Brady

This baby was just lucky it didn't find its way home with me. I fell in love with him!

Everytime Brady's older sister and CJ play, I kid her and say, "so Kaylee, you coming home with me right?" And then the sweet smile wipes off her face and she really gets scared, like I am serious. I mean, look how much fun we have together. This was when Brady was eating, and Kaylee was "eating" the camera!But I would take her home she is sooo good and sweet, and I love her. And now I have one more of her to love.

I lost two pounds!

(Well I sorta cheated)

My sweet teaching friend, Nancy Chung,  inspired me to do something I wouldn't have ever thought to do. Kindness is contagious. If this inspires you, comment about something you did and who knows, maybe it will catch on!

For Brooke

A small sneak peak as I am editing your photos.
PS I love your babies!!

I am trying my hardest, but....

i cannot keep my son from eating dog food. And it kills me, because it takes all my energy to see that he doesn't get hit by a car running away from me, or is friendly but cautious of strangers, that he eats healthy food all day like carrots and apples, and then the area I am failing hugely at is the snacking on our labs meals.

Successes; 1. Locking the door in which we store the food with dead bolt.
2. Explaining in great detail that it will make him sick.
3. Giving him the responsibility in feeding the dogs.

Failures: 1. Giving him the responsibility in feeding the dogs.

He usually asks me, "mamma, just one, one, just one." But tonight, after dropping the bowl of dog food on his way to give it to our lab, he gracefully snatched a handful and started munching away furiously so that I couldn't stop him. What could he possibly like about it? I mean he doesn't even eat chicken! Even after brushing his teeth, he still smelled like my dogs.

Well these two boys were a blast, and I am sure their mamma has some stories to tell about them at three. I will just say now that I was thrilled that they were looking for something other than a smile and perfection. She said to me, "Noel, I am looking for something that is just them, who they are right now." And that "them" was hillarious. We climbed trees, went on the swing, ate oranges, wrestled, jumped, raced, played leap frog, and had a BLAST! Oh, and if you are looking for framing, Kerri is over at Framer's Workshop in Lake Forest, and they do a BEAUTIFUL!! job. I have used them many times.

OC Mama, that's me!

How cool did these people make me look!
But really, these parties have been tons of fun.
Thanks Arianne!

My Friend Steph...

A photographer once put it in words how I felt. "taking photos is my love language" deep , I know. Couln't possibly have come up with that one on my own.
But honestly, I so loved taking pictures for my friend Stephanie and her very own J, aka Jason.

Steph took my classroom over when I was pregnant with CJ. She was AWESOME! Luckily, she got a job teaching on the same team as me. She never even had that first year teaching catastrophe stories that I so remember. She was born for this job. She is the glue of our second team, she is so in love with her kids, and truly wants the best for them. And you should see her post-it collection!

And then she goes and gets engaged!! So excited for the two of them. Santa Monica was a blast! Thanks for hanging out with me.

Trading Places

So we are driving to the beach, and i am as nervous as can be. I am not sure if we are wearing the perfect outfits, or if my chin blemish will be too noticable, or if CJ will actually behave, and I know we are soooooo late, and I really want these pictures, but don't actually know if it really worth all this.

But it is.

Because now I have a few photos to have in my house proving that Cj is not the product of a single father home. Some pictures that will remind me the special time that this is in our family.



Thank you Michelle! We are so happy with the photos, and we will charish them always.

And to my clients, I am totally getting you now!

Ready....set.....what?

So yup, in a family of three sweet girl cousins and one RAMBUNCTIOUS boy, "ready, set, go", pretty much looks like this.

And what is an egg hunt with out documentation from both angles.

Sonia is so close to doing it all on her own.

And Rainn slept through the whole thing. Mostly in his mama's pouch.

But the best part of my easter was the 90 degree weather, and all the big kids stipping down for some water fun. Time with family is such a blessing to me. I am thankful for all my nieces and one little nephew!

An answer to prayer

One of the best things about teaching is the collaboration you have with colleages. You bounce ideas off of them, you get ideas on how to get your kids to behave better, and you laugh about the things at your job that only YOU could find funny as a teacher.

Entering into a new profession, I felt like I was on an island working on my own. Sure, I could make a long distance phone call to my parents begging for photoshop help, but it is not the same as a real live friend in the flesh who can help you out. So I prayed that one would come my way......

Along came Michelle Nicoloff, fellow photog. Michelle can laugh at my mistakes, can tell me hers, but more importantly, we share the ideas, and joys we have in this job. I am so truly blessed to have her in my life. It was also an honor to be able to photograph your four beautifuls. What craziness, what fun!

My life is a TV show

Sometimes I feel like my life is syndicated programming. Like when I am in the grocery store, and CJ just won't listen to me, as if he has suddenly lost all hearing in his ears. And as he runs away from me with the glass jar of spaghetti sauce, I at least know that when I get home to review the tape, some lady with a strong British accent will give me some pointers and advice on better disciplining him. Or when I sit at my cluttered desk, instead of picking up everything around the office, I hope someone will waltz in and tell me that under fifty bucks, they will transform this space into a fabulously hip organized room fit for the pages of Martha Stewart Living. But as the family went shopping this afternoon, and I left my husband and CJ to return some things I came back to see CJ riding the carousel with his dada up there on a horse next to him. He was saying something to CJ that was making him crack up, and then my life was a sweet hour long show, where the biggest problem is that someone didn't feed the dog, and the happy family ate dinner together every night. And it made me happy to think we would have such great commercials at our breaks, like Hallmark, or Master card. They both saw me, and as they turned the corner, I heard my husband say to CJ, "wanna trick mama?" When they came into view, CJ had his daddy's sun glasses and sweatshirt draped on his head, and my husband had CJ's tiny little sweatshirt plopped on his. Neither were laughing. I was laughing hysterically. And I thought, I can only hope there are lots of reruns!

Camera phone

Fantabulously beautiful!

My baby sister...
is having a baby!
This will be CJ's third cousin in four months! I wish I could have shot all three sisters pregnant at the same time, but this skinny little girl didn't even look pregnant three months ago.

Who can be skinny and fat? such a conundrum. One that answers "not me" in my book. I gained over 80 ponds with my boy. Somehow I thought I would give birth to a 50 pound child. Maybe the Carl's Jr. Chili Cheese fries had something to do with it! (and they are back by the way!)

She is another radiant beauty in the family of fertile princesses!

Love ya tiff!

March Favorite Image Contest!!!

Go ahead, try and chose a favorite from these adorable faces.
It was hard enough narrowing it down to these seven!

Miss O
Kiss

Brothers

Buddah

Fun

Ride

Flowers