1-31-11

Itsy Bitsy Spider ~ Part II

Tonight she sweet talked Drew into Itsy Bitsy Spider since Daddy isn't here.

Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the water spout,

Down came the rain

and washed the spider out!

Up came the sun

and dried up all the rain,

and the Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the spout again!

And then she promptly starts saying "Again! Again!"

She reminds me of the Telletubbies when they would shout that.

PS  Yes she has on the same outfit two days in a row.  She refused to take it off and I refused to fight with her about it!  I choose my battles.  These days, I don't choose too many of them.

1-30-11

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Peyton singing her favorite song with Daddy!

He has been singing this song to her ever since she was old enough to sit up on his lap.  Now she hops up on his lap and asks for him to sing it to her.  And, she sings right along and does the motions with him now that she is a big girl.

So glad I was able to capture this moment.  It's something that I want to be able to remember for years to come.  And maybe someday it will jog Peyton's memory too when she comes across this picture of her and her Daddy.

1-29-11

Family Pizza & Movie Night!

All the kids piled on top of each other watching our feature movie of the evening. 

3 of the 4 watching at least...

One of them, I won't mention any names, was just running around being ornery all evening!

One of them was taking cover behind big brother for the parts of the movie that made him a little nervous.  And one of them was giving me the stink eye!

This one was on the edge of his seat by the end of the movie.  In the meantime, he was trying to dodge my camera by covering his head with his blanket.  But his mama is smarter than the average bear, and she has a setting on her camera called continuous shooting that tricked him in to thinking I had already taken a picture.  He uncovered his head, only to discover that I was shooting continuously until I got the shot that I wanted! 

nanadabooboo!  said with tongue sticking out!

Again, not going to mention any names about the ornery!  :o)

Our feature movie, one of my childhood favs...

Gremlins!

Now you know why Coop was hiding behind Drew and Bro was on the edge of his seat!  They were both like that until the last Gremlin, I think his name is Stripe (the guy with the mohawk), was dead.  Drew was cracking up laughing all evening at cute little Gizmo.  Especially when he was driving around in the little pink Barbie car!

And that my friends, was a fun evening of family time! 

I wish there were more movies like this that all of us could enjoy together.

1-28-11

She even has a cute little tongue!

1-27-11

I don't even know....

He marches to the beat of his own drummer....

He is awful cute while he marches!

And look at those little fingers sticking up out of that leather glove giving me the peace sign.

1-26-11

Drew and I were both home sick today.  Me with stomach flu and he not with the stomach flu obviously.  He came in and asked me if I wanted eggs, bacon and toast.  He was making breakfast and was going to make me some too.  I thanked him, but passed on the offer.  I went out to make sure he was cleaning up his mess after cooking and discovered this.  A plate full of steaming hot bacon and eggs.

He of course is dodging my camera.  But I did manage to get him in the photo.  Not the ideal shot, but a shot none the less.

He continued to dodge my camera when I was trying to get a good picture of him.  I told him to get his butt in the picture.  This is what he did.  He will kill me if he knows I posted this online, so don't tell him.

One last try at a good picture.  Mission not accomplished.

Then I went back to bed.

1-25-11

We have had so much illness around our home in the last 6 weeks or so.  Quite frankly, I'm getting pretty sick of it.  Right now we are passing a stomach bug around the family over and over.  Cooper was sick and vomiting one night.  Then he fell asleep on the couch.  In and effort to try and prevent more carpet cleaning, I set him up like this.  It worked for him.  He didn't make anymore messes on my carpet.  Peyton on the other hand, not so much.  Apparently I should have set up a similar thing near her crib that night!

`

1-24-11

And so it begins...

Tonight after bath time, Peyton insisted on picking out her own clothes.  I knew the day would come.  I was talking about it just last week.  I could sense that it wasn't far off.

And honestly, I don't mind at all.  I want her to feel free to be herself.  Free to like, wear, play, listen to, or believe in anything her little heart desires. 

So if you see Peyton and she is dressed anything like the above pictures, know that she is developing the individual that I pray she becomes. 

PS  She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES striped socks!  She always picks out the striped ones when I send her after socks.

PSS  Yes she is standing on top of the kitchen table!

PSSS  Tonight when I was taking her pictures was the first time ever that she asked me to take more pictures of her.  "More Mommy.  More!"  Yeah me.  You can probably guess how excited I was!  Hopefully this is a new trend that will stick for a while.

1-23-11

Next to baby feet, eyelashes are probably my next favorite body part (if you can count eyelashes as a body part) to capture.  I love to shoot down the face from above and focus in on the lashes.  

What girl wouldn't kill for the eyelashes on this 11 year old boy?

In case you were wondering, he is even more beautiful on the inside!

1-22-11

I walked in the door from a session with camera in hand, and this is how I was greeted.  What else is a Mama to do when a loaded Nerf gun is aimed at her, then to take a picture of course!

1-21-11

I love watching these two together. 

They are buddies.  Most of the time anyway. 

Cooper calls her babycakes.  And she calls him Coopa. 

He was trying to steal her popcorn when I snapped this picture and I happened to capture this expression on here face.  I have been seeing a lot of this expression lately.  Usually she has her arms crossed across her chest too when she does this.  Sometimes she even says, "not fair!" along with this look! 

Then Cooper replies "Life isn't fair Peyton.  Life is broken!"

After snack time, we decided to give the potty a try. 

She loves this little potty because it sings a little song when you do something in it.

1-20-11

He mostly hid from me this time.  But he did allow me to take his picture.  I'll take whatever I can get.  I think he is finally starting to not ABSOLUTELY hate having his picture.  Thank goodness. 

1-19-11

This is how I found Cooper this morning.  I set him on the table to get his coat on.  Then I went to get Peyton and get her ready.  When I came back to put him in the van, he had curled up and fell back to sleep.  He should be tired.  He never goes to bed before 1am!

1-18-11

All three boys fold and put away their own laundry.  I take that back, two of the boys fold their laundry & put it away.  The third one takes the basket of clothes and dumps it in his room. 

Now as you can see, Brodey does a good job folding laundry.  Making his bed, not so much! 

1-17-11

I wonder what he is thinking. 
I love the look of calm on his face. 
And the sleepy eyes while snuggling a new
little stuffed turtle that he received for Christmas.

1-16-11

Drew is playing on the 7th grade boys basketball team this year at school. He loves basketball and football. He also likes baseball. But not as much as basketball & football. Baseball seems to be more about having something to do in the spring time. Neither Drew or Brodey enjoy sitting around in the off season. Always looking for something to keep themselves occupied.

1-15-11

The kids were out on the front porch on New Year's Day playing with poppers. Peyton was playing with all the streamers that were flying around as the kids were setting the poppers off. Even though she couldn't pull the string on the poppers, she found a way to still have fun with the older kids.

1-14-11

In case you are wondering, I do have other children besides Cooper and Peyton!  But the boys won't let me take pictures of them very often.  And definitely not in the shower!  Cooper & Peyton on the other hand, they are quite the hams for the camera most of the time.

Ok, so I know these pictures are not really very good pictures.  The color is ucky, the lighting is bad, they are out of focus and fogging.  Yes I could have grabbed my grey card and set a custom white balance to make the color right.  Yes I could have went and got my flash to make the exposure right.  The focus and fog were really out of my control.  Why was the focus out of my control you ask?  Because I  had my camera hanging over the shower rod shooting blindly.

If I had taken the time to set up my camera with all the things I mentioned above, I would have completely missed the moment.  Yes I am always trying to take the best pictures possible when I am shooting.  And I am definitely not usually going to post anything online that is bad quality.  I feel like I have to post good quality images in case potential clients stumble upon them.  But sometimes, you have to do what you have to do and just post 'em.

 Sometimes, the moment is way more important than the photo quality. 

This was one of those times for sure!

1-13-11

I know this is a little bit of an old picture, but I just came across it and I love the look on their faces while looking inside to see what treasures were in the box.

1-12-11

Intrigued by what I wonder.

And would you look at those eyelashes!

1-11-11

Just being cute.

1-10-11

 Cooper shooting at me with his new birthday Nerf gun!

1-9-11

A little Peek-A-Boo anyone!

1-8-11

A genuine smile!

1-7-11

Peyton with her Papaw.  I love the looks on their faces.  And look at those dimples!

1-6-11

Cooper enjoying a couple of cinnamon rolls for breakfast.