A Pile of Boys

I feel like I've been posting a lot of Ellie pics lately, so to even things out I wanted to add some of my sweet boys. Here they are!

Owen in the sand.

Home made volcanoes...thanks for the idea Amanda!

Logan's own version of a volcano.

And now ........

A Pile of Boys!

The Battle

As a mother I have all kinds of up and down moments. Frustration, exhaustion, humility, anger, confusion, deflation, and thankfully lots of excitement, fulfillment, happiness and hilarity to even things out. Parenthood is definitely a roller coaster ride and I am not always sure I'm riding with my seat belt fastened. :) 
This being said, the reason, I think, so many of us choose to take on an endeavor as difficult as parenthood is for the complete joy it undoubtedly brings from time to time. Yes it is hard, and yes sometimes you reach your limit, but those little moments help it all make sense.

I had one of these moments a few days ago. The house was clean enough, and dinner was in the oven before six. Linc had only watched one hour of television that day, and Logan behaved himself in his carpool. Ellie was fed and playing with her feet, Owen was on the computer playing with Starfall.com, and Logan was having one of those wonderfully imaginative moments that make you smile. I walked in to check on him and found this scenario:

"The Battle"

"The Bad Guys"

"The Good Guys"

His imagination is so fun! I find all kinds of toys in various places throughout my house. They always remind me of how special children are. This battle with the soldiers hits home especially to me since I have two brothers who will be returning to Iraq for their second deployment this month; these pictures made me think of them. It's too bad their battles won't be as innocent and sweet as Logans make-believe one. You'll be in our prayers guys!

Speaking of battles....

It's all about wrestling at our house!

A Photo Tip I Learned

I've been reading some different books/articles on photography lately. Today I got a clip in the mail from my mom that had different photo tips and I had to grab my camera and try out a few things. The best thing I learned today, was to avoid direct sunlight. It helps reduce shadows. I love a lot of light in my pictures, but I've been getting frustrated about them being washed out. I'd always thought the more light the better, but the article recommended looking for shaded areas, or taking pictures inside by a window, or on overcast days. It still gives you plenty of light without washing out whatever you're taking a picture of. It was a lot of fun today, and I love how a lot of my pictures turned out.

Up close Linc.

Yay, no shadows! The sun was out when I took this one, so I moved her into the over hang and tried some shots there. The shade worked like a charm.

How can this picture not break your heart? I've posted a few more sad ones for you too.

Poor sick Owen. He's been feeling so bad, but it's made him extra cuddly. Hmm, if he weren't so miserable, I think I'd like to keep him like this.

I'm the sympathetic mom who when my boy came crying to me about getting hit in the mouth with a light saber, had to snap those beautifully sad eyes before I gave him hug.

It's funny that O is smiling in this picture, because usually he freaks out if you turn him upside down.

My favorite Owen angle, by a window.

Clone Trooper Blaster.

Logan's Lego Clone Trooper Blaster wing. (try saying that five times fast!)

A boy with a mission. (This one was taken in direct sun. Sometimes I like how they turn out too.)

Lincoln has a face (gotta love it) that is very hard to capture without shadows. I was very excited about this one. I thank the overcast weather, my new best friend.


Love that boy.

One little drop.

Okay, I'm being real and posting what I REALLY look like on a day without make-up, or straightened hair......sorry. What can I say? I'm a stay at home mom, so my kids love me no matter what right? Anyway, while I was playing with my camera today I figured out the 'ten seconds to scramble into place' button and had to play with it. This was not my only attempt, but it was the best I could do. The boys thought it was hilarious watching me race into place. It was pretty windy today, and so this is the only shot you're going to get. It got a little crazy.

A Beautiful Walk

Here are the pictures from the walk I went on with a friend of mine. I was so impressed with how pretty the nature was, that I didn't do many portrait type pictures. I LOVE Spring! I do want to go back and try some up close photos, because they would be beautiful too. Thanks for the walk Ashley!

One of my first shots, while I was figuring out my settings. Very 'Twilightish' don't you think?

One of my main problems with these pictures was getting my camera to focus on what I wanted it to. There were so many other things it wanted to capture. I thought this one turned out pretty cool despite that, maybe I'm wrong, but I kind of like it anyway.

This was Lincoln the entire time. You'll notice a lot of the pictures are only Logan and Owen. That's because Linc was busy playing in the mud with this stick. He really liked it.


At least I got a few of them together. :)

Cool tree huh?

Big and little

That little girl is my friends daughter M. My boys all love her!

Apparently she likes them too. ;)

Cutie.

Balancing.

Owen saw this and said, "Wook Mommy, Wogan's hiding!"

"Wook Mommy, my hiding too!"

Angel boy.

Beautiful.

I really liked the layers in this picture.

Getting Caught Up

I went on a walk with a good friend of mine yesterday in a beautiful area and took a ton of pictures. I've been so itchy to get them up, but before I could do that I have about ten random favorites I've been needing to post. I know I love my little family to pieces because I have such a hard time choosing which pictures to post. I usually love them all, and so I end up posting a lot; but there are always those pictures that didn't go with the theme of my post, or I had already posted more than anyone would want to see on a certain post and they get left out. So, today here are my misfit favorites. Now I can get to work and maybe in a day or two post some from my walk!

If ever there were a little girl who loved her Daddy, Ellie would be her! She stares at him contsantly, even when he's not looking. As soon as he does glance her way, her open mouthed stare turns up into the sweetest, happiest smile ever smiled. Do you think she's got daddy wrapped around her adorable little finger or what?

Speaking of that smile......here it is with teeth! It took Dan and I a lot of tries to get her to show those pearly whites.

Here was one of the attempts. I loved her eyes in this one.

Did any of you ever watch Garfield and friends when you were little? In the side show (apparently the friends) there was a little duck who wore his floaty everwhere! It completely reminded me of Linc. Our wading pools are maybe ten inches deep, but he found this floaty and wore it the entire time.

Linc insisted I add this picture. Not much else to say. It is a classic 'Logan' picture :)

I was trying to find a correct exposure using high and low aperature levels the other day and this picture was one of my results. I know it is pretty washed out, but I loved how the water turned out. I had a high f stop number and a low shutterspeed.

An accidental favorite. I was just messing with my manual numbers and caught this one. Loved it from the start.

This was one of those lucky moments in Ellies room where the kids were being cute, and I happened to have my camera.

These last two are from Ellie's recent dress shoot. I went through all the pictures so quickly the first time because I was trying to post them while Dan could see them, (he was out of town last week and his schedule was a little crazy) so I missed two of my favorites! I was going through them again today and found these two.

My favorite