a good day

i needed this day-
of getting out of bed
of getting showered, shaved and lotioned
of putting make up on my whole face, not just blush
of taking the time to do my hair, not just wear a hat
of wearing my favorite t-shirt and clean jeans
of blue skies and sunshine and breathable air
of chatting, sharing and laughing hard with the thursday girls
of eating cinnamon lips and my favorite lemon tarragon salad
of subbing in jenny's bunco group of crazy fun women i don't even really know
of laughing even harder
of wearing the super cute girlie scarf that jenny gave as a door prize - she has such great taste!
of taking a poorly lit self portait with a smile so i don't forget this great day

i needed this day.

possessed

lately ethan LOVES babies.
i mean, really REALLY loves babies.
right now, baby cole is his favorite baby.

he always wants to HOLD him.

 

and LOVE him.

and SQUEEZE him tight.

and never let him go.

sort of reminds me of a favorite cartoon character.

remember elmyra from animaniacs? 

the one who made all the fuzzy animals run for their lives in fear of her over zealous hugs?

well right now, she, and her over zealous hugs, are occupying ethan's body. i don't know how long she'll stay, but i hope cole can survive, at least until he's big enough to run away, or defend himself.

floods

dear grandma,
i really love the buzz and woody, and cars pjs you made for me when i was two.

they get softer every time my mom washes them.  i don't think i'm going to let her wash them any more though, because every time i put them on, more and more of my ankles show. she must be doing something wrong.

i know i'm four now, but i can't figure out why they keep shrinking. 
luckily, my mom bought me a pair of slippers that i wear all the time, and they help disguise the shortness of my pjs a little bit.

but the boys keep asking me if i'm waiting for a flood. why would i wear pjs to a flood?

if you make me a new pair, i promise never to let my mom wash them, then they will fit forever.
love,
ethan
*note - after reading a few of the comments, i thought i would add, in NO WAY was this post meant to be a hint to grandma to make new pjs. in fact, we have several new pair of homemade versions thanks to help from ann. i just wanted a clever way to document his undying love for these pjs that he refuses to give up. 

five for friday

random bits of life this week...

one. the strawberry shortcake cupcakes i made for spencer's birthday turned out so awesome!

last year for my birthday, my SIL lisa gave me the wendy paul 101 gourmet cupcakes cook book  so far, we've made about ten different recipes from this book and they've all been awesome - and super easy. these had a spoonful of strawberry stuff baked in the middle that made them very moist and super yummy.

my only complaint about them was that the whip cream topping started to slide after about one minute which made it hard to deliver the extras to the neighbors. oh well, more for us eh?

two. rich is in the thick of the "death march" of toy story 3 at work, which means, in a nutshell, that he's pulling long ridiculous hours every day including saturdays. ethan sees him the least because he's usually in bed when rich comes home at night, and even sometimes when he leaves in the morning. 

so when we had him all to ourselves for the whole day on sunday, ethan had to take advantage of some snuggling on the couch. i love this, it makes my heart melt a little.

three. clear the roads! taylor got his learner's permit this week.

i'm starting to get motion sickness going around and around the church parking lot. we've got to get this kid out on the road soon. bleh.

four. after a lot of begging, allie finally got contact lenses on monday. it was time, and needless to say, she's over the moon about them.

however, she informed me last night that without her glasses, her face is too plain and boring and she's going to have to start wearing brighter make up to make it exciting again. what?

five. spencer has been counting down the days to the spring lacrosse season, so when we heard about an indoor winter league, he was IN. the indoor field is fun because the ball never goes out of bounds but makes taking photos with no reflection a bit of a challenge.

this week he also started conditioning with the wrestling team, which from what we've heard, is pretty intense, but he loves it. i'm grateful that he's staying busy with things that he loves, and all the extra exercise makes for a happier spencer which is nice.

ok, this post could've been "ten for friday" with the busy week that we've had, but this will have to do for now!

teenager

yesterday, he was only a twelve year old.

but today, he's a teenager.

a man.

watch out ladies!   

this boy is quite a stud.

and he's as handsome on the inside as he is on the out.

happy happy birthday spencer!

what a lucky mom i am.

later tonight, spencer is looking forward to a spaghetti dinner, strawberry shortcake cupcakes,

presents, and setting up a facebook page - finally.

love this kid.

abc girls

for about a week now, i've been slowly editing a fun little ballet shoot that i did of allie, blair and chloe over the summer. the girls were nice enough to be my ginuea pigs for the afternoon, and lovely ginuea pigs they were! i had fun just shooting for fun for a change, playing with different techniques and styling.

i especially loved shooting their feet.
  this one is playing with depth of field.

what is it about toe shoes that's so fun to photograph? maybe it's because i'm such a fan of ribbon and also their lovely pink-ness.  i also love how they're worn out and dirty from so much hard work.

their shoes were fun to photograph even after they had come off their feet.

we had fun using the mirrors, although it was a huge challenge to shoot photos without catching my reflection along with the dancers.

at one point i put my camera in "rapid fire" (rich's term) and tried to catch some action shots.

there were several shots that will make a fun series to frame and hang, but my favorite might be this one of chloe because it catches the movement with the blur so well, and because she's completely airborne in the shot

i also tried to catch some more serious artsy portraits but ended up being stunned during the editing process by how grown up the girls are in these photos. especially allie, of course because she's mine and her grown up-ness in photos always startles me somehow.

the best part of the day though, was just how much fun the girls had hanging out and being silly together.

i am so grateful for the wonderful friendships of the lovely girls in allie's life.

lovely lovely girls.

i just adore them all.

note: there were way too many photos from the shoot to try and plug into a blog entry, so i loaded them onto flickr, and you can view them here. be sure to click on the ballet shoot icon on the right.

then leave me a comment on which one(s) you think i should blow up big and hang in allie's room.

funny guy

ever since ethan was very small, he has had this funny little quirk about him that always makes us laugh. i call it the "anticipation dance". he does it whenever he is watching or waiting for something to happen. a classic example of this was when he would send a marble down the marble track. as he watches the marble go down through the maze of track, he hops from foot to foot in a marching, hopping sort of dance. it's not reserved only for the marble track though, ethan dances while waiting for a train to come around, a toy car to race down the hallway, or even a suspenseful part of a movie.

so ethan loves going to primary children's hospital for taylor's well checks every three months because in the waiting room there is a fun toy mounted on the wall, perfect for the anticipation dance, it has large balls that move through a series of obstacles you can move and change as they fall . te last time we were there, i got a little bit of it on video, because let's face it, it's kind of hard to describe and something that i always want to remember about him.



we all have our little quirks right?
funny guy.

tender heart

i love what a tender heart this boy is.

i love how patient he is with all of his younger siblings.

i love that he's smart and kind enough to be their tutor.

and a great example, just like a big brother should be.

then and now

a few years ago, i put together a series of grand kid photos for my mom and dad for christmas. i had a lot of fun shooting those gorgeous faces and in my favorite style, super tight, close up and simple.

they were a huge hit, mom and dad loved them.

since then, the kids have grown up quite a bit and a new baby was born, so it was time, this year, to update the wall. as i was going through and editing the shoot, i was surprised by how much everyone changed!

i thought it would be fun to document the difference just a few short years makes...

 ethan

taylor

spencer

allie

addie

laurel anne

charlie

makenna

ashton

and still missing....

baby cole - because he was kind of cranky when we shot these photos.

i'm going to have to catch him next time.

i was also surprised by how much my skills had improved, i am almost embarrassed to post some of these old photos, there's so much i want to change about them! i guess the kids aren't the only things that are a little different a few years later.