Charlene Gutschow

Happy Baby

2012-01-27T17:56:00.001-08:00

So I finally cornered the little one the other day.
We played peekaboo and I finally got some good shots of my baby boy.
He is such a friendly and loving child and I can never get a photo of him like that.
As soon as he sees the camera he frowns and runs away.
Now if only I can get him in my studio... baby steps, right.

SmartyPants

2011-12-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

As I'm sure everyone would agree... toddlers don't generally like clean up time.
I struggle to get Milo to pick up any toys every night.
He starts whining immediately and demands help while he tries to hold back the tears.

So the other night, I told him that tonight he really has to pick up ALL the toys with no help from us.
Just once I want him to do it on his own. I thought it was a fair request since I am the one picking up all the toys every evening. He started explaining why I should help him and then I stopped him by saying he's a big boy and I'm not arguing about it tonight. He WILL pick up all the toys cause I don't think it's funny anymore.....

Without flinching he calmly said to me....

Well... then how about a knock knock joke mommy?

Priceless moment...

Cake Pops

2011-11-26T16:00:00.001-08:00

Felt like baking yesterday and made some cake pops.

We will be VERY American today and BBQ some patties for some home made burgers with garlic fries and salad
.... and this will be dessert :0)

Happy Saturday Everyone

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-26T15:54:00.001-08:00

A little late, I know, but things have been kind of crazy around here (nothing new I suppose)
We had a very low key Turkey day filled with great friends, loud little boys and lots & lots of awesome food.
We ate WAY too much!

Milo told me this morning....
Mommy, I'm thankful for my dinosaur water bottle, ice cream, bananas & that you pick me up from school.
I hope this means that he realizes what a little monster he can be :0)

... and then he adds: I'm not thankful for Levi always jumping on my stomach.

I'm thankful that I have 2 happy healthy kids to drive me nuts everyday cause I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Belated Turkey Day Everyone xxx

Just my luck

2011-11-20T16:45:00.001-08:00

My Christmas cards will be delivered tomorrow.
Today I decided to play around with my camera, some lights and my little superhero.
Just look at this picture....

It would have looked awesome on a Christmas card.

Next year I'll be on time, & I'll have cool photo's on them.
For now I have to settle for just being on time, and for me... that's a huge improvement.

Happy Sunday Everyone
Cx

Driving along in my automobile....

2011-11-14T12:18:00.001-08:00

So yesterday we went to a little farm called Twin Peaks that had a mini festival going and I have to say it was more than what I had expected. Very cute, filled with music, hay rides, face painting, good food, wine tasting & alpaca petting.
With all of this going on, my baby was only interested in the little ATV parked on the side of the barn.
I don't think they were allowed to climb on, but Levi laughs at rules, so...

I added the wording since you all couldn't hear what was being said.

Happy Monday everyone :0)

Christmas cards

2011-11-10T11:54:00.001-08:00

So it's that time of the year again.
Every year I snap into gear 1 week before Christmas and by then, my family back home only gets their cards after new year. I'm gonna be pro-active this year. Just once I want to be like everyone else out there doing everything in a timely fashion.
So yesterday I grab my camera and tell the boys to join me in the studio for some santa pics.
I wasn't expecting miracles. I would have loved to get one of them sitting next to one another and looking in my general direction... not even a smile, just next to each other looking this way.

Looks like I might be late again this year...

Heartache

2011-10-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

It's when things like this happen, that I realize how far away I really am.

My cousin lost her father 2 days ago and I feel so numb.
Growing up I couldn't wait for summer holidays just to go see my cousin and my crazy uncle.
He always had a smile on his face and plan bubbling in his head of how to make us laugh every 5 minutes.
I remember going to bed every night with a sore tummy from all the giggles.
I always felt so safe in their home.

What an awesome dad, husband, uncle and eventually granddad he turned out to be.
What an incredible loss to the world!

My heart is with you Anneline and I can only imagine how empty your heart feels at the moment.
How shockingly unbelievable it must be. How unfair that such a good man was taken way too soon.
I am so sorry for your loss and my prayers are with you.

I love you so very much

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

School photos

2011-10-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share my big boy's school photo and class pic.
Look at that face! I want to squeeze him and squeeze him and squeeze him :0)

So sad that I don't get to see that smile as often as I'd like.
He's going through a rough patch and it causes a lot of whining, wanting and crying. The joys of a 4 year old.

... but then I look at this pic and everything is ok with the world again :0)

I love you big boy xxx

hello...

2011-10-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

Today was so calm at my house that I feel a little uneasy. It's been a while since I could actually sit and watch one of my 300 shows waiting on the DVR. I think I still have 68 Dr Oz shows ready and waiting :0) No time for TV but I'm hopeful.
Tomorrow it's me and my chiropractor again and I have to say... I don't think it's working! I'm really trying everything not to have surgery, but it looks like I'm gonna have to bite the bullet really soon.
I get annoyed at people who tell that it's not a big surgery, you'll be fine, don't worry. WHAT EVER!!!
The fact that I've undergone so many tests and even the surgeon doesn't feel like it's 100% my gallbladder causing my attacks, that's the scary part. I could take out a healthy organ and still get these random attacks. Anyway, enough about my crappy health.... at least we (hopefully) cured my H-Pylori.
I'm looking forward to the weekend. Yes I said it. I never say it cause the hubs usually works weekends... but not this weekend! We have him all to ourselves.

My kids were running around in the garden with Pepper and I tested out my new lens today.

Sunday...

2011-10-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

What a crazy week! Still busy taking in orders from the school photo's and then I had halloween mini sessions, dentist appointment, two chiropractor appointments, some occasional tylenol, a sick 4 year old and a teething 18month old. Somehow I made it through this week.
Still waiting for my camera bag to arrive. It took me about a month to decide the bag and then 2 days to order it, cause I still wasn't sure, and then they make me wait for 2 weeks to deliver! Two weeks will be over on monday.... so they better deliver tomorrow!
I was hoping to get the new iphone as soon as possible but now apparently I have to wait for that too! This waiting game sucks.

On a lighter note... a couple of nights ago Milo was playing outside and I overheard him talking to his dad.
Milo: Pappa, I have good news, and I have bad news
Pappa: What's the bad news?
Milo: I'm making a fire.

I laughed so loud that I didn't hear the good news.

Dont worry, he was pretending to make a fire. At least he knows it's bad news :0)

Happy Sunday everyone

Baby Spider

2011-10-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

He's not a natural poser, but I love anything I get from him because he is so impossible to shoot.

The teething makes it hard for me to remove the pacifier. He will take me down! It's probably my fault, but i want the real memories and the real one are the ones where Levi has a pacifier in his mouth the whole day. He's almost done with teething... then I'll find the time, patience and padded clothing to try and take it from him.

Tomorrow I will wake up and the new iphone 4S will be available... this makes me happy since I'm due for an upgrade. Happy day :0)

Holding both thumbs

2011-09-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

So I had a little halloween session with my boys in the week.

Milo loved it.... Levi didn't care. He sat down for 10 seconds, got up and left the studio to go watch tv.

I have to wonder what will happen this year. Every year Milo gets so excited about halloween and his costume, but every year he bails when it comes to getting dressed in that costume and actually leave the house like that. Maybe he feels naked or cold or maybe just a little silly (which is kinda the point Milo)

Anyway, will keep you posted.

As you can see he has a couple of costumes to choose from, but I was told that this year he wants to be Buzz Lightyear.
Maybe he can choose once he starts wearing them.

School photos

2011-09-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am super excited that I was asked to do all the school photo's where my big boy attends.
They have more or less 120 kids in the pre-school and I cant wait to meet each and every one.
Can you imagine all the personalities?

So this morning I was playing around with different poses and effects and Milo was my model... a role he is NEVER happy to play.
Levi did manage to make him giggle a couple of times so it was all in good fun.

Please excuse the hair... he just woke up and is still in his batman pajamas.

Happy Sunday everyone.

Sugar Pine

2011-09-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

We went camping last weekend with our friends.
LONG overdue, because we have been trying to work around the men's work schedule to find a weekend where both were available.
I think it took us 2 years to arrange it and thanks to Claire... we finally did :0)

It was awesome. I was nervous about camping in the States because we have bears and snakes and apparently some very aggressive raccoons with rabies.
As a mom you stress about everything, and I did.

In the end the boys LOVED every moment. No bears, raccoons or snakes, but the hubs told me about some people who weren't that lucky some weeks prior to our camping trip. Wife put on some lavender lotion before climbing into her tent.... Please note: Bears LOVE the smell of lavender :0)
Bear came right up to the tent and tried to stick his nose inside to get hold of some lovely lavender.
Luckily the bear gave up and walked away, but I was horrified to hear that story.... after my camping weekend.
I have a sneaky husband that knows me all to well :0)

Milo was very sad on the last day and cried when we left.
Note to self... We have to do a lot more camping next summer.

Update

2011-09-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

Wow... where has the time gone? No seriously... where?

I haven't been able to blog for a really long time due to kids, day to day crazy and just getting my business up and running. The work that goes into starting up is just crazy. If I could run away for just 3 days, I could get this done :0) That sounds bad, I know... but with kids, young kids. No wait.. with 2 toddler BOYS running around, it's just plain impossible for me to get going. The hubs still works crazy hours and when he gets home I don't really feel like asking him to sit with me and try and help me design my website, or design my marketing material. So I try to do what I can, when I can. It's driving me crazy that I'm taking so long but I'll get there. I see the end result in my head... I just need to get it done.

Enough complaining, let's move on.

Since Milo's birthday, nothing much has happened.
Levi is just growing too quickly and all signs of babyness are almost completely gone! It's so sad, but also not missing the baby hours that comes with that.
My neighbor just had a gorgeous baby boy and I basically hijacked him for 3 days. I've just been dying to try out all the images in my head. I think I'm the only one having fun cause the poor baby gets moved around every 5 minutes. He has pee'd and pooped on me a couple of times, but hey... it's all in good fun right?

Next month is Halloween :0) My favorite holiday, so I'm already feeling the excitement building up inside. I think I enjoy it more than my kids.

We are FINALLY going camping this weekend. First camping experience in America and I'm a little nervous.
Don't feel like being eyeballed or hugged by any bears, so I'm hoping we will be spared.

This is just me signing in to let you know I'm still around, just crazy busy.

Have to love and leave you now with some pics of my youngest toddler helping mommy with light testing yesterday.
Everytime I snapped a pic, he pretended to do the same... and no... I have no idea what he has in his hands :0)
Can you believe he will be 18 months old on the 16th!

Winding down

2011-07-31T22:23:00.000-07:00

What a day!

Just came back from the fair and I feel like I was left in the sun a little too long.
It started cooling down and I thought it would be fun to let the boys run wild outside.

this was the result.... my boys are very different as you can see :0)

Happy Birthday Milo!!

2011-07-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

Today is the birthday of an awesome little boy that changed my whole life only 4 short years ago. Man time flies. He makes me laugh everyday, and sometimes cry cause lets face it.. this age is hard on us parents :0)

We decided to take the kids to the fair for the day and it was great. No tantrums from anyone... well maybe I had a tiny one on the shells (those things are much crazier than they look)

Once again I have to thank the hubs for being 'the man' and going on all the kiddie rides with Milo cause mom just couldn't do it (health reason... I'm not a sissy) I did try one or two. I should never have gone on the shells cause I felt really sick afterwards for about an hour. This is driving me crazy cause I like going on rides in general.

Anyway, we spent a good 5 hours at the fair and the kids were awesome. Olaf did manage to go on some big boy rides before we left :0) When we got home Olaf heard Milo talking to himself in his room, saying: This was the best day ever. That's great Milo... I'm so happy you had the best day.

Happy Birthday you awesome little dude.

Party Time

2011-07-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

So the big day arrived!.. GULP!
We only had a couple of hours to get ready, get the kids ready and set up the table. It sounds like enough time, but with two crazy boys... it kinda wasn't.
Milo tried to help but he popped balloons and Levi was just running around with the whole bunch. It was kind of crazy in this house, and then the water slide people arrived and they had Olaf sign 50 pages before they left so that kept him busy for much longer than I would have preferred.
Anyway, we got most of it done. No use crying about the stuff I didn't get to, right?
In the end I think my child had an awesome day. The weather was perfect for the water slide and the kids loved it.
Milo took a really long time before he went down for the first time, but that's just how he is. He likes to figure things out and have an exit plan before he dives right into things. We are not so lucky with Levi.
Special thanks to the hubs... he decorated the birthday cake. You rock babes and you are my perfect partner in crime.
Sorry for the photo over-load but hey, it's a birthday party.

No-Oven Peanut Butter Squares

2011-07-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of people have asked me for this recipe and I'm always happy to share any recipe I have.
So this is me... spreading the love :0)
In America, peanut butter and chocolate is the favorite combo. I have to admit that it took me a while to get use to it, but now I LOVE the combination.
To friends and family back home... you'll have to substitute some of the things, but I'll let you know as I go along.

what you need:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
1+1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (any biscuit crushed really fine - put them in a ziplock bag and use a cake roller to crush them)
1 cup peanut butter (creamy)
1+1/2 pkg (8 squares each) BAKERS Semi sweet chocolate (12 squares), melted (this is more or less 2 cups)

make it
line 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan

melt butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 45 sec. Add next 3 ingredients; mix well. Spread into prepared pan; cover with chocolate.

cut partially through dessert to mark 48 squares. (i use a pizza cutter)
Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Use foil handles to remove dessert form pan; cut into squares (i just break them because of the partial cut I made earlier.

Enjoy and happy no-baking :0)

He cleans up well...

2011-07-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, sheepishly I have to admit that I am the owner of one of those little yappers. Also the kind you get to take to the doggie parlor and buy cute outfits for (FYI..I don't do the outfits) Maybe I'll try them out this year :0)... for xmas cards obviously.
It's been overdue for more than a month now, but the parlor was able to squeeze him in this morning, and thank goodness. He was starting to scare the kids.
Now I'm sure he feels exactly the way he looks.... which is really pretty! I can see he hates the bow, and he will be shy now for the first couple of days... just until he gets comfortable with the naked feeling his got going on. I love when they cut his hair really short cause he's messy and with short hair, giving him a bath will be a breeze.
I remembered to let them know to keep the yorkie face as is cause they always do the bear cut and our little Tyson is not as fresh faced as he use to be so we need some hair to hide that old face and some missing teeth.

You look awesome Tyson... now stay that way until next saturday please.

Happy Saturday everyone :0)

My Big Boy

2011-07-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

Where did the year disappear to?? My big boy will be 4 next weekend! I have been so crazy busy with everything, and probably will be until the day of the party, that I'm pretty sure this will be the last 3 year old pics I take of my gorgeous big boy. All I can say is WOW.
Being a mother of young kids is crazy at best, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Kids are awesome.
The innocence and unconditional love just amazes me.

I feel truly humbled by my blessings of two healthy children.

Mini hike

2011-07-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we decided to go out and enjoy the day. The weather have been very pleasant this week.
Usually by now you cant breath when you're outside, in fear of scorching your vocal cords... but this week we even had a chilly morning and Milo had to go to school wearing a jean. I'm soaking it all it cause I know it wont last.
We drove to Auburn to do a mini hike with the kids, but it wasn't as mini as I thought it would be. I struggled at times, but Milo did great.
Levi was in his stroller and poor dad had to pick it up and carry it at times... super dad to the rescue! I am so proud of Milo cause he's pretty lazy when it comes to walking and in the end we had to promise him some chocolate ice cream (its frozen yogurt but he doesn't know) just to finish the hike.
He almost made it to the end but hopped onto the front end of the stroller the last 10 minutes. Even so, he did great and I'm a proud mommy :0)

I took some pics, but my main focus was to look where I'm going to prevent tripping over my own feet and landing face first in the red sand.
That would only be funny when I'm not holding my camera :0)

Happy Friday everyone.

Party planning

2011-07-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's that time of the year again. M is turning 4! Oh my goodness... that's all I can say really.
We waited a bit too long to start planning a party that's only 3 weeks away (in the middle of summer) cause we were trying to decide if he would prefer a big
present (aka the car) with no party, or a couple of smaller presents with a party. We finally had the discussion two nights ago and came to the conclusion that the car would have to wait for a couple of months. It has two seats in it, so obviously my little rebel will also be in it (to be honest he would probably try and drive the thing) I feel they are both a little to young and crazy at the moment, so maybe xmas? Having a crazy wet party is an awesome idea for now. It's summer, it's hot and we just booked a slip and slide for the big day.
I had to phone a couple of places because for some reason other kids also have birthday parties on that day?! :0)
I hope I can pull it off so please think of me. I always have all the plans in my head, but never get to half of them. I'm gonna try and keep it as simple & affordable as possible this year... not including the slip and slide.
It drives me nuts that my body is so organized, but my head refuses to get with the program. It's all over the place and wants to do everything and anything all at once. This year I've made a list and I'm sticking to it... nothing more... I hope. I haven't been to Micheals yet and that place always messes me up. They make you feel like you can bake anything, and I'm not a pro-baker... I'm a mom-baker and should stick to the easy stuff.
I designed the invites last night and now I just have to print and hand out. Step one is done... I think?

Another hot day in California and my kids are already beyond bored of playing wrestle mania on the carpet. Well... M is because he keeps losing.
Babies are freakishly strong!

Happy Birthday America!

2011-07-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

We decided to skip the big show at Mc Bean park this year. Parking is a nightmare and getting out afterwards is just crazy.
We pitched in with our awesome neighbors and bought some legal fireworks to light up in the street. In the end our whole block came out and we put up a great show for the kids... not that mine really cared for it. Levi kept running towards the lights and Milo kept running after all the girls in the street.
I was a little nervous at first cause I have two dogs and the dobie has a edgy stomach. Just give her a reason man... any reason, and she'll do it!
Luckily the stuff they sell to the public is not the hardcore fireworks that shoot up in the air, although we did have some illegal shooting going on behind us.
The cops drove by a couple of times and eventually fished out the culprits. Don't they realize they can burn down houses with that stuff?

I think I enjoyed it more than anyone cause I got to try out something new. Last year my camera was still too much to understand and I took some awful pictures at Mc Bean Park. I think next year I'll go and take photo's of the big show. If you get a good seat it's worth going but Levi is a little young and grumpy at this point.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July xxx

The BreadLover

2011-06-26T16:46:00.000-07:00

Just snapped this pic of Mr.M :0)
Oh how he loves white bread. I try not to feed him bread, and when I'm forced... I try to stick to whole grain. Obviously that would not be a 4 year old's first choice, so he complains a lot and asks: Will you go buy some white bread at the store for me mommy. How do I break the news that white bread is evil in my family. It's like a drug and if you overdose, it's side effect is 'enlarged buttocks' So because of this unfortunate flaw in our gene pool, I have to make him love whole grain, or just not care for bread at all. Either one will do. It's for his own good. I hope he thanks me one day.

FYI... I do buy white bread from time to time :0)

Anyway... I have to run... just had to share this pic.

Mini shoot - attempt

2011-06-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

I really tried to have a mini shoot with my eldest... I think it kind of failed!
I still love the photo's cause it's of my child, but it wasn't what I had envisioned it would look like.
Next time. For now, I'm happy just to have some more photo's of him. He has this "cool hand Luke" attitude,
and then just seconds later he's acting like a clown.
Very funny to watch :0)

Levi at the park

2011-06-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

Some pics to share of my little nugget at the park today.

He loves wearing hats. Any hat he finds, he runs over to mommy to help him put it on. Then he runs off holding on to the hat...

as if he runs at the speed of light. This one pushes his ears down and makes him look like a fat little gnome nugget.. so cute.

I've made it my mission to try and take more photo's of him... I feel like I don't have enough.

He has no fear and I had to give up after 5 minutes because you need two hands with him and the camera was just getting in the way.

He's already covered in bruises. Two days ago he ran, lost his balance and hit his head (just above his eye) against the fireplace. I'm a wreck!

Why are boys so crazy and fearless. You can see how they put no thought into anything and just go wild.

Nature at it's best

2011-06-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

After our awesome LA mini vaca a couple of weeks back, we came home and found that a couple of musicians decided to move in.
We welcomed the new addition to our family... hey what's a couple more, right.
They're not loud (big plus) and don't stay up late. They don't eat our food and never feel like they're in the way.
Never annoy any of us... except Pepper! She hates them! While she's outside, she barks and jumps and cries.
This whole thing is really getting to her and I love it. She needs to be more accepting of others, so this is a good lesson for her.
I feel sorry for them cause I can only imagine the stress she ads... she's big, loud and non-stop.

So welcome... I know this is only temporary, but I love seeing you guys every morning and saying goodnight to you when the sun sets.
You are just AWESOME to watch :0)

P.S: Unfortunately because of Pepper, you 5 gorgeous little guys only get one shot at your virgin flight! Good luck & Godspeed :0)

Memory loss

2011-06-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

I started thinking about Levi' baby album. He is almost 15 months old and I haven't even started yet.
I'm currently editing photos of him at 3 months old and it's crazy to see how much he has changed.
He was a chunky baby and looking at him now, I don't remember him being that tiny. Scary how fast time flies and how quickly you forget.
Makes me want to take photo's of them every 5 minutes in fear of missing (and forgetting) another second in their lives.
Is age getting to me or is this just part of life?

These are mommy pictures and do not qualify to go on my website but I still love them.
I took these as a very tired mommy and I was not thinking of photography at the time... although I think that's when I realized that I REALLY
wanted to pursue my dream as a photographer. I've been thinking about it for years and just never had the confidence to follow my dream.
Being a mom really makes you take charge and do what needs to be done, so I just had to re-direct that confidence to my photography.

If I can bring two big boys into this world with no drugs... photography should be a breeze, right?

and then I found this cute pic of my other precious around the same time: He still loves kissing mommy :0)

Some more pics of the kids

2011-06-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

Some more pics from the mini flop session with Levi and then some of my beautiful 3 year old.
I can't believe he will be 4 years old in July. It's just so crazy.

My little runner...

My 1st precious :0)

... he LOVES Paul Frank clothing.

Levi the BumbleBee

2011-06-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

Once again I tried to take some pics of my 1year old. It's always such a mission.
He hates the camera, and as soon as I point it at him.. he runs or turns around. I have tried everything.
Drives me crazy cause I dont have a lot of pictures of him.
Anyway, I snapped these yesterday and I know they aren't perfect, but hey... as long as I can make out its him, I'll take it :0)
My ISO was way too high so it's very grainy... but I still like them.

He loves the BumbleBee Transformer Mask and wears it more than his brother would like him to.

Thought I'd share them... enjoy.

Mini Vacation

2011-05-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

So the hubs got a whole week vacation and we decided we needed to get out of Sacramento and go visit his brother in LA.
Kind of last minute, but somehow we did it.
Los Angeles was so good for me. Just to be near the ocean again.
It felt great just to get out of the house. Away from all the day to day stresses. I'm home everyday and I was going a little crazy. It's about a 6 hour drive to Los Angeles and believe it or not.. my kids were great in the car. Levi has zero resistance to movement and was asleep ALMOST the whole time, and Milo loves being in the car for some reason. He loves cars, so he gets to see so many different ones driving by... to him, it's Christmas.

We arrived late afternoon on a Tuesday and went for a quick walk down to the horses. They live right next to stables (actually it's all around them) It's like they live in the middle of a bunch of farms. So awesome! She gets to take her son to feed horses, goats and pigs everyday. It's so beautiful and quiet that you can't help but relax. My eldest lost it when he met dolly. Shame, it was his first encounter with these four legged beauties and it's pretty intimidating when you are only 3 years old... and you have never seen such a thing before. She is such a chilled horse. She's the kid-friendly one :0)
We left soon after and went down to the beach for some sunset pics with the kids.

Got home...supper, bath and bed... it was a long day!

Day two... After breakfast we walked down to some of the other farms to feed some horses and met a very fat pig and super cute goat ( I just love goats)
Got back and we packed up our things for the day. My sister-in-law took us for a little sight seeing. Nothing too serious, just enough to take it all in and enjoy... with kids :0) We drove through Malibu, and ended up at Paradise Cove. Awesome little beach cafe where the food is so delicious, you have to guard it, cause if you look away for one second, a very large albatross lands on your table and grabs food from your plate before you could say: shoe away bird, shoe away (cause that's what moms & dads say) :0)
As luck would have it, my little monster dropped his plate on the sand and almost caused 'war of the birds' to go down right in front of us. I had to grab him out of the way cause they were coming from all directions and let me tell you... those birds are pretty big! The staff came running to help cause the birds were starting to fight over the chicken and we were pretty close to being feather slapped a couple of times. All in good fun I suppose. I don't mind being hit by one of those vicious mafia birds, but DO NOT hurt my kids man... you will die! I would have A LOT of explaining to do to my 3 year old afterwards, but I will be snapping beaks and ripping out feathers till sunset you crazy birds!

After lunch we spent some time on the beach with the kids running around and then we made our way down to the Pier. They have a couple of rides for the kids so we thought we would wait it out cause it was rush hour traffic and the kids would go nuts if we sat in the car for 2 hours.
Milo surprised all of us when he proved to be King of the rides. My child lives life fast and loud, but very careful... except when it comes to rides... apparently. He loved it all! The faster the better... who knew? Olaf thinks this is awesome news, cause now he has a buddy for the State Fair in August. No babes, you are not taking our 3 year old on the Mega Drop, G Force or the Tango. I remember the color of your face after the first Mega Drop :0)

Got home... supper, bath & bed... it was an awesome day...

Day three... we packed up our things for half a day cause we knew about this little South African shop that's only 40 minutes away from them and I was dying to go and see what they have... plus I wanted to give my poor sister-in-law some peace and quiet in the house for a while. My kids are pretty loud. We drove down and walked around for a bit. Did some shopping obviously and took the scenic drive back... along the beach naturally. I could very easily live in Orange County.

Got home and got everyone ready for some more beach fun.
I have to say it's a whole different experience when you go to the beach with small kids. No sitting down on the sand and enjoying the cool breeze and warm sun on your face... oh no my dear, you have it ALL wrong!
You have to pack in snacks for 5 days, 3 sets of clothing for each child & bags of toys. You get everything in the car and then you get to carry it all from the car onto the beach (toys and kids) By now, you are a little exhausted from all the brain power this whole process took out of you. On the beach you make the mistake of sitting down and instantly you have one child right next to you and one on top of you playing viciously in the sand and within second the cool breeze and warm sun is replaced by screams, yelling and throwing of toys cause 'I WANT THAT TOY MOMMY' or 'NO LEVI, THAT'S MY TOY'. You get hit with toys and sand from both sides and then you try to remember why you gave up smoking and hard liquor in the first place. Two seconds later they are starving and open your bag with their wet sandy hands and grab everything in sight. Now Mr Sand has moved into the bag... awesome!
You try to open everything for them and take out one at a time so that maybe, just maybe you can help them avoid eating sand, but it's just so pointless.
You finally decide to give up and 10 seconds later the whole bag of crackers, chips, sweets, fruit snacks, or whatever you were feeding them, have been dunked out on the sand and they are sorting out which ones will be buried and which will be used to make patterns in the sand, while gnawing on all of them. I get the extra added bonus of chewed food being spat out on my lap in a ball of green-ish/brown-sand-saliva-goop. Gotta love babies!
Then you get to deliver the news of 'ITS TIME TO GO GUYS, let's pack up.
All hell brakes loose, cause my 3 year old NEVER wants to leave. I always have to beg & bargain to get him from the one place to the next... it's exhausting!

Supper, bath and bed for kids while we had to get everything packed and ready. We left the next morning at 6am.
We wanted to beat the traffic and since it's a 6 hour drive, we figured it would be better to start as early as possible.

That was our mini vacation. It was so awesome to see them. Just being with people you know felt so great. My soul needed that. I didn't get to relax much cause I think you lose that privilage when you have young kids. You have to make sure they don't break down someone else's house or beat up their child.. not that my child would do that, but they always find a way to shock or suprise you in front of other people, don't they?

Good food, good company & great memories... thank you so very much for taking us in guys. You rock!

We had to listen to Milo in the car for 6 hours: Turn around mommy, I want to go back to Micah's house.

Some vacation pics: I know I'm not in any of these, but someone had to take the pics :0)

Meet Dolly...

Sunpics on day one...

Second day:

Feeding some more horses in the morning...

At the Pier...

..spinning with dad :0) Dad almost had to leopard-crawl out of that thing.

Our last day on the beach...

End of year at DCP

2011-05-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

My big boy is finishing up his second year in preschool. It's so precious to see and hear all the new things he learns.
I love his school and always look forward to the concerts. The first one my boy had to be taken off stage because when he saw mommy he started crying and nothing could make him stop. Last one daddy was lucky enough to come with and he was so proud to see daddy in the audience that he just stood there with the biggest smile, telling everyone standing around him: look there's mamma and pappa... look look look!
He never got to sing one word, both times. I'm holding thumbs for you this time my little man.

I got his "report card" today... thought I'd share it. It's so cute to read what he does when I'm not around.

More cute pics.... he is such a typical boy.

Lincoln lawnmowers

2011-05-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

We had our organic lawnmowers in our field again.
What an awesome idea... for the goats and the environment. I love watching them.
The watchdog got very excited when I got to close to the fence and ran right up to me with some wild scary barks to follow.
Then he just stood right in front of me until I left. How awesome that you can train an animal to take care of other animals.
I wanted to take the dog home with me, but he's just a little too big.

Mother's Day - My pride & joy

2011-05-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

On Friday evening we were invited for a "barbeque" South African style. We met our fellow South African friends here in the US about 3 years ago. We don't see each other nearly enough, but life gets crazy and we try to get together as much as possible. She's off to South Africa soon for a whole month... I'm gonna miss you my friend, but I know you will have an awesome time. You better!!
I snapped these pics of my boys in her backyard. They have the coolest yard and so perfect for boys. Lots of space to run, a sandpit underneath a very cool jungle-gym, with slides, and they even have some swings. My eldest loved it. I think we will be having tea & chats at her house a little more than at mine.

I'm off to try and get the hubs and kids ready for a walk to the field so that mommy can take some pics.
Wish me luck. Everyone is in Zombie mode cause we just had some very traditional Sunday lunch.
I made roast chicken, wild rice, eggplant and salad. It was good.
I obviously don't understand the meaning of Mothers Day cause I have dusted, vacuumed, cooked, done washing & edited today... and it's only 5pm

Happy Mother's Day everyone :0)

Lazy Crazy Days

2011-05-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

Laziness has a name... and it is called Tyson.

Tyson is a frizzy 10 pound ball of attitude that has no care in the world and no clue what personal hygiene means. He has no regards for others and good manners are just to much of an effort so why bother?

He pee's on, over and against everything (especially against my car) and enjoys eating, napping, barking and snacking on fresh doberman poop on a daily basis. Needles to say I do not kiss him anymore and I just keep my face away from him in general because he will slip you the tongue whenever he can. He also enjoys occasional fights with Pepper (did I mention she's a doberman) and fails to accept that when the doberman holds him in her mouth and shakes him like a rag-doll... that means he loses. No, this only fuels the anger and as soon as he hits the ground, he swings around and goes in for the kill by grabbing her by the neck like a cat and tries to hang on just enough to look like the actual winner... this is what I would call stupidity with a splash of humor, and if you could see Pepper's face while all of this is going down... you would agree.

When he feels that he didn't get enough to eat, he would simply growl Pepper (the DOBERMAN) away from her bowl and munch away until you pick him up and move him away because yelling at him just makes him eat a little faster. This means that I have to watch them eat every night cause otherwise Pepper never eats. Why she moves away when he growls I will never understand.

During the night the dogs sleep in an enclosure in the house cause Tyson still feels the need to mark the house with urine as much as possible. We adopted him from a young guy, so he was never fully potty trained and we don't know his exact age. This leaves me with a sense of restlessness. How old are you Tyson? When can I expect the senior years? When do I get the old, chilled dog that just lets go of all the issues and drama? I'm guessing he is about 7 now.

He still hates kids, and kids just love him. Yorkies don't want to be treated like they are little and that's how kids make him feel when they pet him and want to pick him up and hold him. He will nibble your fingers (REALLY HARD) so I have to crush every toddler that enters my home by telling them to not touch the little doggie please.. he doesn't like it. My first born had to endure many 'nibbles' along the way so now we just keep them apart as much as possible. He is much better, but you still have to be around when they all play outside. How weird that you have to watch your kids with the little dog.

Anyway.. I snapped this cute pic of him yesterday. What else can I say... my life would be so boring without you Tyson. You (and Pepper) drive me crazy on a daily basis and I have dabbled with the idea of sending you to 'the farm' on occasion, but you know I love you... you crazy mutt!

Mommy & Me

2011-05-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

We got the photo today... yippee!
So it turns out I didn't look at the camera... oh well, maybe next time.
I know we were trying really hard to get a smile out of Levi cause he was not having a good morning.
In the end it was for a great cause, so I'm still happy I did it.

Maybe that's another little project to put on my list for May... self portrait with my boys.

Again I apologize about the quality, but it's a scan in.

Inspiration

2011-05-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

Today I feel like taking on the world... one spatula at a time :0)
I love baking and that leads to my constant struggle with weight management.
I stopped for a while, but I've been feeling the need to bake a little bit more everyday.
Yesterday I decided to make a small batch of sugar cookies... just to get it out of my system.
I was even smart enough to only bake half of the dough and when it was done, I took half of the cookies over to my lovely pregnant neighbor to enjoy.
This morning I baked the other half and now I have another big ball of dough chilling in the fridge. OK, so I lost it a little! I just feel like baking and baking and baking... and with summer around the corner, this is not good news.

I've been trying to plan my soon to be four year old's birthday party in my head. I've seen so many awesome ideas and I really hope that this will be the year that I get to execute all the awesome ideas floating around in head. Time is not always on my side... that, or I just set unrealistic goals for myself.

Anyway.. I've always wanted to bake sugar cookies, so now that's another thing I can check off my list :0) By the end of the year I hope to be much better at decorating the cookies cause at the moment it looks like one of my kids did it.

So relieved to be done with the first batch. It was challenging to bake with a eager little 3 year old running circles around you from excitement. He's been checking and double checking just to make sure that I don't forget that he wants (no, he NEEDS) one of those cookies when I'm done.

All proud of myself, I serve up the biggest and best looking one to him... only to be told: I don't want heart ones mommy, I want round ones please.

First batch... white frosting with jimmies

Second batch... melted white chocolate with jimmies or red sugar

Puppy love

2011-04-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share these really cute pics.
I took the neighbors girls out to the field for a mini shoot and my little monster wanted to come along and obviously he had to bring the transformers mask. It's become part of him the last couple of weeks.
He never wants me to take photos of him, but when the focus shifts to other kids... then he wants in on the action.
I just know I'll be whipping these out on his 18th birthday :0)

I played around with some paint the moon actions and I just love them.

Tired

2011-04-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

My poor child was so sick for two days...

He woke up on Saturday morning and just started puking. My first thought was that the little bugger ate to much candy at the George's barbeque the day before. I was so very wrong...

He's still to young to tell me it's coming or have time to react, so he sits up 2 seconds before and only has time for that first yelp before he starts spewing stomach juices. It was horrible for both of us. I would sprint to his aid and redirect him to only puke on his bedding, while rubbing his back and reassuring him that it's OK. This is a good thing buddy... it means all the bad stuff is coming out so you will feel better after this, I promise. Funny how I can stay calm and do what is needed when I'm all alone with the kids, but as soon as the hubs is home... I'm screaming like a banshee and running around like a headless chicken. What's up with that?
After every puke session I would run him a bath and let him sit and play with the bubbles. It was a cold and rainy day so he loved it. By the 3rd time he would get up straight after and run off to the bathroom. I was met with a little naked body sitting in a empty bath looking very impatient.
Needless to say, my day was spent rubbing a very tiny back, giving MANY comforting hugs and washing bedding over and over and over again.

Yesterday mommy and daddy also felt a little nauseous, but thanks to all the anti nausea meds I didn't have to clean up anyone else's vomit. Yippee! Thank goodness my baby was spared. He laughs in the face of germs. He has that type of attitude. I don't know what type of bug or virus entered our home, but it has left the building people and mommy feels ecstatic.

Today is the first day that he has attitude @ 100% opacity, so it's safe to say he feels better...
... now if I can only forget about all the puke I had to catch with my hands!

I think this picture explains how I feel today.

Special thanks to Claire for our awesome easter bunnies... thank you my friend xxx

Brotherly love... with some natural light

2011-04-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

I booked my first lesson with one of our local photographers and I'm super excited. I know about her through a friend and I've been following her work http://susanneashbyphotography.com/

She's a natural light photographer and just awesome. It got me thinking and so I tried it out with my boys in my room this week. My room gets morning sun and so that becomes the favorite spot after daddy leaves for work. I get the camera and sit in the corner and just snap away at all the craziness :0)

My lesson is on Tuesday and I have so many questions.. I better start writing them down cause I think I still have pregnancy brain...

... I hope I can still use that excuse!

pull some funny faces for mommy...

I hope they always stay this crazy happy!

... you got a friend in me!

2011-04-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

So I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but my 3 year old LOVES Toy Story.
I think he's a little obsessed with it. If I say a line from one of the movies... he tells me from which one. Crazy right?
This morning I asked him if I could snap a couple of pics and before he could decline I said he could bring any toy with and we take some pics of it. That seems to do the trick every time. I think it takes the pressure off of him.
My kids refuses to sit for me, but take them to someone else and then I have to hear what great little models they are. I don't ever say that I'm an aspiring photographer, so I just smile and say thank you, thats sweet of you to say :0) At least they behave themselves outside the house. That's something, right?

... to infinity and beyond! :0)

Teething Terror!

2011-04-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

What a day!
Enchanted images were doing some charity work for Breast Cancer Awareness at the Silver Spoon Boutique in Roseville. It's a small cute little shop with the most gorgeous clothes (especially for girls) and coolest toys that you can imagine. You feel like everything was hand made by someone's grandmother. Loved it. Fell in love with this blood red teddy bear (whom I have named 'Ella') and just had to have it. Not sure why, just had to buy it.
It was a 'mommy & me' shoot so I felt like this was a win win situation. You donate $20 and they give you a 5X7 pic of mommy with kids. I'm always taking the pics so I don't even own a picture of me with my boys. Will post it as soon as I get it. I believe they will be doing a 'daddy & me' shoot in May.
Wanted to be first cause I hate standing in line, but getting ready and looking presentable took longer than expected. The older I get, the longer it takes and more difficult it becomes. I've never been a girlie girl so I still find it hard and kind of feel like it's a waste of time to stand in front of the mirror with a bag of make up... what's the point people... I'm not a miracle worker. In the end I just tried to make my hair look ok... no time for the rest when you have to get a moody 3 year old and a teething 1 year old out the door before they mess, drool or vomit on themselves. Like I said... CRAZY morning!
Anyway, it's done. I hope I smiled or at least looked at the camera (well maybe that's not important)
When we got home I gave Levi a time out in his crib. He was crying all the way home and just looked like he was done with this day.
Gave him something for the pain, numbed up his gums and as soon as I put him in the crib...

Garden Day

2011-04-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

Blessed with the first sunny day on the 30th of March, we decided it's time to do some planting and get the veggie garden going. We survived a couple of wind storms two weeks prior and our seeds were blown out of our greenhouse 3 times. Hubby felt very discouraged and just went and bought the plants. We wanted to start out the garden as organic as possible and even bought organic seeds. Wherever the wind dropped all of you... please grow cause you were planted with love and a lot of effort :0) ... three times. Anyway, back to the morning of the 30th...
The sun just perked up everyone and everything in our backyard. The dogs started running around, the bees were buzzing, the flowers were blooming, and my son was so happy that he decided to execute his first outside urination. It sounds like a small thing to you, but to Milo this was victory. Luckily I was walking around with my camera and caught him in the act, otherwise hubby would never have believed me.
He has attempted this before but stage fright got the better of him every time. Proud of you Milo... didn't think you would ever be able to do it. Lets hope he never shows his new skill at school during outside playtime.

I love sunshine. It puts a smile on your face and makes you feel like you can get up and run a marathon.
Getting up in the morning and opening up every single window just feels great. Fresh air and sunshine... what more could you want?
It has been a very long and cold winter and I'm happy and excited about summer. I know I'll be eating my words in a month or so.... but for now... I'm happy and thankful for all the beautiful days we have.

Cake Pops

2011-04-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

O my goodness! So I finally got around to making these little creations. I wanted to make them for Levi's birthday but that whole week just got away from me. We had to go to San Francisco the day before so that just made it impossible for me to make them. It's almost a whole day process.
I will only make them again for VERY special occasions, cause it's just too time consuming.

I have to say that they taste awesome. Cake on a stick... who would have thought?

New hairstyle!

2011-03-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

What is it about woman's hair and their state of mind. When your hair looks good... you just feel better.
Isn't that crazy... but so very true? Most days I have my hair in a ponytail, cause it's just me and the kids everyday. I don't mind it cause it's easy and I am constantly covered in drool, vomit and now and then a little poop, to be bothered about it anyway. Life as a stay at home mom can be down right disgusting at times, and who has time for perfect hair when you have to break up fights, pick up toys and scrub toilets? Then you wake up one day and realize that you can be a mom with cute hair once every 6 months. Just for one day you can feel like a princess, right?
So a week ago I decided this long boring hairstyle (if you could call it a style) had to go! Phoned up Brockway Hairsalon and made my way down there. I told the girl to do what she thinks would suit me.
I also told her not to be shy with the scissors, but she was too nervous to cut it all off.
In the end I'm glad she didn't... baby steps right?

Textures

2011-03-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

This week I've been playing around with textures. This is a whole new concept and I must admit that I really like it.
It's different, but in a good way. Now I have to rethink all those boring pics where I just had a plain wall behind them :0)
This is great when you just want to snap away and not whip out the backdrop every time. Editing still amazes me...
I learn something new everyday. I wish I had more time to edit.

Oh how I LOVE that face...

Enchanted Images shoot

2011-03-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

My kids were fortunate enough to spend some time with Enchanted Images as part of their Vintage Valentine mini sessions on the 11th of Feb.
They were awesome... the kids and Enchanted :0)
We got the portraits yesterday and hung them on the wall as soon as we got home.
Unfortunately they don't sell images on disc, so we could only buy prints and enlargements, but they did add this DVD with all the images from the shoot.
We love it!
Enjoy...

...and these are some of the 5X7 prints we ordered. I've scanned them in so the quality doesn't look great.

The Portellas Boys

2011-03-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

I invited my friend for tea and a chat. I have to admit... I tricked her into coming cause I really wanted to take some photos of her boys with my new blue backdrop. They have amazing eyes and I just knew they would look awesome. Luca lost his first tooth, so naturally he wanted to show the camera because he is very proud of that new tooth :0) They were very easy to work with and just in case they wanted to think of acting up... mommy was standing nearby with a bag of jelly beans. Good call mom, but we didn't need it.
The tye dye shirts they dyed themselves... how cool are these boys?
Thanks Claire...

Blast from the past

2011-03-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

Still in shock that my baby is 1, I decided to go through some of my old photos.
Wanted to find some good material to edit and came across this precious pic of my first born.
This was taken when we moved into our home in May 2009.
Milo was 22 months old, and looking at this, I kind of feel... What happened? Where did the time go.
He has grown and changed so much!
I just showed him the pic and asked him if he knew who that was?
He said: That's a baby with the same necklace as me mommy. :0)

My turn Mommy

2011-03-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

It was very difficult for my 3 year old to understand that Levi had a birthday and he didn't. He turns 4 at the end of July so I explained it best I could.
Feeding him a lot more birthday cake than the birthday boy really helped me score some points.
This morning he asked me if I would take some photos of him and his drumsticks/weapons. I think it was inspired by the cake smash two days ago.
Shame, I did ask him if he wanted to be in the photos with Levi, but he said no and walked away.
It was over so quickly that there was no time for him to play hard ball. (and he loves to play hard ball)
So today was all about Milo... my gorgeous big boy :0)

Levi - Cake Smash

2011-03-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that my baby boy turned 1 yesterday. How shockingly quickly time flies.
We had such a crazy week leading up to the big day that I didn't get to plan the birthday I had envisioned in my head.
Luckily this is a birthday that he will never remember :0)
We dropped off our 3 year old at school and went to trusty Walmart for some cake and gifts.
Sitting in the shopping cart and keeping himself very busy, was the birthday boy, playing with his gifts.
Got home and wrapped the gifts, while my husband went to fetch big brother at school.
With everyone accounted for, it was time for mommy to whip out the camera and release a very eager little 1 year old onto a helpless birthday cake.
It was so cute to watch him discover new tastes and textures. How wonderfully sweet and innocent our kids are.
The hubs helped to redirect our little mover to the cake a couple of times, so thank you babes... I would never have been able to do it without you.
I was very nervous cause I knew that I had to move fast and take an insane amount of pics in a very short amount of time.
This was my first attempt at a cake smash and I LOVED it.
Happy Birthday my beautiful angel... I hope you had an awesome day and I love you so very much.

Tyson

2011-02-28T14:55:00.000-08:00

Everytime I take him to the doggie parlor, I always forget to tell them that I dont like the "bear cut" face and to please keep it "yorkie cut"

... by the looks of it, neither does he :0) Sorry Tyson, I'll try to remember next time.

Spidermonkey

2010-12-26T17:24:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas I tried to get my 3 year old to show me all the gifts Santa brought, but I could only get him to show me the mobigo and camera. He always sees mommy with a camera, so naturally he wanted one too. Very cute.

Christmas 2010 - Tis the season

2010-12-24T22:03:00.000-08:00

I love this time of the year. Growing up, Christmas was kind of a big deal and till this day I get excited when the 1st of December comes around.
Just the whole process is so positive and festive and you cant help but walk around with a big smile on your face. You just feel like a kid again.
We put the presents under the tree about 2 weeks before Christmas and that was not a very bright idea.
Everyday you would hear boxes being moved and paper taring thanks to our little baby boy. If at any stage he was missing... you would find him under the tree.
I love the photo of Milo with ALL the gifts... you can see he thinks it's all his :0) Gotta love that face.
Next year I want to run away with my family where no one can find us cause it was a little crazy this year.
My ideal Christmas is just us as a family, spending time together.

Gingerbread House

2010-12-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

Milo was so excited to decorate his very own gingerbread house. I got the gingerbread house ready and put all the icing on so he just had to "stick" on all the decorations. It started off all calm and collected, but halfway through the project he ran out of decorations. Seems he would put one on the house and then put one in his mouth. Luckily we have LOADS of sweets in our home :0)
Mommy saves the day...

Our Christmas Tree

2010-12-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

I think I decorated this tree for about 2 weeks. Every night I would hang a couple of ornaments and then I would stop cause I would think of something else to go buy that would go great with all the other ornaments. Eventually I got tired of all the energy the tree was taking from me and just bought some big red bows to speed up the process :0)
The tree had a lot of big holes to cover up.

Naughty or Nice?

2010-12-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

This was such a wonderful experience for my 3 year old. Last year he was too young to understand, but this year was a whole different story. I could tell him all about Santa and how he brings toys to all the good boys and girls, so you have to be good otherwise... no presents from Santa. This was awesome for me cause if he just thought about any type of bad behavior, I could just say... remember about Santa's rules.
I heard from one of my neighbors that for the month of December, Santa will be at the mall everyday, so I took my boys to go and meet the big guy.
I love my 3 year old's facial expression... you can see he is trying his best to look like a VERY good boy. It's classic :0)

... Oh yes... baby didn't like Santa.

Snowstorm

2010-11-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

We decided to drive up to the snow one cold November morning.
It was nice and early and my husband was home for a change, so we were hoping to go and try to attempt some family shots in the snow for our Christmas cards... but that was not what happened.
We should have known better, cause it was raining when we left our house and it's only about 40 minutes to the nearest snow.
After driving around in horrible conditions for a while, we turned around and stopped underneath a bridge. I had to snap some photo's otherwise the whole day would have felt like a complete waste.
I have a love hate relationship with this thing called snow.
It's cold & wet, but so very beautiful to look at.... from inside the house, under the warm blankets, right next to the fireplace :0)

My kids

2010-11-08T13:37:00.000-08:00

Just look at those faces! I absolutely LOVE taking photos of my kids. They are just the best subjects, even though my three year old hates it when I aim the camera at him. He would ask me to take photos of him, but as soon as I get the camera out and on... he tells me: That's enough mommy, that's enough now. I played around with frames this week and bringing out the eye color. When you take a photo of someone with brown eyes, it always comes out black. My little one has dark green eyes, but they always come out brown on the photos. I'm excited about trying out some more face shots. No more black irises on my photos :0)

The Detling kids

2010-10-31T23:24:00.000-07:00

We hosted our first Halloween party this year and I volunteered to take some photo's of all the kids. First up was the Detling family. 4 Gorgeous kids and obviously so very photogenic. It was taken just before we went on the long awaited trick or treat walk through the neighborhood, so time was of the essence. Thanks for being so patient with me.

The George kids

2010-10-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

Last, but not least, we had the beautiful George Girls with us. Princess Olivia was very shy, so Vampire Mady had to help bring on the smiles. Luckily that did not take long at all, because she thinks her big sister is the funniest. Mady was probably the easiest to photograph, because she knew exactly what pose she wanted and wasted no time when Olivia said she was done. Us girls... we know what we want :0)

The Portellas kids

2010-10-31T12:42:00.000-07:00

Very shy, but gorgeous boys. Little Cruz only has eyes for mommy and Luca was just too excited to bother with posing for photo's... but they still came out pretty good considering all the excitement going on behind me. Doorbell ringing, dogs barking, kids running around & screaming while everyone was getting ready to go TRICK OR TREAT :0) That's a lot of distraction

The Gütschow Kids

2010-10-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

My kids were dressed up and ready for action. You gotta love boys. I am so glad I took these photo's two days before Halloween because my three year old refused to wear his costume on the big day. Three year old's... need I say more :0)