Sensational Senior

I had the pleasure of doing K's senior photos yesterday, and when I say pleasure I truly mean it. I had a great time hanging around with her (as well as her buddy, A, and my dropped-from-the-sky-at-just-the-right-time intern, Danielle). I dragged those three all over town, had them tote bags and gear and asked K to do quickeroo clothing changes in random alleys, but they never seemed to mind. They were even polite when I showed my age by asking if "you'd wear that dress without pants under it." Oops.

As you can see, it was no trouble at all making this girl look good.

Hope you and your family like the peek. And good luck in the tournament this weekend!











And P.S.: Girls, tell me that cafe window wasn't worth the embarrassment!

Hot Diggity Dog!

While in Carmel last weekend, I took E over to Target. We love Target, and we were eager to escape the "droggy fizzle" that hung over the football field where the rest of our family was watching Menlo School take on Carmel High.

In an effort to buy some browsing time, I sent E across the aisle to look at some Halloween gear. BIG mistake.

My darling son had found the dog costumes. Yes, dog costumes. And he was adament that Crunch needed to dress up this year. I tried to shut it down, but he had his heart set on a hot dog or a lobster. I was allowed to pick. He swore he'd convince his dad that it was not at all a waste of money.

Yeah right, I thought. Good luck with that.

When we got back to the cabin, we decided that Crunch needed to try it on. To my surprise, we needed only to dangle a couple of treats in the air to get him to comply with our request. Not that he was thrilled, mind you.





Doesn't this shot say, "Lady, when will you be done humiliating me?"



Later, I cracked up when I walked in the room and found that Crunch had discovered a much better use for the hot dog suit:





What a silly family.

Rockin' the Pacific Grove Triathlon

Our family spent the weekend up in the Carmel/Pacific Grove area, combining family time with a triathlon that offered some challenges Brian and I had yet to face (ocean swim, anyone?).

We went over to the event on Saturday and checked out a couple of the Olympic Distance heats, while also scoping out the transition area and the chutes for coming in and out from the various race legs. The kids enjoyed it for the most part, but we definitely endured some whine-y moments. Jumping into the ocean solo started to have a certain appeal...













We learned that there were plenty of lifeguards around to keep us safe from ocean dangers (whew):



We saw where I, at least, would be headed immediately after finishing the race:



We watched some of the "elite" women take off on their swim. (Picture 80 or so women doing this same thing, and you'll have an idea of what it was like when MY heat took off on Sunday.)







Meanwhile, Foxy found a little "stage" and performed an impromptu dance routine for us. She sings a little ditty that goes "chicka-wow-wow" as she does her moves...



Later, E modeled his dad's swim headgear:



It was still dark when we got to the beach on Sunday morning (!), but light by the time we met up with our friend, Mark:



Almost ready to go:



Brian had an earlier heat time, so he was done and able to snap a few shots of me during the race:





And finally, some of the PG ambiance:



All in all, it was a fun weekend and an awesome event!

Mr. Soccer

I have to admit that when my oldest son opted not to jump into AYSO, I breathed a small sigh of relief.

Soccer games every Saturday? All fall? Definitely not my speed.

I prefer that on weekends we're in town (there's another thing! you have to stay in town!), we take a much more relaxed and flexible approach to our plans. He did try basketball, but at least that was during the winter and indoors and at any rate, he made it clear that his basketball career was very short. One year short. This AYSO thing pulls in most families for YEARS.

But when my younger son expressed an interest in playing, the mommy guilt kicked in. His good buddies were going to play, he seems like a fairly athletic kid, he's the middle kid and don't they tend to get overlooked, yada yada yada.

So we signed him up. Or rather, I had my husband stand in line with all three kids for 45 minutes one evening to sign him up. But I'm starting to think that his line-standing pain and the endless string of Saturdays on the sidelines will be worth it.

I mean, doesn't he look cute?

Grins, Giggles and Enough Energy to Power My House

So last night I was driving home from my most recent session thinking, "Somebody has GOT to come up with a way to turn kids' energy into something we can use. I mean, we all need to Go Green, right? How about putting a bunch of kids on some treadmills hooked up to my house and letting them generate the electricity to power up my DVR?"

Right? Wouldn't that put a dent in our greenhouse gas emissions?

Okay. Maybe not. Plus there are likely some child labor laws deeming that an incredibly bad idea.

But seriously, so many times I marvel at the energy and enthusiasm that kids have in spades. And the kids I got to hang with last night were no exception. They basically had two speeds: fast and faster. It was a wild ride trying to keep up with them!

Here's a little sneak peek for their parents. Honestly, this will be a fun session to edit. There are so many action shots -- some of my favorite to capture and share with families. I have a feeling that the final gallery will be a great reflection of the spunky, silly, loving dynamic that this family has goin' on.

Summer in the Rearview Mirror

With the flurry of school notes and homework and playdates and soccer practices, it already feels (to me, at least) that summer is long gone. Because of that, I spent a little extra time lingering over images like these as I worked on that room project I mentioned in the last post. Sigh.

I also wanted to try out a little rounded-corner trick I got from another photographer. Hence, their appearance here on the blog. ;)

Another Couple From the Files

So I'm working -- slowly but surely -- on redecorating E's room. Among other things, I'm enlarging some of my favorite "action shots" of his for display on his walls.

While looking for some of those images tonight, I came across these little gems from the summer. The yahoos were about to go in to see Foxy's first movie in a theater, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. The theater staff told us it was in 3-D and gave us these nifty glasses. For the record, the movie looked exactly the same to me when I took off the glasses, but they sure did make for a funny snap before we went in to take our seats.

Anybody Need Some Baby Gear?

A couple of months ago, we dedicated most of a weekend to clearing out our storage room and cleaning out the garage. We felt good about our accomplishments, and everything looked pretty good... except that a lot of our old baby gear -- A LOT -- ended up getting parked right in the middle of the newly cleaned garage.

The pile of stuff prohibited Brian from parking in the garage, leading to the previously blogged about Very Bad Morning. My car is now back from the body shop and Brian's is about to go in. He told me in no uncertain terms that when his ride is back to its former glory, HE'S PARKING IT IN THE GARAGE. And that apparently I'd agreed to sell the stuff online. Huh.

So this morning I hauled a bunch of the stuff out of the garage and took some quick photos to post on craigslist. There are a few decent things in the lot, including a very pretty Graco bassinet that looks brand-new (minus one insignificant little piece that we can't find, rendering it unsellable to the local resale shop). Our younger two slept in it for their first few months, but you would never know. The thing really does look great. And it has lots of sentimental value to me, so I want it to find a nice home.

Anyway, if you know of anyone who'd be interested in the bassinet, rocking horse, bike trailer, tricycle, or an unpictured wooden high chair, drop me an email or give me a call. The hubs is starting to get cranky. I'm expecting my camera equipment to start disappearing a piece at a time, replaced by cut-and-pasted ransom notes left under my pillow.

Complete Goofball

I was going through my files from the past month, trying to clean up my hard drive and get organized. I came across this little gem and couldn't resist tossing it up here.

After my most recent newborn session, I was taking apart my studio set-up and Foxy insisted that I take a quick break and photograph her in the leftover prop basket. Her face just makes me laugh... and reminds me of pictures of myself at the same age. This apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Rounding Out the Year

Around these parts, Daddy is the last one to celebrate his birthday each year. I kick off the family b-day celebrations at the start of spring (okay, so it's technically still winter, but I like to pretend that my birthday marks the start of spring... even if it's raining cats and dogs outside). Then the kids go boom-boom-boom. (We clearly didn't put a lot of thought into that one, as the back-to-back-to-back shopping and parties about do me in each year). Then, after all of that, it's Dad's turn.

Last year we spent his birthday at a family wedding, and while we did enjoy a night in San Francisco after the nuptuals, this year we tried to make it all about him. He got to hang with his kids and do a little fantasy football drafting. Then we did his favorite thing: We barbequed in the backyard.

There were some tasty things and some not-so-tasty things.



And there ended up being plenty of little helpers when it came time to deconstruct the cake. And lest anyone give me credit for that masterpiece, let me make it clear that it was yet another masterpiece from Amy Van Brasch -- cakemaker, neighbor and friend extraordinaire.





When posting these snaps, I realized that there were some awesome hair-dos on hand, thanks to a couple of the big kids. Foxy's new favorite game is "Beauty Shop," and since it kept her occupied for a good chunk of that evening, I'm not complaining. There were also quite a few crazy hats on heads around the table. But as anyone who knows my husband well would say, it wouldn't be a celebration of Brian without hats. I'm just surprised that he didn't end up busting out his personal collection for the grown-ups. :)