too young for coffee?

this boy is always stealing sips of my coffee drink. doesn't matter what it is - iced coffee, latte's, or mocha milkshakes ;-)

this one was a mocha milkshake - yummy! so i don't blame him.

he would have drank the whole think if i let him.

you've got a few more years before you're allowed to like coffee buddy.

hmm...

beautiful light.

beautiful boy.

i wish i could see into his mind.

what are you thinking, love?

groomed

today was haircut day. everyone (except drew-still waiting on his first cut) got one, including kirby.

he's my "other" handsome boy!

corn dog

"how bout a corn dog mommy"!?

grady's request for lunch every. single. day.

down i go

well, i'm striking out on lighting this week, but trying not to miss important moments. i have missed too many special moments by taking the time to adjust the variables in my image - lighting, composition, etc. well, this is another moment i didn't want to miss. 

my little boy started crawling down the stairs on his own! 

this is huge for him - we've been practicing :)

growing up

this little boy is growing up on me way too fast!

did the fact that he has his hand down his undies tip you off it's a little boy?

typical.

couldn't decide what orientation i liked best ;)

pretty horrible nighttime bathroom lighting and angle, but i liked this moment ;)

wonder

drewski lovin his bath time. 

i love the look of wonder on his face, watching the water pour down on him.

looking down on little lashes

i'm not sure why i love this. but i do. 

i took a series of images today - most of them of him laughing. or of his smiling cute face. 

but this is the one that stole my heart.

a vision

my little love and his lovie

do you ever have a vision in your head, that just doesn't quite turn out the way you envisioned it?

please everyone say yes.

well this is one of those visions. i even moved the table and chairs to get a good view of the window and light... and then waited for him to step up to the window. unfortunately he didn't care about my vision. a half our later he decided to stride by, for ONE second. long enough to grab my camera. not long enough to change my settings for the ever-changing light. oh well. i photoshopped it to the best of my ability.

view through my sunroof

now THIS is what a sunroof is for!

iPhone

thank goodness for my iPhone. to catch beauty like this.

we don't get days like this nearly often enough... and it was so short-lived. 

but it was.

my mini model

future model? he's working on "the look". heheh

foggy beach

i was going to take family photos for a friend of mine at this location - a beach/landing/lighthouse/park in mukilteo. everyone wanted some sunny "beach" feel pictures. and who doesn't want a gorgeous sunset? however, the fog just wasn't going to lift. it's been thick for days. and although different, i thought it still might be pretty, so i decided to take my son there anyway and snap a few pics. 

i'm glad i did - this turned out to be one of my all time favorites.

green cereal bar

most people stop at the grocery store to pick up the necessary staples-bread, milk, etc. well, this is included in our daily staples. the "green cereal bar", as grady has called it for the last year or so. he has one to two of them a day. yes. it's a bit ridiculous. drew has joined him in the fetish. it's one of the few things i can get him to eat these day. it's both of their favorite by a long shot.

why green cereal bar you ask? well, besides the obvious, this is the only flavor grady liked. now, after a year of the same boring old flavor, i bought strawberry the other day (they were out of the green ones)! strawberry was a hit! and is now called "pink green cereal bar", lol.

nose to the wall

time out has been a big joke in our house. nothing really seems to work. the boy doesn't stop moving!

so, i'm trying a new "nose to the wall" technique. he has to sit or stand (for the whole two minutes) with his nose to the wall.

it's an improvement. at least a little. for now.

water bugs

how fun are new bath toys!?

joy

i loved this snapshot of drew and his auntie kristin. so much joy captured. it melts my heart a little.

they adore each other.

i haven't worked much with haze, sun flare, or backlighting, so it was fun to try something different and play with processing a little.

i love beautiful light.

and my beautiful boys.

grady and more sun flare

and a couple of my other favorites from tonight that i couldn't leave out...

my little sunshine. that's exactly what he is. 

that little smile brightens my day. every day.

tippy toes

if he was a ballerina, this little boy would need no point shoes. 

he has taken to walking around on his tip toes A LOT lately. and in effort to reach anything and everything, this is what works for him :)

pile-up

grady's new thing is making a tunnel/ramp with the magna-tiles. or as grady calls it - a "wamp". 

he then finds his bucket of cars and drives them down - one by one (all 200+) - until there is a major pile-up at the bottom and no more will go through. then he gets all emotional.

this is his look after the pile-up... followed by "ma - fix the wamp"!!!

big life problems of a 3-year-old...

this wasn't the best picture in the world. really nothing was working for me - crappy light, maxed ISO, open ap, low shutter speed. i tried to fix it a bit in post processing, but it still looked pretty flat and noisy. the color version works better (i think anyway), but i wanted to pull focus out of all the busyness of the image, to what i actually focused on - thus the b/w play with the one truck in color (grady's favorite truck). well, maybe not the best candidate for b/w, and pretty horrible conversion (no matter how many times i played with it, i couldn't quite get it to what i wanted), but it was fun to play and try new things!

play the song!

grady has moved on from "chicken fried" and found a new favorite song - "china grove" by the doobie brothers. 

he is either racing his police car around the kitchen or dancing to this song. and let me tell you - this boy has some interesting moves ;-)

never a dull moment.

he's starting to rub off on drew, too

personal lens keeper

i was sitting at home this afternoon thinking of what to capture for my daily photo. i finally got an idea (which i won't even mention what, because it is super boring and really lacks any inspiration - i seriously need to kick my butt into gear, get some energy/motivation, and start trying some new/interesting things) and set it all up. then, this little munchkin pops into my viewfinder just as i click the shutter.

i should know better than to leave my lens cap on the floor. he always finds it and always attempts to put it back on my lens. nice i never have to worry about losing my lens cap, with this little munchkin trailing behind, but it makes taking pictures a little more difficult ;)

i tried to get a second shot afterwards that was more in focus

entranced

nothing can hold this boy's attention like a good cartoon!

trying to catch a few minutes of little einstein's before leaving to get his brother at preschool.

oh lambie...

what would drew do if we ever lost lambie? 

i worry about this a lot. he's not allowed to leave the car or house anymore due to this potential tragedy. because really, who am i kidding? it would probably be just as hard on us as it would him. this little lovie has been his best friend - basically since day one. he has sure taken a beating in his day, but he's still going strong ;)

toothy grin

love my little man's toothy grin. 

how can 4 little teeth be so darn cute?

magna-tile road race

i have to admit. this was actually taken on day 1. but, after a 14 hr work day, i did not have the energy to pull out my camera for a day 8 image. but because i want to post at least something daily - this was another favorite of mine.

and due to my crooked in-camera composition, i had to chop his fingers off when straightening in post.

no choice. wah.

sneaky

i found a little boy trying to sneak (ever so quietly) out of his gymnastics class today.

and someone else wanted to sneak in... ;)

little toes and baby bums

the little mr. falls asleep with his bum in the air every night. i love it. his big brother use to do the same thing. with those little feet crossed... and precious little toes...

little details a mama never wants to forget.

he decided to sleep in this morning - so i snuck in before he woke up. there was minimal light and autofocus wasn't focusing, so i gave manual focus a shot. 

the first was a little more successful. i think i got a little motion blur in the second.

who's that name!?

grady's most recent favorite game with us...

he pulls out all of his cars, holds them up - one by one, and asks 

"who's that name"!?

he just giggles and giggles. 

we now either know the name (or have made up a name) for each and every car.

ISO 6400! 

that's basically all i shoot at these days since i rarely see the sun anymore.

even though i didn't have to bring up exposure much at all, it's pretty noisy. i never thought i'd want a speedlight, but i'm really finding myself wishing i had one (a lot) lately...

birthday boy

happy 6th birthday kirby klive!

yes, i feel a little bad that i forgot his birthday the last couple of years. so, he got a few extra treats and special snacks today in attempts to make up for it. they may have been a christmas present as well... it turns out, dogs with birthdays close to christmas get jipped just as much as kids.

i definitely have a love-hate relationship with this cute little guy - he's a little shit most of the time. but i do love him.

 ~waiting for his birthday snack tonight~

oh, and do you love my photoshop skills with the quick selection tool!?

all i wanted to do was brighten him - just a touch. turns out it doesn't work so well with fur.

bad choice - lesson learned.

how i roll

this little boy loves cars just as much as his big brother. thankfully.

he spends much of his time, just like this. lazy much? :)

so fascinated with wheels.