The Time Has Come

I've moved!

Come follow me, won't you?

You can find me here.

See you soon!

Patoot

I have a new post on the other blog. Check it out!

For now, I'll leave you with a cute picture of Big Man.

This crazy-haired, happy kiddo is why I get out of bed every morning and work my patoot off.

Happy Sunday!

Ten Million Tears

I love my husband.

 There are times that he just stares at me and when I ask him what he's thinking about he tells me that it blows his mind that I chose him.

 But the truth is that I'm the lucky one.

I am a very difficult person to live with. I know this.

I am a list maker and task master. Inside the walls of our home I have to have everything in place and I feel totally off kilter when they are not.

Okay, I hulk out.

Truth.

This, of course, is a direct result of stress.

I. Must. Control. Chaos.

Times are stressful.

But, you see, with him I crumble.

Sometimes I don't take a call from him during the day because five minutes in and I'm a big puddle of Cassie. In my office, in the car, in the middle of the store. Doesn't matter.

This used to bother me. Immensely.

Because I had a strong-woman-I-can-do-it-all-myself image to uphold.

And because your partner is supposed to make you stronger, right?

Crying doesn't exactly make me appear the pillar of strength.

I got angry with him. I thought he didn't know me. The me that I've become in the passing years.

But the truth is he does know me.

He knows that I need a soft place to land.

That is what he is to me.

It seems that I am at the maximum level of stress at all times and at the end of the day after I've painfully gone through how I'm feeling (and, of course, I speak in epic terms)

he will kiss me and hold me close.

Even when I push him away because I want to appear stronger for a little while longer or when I'm mad at him and won't kiss him goodnight.

He will always kiss the back of my head.

He is just that person that is always there ready to catch me when I need to fall.

He is the person that helps me let go. He is the person that helps me be weak.

And that makes me stronger.

So, you see...

I'm the lucky one.

Because HE chose ME. And continues to do so.

Seven years and ten million tears later.

Keep Going

In Missouri we don't get a lot of snow. We mainly get really bitter, nasty winds and lots of ice.

The other day, though, it started snowing!

Dude was so excited to head outside so I bundled him up and out we went.

I thought we could run around and catch snowflakes on our tongues or play tag and dance around.

Dude just wanted to shovel.

That's it. Shovel.

He was so excited about it too.

"I shobel, Mommy! I shobel!"

Alrighty. Shoveling it is.

 He shoveled our entire walkway!

 He did manage to catch a few snowflakes on his tongue. :)

The back of our house has a common area drive that connects all the houses on our street.

No one was coming or going at that time so I suggested that we run around a bit.

He grabbed his shovel and put it in front of him and took off running at full speed.

I had a lump in my throat as he came to the first crack in the concrete.

The shovel hit and he dropped it.

Dude picked it back up and started running again and yelled, "Keep going, Mommy! It's okay!".

Every time he hit a crack and the shovel would slip out of his little hands he would pick it up and shout the same thing.

"Keep going, Mommy! It's okay!"

At two years old, my son teaches me such important lessons. 

Happy Friday!

Formulas, Bubbles, and Family

I know it has been awhile since I've posted. Christmas is screaming towards us and I've been a busy Queen Bee around here. Last weekend we headed to Webb City to celebrate Christmas with the Allens. The drive was long but we found a formula that has become essential when traveling with a toddler these days.

DVD player + snacks = happy kiddo

Remember that.

 The long drive was worth it. When Dude sees Sissy,

 the happiness that bubbles out of him is just an awesome thing to see.

You can't ask for more as a parent than to see your children love each other so fiercely and have a blast together.

Forgive the quality of the photo. It was one of those

 "just capture the moment and don't worry about the setting" split second.

 We stopped for an overnight stay in Springfield on Friday

 then headed to Webb City on Saturday morning.

The only time I ever got out my camera was when Hub's dad took Dude out to sit in his '66 Chevy Truck. Man, this truck was darn cool. Dude got a kick out of honking the horn.

It was a short visit but a good visit nonetheless.  

We got in late Sunday night but I just had to get everything back to normal as quickly as possible, so unpacking everything was first on my list. I had a little helper.

Again with the photo quality. Eeeesh.

 Man, he's cute. Crazy hair. Big blue eyes. I'm in love.

 Christmas Eve is in 2 days. Shopping is done and gifts are wrapped. All that needs to happen now is for me to sit back and enjoy my family for a three day weekend.

See ya. 

New Blog, Beach Boys, and a Naked House

My new blog is up! It's nothing fancy yet. No real design to it. Not even a picture! (Ha!) I just wanted to get the first post up. Do me a favor and click "follow" so I know you're out there!

Awesomeness sure to come. :)

Christmas is in full swing. I baked Christmas Cookies with my mother this afternoon. It has become a tradition and we cranked out some awesome ones this year! On the menu: Chocolate Crinkles, Chocolate Chip cookies with chopped up Andes mints baked in, Peanut Butter cookies, Pumpkin cookies, Cyclops cookies & Chocolate Peppermint Bark.

 A-Yum. A-Yum. A-Yum.

In a mere 3 hours, we cranked out about 6 dozen cookies. The tunes?

Staple Christmas music at mom's. Beach Boys, Hawaiian Christmas, & Andy Williams.

Old School.

Hubs and I haven't decorated for Christmas in 6 years. SIX YEARS. We blame it on our house being too small. And the 5 bins of decorations that are in the storage unit waaaay across town. And being too busy. And the cats. And strawberries. Because one excuse is as good as another. We both would love a house filled to the brim with Christmas decorations but somehow each year just zooms by.

There's always next year.

And maybe we'll decorate.

Maybe.

It's so windy right now that it sounds like someone is beating on the house.

This calls for a hot chocolate. 

Good night, readers.  

New Blog

I have been working on a new blog (Don't worry. I'm still keeping this one!). For those of you who don't know, I've started doing photography professionally. It feels weird to say that. I still feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark trying to figure stuff out. But I think I'm getting better.

And I have clients.

Clients!

I'm starting a new blog that will follow me on my journey. And I've decided to be honest. I mean, really honest. For some reason, my whole life I've felt the need to be the person that already knows everything. Not in a snotty way, just in an "I don't want anyone to know I don't know how to do this because I don't want to appear weak and vulnerable" way. I'm trying to change that. Because I don't know everything. And having a child has brought out in me the love of learning something new again.

And hey, maybe it'll inspire someone. Who knows. :)

For those of you who are on Facebook, please "like" Cassie Allen Photography and pass the word!

Here are some recent photos.

 Mr. Cool Dude

 Snack time in our house looks like this. Luckily, nothing has been shoved up his nose. :)

This is from a recent shoot. This is Lindsay, whom I knew in my "former life", and her family.

All mashed together in chaotic awesomeness.

Lindsay is also a photographer and just yesterday, I was on the other side of the camera with Hubs. Lindsay was amazing and we had an absolute blast. I can't wait to show you pictures!

Happy Monday!