I ♥ Faces Week 11 - "No Flash"

This week's theme at I ♥ Faces is "No Flash" I have really been working on taking natural light pictures lately and the other day I just happened to catch my son in a cooperative modeling mood. Well...sort of. He was using an empty Girl Scout Cookies box as a prop but I just love how the blue in the box brings out the blue in his eyes. If you look hard enough at his eyes, you can see the reflection of the sliding glass doors and the sunbeam on the floor. Pretty darn cool!

If you get a chance, go check out all of the other beautiful entries at http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ or click on the link below:

Black & White Batman

Remember how I told you Grant is addicted to playing Lego Batman on the wii? Well the other day after his birthday party he just HAD to come home and play his game while wearing his new Batman "clothes."

He gets so excited when he talks about the "bad guys" and how Batman SAVES THE DAY!

Sometimes I think he believes he has super powers when he has on his "clothes" and cape. But remember: 'You have to take off your cape and when you go to sleep and when you go potty cause you don't want to accidentally pee on it!'

My little Moo Moo loves to hang around with her big brother, but since she doesn't play Lego Batman very well yet she just climbs around and plays while the Punk is in his little trance! Can't you just see "Little Stinker" written across her forehead??!!

I sure am going to miss that look of excitement and wonder on my children's faces someday.

I am so happy that I have the opportunity to capture images of my kids practically ever day. Most people think I am nuts for taking so many pictures. I like to think of it as capturing moments in time. Plus, practice makes perfect...right?

I am also so thankful that I have to happy and healthy children. I sincerely believe that until you become a parent, you truly can not understand unconditional love. I have seen many families go through tough times and heartache and I pray ever day that our family never has to endure that kind of pain. But the worry never stops. Even as I type and the kids are in the next room playing I can't help but wonder what kind of trouble they are getting into. Hopefully the worst is getting Play Dough wedged in the cracks of our wooden floor!

On a more up-beat note. I have been practicing taking pictures without a flash. I just love the look of natural light. This is very hard to do in our house unless it is in our porch. Our house lets in light, but not enough for taking pictures, especially in the afternoon. I might have to invest in another lens for pics inside of our house I guess. I just hate the shadows that the flash causes most of the time.

Thanks to everyone for listening to me babble. This blog has become such a great outlet for me to document the every day things going on in our life. Hope you are enjoying it as much as I am!

Birthday Bash

As promised, (but a week later) here are the pictures from the 2nd annual Birthday Bash for Grant, held at Trobecs! Grant was sooooo excited for his party. He picked out the cake and the pinata and could not wait for the festivities to begin!

This is the infamous cake. This design was on display at the bakery and he just had to have one just like it. He was going for a Hot Wheels cake or Batman but this one really struck his fancy so he changed his mind. I actually think it is pretty cute.

Tootie was all psyched up for the party too. She was having a blast running circles around the table in her stocking feet and stealing the bat from Grant while we were waiting for everyone to arrive!

We ate Mr. Man's favorite food...PIZZA, for lunch and the it was on to the opening of gifts.

He was pretty pumped about his first two presents...wii games. That is his little buddy, Peyton, joining in the fun.

I just love how all of the other kids swarm around to see what is inside the colorful wrapping. Just look at the anticipation on their faces!

Grant was so busy and in constant motion the whole time...it was hard to get his to stop long enough for a picture so this is what I got.

He got so many great presents too! He was pumped because he got a couple of bat man action figures, a bat mobile, a stelth car/plane, a kite, markers and a coloring book, a spider man scooter, 2 wii games (Cars and Speed Racer), a swimming doll, an ATM machine piggy bank...oh-mi-gosh, he made a haul!

Oh, and then there was the highlight of the day... the baseball pinata! I stuffed it full of candy and all kinds of fun goodies. I blindfolded each kid and gave them a few swings at the target. Grant was first...

Then came little Peyton. My is he a little firecracker! This is where the story gets interesting. I put the blindfold on and as I was getting him into place I must have said "Okay, Peyton..." in reference to getting him squared away and I think he took it as "Okay Payton...swing" Well, that is what he did...swung and hit me square in the mouth. He felt bad, his Mom and Dad felt terrible and I was wishing someone would have caught it on videotape! I bet it looked hilarious :) I got a nice fat lip but it's all healed now so no worries! I think my husband thought it was the funniest of all...THANKS Honey!

Next came Emily, Grant's cousin.

And then finally, Meghan (Peyton's older sister). She was the one that actually did some damage to it. I was thinking she would bust-er open on her last turn but I ended up ripping into it and shaking the candy out for them.

There was so much candy and stuff that they were actually being PICKY about what they put in their goodie bags! Never seen that before! Here is Peyton wearing the broken pinata...isn't this adorable?!?

Oh, I forgot to mention, we also gave the Punk a pair of Batman jimmer jammers (he thinks they are clothes and there is no arguing with him) and the minute he opened them he insisted on putting them on. He put the shirt on right in the middle of everyone and then started to pull on his waistband and I said, 'Are you gonna drop trou right in the middle of everyone?' He suddenly realized everyone was watching him, got shy, and we had to go into the bathroom to finish getting dressed.

4 candles...my little boy is growing up!

You didn't think I would do another entire post without Tootie did you???? Little Miss really enjoyed the cake and ice cream. She ate an entire adult-sized piece and a scoop of ice cream all by herself! Maybe I should be calling her Little Miss Piggy!

This is the stillest the boys sat the entire time. Wild little monkeys!

On the left is my Aunt Kala and her oldest daugher, Olivia, in the middle is my friend from high school, Julie and her daughter Meghan (also Peyton's mama) and then that is my sister-in-law Julie on the right. Apparetly only Julie and Meghan listen when a person says, "Smile everyone"!

Here is Grandpa "O' and Grandma Sue. Must have caught her off guard too! Oops.

That is Kyle (Peyton and Meghan's Dad) and my hubby. Can you tell Duke REALLY likes Cash Wise cake with whipped frosting too?!?

Emily was a bit entranced with the crane machine. She has what I call a bit of an addiction to it actually.

She hung out by this machine the majority of the party, just hoping someone would give her $.50 so she could give it a try. How could you say no to those eyes????

Okay, second time a charm. Here are a couple of smiles emerging.

Here is my one appearance in a picture. I love my sweet, sweet boy!

Thinkin' of changing my hair again...what should I do this time...Lighter? Shorter? Hmmmm...
When we got home, Grant had to try out his new wii games.

Ohhh...the concentration!

And Sissy was up to her naughty old self!

She's like..."Who, Me??? I'm just a sweet little angel."

Both of my kids are blessing and little angels to me.

My cousin, Evan (who is 2 weeks younger than Grant) is spending the night tonight and the boys are having an ABSOLUTE BLAST playing together. Maybe twins wouldn't be so hard after all...well maybe if you could have them when they were 4 years old already! I have some great pictures from today to share. I'll try to get them up in the next couple of days so that Kala and Olivia don't feel like they are missing home so much (they left for France today for an 8 day trip.) Hope they are having a blast too!

Duke is at a bachelor party tonight, Audrey is asleep and I am going to go pop some popcorn and put in a movie for Grant, Evan and I.

Night-night!