The Boys' Triathlon, Part I

I am splitting this post into two because I am too tired and lazy to edit any more photos tonight. I'd much rather flop on the couch and catch another episode of Friday Night Lights (our new TV obsession... and yes, we're way behind the times in that regard).

Anyway, this past weekend the boys tackled the kids' version of the Tinley Triathlon out at Lopez Lake. Evan had done it last year and was fired up to do it again. Noah was happy to make the minimum age requirement this year. Actually, he was one of only two participants who were under nine!

They both had a great time and -- most importantly -- great attitudes. They just cruised along and did their thing and pronounced the whole experience a lot of fun. That's my boys. :)

If you're interested in the video footage, you can check this out. Please excuse the couple of minutes during which Foxy takes over videographer duties. It's a little Blair Witch-y if you get my drift.

Here are the first half of the photos I snapped...







Getting their transition areas all set up:











I love that the girl who did their body markings got E's age wrong and just crossed it out and wrote in the correct number:







And lastly, a family shot taken and sent to us by the thoughtful Meg Taylor (whose oldest son is a triathlon machine):



It's rare that I actually make it into a photo around here!

Like I said, I'll get the remaining photos online tomorrow. I'm sure there are some family members who'll appreciate seeing the whole set.

Soccer Debut!

File this one under "posts that are 99.9% for the grandparents"...

Foxy started soccer this fall, and while the jury's out on whether this will be a sport that she sticks with long-term, she is definitely enjoying her little team and is having a very good time on the field. It helps that her team is made up of good buddies and her coach is terrific.

Technically, this was their second game, but it was the first time I brought along my camera. So, soccer debut!











Full disclosure: These photos might make her seem like a bit more of a playmaker than she actually is. I'd rank her fifth of five on the intensity/aggressiveness scale, but like I said, she's having fun, and she was getting in there and mixing it up a little more this week than last. We're proud of her, in any case. :)

These Two Are Two!

Long time, no see.

Right?

I have completely neglected the blog over the last month or so, for a variety of reasons. I won't bore you with the laundry list, since we all have enough of our own lists and excuses. What we don't have enough of is photos! And what's better than photos of these guys??

K & K have been a part of my life -- my photo life and then my real life -- since they were born two years ago. It was an honor to capture their changing faces every month of their first year, and their mom recently told me that while so much of that year is a blur, her memories of those photo session mornings are distinct and precious. Tomorrow is their second birthday, and to celebrate, we took the boys out to Mission Plaza and let them run around.

Get ready for a BIG preview. I just can't help myself. :)

At first, we got the smoldering, serious looks. Well, I guess toddlers don't smolder, but can't you just imagine these guys wowing the ladies in a couple of decades?











When mom busted out their skateboards, things got a lot more playful. I was FLOORED by how coordinated these dudes are -- and how BRAVE -- when they're on their wheels. The looked around for any sloping surface, and then they were off.



















After skateboards, we cruised around and explored. Despite their insane physical skills, they still take stairs like any normal two-year-olds: on hands and pudgy knees.











After that, it was just pure silliness. It was so fun to watch these guys goof with each other. What a special bond twins have...







HAPPY BIRTHDAY, boys! I'll be thinking of you tomorrow and can't wait until we play again...

(Oh, and here's a little link if you want to see their first birthday post.)

A Business Update & The First Day(s) of K

First of all, a quick business item...

I've now closed the calendar to new bookings for the remainder of 2011. If you'd hoped to schedule a family session or a newborn session or a birthday appointment for a little one, please accept my apologies and know that I truly wish I could take every possible booking. I love sharing in your family's milestones and capturing those special memories. Unfortunately, the reality is that my time is limited and at this point, I balance work with a very busy family life. I never want to shortchange my clients or my family, and so I need to be mindful of not overextending myself. I hope that you understand and are able to maintain balance yourself -- whether it's work, the start of school, new lessons, sports seasons, a combination of these, or whatever else has you occupied this fall.

Moving on to the purely personal side of things, and because a post is never complete without a photo (or two or three...), here is some documentation of the Clausen kids' first couple days of school. On a side note: Thank goodness the first week was a short one! I'm not sure which family member was most tired last night, but we were ALL in the running...

A quick shot of all three before we headed in to their new classrooms:



And then the focus fell mostly on the little miss, who was starting kindergarten -- and was practically bursting with excitement about it all.













The next day was her first time riding the bus, so I brought my camera to the bus stop to capture a little bit of that as well:



Could that backpack be any bigger?? She wanted one with wheels, and it sure looked smaller online...







And she was off!

The first three days of school, at least, we great ones for all three Clausen kids. Let's hope the remainder of the school year is as fun and as smooth...

Ballerina Girl

Foxy performed in her second ballet recital this past weekend, right on the heels of our big family road trip. I was a little worried that she'd have some trouble -- she'd missed the last four classes leading up to the show -- but with the help of a friend who emailed us a video of the dance, she knew her stuff and was thrilled to perform. It helps that the teacher takes the stage along with kids this age!

She wasn't into taking many photos, as she much preferred to get her fanny backstage and hang out with the performers. But I did snap a few, just to document how very grown up she seems in full costume and make-up.











And the venue didn't allow videography or flash photography, not that that stopped a lot of the parents in the audience. I'm a rule-follower, though, so I was grateful for my flashless still camera.





Today she has her pre-kindergarten doctor's appointment. School starts in just eight days!

Long Time No See

Are you one of the handful of people who read my post awhile back which declared I would blog every day for the rest of the summer? And did you wonder what the heck happened to that promise?

Well here's my answer in a nutshell: I was crazy.

Actually, I did know that I had a couple of exciting trips coming up, and I thought that with that kind of material, it would be a lot of fun to post a few shots each day. But blogging from the road is harder than I thought. First, the logistics of travel, plus the time change and access issues in England made it a challenge to keep up daily blogging while there. So I kind of failed right out of the gate.

Then, when I returned from the UK, I ran smack dab into a hard reality: I had THREE DAYS to prepare my family for a two-week RV road trip. As I sat down that first morning with my cup of coffee and my notepad, the to-dos rapidly stacked up and before I knew it I had 39 on the list. And the list just kept getting longer.

And then. Then! I did hit the road for the RV trip, and I blogged those camera snaps from the first night. But I also spazzed and thought that I would be a HUGE dope if I broadcast to the world -- aka, the dozen or so people who might stumble onto my blog -- that we'd be out of town and our house would be sitting empty for two whole weeks. Doesn't that just scream, "Why don't you bust in and take the few valuables I have?" Not that anyone reading my blog is that kind of a person, but hey... You just never know how things will go.

However, I did want to share photos of our trip with friends and family, and I did want to keep up blogging, so I set up a new site and sent the address to my mom and Brian's mom and a few others. And now that our trip is coming to a close and our house will be reoccupied in short order, I figured that it made sense to post the link to that second blog here.

If you've read this far, and if you have any interest in seeing a lot of vacation pics of these little nut jobs, then by all means click here.



And please accept my apologies if you happened to have been sitting around these last few weeks, waiting for me to make good on that promise. I hope you had other, more trustworthy people keeping you company here on the Internet. :)