My kids, again!

We went to Como Zoo today. I grew up going to Como - It was wonderful! It's so much more kid friendly than the MN Zoo (of which we are members... so no Zoo bashing here), partly because it's smaller, so it's easier for little legs. I didn't have to carry anyone out of the park! We had a ball. Here is Jacob, in charge of his siblings, headed toward the entrance. He managed to get them turned around to indulge his mom's desire to snap a photo. Sarah really is there underneath that baseball cap. She wanted to wear one, since her brothers were, but all I had for her was my MN Gopher Hockey cap. She couldn't really see well at all ; )



We had fun looking at the HUGE Gorillas in the primates building. When we walked out of the building, Jacob and Tommy began singing a favorite Veggie Tales Silly Song, the lyric is this "If it doesn't have a tail it's not a monkey - even if it has a monkey kind of shape - if it doesn't have a tail it's not a monkey, if it doesn't have a tail it's not a monkey it's an ape!"

So, the natural follow up question from Mom: "was the Gorilla a monkey or an ape?" They considered it for a moment - and with a good amount of confidence announced that it was an ape. Good job, boys. Thanks Veggie Tales : )



I was just musing about technology with my dad. He told me that when my Grandmother was born, commercial radio was not even on the air yet. And here are my kids, fewer than 90 years later, playing on a computer together. Jacob told me today, "my game isn't loading. Maybe if we turn it off and turn it back on again, it will work." Of course, it did. We'd expect that of a kid in this generation. My first computer was a IBM 486. It had just about enough power to type a letter. I thought I was pretty cool! It didn't have spell check, and I typed a whole paper about education and spelled it "edjucation." The irony.



We go to the pool a bit in the summer (yes, it really is warm enough for that in MN) and while the kids LOVE the water, I think sometimes they love the snack bar more!

A man of many dimples : )

I had trouble choosing which of these to pick... this was such a fun session! I photographed this little guy for the first time about 3 months ago, when it was cold and we were stuck inside. I don't think I've ever seen dimples like this little guy has. Amazing!

Baby JD

This little guy was out cold for most of his session. He shut his eyes just as I walked in his front door. He was about 3 weeks old here and just adorable! I had the privilege of photographing his whole family about 2 months ago when I came to do his mom's maternity session. It always such a treat to see the little person who was growing inside : ) Oh, and thanks to his parents' sense of adventure - we took a few in the long grass of their backyard. Truly a backdrop I never considered for a newborn!

Look what I found in my inbox today

I opened my email this evening, after teaching all night and missing my kids' bedtime. In it was 9 email notifications that I'd received an e-card. I'd received 9 e-cards from my son, Jacob. Jacob is 4 and has access to a laptop set up for the kids. Apparently, he asked Brad this morning for my email address, written on a piece of paper. He did this all by himself, and I am a proud mom.

Connor's Slideshow

I met Connor and his family when I did his newborn photos. One month later they invited me into their home to do a Lifestyle Kids session and capture how much he'd grown, as well as some wonderful photos of his beautiful big sister. He's so blessed to have her! I had so much fun with them. Enjoy!




Oh, and by the way, I am home in Minnesota now!

Getting ready to head home

Well, since arriving in Arizona 7 weeks ago, I've been largely silent on my blog... working 13 hour days will do that. But, things are up and running here - thanks to my amazing team of photographers - and we're looking at heading home next week. I've learned lots of amazing things here, not the least of which is that 85 degrees in the dark with no humidity is actually pretty cool. And by "cool" I mean "chilly," as opposed "neat," although that adjective also applies. This comment is largely for the Midwesterners reading this blog, who have long made fun of people from the south/southwest. The other thing I learned is that it takes a lemon a really long time to ripen on a tree. We have a lemon tree in our back patio area at the house in which we are staying. The kids and I have been watching the same lemon ripen since we got here. It's just about ready!

Yesterday I killed my first (and hopefully last) scorpion. I really have no issues with bugs, I am usually the appointed bug-handler in our house. But, I must admit, that was a bit much for me. Tommy got into a tussle with some fire ants about a week ago. At first, they had the upper hand (and have left the bites to prove it), but then Tommy introduced them to the fountain he was playing in - and they lost. All of that said, I've not seen one mosquito! ; )

Our team here consists of four amazing women, I am so blessed to have them in our world. Heather, Laura, Jacqueline and Michelle make up the photographic talent of First Day Photo Arizona, and are a wonderful team to build on! Laura had us come to a favorite photo spot the other day to do some family photos a la Arizona. Here are just a few. THANK YOU LAURA! Jacob was in his typical "I hate pictures" form (at least he wasn't asking her to erase them... sometimes that's the direction he goes), so we had to get creative! Enjoy - and think of us next week with our little ones - ROADTRIP!

The boys

Here's a rare photo of our boys. They have to have equal time, you see. The last post was a photo of their sister : )