JPEGs, Jeans & Jumping Beans

Bella's Kinderbike

2009-02-24T21:33:00.000-08:00

We bought Bella a new bike the other day- one with no peddles (and no training wheels)- called a Kinderbike (www.mykinderbike.com). The thought behind the bike is to focus the initial training on balance and steering, and once they have that down they can easily learn the peddling. She has been doing a fantastic job, even since the first time to be on the bike. It's amazing to watch her glide on it, sometimes running with it and sometimes pushing forward with both feet at the same time. We took the girls on a long walk through the park this past weekend and she rode the whole 2 miles really well. So I'm posting this cute (short) clip of her riding on the path. :)

day in the life...

2009-02-24T21:25:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in awhile, so now I feel like I have some catching up to do! There is always so much going on, so I'm just going to tell some of the more memorable events in our life and the life of our little sweet peas!

Today I was on 281 and some guy wasn't paying attention and rear-ended me. Luckily the girls weren't with me, even thought I wasn't hurt. I'm just not ready for them to experience that aspect of adult life. I told Bella about it when I went to pick them up from MDO and she could not stop telling random people that "somebody bumped our car". About 6 months ago Tres was pulling out of our subdivision and pulled out too far, so then decided to back up a bit (but didn't look behind him first). Of course there was a car behind him that he bumped into, so he had to jump out and apologize to the guy even though there was no damage. I truly believe that some events never leave the mind of a child. This was one of them (unfortunately for my hubby!). I would safely say that every other time we get into the car she reminds us not to "bump any cars" and always wants to know, "Mommy, are you driving fast?". She has the big sister thing in her blood. I think she will forever be our little "caretaker" of the family. Love it.

So yesterday I got the hot idea to clip the dog's hair (the one that sheds endlessly on my dark wood floor). I don't know what prompted this, maybe the constant cleaning of the floors and everything else that has her hair on it. What I thought would possibly be a 30 minute job turned into an hour plus of the girls playing in the sandbox and mommy clipping away on poor Roxy. I was proud when the job was done and the dog had MUCH shorter hair. What she would shed now would be so short I wouldn't even notice (hopefully). Of course, when I was done Bella says, "Mommy, why is Roxy's fur bumpy?" I just let her know that's how it's supposed to look. :) (Of course this is because I am NOT a dog groomer, nor do I aspire to be; stripes and bumps may occur when clippers are in the hands of someone who doesn't know what they're doing! Maybe some of my old friends will chime in- the ones who's hair I cut at camp or on mission trips many years ago. Bad idea to have two people cutting one person's hair- one on one side and one on the other. It's really neat-o when you guys finally meet up in the back of their head, but I can promise you that your sides will be different lengths. Shorter always trumps. Sorry, Lynn!

Backtracking, Friday Ava found me in my closet- her and her smelly diaper. I asked her if she had a dirty diaper and she didn't reply, but she did walk over to the toiled and back up to it, as if to climb up and sit down on it. So later on that day we got the little training potty out of storage to see what she would do. She sat on it a few times (clothes on) and then I took her pants & diaper off to see what would happen. Bella was so excited about teaching her little sister to potty. It was really cute. I asked her if she was gonna go TT and she didn't reply. Then she got off the potty, squatted on the floor next to it and peed. I guess we're moving in the right direction!

Happy Birthday, P!

2009-02-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

Last week I was so honored to photograph this cute little man that I met about this time last year. He has such great manners, listens so well, and has a very extensive vocabulary! You can tell he has great parents who spend lots of time with him. We had a lot of fun at his shoot (even though I barely had a voice) with mommy and grandma there. We mostly played with his fire engines, trucks and cars, but also watched him ride his tricycle. He insisted that he wear his helmet when on his bike, so we got a couple of funny pictures from that! :) Here are a few of my

favorites from our fun day!

Yay for me!

2009-02-16T17:58:00.000-08:00

I'm finally catching up with the rest of the world and starting a blog! I've been watching everyone else do this and just wasn't ready to take the plunge. It seems like a big commitment, but I guess I've realized that this is the best way to keep my life- photography, kids, husband, etc.- all rolled into one "update". I love milestones of any kind, but especially when it comes to my children (and also my work). I want to share this with whoever wants to read it! So, here we go!