A boy and his feet!

Since the womb, this little guy has loved to keep his feet soles together.  Kinda curious how long this flexibility will last!

I just took him to his 4 month check up yesterday.  He's my chunkiest baby yet; 15 lbs 9 oz (75%) and 26 inches (80%).  He's sure growing fast.  He's rolled over (both directions) a couple times and has mastered grabbing things of interest with his hands.  It's amazing how fast they change!

Growing friendship!

These two are growing a sweet friendship.  Yes, she loves on him in an over-the-top kind of way, but he is growing more and more accustomed to it.  And I think he really likes it!  She loves to hold him and often request for Mommy to take their picture together. Thus the shots below.  It's fun to watch her talk to him.  She knows how to make him laugh and smile!  I have mental pictures of her sitting him at her tea parties and her teaching him in "pretend" school.  The day is quickly approaching!  Until then, it's cuddles on the couch!

Mr. Giggles

Elias is changing and developing so fast.  He is definitely the grinniest little baby I've ever seen.  There is nothing like a baby's giggles and kisses to wash away the stress of any day.  I just couldn't hog them all to myself.  Hope you enjoy the joy that is pouring out of him!



 And then his aggressive love:

My 2 month old chubs

I can't believe he is 2 months old!  More and more I feel like I'm getting to know who this laid back little one is!  He really is so willing to go with the flow.  He's even given me several full nights of sleep! 

At his 2 month appointment he weighed in at 12lbs 6 oz and 24 1/2 inches long! 
He's done some serious growing! 

Class is over

That's right, the 5 weeks of my photography class have come and gone. It seemed to go so fast. I'm so glad I took it. I actually feel like I understand my camera more now. And I can see improvement in the pictures I'm taking. So it was worth it. These are the pictures I took for my homework on landscape, abstract and black and white.
Just cause everyone asks, the red one is of a water fountain spout on a jogging trail in town.

Refrigerator Worthy?

You know those precious pictures that flood your mailbox during the holidays? You know the ones of dear friends and family members that will probably make it to the refrigerator, maybe a special display board, a prayer bowl on your table, or tucked inside your Bible? Our family set out on a mission to have such a picture taken. We thought it was a great idea to do it with our close friends who have kids of similar ages. It would be fun, right?

Chaos was more like it. It was a true Kansas day; WINDY. The kids did do a good job, their cooperative window was just quite short.

So even though this was more telling of the day . . . and why wouldn't this be the picture that leads you to pray for our family?

This is the one we settled on. We may try again as Elias gets older and can hold his head in the direction of the camera.

And for their cooperation, the kids were rewarded with a lolli-pop. Elli confidently told some friends when we were giving them a copy of our picture; "I do that for a lolli-pop."

Pictures for Photography class

I'm glad I've stuck with it!!! It was REALLY intimidating the first night, and the class shrunk by 4 people the second night. But I'm glad I've stuck with the class. Elias has been super cooperative, sleeping through most of the classes. So I thought I'd show you some of the pictures I've taken, both for assignments and just for fun.

The assignment was to capture movement. So many times when I take pictures of my kids I'm trying to stop the movement so I get a good shot. I like how this one turned out though. You can see she's loving it!


Now this isn't his land, but everywhere I've ever lived with this man (including the balcony at our Pawnee Apartments) he loves to look out over the land and think. He's a farm boy, through and through.


This one isn't very interesting, but the assignment was to try the same shot with different f-stop settings. All about learning the manual settings.




Some more fun shots from our time at the Pumpkin patch. I love that I caught this loving sibling moment in action. They really are good friends!

I'm really glad I've been able to take the class. I can already tell a difference in my confidence level with my camera. And my eye . . . I'm starting to see shots that I hadn't seen before. Fun stuff!