Outtakes from the father's day photo session

I don't for a minute think that I'm a professional photographer but the fact that I don't chop off heads anymore or zoom in by pushing the camera far away from my eye means I've improved just a little. However, there's nothing like shooting children, your own children to bring you back to reality.

The DAD photos I showed the other day were part of the second attempt. My first attempt was a total flop. I was prepared. I got everyone fed and dressed early, picked a slightly overcast day to avoid the "I'm hoooootttt" complaints and set out with the expectation of shooting the two older boys for about 10 minutes, then the baby and finally 5 minutes to see if I could get a group shot. Oh my goodness it was a hysterical failure.

I'm not going to look at you. It's so hotttt. The sun is too bright.

Are we done yet? Mind you, these were the first two shots.

I finally get him to look in my general direction while engaging his firefighter talk and he keeps furtively talking while looking down. About 35 shots of him furrowing his brow while asking me how various things can "get on fire".

Second verse, same as the first. Oh wow momma look at this letter. How about you look at momma instead?

Not as long as I'm three years old. Ooooh, it's a mask! Of course this couldn't be easy.

Baby was just interested in eating the letters.

Once she realized that the letters were not edible she moved onto the grass. Apparently she needs more roughage.

Finally, I attempt to get a group shot. It's mayhem at first.

Look momma, I can pat the baby like a dog.

What's my second son doing? Apparently this is his way of protesting the unwanted photographs.

Finally get the second boy to sit down and the baby lets all heck break loose because she's tired of being touched. Poor thing to have been born third.

I'm outta here.

Momma please let me take picture? Okay kiddo, if you sit down and let me take some nice pictures of all of you together I'll let you snap a couple of pictures. I'm not above bribery once a year.

It looks like the group photo might just happen, but seeing that he's going to throw his little sister off on a touchy fit again I tell him to keep his hands to himself.

He's offended, baby's giving me the evil eye and my oldest sneezes.

Can he look any unhappier? Older brother wisely informs me, "momma, I think he's upset you told him to stop touching our sister." The baby is d.o.n.e.

I let them hang out on the grass for a while to see if I can at least get some interesting candids. Baby is looking off into the distance at the younger brother who wandered off.

He returns and streaks in front of the camera.

Momma, me play duck, duck, goose. After this, I finally threw in the towel and headed back inside. We did go out later on and shot a slew of nice group shots that were beautiful.

Too bad I forgot to put my memory card back in the camera.

The second photo shoot, they did so well for the individual shots that I attempted to take another decent group shot. Lookee here, they're all smiling. Too bad they're all looking down.

Another moment where I did something to offend him and I can't even remember what.

Finally! Success. A halfway smile from the three year old, baby looking in the general direction of the front and a cropped head of the oldest from another shot artfully photoshopped in place. Phew! I think photographers that shoot siblings are geniuses and worth their weight in gold.

Yesterday it rained . . .

For the first time in a long time it rained without lightning (at first). So while we quickly brought in our stuff from the yard where we'd been lounging including the baby, the boys started running like banshees. I saw the glimmer in their eyes and when asked if they wanted to run in the rain the answer was a round of whoops and hollers. Boy did they love it. The baby? She was happy to shriek from the sheltered doorway.

A brain spew

Being a homeschooler gives me a great excuse to learn about many odd things. For a person who can forget where she put her keys this morning yet can recall obscure facts about ancient crafts she heard 3 years ago, it's a perfect fit.

This week I was hypnotized by someone playing the theremin on TV. Of course I had to look it up. My only question now is, how much for one of these things? Or anyone know where you can rent one? Looks pretty neat.





It's not just me. We encourage the kids to explore any and all interests. Which is why my oldest likes to check out plumbing and HVAC books from the reference section at the library. He doesn't read yet, but I read them to him although mostly he studies the pictures and diagrams. He's been obsessed with all things plumbing and pipes since he was 2 years old. The younger son loves cars and all things trucks. Both boys are nearly obsessed with firefighters and the favorite video around here is a realistic "one day in the life of a firefighter" DVD.

One day my oldest asked me a question about bells. About 20 minutes later we'd viewed a few videos online showing how church bells worked and then some bell performances. Next thing you know this is the scene on my kitchen counter.


I had the glasses arranged by pitch but after a few rounds they decided to mix things up a bit and we spent a good 20 minutes doing just that. That's an eternity in 3 and 5 year old land.


Now, some accountability. I'm sewing up 30+ cloth napkins and am posting just to be sure I follow through and finish sometime soon. Details on this later.



Finally, can someone send my daughter a memo? Please let her know that at 7 months old she's not supposed to be doing this yet. Something tells me she's not going to listen.

My kids like to keep me on my toes

Oh sure, I could have it easy and just expect to have my living room looking like a Crate and Barrel catalog but nooooo. That would be too straight forward. Too simple.

Instead the bookshelf I lovingly imagined would be a source of delightful reading moments looks like this about 3/4 of the day:



Hey, I'm all about empowering them to put the books back on their own and when the three year old is doing it, well that's as good as it gets. We do have delightful reading moments, don't get me wrong I just never envisioned books being used to build runways from one room to another:



Alternatively books are used to build mazes that elaborately run from the breakfast counter to the middle of the living room where the coffee table used to live prekids. Or garages. Never mind that someone *cough*abuela*cough* bought these children a beautiful wooden firefighter station and parking garage each. Garages apparently are much better made of Little House on the Prairie and monster books.

Ahhh, one day when my house does end up looking like a home furnishing catalog I'll be pestering my children over the phone to find out when they'll be bringing the grandchildren over to spoil, um visit. In the meantime I'll leave you with what I found around the corner from the couch. Dolly #2 tucked in for his nap. Can I join in? :