Drawing King

I am still trying to figure out how to properly use my softboxes. So...you will be seeing a lots of pictures of "posing" children in the next little while. It is too much for me to get the lights all set up AND the kids looking presentable, so you will probably notice dirty faces, messy hair, and mismatched clothing. That's life at our house :) Here is sweet Nicholas doing one of his very favorite things to do...drawing!

I'm still trying to figure out how to make the white sheet look white. I have a light pointed solely at the background, trying to get it brighter. When I am close up, it is fine because the depth of field blurs out the shadows and wrinkles in the backdrop, but when I move back and get more in the picture, things start looking ugly. Hmmm...

I kept asking him to look at me, so I could see how the light was reflecting in the eyes, but he didn't want to take the time to look up from his artwork, so we got a lot of silly faces like these...

Jubilant Alexander

Alexander is such a bright addition to our family. He is ever cheerful and happy. Whenever he wakes up, we all flock around him, coo, babble, and laugh. We are always rewarded by grins, sweet baby noises, and kicking legs. We love you little one!

Please excuse the quantity of pictures...I want to remember all of his sweet expressions. I really did narrow it down...I just have an overactive shutter finger :)

This little girl...

Is so fun to have in our family! She is at a fun stage of learning and language exploration. She says the cutest things every day. I wish I could remember even half of them. I'm going to try to be better at writing them down just after she says them. The cutest thing she is still having a hard time pronouncing is her "sn-" and "sm-" blends. When a word begins with either of these, she breathes the "s-" through her nose. So "snow" is "s(mouth closed, exhale through the nose)-no". It is adorable!

Today, she was sitting, resting her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. She thoughtfully said, "Mommy, I weally want to be married."

I responded, "Oh! Who would you like to be married to."

Without hesitation, she replied, "To Aunt Jamie."

I just smiled. "That's nice, Essie."

Here are a few pictures of this sweet little girl in her favorite pajamas...too small, stained on the knees and elbows, they have just snuck their way into the trash can :)