Braeden just turned two years old last week, so we took some photos to celebrate.  Here are a couple of the entire family, including dad!  (Thanks for joining our girl’s date, James!).

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Thanks so much for coming down, Carrie and James!  I hope you had fun with Braeden running around the beach while I snapped photos!  You both were fantastic.  I loved brunch and I think Seth is hoping Carrie’s baking gene will rub off on me.  Oooor, I could just keep trading photos for coffee cakes.  I’m almost embarrassed to say that I had two more slices after brunch!

As always, here are my take-aways for the photo session:

1. It’s important to give kids positive feedback. I didn’t think it would matter really with such a little one, but Braeden got a bit upset when he thought he was being told he wasn’t doing the right thing. I should know better! I mean, us First Borns are veeery sensitive to anything we perceive as criticism!

2. Work around your subject.  This is a bit challenging with kids since they don’t like to sit still, but I feel like I got the best shots when I worked my way around Braeden a bit.  I wish I’d done more of that.

3. Pick a focal point.  I tried both picking a focal point (usually the eye) and letting the camera choose.  The photos in which I kept control are by far better.  It’s kind of a pain with a moving subject, but practice makes it easier.

Here’s a lightbox with a few more photos than those included above.  Click on it to see larger and brighter photographs.  Enjoy :)

Pin It

You are 3 weeks!  Yippee!  Sarah came over with baby Cora yesterday and promised me that we are half-way to this baby thing being way easier.  Because, you know what, baby girl?  This is hard!  Like harder than finals week when I had my chemistry, calculus, and biology finals in the same day all back-to-back.  How melted was my brain after that?  Oh, about half as melted as it is now.  That was one day.  You are everyday.  And every night.  I dread the sunset because I know that is when the real fun is about to begin.

Dad went back to work this week.  I can tell he wants to pull the, “I can’t be tired at work card.”  And, I want to pull the, “I can’t be tired at life card.”  Patch is sleeping right now, so that’s a win for him.  Well, actually, he hasn’t been walked yet.  Dad assigned me to walk him.  ”Just put the baby in the BOB when she’s sleeping and get outside,” he told me.  Just.  Ha!  We tried that two days ago.  Right as I am crossing the threshold, I hear an explosion come from the car seat and you stirred in your sleep.  I debated backing up, taking you out of your car seat – at which point you would wake up and start crying, then changing your diaper – at which point you would start yelling with the lip quiver, then putting you back in your car seat – at which point you would look at my like I’m the biggest dumb dumb for trying this all over again.  So, instead, I reasoned that you could work on finishing off your numero dos while we went on a 10 minute walk.  About 3 minutes and 17 seconds later, we were headed back home.  You were cradled in my left arm to stop the crying, I was pushing the stroller with my right hand, and Patch had wandered off a bit to pee while he looked at me like I was a real dumb dumb.

I ordered this special macro lens to take some baby photographs of you.  True to the theme of this post, the lens was a lot more difficult than I anticipated.   I’ve been practicing when I get a chance. That’s about every other day.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get some photos good enough to print and frame this weekend with the help of Auntie Mandie.  She will  make sure you look oh so cute.  You didn’t like the flower headband when I tried to slip it onto your head, so I just gave up.  Here are some photos from you this week a la natural:

When you were born, I was so happy to have a healthy baby.  However, within a few hours, we all proceeded to subdivide you into parts.

*Click on photos to enlarge*

You have Auntie Madie’s eyebrows and, if you’re lucky, her eyes, too.  Those are my hands.  I can tell because you have my double-jointed fingers.  I think that’s a Riley nose and chin, but the lips are like your mommas.  The balding head is like your daddy’s.  Awe!  Kidding!  However, I think you have his hair line.

Pin It

I know, it’s pretty silly to break you all into pieces when it’s the whole that counts.  But, that is what this macro lens is good at doing.

Pin It

Behold the Sproul foot: It’s long and lean with extra long toes.  Your dad was pleased to see that your second to big tow does the same bendy thing as his does.  Lucky for you, your dad has nice feet.

Pin It

A perfect little ear with newborn baby fuzz.

Pin It

You’ve got pretty long eyelashes, girlie :)

Pin It

Put is all together and you have:  You!  Always remember, you are uniquely you.  We wouldn’t have it any other way!

Pin It

*Published with one hand!

Kaylie pointed over the counter at Scoop to several self-portraits hanging on the wall drawn by young hands.  I scanned the first-grade faces in colored pencil and looked for Kay.

“Where’s yours?”

“I don’t know.  It’s not up there.”  

Bummer, I thought, Kay’s wasn’t good enough to make the wall at Scoop.  I had kind of expected to see it because her older brother is an awesome artist.  Not to mention that her great-grandfather was Ken Ernst, formerly the artist for the nationally syndicated comic strip Mary Worth.

Having been skipped over when it came to the artistic genes of drawing and painting, I felt a little bad for her.  I remembered that as a kid my sister made fun of my drawing of a pumpkin.  “What is that?” she asked as she peered over at my paper.  It was a circle with stripes and a stem.  It sure looked like a pumpkin to me!  I demanded to see hers.  It was all lumpy, shaded and 3-D.  Fine.

After an afternoon of relaxing, eating ice-cream in the sun, and hunting for seashells on the beach with Riley, we all went home.

“Did you tell your Auntie Aimee about your prize, Kay?” her dad asked.

It turns out that Kay’s self-portrait was not at Scoop because it was on display at the Santa Barbara Art Fair with a blue first-place ribbon hanging on it!  It was one of two pieces for which she had won first place.  I’m worried I’m going to be one of those moms who unwittingly always talks about how awesome her kids are because I told almost everyone I saw that day about my niece, the first-place blue-ribbon artist.  I even felt a bit better about my flat pumpkin because my niece was an artist extraordinaire!  (Note to self:  Aimee, do not try to live out your childhood ambitions through your child.)

A few weeks ago, when we were visiting grandpa and grandma in Bandon, Oregon, Kaylie offered to draw my portrait.

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

After seeing Kay’s picture, I really wished I had blow dried my hair and had more of a tan.  Kay was worried she had drawn my nose facing the wrong direction.  Still, I’m pleased to see my extra effort that day to put on lipstick – although it was pink, not red – did not go unnoticed.  (Note to self:  Aimee, be realistic with your expectations of your kids.)

Still, tell me her self-portrait isn’t worthy of bragging rights.  Or, at least, a blue ribbon.

Pin It

“Midnight?  You said we’d get home at 10:30.”

“I must have looked at our departure time instead and mistaken it for our arrival time.”

Whine, whine, whine.  That pretty sums up my response.  You know you are not concealing your feeling well when your 14-year-old nephew tells our 5-year-old niece to give you a break because, “Auntie Aimee is having a moment.”

Who’s acting like the immature teenager here?  Me!  That’s who!  In my defense, I was still recovering from a 6am flight out of San Diego with a 5.5 hour layover in SFO the day before.  And I’m pregnant.  (Did I mention I was pregnant?)  However, as it turns out, we didn’t get into San Diego at midnight.  We got home two days later at 1:30 in the afternoon.  Our flight out of North Bend was delayed for several hours, meaning that we’d miss our connecting flight out of SFO to San Diego.  So, we rebooked for the first flight sure to make it back to San Diego…on Tuesday morning.

These are photos I took during sunset when I was happily awaiting my flight home.  Before my brother-in-law came to pick us up because we were going back to my in-law’s place in Bandon.  It was kind of worth it, overall.  The building is covered in this cool reflective material that has since rusted from the rain and started to turn green, like the green band a fake gold ring will leave on your finger. In this case, it adds to the overall aesthetic of the airport’s sleek architecture.

 (Canon Rebel T2i, Tamron Zoom Lens)

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

Pin It

It was the most blue I saw in the skies the whole time we were in Oregon.  I guess I’ll go back, but I’m booking our flights next time!  I fired my travel agent!

“What are you doing without me?”

Riley ran through the house to join us and immediately inquired as to what we were doing.  Because, whatever it was, she needed to be a part of it.  Now, I know us First-Borns (FB’s) have our faults; but, if anything is typical about Second Borns (SB’s), it’s their acute awareness of being left behind, out, or alone.

On this particular morning, I had tried to sneak out of the house with Kaylie for an FB walk.  It’s kind of nice to spend some one-on-one time with the girls.  However, trying to get out of the house without Riley was like throwing chum in the water and asking sharks to stay away (I’ve watched A LOT of shark week).  It’s like she could smell the “without me” in the air and was up and at it before Kaylie and I could make it to the door.  So along she tagged.

I’d brought my camera and Tamron zoom lens along to take a few photos and ended shooting quite a few of the girls.  Now, you can read all you want about getting a kid to give you natural smile.  I tried all 5 tips, promise!  I finally gave up and just asked her to look at the camera.  Despite her wiggle worm nature, she stood perfectly still and this is what we got:

Pin It

I love those deep pools of brown.  And, of course, her Sproulie chin :)

I wish I hadn’t chickened out on traveling with the lens Matt lent me.  It has a red ring around it, which means it is a fancy one for the pros!  Still, I think you get the idea.  She’s a beauty, so I entered her into this week’s I Heart Faces contest.  The theme this week is “Beautiful Eyes.”

Pin It

(Grandma, If you need help weeding the yard, you should just tell Kay and Ri to go collect their favorite flowers.  They both insisted on being photographed with a dandy lion and a daffodil :)

You can read more about this second-born cutie here and here.

Meet my nieces.  Kaylie (7) is in the pink hoodie and Riley (5) is in the polka dot hoodie.  And this is how they like to pose for photos.

 (Canon Rebel T2i, Tamron Zoom Lens)

Pin It

They are super sweet kids and were totally up for being my little models.  Actually, they fought over it.  Oh, I love when sibling rivalry works to your advantage!  However, they were very insistent that they keep their hoods on, particularly Riley.  Okay, fine, be gangsta’.  I’m no Amy Wenzel anyway.  Who am I to try to stylize a shoot?  It’s just nice that they would smile for my camera.

Er…kind of nice.  Ri’s Sproulie chin was lost in her neck.  When I was reviewing all the images, I couldn’t stop laughing at this one.  It’s just So Riley!

Uncle Seth said you look like a chubby 15-year-old, Ri!  Not that there’s anything wrong with being 15 or chubby; but, you’re a stick-figured 5-year-old.  And the hood!  Ah, I almost want to print and frame this one just because it makes me love you all that much more.

Pin It

However, I think this one turned out  much better.  See!  You do have a Sproulie chin!

Pin It

And you’re so sweet, even with that malcontent-like hood covering your golden locks of hair.

Pin It

Kaylie, you melt my heart.  I wonder if your loose front tooth has fallen out yet.  I still can’t believe the Tooth Fairy leaves you FIVE DOLLARS for your teeth!  I think you need to treat me to Scoop next time I visit you in Santa Barbara.

Pin It

And here’s a gangsta’ one of you.

Pin It

I promise I took tons of photos of both the girls, but it’s a little more than impossible avoiding the Sproul Grin.  (Please see Photo 1 for an example).

Pin It

That’s why I’m particularly proud of this one.  It was Ri’s job to make Kay laugh.  Now that’s the kind of Sproulie smile I like :)

Pin It

I can’t wait until next year when we have another Sproul girl in the photos.  Okay, maybe boy…but I think girl ;)