{My Boys}

Wednesday morning our power was out due to work in our neighbor hood for 2 hours. I was bored and needed something to do that didn't require electricity. These photos of my boys are a result of a few minutes of watching them and capturing their play. Yesterday, I posted a series of photos of our son Brayden putting a puzzle together... you can see that here if you missed that post.

This book really captured his attention for quite awhile...

Awwww... He looks like a little man reading... makes me think of a cute photo shoot idea of a little boy/ girl with glasses placed at the end of their nose reading a large book... wouldn't that be adorable???

"See my truck Mommy?!"

The next few pictures tell a story... the one below is of Rigan playing quietly with his toy...

Then Brayden comes along and takes it away... notice the scowling look on his face!

Then he decides the only way to get his toy back is to cry out for Mommy's help. I love his little scrunched up face... it's cute and sad at the same time!

"See my toy Mommy??"

This is what I got when I asked him to make a funny face! I just love his eyes in this photo, crystal clear, deep brown and round. And for you photographers out there who know the difference... no, they were not photoshoped!

And because he does EVERYTHING his older brother does... here's Rigan's funny face!

Happy Friday!

Telling a story...

Yesterday morning our power was out. As a stay-at-home-mom almost everything I do through out the day uses electricity! The obvious things are the TV and computer... but it's when the power is out for a length of time do you really realize how dependant our society is on electricity! Just about everything I thought about doing while we were without power... NEEDED electricity! I even thought about making a craft that I've been wanting to do... got out all the supplies and realized I needed the hot glue gun! So, instead I decided to get out the camera and play around. My two youngest boys were playing so nice and quietly by the window... they became my subjects. The impromptu session only lasted a few minutes but what I captured in that time was priceless (well to me, their mommy, it is)!

This story begins with a little boy who loves to put together puzzles...

He just sits quietly, contemplating and piecing one by one...

Getting more and more proud of himself as he places a piece correctly...

From every angle his mom photographs him. He pays no attention to her.

His 4 year old hands coordinating beautifully together...

Until the final piece is set in place...

He did it! He's so proud of himself! UNTIL....

His puzzle fell apart...

The look of disappointment and despair made his mothers heart sad for her son.

She suggested to him that by it falling apart it gave him the opportunity to put it together again!

He gladly went back to work at completing the puzzle for a 2nd time... and everyone lived happily ever after... especially once the power came back on!

The C Family ~ Part 1

It's been W.A.Y. too long since I updated my blog! The last 2 months have been sooooo busy with the kids going back to school, BIRTHDAYS and just getting our lives back on a schedule. I get a lot more accomplished when I follow a schedule but the "extra" things (like this blog) get pushed aside... I don't like it! So I decided today I'm going to make more time to do these "extra" things because they are what I enjoy doing, encourage my hobby/ business and I'm proud of my talents and gifts and want to show them off :))

Here's a few pictures from the "C" Family session I did last month... they were sooooooo easy to photograph... they are just beautiful people and that reflects in their photos! We started with their family photos in an almond orchard about 5 miles out of town and then moved to an open field just a couple minutes down the road to get the couple shots... those I will post seperately...

I L.O.V.E. her smile in this one...

Check back tomorrow for "Part 2"!



Our new puppy... MAX!

This sweet little guy came running up to our house about 3 weeks ago. He was obviously lost because he had no tag or collar on. So me and the kids walked up and down our street asking neighbors if they had seen him or knew where he belonged, no one did. We decided to put him in our backyard and just hold on to him to see if anyone came looking for him. By later that evening I started to get worried because no one came. We decided to allow him to stay the night and continue to look for his family the next day.

We put up signs all over our subdivision and on prominent street corners, we took him to the local vet to see if he had been chipped (which he wasn't), I looked on Craigs list and our local newspaper under lost & found and called the pound to see if anyone had reported a lost dog... all to no avail.

Since we've been unable to locate his owners we decided to keep him. Our dog Piggy, a 14 year old black pug, is showing real signs that she will not be with us much longer... knowing this will be hard on the kids, my husband and I think that having another dog will help with their grief. Even though we weren't looking at the time for a new dog, this little guy is just perfect for our family and we couldn't be happier that he found us!

He is just so sweet, great with the kids, very playful (which our dog Piggy hasn't been in years) and learns quickly! He loves to sleep under my daughters bed and follows her around all day... I wonder if this is because she was the 1st person he ran up to and she scooped him up and started loving on him right away?

These pictures were taken on the day he came into our lives and before his much needed haircut!

Such a cute faces...

He soon curled up into my sons lap...

and fell asleep!

He's such a blessing to us... hopefully we'll have many, many years with him!

Our kids rooms (part 2)... Daina's Room

This is our daughter, Daina's room. With a little direction from us she chose the Zebra print theme and paint colors. It was a little difficult at first, she had so many ideas and wanted to incorporate them all! So we had to go through a long process (really it took several days) to get her to pin point what she wanted. She finally choose the Zebra print and the paint colors at the store. She originally wanted 3 colors, pink, blue and purple but we just couldn't accommodate that... we knew the room would be very bright and colorful with even 2 colors. I had to keep reminding myself that it's her room and we told her she could decorate it however she wanted and to only guide her decisions. This is the end result several months later...

The picket fence bed my dad made for her when she was 3 years old...

We found the bedding at the local Bed and bath store. The curtains are actually a fabric shower curtain from Target that I cut in half and tied back with a little pink ribbon.

Fortunately the furniture and shelves were already white... and I printed out Zebra photos free from the Internet for the old window frame hanging above her bed.

She has always loved horses and has tons and tons of toys/ accessories for them (she even has a huge red barn that's kept in her closet)... so we were completely shocked that she didn't choose a horse or cowboy theme for her room!!

I used a stencil (printed from the computer) to paint the zebra print on the fan blades.

I think her room turned out very cute... it's bright and bold and fun... just what a young girl's room should be!