Rubber boots

I was walking around with my camera today, trying to figure out what to take a picture of for my 365 project when Barrett suggested I take a picture of Kyle's boots. I might not have even noticed them because it's not a rare occurrence for him to be wearing them. But that's exactly the kind of thing I wanted to photograph. I am challenging myself to take a picture everyday so these things WON'T go unnoticed.

When I bought these boots at Janie and Jack 3 years ago, I made sure to buy them a couple sizes too big so the boys would get a lot of use out of them. Even though they were on clearance, I felt a little guilty about spending the money on them. (No, honey, they weren't THAT much.) Let me say, Kyle has gotten every penny's worth out of his. He wears them all. the. time. With shorts and a cape, with goggles, to school, to the store, in the snow, rain and sunshine. If he is willingly wearing something on his feet, (let face it, he'd really rather be barefoot) it's these boots. Money well spent.



Notice that they're on the wrong feet :)

Tummy Time

Annabelle is getting up on her hands and knees and rocking. She'll be crawling much too soon!

Look Mom, no training wheels!

Barrett learned to ride his bike without training wheels just before Christmas and I have video of it. The problem is that I cannot print a video so I needed to capture it with my camera. I remembered something I learned back in my college photography class--motion blur. This is where you hold the shutter open and move the camera with your moving subject keeping the subject sharp while blurring the background.
I held the shutter open for 1/60th of a second in this shot. If I had held it open a little longer (or if he was a bit faster on his bike) the background would have more motion blur, but I am happy that his face is as sharp as it is.



Speaking of Barrett, tonight he called the parmesan cheese "Farmer John cheese." hehe.

Chubby

If you've spent any time with my family, you know about Chubby, his mama, his daddy and even his dog! Today, the boys were laying on the floor making each other crack up doing Chubby. Love it! Chubby will never be forgotten.

SLIME!

Annabelle has started eating solids! I've been trying to feed her solids for awhile but she has just recently begun actually swallowing instead mushing out everything I put in her mouth. Last night I was feeding her mashed green beans and the boys were helping me to get her to open her mouth by making her laugh. Then they saw the baby food and started saying, "Ooooh Annabelle, don't eat that! Mom, why are you feeding her SLIME?" They kept shouting, "Don't eat the slime, Annabelle!" She would crack up and I would put another spoonful of slime, uh, I mean green beans in her open mouth. Feeding the baby is a team sport!

Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas. The boys are at a fun age and really get into all the traditions. We did a lot to celebrate and enjoy the season this year. The kids sat on Santa's lap twice. We all took a drive to look at Christmas lights and decorations and then ended up getting out and walking because the weather was so warm. We made cookies, searched for our elf, Buddy each morning, and we went to the Christmas Eve Service at church. At the children's service, the kids dress up as part of the Christmas story in the book of Luke. This year, the boys made crowns to wear so they could be the kings. Barrett went with a classic look for his crown whereas Kyle chose to go with a Rudolph-esque look for his crown.


Milk and cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!


Surprise! Christmas morning