Sunny February

We just had a terrible sick day with Jackson, the details of which I will not go into. It's gross and I don't want to think about it. But he is on the mend and we took the kids out for an adventure in the 75 deg February weather. I caught myself thinking about when we were going camping next and then remembered that it's still mid-winter. This weather is crazy.

Took a bike ride to the local park and played for a few hours. Jack worked on soccer and exploring, Cosette worked on swinging, I worked on my photo taking, and Dan worked on pushing Cosette for 45 minutes straight. Here are the best of the photos. My goal is to get the photos properly focused and exposed. I'm hoping to work towards more interesting composition once I am more proficient and quick with getting the exposure right.

Cosette cheats at soccer

Showing some promise. Nice straight passes.

 Injury time out. Water from the grass got on his face. Pretty upsetting.

 Jackson is hard to photograph. He doesn't like the camera and he doesn't smile on command.

That's his natural smile. Daddy had the job of making him laugh.

Jack turns it into a game of chase

 Carefree

 Come get me Daddy.

This picture is called "I have no hat!!" 

 "I got the hat!"

His special bear stowed away in the bike trailer

 Bear Love. I have no idea how those floating hearts got on this pic, but it's cute I guess.

 Cosette mastered the big girl swing today!

 She doesn't pump her legs, but she does kick her feet

 Another mommy on the swings asked Coco her name and she said confidently "Cosette!" and the lady understood her! This is a first. Usually she won't answer the question or she calls herself "set" and no one understands the name. What a big girl

This is Jackson's boldest swing move. He doesn't like to sit on them or go higher than 1 inch.

 Jackson and I went on a tree exploring adventure while Coco swung away. We found lots of redwoods and examined their bark.

 If you want portraits of Jackson, you just have to follow him around and not talk to him. He likes a lot of peace and thinking time, so you can snap away from a distance.

 You may even earn a real smile!

 Or a pleased side-long glance

 Sweet boy

His title is The Cautious Explorer

 "Look at my bark"

 In his own sweet world

 "I broke the bark!"

 Yanking at trees

 He even looks worried when he plays

 Little tree hugger. He wanted to compare tree sizes, so he put his arms around them

 Coco with Daddy. It's hard to get her eye color to show up. She has really light blue eyes and in certain light they look gorgeous and in other light they look washed out like they do here.

 I wish I had a parallel picture to show, but me and my sister spent hours in this position, playing the dirt with little sticks. We did it for years.

 This is what happens when you try to make Jackson pose. It doesn't turn out well

 Cosette does slightly better, sort of.

 After the park we biked to downtown San Carlos for some lunch. The kids love biking in the little trailer, but squabble the whole way. Waiting for our lunch I noticed how nice this lighting was. It was like you couldn't take a bad picture, so I snapped away. I probably looked a little nuts taking to many pictures of my daughter doing essentially nothing. When the light is right, you get Cosette to make crazy faces and she is game.

 Her hair is always in her face and she won't wear a pony tail and only sometimes a clip

 This is my favorite of the day. Totally captures Cosette's personality.

 Daddy's hand

 Look at those crazy little teeth

 Can't get enough of this girl

 Even the misfires are totally adorable

 Meanwhile Jackson is watching a show on my phone. Cosette takes a brief interest.

 Then goes back to goofing

 Sassy

 Crazy

Pouty

 Basically happy

 His nose is 3 inches from the screen. He is very into the show

 These are overexposed, but still fun because of the vivid color and lovely subject

 Reflective

 I snuck in one shot. Thanks for the great day family!

Photo Lesson #2

I got a private photo lesson today on how to shoot kids-on-the-go in the backyard. It was supposed to be a group event, but I was lucky enough to be the only one there with the fabulous Nicole who helped me learn about capturing the eye sparkle. I'm still working on it. My subject was the lovely, wiggly Cosette.

Got the eye shine going here!

Fun expressions chasing the kitty "Dragonfly"

 Tempting fate

 She finds it all hilarious, especially since she didn't get scratched. Cosette's outfit really pops in the foggy morning light. Also Nicole's backyard is awesome for shooting. So many great fences and bushes in the backgrounds.

Shooting from a lighter area into a darker patio with subject facing the brightness. Pretty nice.

I learned to set up an activity in a play area where the light is to my liking and get them to face the way I want, instead of hovering around their play hoping to catch the right light. Here she is washing my little ponies in soapy water with Nicole's girls.

 Forming bubbles in the air. How sweet.

 Soaping up.

 Examining the foam with pony in hand. I love the mossy fence in the back. Adds character.

 It's hard to get her to look up during such fun play

 These play outfits are perfect because they are cute, but not nice fancy clothes. 

 Sprayed in the face

 Dragonfly is back!

 Going eye to eye. I should have used a hair bow that contrasts her hair color more. This one blends too much.

 Of course she has to taste it. If it's covered in soap, it must be good to eat. This Cosette Principle also applies to things covered in dirt.

 I also learned to sit and wait with the camera in focus for the right moment to click when they look up or make the face I'm wanting to capture.

Some ideas for the future are to get them to play ring-around-the-rosey and capture the laughs when they fall down, or to get them to run laps and get them as they come by my set up spot.

Thanks Nicole for answering questions and holding still for this one. Adults are just so cooperative!

Walk the Plank!

Today Captain Jack is givin' the orders. He's demanding that Cosette walk the plank, and she has accepted. As usual, Jack will not test the equipment himself, but relies on his sister as guinea pig.

Setting up the plank. Mommy had to check the span between ships to make sure it wasn't too unsteady.

Now the chanting. "Go, Princess, go. You are the princess and you have to talk the plank. Go Angel Princess!" 

Setting up other possible planks. Some defy gravity, a lot. They also had to decide on a name for Cosette. "Are you Princess Charity or Princess Hope?" Jackson

"Princess Charity!" Cosette

These are characters from a book series Jack likes

Supervisor Jackson: 

Jack: "Stand up, sit down now. You can jump into the goo, ok!"

Cosette shrieking: "NOOOOOOOO" 

J: "Cosette come on, I'm not doing to let you fall into the goo." 

C: "I'm ready" 

J: "You are ready to jump into the goo? Are you listening to my words? Come on then."

C: "Oww, don't pull my shirt"

J :"It's not a shirt it's a dress. Cosette, roll in the mud and you will be a doggie"

Cosette looses interest in following orders and goes to put her baby to bed.

This goes on forever :)

This is one plank we will not be trying!

Bragging

I've never been more proud (or delirious!) I've had a killer stomach bug going on four days now that has put me flat on my back. I've been useless with the kids and Dan's had to come home early every day and has been on full kid and house duty. He has done a fantastic job of stepping into my shoes and managing the kids, house, meals, clean up and kept up his usual routines of bath and bed time. It blesses me so much to see my kids and house well cared for when I'm weak and out of it. 

Meals for little crazies

King of Laundry 

Showing Olympic clips

And kissing boo boos