THERE'S A DR. IN THE HOUSE!!!!

My fabulously talented and brilliant husband just defended his dissertation! That means he officially has a double PhD!!! Watch out world. I am so proud of him I can't even stand it! Congratulations sweetie!

Welcome to the fun house!

Tangled up in you

This has been a habit for a good 3 years now. And I can't tell you how many people I talk to everyday that say, "Oh, I was a thumb sucker too!" followed by "Yeah, until I was 10 or so." I cringe a little thinking of the dental issues but as a mother I am so enamored by it. She started it at about 3 months and it is her last link to baby hood. The twirling is a bit of a problem because she gets gnarly knots but, again, I sort of love it. She's my baby!

Caleb makes up for yesterday

Once again I pulled my poor neglected camera out tonight to shoot Isaac and Liv swimming and got a little brother instead. But tonight, as he was standing at my knee, I took the first shot, he looked to see what I was doing and then HE POSED! Now I'm going to have to deal with THREE posers! Notice the lovely halo of bruises forming on his poor little forehead-a result of new found pulling up on everything in sight.

The chaos that is motherhood

Yeah, the picture says it all. I really wanted to get some shots of the kids playing an exciting game of BINGO today and I got this instead. Because he is crawling- he can find me. Because he can pull up-he can pull up on me. I wasn't going to post today but I decided that this would be a good time to study the use of the wide angle zoom. I also liked the bright colors that help show off the absolute chaos of the moment. Notice that my children in the background are completely unphased by their screaming brother. How's that for compassion! This is a peek at my life. Sometimes, well-usually, crazy but bright and vivid and full of life.

Out and about in B-town

We needed to get out and run a little today and I was looking for good backgrounds and textures. Isaac really wanted to look cool and Livi kept being the ultimate cheeseball. On the plus side-I found some great places!
P.S. Make sure you click on the last photo for the full effect!

A mama and her boy

I had the opportunity to take some pictures of a friend and her son today-( you'll recognize him as he frequents this blog!). Both are just gorgeous. Thanks guys I had a lot of fun today and hope to do it again soon!

Welcome home!

My dear other half is home! After picking him at the airport we decided to treat the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. We have only been once or twice before and they had a blast! It is nice to have Anthony back home. We really did miss him!

He was greeted by lots of melting ice in Bloomington. It was sort of funny to watch us all try and skate up the driveway. The ice is melting fast though and I'm hoping that spring is just around the corner.

Bowling

I wish I had a fantastic image for today. I don't. We went bowling with Isaac's friend and his family. Ant is out of town and I simply didn't have enough hands. I'll do better tomorrow!

My first newborn session

Just a little secret

The pregnant belly in my earlier shots is no longer preggo! This little guy is SO SWEET! I can't wait to shoot him some more. I always wonder if they dream and if so about what. Doesn't he look like he wants to tell me in the last shot?

Into the dark once more

From generation to generation

They say babies are a great judge of character. Caleb definitely is-it only took him a moment to decide that Grandpa is a good guy. I love the way that they are looking at each other in these photos.

Almost 37 years and counting

My in-laws are here today and I adore them. They stand together in a time when many marriages fall apart. They married at 18 and have been inseparable since. I have to wonder what those hands have been through together- heading off to Italy as young newlyweds, holding 3 different tiny babies, comforting through the loss of a parent, and I'm sure so much more. I have so much to learn about love and they are one of the examples that I look to. I admire the way they've raised their children. I mean, my husband is practically perfect! (Actually, I love the way that both my husband and I were raised. Thanks moms and dads!) I hope that 29 years from now Ant and I will still hold hands.

Saturday morning candy

Just playing dress-up with the kids. We were supposed to have a shoot with a gal in town today but she wasn't feeling well so we postponed it. BUT my kids were ready to be in front of the camera and I took advantage of it!

P.S. Check out that CRAZY hair from the rag rollers! A couple fell out last night so she had a few straight spots but we got A TON of WILD CURLS!

Curly Girly

Yesterday Livi wanted curls in her hair for Valentine's Day. Her hair is crazy fine and completely unpredictable. We put curlers in and the cute curls lasted all of about 10 minutes. Tomorrow we have a special shoot with a photographer in town and Livi wants curls again so I decided to go back to what my mama did when I was little-rag curlers. I cut up an old t-shirt and went to work. We'll see how it looks in the morning! I went in to check on her after she'd fallen asleep and couldn't resist snapping a quick shot. I wonder if the thumb in the mouth will still look so sweet when she is 10! On a side note to anyone who reads Becker's blog- the shot below is straight out of the camera with my picture style switched to monochrome. Really cool tip and really easy!

We also had our preschool Valentine's party today. We had a blast! Our day included going to a florist and picking out some special flowers. They each really liked the carnations! Maybe there is something to them after all.