Double the Sweetness

For Anderson's second grade year he had an amazing, brand new, single woman as a teacher. She was awesome. And through the years she got married, taught Cayden in second grade and had a beautiful little girl, Avery, just a few weeks after Branson was born. (We are planning a play date as soon as possible!) This year Sydney has the pleasure of having her as a teacher! Jamie is amazing...I have always thought so, but after seeing this new mom of twins in action...WOW.

I had no idea how hard it was going to be to get shots of newborns...times two. I guess for your first ever baby photo shoot it's probably not smart to have double the infants.

The baby girls are beautiful! They are named Audra and Addisyn. They are so tiny as both of them have just cleared the 5 pound mark. It is wonderful to see that at just a few weeks they both already have such distinct personalities. I couldn't tell them apart, but according to Jamie, Grandpa can tell every time. After retouching all these photos I have noticed that one of them has a tiny little freckle on the side of her nose! (I think it is Addisyn)

Jamie, her sister in law Michelle, and I worked together for two hours to get some shots of the twins. We were all very patient with each other...I had a hard time with the angles and lighting and the babies were not in the mood to be models (what baby is?) I am not thrilled with the clarity (I had to turn my ISO way up) so we are going to try again in a few weeks at my house with the big picture windows. I told Jamie that we'll just keep trying till we get it right.

Good Night...Not a Chance

Branson turned two in November but I am all for keeping my toddlers in a crib for as long as possible. Why rush fighting them to "stay in bed" when you can plop them behind bars and off to sleep they go?

We went out of town this weekend and while we were staying in the hotel we used a Pac-n-Play for Branson. The short sides couldn't hold him and he climbed out immediately after we put him in. On our drive home I laughed and said "Hey John, you don't think this will give him the notion that he can climb out of his crib?"

Fast forward several hours later. Two seconds after placing Branson in his crib he was hanging precariously onto the top rail...both legs straddling the bed post. I stood there closely to see what he would do, all the while saying, "Branson, no no you will fall down and get bad owies." (Yeah right mom.) I had to see what he would do because I didn't want to have him try getting out later when I wasn't around. He successfully and rather gracefully dropped to the ground, landing on two feet. With a gigantic smile on his face he ran down the hall. I put him back in his crib and he repeated his acrobatic moves only to cut his escape time by half. None of my kids have ever climbed out of the crib. I'm older now! I need my sleep! So with my youngest brother in need of a crib and worries that Branson would fall and get hurt we did the unthinkable...

We brought in the toddler bed. And thus began the battle...the long "stay in bed" "get back in bed" "mommy will only lay down with you for a minute" battle. And the past two mornings...his bed has looked like this. Empty. And where oh where is Branson? Where did he disappear to in the middle of the night?

Can you say PHOTOGENIC?

On Monday I had the honor of doing a session with some of the most gorgeous, fun-loving kids ever...take a look at the Bunger Family:

Now Where is That?

Sunday is a day of rest. Can someone please tell me where in the scriptures it defines rest as "drop everything and do nothing and leave it for mom on Monday."

***WARNING***

Disclaimer:

There are a lot of proud Mom Moments on this post. Be advised that these views are the sole feelings of an excited mother and not to be confused with bragging, boasting and all other wrongful doings.

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MOM MOMENT #1

As I said before, Anderson got his first WIN in has last wrestling match. But yesterday he got his very first PIN!!!! I was so excited I couldn't stop screaming! (And no I didn't look like a crazy lady...everyone else was screaming and yelling too :)_______________________________________________________
MOM MOMENT #2
If you look very closely at this photo you will see Cayden on the far left. He has already landed after jumping to shoot the ball but before he shot he was outside the three point line. You can see the ball below the scoreboard and directly above the "wrestling" sign. Cayden had 4 games on Saturday and he hit between 3-4 three pointers in each game. He practices all the time. He lifts weights after school and shoots with his Dad daily.
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MOM MOMENT #3

When I sat down at the computer last night there was a word document open. It was another one of Sydney's stories, only I had booted her off the computer before she had gotten far. I am constantly finding stories and comics that she has written and left around the house.

This is what I found:

"I was a young fellow with long, brown hair, green eyes, and a strange curve for a mouth. Having that curve wasn't so delicate, until I found out it was a gift."

(Where on earth does she come up with these ideas?)

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MOM MOMENT #4

Branson is learning to share and play nice.

That Time of Year Again...

Trash to Treasure Book Fair Think I can get them organized and priced before John comes home and sees the mess I've made?

Pre-Teen Trauma

Cayden had four basketball games on Saturday and by Game number four Branson had spent enough time in the gym. We headed out to the hallway where he spotted the rows of High School Lockers. He fiddled with the combination lock...
And when his right hand didn't make it open he tried using the left.


When neither tactic produced results he did what every teenager does when they can't get their locker open...
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.
.
.
.
.
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He cried.

Winner And A Show

Anderson won his first wrestling match yesterday! This is his first year and he is really improving (and actually starting to like it.) After the match Anderson and I went on a "date" to an amazing performance by the Pasco High School 10th Avenue Singers. Anderson enjoys singing and has a great voice. I like that he had the opportunity to see other cool, masculine, young men sing and dance up on the stage.
Anderson was a bit embarrassed when I had someone take our picture at the show. Maybe I'm not as "cool" a mom as I thought I was.

Dibble, Dabble, Learn

So I attended the photography class in Seattle. I have read and reread my notes. I know what I am supposed to do but I still get flustered when the lighting is low and my subject is moving. But the more and more I use the manual setting I am seeing less and less of photos like the one below.I am thrilled to be able to shoot inside a gym with horrific lighting and no flash and get decent results.
I am still fine tuning things but I was pleased with how these pictures of Branson turned out. It was about 5:00 in the evening and the sun was setting fast. I know some of them are a bit over or under exposed and I would normally fix that in photoshop before putting them on my blog but then that would defeat the purpose of this particular post.
Branson checking out the teenage girls who were acting like...well, giggly teenage girls.

I was still using manual focus and I'm going to give that up for a while. His hand is more in focus than his eyes. And the eyes should always be in focus.I have learned to appreciate the non smiling photos. They tell so much!

Now if only I could spend hours and hours behind my camera instead of doing laundry, running errands and getting things done for Cub Scout Day Camp.