Charlotte Kiehl and the Spotlight

That's the name of Charlotte's future band. She's already written 4 original songs and recorded them to CD thanks to Uncle Budddy (Bryan), who has a real life band. Charlotte can't wait to get back into his studio to do more recording. She's also counting on me to do the photography for her CD cover and for Auntie Chrissy to design it. This girl has big dreams, people!!



A to the K

This is just freakin' awesome

Enough said, right?

New Design...dig it?

Thanks to my friend Rachel, who totally hated my former background/font/etc., The Kiehl Chronicle has a new design.  I totally dig it.  Thanks Rach.  Love ya!! :)

And thanks to the ladies of "Broads Who Blog," (BWB) for a fun coffee, chat, play date, lunch today.  Our blogs and photography are all the better for it!

xo,  A to the K

Barely Avoided Stitches

So there we were, minding our own business, having a lovely dinner with my brother's family over, and Sam decided to ride his trike over an embankment into the orchard.  Actually, into the fence IN the orchard.  My brother immediately scooped him up, and brought him to me.  Sam's mouth was already full of blood and his hands were covered in it.  Yuck.  We got the bleeding to stop, fed him some Ibuprofen, and headed to Urgent Care.  But you know what?  Urgent Care closes at 5pm on Sunday.  What 3 year old boy hurts himself before 5pm?  NONE!!!  Initially I though he could use a stitch or two inside his lower lip, but after stopping by the fire department (Uncle Kirk hooked us up with A shift), and getting his wounds cleaned out, we decided to forgo an ER visit and keep an eye on it.  He was the cutest fat-lipped, bloody faced boy you've ever met.  He asked the fire fighters if they had a dog, if they'd seen Toy Story 1 and if they wanted a pull off his bloody sippy cup.  The guys at UPFD were so nice and helpful, and as you can see, Sam is no worse for wear this morning. 




A to the K

Kiehl Family Photo Shoot

Did I fool you?  It's not the Kiehls 5.0, it's the Kiehls 3.0 - my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece!  They wanted an updated family photo, so we did a shoot yesterday in the Curran Apple Orchard across the street from our house.  It was a unbearably muggy cloudy day, which made for great lighting.  I wanted to use my new 18-135mm lens, but was afraid I wouldn't have an f-stop low enough to create that great bokeh (soft, blurry background).  However, I found that using my fixed 35mm, stopped down to f/1.8 made it very difficult to get all three people in focus (since they're at different depths).  I took the first several with the prime lens, then switched to my new one.  You'll see in the photos of them on the blanket, that my 18-135mm stopped down to f/3.6 still made for some great bokeh.  Now enough of this photography mumbo-jumbo.  Check out my super cute relatives!

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Crescent Bar 2011

After a fun-filled weekend in Walla Walla with the Allens, we hopped on over to Crescent Bar.  The weather was super hot, and we enjoyed a TON of pool time.  Later in the week, we were joined by Grandma & Grandpa Kiehl, fresh off their trip to Sturgis.  The kids had a ball riding around the neighborhood on Grandpa's Harley Davidson trike, and Grandma had a ball NOT riding around.  Of course, Sam thought he was Buzz Lightyear with the helmet on, and thought he was communicating with Space Command.

Walla Walla -- They Named It Twice

You've heard that one, right?  "Walla Walla - a place so nice, they named it twice?"  So I'm just now posting about our vacation which was a month ago!  But it's the first day of school, and the munchkins have been away.  I finally have blog time again!  :)

We set off for Walla Walla to see our wonderful friends, the Allens.  Peter, Brett and I grew up together in Gig Harbor, and Peter met Carol at Whitman.  We too fell in love with Carol upon meeting her. :)  Now they have Catie 5.5, and Luke & Nate 3.  Needless to say, we all had a blast roasting S'mores, hitting the Farmers Market, playing, golfing & swimming.

Thank you Pete, Carol, Catie, Luke and Nate for a wonderfully fun Walla Walla weekend!!

First Day of School 2011!!

(Sung to "Another One Bites The Dust") 

"Uh, uh, uh...another one rides the bus. 
And another one rides, and another one rides...another one rides the bus."

Of course my attempt at the above humor is only to mask my inner sorrow at sending yet another sweet girl off to kindergarten and in realizing I'm the mom of a 4' 6" 3rd grader.  (Yes, that's only one foot shorter than I.)  Stop the madness!!! 

The girls BOUNDED onto Bus 5 this morning, with Gina our must drink lots of wine when she gets home beloved bus driver.  Then they asked if I'd meet them up at school to take pictures of them in their classrooms.  Of course I said yes, because someday they WON'T want me to come take pictures of them in their classrooms.  As you can see above, even Super Sam blended in well in kindergarten. He finished that puzzle in about 3 min. and was off to find another when I pried his Kryptonite averse arms away from the puzzle rack.  He'll get his chance in 3 years, and not a SECOND before!

Both girls are super excited about their new teachers and the friends in their classes.  I can't wait to pick them up at the bus stop in about 15min. and hear how everything went!