He's two!!!

I so wanted to post a bunch of birthday pics of my sweet little guy, but just no time. Can't pass up sharing at least one though and this one makes me smile, even laugh out loud a bit, each time I look at it.

My "baby" is two. Does this mean I can no longer call him my "baby"?

(And just as I finished typing this, my new two year old bonked his sister on the head with a die cast Thomas train. Nice. Yep, he's two.)

for class

Tonight is my last chat with Wendy. Class is almost over. I'm a bit relieved only because it has been really hard keeping up with work, class, life... But mostly I'm sad that its ending. I have learned more than I ever imagined I would when I signed up for this class. It was the absolute best thing I could have done for myself in this stage of my photography. I have also met six incredible women (including Wendy of course) that I hope I will stay in touch with when class is over. It has been a joy sharing this time with them, learning from them, watching their growth. And now I look forward to watching how they continue to grow even after this experience.

Having said all that, I didn't get the best photos for my last assignment, but I can accept that. There's a lot of information to process for each assignment and I never really feel that I get the best shots, but as long as I learn from the assignment, then I'm okay with turning in less than stellar shots.

Here are just a few for tonight:



Ethan would not stop shaking the life out of these poor flowers.


Isn't this sweet?

4th of July pics - part 2

Yea me! I'm actually posting something I promised to post. No easy feat, but I'm so excited to print photos for once as well.

I love this shot of Daniel with the kids. Taken just for metering sake, but happened to love it.


Annual group shot:


Annual family shot. Thanks to Eric, I might add.


I think by next year our four kids will be more connected and maybe we'll start seeing them in more photos together. For now, Ethan is still doing his own thing, as you will see in the following pics...


My friend will not like me for posting this photo of her, but don't you just love it?




Ethan took Daddy for a walk around the block.


It was pretty funny watching Emma trying to play hopscotch. She doesn't "get" how to jump through the squares and little Miss G was very quick on telling her that she was doing it wrong.





These two remind me of sisters... they have a love/hate relationship.


Is he not the cutest little guy, or what?


Before a nearby firework show started, we were surprised with a backyard movie. This was such a treat! The kids were eating ice cream here and of course had front row seats. The parents were sitting behind, some getting eaten by mosquitos, and all of us were on crowd control. That front row was sort of rowdy I tell ya.


What a fun day. Grateful for so many things.

4th of July pics - part 1

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a little behind here. I have the hardest time keeping up with our own family pics. I don't know how others do it. But today I took some time for our own pics and I got this far for the holiday. I'm also proud that I cropped each one as a 4x6 and ready to print so next time I order client photos, I can order some of my own. Then I will start putting them in a regular slip in album. Nothing fancy, but I'll take nothing fancy opposed to never ordering any of our pics. I got this idea from Lyndsay, I believe. Anyway, its a start and it'll be nice to have photos to look at with the kids that are not on the computer. I don't know why I haven't been doing this before...

Here is the first half of some 4th of July photos. This is one of my favorite holidays, even though summer is probably my least favorite season. And its spent with good friends every year. Can't beat that.



It really hit me this year how the kids have grown. We have the last five years or so of pics and in my mind I can see how little those kids were just by remembering the photos. It seems we've gone from one to four kids so quickly.





The kids were in and out of the pool, tracking in dirt and grass... We finally had to call it quits. And this is the pouty face to show for it.


Then she decided she needed to take a break and fuel up at the local grocery stand.




The dude was sleeping for most of the time the big kids were in the pool. And then it took him a LONG time to wake up and get with the program.


Snacked a little...


Drove around a little... "Is it safe out here Dad?"


And not too much by his own accord, into the water he went. Lasted all but two minutes.




Sportin' a fresh hair cut, did you notice?

Hopefully I'll finish the rest up tonight. Have a great week!

Abandoned

If this pic looks dreary, well that's pretty much what it was outside when I took it. Dreary only because it was past 8pm and there was barely any light left.


Emma had already come in from playing for the day and I was still running outside for laundry. I don't know how I missed them on my first couple passes, but out of nowhere, there they were, cold and alone, abandoned by their owners. Okay, maybe not cold, but alone, yes. Now that I think of it, maybe someone moved them there because the kids probably left them further down the sidewalk... I don't know, but one of these days they won't be there in the morning, if you catch my drift. [wink wink]