Jodi Hattery

I'm Jodi.
I'm a military wife,
mom to three,
and photographer


Jodi Hattery Photography

March 1-15
February 15 +
February 1-15
January 2010
December 15th +
December 1 - 15th
November 15 +
November 1 - 15th
October 16 +
- October 1-15th
September 15th +
September 1-15th
August 15th +
August 1st-15th
July 15th +
July 1st-15th



Mason & Michelle March 22th, 2010

Michelle & Mason were such a nice change of pace. No tears, no bottles, no walking off with temper tantrums. Sometimes I think I ought to forget about kids and focus on adults... but I know very well if I do that then a few weeks will go by and I'll be aching to do some cute kids again. :)



We did a super quick session to get some shots for Save the Date cards for their upcoming wedding I'll be shooting this fall. Speaking of weddings.... I'll be at the VW Bridal Show at Willow Bend this Sunday! If you'll be getting married next year, come and register for your chance to win up to $250 off your wedding package, and a slew of other great prizes :) It's at Willow Bend Country Club and there's lot of other vendors there for you to get ideas for cakes, decorations, DJs, and so forth.



Tooth #4 March 20th, 2010


Last night at bedtime snack Chris complained his tooth was really starting to bug him. I figured that meant he'd loose his second top tooth in the matter of 48 hours or less.


It was much less! While taking engagement pics today I got a multimedia text with a pic of my eldest with a brand new smile. :)





HAPPY SPRING! March 19th, 2010

It will be an interesting spring here. A year ago I was working at getting my home based business out of the house as demands kept rising, and I still had one kid home half time too. This year they're all in school, and I'm suppose to work full time. Thing is, I got hurt, and medical leave at my work STINKS! (tee hee) I can hear the Afflack Duck calling me. Looks like I will have surgery mid April and not be able to work until early May (Yes, I will be rescheling some of you if it does indeed become the case) Fortunately I think I'll have enough graduation invites to work on to keep me from being destitute (please order! lol) and lots of sewing for the Spring Whimsy sessions anyway I'd have to do soon (and luckily that's the 'good' knee I sew with)

All that to say, I'm going nuts outside with the kids for now. I've been trying to play as much as possible, which of course leaves me grabbing more pain meds later ;) But I love the laughs and giggles and watching them play on the playground.


Chris is getting too old to stop and let mommy take a picture. He's at the age now that he gets to go off exploring with friends, riding bikes, and excavating 'things' I'm happy he has so many friends around, but I have to admit, part of being the 'cool' mom with the 'cool' house to hand out at, with always snacks and fun things to do, is meant to keep him near. I miss him when he's gone.


Josh not only doesn't mind me around, he still LOVES being with me :) He's much more into video and computer games than anything active, but luckily we have a (very low) time limit for the kids daily and he has no choice but to go outside and play.


Nataley is completely different on the play ground this year, and I know it has everything to do with being at this school now and using it several times a day. She's so comfortable with everything, including climbing up things that were never meant to be climbed up. I can't help but wonder how often a whistle is blown at this girl at recess... Here she shows WHY I insist on the knit pants/shorts under the skirt.





Such A Nataley Thing... March 18th, 2010

I've been blogging long before they called it blogs. I blogged back when they called em web zines, and before that, web pages, lol. In a few months I will celebrate 15 years of blogging actually. Yes, Back when you could have, maybe, one very small picture and several lame graphics and text. Anything more would clog up the bandwidth. So those who have been following me awhile know that Nataley is very much a girlie girl, and very much a bug/creature girl. She loves worms (getting some for her birthday even one year), ants, raccoons, mice, snakes, opossum, etc.

Tonight then when the cat found a mouse outside and was playing with it, I had to let Nataley know. We found the two of them behind some bushes near the house. I was *going* to say that if he ran out, we could pick him up with some glove so she can get a good look... but before I could say a word, she leaned down, and grabbed the mouse with her bare hands. I went inside to get her a container, and wouldn't ya know it, she follows me in to show everyone. In My House.

I'm laughing my butt off at my frilly, princess, girlie, with no concerns whatsoever with the mouse when I hear an ear piercing scream. Twirling around immediately the mouse was hanging by its teeth off her hand as she shakes it frantically.

Let me say right now, it did not break the skin, and yes, we will be still watching her closely. After immediately washing the area (and daddy getting the mouse to a box), she nearly immediately began asking to see him again, and now I'm hearing over and over and over again, ''He's Soooo Cute.''



Nataley is begging to keep him as a new pet, so I guess he's been fully forgiven. I've tried to explain just now how this mouse is use to being in the wild, and not in an old fish bowl, like he is currently. She's agreed that we can release him tomorrow... under the condition of going to the pet store to buy a white mouse.

Update Be warned, this may be traumatizing for young readers.
 The mouse was released, off our property, that evening. The next evening it arrived at our steps again. Now the cat's been having a field day (tee hee, get it?) with all the field mice that have been out playing in the nice weather... and so long as she kills them outside, it's all good with me. However she left this one alive, though limping. The same weird looking one - not like those others she's been bringing. So naturally we bring it back in and back into the goldfish bowl to join our family a few more hours.

This time the boys fell in love as well. All three kids were taking turns feeding and watering this dinky mouse with a body the size of a quarter. When I intervened, the mouse was deep in water cause he was 'thirsty.' Not under water, but traumatized for sure. I emptied him out and washed out the fish bowl, and put him back in after toweling him dry as much as I could. He wasn't struggling, or moving too terribly much at this point.

Checking on him back in the bowl he still looked soaking wet, though I thought I had him pretty dry, and was on his side barely breathing. I got a rag and dried him some more, wrapping him in the cloth and back into the bowl. Maybe he'd sleep this off?

Next thing Nataley announces Cutie has passed away, and I have to hold a funeral for a mouse that was apart of the family less than 2 hours. There were massive amts of tears, and I couldn't help but think of the Cosby Show episode when Rudy lost a fish.

RIP Cutie Hattery, March ? 2010 - March 20, 2010

But my question is this. Did I kill the mouse by washing the bowl out with water and soap? Supposably Dawn is used on wild animals for oil spills. I can't imagine it's too strong for a mouse.

Did he die from getting so wet? Surely mice get wet!

Did he die from simply the frightful exprience of three kids keep showering him with effection for an hour?

Or was he already dying when he came back to us, with internal injuries from the cat???

I feel guilt. I'd like to know I didn't kill him with the soap. And I can't imagine the kids giving him water 1/8th an inch high doing it.








Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!! March 17th, 2010

We discovered there was a serious lack of green shirts a few days ago, and since the forecast said it'd be too hot for the green and white sweaters, Super Mommy went into action. ;) While in the 'big city' for a doctor's appt (boo hoo, knee messed up, going for MRI next) I stopped by Hobby Lobby for some t-shirts and a green fabric marker.



Joshua's wrote, ''Happy St Prick's Day Friends!'' and I didn't tell him he was missing a couple letters :) He also made a few clovers on the front and back. He's very thrilled with his masterpiece.



Nataley and Chris took it a step further with adding some green to their hair thismorning. Chris shirt solicitated kisses for him being Irish, and Nataley is a ''Celtic Cutie'' with her signature ''i heart u'' all over the place.





Chess with my Mates March 14th, 2010

We may not be the most musically inclined, or giften in the sports area, but boy do my kiddos love them math (just like their momma) and super excell at reasoning. So it shouldn't be much of a suprise when the kids wanted to learn more about chess. A little known fact about myself - I'm pretty sure I set the record for the first cheerleader also on the chess team. Eventually I quit cheerleading for interferring with studies, lol. I was never the most conventional teenager.



Nataley woke up with a tummy ache and so we decided to stay home from church. Before even changing out of PJs, before I even left my bed, the first thing I heard from the boys thismorning was, ''Mommy can you play chess with us?'' It's still a bit confusing for Josh (hey, it's still a hard game for me too), and here you can see just how hard he's concentrating on where to move next.



While I was happy to give hints, and correction when need be, I let the boys know right off the bat I'm not going to let them win. Josh worked really hard, and there was a moment I was wondering if I would even win.



But after about 40 minutes I did end up trapping his king.



Chris' turn next! He enjoyed his first game with Mom, and I'm sure it will be one of many we play together in the near future.







''I Feel So Warm Inside'' March 12th, 2010

Nataley's first sleep over is tonight. It's been loud, crazy, and fun. I don't think anyone had more fun than Joshua. He met a certain little girl for the first time, though they've been going to the same school all year, and there was an instant connection.



I chose this picture that I believe protects the 'innocent,' even if she was the instigator ;) She professed her love over ice cream and in a booth at the DQ big brother Christopher proceeded to pronounce them Man and Wife, after she took Joshua to be her ''Awfully manly husband'' and Josh took her to be his "Very Lovely Wife"

On the way home there were bursts of giggles and I saw them kissing in my rear view mirror. I had a little lecture on how I was soooo much older before I kissed boys, and they shouldn't be doing this. Joshua kept gushing on how he felt ''so warm inside" and I then just kept them seperated the rest of the night. This poor mom may hate me when she comes to pick up her little girl in the morning. Luckily the other girls were just happy to watch a Strawberry Shortcake movie in sleeping bags.





Victoria's Visit March 11th, 2010

Last night Victoria came to the studio for indoor pics. We did outdoor shots last fall in the pouring rain, which was actually rather fun. It was nice to be warm and dry this time around though :)



I loved this shot we got. She reminds me of an old world Hollywood starlett with the bright lips, long lashes and soft skin.





The Big Rat March 10th, 2010

Yesterday as I went outside I noticed what looked like a mini boar's head beside the side door of our house. Of course it wasn't. Instead it was a big ole opossum (turns out possum, without the o, are native to Australia). I had planned to go meet the kids after school and play at the playground, but I knew they'd find this more exciting and stayed on guard, making sure she wouldn't move. Truth is, she was terrified, hiding deep within some some bushes. You could only just make out the eyes.



But with the wonders of a 300 mm lens and 3200 ISO, she looks like she was out and about in clear view. Nataley thought it was definately a "BIG RAT!" Though I do wonder how many rats she's seen in her lifetime, it wasn't that off of a description. At first I thought it was about 1 1/2 times the size of our cat... but she's beside me right now and I think more accurately I'd say they matched in size. But at least the opossom was scared of me and isn't shedding all over my laptop right now. :)



Chris thought it was cool for about thirty seconds, and Josh a tenth of that time, going almost immediately inside for his after school snack and a mutter of, ''gross.''





The Final Blow March 10th, 2010

As mentioned before, Nataley and I did not get along the first four years of her life. It took a long time for me to understand how she worked, as she is very much different from the boys. And it took her even long to realize *I* am the boss and she can't act on every little whim she has (she's still working on this, lol) One of the more recent battles was waking up for school.

For five months I pleaded, argued, made earlier bedtimes, punished, bribed, and everything in between to get her to wake up each morning. At night, as she was her sweet, wonderful, cheerful self, we would even pray together that God would help her to wake up happy. It wasn't working, and after a week or so I feared her faith in God would be gone in no time if I kept this up, lol. She kicked, hit, yelled, cried, and overall made me misserable each attempt I made. She would go limp as if she were a rag doll and made me dress her (yes, she's in kindergarten. You'd think I had a 2 year old on my hand, as the boys got themselves dressed back in the last years of preschool). Then getting food in her tummy was yet another battle. Every morning I'd give her eggs, cereal, oatmeal, sausage, whatever, and she'd go to school without eating one bite. I can't stand the idea of her being hungry and a monster to her teachers every morning, but force feeding wasn't working.

One very typical morning as I left the drop off area of school in tears, I came home and facebooked my frustration. Knowing their were other moms out there who have gone through this before helped a great deal. I was more determined then every to not continue this path.

So together, with Nataley, we came up with what she wanted more than anything else in the whole world, and a chart for her to earn it. Thankfully she didn't come up with a trip to Paris fashion week. Instead, she wanted a Pinata.

For three weeks she worked super hard to wake up happy (one sticker), get herself dressed (one sticker), and eat breakfast (another sticker). She could earn up to three stickers a day, and bonus stickers for doing something super nice in the morning (saying something especially nice, getting shoes on without reminder, not begging for mac & cheese in the morning). She hit about 30 stickers and it was time to go shopping for the pinata of her dreams.

However, this so happened to coincide with one of daddy's many work trips (we're a military family remember) and he was coming home in just two more days at this point. It also so happened to be Valentine's weekend. She picked out not a pinata that she so wanted, but a 4 ft I LOVE YOU Balloon for daddy's return.

I know, how sweet, right?

So naturally, when daddy figured out what happened, wanted to make sure she got her pinata anyway. I ended up finding an adorable Ice Cream Cone pinata at Hobby Lobby, filled it up with goodies, and last night after dinner we had the big event.



After about twenty turns each with a little plastic type bat, the kids switched to a metal swiffer handle (we're inventive). Another five swings each and nothing exciting was happening. Daddy dissapeared to the basement and returned with, I kid you not, a metal pipe.

The initial thought I guess was to let our children swing this pipe, near our grand bay window? Before he made it back upstairs though daddy knew that wasn't happening (they could hardly even hold the thing, let along aim with window out of the way). The kids cheered daddy on as he took the final blow, brutally bursting the pinata into lots of pieces, sending it flying through the air, over the dining room table and up against the wall with a thud. But most importantly, with candy and special gifts spewing out all over the place.



I was a tad worried at first Nataley would melt down with her pinata destroyed. Though that is the point, did she know this? She'd been hugging it saying how much she loved her ice cream cone pinata. You can tell by the picture though she didn't mind, aside from being ''so jealous'' that daddy got to give the final blow.

The moal of the parenting story is this: if bribery isn't working, you just need a bigger incentive.




Good morning Sunshine! March 9th, 2010

Some of my facebook friends remember me in tears posting one morning on how horrible my daughter wakes up. Nearly every morning left myself, Nataley, or both, upset, feeling anxious, and yes, tearful. My little break down was also a call to action and the very next morning I set into motion a ''Nataley Earns A Piniata Party'' chore chart. A piniata was something she oh so desperately wanted to have. Her chores, however, weren't the normal, and expected at our house, that you do just because you are part of a family unit and live together, but were all about waking up happy. She earned a sticker for waking up with a smile (or without fighting,kicking, screaming), a sticker for getting herself dressed (up to this point EVERY morning I got her dressed with her flopping around like a rag doll) and another sticker for eating breakfast (another sore spot that she would just sit at the table and ask for Mac & Cheese and whine when she didn't get it).

Three weeks later, and Nataley had turned a page. She wasn't quite a morning person, but was close to pleasant. The pinata had been earned. Turns out, this coincided with Daddy coming home after a trip with the air force, and she forego the pinata to buy her daddy a four foot heart balloon for a to welcome him home. (Daddy in turn made sure she got her pinata, and it is now filled, and will be given to her this evening).

With all that said, a pleasant morning makes a happy mommy, and I felt it was time to allow Nataley to invite some girlfriends over for the Hattery home's very first PJ Party. Which of course meant her room needed a bit of updating. Granted, her room was always whimsical and beloved... but it was just missing that 'something.' Turns out, that something was bling.



Despite not being on sale, and yes, that just about did me in, I found fabulous new flowers and butterflies all decked out with faux gemstones, sequins, and beads.



And if that wasn't enough... and it was, Gramma Beth purchased a vase and flowers that Nataley fell in love with, and I found some floral and star plates for her table (where many, tons, an incalculatable amt of tea parties have been had).



The chandelier (every girl needs one!) and flower light were already there, but the desperately needed book shelf and balloons (and oodles more butterflies) are newer roomates. I see, looking now, she needs more balloons to make it cute. Thankfully they're actually on sale this week. :) It took a total of 10 minutes before the first one was pulled off the ceiling. I told Nataley the first time I can fix it, but the next time the whole ceiling might come down (but that, of course, she's still perfectly safe) She's now told everyone that walks in her room to NOT touch the balloons as the ceiling will come down and then it will rain in her bedroom. *blush* ok, so I may have gone a bit extreme with that. But I feel that the balloons are safe!



While many of the old butterflies are on wire and actually 'flutter' with the fan, open windows, etc, the new ones are straight onto the wall. If you squint you can see my favorite part of the room - When Nataley was about 1 year old we used her hands for 'leaves' of one of the flowers on the right side. Then when she was a bit older and had a hard time sleeping in her big girl bed, on the left you can see a glow in the dark outline of my hand and an ''i *hear* u' so she could put her hand in mine as she fell asleep. No. It didn't work. She still insist on cuddles almost every night. :)



I had a little concern that she'll outgrow this very quickly and be too 'cool' for all the pretties in her room. But then two fourth grade friends stopped over to play. When it got too cold I made them come inside and one girl who hadn't been her in awhile begged me to come paint her room. She offerred that her mom would pay me (of course her mom has no idea about this) I can't even fathom how much I'd have to charge to make it worth my time, lol.





Spring Program March 8th, 2010

Tonight was the Spring school program for the boys. The kindergarteners don't participate in this, so Nataley got to sit with us in the audiance and cheer her boys on. It was sweet seeing her jubiliant for them. Though as soon as we sat down she asked, ''Is tonight when I get to go up on stage for the pageant?'' I had to assure her that 'her' pageant (which is actually for high school girls) is still a few weeks away.


This would probably be my favorite shot of the night. We thought we were locked out at first as there was a group of people just waiting at the door (turns out,they were just waiting and the crowd just stayed) so the boys rough housed a bit. I'm quite sure they were having more fun than anyone else around (and probably made the boys not allowed a little jealous)


This is the look I got when I asked to get a nice picture of them. Ha!


In an effort not to have other peoples children (who aren't getting pics done by me at the time) in pics, the shots are tighter than I would have preferred, but, here are the boys doing some motions with their songs.

All in all, they were very relieved it was over. :)







Way Too Exciting March 7th, 2010

After a few days that can only be described as marvelous, Nataley and I searched around the yard and found lots of wonderful signs of daffodils and tulips. Tulips are up there as one of my favorite flowers. Can't wait to see them.



So ok, they may not be the most beautiful things yet, but give em just a bit and I'll take another shot later.






Art Fest March 6th, 2010

Today at the middle school was a little art festival. I was asked to take part and had a little vendor table. But much more important than that, my boys both had a piece hanging up. :)


Chris had his fun little guy...


and Joshua had some fish

Congrats to the boys for their artwork on exhibit!!!





Peek-a-boo March 5th, 2010

Hopefully this concludes the last of any absences for 2010 as today I received a brand new camera in the mail. After nearly two full months it appears that all the issues I had getting an upgraded camera that actually works properly are resolved. Of course I couldn't wait for any 'real' subjects and had to pull the camera out right away and take it with me as I went to pick the kiddos up from school.



The result is a couple of rather odd shots. Above, a self portrait, lol, and below, one of my favorite hair things. Exciting, huh? I know, I'll get more interesting shots in the next few days, but my time was limited.