moss

On our anniversary weekend Pat and I took a walk around the Winona Lake area. We both had cameras in our hands and did a walk of our own, just like Shutter Sister's walk at BlogHer.

I kept finding moss everywhere and kept taking photos of it. It amazed me how moss can grow on something as strong as concrete. The contrast of the green on mostly the concrete surfaces made the area vibrant. Some would say it made it look old but I saw it differently. It seemed fresh and lively, bringing new live to something old.

Check out other best shots this week at Mother May I.

coke ad

We had a great weekend at the lake with Pat's extended family. I have a ton of photos but need to let Pat on the computer so more to come later!

In the meantime though here's Pat's cousin's daughter, so I think that makes her our second cousin or Zane's second cousin? Whatever, she's a cousin! She was just standing there watching all the boys play on the beach. She was very serious about her coke.

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cuts. bruises. gashes. more cuts.

This is a simple little gash here, but I feel like Zane's forehead is a perpetual showing of the klutziness I have passed onto him.

He can't seem to figure out that when I'm unloading a car and the door is open, to look up and your head won't go straight into it. Or that walking around looking at your shadow is not always the best choice when door frames, corners and other hidden obstacles jump out at you! That dogs don't always see you coming, most things have sharp corners and pavement does leave a nice mark on any part of your body that hits it. Trust me, my forehead has hit pavement in recent years and I remember! (Long story on that one!)

But then I think there's something to all these cuts, bruises and gashes. He's exploring and it shows. Though the majority of the exploring is with his head down watching his shadow, the way the lines in the pavement go or the bugs on the ground, he's still exploring.

Check out other Best Shots over at Melody Slurping Life.

birth control

Pat and I talk all the time about having a second child. We have so much fun with Zane and think it would be fun to add to that chaos! However, we then have days like this one. Zane has entered the tantrum stage and then we think, "Do we really want to do this again?" The drama is actually pretty funny but frustrating at the same time. Here is our lovely Zane as shows us his acting skills after being put in time out over and over again for stomping his feet, chasing and hitting Truman with his push toy and the list goes on and on. I think every action is a test now. I thought this didn't start till age two!!!

And yes, I took photos of him in this lovely stage and video too! I think why just document the pretty when there's sometimes ugly too!

Check out other best shots over at Melody's.

Parker's Almost One!

In the midst of starting my own photography business I'm using this blog to post some previews while Pat designs my logo and new photography blog. No pressure, Pat, I mean, yes pressure...I want a new blog!!! :)

So I get to share with you photos I'm taking here in the meantime! Ignore the fact that they aren't super big photos like I'd normally like to have!

Parker is my friend Jenni's adorable son. He is just 5 months younger than Zane so the two of them will be getting into so much trouble together. I was laughing the other day thinking about when they're old enough and Jenni and I tell them funny stories about our college days together! But that's not for a REAL long time that they'll be hearing those!

Check Parker out, like you can miss him with those EYES!

I love the wee bit of drool in this photo...working on those teeth!

I love this photo!!! There's just something about catching a moment when a child cracks up Mom and Dad!

The best part about outside photos is all the cool stuff to play with!

More favorite photos!

EYES EYES EYES!

This picture just cracks me up!

Lance's photos with Parker are super cute but I am so in love with this one with Jenni and Parker!

We'll let this last shot be my best shot for this week. Check out other Best Shots at Mother May I.

fires

We drove over to Ohio this weekend to take pregnancy photos of Pat's brother and his wife, Kristi along with some other family photos too. On our way over we came around a bend in the highway and Pat and I both saw this huge cloud of smoke. We didn't think anything about it till we got a bit closer and saw a huge ball of fire go up into the sky. As we got closer explosions kept happening and we realized it was a truck cab on fire. It was crazy! It looked like something right out of a movie. Pat of course grabbed the nearest camera (we had three in the car) and shot some pics of it. As we passed it on the opposite side of the highway our side of the car facing the fire fogged up and the windows were hot to touch. I don't know how people were still passing right next to the truck. We got very lucky because moments after we passed they blocked both sides of the highway and shut it down. I can't seem to find out the news on it but my grandpa said he heard about it and it seemed like no one was in the truck, I certainly hope not.

As the weekend went on Zane got way off his schedule...and there was the fire wrath of an off-schedule Zane! We never know what to expect when this happens. It ended up being massive tears as I took some family photos in a beautiful garden park. Pat was supposed to be second shooting with me but he ended up walking all over the park with our crying son. You could hear him as he passed us. Zane had skipped his afternoon nap and it was not pretty!

We should have known not to stop and eat dinner but we tried. After several chugs of milk Zane literally fell apart. He tantrumed like we've never seen him do before. We're talking high pitched screams, feet kicking, arms everywhere and head banging in the high chair. Pat swooped him up and took him outside just as our food arrived. I got to go boxes and we were out of there! Both of us were so embarrassed! I know it happens to everyone at some point but it's still just as embarrassing!

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the stare

We attended two graduation ceremonies this weekend and Zane was out in the hall a lot running around. During Pat's cousin's graduation he dropped a car down into the bleachers and you could hear it clang all the way down. Too funny! We had my brother's graduation also at which he held up for a bit but got extremely annoyed by having to sit. How dare we try to have an almost 16 month old sit for that long! With no flashing lights or crazy spinning things to watch!

When he was content he was usually staring at someone. Here he is walking with Pat's dad through the hallways after graduation just casually staring at everyone. And then as he was running up and down the hall with Grandpa he had to stop to flirt...not the best photo but hilarious to catch him in the act. We are in serious trouble with this boy!

Check out other best shots this week at Mother May I.

tara's wedding

Like I said before I'm way behind on our personal photos! So my good friend Tara got married back in April and here we are with the photos finally! Here's just a sampling and you can check out more here. Tara was a beautiful bride!!!

Check out some other cool shots over at Mother May I.

one of those days...the good ones that is!

I am learning that in this thing called parenting you have some days that you don't ever want to end and then there's those other days that you're wondering if vacation could ever come soon enough...the screaming, the whining, etc. We had one of the first kind of days this weekend. How lovely is that?!!!

This is what I dreamed about when I thought of myself as a parent. I wanted to be out exploring with my kids, getting dirty with them and helping them appreciate all the beauty that surrounds them. So this is exactly what we did...we headed to the park and explored!

These photos are a mix of Pat and I's. Pat grabbed the camera and was having so much fun because I rarely let him have it anymore! Bonus to that is that I'm in the photos, that problem I keep seeming to have!

I love that we're okay with him just getting dirty and figuring things out. Kids kept going over the bridge when we were down by the creek asking their parents if they could go down there too. Their parents kept saying "No, you'll get dirty." Oops...were we supposed to worry about that?

So here are many photos...this is the norm number I show on the photography blog for sneak previews so I thought hey...time to do it here for this great day we had! And check out other Best Shots this week at Mother May I.

The park started out with some ice cream.

And then when the ice cream was all gone there were some tears.

But never fear we found a stick which made it all better!

And he might even like the taste better than ice cream.Daddy having fun with the camera.

Mommy and Zane looking for birds.And digging for worms.

Could he seriously be any happier?! And he has on our favorite new shirt. Mr. Mischief, which is one of the series of some of his favorite books.

More looking for things with Mommy.

Jackpot! He found the creek!

We head on down to see what he thinks and after holding onto Mommy for a bit he was pretty comfortable with it! Don't ask me what I'm doing...people kept walking by on the bridge and I was afraid my pants were riding too low!Seeing how cold it is.

Who needs shoes anyways?

Daddy wants to play too.

Love this shot!

I couldn't be prouder that he's so comfortable with his butt right in the mud!Throwing rocks.

Signing to us that he hears a bird.

Watching for the bird.