304/365: Halloween!

We headed over to a friend's house for a Halloween party this evening. I have to admit that tonight was Isaac's first experience trick-or-treating. I just didn't have the desire to take him out in the 30-40 degree temperatures back in Spokane when he really wouldn't have understood what was going on anyway! I think that 3 was actually a really good age to start, because he did fabulously and had a great time. One sweet lady said "Thanks for stopping by, Buzz" and Isaac responded "I'm not Buzz... I'm Captain America!" (Not that he knows who Captain America is... nor do I really; my friend Google provided me with his catchphrases though.... "Stars and Stripes!" or "Avengers Assemble")

After trick or treating Isaac helped hand out candy and ran to the door every time the door bell rang, yelling "I have to say Happy Halloween!!!"

Grayden enjoyed visiting with his friend, Baby C, who is the son of one of B's college roommates.

303/365: Stuck

It was a rainy day and Isaac wanted to play outside. Poor kiddo.
In other news, Apple Care rocks. My MacBook Pro charging cord stopped working this morning, so we called, made an appointment with the local Apple Store and after a quick consult at the "Genius Bar" I walked out with a new cord, no questions asked. Pretty fabulous.

302/365: Umm...

I'm not quite sure what we did on Friday. I do know that I exercised for the fourth time in a week!

301/365: I Really Am An Adult Now

I woke up as a 30 year old (ahh!!) to this. I'm loving the morning light for photography lately. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that my boys are up by 7am each day. We used to sleep in until 8:30am. I'm not so sure I'm pleased with this new development. At least the sunrises are pretty!

Pretty flowers from B for my birthday.

300/365: Morning Steam

I wasn't able to figure out the settings to capture the steam in quite the way I wanted to. Hmm... I'll have to keep trying.

300 days- woohoo!

299/365: Dewdrops

I was just getting ready to do a Pilates video this morning when I noticed that there was dew outside! Thankfully B was still home and I could hand off Grayden, grab my macro and head out the door. You know the neighbors just wouldn't have had a complete day if they hadn't seen me outside on my hands and knees staring at the grass... I mean, who else would have entertained them???

And then this afternoon I made pumpkin cupcakes. Mmm... Cupcakes are not as hard as I thought. I need a bigger tip for my disposable piping bags, but it was kind of fun making these. I see more cupcake baking in my future :)

298/365: Fall is Here

It rained the entire weekend with winds up to 35 mph. Wasn't I just moaning about the lack of fall weather?? :) Today the brilliant sun returned and some leaves are starting to change colors, finally.

297/365: He's a Mover

This one is a mover. Friday= Started to Crawl, Saturday= Pulled up to full standing, Monday= Started to cruise the furniture. Hmm... At least he is super proud of himself and so quick with the smiles while he is getting into mischief :)

296/365: Goofball

He was trying to "see me" through the "cookies."

Shapes are in the cookie jar, triangle, heart and star. There's a circle over there, here's a square.

Anyone hear me on that? :)

295/365: At least some leaves have fallen

It feels like we may have moved to the land of perpetual summer... of all the trees in our neighborhood, maybe one or two have started to even change color. It's almost November! There is a park a couple miles away that we visited today... and apparently leaves do fall off trees here :) Of course, now that I'm typing this, the clouds have rolled in, the temperature dropped and it looks like it's going to rain!

294/365: Cheating

This wasn't taken, nor edited, on the day I'm posting it for. Oh well :) I haven't been feeling the inspiration to pull out my camera for the past few days. I think creativity comes in waves for me and right now I'm waiting for another wave to hit me!

293/365: Sippy Cup Love

This boy likes his water. I never gave Isaac a cup with handles, but decided to give Grayden a shot at one. He loves having the ability to give himself a drink.

292/365: One Bug

Out of an entire backyard, that must be teeming with bugs, this is the only one that cooperated. At least flies have pretty wings!

291/365: Challenging

My sweet, sweet little boy is starting to form opinions of his own. He has thoughts on the way things should go, plans of action for his time and definite preferences/dislikes for food. I listened recently, to a parenting educator who spoke about the importance of maternal expectations vs. the reality of their child's personality. We all come to the parenting game with a certain set of expectations, and most often the chid that we were expecting is not the child that we receive. The speaker noted that children flourish the most when mothers are able to set aside their preconceived ideas and wholly embrace the child in their home, as they are. Of course, we need to help our children learn to temper their impulses and mold any extreme behaviors into more beneficial ones... but I walked away convicted to do a better job of appreciating Isaac for exactly who he is. I'm not sure who is doing more growing up in this relationship, the parent or the child :)

290/365: Beef Stew

That little light over the stove does not create a very attractive lighting situation for food photography! However, this stew was fabulous. I'm so blessed to have a husband who cooks :)

289/365: Happy Shopper

Isaac really, really thought that he didn't want to accompany me to Target today. He's having a really tough time lately and it seems that everything I suggest is met with resistance. I finally did get him in the car and once he got in the red cart and we were in the store we had a good time browsing the clothes department and picking up the hangers, fruit bars, sippy cup and other odds and ends we needed.

I hardly ever (as in never, really) buy toys for the kids when they're with me... as that just isn't a habit I want to get into :) But I made an exception today and Isaac got to take home a new Play-doh set. He now has scissors and a "roller" and is just thrilled.

288/365: Friday :) Me

Working on dramatic lighting during naptime.

(and... it was a better day! We could still use more improvement, but hope has returned :))

287/365: Unique Pumpkins

Warty pumpkins have way more character than their smooth counterparts.

We had a "warty" kind of day around here. I'm trying to think of the challenges as an opportunity to grow and learn. Someday I'd like to be able to look back on days like this and appreciate the individual warts as a part of our story and catalysts for change for the better.

But right now, I'm just hoping for a regular-old-smooth-pumpkin kind of day tomorrow :)

286/365: First Bubble Bath

Grayden can sit up in the tub now and absolutely loves to splash and chew on rubbery bath letters. Dada deemed tonight bubble bath night, and I think Grady liked it.

ISO 2000 baby. I'm finally figuring out how to make high ISOs and noise reduction work!

285/365: 7 Months

I can't possibly believe he's 7 months old! I'll blink and be planning his 1st birthday party. This age is so much fun to photograph. Smiles and eye contact are easy to come by :)

284/365: Pumpkin Patch Take 2

We returned to the pumpkin farm again today. Isaac finally got to take the train ride he's been dying to take! We took pictures in the pumpkin field (a semi-bust. Too much sun and too little cooperation from kiddos.), took a stroll through the baby animal barnyard, petted and fed the goats (I still think I need one), picked up an apple pie and some cider, and chose our pumpkins. I think we'll have to go back one more time at least before the season is over.

283/365: Naptime Hijinks

Tape left in the top dresser drawer from previous bad-nap-habit retraining + no desire to nap = the above. Discipline with a straight face was difficult.

282/365: Dinosaur

He said "Mama, I'm a dinosaur!" Ok, buddy!

281/365: Personality (for jellybeans)

I'm telling myself it's ok, because I only give him one, to bribe my child with jellybeans for cooperation (aka- personality!) when I want to take some pictures. He's quite happy to work with me when the Jelly Belly jar is within sight. Of course, he did run over and sneak one when I was busy figuring out how I wanted to set up a shot... I think I'll have to keep that jar within sight, but out of reach :)

280/365: Patina

This is a failed attempt at a compositional technique I'm working on for an online photography class. I love the patina-d look of my ring on my finger... it looks a little beat up at macro closeness though :) I'm still in love with my ring- 7 years later. It's simple, timeless and elegant. 3 of my favorite words :)

279/365: Toothy Boy

Little munchkin had to endure a couple shots today. He was a trooper and only screamed on the second shot and stopped as soon as we picked him up. In other health related news, I have some sort of allergy/ cold thing going on. I guess tomorrow if it's still sticking around I'll call it a cold. Boo.

278/365: Before Dinner Walk

This unfinished development behind our house is the best place to take a walk! Smooth paved roads and sidewalks with no residents, cars or barking dogs. We learned today that they have sold 4 houses in the month they have been open for sales. Upon expressing our condolences for their low sales we were immediately corrected that that they are actually doing fabulously. Apparently, normal sales for a new development in the area are averaging 0.3 homes per week. Crazy California market!

277/365: Let's Give Macro Another Shot.... Indoors

Was anyone unable to access google/gmail/blogger last night? I just couldn't get on any of the sites! Frustrating.

Still subjects with controlled lighting are much easier to manually focus on :)

276/365: Clouds!

We've had temps above 100 for several of the past few days, but last night clouds rolled in and this was what the sky looked like this morning. The day that followed was much more comfortable at 80 some degrees.

275/365: Foggy Beach Day

We spent the day at the beach today. Well, really, we spent the day driving to and from the beach. But that was really ok, because the Bodega Bay area was enshrouded in fog today and Grady got cold and fussy after just an hour out on the sand. Isaac adored his time spent "diggin'" and we all enjoyed the cool, misty change of pace.

274/365: 3 Year Pics, Take 1

Today we were able to go out to breakfast as a family. I took the opportunity to do part 1 of Isaac's 3 year old pictures. He was hungry, so I only got about 7 minutes of cooperation, but at least a couple shots came together.

273/365: Willing Model

Grayden is too young to hold a grudge against the camera. All in good time, Buddy :)