this is life... with boys... in the country...

I’ve Moved!

2010-12-27T06:50:00.001-08:00

www.laceymeyersphotography.com

That’s my new address. :)

Honestly, moving is hard for me even if it is just to a new blog and address. I was born in the house that I lived in until I moved away to college. I went to one college for 3.5 years, then got married and moved to the property I now live on. And I have no doubt that Matt and I will grow very old in the house we built here together. Only 3 moves in nearly 30 years. I’m not a mover – I like to settle in my roots and grow like crazy from that comfy, familiar spot.

So, to only have been at my blogspot.com address for about 8 months and to already be moving… goofy as it may seem, its hard for me!

Mostly because I’m sentimental, though. Life With Country Boys was the little bridge that connected me and you. It got me hooked on blogging and opened my eyes to the hilarity that is my boys… and my life.

But, Blogspot has its limitations and as I officially launch my photography business I believe it is important for me to own (or at least rent) my own space on the World Wide Web. Doing so will HOPEFULLY make Google my friend and marketing agent, and bring new mamas and their newborns my way. My new blog is the store-front for my business and is a blog-site, where all of my business information will be held, such as session details and pricing, as well as my portfolio and client proofing. There might be a few more business posts … like, about print and press products and new props I’ve purchased, but for the most part, nothing is changing.

Plus, I was tired of my titles not being properly punctuated! See, the apostrophe is missing up there! Grr!

I’ll STILL be posting about my country boys and thank the Lord, I was able to transfer all 203 posts over to my new address. So, its all there. I would have wept and not been nearly as joyful about this move had that transfer not been successful. Goofy, I tell ya! Anyway, the content will be the same, because that is what makes it mine and entertains you.

Plus, my new blog is prettier and feels good. Posting there makes me feel like such a big girl.

I hope you’ll come with me and let me know what you think of the new place. Point out quirky things and help me decide which gallery option is better for my portfolio. :)

Okay, I’m heading over there to talk to you (or rather, show you) about my Christmas… let’s go!

www.laceymeyersphotography.com

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Love, Matt, Lacey, Gage, Cooper & Kaden.

Happy First Birthday, Tado

2010-12-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

I admit – I am a sappy, nostalgic person who loves a trip down memory lane. I can get lost (on my own!) remembering back on things. I get almost giddy thinking back that “ooh… one year ago, right now Gage and Cooper were sleeping over at Mimi’s just like they are right now! And I was freaking out about being in premature labor!” I’m sort of a dork that way. I’ll fog over as I think about the details of events, big and small, in my life. Trips, graduation, Matt’s proposal, my wedding, gatherings with friends. The births of my children. I think that is why me and photography go hand-in-hand along our merry way because seeing the photos from those events brings the memories flooding back.

So, I assure you that by remembering back on Kaden’s birth, ONE year ago today, I am not getting hung-up in the past and his dramatic little entrance into the world. I don’t define him by it. I’m just reminiscing, fondly on the memory. I no longer feel saddened or quite as ‘jipped’ by the experience (I really wanted to savor my final pregnancy and labor). And it certainly isn’t on his mind, ever. I just like to remember. His beginning, the generosity and love that flowed from our friends and family, and the lessons of patience and trust that the Lord granted me through the experience.

Here are some photos of his beginning…

(I think this is the only picture that shocks me into remembering how bitty he was…)

And here are some of him now…

hehehe…

Yes, clearly he’s moved on from his time in the NICU. :) He’s a goofy, happy, energetic kiddo on the verge of toddlerhood and there’s no looking back for him. We love our little KadeyKade.

Happy Birthday, Tado. Here’s to where you’ve been and where you’re going.

Salt Dough Ornaments and Internet Friends

2010-12-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Random title, but I’m lacking creativity and running on E after shopping most of the day… poor me. :) Today was a WONDERFUL girls’ day and I’m thinking a new Christmas (shoot, monthly!) tradition was born… perusing the shops at Monticello’s in Portland. Thanks for the perfect time, Meliss (and Ellie), although I still can’t stop thinking about the chalkboard and scale…

Anywho – back to my odd sounding title. Through the internet (particularly Clickin’ Moms), I’ve formed friendships with women across the country. We find each other through our common interests and friendships start because we can relate. Remember how fun it was to have a pen-pal when you were young? Its like that, but better!

Marie is one such gal… she has 3 boys as well, although her youngest two (Kaden’s age) are twins! We chat about motherhood, our kiddos and photography and enjoy relating (often empathetically!) to each other’s experiences. In a recent email she told me about making Salt Dough Ornaments with her 3-year-old and of course, sparked the idea in me to do this with my boys, too. How excited were they to work on their own project in the kitchen? Completely.

Such simple ingredients…

Rolling out the dough…

Cutting out the shapes…

Carefully picking them out…

Two hours of baking…

Playing with the left over dough…

I’m not sure…

And of course, painting them…

~~Sometimes,~~ most of the time my brain is missing its ability to think up fun, creative, meaningful things for my kids to do. I’m not shy to admit that and to give credit to those Mamas who DO come up with these ideas! It is yet another reason to be very thankful for ‘Mom’ friends. It’s like we’re a team and when we put our minds together we can do pretty cool things… and best of all, our kiddos really benefit!

(Don’t worry, I’ll get back to Tado tomorrow.)

I Often Can’t Help But Think

2010-12-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

… about Kaden’s itty-bitty pod-mates in Doernbecher’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at OHSU. We’re closely nearing the one-year-anniversary of our little boy’s birth, and with that, the anniversary of his time spent in the NICU.

If you don’t know already, Kaden was born at 34 weeks and without the ability to efficiently breathe or eat on his own. It is impossible not to reflect on how far he’s come since those first 3 weeks and to find such joy in his progress.

Yet I can’t let go over wondering about the babies he shared his pod with. At OHSU, there are over 20 ‘pods’ in the NICU – sectioned off areas in the ward that contain between 4 and 6 babies, depending on the equipment and care they need. Each pod would have its own nurse, pediatrician and so on. Everyday when I’d arrive, I would walk from the hand washing area, past 5 other pods and often saw the same parents standing over their child’s incubators or holding their baby or visiting with doctors. Most often though, I’d just see the babies. On their own resting in their designated beds. Nobody there with them except the nurses working to maintain their unstable little life.

During Kaden’s 18 day stay, he remained in the same pod and was cared for by only a handful of nurses. He was in a pod with other babies that necessitated minimal care and he held the role of “the quiet one”. Several other babies came through Pod 6 during his time, but many of them were there long enough for me to become emotionally attached to their story.

The 2-pounder who was born to teen-aged parents, at 32-weeks... who had the darkest head of hair I’ve ever seen and who’s foot was the width of my pinky.

The almost term little-guy, born to an meth-addicted mom, who visited him once before escaping the hospital and never coming back. A week or so later, I was there when a foster parent, bless her heart, came to take the baby away.

The little girl, McKenna, who was born with her insides on the outside and who had, at 6 weeks, had already underwent 4 surgeries. I comforted her often, because she cried… a lot. Because she couldn’t eat anything. She was scheduled for several more surgeries and I was there when her teenaged parents were told that the doctors believed she had some sort of nerve damage as well, preventing her from being able to open her left hand.

The 33-week boy… the 6th child to a woman who could have passed for my age, yet had children in their teens. She couldn’t speak English and had a difficult time understanding why she couldn’t take her boy out of the incubator to hold him and why he may have to be there for another 4-weeks. Her 10 year-old daughter translated as best she could. But struggled to deliver the information and the questions.

And Asher. The twin born at 32-weeks on Christmas Day, from an emergency c-section after the doctors discovered that the other twin had died. I had to choke back tears while Asher’s mom and dad told me the story while we washed our hands together one morning. They were so calm and matter-of-fact and clearly just thankful for the son they did have.

And the little girl, born term during an emergency c-section because her momma was in a car-accident and brought into the ER. I remember crying a lot over that story. I asked for the privacy walls to be put around me and Kaden, and I just cried. Thank the Lord, the baby’s momma ended up surviving her injuries and was united with her newborn the following day.

I think about those little ones all the time and of course more now, knowing that they are all coming up on their first birthdays, too. Are they laughing and playing and thriving as Kaden is? Do they have complications? I wonder, and I’ll never know. Which is strange because in the pod, every time I’d hear one of their heart or oxygen alarms going off (as a warning that their rates were dipping to low or spiking too high) I’d panic as if they were my own. I’d stand and wait while the nurse would check the baby and jostle them back to breathing or watch as their heart would pick up the pace… and then look at me and smile, and assure me they were okay.

I was emotionally attached and oh. How I pray they are now thriving.

I’ve thanked the Lord for the past 363 days that my baby is.

SO Big

2010-12-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was really hoping on sharing photos today from our time this weekend with my family in Seattle but much to my annoyance, my computer is too full of stuff and loading the photos onto my hard-drive is not going to happen. At least not until I either A) transfer 200 GB off of my C Drive or B) install more RAM. Whatever and however I do that, I don’t know. So, in few hours when the 10,000 or so items have transferred from my C Drive to my external hard drive, and I delete them, I’m crossing my fingers that I can load the 400 photos from my memory card onto my system to work with. Ah… too much information for you, I’m sure.

Anywho… here are some photos I’m happy to share in the mean-time!

Growing up, whenever we’d have something kind of stuck in our throats, causing us to cough, my mom would encourage us to do ‘SO Big!’ which meant, lifting up our arms into the air. I have no clue if it actually helps in the choking situation, but it turns out to be a pretty cute thing to teach an almost-one-year-old to do…

“Kaden is SOOOOO Big…” gets this reaction out of him… Clearly, judging by the 50 or so images I took of him doing this the other day at breakfast (hence the unfortunately placed banana peel in the foreground of the frame) I got quite a kick out of this new game.

As did he.

And Gage, who was the one shouting the phrase at Kaden over and over, simultaneously throwing his arms up into the air as well, enjoyed it a lot, too.

Gosh, I love this age.

Five on Friday

2010-12-17T06:18:00.001-08:00

1. I don’t know how many times I hugged and kissed my boys yesterday, but I think I set some sort of record. (See yesterday’s post) I couldn’t get enough of their warm skin, silly comments, and contagious laughter…

2. … until 8:30pm when Cooper came out of his room for the third time with some made up goofy excuse for why he had to come talk to us. Then, I was ready for his day to be done. The first time – to go potty, again. The second time – to put his water cup outside his door so he didn’t drink too much. The third time - to put his cardboard paper airplane outside the door because he decided he didn’t want it in is room, on his floor anymore, making a mess. Hmm. He’s been doing this more and more and it totally reminds me of my brother, Bart. When we were kids, we had rooms across the hall from each other and EVERYNIGHT, about 10 minutes after saying prayers and goodnight to my mom, he’d have to get up, walk down the hall and call upstairs “Goodnight, Daddy… Goodnight, Mommy…” “Goodnight, Barty” they’d say. EVERYNIGHT.

3. In case I didn’t mention it, Matt did end up having a successful bow hunt this year for deer. He actually got one on Thanksgiving, about 45 minutes before we were to have dinner. It was awfully convenient timing and right after my in-laws left from dinner Matt went out and found it exactly where he’d expected to. :) To make the kill even sweeter, he shot the buck with a longbow that he made. How’s that for self-sufficiency?

4. I feel like I’m cheating on this blog… I’m in the process of creating a new one. A brand spankin’ new blog… but more to come on that later.

5. Do you watch The Sing Off??? I should have posted about it weeks ago because the finale is this coming Monday. This show (in my opinion) is the BEST reality talent show on TV. I say that lightly, though, because other than So You Think You Can Dance is the only other one I watch. But seriously, The Sing Off is amazing. And it helps that Matt enjoys watching it, too.

6. I can’t leave without a photo of my almost-one-year-old. YUM! Don’t you just wanna kiss that cheek???

Have a joyous weekend!

Learning from Another’s Suffering…

2010-12-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

Last night, I read possibly the most heart-wrenching true story that I have ever come across. It left me crying so hard my whole body shook and I could barely see the words through my drenched eyes. I still feel like I’m breathing with bricks on my chest. After reading the story I went to my boys rooms and cried over them and prayed and couldn’t take my eyes off of them. And now, this morning, I am watching the clock, anxiously and excitedly waiting for them to wake up. So I can hear their precious voices and hear their breathing. So they can tell me about their dreams from while they slept and about their desires for our day. Those things I take for granted every. single. day.

Those things are routine, normal, and ever-present… until, they’re not. Until something tragic happens and a void is left so deep that only the grace of God can fill it with time.

The Bible tells us not to suffer in vain. To not let our suffering consume us and be wasted, but to go through it like Jesus did. Depending on God for strength and to come out on the other side closer to Him and sharing your experience with others.

The mom from the story I referenced was courageous to share her experience and I WILL NOT let her suffering go to waste. That sounds strange, right? But how foolish would I be to read her words, cry like I did and then NOT learn from it. To not snap out of this coma of our routine day and realize that my boys NEED more attention from me. That I NEED to hug them more and teach them more directly of the hazards in our home. I need to go to the stairs when I know Kaden’s climbing them for the 50th time that day… not thinking about the multitude of times he’s done it successfully but rather of the one time, he DID fall and only by God’s hand was he okay afterward.

I have gotten into such a comfortable place with my days with the boys that I think I’m getting complacent. I don’t jump to my feet when I hear crying anymore because I hear it everyday and I know… its just another argument or stubbed toe. blah blah. But I need to SNAP TO IT and recognize that my lack of presence (physically or mentally) could result in tragedy in the blink of an eye.

I know what you’re thinking. I can’t prevent ALL accidents. I know. Like the mom from the story said, “You can’t bubble wrap the world, but at this moment, I’d sure like to try.” And when my children are in MY home, under MY supervision I had BETTER be recognizing the blessing of that gift and responsibility and do everything in my power to protect them.

So, I’m blogging now as they are sleeping and when they wake, they won’t see my back as I sit at the computer and edit photos or work on my new blog. I will be present and attentive and alert to my children. I’m embarrassed that I have to make that vow, as if it is a new, novel idea! But again comfort and routine have sent me into a downward spiral to complacency and I have a feeling that had I turned away and not read that story last night, it would be only a matter of time until I had a heart-wrenching story of my own to share. The Lord put that link in front of me for a reason and I can’t ignore it.

Accidents can and will happen but some can also be prevented by me simply stepping up and doing the job the Lord gifted me: being an attentive, focused-on-my-little-children-mom.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In an effort to make myself stop crying now, I’ll share these photos that really cracked me up at the time I took them… Awhile back I posted about my boys’ love of making ‘nests’. Comfy, cozy little places where they surround themselves with all of their favorite soft things. I’ve also shared how they like to be in the laundry baskets, tucked in snuggly with blankets.

Now, enter our little storage boxes from Ikea. Even tighter quarters, but evidently, that makes them even better! Gage tucked Kaden into his, but Cooper zipped himself in all on his own. Goofy. But it gave us a quiet, calm 20 minutes!

And I love that Kaden is cuddling the little panda bear he received from the P.A.N.D.A Team who transported him, almost a year ago, to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital after he was born prematurely.

Okay. Off to get a few more things done before a more attentive Mama is called to duty for the day.

And, hug your loved ones, today… big and small… in honor of Tiggy.

My Bebe Loves Bacon…

2010-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

It should come as no surprise that Kaden should love bacon. His daddy would put it on his ice cream if the sight of it didn’t make me gag (of bacon on ice cream – not bacon in general).

But, bacon’s not the point of this post, so much as the fact that my bebe can now eat bacon. He’s at that age already.

Lord knows his teeth are sharp enough to dig through the meat…

… but, really? He’s old enough already? I honestly love that he is. I don’t feel sad when I think “where did my baby go?” I love that we could go out to Red Robin for dinner and he could eat the mandrin oranges and pieces of Cooper’s chicken strips, and the crust from Gage’s pizza. I LOVE not having to bring him ‘baby’ food for dinner!

But still. I can’t believe how the time has flown by with this boy.

I feel like I could spend the next 9 days baffling at the fact that Kaden is almost ONE. Ha! Maybe I will… it will be a week of Kaden. Shouldn’t be too hard.

Now, I want some bacon.

He’s Seriously, On the Move…

2010-12-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Like I’ve mentioned before, Kaden loves the stairs. But now, when he’s not climbing up them and sliding back down on his tummy… (still thinking he’s SO silly for acting out this game)…

He’s doing this.

Walkin’ and walkin’ behind his Tonka truck.

He thinks this is pretty great, too.

And the buttons on the steering wheel are fun as well.

But nothin’ beats being on the go.

Sheesh, I LOVE this age! LOVE. Love. love.

Their Minds Are Really Working These Days

2010-12-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

I vividly remember the early days of my life as a Mama. Hour after hour of baby talk, cooing and babbling. Matt would come home from work and I’d talk. And talk. And I would soak in the intelligent words that he would respond with… savoring the adult conversation. Because being home by myself with a baby, and then a baby and a toddler, for 11 hours straight made my brain turn into mush.

Fast forward 5 and a half years and I’m constantly in the midst of conversations that are beyond me – questions that make my head spin and send me flying to the internet or my Bible for answers.

Gage and Cooper seem to have over night become inquisitive of the ways of our world, our universe, our God, our creation… everything!

The other night during dinner, Gage peered out the window and saw the sliver of the moon. He excitedly pointed it out to us and sought an explanation for why sometimes the moon looks like the letter ‘C’ and sometimes its a big circle. Do I know anything about the Solar System?? Not much. Thank goodness Matt was there to handle that one.

Not too long ago, I had to get into it with the boys about lying. I of course encouraged them to always tell me the truth, but even if they don’t “Jesus knows the truth”. A few days later, Gage asked me what does Jesus do if he knows we are lying. He wanted to know, “How does God discipline us?” I wasn’t sure if I should get into the Bible story of how the two people who promised to give all of the money they earned to God, but didn’t, were struck down dead… “Good question, Bud.” I responded. “Let’s go talk about that.” I’m still not sure if I gave him the right answers but it did evoke a great conversation about obedience and honesty.

Cooper’s given me a few good, insightful conversations lately, too. Just the other night he lectured me extensively about cavities. How they form, what causes them, how the dentist fixes them and what we do to avoid them.

I sure wish I could have a little bitty tape recorder, ready to record these conversations so I can always hear him say, “And then, you eat candy. And then, it sticks to your teeth. And then, you need to brush them. Because. If you don’t. You’ll get a hole. In your tooth. And then, it’ll hurt. Real bad. And then. You’ll have to go to the dentist. And then. He’ll have to fill the hole with some stuff. And then, that’ll hurt…”

I can hear it so clearly in my head right now, but surely, with time, it’ll fade.

And an ongoing, agonizing discussion I keep having to have with Cooper is regarding my love for Kaden. Specifically, in Cooper’s words, “Mama, why do you love Kaden so much more than me?” He thinks this because I am constantly having to fetch Kaden away from doing things that will hurt him – consequently sometimes taking me away from my time with Cooper or making Cooper have to wait his turn.

It breaks my heart that his little brain even conjures up this type of thought.

He also asks questions like “Mama, will I always be a boy or will I someday be a panda bear?”

At the end of almost everyday, I am exhausted from answering questions – wise, insightful questions, as well as questions that are so basic that its hard to put answers actually into words! Or questions about things that are so common, that the answers have never crossed my mind. Like, “Why does it sometimes drizzle and other times rain really hard?”

And now-a-days, when Matt and I have our time together, I want to do anything but talk. I don’t want to hear anything, not even my own thoughts.

Because my brain is mush. Still, mush! Funny how things work out.

Five on Friday

2010-12-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

1. You HAVE to check this out. I came across this video on Erin Cobb’s blog and I was in tears. LOVE it. If you’re at work, you may want to turn the volume down at first. THEN, the Spirit may move you to invite others to gather around your desk, and turn up the volume. LOUD.

2. I’m excited that I figured out how to post videos on here! I’d better figure out how to take video on my camera before Kaden starts walking, so I can share THAT video on here.

3. This may be the third time I’ve been pictured on this blog… see me? In the ornaments? These would be WAY better if I was starting with a non-scratched ornament, but those are in short supply (meaning we have none) in our house.

(This photo was ALL Gage’s idea. He’s coming around to be quite the poser!)

4. THANK YOU, Kristin, for pointing out the typo I made in my Dipped Gingerbread cookie recipe from the other day. It is one and a half cups of vegetable oil… not 1/12. That would have been interesting, though. The typo has been fixed and I hope you’ll try out that recipe.

5. You may be noticing more watermarks appearing on my photos. Its not necessarily because I deem that particular photo amazing and worry that someone will copy/steal it. But the sad truth is, that people aren’t always looking for a technically great photo to steal… they are looking for a photo of a little kid showing some skin. Well, in case you haven’t noticed, my kids prefer their undies to any other clothing. I could decide to not share those images, but let’s be honest… you’d never see photos of my kids, OR I’d have some serious battles getting them clothed each day.

So, if skin is showing, its getting watermarked.

Because unless you’re given permission to take a photo from a blog/site, it is illegal. You’ll notice that if you right-click an image on my site, it reminds of this copyright.

And it is ALWAYS illegal to post those pictures as your own or to alter them in anyway. Believe it or not, some people do this, and it sicks me out. Just, FYI.

6. I can’t leave it on that note… so, here’s my sweet-boy Tado.

Have a delightful weekend!

OUR Christmas Tree

2010-12-09T06:25:00.001-08:00

We live in the land of the Christmas Tree. Oregon’s Willamette Valley is one of the world’s leading producers of them and the particular ‘hill’ that we live on crawls with Christmas Tree fields. So when I considered by-passing having a tree in our house this year, to avoid incidents with Kaden, I knew it would be unrealistic. And a bit silly. And have since realized, unnecessary!

This past weekend we visited our good friends’ tree field and after a half an hour of me “hmming and hawing” and countless “ooh, look at this one!” we picked one. Gage and Cooper ran around playing ‘Hunt the T-Rex’ with our friends’ grandsons, totally bi-passing the family-unity part of this holiday tradition. But they had a blast, so oh well. Matt began to cut it down with his hand saw and I said, “Wait, I have to get a picture!” He replies from under the tree, “Don’t worry, this will take a while.” I try to adjust my settings and then wack, I hear it hit the ground not even 15 seconds later! I guess he underestimated himself.

Then the 4 little boys took it upon themselves to haul it out of the patch and up to our car. That was my favorite part.

It was surprisingly dry when we got it home so we quickly rearranged some furniture, brought it in, and started vacuuming. That is a must.

The decorating had to wait until the next day, when we were able to get more strands of lights…

Cooper appointed himself the official “back of the tree decorator” and did a mighty fine job of covering a 1 foot square area with about 20 ornaments.

Speaking of ornaments… this one is Kaden’s…

This one is mine (from 1981)…

And this one is just pretty…

And drinking Peppermint Hot Chocolate (from Costco… SERIOUSLY. SO. GOOD!) by the tree has become a daily activity.

Have you ever done something year after year and then one year finally realize there is a BETTER way to do it, and you bonk yourself on the head and say “Why didn’t we think of this 5 years ago??” That’s what we’re thinking in regard to where we put our tree this year. Previously, we crammed it into our living room, allowing it to take up 1/3 of the walking/playing space. This year, we moved out our small table and put the tree inside the breakfast nook’s bay window.

It is so much happier there. And now we’re eating in our dining room and surprise, surprise, the boys are SO much more behaved during meal time!

All is well in Christmas Tree Land. Kaden hasn’t climbed it yet, Cooper hasn’t climbed it yet (although he keeps cuddling up on the window sill and hiding behind it) and Gage is actually reminding me to water it.

So, it looks like this tree may actually last until Christmas!

Molalla’s Christmas Tree Lighting CELEBRATION!

2010-12-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hello… I’m posting these photos to prove that we actually got out and about in the world… well, in Molalla anyway. For the annual Christmas tree lighting. We feel pretty excited to say that we’ve attended ever since Gage was a baby – so, for the past 5 years. We may be the only ones in Molalla who can say that, except for Father Ed, who always prays before the “festivities” begin. By “festivities” I mean seeing Santa and seeing the tree lit. Exciting.

Gage thought and thought about what he was going to tell Santa’s helper what he wants for Christmas, but when the time came, he was a bit shell-shocked. Cooper burst out “I want a fishing pole!” “Yeah, me too!” said Gage. Kaden just sat there thinking, “I cannot move my head in this ridiculously tight hood.”

Probably G&C’s highlight was sitting in the fire truck…

And then for the main event… the tree lighting. We counted down … and nothing happened. So, we all tried again and half of the tree lit up. Then, the rest followed.

And because my mom was with us, the entire evening was a hit with these boys.

MY favorite part was tracking down the parade of Emergency Vehicles with all their lights on. We parked on the side of the road and watched the stream drive past us. Can you imagine how exciting that was for little boys? They hung out the windows waving and listening to the honks and sirens. It was a beautiful thing watching the boys’ faces. Even Kaden was mesmerized (while hiding in the back of the car, in the comfort of Grammie’s arms).

If anyone from Molalla is reading this, you should come out to this event next year. We could make it fun! :)

Really!

Recipe for Dipped Gingersnaps

2010-12-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

I hope my post yesterday made you want to try out these cookies. You won’t be sorry – and this recipe makes a ton so there are plenty to share or freeze or eat three a day like I do.

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

4 cups flour (+ a little bit more)

4 tsp baking soda

1 Tbs. ground ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

additional sugar (for rolling)

1 1/2 packages (30oz total) Almond Bark, vanilla flavor

1/4 cup shortening

Directions

In mixing bowl, combine sugar and oil. Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in molasses. Combine dry ingredients; gradually ad to the creamed mixture and mix well. Shape to 3/4 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes (mine takes 10 on the nose). Remove to wire racks to cool. Melt Almond Bark with shortening over low heat, mixing continually. Dip cookies halfway (or more) into Almond Bark (careful not to get your fingers in… its HOT!). Shake off excess (or not). Place on waxed paper. Sprinkle with sprinkles before dip dries. Then let dip cool/harden before removing from paper.

NOTE: The Almond Bark dip is also SO good on pretzels.

Mimi’s Dipped Gingersnaps

2010-12-06T05:53:00.001-08:00

I want to share with you our favorite FAVORITE Christmas cookie recipe. It comes from my mother-in-law and never disappoints. They are Dipped Gingersnaps. Moist gingersnap cookies dipped in vanilla flavored almond bark.

Because of his amazing “Terandadon brain” (watch Dinosaur Train) Gage has the ability to remember the craziest details from WAY back in his life. So, he recalls helping me with these cookies, starting when he was 2. And consequently started asking when we could make them on Thanksgiving. A few days later, it was time.

The ingredients…

Oh, and they can’t possibly make Christmas Cookies without hot chocolate. I found this stuff at Costco and I may prefer it over a Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks.

After the dough is made, the fun begins.

Gage had a hard time trusting Cooper with such responsibility of rolling the balls in the sugar. But when reminded that I let him do it when he was 2, he sighed loudly and handed some more over.

And then you bake them…

And watch the sunset while they cool…

… and then make the Almond Bark to dip the cookies in. This stuff gives the effect of dipping something in white chocolate, so I’m tempted to say you could do that, too. However, at 1.99 a package for this stuff (and needing 1.5 packages) I think Almond Bark is the way to go.

Then the REALLY fun part. Gage carried around the red sprinkles and Cooper carried around the green, all day in anticipation for the finale.

Well, the finale is actually eating them, but you’ll sense that when you make them yourself.

I know its mean, but I’ll share the recipe tomorrow. :)

Five on Friday

2010-12-03T07:05:00.001-08:00

1. I am shocked that I am awake right now to be posting this. Kaden is almost a year old and he’s decided to start waking up during the night again. But, then again, Cooper is almost 4 and he’s deciding to do the same. 12:30 – Kaden. 1:30 – Cooper. 4:15 – Kaden. 5:15 – Matt leaving for work. 6:15 – Kaden. Now its 6:30am and I’m blogging. How’s that for dedication?? :) And the boys will be up in a half hour to start our day. Oiy.

2. I am so happy to have my camera back. The report that came back with it said they had to replace the circuit board, which was malfunctioning causing the camera to freeze up and prevent the Auto Focus system from working properly. I have to say I’m relieved that there WAS a problem with it so I know it wasn’t just my inadequacies… but now I have NO excuse but to totally rock this camera. Eek.

3. Did I tell you that I picked my logo? Or, logos? Annie Bananie, of Bananie Designs did a wonderful job (in my totally unbiased opinion). She was so patient with me and very encouraging with ideas. At first I wanted just brown, blue and green, but the ‘melon’ color really added life to the design, which is what I want my photography to be about. Life. real life.

Now, I need to put myself out there as a photographer. Yikes.

4. Does a bare baby bum ever get old"??

I don’t think so. Sweet.

5. More photos of Kaden, taken while practicing with my Speedlite. He’s doing this thing with his bottom lip now. Not too long ago he ALWAYS had his tongue sticking out. Now, he’s sucking his lip in. I love documenting these little phases they go through – they seems so trivial and unimportant in the big scheme of things, but its part of Kaden’s story, so I want to remember it. Sigh.

6… I can never stick to just 5!

7. Cooper is so emotional lately. Everything makes him cry. Wearing a pull-up. Christmas. The raccoon on the side of the road. Gage pushing his chair in. Wow. I hope this is just a side-effect of being sick for so long and not an indication that I do in fact have a pre-teen girl on my hands, rather than a 3 year-old-tough-guy. Ug.

8. I was able to run errands with JUST Kaden yesterday and actually meet up with Matt for lunch! My dear mother-in-law welcomed G&C over to her house so my outing would be much easier. And because she loves them. But wow, what a difference minus 2 makes! Kaden and I zipped all over the place and I left COSTCO smiling! Crazy.

9. And now, it is 7 o’clock and soon I’ll hear bickering enter my cozy, quiet little corner of the house. Let the day begin.

Have a wonderful weekend!

How They’re Passing the Time

2010-12-02T06:31:00.001-08:00

Christmas-time used to seem like such a busy time of year. It wasn’t long ago that it meant cramming for college finals, spending nights studying and days testing. And then rushing home for 2 weeks full of catching up with friends and having family holiday celebrations. Fast forward … gosh, 8 years??… to now, and time ticks by. From one question of “Can I watch another Dinosaur Train?” to the next “Can I have a snack? (‘No, you just ate lunch 20 minutes ago’) to the next fight to the next round of antibiotics, the day trickles by. We watch the rain and fog fill the vast area that, during the summer months, is these boys’ playground. I know I should embrace this slow paced life God has blessed us with because as everyone reminds me, someday I’ll look back on them and wonder how time could have gone by so fast.

But, I sort of live in the now, and right now, life is about surviving minute by minute. Filling our days with as much guidance, love, and entertainment as possible, to keep us sane.

After a month of being homebound, due to illnesses, we’re getting cabin fever. And because I’m determined to keep these boys healthy for Christmas we may just remain homebound until December 26. So you’ll be seeing lots of photos of what life is like in our home, when there is nothing else to do, but get creative…

(This boy’s never too far from his brothers, even if it means hiding out under the table while they paint.)

Well, when the fighting and bickering gets to be too much, I don’t object when Cooper wants to spend 45 minutes in the snack cupboard. Except that after about 5 minutes of him being in there, Gage began pestering him to get out, so he could have HIS turn. I was temped to clean out my baking cupboard and let him hide-away too…

Instead, he figured he’d make a ~~purse~~ bag out of an instant oatmeal box. Gotta love his resourcefulness.

Undoubtedly, more to come!

Making the Most of Dark Days…

2010-12-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

… by learning to use my Speedlite! What could I possibly do to be more productive with my time during these long (short?) winter days than figure out how to use this under-utilized piece of equipment? While high ISOs and too shallow a depth of field and grainy photos could get me down, I’m choosing to put this gem to use and to LEARN all it has to offer. And how to properly use it.

Not surprisingly, Kaden was a good subject for me to practice on. These were taken at about 6pm, in his room which (as you see) has dark sage walls and one overhead light. Without my Speedlite, I wouldn’t even have attempted to take photos because undoubtedly, I would have turned up disappointed in their clarity. Not so with the Speedlite… it was fun to be able to capture this little guy having his quiet time (away from his crazy overbearing big brothers) without frustration over the lack of good lighting.

Because I MADE good lighting, by bouncing the light off of the wall. Which, admittedly gave Kaden a bit of a greenish tint, which I quickly tried to take care of in post processing. But, non-the-less, illuminated him nicely!

… and as I worked to master my flash, he worked to master his Drop and Roar Dinosaur.

Then we moved to the hall, which was tricky because I didn’t have a good wall or ceiling to bounce the flash off of. So I had to bump the flash output way up just to create enough light to properly expose the photo. Its getting easier – I don’t know why I was ever intimidated by this thing!

Thus, I was able to capture Kaden in action with one of his current favorite games. Its called “Remove All of the Books from the Bookshelf” and I think his brothers clued him in that they REALLY enjoyed this game when they were babies, too.

This book is his favorite. The game usually takes a breather when he removes it from the shelf. He touches the cover (which feels funny) and then flips through the pages.

I think its a good one for him to read as he gets older. I fear it holds information that may come in handy for this littlest brother.

Anyhow – I love natural light – what photographer doesn’t? But during these dark, dark winter nights (and days, who’m I kidding?) my Speedlite may light up my life and will surely be the necessary fuel for my on-going passion of capturing moments.

My Mountain-Uni Man

2010-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

It’s not every day you see a guy riding a unicycle. Let alone a unicycle through the woods, jumping onto logs, and off of rock-walls.
Unless you’re at my house. Then you see it every couple days, whenever Dad needs to clear his head and challenge himself.
Several, several years ago, Matt saw a show on Mountain Unicycling and the guys being featured said it’s a sport for 30-something guys who’ve done the mountain biking thing and need a new challenge.
Enter, my husband.
He’s always up for a good challenge, so I satisfied his curiosity of this sport a few years back and got him (per his careful, detailed instructions) a Mountain Unicycle. He practiced a few feet at a time in our basement and now can hop onto it with the ease that you or I sit down into a chair. And, he rides for miles. Along roads, hills, and trails and through brush and across terrain I don’t want to walk across. I don’t even remember the last time I road a bike and he’s tootin’ around here on one wheel like its nobody’s business.
And I love that the boys think its no big deal. Like, every body’s dad does this.
I, on the other hand, still totally get a kick out of it and it never gets old to watch him ride.

He doesn’t know that I’m posting this, and when he sees it I’ll get the “Ahh, Mom…” response (suggesting his embarrassment over me talking about him), but oh well. My blogging purpose is to document and share the goings-on and that’s a what I’m doin’.
So, here’s to getting off your two-wheels and challenging yourself to something new.

Decorating for Christmas

2010-11-29T06:00:00.001-08:00

I look forward to decorating for Christmas all. year. long. I HAVE to wait until after Thanksgiving to officially start, and will not allow any Christmas music or movies to be played until this time, too. I suppose I like the build up and then BAM! November 26th and its ON! Christmas TIME!

Well… this year, so far, has been a bit bah humbug. Despite Gage’s pleas to make Christmas cookies and to start decorating on the 26th, I had to put it off until I was in the right mood. Illness and messes and other distractions made thinking about transitioning into Christmas-time hard. Bless his little heart – Gage was bummed. So, Friday night, I prayed about it and thankfully felt good enough to start decorating on Saturday. But something told me Scrooge may try to hinder our jolly-good time.

Gage eagerly helped me bring up the box of garland and carefully hang it in the exact way we do it every year…

… only to realize that 2 out of the 4 strands of lights were burnt out. Score one for Scrooge.

Kaden helped by climbing the stairs over and over again, and then needing to be rescued from the top. He LOVES this game.

Then we brought up the ‘treasures’ I have stored in my hope-chest. I don’t have much in the way of Christmas decorations because my home decor is a bit Christmasy as it is – greens, browns and creams, and even a few red accents. But we do have the same ‘ol same ‘ol we get out each year and to my pleasant surprise, Gage remembered exactly where each little figurine went…

… except for this one. He handed me the box and said “What’s this one, Mama?” “Oh, Gagers. That one is very special,” I replied, as I started opening the lid. “This is a Snow Baby and it was your great-grammie’s. She had a whole collection of them and this one is …” I trailed off as I pulled it out… “broken.” I finished. The little fishing pole broke off. Sigh. Score two for Scrooge.

Determined to power through and enjoy the experience I got out the little Swedish Star Chime. And I watched and observed as Gage tried to assemble it, just as I did when I was a little girl. I knew what he was thinking – looking back and forth between the dainty gold pieces and the picture. Knowing it was like a puzzle, knowing he could figure it out… but couldn’t resist the urge to ask for my help several times. I encouraged him to do it and retreated to get the final few pieces of decorations from the basement.

And when I returned, I found this…

HA! Score one for the jolly-good timers!

And then, Cooper woke up. Oiy. He’s not been feeling well and adding him to our festivities made things interesting. We’d saved the nativity scene for last, so that he could help, but he really wanted no part in placing the wise men with baby Jesus.

So, he did this…

… and this…

… and then threw up, ALL over me. Score three for Scrooge.

BUT! The Christmas Spirit lives on… my wonderful husband fixed the lights on the garland, I still love my Snow Baby, broken fishing pole and all (and my wonderful husband could probably fix that as well) and Cooper felt much better after unleashing his innards onto me. So, there, Scrooge.

I am SO determined to make this a festive, Jesus-focused, happy, enjoyable, warm and cozy time for my kiddos… we may be off to kind of a rocky start, but we’ll get there. Next up, the Christmas Tree!

On Being Thankful

2010-11-24T08:22:00.001-08:00

Its easy to face adversity and get frustrated and down. I am very guilty of this. I see the snow outside and get upset at the danger it poses for us driving anywhere. I see Cooper, right now, laying in my bed with a fever and weak from spending the night throwing up and I just think “Doggonit… Gage is finally on the mend and NOW Cooper gets sick??” I shake my head knowing that the season of illness, seclusion, canceling appointments (I was supposed to get my hair done today) and swiping my card at the pediatrician’s office is upon us. And now, Thanksgiving is on hold for us, too, and I feel sad wondering if our holidays are EVER going to get back to normal.

Instead, I KNOW that I should look at the snow and be thankful for its beauty and the quietness it blankets us with. I should be thankful that I don’t HAVE to drive anywhere in this weather but can stay home, in our warm house and be protected from the frigid cold. We have food stocked up and enough wood to last 2 winters… what do I have to complain about? I should look at Cooper and thank the Lord that he doesn’t have an illness that is threatening his life … what do I have to complain about? I should be thankful that we have insurance to pay for their doctor care, that seclusion means bonding with my children and board games and movies and book reading. What do I have to complain about?

I should be thankful that we have extended family that we could be spending Thanksgiving with … and that even if we don’t actually see them on November 25, there’s always the next day or the day after that. Its not the date on the calendar – its the spirit of the holiday that we celebrate. And if we have to reschedule, or eat 15 pounds of turkey by ourselves, that’s the way it is. What do I have to complain about?

I could let myself complain about a lot of things, but where does that get me. No where… and if we know the Lord, we know that complaining is an insult to Him. He blesses us day in and day out with little things, such as the space heater blowing on me, and big things, such as love, family, health and safety.

I’m preaching to myself… I need to see these thoughts and words because honestly, this is something I do struggle with. I need to hear myself say “What do you have to complain about??” and recognize that the answer is extremely clear… nothing.

I’ll leave you for the long holiday weekend with a few photos of my boys during healthier times…

And in color…

So I wish you a very thankful Thanksgiving, free of stress, anxiety, and worry. Just enjoy the flip-side of every adverse situation… because in every negative there is a positive. Something to be thankful for.

ETA: I’ll be back soon to share some photos of my One-Wheeled Wonder… Matt on his unicycle!

A Trusting Family… {Molalla, Oregon Family Photographer}

2010-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

… to let me photograph them for 2 hours. As I’ve discussed before, I get pretty nervous before shoots. I think I’m allowed, since I’ve done enough to count on my two hands. And leading up to this one was no different. I can assure my ‘subjects’ that I am confident with my camera but interacting, posing, and the like is still something I’m working on.

Before the S-Family arrived at my house, I had locations all planned out. It was overcast, so we had lots of options and I was pumped. Then as I saw them driving up the driveway, the clouds parted and on any other day this would have been joyous… but dealing with harsh overhead sun on a photoshoot is anything BUT joyous. I was a bit panicked, was dealing with a hang-nail but no ban-aid, and I needed to quickly decide where to pose this adorable family. Without appearing like I was nervous. I kept reminding myself that “Such-n-such ProPhotog said she gets nearly sick to her stomach before shoots… Lacey, you are okay!”

I think we ended up doing okay. :) As is normal, it took us a bit to warm up, but allowing the kiddos to get goofy brought out their sweet personalities and genuine moments.

I sincerely hope they’ve found some images they enjoy from our time together…

… thank you for trusting me to capture your wonderful family!

I Have a Picky Eater on My Hands.

2010-11-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Kaden used to eat anything put in front of him. Now, he’s so picky. At what age do they all of the sudden have preferences? I certainly didn’t think it would be 10 months. It should have been an indicator to me, that I had a headstrong boy on my hands, when he completely wrote off nursing on my left side at 6 months.

And now, this boy will take one bite of something and if its a no-go he’ll make a face. If I try again, maybe it’ll get into his mouth, but is soon pushed back out by his deciphering tongue. He does this will all of his past favorite veggies including squash! What baby doesn’t like squash?? He refuses to eat pre-made baby food dinners (like, chicken, veggie and rice).

So, that leaves me with very few options, I fear. I try a lot of things at mealtime (I don’t immediately give in to his pickiness) and we end up with lots on the floor, lots on the high-chair between his legs, some on the wall and often times, some on me. Very little in his tummy.

Except for crunchie things. That’s what he’s into. Like, these. Aptly named, “Lil’ Crunchies”.

Who wouldn’t like these? They taste like pizza flavored Cheetos! Kaden will refuse other foods at meal time, over and over, but then I put these on his tray – handfuls go into his mouth. Same with MumMums, Puffs, and ArrowRoot Cookies. And toast. He loves toast! I’m hesitant to put what other things he loves… but rest-assured, at least he’ll eat pears and bananas. So its not all ~~hot dogs and chicken nuggets~~ junk food.

**ETA: Gage is doing much better. His doctor prescribed a steroid for him to take for 5 days, which is meant to relax his airway. Apparently it tastes horrible and I have to plug his nose and poor it down his throat. Which he quickly chases with water and then his gummy vitamins. His fever is gone … and I learnt that his doctor doesn’t consider it a ‘fever’ unless his temp is above 100.3! Anyway, little man lost 5 pounds in 5 days and I’m praying his re-gained appetite soon rectifies that. Thanks, again, for keeping him in your prayers!

Five on Friday

2010-11-19T06:59:00.001-08:00

1. First, I want to thank everyone for your comments on my blog posts. I receive an email each time a comment is made, but unless a specific question is asked I’ve barely ever popped in to acknowledge your acknowledgment. I’m not sure what proper blog etiquette is regarding comments, but I actually feel rude for having yet to even say ‘thanks’. So, thank you. I usually type my posts as if I’m journaling in my scrapbooks – not directed at anyone in particular. So, when I get comments {let alone comments from people around the country!} I get pretty stoked. Oh, but this isn’t to say you HAVE to comment! I follow lots {lots!} of blogs and RARELY comment. But, I just wanted to say thank you to those who have, and yes, I read and appreciate, every one of them.

2. Speaking of comments… my sister-in-law, Marilee asked about that green chair you may have seen HERE. It isn’t a chair from my childhood, but rather one I purchased from my friend, Kathleen. You can check out her blog, Faded Charm Cottage, and one of her adorable daughters HERE and HERE. When I need a prop, I’ve been trying to use items I have around the house {blankets, baskets, chairs, etc.} and SO much of my home decor has come from Kathleen. The majority of my dining room, I’d say. But I’m already feeling the itch to collect more props, specifically for photography. More specifically, NEWBORN stuff! More baskets, blankets, hats, bowls, and the like. I think I need to get a job to fund my photography. I can justify a few new baskets to hold things around the house, and blankets to keep us warm, but I don’t think Matt will go for me strategically placing knit beanies and headbands around our house for decoration.

3. Gage is still sick. You can check out how this week began for us HERE. Not to be a downer on your Friday, but he’s still doing breathing treatments and although I thought he was doing better yesterday he had a fever of 100.2 in the afternoon. His nurse Pam {‘Ham’, if you’re Cooper} told me that yesterday should have been a turn-around day and the antibiotics should have been working. Since my fear is that they are NOT, I’m taking him back in this morning for his pediatrician’s evaluation. Poor little guy is scrawny as all get-out. I made him eat pizza last night for dinner (he managed only one piece) and a cookie during the day – hoping some of the calories would stick. He’s scheming about designing and building a wooden airplane with Matt this weekend, so maybe he’s starting to feel better. I’ll post an update tomorrow in case you’re curious. And thank you for your continued prayers for him.

4. It goes without saying that it is hard to have a sick child. It is terrible to see that child ill… but what is also very difficult is caring for the other children who aren’t sick. By God’s grace, Cooper is holding strong {yet, much to his disappointment… he desperately wants to try the nebulizer}. He’s coughing and has a snotty nose, but compared to Gage, he’s golden. However, since I am preoccupied {literally and emotionally} by Gage’s condition, it is apparent that little Cooper is struggling for attention. In addition, Kaden is not feeling well + teething + experiencing separation anxiety, so I’m caring for Gage while carrying Kaden and Cooper just sits around watching or picking fights or doing things on his own. OR, climbing up the banister, hoping I’ll see him. {really, he did that yesterday}. I recognized this earlier in the week and have been trying to compensate as much as possible. But I think this is why he wants to be sick, too… just to get more attention. :(

5. On a brighter note, I watched a buck pursuing a few does in our backyard the other day! Not to be insensitive to the situation discussed above, but this was pretty exciting! Especially considering Matt’s hunting season opens back up TOMORROW. I immediately called Matt to tell him and he says this: “I’ve been in those woods 30 years and I’ve never seen that! You’re looking out your scrapbook room window and see it in broad daylight! And you don’t even have your camera!**” I struggled to decipher humor vs. true annoyance in his voice. I didn’t have to remind him that he missed out on seeing the cougar, bear, and numerous herds of elk, too. FORTUNATELY, the buck was in hot pursuit, and once Matt got home he and the ladies made 2 more passes by our back yard. This could {praying!} be an exciting weekend…

6. {A bonus!} *** You may have noticed the above comment of “you don’t even have your camera”… I sent it to Irvine, California on Monday for servicing. The focus system is struggling and it keeps freezing up during shoots which is SO frustrating when the pose is finally perfect… the kids hold it for 1/1000 of a second… and the camera DOESN’T WORK! There have been countless moments this week when I’ve gone to reach for it, and miss it. But its a good break and I seriously hope it comes back fixed.

7. {Another bonus!} I may have mentioned that I’m in the process of having my logo done for a possible photography business. If anyone cares to check out the designs I’ve narrowed it down to, you can go HERE. I’m 90% sure those are the colors I’m going with, but we’ll see!

Have a great weekend…

More Grace to you, and Peace… {Molalla Oregon Children’s Photographer}

2010-11-18T06:21:00.001-08:00

I’ve mentioned it before that I have a difficult time choosing a select few images from a session to share and it was especially hard for me with these of Grace. Probably because it was my most favorite session yet. I’m sure I could attribute a lot of that to the fact that I adore this little girl. I was in the waiting room of the hospital when she was born and have watched her grow into the little sprite she is today, at the age of 2. She’s energetic, strong, feisty, and holds-her-own with her big brother and my three boys. Oh, and she loves Cooper.

Anyway. So, when her mama put me up to the challenge of photographing her, Grace proved what a little doll she is. For a little over an hour we moved around their yard playing and shooting.

Most of the shots were spontaneous captures following me putting her in a position, running back to mine, and saying “Gracie! Where’s Cooper??” And she’d look at me and smile.

Sheesh. Did I mention she’s goofy, too??

I’m so happy to share these with you, and so thankful Gracie’s mama let me borrow her for practice. It was a blessing!

Have A Little Grace in Your Day… {Molalla, Oregon Children’s Photographer}

2010-11-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

I don’t know about you, but my day could use some brightening. So here’s my gift to you… a little bit of Grace… and a whole lotta cuteness.
{Oh, and it has to be pointed out, that that first smile, was for her daddy.}

I’ll be back with more photos and hopefully more energy tomorrow. Ah. I could look at that last photo all day! Sweet!

That Was An Interesting Night…

2010-11-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

I took Gagers to the doctor yesterday morning because his fever just wouldn’t quit. I thought Cooper was going to have to be examined, too, because the night before he sounded like a seal, but by the morning his cough had broken up and was considerably better. The boys are always excited to go to the doctor’s office, particularly to see Pam (who, this time, Cooper repeatedly and totally seriously, called “Ham”) the nurse. After examination, Dr. Clarke determined that Gage had a double ear infection and a sinus infection. I had obviously known something wasn’t right with him, but was surprised at this diagnosis because he’d only complained of pain in his ear a few times when he coughed.

Anyhow, when we got home Gage napped for three hours. Upon having his first dose of the antibiotic, Cooper threw a fit that he didn’t get any. He said, as he stomped off angrily “JUST GREAT! I didn’t get to talk to Dr. Clarke and I don’t get PINK MEDICINE! JUST GREAT!” He’s honestly wishing he were sick too!

Gage sat on the couch all evening watching The Land Before Time movies and Matt left around 6:30pm to go work on a bow. I took Kaden up to get ready for bed at 7 and around 7:30 Gage kind of crawled into the room and told me he was having a hard time breathing. He laid down with his head in my lap, and I tried to coax him into relaxing. As I got more and more concerned I could feel his temperature and heart rate increasing. He didn’t want to stand and actually started whimpering when I told him I had to get up to put Kaden to bed.

Fast forward a half-an-hour and I’m trying to keep Gage awake, Myrna (Matt’s mom) is here to stay with Cooper and Kaden, Matt’s on his way home and I’ve talked to two on-call doctors who have both encouraged me to take Gage into either an ER or Urgent Care because of his temperature and breathing with retraction (when they breath and their abdomen tucks up under the rib-cage).

As soon as we stepped outside into the cool air, I could tell his breathing got better, but this was absolutely one of those situations where I could hear “it is better to be safe than sorry” ringing through my ears.

At the Urgent Care Center, Gage snuggled into a rather lifeless ball on Matt’s lap as we waited an hour to be seen. Gage lifted his head a few times to acknowledge that he was glad he wasn’t “that kid” who was in the neighboring room SCREAMING about having to have shots. And he was glad he wasn’t the kid who was getting stitches, too.

When we were finally seen, Gage’s temperature was 102.9, it was clear that each breath exhausted him, and his lips had gone from rosy to purple. They didn’t hear pneumonia in his lungs. They checked his oxygen and it was very low, so after giving him IB Profen AND Tylenol (did you know you can double those up together??) for his fever and verified that his ears were very infected and his breathing was VERY labored… they did a breathing treatment with a nebulizer and we watched the life come back into him. They say its like a shot of caffeine for a little kid and I concur!

They sent us home with a nebulizer, which we’re to use every 3 hours for the next two days, along with the antibiotics and IB Profen/Tylenol regimen. We were told that when the constriction goes down and starts breaking up in his lungs we may find that there is ‘a little pneumonia in there’. Hmm. Whatever that means. But, we’ll be watching and waiting.

At that point, even though his fever was still 102, Gage was feeling so much better that we went through the drive-through at McDonalds (don’t tell Cooper!) before heading home.

Bed was a welcomed sight to us all, but Kaden had a different idea and woke up about a half-hour after I fell asleep. And then again at 5. And Cooper crawled into my bed at 6 (because “he missed me”). And I heard Gage coughing on the couch at 7. So we’re up for another day and I think Gage is going to get very tired of me hugging him and asking if he’s okay, today. Because I get a bit nauseated every time I remember his little voice whispering “It’s hard to breathe, Mama…” I’m going to hover, a lot.

I am so thankful for my husband, my mother-in-law, the doctors who cared for Gagers.

I am eternally grateful for each breath my little boys take.

FUNFUSION!!

2010-11-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

No, I’m not talking about a dance craze from the 80’s… I’m talking about another great, calm activity to do when the kiddlets are under-the-weather, as mine are. We’re on the brink of letting them sit on the couch and watch movie after movie, just to get them to rest, but every now and again they need a break from that.

And creating with Funfusion perlerbeads is just the ticket. If you’ve not done these before with your children, I think these photos will pretty much sum up the process…

First you build… you can create your own design or go off of their idea books which I think are awe-some.

When you’re done with the design, you place the provided piece of waxy paper over the design and iron.

The perlerbeads melt together just enough to fuse together.

And CREATE! Could they look any happier??

WARNING: if you are anything like me, these can actually become quite addicting. Oh, and use tweezers… much easier! These can be found, I’m assuming, many places that sell arts and crafts stuff, but ours came from Craft Warehouse. Happy Fusing!

Five on Friday

2010-11-12T06:47:00.001-08:00

1. Guess who’s here??

My mom surprised us by coming down yesterday! You should have seen the look on Cooper’s face when she popped out from around the corner! Priceless!

2. Kaden is thinking the stairs are the place to be lately. He heads toward them, and as soon as he knows we’re on to him, he crawls faster and starts laughing.

3. I received proofs of a logo designs for my future photography business. I have a ways to go until I am where I want to be with photography, but I have learned that “branding” myself is an important early step to take. I am working with Annie of Annie Bananie Design and she is so sweet to put up with all my questions, concerns and visions. And she’s patient, which is exactly what I need.

4. Do your kids like to spend time in laundry baskets? Mine do.

5. Last Sunday we were woken at 4:30am by Bosley (our golden retriever) barking. I was thankful for the wake-up call and got up to work in my scrapbook room. His persistent barking didn’t, therefore bother me (and I couldn’t really hear it over my lovely little space-heater) but after several attempts to shush him through the window Matt headed outside to rectify the situation at 6:30. Oh, I just realized I was about to put this on the internet… and I’m not sure I should. Sometimes I forget that I’m not just writing to myself. OOh… and I just realized I made it sound like Matt was “taking care” of Bosley. No, but he did make a country-boy decision about how to make the barking stop. And then left the evidence of that decision right by where I was holding a shoot the next day. Nice.

Confused?? Haha. Me too. It was actually a pretty funny story but I suppose I’m still getting a feel for what’s okay to post and what’s not. :)

6. (An bonus!) Gager’s slowly getting well. He’s mostly bummed this means we won’t be going to church on Sunday. Bless his little heart. He’s still got quite a cough and every time I tell him to go get a cough drop Cooper’s eyes light up, he lets out his best attempt at an impromptu cough, and then looks right at me. So far, I’ve caved and let him have cough-drops, too. Is that bad??

Have a great weekend!

Playing Games with a Five-Year-Old

2010-11-11T06:58:00.000-08:00

… is so much fun. Gage has been sick this week; battling a cough, gooky throat and a fever, so we’ve been taking it easy during ‘school’ time. Puzzles, stories and games have filled our time rather than thinking hard about the work we normally do. I know how hard it is to concentrate when not feeling well, so I wasn’t going to push it with this little guy. He happily agreed to this arrangement. Surprise surprise.

Anyway, we played the Thomas math game… which he won. And was clearly excited about… And we played Sequence For Kids… the game Sequence brings back great memories for me, of playing it with family and with Brian and Melissa before we had our kiddos. Now, the Kid Version is my favorite game to play with Gager. For those who don’t know, the object is to get 4 chips in a row. When we draw a card we have to say the animal, the letter it starts with and emphasize the sound that letter makes. He, not surprisingly, knows the name that goes with almost every animal… like, “Polly the Penguin” and “Wiley the Whale”.

This boy used to be SO competitive when playing games, but now he’s showing a softer side. When he picked the dragon card which allowed him to remove any chip he wanted, he removed one of HIS so that he could help me try to win. THAT shocked me.

Then, he only needed “Gloria the Gorilla” to win in THREE directions at once and he got it!

…and he got to flick his fingers in triumph over his win. This celebratory gesture was started long ago between me and my mom, and now Gage loves to bust it out when he wins, too. I love it.

And this is how much I love this little guy… sharing the last piece of Mint Brownie with him. Maybe not the best thing to eat while fighting an illness but… oh well.

Then I suggested we play this game… I will not disclose whether I may or may not have learned a similar game in college… involving a quarter and a little bitty glass…

… this version was MUCH more fun.

He won this one, too. I love game days.

I’m finishing typing this as I’m listening to Gage coughing miserably in my bed… please pray he gets well, soon!

Prepare Yourself for A Lot of Doot Doo

2010-11-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

No, not Doo Doo… Doot Doo. That is what we’ve called Gage since he was a baby. And while Matt and I often now call him Doot or Gagers or Deuteronomy, Cooper ONLY calls him Doot Doo. If he calls him anything else, Gage corrects him. I can just picture them walking the halls in high school and as they pass by each other Cooper says to his big brother “Hey, Doot Doo, have you seen Tato?” (which is what we call Kaden). As a biased mama, I’m thinking they can call each other what ever they want and it won’t matter a bit. :)

Anyway, I shared the outtakes from this session on Monday and am happy to finally be posting the rest today. I took these almost a month ago now (where does the time go!)… the day after I took Gage shopping for lots of 6T clothes. He had been beyond tired of tugging down the sleeves of his shirts and EVERY pair of pants he owned had holes in the left knee. So, he was actually excited to ‘model’ for me, in thanks for his new digs.

We traveled around our yard – me practicing with locations, posing, lighting, positioning my reflector…

… and probably most importantly, figuring out what it takes to get a 5-year-old to REALLY smile in a photo.

For this kid, it took me yelling “Poop Poo” as loud as I possibly could.

Regardless of the toilet talk I have to resort to using, it warms my heart to see photos of Gage’s REAL smile… because it is my hope that when I look at these images years from now I’ll be able to hear the laughter in them… that is the part of photography that I love and TRULY hope to be able to capture with my camera during sessions.

Ooh, what to do about sensitive eyes? Sweet little guy tried so hard as I tried and tried to find the light in his bright blue eyes. But that’s hard, when he can barely open them! :)

Whoa… this one kind of catches you off guard… haha…

… “Be happy, Doot… we’re almost done…”

Let me just tell you how amazed I was at this little man’s cooperation. I’m not sure if he thought he was going to get a prize at the end of the session or what, but he powered through with me for a good 2-hours! Actually, I shouldn’t be surprised. He has ALWAYS been a Mama’s Boy and constantly aims to please me… plus, he wasn’t dealing with this little brother AND he was getting out of ‘school’.

Whatever the reason, I appreciated his time and love the results. :)

The Three B-Boys… {Molalla, Oregon Children's Photographer}

2010-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was so touched when these little guys’ mama asked me to photograph her boys! Touched and nervous, because while it may seem that photographing 3 boys would be comfy territory for me, I know the tone of voice I have to take with mine to get them to cooperate and I am not ABOUT to go there with anyone else’s kids.
Turns out, though, that my nervousness was more appropriately deserved by the weather… we battled looming rain clouds and snuck in as many shots as we could outside between showers.
Eventually we got dumped on and had to find refuge in my home with my 3 munchkins and Grammie. And I was able to sneak away with each brown-haired blue-eyed boy (while the blonde-haired blue-eyed boys were occupied) and get some surprise shots for their mama… I hope she likes them as much as I do!

(I had to work very hard to get this smile!)

And when the rains finally took a break, and after giving them some hot chocolate to keep their energy up (???) we powered back outside and had our attempt at some group shots.

And that is tough to do with an 18-month old… okay, sheesh… it’s just tough to do, period!
I only managed to get a few of these sweet little guys together and all I can hope is that their mama will give me another shot some day!

I’m Starting To LOVE Outtakes!

2010-11-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

I did this session with Gage awhile back and when I finally got to sorting through the images I was immediately drawn to the goofy outtakes… they show his humor, his personality, and a little bit of his oddness. I suppose my goal should be finding a middle ground – between silly outtakes and portraits, so the portraits show a glimpse of the personality, without so much of the oddness.

One of his poor little sensitive eyes!

What is it they say about that kid with the curl, right in the middle of their forehead??

…goofing around and almost breaking one of my favorite prop chairs… again!

These googly eyes were just for fun. And to gross his mama out. It makes my stomach turn to see him do this. :)

Walking away, only to turn and say in a little country-boy accent, “We dun, Mama?”

Yes, we’re done… for now…

Five on Friday

2010-11-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

1. My mood is much better today than it was last Friday… Matt is back from his hunting trip and because of that I feel like I can breath again. His presence in my day just gives me such a sense of stability and by the end of his week of being gone, I was feeling a little unstable. :)

2. Speaking of the elk hunting, a few asked if anyone was successful this year. Sounds like the trip was fun for all of them and they had a great time as usual, but Jon was the only one to kill one. Generously, he shared the meet and we’ve dined twice now on this 6x6 bull. And made 21-pounds of perfectly lean burger from him, too.

I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing this photo on here… but that big guy is too cool not to show off. The elk is pretty cool, too. HA! Nice job, Jon!

3. I thought of a few more words to add to this post: “puckleberries” for huckleberries, “con-tatch” for “attach”, “chopper-chopper” for helicopter. Ug. I know there is more but as soon as I start typing, they escape me! I need to make myself a note to start writing these things down. :)

4. Speaking of helicopters, Christmas tree harvesting season has begun… every year around the beginning of November we start hearing helicopters during the day. And we see them hovering and dipping down to the tree fields to pick up bunches of cut trees, to quickly move them to the baling and loading area of the field. And boy oh boy, do I get a rush of excitement when I see these choppers in action – not only is it pretty neat to watch, but it means my FAVORITE time of year is just around the corner.

5. But no winter-time weather for us yet. I jumped the gun last Friday when I commented on the rain (thankfully). This past week has been BEAUTIFUL. So nice, in fact, that they boys decided it was warm enough to play in the water and make mud in their sandbox. Cooper started off fully clothed and then claimed he got too hot and stripped down to his scoots (a word we use for underwear)…

… which led to an 11am bath time in Mom and Dad’s tub, which they LOVE.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hello, Again, Miss Brenna – Part II

2010-11-04T06:32:00.001-07:00

I am really, so terrible at picking images from sessions to share. Terrible at narrowing it down to which ones to process and share. I over select, I’m sure, but I suppose its not harming anyone, so oh well!

Here are some more of Brenna, to finish up the post from yesterday… and I think this first one is my favorite!

I can’t even tell you how fun it was for me to do a session with a beautiful young lady who LISTENED to me and moved where I wanted her to go, pose how I wanted her to pose… it was a joy to work with you, Brenna! Thank you for the experience!

Miss Brenna – Part I {Molalla, Oregon Children's Photographer}

2010-11-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this beautiful young lady was younger than Cooper when I first met her. Her mom tells me often how fast their young lives go by and before you know it you are longing for the days of toddlerhood again. I believe it! Well, and besides the fact that Matt has known Brenna’s dad since Matt was probably Gage’s age! How’s that for history?? AND, Brenna’s parent’s were one of the first couples Matt and I went on a double-date with when we first got together. Way. Back. When.
Brenna is such a sweetie and is totally adored by my boys. Her and her sister, Nicole, are wonderful with them and playing at their home with the sprinkler under the trampoline is one of my boys’ favorite summertime memories.
When thinking of subjects to do portfolio building sessions with, Brenna and Nicole immediately came to mind. Here are some of the images of my session with Brenna…

… and there are more to come tomorrow!

While Dad Was Away…

2010-11-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

Matt was gone all of last week on his annual elk hunting trip and although it seems to me everything should come to a halt while he’s away, daily life unfortunately rolls on. My mom spent the first half of the week here entertaining us but the boys and I had to fend for ourselves Wednesday thru Sunday. So, what happened when Dad was away…

First, we’d joked that Kaden would be walking by the time Matt got back from his trip… not QUITE, but he did start cruising along the couches and anything else stable that he can support himself on (the walls, chairs, our legs, etc).

Kaden also decided the dishwasher was a fun place to hang-out…

… and, he popped through another tooth! He’s had a busy week, and REALLY missed his daddy.

It would have been easy for me to mope around the house, missing my better half, but I did get out and have some fun… a ‘girls’ night!

Well, plus kids. Just, minus husbands. Regardless, it was a great time and a welcomed distraction to both of us mamas who were missing our husbands.

(We tried to watch a movie but, after dessert was consumed there was no keeping these boys in one place.)

Every other night, I stayed up until midnight, getting myself as tired as possible so I could sleep soundly – not missing Matt. And then getting up at 5:30, to start the day.

On a brighter note, I only cooked 2 meals… this one from the Pioneer Woman which lasted me about 3 days worth of lunches and dinners and then fettuccine alfredo which carried me through the homestretch. Oh, and one dinner of Top Ramen. I don’t know if that counts. While I love to cook, I appreciated the break from thinking about meals. I was thinking about food though, because the boys asked me for “something yummy to eat” about 12 times a day.

Also while Matt was gone, I received about a dozen phone calls reminding us to vote. Mental note to vote!

The boys discovered spit balls.

And we decided it would be a long time until Dad leaves us again. Thankfully he’s back now, and all seems right in the world again. Well, our little bitty 5-person-world, anyway.

What My Kids Were For Halloween…

2010-11-01T06:45:00.001-07:00

… just plain cute. And just, themselves.

No costumes or trick-or-treating for us this year. We’d known Matt would be returning from his week-long-hunting trip on Halloween evening and that leaving to go trick-or-treating would be about that last thing we’d want to do. Paired with the gremlins my kids (Kaden excluded) turn into when they know there is candy in the house, we decided to forgo the typical Halloween traditions.

I really enjoyed Halloween as a child, and I really have no intention of depriving mine of the fun that comes with it indefinitely. They had a great time last year and we totally appreciate the safe, community oriented focus our little town puts on it. All the “downtown” shops open their doors for the costume clad munchkins and for 3 or more hours the sidewalks crawl with crowds. You can hear the on-going buzz of “Oohs and Aahs” over the adorable get-ups. Last year, we even saw a headless horseman – and the boys talked about him for weeks (thankfully with excitement, not fear!)

But this year, we stayed put. The boys didn’t even KNOW it was Halloween until I took them to the store yesterday and the check-out girl asked what they were going to be for Halloween. Gage looked at me with eyes that said “WHAT is she talking about, MOM!” I quickly explained about their dad coming home and she fortunately got the hint. The boy who took our groceries out wasn’t so quick, though, and kept pressing the issue as to why we weren’t ‘celebrating’.

Fortunately, the Carmel Apple Spice from Starbucks distracted the boys out of their looming disappointment.

And it wasn’t brought up again!

And then dad came home (YEAH!) and this is how we spent our Halloween evening…

… I don’t think they missed out at all. :)

Five on Friday

2010-10-29T06:17:00.001-07:00

1. With the rain setting in, I can already tell it is going to be a LONGGG time until summer. That thought took me back to this post.

2. Looking back at that post, it floors me how quickly these little guys can change!

3. It also makes me happy to see that there is some improvement in my photography. Even though lately it seems as if I am hitting a wall and want to throw my camera against that wall, as well.

4. Most parts of everyday life have become more challenging with 3 kids, but with a few things have stayed nicely the same. Like bath-time. Now that Kaden can join G&C in the tub, bath-time is a perfect time-filler and perfect entertainment for ALL of us!

5. The above photo is not an example of my improvement in photography. HA. I took it with my speedlite, which now in looking at the photo, I don’t think it even fired. Oh well. It is one of those images that I suppose I like despite its imperfection (I seem to be saying that a lot lately, which isn’t probably the best thing considering I am going to try to make a go at doing this professionally.)

This isn’t the most chipper post… I’m sorry. :( All will be on the UP and UP Monday! Have a wonderful weekend!

We Met A Skunk Yesterday… and Other Outtakes…

2010-10-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Oiy. On my mom’s last day here, I took advantage of her help and the nice weather to do a shoot with my boys. It started out innocent enough, but ended up being quite the adventure. We began with the inevitable bribery to lure them into cooperation…

But our venture came to a screeching halt (pretty literally, as I SCREECHED at the sight of this), when we got to the end of our driveway and found this little beauty blocking our path. Yes, that is a skunk. They are SUPPOSED to be nocturnal but this one was a little looney (and very unlucky thanks to Grandpa).

We managed to keep my dog, Bosley, away from it and eventually, got to my destination for the photos. Starting with a pretty cute one…

And on to some outtakes (I get kind of tired of always striving for great photos. I fall short WAY too often, so I thought it’d be fun to embrace my shortcomings…)

Okay, this one is pretty cute, too…

Here, he’s falling. Or, is he being pushed?? Either way, timber.

And then Bosley was really upset that we didn’t let him get completely smelly by tangling with the skunk, so he had to do us one better and find a deer carcass to roll in. And to share with us. Evidently he took it all the way back up to our house, but I still have yet to find it.

This boy wasn’t havin’ it. This is his DRAMATIC face.

And TRYING to get a shot of Grammie and the boys…

Do they look like they were done with photos? Don’t worry, this was only half way through our ‘shoot’. And I’d post more, but my computer keeps freezing up, despite the fact that I just transferred 100+MB off of my hard drive onto an external one. I’m having technical difficulties all over the place. Mostly with my brain, so, I’d better sign off before I toss it out the window along with my computer and camera (which keeps freezing up, too.)

And, thanks for the fun visit, Grammie. It went by too fast and we’re already counting the days until you come back. :)

Speechless…

2010-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was trying to figure out what to post today, and because I’ve been occupying all my spare time processing photos from recent sessions, I’ve neglected even taking photos of my own kids. So, I dug through my ‘saved for blog’ pics and came across this one. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t shared it yet, then I remembered why…

It just kind of leaves me speechless!

The Things They Say…

2010-10-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

I took these photos awhile ago of Cooper and don’t really have anything that goes along with them, so I just thought I’d put this out there… am I a bad Mama for letting my boys repeatedly mispronounce things?

Let me explain… for a very long time, Gage said “chepit” for “ketchup”. Matt and I loved the sound of it, so we started calling it “chepit”, too and still do to this day.

Now, the boys say ‘a-cuz’ instead of ‘because’, ‘instruction’ instead of ‘construction’, ‘pampakes’ instead of ‘pancakes’, ‘gank-you’ instead of ‘thank you’ and ‘pea-hawks’ instead of ‘peacocks’… just to state a few. And its not because they can’t pronounce the word… this is just what they think the word is.

Being a homeschool-mama… well, just a MAMA, actually, I know I should always be instructing, teaching, and inspiring my kids. I shouldn’t let the incorrect use of these words go on.

But, the more and more I hear them say things like “Oh, dear!” and “Wow, that’s fascinating” and “Actually, Cooper, I have a hypothesis about that…” I realize they are growing up so fast. I suppose I just embrace the little things they say that exemplify their innocence and youth.

A-cuz it seems like that this stage of their life doesn’t last very long.

Daphne… part II {Clackamas, Oregon Newborn Photographer}

2010-10-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ah… huge sigh… to finally be able to share these images. If you didn’t see my first post of Daphne, my first ‘newborn’ client, you can check it out here. I see these photos of her at just 5 days old and that was 2 weeks ago. Now, I’m sure she is a totally different baby. Still a newborn, but surely awake more, and no doubt a bit bigger. Time goes by so fast at this stage and I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to freeze time, just a little, for Daphne’s parents and capture her precious newness.
Like I said in my other post, Daphne was the perfect model. Each pose I put her into she just went with. Her mama even warned me that she didn’t like to be on her tummy, but she ended up spending 50% of her time in that position, never complaining. She has set a high standard for my future newborns.
And of that, I pray there will be more. More newborns to photograph. I LOVED every second of this session and feel very sure that this is where my focus in photography should be. Next time I hope to use a wider variety of blankets, plus hats, baskets, bowls, cocoons, pods and chairs. I have to hold myself back from running out and purchasing a plethora of props because my dream of filling my calendar with newborn shoots is still just that: a dream. But you better believe it that as soon as I schedule another one, I’ll be adding some to my wish list! But Daphne was just sweet enough without anything else… so, take a look at her in her preciousness… (and if you have any lullaby music, you may want to play it now… :) )

The following is a pose that proved to me what an amazing model this little gem was… most photographers will try it with their newborns, but often times have to resort to having mama use a finger to support up the baby’s head. Then, the photographer will remove mama’s finger in post processing. I propped Daphne up in place, balanced her and she stuck for about 20 frames! Such a trooper!
And oh, be-still-my-ovaries… this image makes me want to have another baby…
And our final image from the session… … just as she started to wake up. Which was right in time for when she needed to eat.
She was just pure perfection and I sincerely hope that her parents enjoy these images as much as I have.
And thank you for looking! And if you know of anyone who is expecting a baby, please send them my way… :)

A Post Worth 15,000 Words…

2010-10-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and since time seems short lately, I’ll spare you the words (well, most of the words) and just share the photos from our recent trip to the Oregon Gardens, with our wonderful friends…

Maybe this one will go on their wedding announcement…

Kaden was fascinated by the leaf chipper that was running nearby…

And maybe someday this will go on THEIR wedding announcement…

Can you tell we had a perfect PERFECT time? Totally.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Welcome to the World, Daphne… {Clackamas, Oregon Newborn Photographer}

2010-10-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

I think it may have been all the way back when my friend and hair stylist, Sheryl, told me she was pregnant that I started dreaming about doing a session with her newborn. I felt bad asking her and then talking about it several more times, because I couldn’t tell if she was just being sweet or she was actually okay with a total newbie photographer coming over to spend three hours posing her brand-new baby. Or maybe I didn’t let on to what a production it would be.
Either way, we saw Sheryl on October 10, still very pregnant and early the next morning, she gave birth to Daphne. Five days later, I arrived at their home with a SUV full of props and took over their perfectly lit bathroom for several hours. I could have stayed there ALL day. Here are three things that I love: Newborns, Photography, and being warm – space heater warm. For three straight hours I was engulfed in THOSE three things and nothing else. Daphne slept the entire time (well, starting after the images shared today), the bathroom was probably about 80 degrees, I listened to the hum of the space heater (a weird obsession of mine) and took 250+ shots of this little dream.
She was pure perfection as a newborn model. I heard numerous times how challenging newborns are to photograph and Daphne said, “Huh! I’ll show them!” Not a single challenge with this sweetie once she was in dreamland.
Here are a few I took before we started shooting… she was ‘milk-drunk’ from her Mama…
… and then she was out…And… dreaming of a macro lens… the tiny tiny details of a newborn just waiting to be captured…

… for a moment. I had noticed her dad, Jason’s, tattoos and HAD to ask if we could get some shots of them together… I just love the contrast – the dark and light, the edgy and soft. I’m ready to put out a bulletin calling all new dad’s with tattoos… if I had planned it out better we’d have gotten even more of these, but the following were my favorite.
Yes, I am already planning out the shots I’ll do if I ever get another chance with a daddy and his baby … tattoos are optional.   Do you know anyone you can send my way??
I am just getting into processing the rest of the images from this session and can’t wait to share… but I’m taking my time with them because I have to do Daphne’s sweetness justice.

A Conversation With Cooper and The Faces That Went With It…

2010-10-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Cooper: “Wheennn’s Graaaamieeee Comingggg???” Me: “Four more days, Coop.”

Cooper: “Four DAYSSS??? That’s TOOOO Longggg!”

Me: “No, Buddy, it’s really not very long at all.”

He thinks about it.

And thinks about it some more… perfect contemplation to allow some picture taking…

Cooper: “Really, Mama? ‘Cause I miss Grammie.”

Me: “I know, sweet boy. Four days is not a long time.”

He gets this grin on his face, gets off the bed and runs out of the room.

He yells upstairs to Gage: “Doot Doo! Is four days a long tiiiime???”

Gage: “No, Cooper… four is a little number!”

I guess he needed some confirmation from the ‘Boss” as Gage likes to call himself. Evidently his words carry more weight than mine. Either way, he returned with this smile for me.

Whatever it takes.

Yes, both boys are anxiously awaiting the upcoming visit from their Grammie… only a few more days!

And, in case you’re wondering… this conversation went down when I asked Cooper to lay on my bed so I could practice shooting with a high ISO and wide open aperture… so if you care, they were shot with my 50mm at f/1.4! and ISO 3200!! Crazy!

Sweetness Defined by Little Miss Ellie Marie… {Molalla, Oregon Infant Photographer, Baby Photographer}

2010-10-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

There is just something about her that makes you want to pause a moment…
… and just stare into her eyes…
… and wonder what she’s thinkin’.
Ellie is the second daughter (but third child) of our wonderful friends, Brian and Melissa (I’ve mentioned them a few times on here) and Melissa was nice enough to let me practice on her and Ellie. Our other 5 kids combined entertained themselves while we played. I had so much fun during the whole shoot, and straight through processing all of these images (plus about 70 more!) of this adorable face…
(And since I am never able to sit down for a straight stretch to process all the images at once, I now see my inconsistencies in their coloring… ah… *sigh*… the challenges of learning. I am also irritated that I didn’t up my ISO and therefore my shutter-speed, but that’s a whole ‘nother issue… living and learning.)

… anyway, I love this one…

But regardless of my color issues, I look at each individual picture of Ellie…

… and her with her mama…
… and I just see her sweetness.
Thanks for sharing your girl with me for the morning, Meliss and for letting the boys run wild! Now… just to get my camera on little, bitty Gracie. :)

Oh, How They Support Their Mama…

2010-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

I had a pretty amazing weekend… the weather was beautiful, good moods were in abundance, and I had TWO photo-shoots! To be a Stay-at-Home-Mama is to rarely get away… to rarely miss your children and to rarely be missed. So being gone for half of the weekend, on my own, leaving Matt and the boys to fend for themselves, was a big deal. Walking out the door on Saturday with Cooper crying that he’d miss me was a BIG DEAL.

But bigger than anything, was the encouragement and support I received from them … not just about being gone so much just this weekend. That was great… but even more than that, it was like being given a huge push from them, toward my dream as a whole. Toward doing something more with photography. In fact, Matt may very well be more supportive of my photography endeavors than I am! Case in point… I mentioned to him that a support system for my backdrops would be really helpful for the newborn session I was doing on Saturday.

And what does he do, but rally his boys and throw one together…

{I’m bonking myself on the head for not getting a photo of this contraption in action on Saturday, but hopefully soon I’ll be sharing the photos that resulted from its handiness.}

I was absolutely giddy when leaving my shoots this weekend; my head racing with possibilities about the future, from simply the post-processing to how-on-earth can I get my hands on more clients. It was a totally new feeling for me to be so pumped up … if I didn’t know better I’d say it was an adrenalin rush! And that feeling was ONLY possible because I knew that I had my family’s support. I was OVER-joyed by it all.

But let me tell you what… my feelings of joy were multiplied 4-times-over when I was welcomed back home by my 4 guys. What could be better than that…

My First Family Session…

2010-10-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

… was a pretty good effort, but boy did I learn a lot about what to do next time… if there is a next time. :) You may have seen my post on Miss Em’s shoot from a few days ago… from which we rushed to her grandparents’ house to photograph her entire family. Being told you have 15 minutes to photograph said family, in addition to knowing the light was quickly fading and that 3/4 of the group doesn’t particularly like having their picture taken, made me ~~a little~~ totally nervous. But these folks are wonderful and since the goal was to get a shot with everyone in it, I suppose was succeeded.

However, like I said, next time I do a family shoot, I’ll approach it very differently… not as the friend taking a picture, but as a photographer with vision, direction, enthusiasm and more experience. I won’t shy away from giving instruction and will take my time thoughtfully posing the group (if the session warrants it). And I will just have to get over my nerves and maybe sing and dance and be crazy to get a LITTLE smile out of the entire family…

… like, clearly, someone was doing here…

A QUICK SIDE STORY… I thought it was pretty cool that my such a big moment in my (hopeful) photography career should come at the hands of the couple, Don and Julie, who were the FIRST people Matt introduced me to as “his girlfriend”. 9 years ago. He’d just picked me up from the airport and we had to swing by Don and Julie’s on the way home so they could give him instruction on taking care of their dog while they were out-of-town. I’ll never forget how kind this couple was to me; a total stranger dating a young man they’d known forever. They welcomed me then, and have only gotten more wonderful the longer I’ve known them…

I took about TWENTY shots to get one that everyone was looking at the camera, although I LOVE the ones that resulted from mom and dad tickling the kiddos to bring out some smiles, too.

And I insisted on taking these… the only TWO I took of Becky and Ryan…

… and I love this one… Of course, it is fall, so we had to play in the leaves… … and take some with the fall foliage…

Hopefully this won’t be my last family shoot … but if it is, I enjoyed every moment and couldn’t have picked a better group of people to photograph.

And I JUST realized what day it is… so much for Five on Friday… doh!

I Guess It Is Time…

2010-10-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

… to put up the baby-gate. And to thank the Lord for protecting my baby as he made his way, HALF way up the stairs, before I even knew it. This was a first today, and WAY to early in my opinion. But I guess that’s Kaden for ya… he likes to do things earlier than “planned”… And here’s to some brotherly encouragement…

(Cooper wasn’t okay with Kaden stopping to take a rest… )

This boy made it almost all the way to the top, but got distracted by a nail-head that is trying to poke through the wall about 3/4 of the way up… anyway, yes… time for the baby-gates and for me to “get with the program” (as G&C like to say) and always know where Kaden is at all times. What a thought.

I Think I’m Hooked…

2010-10-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I thrilled to be given the chance to do a photo shoot (my FIRST!) for our dear little friend, Emily. She was about to turn 6 and I hoped it would be a nice gift for her (and her Mama) to primp up and take some photos. It was sure a gift to me… Miss Em was the polar-opposite to the “subjects” I am used to shooting (my dirty little boys) so this was PERFECT. She was excited, cooperative (yes, Becky, she was!)

This is a bit picture heavy… because I’m so happy to share! Can you believe the one above and the one below are the same girl?? Talk about a GREAT subject!!

Oh, okay… and the one above and now the one below?? Yup. Same little girl. I don’t know what prompted the below capture, but so many words come to mind when I look at it… dreamy. Gorgeous. Six?? Hardly six…

I DO know what prompted this one… I told her, “Let’s take one for Gage and Cooper…” and this is the pose she gave me…

I shifted position and embraced the challenge of backlighting… my camera was searching for something to catch focus on, and settled on this stalk of hay. I had to acknowledge its effort, and snap the image… turns out I kinda like it… a lot.

The backlighting gives a total different feel to the photo… hazy, dreamy …

Above and below are two different edits of the same photo. I’m still trying to find “my style” and while I typically find myself veering toward clean, classic edits, sometimes, vintage funky ones are in order …

I have SO. many. more. photos of this session, but blogger would surely close my account if I posted them ALL.

So, I’ll leave you with this… our final image of the session…

… but hopefully not our last…

Thanks for the practice, Em (and Becky!)… it was priceless…

Some Entertaining Things I Heard Yesterday…

2010-10-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

1) “Dear Lord Jesus, PLEASE deal with this naughty boy…” says Cooper, while laying his hand on Gage’s shoulder after Gage ‘disobeyed’ Cooper and messed with his muddy-water bucket.

2) “Mama, wanna hear a song and see a dance?” (me – “Of Course!”) … “Okay… Big wheels can do BIG THINGS! Big wheels can do BIG THINGS! (over and over… until…) Big Wheels can do big things… when they are on TRUCKS!” A Cooper Leroy original, and the dance, of toe tapping and hand gestures, went along nicely with the tune. And the hat made it that much better. 3) “It’s hard being little” Cooper actually said this repeatedly, but I’m sure Kaden was thinking it as he watched his big brothers playing outside.

4) “Because I didn’t want to get my clothes dirty…” the response, when I asked Cooper why he was playing in the sand box, and then digging a whole, in only his underwear. I chose not to pick this battle to fight. He had a pretty good point, after-all, even if it was a crisp fall evening…

5) “Dear Lord Jesus, please help me not to do the bad things I do, and to not do the bad things I usually do… and please don’t let Tato get stuck down in the basement where a monster might get him and Daddy would have to rescue him…” Cooper’s bedtime prayer… the ‘bad things’ is repeated every-night, but the basement thing, that was new.

Oh, Cooper.

Have a great Tuesday!

I Don’t Really Know What To Say…

2010-10-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

I mean, what can you say? Really, when you see these pictures? A 3-and a-half-year-old, who puts himself into the baby carrier and waddles around the house… around and around… … not even kidding around. Just totally serious about his journey… …until he finally falls…

And ACTUALLY yells out… ‘MAMA! HELP! I’VE FALLEN AND I CAN’T GET UP!’

Ah. The weeks off to a great start.

Five on Friday

2010-10-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

1. Did you look at catalogs when you were little, in preparation for Christmas or your birthday? I don’t think I did. But thanks to these boys’ Mimi, they do. :) It is only the beginning of October and Gage already knows exactly which Playmobile set he wants. And the benefit of doing this so early is that we have 2 months to prepare him for the fact that he will not receive every. single. set in the catalog. 2. Some dogs bring their owners the newspaper. Others bring their slippers. Mine? Brings me a deer skull. Nice. Bet that’s not something you see everyday. Fortunately, it wasn’t a fresh one.

3. Kaden now has 4 teeth and is still sleeping all night long. Halleluiah.

4. This sweet boy learned how to make his own instant oatmeal the other morning. He can also get Kaden out of his crib and provide him with Cheerios… I wonder if I now have permission to sleep in and have them fend for themselves? No. I know. I’m kidding… kind of.

5. Those scratches on his fore-head? In a word: Cooper. Gosh, Déjà Vu. Did I already explain those scratches in another post? Anyway, amidst their struggles to sometimes get along, the other night we had a moment that made me tear up and hug them a little tighter. We were reading a bed-time story when Cooper quickly got up from my lap to go do something else (he’s easily distracted). So, Gage seized the opportunity and slid himself onto my lap for a snuggle, which resulted in Cooper throwing a fit. Thoughtfully, Gage slid back onto the floor and encouraged Cooper to sit back down with me because he’d “rather Cooper be happy than himself”. And we proceeded to read the rest of the story with Cooper’s arm draped around Gage’s shoulders. Oh, how I live for those moments!

Happy Friday!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

2010-10-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Just when I was cozying up to the idea that Fall was here, we’ve gotten an influx of 70+ degree days. So much for slow-cookin’ this week… its back to the barbeque for a few more days.

However, before the hot weather started I got in one meal of good-‘ol comfort food. Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. I found this recipe on Becky Higgins’ blog, so again, I totally can’t take credit for its goodness, but I will take credit for passing it on to you! :) And I have tweaked it to add a bit more broth – when I first made this recipe it was more like a soupy casserole. Oh, and I ALWAYS double this recipe. We couldn’t handle it any other way, and leaving half of a soup can in the fridge is just silly. Ready? Enjoy…

Ingredients

2 chicken bouillon cubes (or 2 tsp. granules)

2 cans chicken broth (or about 4 cups)

1 c. chopped carrots (I usually just do 4 large ones)

2 c. chopped celery (I usually just do 4 large stalks)

1/2 can cream of chicken soup

1/4 c. milk

1/2 cube (4tbsp) butter

1/4 c. flour

2 c. chopped cooked chicken (2 breasts)

4-6 oz. egg noodles

Directions

Boil chicken until fully cooked, remove but SAVE THIS WATER. In Dutch oven dissolve 2 bouillon cubes in 1 cup boiling water. Add chicken broth and vegetables to the liquid until tender. Meanwhile, cook noodles in the water that they chicken was boiled in (adding more if necessary). In separate bowl, whisk a half a can of cream of chicken soup and milk until smooth. Whisk soup and milk mixture into broth and vegetables. Melt butter then stir into flour. Add to soup mixture. Add chicken and noodles. Season with a little salt and pepper and we love to add garlic powder, too.

This soup kind of freezes funny, so its best if you either make this recipe as is, or double it, as I mentioned, and eat it for dinner and lunch for two days straight.

(And buttery biscuits are kind of a must-have-side for this soup!)

Sarah + Jon + Wedding = AMAZINGLY Fun Night-Out

2010-10-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Matt and I just attended, what we think will be our last “Friend Wedding”. In our 7 and a half years of marriage we’ve attended quite a few and it feels weird to know that this season of our life is coming to a close… and let me tell ya, Sarah and Jon’s wedding and reception this past Saturday sent us out with a bang. I attended college at WSU with Sarah, where we were sorority sisters and often classmates, as we shared our major of Communication. Sarah is an easy person to adore – she is cheerful, quirky, and entertaining to be around. I remember many times when we would ‘ponder’ goofy things, discuss feeding squirrels, and laugh till our cheeks hurt. Anyway, she is VERY organized and VERY detail-oriented … thus, planned a wedding that was nothing less than PERFECTION.

I feel like I should note, that this was the first time Matt and I had been ‘out’ together, without kids, in a very. long. time. Okay, onward.

My phone’s little navigation lady easily directed us to the wedding location, where we were so gladly welcomed by another wonderful college friend, Alicia and her husband, Reggie. We joined up with my other ‘sorority girls’, Dana and Kari, Kari’s husband, Ryan, and Tiff’s husband, Nik (Tiff was in the wedding… see her down there, standing by Sarah?? ).

After the wedding ceremony (during which I was very entertained by the team of photographers), we were served drinks and appetizers during cocktail hour and the hall was magically transformed into the reception area. Having bit-sized pieces of deliciousness was a first for us…

(Nice picture, taken by Matt of Dana, Kari, Alicia and me, aided by the beautiful natural light filtering in through the huge window behind him)

… and it was also the first reception I’ve attended at which I was allowed to pick my entre (which was steak!) and that our table’s server removed the unused utensils after their ‘course’ was completed. We had assigned seats (another first) which were carefully organized and separated into professional football teams (we were the New York Giants). Remember, I said Sarah was detail-oriented! Between salads, drinks, and wonderful food, we visited, caught caught up, laughed a lot and planned a trip to Mexico to celebrate our upcoming 30th birthdays… productive evening, to say the least!

(and it got darker, and therefore harder to take photos, but I was determined! And I actually love this one of Dana…)

I sat there, at the table, thoroughly enjoying myself while still having one hand on 2 phones (mine and Dana’s) incase my mom called with a problem with the boys. But alas, at 8:00pm the amazing woman called and said all the boys were sleeping… and at that point, I relaxed a little bit more and welcomed another glass of wine.

(… caught the photographer’s flash as I was trying to capture Sarah and Jon at the head ‘Seahawks Table’…)As if the meal and prime treatment was enough, we were entertained by traditional Chinese Dragon dancers (not sure if that is the technical name for them)… yet another ‘wedding first’.

I am pretty sure Matt took this one …

When the food was cleared and we were left with drinks and dancing, more visiting ensued for Matt, Reggie, Ryan, and Nik outside over beer and cigars… and what did they talk about? The Law (Ryan is a lawyer) and discrimination and liability suits. Fun. But I did get to pick Ryan’s brain about starting a business, so that was fun for me. :)

And this will tell you just what a blast this wedding reception was…

(check out the guy in the back! and I was still refusing to turn on my flash…)

We (Um, Matt) danced the night away and we closed down the place. In the end we did the DG dance to Sweet Home Alabama, embarrassed ourselves by reciting every word to ‘Baby Got Back’, kissed the air with Prince, snuggled up for a few slow-dances, and capped it off with Matt’s seal of approval for a GOOD TIME… the splits. He did the splits. Popped up and the rest was a blur for me because I was laughing too hard. Oh, man… how I love my husband.

But then he violated my camera by switching it to Auto and using the flash… for the first time…

Oh well. The memory is captured and that’s what matters… red-eye, shiny cheekbones, and all.

This was the fancy-pansiest night out we’ve possibly ever had and it was SUCH a blessing to share it with these girls…

And congratulations to Sarah and Jon… thank you for the amazing night!

One Thing We Did Not Do Enough

2010-10-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

… this summer was roast marshmallows. I think we only did it 3 times… All Summer! How does this happen. But I suppose it isn’t something that has to be restricted to warm-weather-days… after-all, we are sitting by a fire. And Kaden got his first taste of graham-cracker (and his last, for quite a while)…So maybe in a few months I’ll have pictures of us roasting marshmallows in the snow. That makes so much more sense.

(This one has nothing to do with the marshmallow… except that his face is just about as sweet as one! Its pretty blurry (seems like most of my pictures are these days) but I love it just the same.)

I hope you are having a great day!

A Fall Play-date = Playing in the Leaves

2010-10-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

At our house we are surrounded by fir trees. The few maples we have drop their leaves into the hay field and are quickly dispersed by the wind. So, playing in the leaves on a beautiful Fall day was a special treat for our boys … especially because they were among such fun friends…

Below is Julie… she is Miss Em’s (whom I mentioned here) grandma and she is so great… a dear, generous woman who loves each of these kiddos like they could be her own grandbabies. She and her husband, Don, open their home to our friends time and again and their hospitality is remarkable…

Besides playing in the leaves, the gator got lots of use, around and around the yard, full of kids. Eventually it ran out of “gas” (but not before I heard one of the curly-haired kiddos in the front tell the other that they won’t marry them unless they do what they are told… hmm… my lips are sealed when it comes to WHICH curly-haired-kiddo it was… )

I LOVE these shots…

Another set of amazing grandparents stopped by, too… Bill and Karen… two individuals whom I have gained so much insight from, into so many things. I adore them, and was so happy to visit with them again. Karen is my wonderful friend, Kari’s, mom, and sweet little Heidi’s grandmother (though she and her brother, Dutch, call her ‘Oma’! Love that!)

As we transition out of summer and into cold and flu season, I know these play-dates will once again become scarce. But they will be worth the wait when the good weather rolls around, once again.

Five on Friday

2010-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

1. I got my hair cut this week and um, hello, short. It is to my chin and I’m trying to get a grip on it. But that’s hard when I can’t even put it in a pony-tail…

2. Kaden turned 9-months-old last Friday and had his check-up a few days go… he now weighs 19 pounds 11 ounces, has 3 teeth and is everywhere. He’s in the 40th percentile for both weight and height, which is SMALL for my babies! But if we’re comparing him to his brothers, he is beyond where they were at this point in several developmental categories.

3. I did a photo-shoot last night for the little girl Gage says he’s going to marry… Miss Em. She’s turning 6 today and we wish her a VERY happy birthday… here’s a sneak peek at one of the images…

4. After I did Miss Em’s photos, we raced down to her grandparents’ house and took some photos of her entire family… let’s just say, I learned A LOT. And am praying I got some images they will like! I came home with such an adrenalin rush from the evening that my eyes felt like they could shut forever, but my mind wouldn’t stop racing. I guess that means I enjoyed myself…

5. My boy Cooper hit his head REALLY hard the other night while playing in his room and we had our first head-gushing blood situation. I was on the phone, at the time, planning the above photo-shoot when I heard it happen. Then I heard Matt saying, “Gage, tell your mom to get off the phone.” Not good. Matt stayed so calm, that Cooper never even knew he was bleeding. Bag of frozen veggies applied, hair washed in the sink “salon style” and Coop was good to go. I asked him lots of questions, watched his pupils and prayed over him, a lot. I knew he was fine when I asked how old he is and he told me ‘Five’. He always tells me his ‘Five’.

… it is by the Lord’s hand that we have not had to go to the ER yet with one of these boys…

Happy Friday!

Taco Soup

2010-09-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

For some people, the onset of fall means going back to school… for most it means the changing of leaves… for me, it means re-introducing slow cooking to my kitchen. It actually excites me to be able to say good-bye to the ‘light’ meals of the previous months; the meals that we are stuck with during summer because it is either too hot and our bodies can’t handle the weight of rich foods or because it is too hot in the house for slow-cooking usually required for hearty dishes. I love a meal that can be put together in-advance and left on the stove to seep together flavors and all the while, filling our house with aroma…

One of our favorites that falls into this category is Taco Soup. I completely, can not take credit for this recipe… it is ALL Paula Deen. And this recipe is so easy, that if you have a pot, a stir stick and a can-opener, you can handle it. Quickly, too, because it is a dump-and-go soup … dump the ingredients in and go rest for an hour till it is done (or clean up the messes in the kitchen that have accumulated all day).

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef

2 cups diced onions

2 cans pinto beans (include liquid)

1 can pink kidney beans (include liquid)

1 can corn, drained

1 can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomatoes with chilies

1 7oz can diced green chilies

1 4.6oz can sliced black olives, drained

1 package taco seasoning mix

1 package ranch salad dressing mix

corn chips, cheese, sour cream, avocados for garnish

Directions

Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet, drain the excess fat then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large pot (I actually do it all in the big pot). Add remaining ingredients, mix together and simmer over low heat for about an hour on the stove, or in a large crock pot for about 6 hours.

I channel back to my days of Seattle Summer Swim League and the yummy Frito-ban Ditos they’d sell at the swim meets, and eat my soup OVER the corn chips, topped with cheese and sour cream… and avocados if I’m lucky!

An Eye-Opening, Re-affirming Experience…

2010-09-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever met someone that is so talented, passionate, energetic, and beautiful that you’re left feeling a bit… lacking? And on top of that they are incredibly nice AND Christian, so it makes feeling anything but inspired by them just wrong?

Enter Andria. She’s a photographer out of Seattle and when my cousin Lindsay was selected to receive a photo-shoot done by Andria, I hesitated not a second, before asking if I could come along to observe. In the photography world, allowing an outsider on a shoot is not common-place, but then again, Andria isn’t your common photographer. I thought I’d be at the heals of a long-seasoned pro… she’s 23 and has been doing this for a year. The more I mull that over in my head I am, again, feeling lacking.

The shoot happened a few weeks ago and I watched, mostly silently, grabbing Lindsay an outfit here and there, but for the most part just trying to stay-out of the way and not hinder their groove. I took a few shots of Andria shooting and I regret not getting the one of her laying down on the floor in this coffee-shop… but at least now, I know, that it is okay to lay on the floor of a coffee-shop to get the shot.

As I observed I watched the light, the interaction between Lindsay and her fiancé, Josh, and of course, Andria’s roll in it all. She wasn’t only “taking pictures” she was giggling, encouraging, instructing, and relating. She puts it perfectly in her blog… she gave them an ‘experience’. I kept thinking, ‘Oh, I hope she got that expression… or that squeeze… or that side glance…or that giggle’ and now that I’ve seen some of their photos on her blog I am pretty sure she never took her finger off of the shutter-button! Because it wasn’t only the ‘poses’ that she photographed, she captured the in between moments that are often times the best.

As much as I wanted to be totally into and consumed by the experience, my heart-strings were being pulled each time I thought about my boys, who were at Grammie’s house, giving her a run for her money. The shoot went until after 8pm and I knew I was asking A LOT of my mom and the boys to allow me this opportunity. At the time, (remember, AT THE TIME) I was thinking that even if I WAS feeling ready to start portfolio building, I couldn’t because it was too hard to be away from my kids for that long…

But fast-forward a few weeks and now I’m feeling restless. Restless with JUST doing this… motherhood. I am not saying I want to give anything UP… I don’t want to hand my kids over to anyone else. But all of these thoughts are coming at a time when respect from the wee-ones up to their mama and daddy is wavering. We have numerous challenges throughout the day with Gage and Cooper being too rough with each other, being selfish, sassy, overly emotional and ornery. I can manage this. I HAVE to because it is my responsibility and I LOVE them… they are my number one responsibility… but doing it day after day after day, makes me feel, again, LACKING. I am longing for an outlet… just a little something else in addition to motherhood.

I think back on how my head raced with possibilities during this shoot. And I think, too, about the freedom and energy Andria seemed to ooze… two things I have in very short supply. I’m typically not a jealous person – the Lord tells us not to covet and in general, I feel very content with my life. But I can’t help but long for a snippet of that freedom and energy and I’m praying that someday I can have that from photography…

Anyway, observing this shoot was eye-opening and it re-affirmed many things I know to be true about life and photography… I saw how critical the interaction is between photographer and her subjects. I saw how important it is for the subjects to feel comfortable and to just be natural. I saw how beneficial it can be to shoot a lot of frames. I saw how important it is to for a photographer to know their style and for clients to, thus, pick accordingly. I saw how critical good lighting is to my style of photography, but for others no light can make for some pretty artsy stuff! But even among these lessons, the two best BEST things I saw because of this photo-shoot were: the love between Lindsay and Josh… and the look of love on Kaden’s face when I walked through the door.

After-all, LOVE is what its all about.

To see Lindsay’s beauty, to see her Love for Josh, and to see Andria’s artsy, unique style, go HERE… and HERE… and HERE…

What Did I Do This Weekend??

2010-09-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I filled you in on the productivity of my husband… for the life of me, I can’t think of what I spent my days doing that was productive. But I can tell you what I spent my nights doing… sleeping! For the first time in 9 months, I spent my nights SLEEPING, rather than traveling up and down the stairs every 2-3 hours to nurse Kaden. How did this happen? Let me tell you…

He cried it out.

I was going to put this off until after our next trip to Seattle, but the opportunity presented itself and we went with it.

Thursday night, I was playing in my scrapbook room and Matt came in around 8:15 and asked “How long has Kaden been crying?” I gasped… what? I hadn’t even heard him! We knew he was well-fed (he’d only gone down about a half-hour before) so, Matt encouraged me to stay-put and we’d just see what he’d do. (Which is interesting, because this is so similar to how it went down with Cooper 3 years ago, when we made him cry it out… it started at 8:30 one evening, and by Matt’s insistence…) About a half-hour later, he stopped crying with NO intervention from us.

We knew he could do it. And the time felt right. So, when he woke again at 10:30, when I’d just gotten into bed, I listened to him cry. Again for about half-an-hour. Surprisingly, I didn’t cry myself… I knew he was okay. I heard him again around 4:30 but that only lasted about 5 minutes. And then I raced into his room at 8:30am when he finally, HAPPILY called for me. I couldn’t get him to nurse fast enough. Let me tell ya… going from nursing every 3 hours to suddenly having a 13-hour stretch!! What?? I didn’t realize it was that long until I typed it… crazy. Anyway, I was FULL and a hurtin’ unit.

The next night was even better, and last night, I heard him let out a cry at 8:30 and then not another peep until 6am. So, now, he’s going 11 hours, straight! Last week at this time, I was up every-other-hour with him!

I’m not sure, yet, if he’s a happier baby during the day. Which does bring me to realize what I did during my weekend DAYS. I nursed. ALOT. And saw this… A LOT. Kaden was seriously making up for lost time. Where-ever I was, there HE was, at my feet, either just sitting or pulling up on my legs. And whenever my arms weren’t busy, I was holding him.

Which was fine by me… because I may have been going through a little Mama/Kaden-time withdrawal myself and if it is possible, I think I find him even more precious than I did 4 days ago! :)

What Did You Do This Weekend? My Husband Was BUSY…

2010-09-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Matt got started working really hard this weekend on fixing the railing on our front porch, which had begun rotting about a day after we moved into our house. 5 years ago.

Seriously, he did some mighty fine craftsmanship and built us a railing that’ll last (and is low enough that it doesn’t block my view of the field!)…

And in between some hunts, he fulfilled Gage’s plea by helping him build a boat… (sorry these pictures are a bit wonky… I’d SO hoped that this template would work wonders at condensing my photo quantity, but in doing so, if for some reason really reduces the quality of the images…)

And since it was Friday and during ‘school time’, Matt took the opportunity to be Teacher-for-The-Day and turned it into math and woodworking education. It MADE Gage’s day… and made Daddy a hero.

And then on Saturday, he harvested some blackberries … with his little helper in tow.

And we made our way to the pond to set the boat-a-float…

(Just seconds after I snapped the above photo of Gage, we watched Cooper racing after him, wind in his hair, shouting after Gage, “Doot Doo! I have to tell you something about GYPSIES!” WHAT?? And then BOOM… he tripped and tumbled into a ball, totally biting it. I braced myself for the tears but as quickly as he’d hit the ground he was up and running again. I laughed until there were tears in my eyes!)

Back to the boat…

Once it launched, Gage was immediately concerned about how it would make its way back to the shore. No worries, when you have a waterdog…

… or a tape measure. Again, for the second time this weekend, Dad was a hero.

These boys finished up their weekend by going for a ‘man hunt’. Evidently Gage took it WAY too seriously and scolded Bosley time and again for scaring away the animals (should we tell him he wasn’t actually hunting??) But, again, for the third time this weekend, Matt was their hero.

Matt also bottled his most recent batch of homebrew (beer), but I didn’t take any photos of that because I was in my room working on these pictures and this post… I’m not sure what I think of the processing on these images… I was going for an antiquey look, but I think they came out looking more dirty. I don’t think this is my ‘style’ but I’m going to go with them anyway…

And I have big news tomorrow about what I did this weekend (much in thanks, also, to Matt), and it has to do with this little guy…

…stay tuned!

Five on Friday…

2010-09-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

I think I’m going to start doing this regularly… each Friday sharing five random things that have been on my mind, but that haven’t made it into their own individual blog post. Or maybe they have and I have something new to add… or maybe its a little thought that will later be expanded on in a later post. Plus, probably some pictures that I like, but haven’t shared yet…

I have no problem admitting that I got this idea from Erin Cobb’s blog, but hers is Ten on Tuesday. I’m just not sure I can come up with 10 random things, so I’ll start modestly at five…

1) I posted yesterday about Kaden getting stuck places in our ever-growing-more-cluttered-by-the-day-house, but sometimes, he CHOSES to get stuck. Like here… … he didn’t want to be IN the excersaucer, but immediately when I let him out, he climbed under it and was content for awhile, but soon regretted the tight quarters.

2. Did you watch Modern Family on Wednesday night? So. Funny. and it is one of the 2 weeknight shows we are committed to watching. I’m a little anxious for the show, now, though, since they won Best Comedy at the Emmy’s. The Office (our other favorite) went down hill after they did (and after their writers quit) because they may feel the pressure now to keep up the funnies. If the first episode of this new season is any indication, though, I think they are going to be just fine.

3. Below you see a few examples of how I had to exercise my new attempt at HOW to get a picture of my boys actually looking at me and smiling nicely… funny-face picture, first…

… then supposedly a nice-smiling picture… but Cooper looks like he smelled something really bad.

4. Did you know that even though potatoes (like apples) can be stored in a cool, dark place for a long time, ONE BAD POTATO CAN QUICKLY RUIN THE WHOLE BATCH. I learned this the hard way, and inquired in the Safeway produce department about it. Sure enough, because they are so sugary, if one of the potatoes in the bag has a slight ‘problem’ it will ooz and mold and soon the rest will follow suit. And to quote both the produce guy and my unsuspecting-husband, “IT SMELLS LIKE DEATH.” So check your ‘tatoes before you store them…

5. Speaking of ‘tatoes… this little tater-tot is still giving me heck in the sleep department. He doesn’t know it yet, but the countdown has begun till we make him ‘Cry It Out’. When we get back from our next trip to Seattle, its game on. By then he’ll be 9 months old and will have had his check-up and if he’s healthy and I get his pediatricians go ahead (for the 3rd time) I WiLL go with this method. Last night I was up with him every other hour until I finally brought him into bed with me at 4:30am. And then proceeded to wake up with him, still, every hour or so when he’d wake with a startled cry. Finally, at 7am, I woke up to him sucking on my face, as happy as could be.

Have a GREAT weekend!

The New ‘White Glove’

2010-09-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Nothing… not even the notorious white glove… lets you know how, um, messy? Un-kept? your house is until you have a crawling baby. Suddenly, you’re on a mad-dash to pick up everything and that just makes you realize just how much there actually is to pick up. Because everything is fair game in this baby’s book… the socks Daddy took off last night and left by the couch. The crispy, dried spaghetti noodle that fell from big brother’s fork last night at dinner. The (thankfully unplugged) hairdryer cord that dangles from Mama’s bathroom counter. Whatever he can crawl to, is fair game to go into the mouth.

Since Kaden started crawling I have fished so many unfortunate things out of his mouth, that I don’t even know where to begin. Earplugs, leggos, wrappers, lint, food crumbles, playdough (new/soft and old/hard), fir needles, paper (lots and lots of paper), toy car wheels, rocks, grass … the list goes on and on. And surprisingly, I’ve only noticed that one thing actually got swallowed… and that was a piece of pea-gravel. In addition to what his sticky little fingers find to put into his mouth, there is all the stuff around the house he his having to maneuver around and over – another indication that our house is cluttered. I find him high-centered while attempting to crawl over mounds of toys. I find him pinned in a corner because he can’t find his way around all the baby this’s and that’s. I find him stuck under chairs because, well, he gets himself stuck. That’s kind of his own fault.

I need to go through this house, on my hands and knees, and clean. Because if it is there on the floor, this boy will find it. Clear plastic wrapper or not.

And I know, these pictures don’t seemingly have anything to do with this subject matter… but on the contrary.

After taking them, I realized just how dusty my hardwood floor was… Kaden’s green knees were then grey. Oiy.

From This Weekend…

2010-09-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

The boys and I were back up in Seattle again this past weekend – mostly for a girlfriend’s bachelorette party but of course for some family time, as well. I have to state it here, that Grammie took care of these boys for 5 and a half hours and successfully put all of them to bed by herself. This is amazing to me considering nursing is still a crutch for ni-night time. I guess they may just love their Grammie a little more than me…

(This isn’t the most flattering picture of Kaden, but it shows his two little crooked teeth, so I thought I’d share…)

Grammie wasn’t the only recipient of Kaden’s adoration… he found himself a new friend…

A little family gathering fell into our laps on Sunday and as the boys put it “It’s like CHRISTMAS!” and it kind of was. Minus the little bit of stress, huge meal, and cold weather. It was so great because I was TOO busy visiting to even take pictures. Relaxing and visiting. Until I was packing up the kiddos and found this delightful little scene which begged for my camera to emerge…

Cooper and his cousin, Lilly, were completely transfixed on none-other-than Dora the Explorer. Coop’s never laid eyes on her before, and likely will never again. But the lighting was great and I often find that kids who are mesmerized by the TV are easy subjects to photograph.

Pretty Little Lilly-bean…

…bless her heart for wanting her picture taken…

… so, okay… I’ll oblige…

I’d get nothing done if this were my kid… I’d just stare at her eyes, all. day. long.

And then there is Lilly’s little sister, Sarah. What a doll-baby. And with some tough tootsies, too…

I was supposed to be getting the boys into the car for our 3.5-hour drive home, but I just couldn’t stop following this one around all the cars, snapping photos as we went…

Until her Grammie ushered her back to softer ground and gave me no choice but to start our drive south.

It never ceases to amaze me how much I love this family and how incredibly much I miss them when we’re apart.

Oktoberfest and Molalla-hosen

2010-09-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Every year… year after year… we look forward to our 15-minute drive to Germany… okay, to Mt. Angel. To celebrate Oktoberfest, AKA: O-fest.

The Mt. Angel version of the historical harvest festival started back in 1966 and is now celebrated each September. Why September? Because “Oktoberfest” is a generic word meaning ‘Harvest Celebration’ and in these parts, its celebrated around the time of the hops being harvested. But even in Munich most Harvest festivals are in September, too.

Mt. Angel itself was settled in the 1800s by German pioneers, so the small town-community honors its roots by closing its main streets and welcoming thousands to enjoy a variety of ethnic foods, music, traditional Biergarten, Weingarten and Alpinegarten, and traditional Bavarian-attire (Trachten)… lederhosen and bavarian dresses are in abundance. I think those involved in the planning of the festival have to wear the appropriate clothing, but I’m not sure of the motivation for all the rest…

Speaking of the attire, we saw some family friends while we perused the streets and they acknowledged the boys’ Carhartt clad-selves… Matt said, “Yup, they’re wearing their Molalla-hosen!” Clever, clever husband.

Anyway, we headed into O-Fest for lunch on their opening day (which is always the second Thursday after Labor Day) and had to go right to the hand-made Corn-dogs. That begs the question… is all the food sold at O-Fest traditional Bavarian cuisine? I don’t think so, but I do think that inside this delicious corn-dog wasn’t just any old hotdog. Authentically inspired O-fest sausage, perhaps?? Either way, the boys love them.

As my little ducklings followed their daddy through the crowded streets, I was quickly reminded of how rarely these boys see this many people at once. Kaden never made a sound he was so overwhelmed. And Gage and Cooper became totally introverted and consumed by their corn-dogs. So much so, that they failed to notice all the people surrounding them and consequently ran into numerous passer-byers.

And then they became even more unaware of their surroundings when I introduced a slushy-like strawberry-lemonade. These two, and the lemonade, were in their own little world.

And it didn’t take long for me to venture into my own little world… little piece of heaven that is… when I weaved my way through the crowd to the Berliner stand. Again, I don’t know how ‘German’ this sandwich is other than the fact it is made on “German Rye Bread,” but I don’t really care. It is SO. SO. good.

At 1pm, as it does everyday (as well as at 11, 4 and 7) the Glockenspiel, played. According to their website the Glockenspiel “celebrates Mount Angel’s rich history, Germanic culture and …world famous Oktoberfest.” And when it plays, everyone stops (except for those two guys in the picture below) and if you move and don’t honor the Glockenspiel’s performance, it is almost as if you’re getting up and leaving church during a prayer. Not really, but kind of.

So, we stood and paid our respects…

… and then walked onward in pursuit of Matt’s Rueben. Another O-Fest favorite.

Back in the day (when Matt first started attending), O-Fest meant fun in the Biergarten. Friends, stickers, beer.

Now it means stuffing our faces with delicious food as quickly as possible before we loose one of our chittlins in the crowd.

But O-fest will ALWAYS mean a good-German-inspired-time.

(Lederhosen are not required.)

Lashes… Just One Small Detail…

2010-09-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

I believe that using photography to capture small details of a person is just as important as using it to capture moments in time. And lately, I’ve been inspired by other photographers to really embrace this belief.

One small detail of Kaden’s that I’ve had yet to highlight in photographs is his eyelashes… …they’ve been Cocker-Spaniel-long since he was a bitty baby, but they are so blonde that it is very difficult to actually SEE them in a picture.

And until I converted these to black and white his lashes disappeared into his creamy skin…

Here’s to noticing, embracing, and capturing the small little details of life.

Nettie’s Chicken Enchiladas…

2010-09-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry this isn’t a very appetizing picture. The truth is, when the piping hot baking dish of creamy, oozy, goozy Chicken Enchiladas came out of the oven, the last thing I was thinking about was taking a picture for blogging’s sake. I was thinking: Get. In. My. Belly.

So this picture is actually from the next day, when I had it for lunch. Or was it the next day when I had it again for dinner? Dunno.

Anyway, I got this recipe from my girl, Melissa, who got it from her sister-in-law, Nettie. I’ve tweaked it a bit, so maybe I could call it my own recipe now… but I won’t. It’ll always be Nettie’s Chicken Enchilada recipe. And this is one my kids love. I feel so confidently that you’ll love it, too, that I’d say go ahead and invite friends over to share it with you – even before you try it yourself!

Ingredients

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

1 large onion

1 can green chilies

1 8 oz. package cream cheese

1/2 tsp each: cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk, divided 1/4 c and 1/2 c.

1 small can of green enchilada sauce

1 8 oz container of sour cream

1 package flour tortillas

1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated (or more)

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated (ore more)

Directions

Boil chicken for 10 minutes or until done. Chop chicken. Sauté onion or microwave with some butter for about 2 minutes until soft. Mix softened cream cheese, seasonings and 1/4 cup milk in large bowl. Add sautéed onion, green chilies, and chicken to cream cheese mixture. Fill tortillas, roll um up, and put into a sprayed 9x13 inch pan. In another large bowl, mix sour cream, 1/2 cup milk, and enchilada sauce. Pour over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheeses. pour over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake @ 325 for 25 minutes.

Yum.

Preparing to Feed These Boys…

2010-09-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

I read awhile back on a friend of mine’s blog, that it is her budget to spend only $200 a month on groceries. And she MANAGES to do it! She feeds herself, her husband, 3 year-old son and 1.5 year-old daughter for that minimal amount… and it made me almost choke on my monthly grocery bill. Part of her strategy is doing most of her shopping for the month in one monthly trip to Winco. Perishables obviously need to be replenished throughout the month, but for the most part, it happens all in advance, in one trip.

I do plan out our meals, per week, and shop accordingly. Living as far as we do from the grocery store, it isn’t opportune to just jet over there if I am missing an ingredient or have nothing to make for dinner. So I have to plan it out (although I have been known to ‘borrow’ an ingredient or two from neighbors) and thought I was doing pretty good about my planning until reading Kari’s blog regarding the matter. I could be doing better. But these gremlins eat a lot. After they finish a meal, they help finish mine. Then within a half-hour, they are asking for more. So, it isn’t my goal to narrow our grocery budget down to a couple Benjamins, because they EAT constantly throughout the day. And because I love to cook . I love to make things from scratch and experiment and have good steaks and shrimp every once in a while. I love dishes with depth and depth of ingredients usually costs a bit more to make.

SO. What could I do to try to trim back on that ever growing Safeway receipt? Buy more in bulk… and FREEZE it. The key to buying in bulk, be it from Costco or Winco, is to look at the price per ounce and make sure it is actually cheaper, and to only buy things that you’ll actually USE. Sure, lettuce may be cheaper if you buy 4 heads for $2 at Costco, but will you USE all of that?

Anyway, not only have I found that buying in bulk is cheaper, by freezing it, I have to SHOP less. Halleluiah. My kiddos are fortunately pretty good companions at the store, but I’d never chose to go grocery shopping more often than necessary.

So, per advice from my sister-in-law on freezing things I’d never thought about freezing, I set forth on our most recent trip to Costco with staking up on my mind. Here’s a few of the things that made it into our cart:

Peppers (I use them A LOT and sliced them up, froze um and they’re ready to go).

10 pounds of Gold Potatoes: peeled, cubed and boiled um till just tender, laid on a sprayed cookie sheet and froze. Then transferred them to bags. eHow told me how.

Cheese. Did you know you can freeze cheese?? My mom warned me that the cheese may not be the same post-freeze, but I found out today that it as as good as fresh! And when you purchase this 5 pound block of Tillamook cheese, $2 a pound is a pretty sweet deal… and the slices are perfect for a grilled cheese sandwich.

… and we use a lot of Mozzarella and parmesan cheese… CAN’T beat the price at Costco.

I also bought overloads of peanut butter, chicken, frozen broccoli and peas, oatmeal, tomato paste and sauce, bacon, noodles, flour, sugar, rice, Cheerios, bread, butter, tortillas, garlic, onions… plus the regular amount of apples, pears, bananas, eggs, milk, and creamer… and of course diapers and Pull-ups. And then some. I wished I could have gotten toilet paper and paper towels, but quite simply, there wasn’t enough room.

With Gage and Cooper sitting in the cart, and Kaden in the front pack, I looked like a circus on wheels. I could barely push the cart and cannot TELL you how many people looked at me sympathetically and said “Looks like you’ve got your hands full… ” (if I had a dollar for each time I heard that, my Costco bill would have been free…)

Anyway, this is totally just a start – a step toward having more food options on hand and spending a little less.

Next on my agenda is to figure out what snacks and meals actually FILL these boys up – because during the day my feet barely leave the kitchen floor and our cupboards and fridge might as well have revolving doors.

I get a pit in my stomach when I realize that its only going to get worse – all three of them are still pint size.

I can’t even imagine what we’ll be facing in 10 years.

We should buy stock in Costco right now…