but read the terms below

San Jose/San Francisco Available dates during this period: 1/28-31 3/11-14 4/22-25	Zoiks! You missed it!
Milwaukee/Chicago Available dates during this period vary. Please inquire for specifics.	Aw shucks! You’re too late

This promotional certificate must be purchased through this link between 11/26-29/2010.  The session does not need to be booked at the time of purchase, but must be booked by 3/31/11 and  must take place between 1/1/11 and 4/30/11. If the session does not take place before 4/30/2011, the purchase will convert to a gift certificate for the amount of purchase. If you would like an actual certificate to present this session as a gift, just let us know; otherwise, we will simply note the purchase in your file.  Upgrades for beach, San Francisco, and Chicago are available for the usual difference.  Travel charges of $2.50 per mile (one way) still apply beyond 20 miles from our Los Gatos Studio in CA and outside the Racine, Delafield, Port Washington triangle in WI. Not valid on prior sales and cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer expires at midnight PST on 11/29/10. All sales final. By purchasing this certificate you are agreeing to these terms.

We had our choice of 5 charities … so why did we choose LLS?  Two reasons:

First, 10 years ago, a long-time client and friend, Linsey Krolik, was diagnosed with and beat Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  Take a moment, and read her story at her Me Too You Blog.

Second, Every 4 minutes one person is diagnosed with a blood cancer…  Here’s more from the LLS website:

An estimated 137,260 people in the United States will be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2010. New cases of leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma will account for 9.0 percent of the 1,529,560 new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States this year*.

Overall incidence rates per 100,000 population for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are almost identical for data reported in 2009 and 2010 [(leukemia 12.3, 2010 vs.12.2, last year); (NHL, 19.6, 2010 vs. 19.5, last year); (Hodgkin lymphoma, 2.8, 2010, same as last year); (myeloma, 5.6, 2010, same as last year)].

Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma will cause the deaths of an estimated 54,020 people in the United States this year. These blood cancers will account for nearly 9.5 percent of the deaths from cancer in 2010 based on the 569,490 total cancer-related deaths.

Every ten minutes, someone dies from a blood cancer. This statistic represents nearly 148 people each day, or more than six people every hour. Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. In general, the likelihood of dying from most types of leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma decreased from 1998 to 2007 (the most recent data available).

*Facts and statistics from Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma Facts 2010-2011

Here is the latest edition with his lovely parents:

And here’s a flashback to baby no. 1 . . . And the latest again. He’s so precious . . .

Look at those lips! 

Another flashback. She was so much chunkier! Love the cheeks. 

And maybe my favorite Before & After . . . no. 1 on mommy’s shoulder in 2008 . . . 

And here she is now, so big! (oh, and look at mommy’s expanding ink . . . )

Now you’ve got one more chance! We’ve just added a new Short & Sweet with Christmas delivery. Our Bay Area Short & Sweet Sessions have been booked up for quite some time now, but we just decided to open up one more session! We have 6 spots available at Bramhall Park in Willow Glen on Saturday, 11/6 at 8:00, 8:20, 8:40, 9:00, 9:20, and 9:40am. At just $200 each, if you are interested, book it fast, ’cause they won’t last!

Get more details on our Short & Sweet page

OR