CastleDreams

Adorable Family

2009-06-30T19:43:00.001-07:00

I had the joy of photographing this adorable family two weeks ago. Here's just a peek guys.

March 2009

2009-06-14T16:11:00.001-07:00

(So, I noticed I had already posted about Feb. Sorry about that. On to March...)

We did our family photos in March. I had been planning and pining for the day when we could do them. I saw this incredible old barn with a touch of urban grafiti and I loved it! I just had to have our pics done there. Thank goodness the owner was compliant or I would have cried!

Catchin' Up

2009-06-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

I know it's been MONTHS since I posted anything. Sorry to all my family. life gets crazy and busy andthe longer away you are the harder it is to take time to "catch up".

So I'm going to attempt to cover Feb - Now very briefly.

SuperMom

2009-03-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

I have a secret identity. I think some of you out there are maybe like ME; perhaps I'm not alone in this huge world. If only we could find each other and start our own little mini-series called SuperMoms.
It would seem that moms have super powers that are imperceptible to the unkowing eye/mind. Here's a list of just a few of my/our superpowers. (I can't give out all my secrets.)

x-ray vision - an awareness of what's going on in the next room even if the door is closed
rear vision - an ability to see things behind me
mind reading - knowing what the child or spouse will say/do before it happens
flash reflexes - ability to jump up out of a lawn chair with drink in one hand, books in lap, and one shoe on to rescue child on other side of room/yard who is about to put a penny in his mouth
miracle curer - an ability to apply a single tender kiss to an injury and heal it in seconds
amazing do-it-all - accomplishing multi task items all at the same time, all correctly, while carrying on a conversation with spouse and correcting a child who is jumping on couch
super strength - let us not forget that SuperMom seems to be the only one who can change the toilet paper roll when it's done!!!

4x4 tag

2009-03-02T23:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I was tagged by my dear friend Jayme to post my 4th picture from my 4th folder. Since mine are filed alphabetically Amber Crawford came up 4th. This is from a shoot we did last spring, I think, for her prayer cards. (Not my favorite one of her.)

Magnuson

2009-03-02T22:48:00.001-08:00

These photos are from Magnuson's urban shoot we did the first week of Feb. I just never loaded them up. He was such a ham. All he really wanted to do was look at the doggies in the shop window near where we were shooting. It's tough being a model.

My baby

2009-03-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

This Thursday my baby will no longer be the baby, Magnuson is turning 2! Watch out world!

He is such a fun little guy. His vocabulary and conversational skills are incredible. He is a big goof and laughs all the time. I love his little feet and baggie jeans; I love his giggle; I love the mole on his belly; I love how he says, "yes mommy".

He's been singing "Happy birthday to me, chacha" all day today cause we were out shopping for his party. It's a dog theme cause he LOVES dogs!

I will sure miss the little boy stage. But hopefully, he'll always be my cuddly Boo.

Grown up Furniture

2009-03-02T22:20:00.001-08:00

For the first time in all our married years we finally have some grown-up furniture!

John bought me (us) a new couch for Valentine's Day!

Our former couches, while extremely comfortable, were completely falling apart. The kids loved them because we let them jump, climb, roll, etc.. all over them. They also used all the pillows to make forts. One of my neighbors said, "You're living room looks like a model home." How sweet!

This gorgeous armoire is something I had ALWAYS wanted to have but never was able to. My dear friend Emily gave it to us about a year ago. It's my favorite piece of furniture.

These incredibly soft chairs were from my friends Gina and Becca. Everytime I see them I think of those gals. We tried to get a couch that would match the wood on these chairs.

I LOVED the detailed scroll work on our couch. The kids actually cried when we cut up and threw away our old couches and cushions. BROTHER!!!!

The matching tables were from my friend Marybeth. It's so special to me to have beautiful things from so many of my friends. It makes my house feel warm and full of love. Everytime I see these pieces I remember my friends.

365 project

2009-02-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of 2009 I was pumped, anticipating doing this scrapbooking/photojournaling idea called 365 Project: you take a picture every day to help you remember what you did each month and all the little details about your daily life, and to help improve photography skills. I did great in January (hitting and missing once in a while, but then I'd make up for it by taking 8-10 photos in one day). Now it's already the second week of Feb and I think I've maybe taken 3 pictures. All that excitement just went FLOP! Honestly though, I run out of interesting things to document. My life feels so mundane and rote sometimes. I love it; it's mine; but maybe not interesting enough to take 29-31 pictures every month.

Railroad Hat

2009-02-09T19:11:00.001-08:00

I found this great "railroad" hat at Target and it worked out perfectly for Morgan's Urban shoot. We went to the railroad station and an abandoned building. I'm so taken by how handsome he is- the twinkle in his eye and his reckless smile.

LOVE the tongue sticking out - so HIM

Gourmet Food

2009-02-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

So tonight we had gourmet rice (anything different than plain white rice) and this is how the dinner conversation went:
kids: "What are we eating? EW, what's this? This looks yucky!"
dad: "it's bettle butts and magget heads, eat it."
kids: "Yuck, we can't eat that."
dad: " look, here's some caterpillar eyebrows, yum"
Magnuson: "can't eat it, yuck"
Girls: "dad what is it really?"
Mom: "it's rice and legumes, it's fine"
Morgan: "goons!!!, what's goons, I can't eat goons dad"
Yah, so much for a gourmet, interesting conversation filled, NICE dinner!

Christmas Vacation

2009-01-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

We had such a wonderful time in Florida with my family over Christmas break. My older sister and her family were unable to make it and we missed them, but everyone else was there. There were lots of fun times together, good memories and laughs. This is just a sampling of things we did.

Disney, of courseMorgan worked up enough courage to face Captain Hook in person.
Marina was enthralled with live Princesses. She wanted to touch their hair and dress and...

New Year's Eve party and traditional scrabble game, washed down with Starbucks.

Playing with all A. Jane's fun toys

Florida beaches are warm, the sand is white and soft, and the water is clear blue. They are my favorite. We HAVE to go everytime we're in Florida.

Sanford Zoo - a great zoo for kids (and parents) cause you can do it in 2 hours.

and LOTS of loves for Grandma!

Maternity/Paternity Photos

2009-01-23T16:12:00.001-08:00

I had so much fun with my brother and sis-in-law at their pregnancy shoot in January. They are both gorgeous people with friendly, lovable personalities. I can't wait to meet my new nephew, James, in March! Thanks guys for letting me be a part of this.

My darling daughter

2009-01-23T15:57:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday we went down to Pasadena to visit my brother and his family. Everytime we've been down there I've noticed this little alley with the gorgeous red brick walls. So, last weekend when we went for the day we stopped here on our way home and I did a quick photo shoot with Marina. She did so well cooperating with my antics. There are so many good ones, these are just a few of my favorites. I love this urban look!

How perfect it was that we happened to have fresh flowers with us!

My all time favorite!

Urban Legends

2009-01-22T16:59:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for this year was to take my photography to a unique and more creative level. In 2008 I had been seeing a trend in portraits shot at Urban locations. As soon as I got back from vacation I found some great spots and did a shoot with my friend's son. I love the results. I titled this new 2009 gallery "Urban Legends".

It's been too long

2009-01-22T16:58:00.001-08:00

Well, it's been over a month since I updated my blog and SO MUCH has happened since then. I'll have to spend an hour tonight posting all the things I intended to say. More than likely, I won't remember half of them. =/

Rock, Paper, Lizards....UHHH?

2008-12-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

Marina was trying to teach a new game to Morgan the other day. She went on to explain that you do "rock, paper, lizards" with your hands. "Rock crumbles paper, lizard steps on rock, and paper gives lizard a paper-cut." It was very interesting trying to play it with her. I think I prefer the older version: "Rock, paper, SCISSORS" but Marina's way is certainly more entertaining and imaginative.

Our version of SNOW

2008-12-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

The local park had a Reading & Literacy Fair in which the city trucked in a huge pile of "snow". My kids have only seen snow twice so they were enthralled. The boys were in their flip-flops and Micaela in her t-shirt. The day was a brisk 70's with sunshine. Now THIS is the way to do SNOW!

that's NOT dandruff

snow angel

Maybe we should have worn snow suits...

snow queen

You throw like a girl!

Polar Express

2008-12-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

John's school does a special event during the holidays- a Christmas train ride up in Filmore on the North Pole Express. There's a "Santa", cookies, hot cocoa, and Christmas songs. This is the 2nd year he's taken the kids and they love it.

What do you think Santa... naughty or nice?

HMMMM, that's a TOUGH ONE!

Painting Dowtown Newhall

2008-12-10T13:49:00.001-08:00

Downtown Newhall hosted a paint-the-store-windows contest on Dec 5th. The kids in our complex got into the festivities by painting EVERYTHING about Christmas (Santa, snowman, tree, star, reindeer, and Baby Jesus...) on the window of the Cookbooks store. While they didn't win the contest, they had so much fun in the process. That's what it's about.

Turkey

2008-12-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Turkey is my all time favorite meat! Every year I look forward to thanksgiving meal so I can stuff myself with turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes.

(Micaela made the place cards.)

This year was the most relaxed Thanksgiving we've ever had. My darling husband got up at 6:30 to put the bird in the oven. I woke up sharply at 7:30 saying, "We GOTTA PUT The Turkey IN!" He was like, yah, already done, go back to sleep. He also made the mashed potatoes. I don't know his secret but John makes the BEST mashes in the wide western world. We hung out with our dear friends the Haags and it was so casual. We read the sale bills, ate pie, went for a walk, watched the kids ride bikes... it was my favorite Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Brunch

2008-12-10T13:09:00.001-08:00

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving in two special ways. The day before Thanksgiving we got together with our dear friends the Gutmans to have brunch. The kids did crafts and played dress-up, of course.

What a spread!

They may not look it, but they ARE thankful.

Sneak Peek

2008-11-23T16:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a peek at your photos my dear friend. I hope you like them.

Flamengista

2008-11-18T23:23:00.000-08:00

My husband is so much fun. He is royally passionate about his Brazilian club soccer team the Flamengos. He has 3 or 4 of their shirts and he bought all the kids one as well. Whenever daddy's in a mood to wear his Flamengo shirt, all the kids have to pull theirs out as well.

California Novembers

2008-11-18T23:14:00.000-08:00

Well, the onset of fall faked me out. I saw a few brownish/orange leaves fall off a tree branch one day; we had a week of brisk, windy weather and I had to actually put on a sweater; someone started a fire in their fireplace and the aroma enveloped the whole neighborhood; we had a block carnival with hot apple cider to boot... but alas, it is STILL Southern California and it was hotter than Dixey this week. I had to get the summer pool out for all the kids to cool off in. (For all of my friends freezing in knee-deep snow: don't feel too sorry for us, this is one of the reasons why we live here.)

Keep Your Hand on Your Gun

2008-11-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

John is really big into these Spaghetti Westerns and the cheesy music that comes with them. He has an entire Ennio Moricone collection of all the spaghetti western music one could want. (I'm telling you, it would be a slow and torturous death for me, to have to listen to the whole album.) But, the girls have gotten into it. They love to do dancing and prancing to the Indian music and the low crooning of the cowboys. Since John sings only a few lines of these songs they only recognize a few lines. Well, the other day someone had sneaked the CD into our player and when I went to listen to some music, thinking it would be soothing Worship songs like Chris Tomlin or Selah I was greeted with the following:
dududuh-dudu-dududuh-dududuh - "Keep your hand on your gun." - dududh-dudu-dududuh-
"Don't you trust anyone...." and Marina was in the kitchen and she says, "Mom, is that dad singing that?"

Gerber Baby

2008-11-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

My neighbor's kid is one of the cutest I've ever seen. He looks just like a Gerber Baby to me so whenever I get the chance to photograph him I love the results.

Lovin' my Lens

2008-11-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

I finally purchased the Canon 50 mm f1.8 lens that I had been wanting for a year. I totally recommend it to anyone who enjoys taking pics. It's phenomenal!

Playing with exposure

2008-11-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

I've been playing with exposure settings on my camera and while these aren't the best photos, I definitely think they're unique and I kind of like them.

My friends' photo session

2008-11-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed immensely taking pictures of my gorgeous friend and her stunning children. Their personalities were so evident in each smile and movement.

Blood Juice

2008-11-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

As most of you know John is a BIG tease. He especially likes to tease the kids. He makes up silly names for things like piddler-waps and booger-flaps. He also renames a lot of food items such as, milk = cow juice, water = cloud juice. So last night he poured himself some V8 juice (which comes in the same kind of bottle as apple juice), and the girls asked him what he was drinking. Naturally, he said, "It's blood juice." So Morgan goes (in his gravely but at the same time squeaky, barely understandable voice), "Gwoch, Dah, hoo put bluh in ouw appa joosh. Dat diguhting! I not goyng to dwink dah bluh..." he went on and on as only a 3 yr old can.

Zebra Face

2008-11-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

The same day as Micaela's party, I think Marina may have been craving some attention 'cause she decided to take a permanent black Sharpie marker to her little brothers face, arms, and back. I scrubbed as much as I could and these pictures were the post-scrub look. (He still has two big black stripes going down his back that have not scrubbed off yet.) I just had to laugh to myself and call him Zebra face.

The Cowgirl Party

2008-11-05T08:55:00.000-08:00

Micaela's birthday party was on October 31st. This year she wanted a horse/cowgirl party. Eight little girls came and decorated cowgirl hats, painted ceramic ponies, ate a pony cake that was almost too cute to cut, and beat the tar out of a pinata. It seemed like everyone had a grand time. It's hard to believe I have an 8 yr old now!
(our dear friend Crystal made this cake)/;

The Pumpkin Suit

2008-10-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite hand-me-down costumes is this pumpkin suit. Morgan wore it when he was 1 and 1/2 and he loved it. He saw it in the closet last month and was pestering me to get it down for him to wear. I let him try it on but it came up to his knees. So this year Magnuson gets to play in the pumpkin suit.

All Heaven Rejoices

2008-10-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

Last night Morgan made a decision to become "a friend of Jesus". He told God "he was sorry for his sin" and asked "God to be his Savior". John and I are thrilled! We were somewhat surprised because we didn't expect him to be ready for another year or so. We had been talking with him about it for the last couple weeks. As I went over his newest AWANA verse with him yesterday morning, the conversation flowed freely about why he needed a Savior and who is the only one who can save us from our sin. I asked him what would happen to him and he said, "I'll go to the Lake of Fire." He was so matter-of-fact about it. Then last night as we were doing bedtime prayers he asked God to be his Savior all on his own, no prompting. I haven't pressured him at all. So, it's amazing how innocent a child's faith is and how real! Praise to God - three out of our four kids are now saved!

The Cow

2008-10-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

I came across this picture of Magnuson dressed up last year at this time.

The nose un-picker

2008-10-29T16:46:00.001-07:00

(yep, there they are)

I think our little Marina is the only little kid in the whole wide world who HATES to pick her nose. She makes a lot of little boogies but whenever we tell her to clean it out she cries (seriously) and says,"I don't want to. It's gross!" and makes such a fuss. I asked her the other day why she hated it so much and told her that most kids don't have a problem at all (my other two certainly don't). I'm tired of the fuss. So the other day John was dealing with it and I overheard him say,"It's your nose. You're little body is making all these bugars so YOU need to clean them out." So matter of fact - leave it up to daddy.

(the face of not wanting to clean out her nose)

"Fall" Costumes

2008-10-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

In our family we don't celebrate Halloween, but the kids love to dress up in costumes all the time, so we take pictures of them in their "Fall" costumes.

the (barefoot) cheerleader

the fairy

Monkey Mo

Frogman

The Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to Lombardi Ranch, the local pumpkin patch extravaganza. They have pony rides, hay rides, train rides, a petting zoo, a giant hay-bale pyramid, giant pumpkin play houses, live music, good food, antique vehicles, and a bazillion pumpkins all around. The kids had a blast! John and I were both on the lookout for that perfect pumpkin picture. Armed each with our own cameras, we must have taken about 250 pictures between us. These are just a few of my favorites.

one of these things is not like the others

comparison: vintage fire truck tires - 19 month old boy

size DOES matter

at last - somewhere to put my trouble maker... if only it were legal

(it's either a very large pumpkin stem or a giant cucumber phone)

There IS such a thing as the "perfect pumpkin", Charlie Brown.

hot, tired, hungry, and ready to go home

New Game Show

2008-10-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

I have an idea for a new game show specifically geared for moms. The challenge would be to answer all the questions with only 3 word sentences. I think I'd be really good at this since that's almost entirely what my vocabulary consists of right now...
"Wash your hands."
"Put it back."
"Eat your food."
"What is that?"
"Come here kid."
"That's not nice."
I have a plethera of these in my vocab entourage. I really appreciate when I can participate in grown-up conversation with my dear friend Catherine who's verbage is renowned. I'm sure my feeble attempts to keep up give her a hearty laugh.
So who's ready to make some money? I'm sure I could take all you stay-at-home moms on.
"That's the truth!"

A Tribute to my Daughter

2008-10-07T21:28:00.001-07:00

My little Micaela will be turning 8 this month. It's hard to believe how much she's grown into a lady, seemingly overnight. When she was a baby we played together all the time. Now that she's becoming older I have to search for things to do with her. Fortunately, she's a real "girlie" girl so we can always do our nails and put on makeup.

There are so many things I love about her. She's genuine and friendly; she's sensitive about people's feelings being hurt; she always looks out for the "little guys"; her smile can truly light up a room and her tender eyes melt my heart. I pray she will grow to become a beautiful woman on the inside as much as she is on the outside. Happy b-day sweetie - I love you!

Fireproof

2008-10-07T21:26:00.001-07:00

I know everyone's probably sick of hearing about how great this movie is... but it really is great! Our home group had a date night and we went to see it. We hardly ever go to the movies honestly, because I'm outraged at the price of one ticket for 2 hours of entertainment. But, this was money well spent. We left the theatre feeling uplifted and encouraged and that doesn't usually happen on the way out of a movie show. (Of course we had sticky shoes too.)

18 month-life crisis

2008-09-28T22:53:00.001-07:00

What happened to my sweet little boy? Last month he was friendly, fun-loving, and happy but once he turned 18 months it's like another person entered his body - a scowling, whining, miserable little gollum creature. I don't know if it's the eye teeth that take FOREVER to come up or just a phase in a new era. (I can't remember going through this drastic change with my other kids.) I sure wish he'd get over whatever IT is so we could all smile more.

BEFORE 18 months

AFTER 18 months

Too much TV

2008-09-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, we've had cable for the whole summer (which we never had before) and I only let my kids watch a few things. One of them is our favorite show Design On A Dime (HGTV 2-3pm). The girls and I love to watch that. It inspires us to clean the house and "accessorize" and make it look "warm and inviting". These are the kinds of words that come out of my girls' mouths after 3 months of watching this show. They know which color schemes work and when a designer really bombs. They love to "design" rooms in our apartment. It's a crack-up to hear them talk about this stuff.
Anyway, the other day we were watching it and another weight loss commercial came on. This time it was Alli (a pill to help you lose weight). So after the commercial Marina says to me (she's 5), "Mom, if I grow up fat, I'm going to go on Nutri System, not this Alli stuff."
TOO FUNNY!
All summer they would tell me new and indispensable products that I NEEDED to get like the aqua plant bulbs ("But Mom, you won't have to water your plants for 14 days!") and OxyClean ("it gets the stains right out") and Lysol cleaning products ("You really need that Mom.") They make me laugh, but I definitely think it's time to disconnect the cable! =)

Batboy

2008-09-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

My 3 year old has become obsessed with Batman of late. (I think his friend a few doors down had something to do with it.) He saw Landon with a Batman mask on and he wanted one desperately. After bugging me about it for nearly a month we searched all the stores I could think of to find a Batman mask. Finally we found one at Toys R' Us. He put it on as soon as we got in the car. He wore it all day long, no matter where we went, and the next day, even while playing soccer in his Brazilian Club jersey. The thing was dripping with sweat but he would not expose his secret identity. Of course, like any good super hero's mom - I let him keep the mask on (except for eating-which would get rather messy).

Engaged Couple

2008-09-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

This month I had the opportunity to photograph this newly engaged couple. They were such great sports about being dragged all over town and smiling until their faces hurt. It was fun for me because they are such gorgeous people!

September

2008-09-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

September is a month of beginnings even though we're nearly through the year. It's a time to readjust schedules; start new classes, projects, ministries... all the time thinking of the Holiday Season which is just around the corner - it gets very crazy busy. But there's still time for fun!

(the boys goofing off)

CastleDreams

2008-09-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

September 24, 2008

Castle Dreams is an inspiration from my darling, imaginative girls. They love to play dress-up and pretend they're princesses and mermaids and any other ultra feminine character. In their creative world, you can BE whoever you want to be and you can DO whatever you wish to do and no matter how messy your room is it can still be a fantastical castle - if you simply imagine it so.

If only that were the case in real life... but why not?! I have a long list of "dreams" I'd love to see happen someday. It's time for me to stop whistling and start working. So, I'll keep on hoping for my dreams to come true; cause remember, "no matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish, will come true." (Disney's Cinderella - my all time favorite)

My Princesses