Lauber Fam in Photos

Tonight I did another photo shoot with my cousins, the Lauber family. It was so much fun to capture them! Enjoy.  

P.S. I'm not doing any more free photo shoots--sorry, but this was family! I feel like I would need to charge some fee to make up for the time photography takes away from family.  I'm tossing around the idea of taking one hour of photos for $100 if you provide your own camera card, and charging $150 if you want me to edit ten of those pictures--you can still have all rights to them and print them out wherever you would like (or blow them up into massive sizes at Sam's or Copy Max and mount them yourself--very inexpensive to do). I've just had people asking me about it lately, and I feel like this is only fair to my family. Not that I'm seriously branching out into photography, or anything... just in case anyone else is interested.  Thanks for understanding.

Into the Woods

Once upon a time, deep into the woods, a family of hobbits went in search of a place to picnic.

Along the way, they found magic walking sticks filched from the hut of Baba Yaga, the hag.

Just the right size, both. 

 They followed a trail of breadcrumbs to a fallen tree, and lunched off the ruins of a gingerbread cottage.

 They climbed beanstalks to the land of giants, somewhere in the thick of the clouds. 

 And, barely escaping an ogre bellowing Fee-Fie-Fo and Fum, tarried along downstream on a hunt for buried treasure.

 Things were getting really wet, but the brave pirate Gryffin John felt right at home.  He carried his dagger in hand, always at the ready.

 Lorelei, the mermaid from the lagoon, grew sea legs.  They were a bit wobbly.

And pirate-turned-Peter Pan discovered his lost shadow.  Wendy sewed it into his shoes so it couldn't escape again.

  The Frog Prince found the golden ball Princess Lorelei had lost in the creek, and won a seat at the king's table.

 And Gryffy called the bluff of a troll lurking beneath the bridge.

 The troll came out of hiding!  The hobbits barely got away.

 But all ends, for this family of hobbits, on this fine autumn day, precisely as it should--happily ever after.

Night of the Living Farm

Tonight we took our first ever visit to Night of the Living Farm at Deanna Rose.

We went as little blue communists. Brainy, Papa, Smurfette and Clumsy. I earned my name as soon as this photo was finished, tripping backward over a pumpkin.

 Papa Smurf's waiting for the hayride... the SCARY hayride.

 Smurfette loves being scared.

 Our costumes were so low-effort this year--hats ordered on Ebay, sweats from Wal-Mart--but we were a real hit at Deanna Rose.  We even saw church friends at dinner and at the other "not scary" hayride.  Brainy Smurf was mortified.

 Deanna Rose was a spooky place.  Just look at the fog over the lake, and the ghosts doing a Samhain ritual around the cauldron. Whooo-ooo.

 People kept jumping out at us.  Lorelei cracked up every time into hysterics.

 She did look just a bit scared at the haunted barn...

 ... until she was making an acquaintance with all the spooks.  That girl can't get enough friends.

 We went on a scavenger hunt deep into the dark woods by flashlight, and stumbled upon a fairy godmother.  The kids told her their wishes, and she assured them they would come true.  When we passed back by her again, Lorelei stood a mile away waving crazily until the fairy saw her. 

 I knew Papa wouldn't sport a beard, but I was amazed he kept his Smurf cap on all night!  Perhaps because it's his favorite color, red.  Or because he has a Papa Smurf obsession--he carries a little Papa everywhere he goes.  Literally.  Everywhere.

 I loved the dance party.  I hopped up on stage with the kids, and all of a sudden there was a mad rush of others just waiting for us to break the ice.  I can dance a bad High School Musical.  Or maybe I just think I can.

 Best costume award goes to...

 The kids had their hair sprayed blue.

 And L had her face painted like a cat.  She loves cats.  G refused to have his face painted.  "Uh, no way!" he said.

 Yo-ho yo-ho!  It be a pirate boat race, me hearties!  L won the first race the pirate way--with a bit of cheating.  G won the second race fair and square.  Both won with the #3 boat.

 We heard Native American stories about the moon.

 And ended the night with a visit to the fortuneteller.  Apparently our kids are the next Food Network stars.  They didn't look too thrilled with the prediction (though they are constantly cooking something with me, and Gryffy especially loves the culinary arts).

We love Deanna Rose Farmstead, and can't wait to make this a tradition every year!