Blessing Day

One of the things I loved when we first looked at our house was how much natural light it had.  It has wide, almost floor-to-ceiling windows in almost every room, plus 2 triple panel sliding glass doors.  It's a photographer's dream.  It wasn't so great before we got blinds, but it still comes in handy because almost any time of day, a room can be turned into a studio with a quick backdrop.  

Take Lee's blessing day.  We had time to kill before church, and I wanted to take pictures before the inevitable personal fluid explosion that happens on any and all cute outfits.  And there could not be an outfit cuter than this one my MIL made.  

(By the way, she totally exploded that night, so yes, it is inevitable.)

The whole point of the shoot is that I wanted this shot:

Still totally had to Photoshop some heads.  Plus Johnny's arm that was holding Lee up (it was safe, don't worry).  Worth it.  The rest of these shots are just bonus.

Daddy smiles

Daddy kisses

Big sister

Big brother

There was Photoshopping on this one too, but I don't have many pictures of myself with the kiddos, so I love it.  And the fact that I look good is a bonus--I don't tend to photograph well.

Grandma's quilt

Miss Joy wanted to take pictures on her Grandma blanket too.

And act like a baby

So did The Captain. Except for the act like a baby part.  Look at this handsome Kindergartener!

We had a wonderful weekend.  It is always nice to have visitors over and we had a full house for Labor Day.  I was so excited to have my little sister visit.  She has never been out to visit us since we left Utah.  We went swimming, played at the park, and ate Taco Bueno.  I feel like she got a good view of Texas.  

Also, Lee's blessing was beautiful and she was a champ the whole day.  She really is such a sweet, happy baby.

Lego Kids Fest

Do you love everything Lego at your house?  

Cause we think they're awesome!

Which is why when we found out Lego Kids Fest was coming to Dallas, we decided it would be worth the Lego-sized admission price to get in.  

We found the Convention Center after having adventures in parking and walking through a (luckily empty) homeless nest under a bridge.  Once we walked in, we saw all these sculptures.

Yes, Joy wanted to take her picture with every single one. 

It could have been a stalling technique since half of these were taken as we were about to leave.

But she loved all of them.

Here is The Captain in front of the giant pile of Legos.  There were at least a million in the pile.  Possibly more.  Children were getting buried in them like sand.

Here's another picture of the giant pile.  I wanted to take a bird's eye view, so I jumped up on one of the folding chairs surrounding it, but unfortunately, the cushioned top of these folding chairs was on a pivot hinge, so the chair collapsed, my leg went down, scraping and bruising my ankle, then it tipped the other way, causing me to fall off.  It happened in stages and was quite painful as I bruised my knee, elbow, and right under my bum, but it was also embarrassing as it happened right by another mom, and 2 gentlemen came to see if I was okay.  So 5 minutes after arriving, I was already minorly injured.  So you don't get a bird's eye view, this will have to do instead.  

Making cars.  Lee is practicing her flying skills.

Down the hill!

They had booths for all the different Lego sets with different activities for the kids/adults to do.

There was figure battling at the Ninjago booth.

Also these huge ball baring mazes.

Tops and obstacle courses at Legends of Chima.

Joy made trees.

A mono-chromatic build.  (No we didn't make all of that)

Joy was playing at the Lego Friends booth.  She had to be pulled away from that one.  The only other thing that entertained her that much wasn't even a Lego booth, it was a booth for a local company that had a foam track to build for tennis-sized balls.   

This was our last booth of the day, the Lego Movie booth were we shot bullets at the bad guys and knocked them over.  

This is by no means a comprehensive picture of all of what was available at the Kids Fest.  This is less than half of the booths, but we didn't go to all of them, and I got a little tired (and injured), so let's just say fun was had by all.

3 Months Old

I did this mini shoot with Miss Lee.  One backdrop, one outfit, one pose.  It took about 15 mins. tops, including the setup.  

Twinkle lights and a mirror

Ooo, a baby

Yummy hands

Super long tongue

Pictures make me so mad

sweetness

happy baby

Big Day

Monday was a big day for us.  It was The Captain's first day of Kindergarten.  And did I cry?  No, because I didn't drop him off.  School starts at 7:30, people. In the morning.  Have I mentioned how sometimes most of the time I'm not dressed before 10?  So yeah, Johnny took him on his way to work.  And did Johnny tear up?  Maybe a little.  He had to leave him alone at a table in his classroom.  And to show that I'm not completely callous to my first born's departure into the land of "other influences", I did tear up when he got a Father's blessing the night before.  

Anyway, obviously I didn't get a before picture, but I thought we'd be different and show an after picture.  This was us at his school, picking The Captain up after a long first day.  

He loved it.

Posing for me.

Also part of the big day, Joy is now three years and Lee is three months.  That will never happen again. 

Someone had a shoot.  I guess you can guess
what post is coming next. 

The Captain's first triathlon

Last Saturday The Captain had his first triathlon.  It was just for kids.  We had heard shortly after we moved in that the neighborhood north of us did them in the summer, and we would have signed up for it, but The Captain couldn't swim.  Then we found our that it got cancelled for weather anyway.  But our Bishop's wife put one together that year, and we told her we'd be interested this year.  We took swimming lessons and went for many runs and bike rides to prepare. 

Here's Johnny and Lee, ready to volunteer on the running course.

Joy was not happy that she couldn't participate this year.

Here's what the kids did while they were waiting.  And afterwards, there is no slowing down this energy.

Getting their instructions.  This wasn't even all the people here.  There were about 36 participants and over 100 people total.  Quite a crowd.

On the starting line.

And he's off!

Swimming away.

I was most nervous for The Captain's swim.  He doesn't love swimming that much, but as he came out of the pool he said, "That was so fun."  I knew the rest would be easy. 

Transition

Off on his scooter.  They went around this block.  Older kids went for multiple laps, The Captain just did one.

Finishing his lap.

Running for the finish line

Crossing the tape!

They had finish line tape for every runner, and they all got a medal afterwards (and a yummy breakfast).  He was red and sweaty, and he loved it.  I think both he and Joy will do it next year.