A new blog!!

2008-03-20T23:41:00.004Z

Come over and visit my new blog. All new posts will go there so update your current links to http://mcdufftheblog.squarespace.com/

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will still keep up with us on the new site.

A Family shoot

2008-03-20T21:58:00.000Z

I did this ones newborn shoot about a year ago...she was such a good baby!

Now she is one and wants to shout it through the trees! Doesn't she look like she is just belting a song out...I love this. Maybe she'll be a singer when she grows up!!

I had such a fun time this weekend with these guys. We went to a great spot and there were so many options, the kids had fun walking (well, running) around. It was a beautiful day too!! Thanks for a fun morning!!

Love how she is holding his hand...so sweet!

OK everyone, have a great Easter weekend!!

Mac's bday present. We found the elusive

2008-03-16T21:44:00.000Z

Wii!!! I bought it at an actual store and paid retail! I was very excited about that!
Let me start by saying I am not a video game player at all, but this thing ROCKS!! It is so much fun. You can golf, bowl, skeet, drive, run, box, play tennis, baseball, seems like everything!! But you actually DO it, like go through the motions of bowling the ball not just moving a joystick and hitting a button. Bowling is probably one of my favorites. Macguire seems to like baseball and tennis.

Here they are playing baseball...Mac is pitching.

Ready for some more heat?

Nothing like carrying a Dora purse and eating (singing in to) a microphone. You can tell she is thrilled with the new purchase.

OK, so the funny part of this story is we (I) bought the Wii a few weeks before is birthday but Marc and I wanted to check it out so bad that we actually hooked it up and even played with friends while the kids were asleep before we even gave it to him. Yeah, I am sure we will be up for parents of the year! He did get it a week before his bday though and these are from that day:)

If you don't have one you need one, young or old...it is SO much fun.

Mac's party

2008-03-13T14:53:00.000Z

Macguire wanted a race car party for his birthday. Not sure how he started to love racing because we don't watch it but he loves it! So I found a place about a half hour away that would let kids ride with a parent. We had such a great time! We were there forever though...I think about 4 hours!
I found the coolest invitations on ebay, they looked like a ticket to a nascar event!

Here is everyone ready to race!

And there off...

Having a great time on the course.

Mommy even got to take a ride:)

Then in for lunch and cake. Still can't believe he is FIVE!

Then out for some mini golf. Niya was thrilled as you can see.

"A little less swing there bud!"

Still thrilled with the golfing!

Mom, what the heck are you doing down there.

A little happier...she found a random ball. (because the one that we gave her at the beginning just wasn't good enough).

We had such a fun day. Thanks to all our friends for making the 30 min trek to the races!!

Baseball, opening day

2008-03-09T23:37:00.000Z

This is our first year of little league and I think this will be a fun thing for Macguire as it is his third favorite sport (behind football and basketball). I didn't realize what a big deal little league is, he has learned a lot and seems to have fun. Opening day is a crazy event with a hit-a-thon, food, t-shirts, speeches, and they announce all the teams when they run on to the field. I think the older kids are there for hours, luckily we are the younger ones so it was only 2.5 hours for us (yes, I am happy for ONLY 2.5 hours!)...and it was raining (so I only brought our point and shoot).

Here is Macguire, first in line and totally bored, waiting to be called on to the field.

And him with their winning banner.

Birthday party ones are next (we had SO much fun) and I have a couple shoots coming up too!

One more thing...

2008-03-04T23:59:00.000Z

I have been meaning to do this because I think it is so cool that a couple of people I met briefly have left me more blog love (i.e. comments) than friends and family! So a big shout out to Kimi and David Baxter of Ohana Photography. If you know someone getting married send them to Ohana Photography! http://www.sdohana.blogspot.com/

Seriously what bride wouldn't want a picture like this to remember the big day. Smokin hot...

Kids Fair

2008-03-04T23:42:00.000Z

When I heard about the local Kidsfair I was thinking what a cool thing to have, local preschools and vendors all in one place...then I thought "hey, that me!!". So I put this together in a very short time, had some canvases made, made a portfolio, bought some things for display. I think it turned out OK. There weren't booths or anything fancy just an 8 ft table to decorate.
It was fun, 3 hours of talking to Moms, some seemed generally interested so hopefully they will think of me when they need to update their pictures around the house.

The booth next too me was Nina, owner of Tickled Pink Face Painting and O MY GOSH!! The awesomest face painting ever (she has been doing it 13 years or so)!! She did a boys whole face exactly like spiderman in like 3 min. This is a butterfly she was working on when I had the camera out. It's not done here there is a few more things and she finishes it off with glitter.

So if you are thinking face painter for anything give her a shout. She serves most of SoCal and is super cool! http://www.tickledpinkfacepainting.com

She does makeup too!

Insanely busy 4 days!!

2008-03-03T15:12:00.000Z

Macguire's bday was Thursday and I had a table at a Kids Fair to show my work (my first one!). Then Friday Macguire picked the pirate show for his bday dinner. Sat was opening day of baseball (a huge deal that lasts hours) and a basketball game, then Sunday was his bday party (another huge deal that lasted hours!!).

I will start with the Pirate dinner...so the food was barely OK but the show was actually pretty good. Entertaining, a couple contests, some acrobatics, and they got kids involved in a few things too. Macguire was picked to be sworn in as a pirate and then at the end of the show a member of the princess's army. Niya even really enjoyed it! We thought she might be freaked out.

The gang...we were on the Red Pirate's team...

Enthralled with the action...

Up on stage being sworn in as a pirate, Mac has the light pants on in the middle. (side note: these were taken with a point and shoot and no flash was allowed so I had to slow the shutter down...basically - excuse the blur)

All the pirates taking their oath, Mac is still on stage...

Then at the end in the princess army, he was very serious about this...SO CUTE!!
(turned the flash on for these because no one was flying around the stage)

He loved it and that is all that mattered. I just wish they would get better food for how much it is. But hey, you only turn 5 once right!

Someone's birthday is tomorrow...

2008-02-27T22:37:00.001Z

Snow Day

2008-02-24T17:00:00.000Z

I just realized it has been a while, my apologies!
Niya had snow day at school a couple weeks ago and these are from that. They basically hire a company to dump snow on the grass and build a small little sledding hill (which she would not go on). She had fun playing in the snow though.

Throwing snow at me (that snow it in mid air, not on her sweater)

Stomping the snow balls that Mommy was making, stinker.

Happy Valentine's Day with the princess

2008-02-15T03:31:00.001Z

the pink princess to be exact! Everything has a pink before it...pink car, pink horse, pink shoes, pink tires, it doesn't matter to her...she sees the world through rose colored glasses.

Can you tell how many dresses she is wearing at once? I was trying to count I think it is 2 dresses, 4 tops, and 4 skirts. She is normally not this round:)

And of course she had to do my nails too.

Meeting other photographers

2008-02-09T22:08:00.000Z

It is so much fun to have someone else shoot my kids! They get a different perspective than what I get and the kids think it is nice to have someone else take pictures of them for a change.
Niya takes a bit to warm up but Macguire was having fun from the get go.

So Thursday I met up with Shannon from Madison Ave Photography in Pasadena. It was fun to finally meet her, we have been emailing for a while.

Go to her blog to see some pictures of the kids! I LOVE them!!
http://www.madisonavephotography.com/blog/v-day-shoot/

Recent Session

2008-02-06T04:46:00.000Z

...with an exciting twist (I will tell you about that when I have something to share).

This family was great! 18 month old twins and their big sister. The girls were SO sweet and so were Mom and Dad. I was lucky enough to spend a couple afternoons with them for some great family photos. I love when the kids warm up and start calling me over to watch this or that.

Basketball

2008-02-04T19:55:00.001Z

Macguire has played Soccer and Baseball in the past. He enjoys both but never REALLY got into them. So we tried basketball and he is all over the place. He loves it! He is pretty good too, plays defense, tells other players where to go (ha!), and really hustles. SO fun to watch. He has only played about 5 Saturdays (1 hour each) and from the first one we knew he liked it because he was really into it. These are a few from a game a couple weeks ago.

The cheering section

He's #2. "and what do you think you're going to do little man"...is what I hear him saying

ready for more

stealing, which isn't aloud yet.

Rebound

More D. How are you gonna shoot over that??!

I've been tagged

2008-01-31T03:57:00.000Z

Which means that I have to tell you 7 things that you may not know about me. Marc had to help...

I absolutely will NOT watch scary movies. They stay with me forever and completely freak me out. To this day I hate drains (shower, pool, etc), being the last one up the stairs at night, reach through stairs, there are others but you get the idea.
I HATE being tickled and will completely freak out (kicking and hitting) if I am tickled. Marc can attest because for some reason he likes to do it.
I don't do laundry, ever. Marc does...isn't he awesome!
I wear glasses
I'm extremely sensitive. TV shows, commercials, movies, confrontation of any kind, all make me cry.
I am not very competitive but I love to play games. Except that I HAVE to beat Marc.
I'm married to my high school sweetheart, just like my parents, and my paternal grandparents. Three generations. Now the collective AAWWWWW!

OK, I hope you enjoyed this little get to know me better session. And because posts are more fun with pictures I will leave you with this random photo of Niya having a conversation with a jelly bean at her brothers basketball game, she was really into the game! More from Mac's game later.

When the cat's asleep the mice will play

2008-01-27T04:47:00.001Z

When Macguire was exhausted one night and I think went to bed around 6pm. Daddy and I got to have a little fun with Niya. The girl loves to bounce, on anything! She convinced her Daddy to play a little game and they were both laughing so hard I had to grab the camera. Our room is Dark, forgive the colors...

The anticipation

The bounce

The fall

The laugh:)

Edit: Holy Crap! That is my nightstand in the back ground...I have a lot of magazines to catch up on. That is my "need to read" stack.

Can't believe I forgot these

2008-01-21T15:54:00.000Z

Christmas Eve the training wheels came off and away he went.
He gets better and better every week.

Swap meet find

2008-01-19T21:44:00.000Z

I am loving these. I went to the famous Pasadena Rose Bowl Swap meet http://www.rgcshows.com/EventInfo/RoseBowlFleaMarket/tabid/52/Default.aspx last weekend and found these awesome tins. We found many other good deals too. Such a fun place...if you ever visit me make sure you are here on the second Sunday of the month and we can check it out!!
They are old ceiling tins that they put on to wood frames so that you can hang them. Where the paint is chipping you can see the colors the tins were once painted. Beige, white, then red.
There used to be a too big for the space mirror above the fireplace so I was SO excited to finally find something to put up there that I like. LOVE the red, now I am on the look out for more things that are red to add to the room.

Kids Christmas programs

2008-01-14T15:18:00.000Z

I think this will be it for the Christmas pictures. It has taken me a while to get to them...

These first few are from Macguire's program. At first they sing with all the kids their age, so these are the 4's. Looks like he spotted us!

Always the performer.

Then the whole preschool sings again. And again, very happy to find us:)

The week after his we had Niya's. Here they had just got on stage and she apparently didn't like her spot. So this is the start of the push.

She must have wanted to be in front of the microphone...I was laughing to hard to take a picture but after she shoved the girl out of they way she looked up and yelled something pretty loud into the mic. HILARIOUS! (and the girl was fine, no one got hurt in her small attempt at fame).

After the shove the other one decided to sit through the performance. And you wouldn't know it by this but Niya did sway side to side as if she was rocking a baby for her their song "Baby Jesus".

And afterwards, her sweet big brother escorted her back to class.
Love these two little people!!!

Cookies

2008-01-05T16:41:00.001Z

Here are some fun ones while baking some cookies for Santa.

The boys...

The mess...

The sugar...

The mix...

The goods...

The drop...

And...the waiting. Macguire must have looked in that oven 20 times in 8 min!

Christmas picture, yes just 1

2007-12-31T18:34:00.001Z

I didn't really take any pictures on Christmas morning. I was just enjoying the time and watching the kids. Marc took some video but all I have to share is this shot of them coming downstairs that morning. I should have gotten a few more but it was just too much fun!

I can show you these now that the Grandparents have gotten there gifts. I FINALLY got some pictures on our walls. I ordered canvases and we LOVE them. If you have a picture that you love I really recommend having it printed on canvas, it just comes out so beautiful. I have a great place that I order from so just email me and I can help you order them.

These 3 are 24x18 and 24x36 in the middle. I got the middle one printed for the grandparents. I love that shot of the kids. Click on the pic to make it bigger, so you can see it.

And this one is 24x40...LOVE them.

I took some fun ones of cookie baking and I still have to get up the ones from there Christmas programs...

Chicago

2007-12-27T15:37:00.000Z

I wanted to get this up before I got into the Christmas pictures.

The kids and I went to Chicago for a last minute trip to see Grandma and Grandpa before they move, AGAIN! They moved to the city a little over a year ago (great place downtown with a view of all the buildings, close to food, Michigan Ave shopping, the lake...I forgot to take a pic though). We were all planning on going in the Spring but they won't be there that long so we did a quick, busy trip so the kids could see the snow and the city. It was so much fun! It really got us in the Christmas spirit with snow, lights, cold...so great.
(And for those keeping track, they are moving back to Nashville. They loved Chicago but Dad got an offer he couldn't refuse.)

This is a long post....
We started the trip at the Field museum, Niya is sitting in a Dinosaur footprint. They have Sue there, the most intact T-Rex ever found, so cool! (and yeah, no pics of that either:))

Grandma and Niya coloring at the Children's area in the museum.

Macguire picking the corn from the stalks, the children's area was WAY cool.

Just across the park is the Shed Aquarium and that was our second stop. Both places were dead and the kids just ran and ran through everything. It was fun!

Bundled up for our shopping day down Michigan Ave.

We did stop at Millennium park for a bit at let them play in the snow and watch some ice skaters.

At the park there was this cool sculpture that Niya loved, because she could see herself. Here she is holding herself up.

To get an idea of the size of the sculpture, that is Niya under it!

One night my parents arranged a carriage ride. It picked us up at their condo and we trotted around for about 45 min and it dropped us off at dinner. The kids LOVED it, especially Niya. I need to figure out how to get videos up here...

We also went to an indoor winter festival for kids. Lots of bouncers, slides, rides, really cool. They had an indoor ice rink so Mac and I laced up and he skated for the first time! He really liked it.

Then we headed to the airport, it was a fast trip that was planned at the last minute once we found out my Dad was taking a new job. It was a lot of fun, I just wish Marc could have gone too. I am hoping their condo doesn't sell too fast and we can take another trip out there. I would love for Marc to go since he has never been...anyone want to come watch the kids for us while we go?!!!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T22:24:00.000Z

We took this at the mall last week. Last year Niya was histarically crying, this year she didn't want to do it either but she sat here for a couple seconds...she looks SO happy, right?
I guess it is an improvement from last year...

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday today (and Happy Birthday Mom!!!)

Bucs game for the boys

2007-12-23T15:59:00.000Z

I am so excited for the Marc and Macguire today. They get on a plane in about an hour and are flying up to San Francisco to watch the Tampa Bay Bucs vs. 49ers and then they will fly home tonight after the game. If you know Marc, you know he is a HUGE fan of the Bucs so he tries to get to the west coast games at least once per year. He already went to the Seattle Seahawks game earlier so he had been back and forth with this one because of the holiday and everything but one of the companies that he works with a lot got him 2 tickets to the game last week so that was it. And today is Macguire's first live football game and he has become a fan of the Bucs as well so they are both just having the best father/son day ever!

I made him take the camera so I should get some pictures up soon.

I will leave you with a quote from Niya a couple seconds after they walked out the door

"Dadda Bro doe bye bye. They Go Bucs"

Go BUCS!!!!

I braved a solo Disney trip a few weeks ago

2007-12-21T22:16:00.000Z

We had a free Thursday a couple weeks ago and I braved Disneyland without Marc. And...it went really well. Macguire was a little disappointed that we could only do the rides that Niya could go on too but once he "got it" we were fine. It was fun seeing all the Christmas decorations too.
This was also my first chance to use our new point and shoot camera (our other one broke months ago). I was tired of lugging the big bag everywhere so these were all taken with the Canon SD 870 IS. (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082002canonsd870is.asp) I am really liking the camera, it was the only one I took to Chicago too (will get those up in a another post or 2).

Here we are getting ready for Small World, they really deck it out for the holidays so it was fun.

Next up, Niya's choice...the Teacups. She LOVESSSS this ride. Look at the concentration spinning the wheel.

And then the carousal...

We did the jungle cruise and a few others too. It was a fun day.

Niya in a bounce house

2007-12-20T22:21:00.000Z

Not sure why I like this one but I do.
It's kind of moody and so is she so it fits her well!

Hope the holidays are not too crazy for you. Niya is done with school and Macguire's last day is tomorrow, then we are free for a couple of weeks. I am trying to think of fun things to do...any suggestions?

Playroom pictures

2007-12-16T20:01:00.000Z

I did something fun for the kids in the playroom and thought I would share. These were both taken this summer, they are colorful and fun. So I blew them up poster size 24x36 (at Fullerton Photographic) and put them in simple black wood poster frames. It really changed the room and the kids LOVE having themselves on the wall.

(the window reflection is bad but you get the idea)

My houses

2007-12-15T22:23:00.000Z

(Chicago was SO much fun! I will get pictures up shortly. We got back late Thursday and we are still recovering...everyone napping now, except me:)

So, these have been in boxes for about 7 or 8 years (because they wouldn't fit anywhere!). I finally decided I need to break them out and see what I have got. My grandmother started this collection for me and gave me the first one for Christmas when I was 12 and I have obviously gotten more over the years (32 buildings as of now!). It is such a fun thing, the kids love it too. Macguire picked out the snowboard hill this year. It is the Christmas in the City series from Dept 56. Marc had to give up his pool table for a month but I think it is totally worth it don't you?!

Thanks Grandma!!!

(as always you can click on the picture to make it larger, so you can see more detail)

A session from today

2007-12-09T04:37:00.000Z

A quick post to get a session up from today. This family was fun. I could really see the great relationship they all have together, especially the siblings...so sweet!!

On a side note...the kids and I are off to Chicago in the morning to visit my parents. I'll talk to you again in about a week. (It is going to be SO COLD!!!!)

Our Christmas out takes

2007-12-05T15:16:00.000Z

OK, so if you have kids you know the HORRORS of "the Christmas Pictures". Our cards are going out today but when I was going through them I thought some were funny and wanted to share. These first few were taken on Half Moon Bay, CA when we were there before Thanksgiving.

Say the word "fart" and you get this reaction. What is it with 4 year olds and bathroom humor?

I have so many pictures of these 'rocky hands' he just kept doing it all morning...who knows.

this isn't really an out take just had to share the shoes because they didn't make it in the card picture. Cause who doesn't love little glitter shoes on tiny little feet!!

This was a try for a good shot of the 2 of them at home...yeah right, NONE from this shoot made it.

Hope the holidays are going well for everyone so far!

Another Holiday Session

2007-11-30T23:58:00.000Z

These kids were quiet and SO sweet. Very loving siblings! I wish my kids were that well behaved. We had a lot of fun running around the park and checking out the ducks.

Edit: I forgot to add that their Mom is hilarious!!! She was doing cartwheels, back bends, and some crazy faces to get them to smile...thanks for the help Mom:)

Another Beach session

2007-11-27T23:05:00.001Z

I loved hanging out at the beach, it was so much fun!

Another great family to photograph. The kids were very sweet (as well as Mom and Dad!). Big brother is very protective of his sis, SO sweet! When the waves would come he would pull her up the beach to keep her from getting wet.

Another session (my first beach shoot, it was so fun!)

2007-11-25T01:41:00.000Z

...that I know someone is dying to see (or dieing...I think you can use either, correct me if I am wrong). She has been very patient because we had family in town this week and we hit Vegas for a few days so it has taken me longer than normal to get to them.

So...here they are. I love this family, they are like family to me. Their daughter is a spitfire and their son is just mellow. And it works out to be a fun combo.

I just LOVE this picture, the reflection, the sandy bottom, her running away...it is her, totally!

and the happy mellow baby.

Half Moon Bay trip

2007-11-19T15:36:00.000Z

(this is a long one)
Here are the pictures from our trip to the San Francisco area a couple weeks ago. Half Moon Bay is such a beautiful place!

The view from our room, the patio had a little fire pit and 2 chairs. We looked straight at the green beyond that was the ocean.

When we got there the kids and I went for a walk to check everything out.

They were playing on planters but it made for a nice back drop!

Macguire and I hit the beach while Niya napped one day. It was really cold and windy so we weren't there too long. Definitly not like SoCal beaches.

A good friend of mine that I have not seen in 11 years (we figured) lives in San Francisco so the kids and I went to visit them. She also has a couple of kids now, we had a great time visiting. They brought us to this great park in the city right near their home (which is amazing!). Macguire loved climbing to the top of this thing.

This is their oldest.

And the baby, they were both just so sweet!

Niya doing some rock climbing (who knows where she ditched her shoes).

And Mac doing some climbing of his own, here he is at the summit!

Halloween at the Carnival

2007-11-16T17:04:00.000Z

Just getting around to these and Halloween was 2 weeks ago! Work has been keeping me really busy lately!

Macguire's preschool is a large church/private school and every year they do a carnival on Halloween. The kids love to go because they get to play games for candy and see their friends. Here are some shots from that night.

They were very excited to get their face painted!

But not as excited as they were to see Ali, look at Niya's face!! They were both Alice. (this would be Ali, my future daughter in law according to my son...obviously Niya loves her just as much).

Macguire never made on in the vase.

This shot went in for Niya on her first try!!

I have been trying to capture this face/arm cross thing for a while now. This is her "no, i don't want to" stance. It is very funny! The arms are crossed hard and pulled into her chest tight when she is trying to make a point.

Another session

2007-11-15T00:45:00.000Z

This family was so much fun too! These boys were everywhere. Such a pleasure to capture moments like these. Hope you guys enjoy them!

LOVE this one!

They thought I was busy with the boys, but I got em:)

When I say they were everywhere, I meant it. Mom said "no, don't take that picture" but I really like it, TOTALLY shows there personality! Just a couple of goof balls.

A few from holiday sessions

2007-11-13T04:09:00.001Z

Here is a sneak peak from a couple of holiday sessions. I still have 4 more sessions to edit but I wanted to get something up for now. This one is such a sweet kid! He wasn't really in the mood for pictures but I think we got some out of him...and Mom too!!

A couple with a more artsy feel (I love these!).

And I posted my favorite from this session already but here are a few more from this great family. These kids are so easy to photograph! We had a lot of fun picking all kinds of different places.

Niya's birthday weekend

2007-11-11T15:36:00.000Z

On a side note...sorry for the lull. We joined Daddy on a business trip to Half Moon Bay (just south of San Francisco on the water) this week and we just got back. We had a great time at a beautiful hotel! (I will post about that in a week or so, I still have a lot to catch up on...Halloween and sneak peaks from a few shoots!)

So these are from our weekend at Disneyland for Niya's birthday. We had a great time!
Niya splashing in the kid pool.

Macguire going on the giant water slide.

Niya has NEVER been on the horse of a carousel, she would always freak out and end up on the bench with me spinning around so we were very proud of her for venturing on the big scary plastic horse!

This was from princess story time. Macguire got to be the prince and dance with Aurora, he was pretty happy with himself. He could have totally squeezed her butt when they were hugging (I secretly wish he would have!!).

We also had lunch with the princesses which Niya was very excited about but then got nervous once they showed up to the table. But she loved it!

One from a session this weekend

2007-11-05T20:20:00.001Z

OK, everyone keeping up? I told you I had a lot right now:)

I had four sessions this weekend for holiday pictures and I HAD to share this one. Siblings are hard as anyone that takes a picture knows. I was so happy to see this, I wish I had one like this of my kids!

A Halloween Party

2007-11-05T20:16:00.001Z

Here are some from a Halloween Party. Niya was Alice and Macguire was the Red Power Ranger (I think it was more about the blaster he carried than the costume).

The cutest Alice I ever did see!

Always happy with a cookie in her hand!

Niya's 2nd birthday

2007-11-03T23:26:00.000Z

These are from Niya's birthday night. We opened presents, had dinner, and ate cake. She loved her stuff. She got a lot of things for her baby dolls, some dress up clothes, and a fake (but very real) cat. We had a lot of fun...

The pile:)

Daddy (or as my friends now call him "skinny Marc") helping to unwrap the gifts.

This is the cat, she thought it was hilarious. It meows and purrs and wags its' tail...so cute.

Had to dress up like Cinderella when she opened the dress up box.

This Cinderella card had a recorded message, I think she listened to it about 25 times!

OK, so the cake was hilarious and you will see the break down here..this was just after she blew out the candle.

This is the negotiations for the last of the cake. She wanted to finish it off!

This was her reaction when Daddy put the cake away, because as you can tell from her face she had her share.

We took the kids to Disneyland for the weekend instead of throwing her a party. We had a great time and I will post those pics in a couple of days.

My cousin's visit

2007-11-01T22:08:00.000Z

OK, so I just downloaded a bunch of pictures and I have MUCH to catch you up on (visitors, birthdays, Halloween, parties, etc..). So I better get started.

My cousin Carissa was visiting from Washington State University for a few days and we had a great time. We hit Santa Monica Pier, drove around LA, took Niya to school, celebrated Niya's birthday, and hit Laguna Beach. Here are some pictures from her visit.

Carissa

Carissa and Macguire at Bubba Gump Shrimp on Santa Monica for lunch. They sung to Niya because we were there on Niya's bday and she freaked out a little bit. But it was fun!

The 3 of them looking for fish.

Niya wanting to drive the boats.

This is completely unrelated but I wanted to show you guys how much ash/dust was in the air during the fires that week. The pool guy was cleaning the pool and I snapped a shot so you could see the before and after. So GROSS!!

A shot to melt a Moms heart

2007-10-29T00:47:00.001Z

I did my quick look at (ALL) the photos I downloaded and my heart skipped a beat on this one. I don't like to post out of order (because it keeps me organized) but I had to get this up.

Took this one this morning at Disneyland just after we went on the Jungle Cruise. Niya walked up to Mac and said "Bro, hold hands?". So in love with these two kids!

Soccer

2007-10-26T15:31:00.000+01:00

Macguire finished soccer a couple weeks ago and I just got around to downloading the pictures. He had a great time and improves every year. Soon he is going to have to pick between soccer and baseball, I am pretty sure it will be baseball but we'll see.

Stopping a goal.

We scored! (he was the goalie at the beginning of the game)

racing after the ball.

Two friends after the game (LOVE this picture)

Trophy time!

Niya's famous (sort of)

2007-10-23T22:27:00.000+01:00

A blog I read about celebrity's and their kids asked for pumpkin patch picture submissions and Niya made the cut.
Check it out!!
http://www.celebritybabyscoop.com/

It was so great of her to mention my business too in the post! Yeah!!

Pumpkin Patch with friends

2007-10-17T03:16:00.000+01:00

A week ago we went to the pumpkin patch and had a great time. Macguire was not interested in being photographed so I didn't get much of him. They each got to pick a pumpkin, we also went on a tractor ride and through a corn maze. It was a fun time, but it was really hot!
(I was playing around with different things on Niya's images, let me know (by leaving a comment) if you like 'em).

A mini session

2007-10-13T16:56:00.000+01:00

I just love these two girls. The baby is always smiling and the big sister always gives me a run for my money. She is a tough one to photograph, as her Mom knows:) They are so cute! Love love love this first one and these steps are right in their back yard...so convenient!

Crocs and Gibbits (not sure if I spelled that right)

2007-10-09T22:36:00.000+01:00

If you have spent any time with Niya you know that she is an accessory girl through and through, shoes!, bracelets, purses, etc... So my VERY VERY dear friend bought Niya pink crocs with gibbits in them for her bday (which is next week, but we aren't doing a party so she gave them to her already). So this is the morning after she got them, she HAD to put them on as soon as she woke up, over her jammies no less. (Laura also bought Mac Bucs gibbits so we had to go get him some Crocs too). So these shoes are all decked out with butterflies, sparkles, Boots, and Dora...my friend ROCKS! Except, now these are the only shoes my daughter will wear so I have to hide them when I need her to wear something else. She just LOVES them.

So I had to get some shots...

This is her showing Macguire whats on them.

They are pretty cute!! Check out Boots on one and Dora on the other.

And Mac's "Go Bucs" ones too.

Best purchase EVER!

2007-10-06T23:54:00.000+01:00

OK, so our new beautiful dark floors look awesome...until we eat. It shows every crumb. It's like having a black car...every speck of anything shows. So I have been sweeping twice a day...NOT FUN...and then I remembered my good friend in TN has a cordless little vacuum thing that she says the kids love. So $30 later I haven't cleaned the floor in over a week. When he sees some dirt he goes and gets it and vacuums for 20 min or so. It's awesome and of course Niya "helps" too when Macguire has finished. But I wanted to have a shot to remember this because I know the novelty will wear off eventually (I thought it would have already) but it has been a great week not having to sweep the floor.

More of the house...

2007-10-05T18:07:00.000+01:00

Namma and Grandma-Great wanted to see more of the outside. So here is the front before and after (we just got new garage doors) and the back of the house.

Niya's first day of preschool

2007-09-30T03:36:00.000+01:00

Well, it is really Moms Day Out since she isn't even 2 yet. But is does mean that I have 3 whole hours to myself on Mondays and Wednesdays!! She was way more ready for it than I was but I think we are both enjoying it now. She loves it and barely blinks an eye when I drop her off at school it is just a "bye, bye mama. see you later". She has the same teacher that Macguire had when he was 2.

Playing with puzzles.

Checking out the playdoh

Getting her name tag from Ms Elaine

She makes the greatest faces. This was because another kid was making a mess while he was painting, she was very worried about him and his mess.

The pool

2007-09-25T16:22:00.001+01:00

The kids are just loving the pool. Hard to believe at the beginning of the summer Niya would barely get in the water and now she is jumping off the side. These were taken right after we moved in.

The girls do lunch

2007-09-20T04:10:00.000+01:00

Catching you up on what happened while I had no Internet. While Macguire was at his first day of school (yes, the one where I forgot the camera) Grandma, Niya, and I did lunch at American Girl in LA. We had gotten her a Bitty Baby for her 1st bday so we thought since she is turning 2!! next month we could have a fun lunch outing (and Grandma and I could pick up some bday gifts for her). We had a fun lunch and had them sing to her...she loves that store. It's all dolls, really what is better for an almost 2 year old girl.

The spread - lots of fun girly stuff...pink lemonade, pink ribbons, flowers, really cute.

Trying to get a picture with Grandma and Niya and of course Niya wouldn't look at me. Do you see that the doll has it's own chair!!?

And it's own tea set!! Niya making sure the baby gets plenty of fluids.

When I made the reservation I said it was her bday (close enough right?) since Grandma was there and all. Cookie, cake, and chocolate mousse for dessert!

For Namma (the before and afters)

2007-09-15T22:07:00.000+01:00

We haven't been torturing you intentionally:). But I know you have been dying for these...it took me a while to clean up and take pictures, hope you like the new digs.

I was waiting for this weekend because our rug for the family room came and Marc finished hanging a couple more lights, sconces, and changing all the door handles. I haven't had a chance to hang pictures and things yet because I am still trying to decide what to do. But the house is starting to feel like home. Macguire swims EVERY day and we have been BBQ'ing and hanging out in back, so much so that we are going to get a TV for back there so Marc can watch football and swim with Macguire at the same time. The neighborhood is great, we have met a lot of people already. OK, so on to the good stuff.

So, while we were house hunting we affectionately called this house "Big Red", you'll see why.

The Living Room/Dining Room (now pool table/playroom)

We changed the floors, painted walls, lights, curtains, removed the mirrors in the dining room, and painted the ceiling medallions. We are still getting estimates for finishing the crown molding where the curtains and mirrors were removed.

The Family Room
Changed the floor, painted the walls, took out the wetbar/mirrors, and changed lighting. I know the mirror is too big for where it is (it hits the sconces on both sides) but there isn't a better place to put it now, where the kids can't gt to it. I want to do a fun family thing up there, mind is still spinning on that. Also, the TV area will be a built in soon we are still getting estimates on that as well.

The Kitchen
We didn't do much to the kitchen because they had already remodeled. We just painted, got a new fridge, and changed the faucets.

Upstairs...
We changed all the carpets, removed wall paper, and painted everything. In Niya's room and the 2 bathrooms they had painted the entire room one color, including baseboards, ceilings, inside the closets, cabinets...everything! So Niya had mauve/pink ceilings etc, the kids bath was hot pink everything, and our bath was mint green everything. The bathrooms are now plain white...they are original though so we are going to have to do something about those in the next couple years.

Mac's room

Niya's room, she should be out of her crib soon and that will make her room even bigger

Our room
Same stuff...removed wallpaper, painted, new carpet, curtains.

Stairs, to show you how dark the carpet was (they had done all this great woodwork but it was hidden by the dark red everywhere) and the hot pink bath at the top of the stairs, the picture doesn't do it justice!

And outside...we LOVE it outside. We just added the pool fence and re-did the side yard, it was all rocks so we had to remove the rocks, lay sprinklers, and grass for the swing set (and move the AC to the other side of the house...still patching that project up).

He does love it!!

First things first, a shoot before the move

2007-09-12T06:58:00.000+01:00

Right before we moved I did a family shoot with a friend of mine. Her sister was visiting and all the grand kids were in one spot so I want to get something up for them. Sorry it has taken me so long...no internet access for almost 2 weeks really wrecked me!
They were so much fun. I love shooting teens and siblings...they can really get each other laughing. Here are a few of the "kids".

My favorite...this baby girl is ALWAYS smiling:)

He had to go first "to get it over with"

Our new email address

2007-09-12T03:27:00.000+01:00

marcandshii@roadrunner.com

...more soon.

No internet or home phone

2007-09-03T01:39:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update to let you know that we have no internet or home phone at the house and it could be up to 2 weeks to get it I am not sure how I will survive but I figure I will manage some how. So that means no pictures of the house for a while, but when we are online I will post some before and after...what a difference a week makes!
OK, this is hard to do on Marc's phone so call my cell if you need me.

A Tunnel

2007-08-29T14:45:00.000+01:00

I feel like I am in a tunnel that only goes from our current house to our new one, with a little side tunnel to home depot. Every time I try to go anywhere else it is a dead end and I must go back to one of those places. Anyway, we are good, the house projects are coming along. We move on Friday so I am hoping to be out of this tunnel next week sometime.

I can't wait to show you guys the before's and after's so check back mid/late next week.

And since pictures are more fun, here is a picture of Niya at Macguire's baseball slip n slide party. She had so much fun! Doesn't she fit the little California girl image, with her bronze skin and pale hair...people pay good money for that here!!

Lovin Daddy's cereal

2007-08-21T23:41:00.000+01:00

OK, so Niya is a horrible eater but she loves all breakfast foods (except eggs). But she LOVES when Daddy eats cereal! So these were just too funny. This first one is her checking out what Daddy is eating...that is actually her face saying "Cereal". Her face really says it all. Then Marc has to eat with her right next to him the entire time with her mouth open for more...so funny, because it is every time. It has gotten to the point where Marc will wait until she is done eating so that she eats her breakfast first...just love her.

Take me out to the ballgame

2007-08-12T04:03:00.000+01:00

These are from Macguire's baseball game last week. He has had baseball twice a week for the past 6 weeks. He LOVES it!!
And, I had a great time at the workshop in San Francisco (http://theimageisfound.com/shootshops/). I was only there one night, it was an all day thing and by all day I mean 9am -10pm workshop. I didn't shoot to much because I was listening to the incredible Nate Kaiser the whole time. I learned a lot and now I have more stuff I need to buy!! I am excited to try out what I learned.

Check out the concentration, he has his eye on the ball!

He totally connects it!

And he's off to first...

A team meeting after the game. The coach is great!

And of course Miss Niya Sway was there to cheer her brother on.

The bat girl.

And she found a nice comfy seat on a helmet!

A few more from the other day

2007-08-06T23:56:00.000+01:00

A few more from the other night...some action shots and one of Japser! Yep, she's still hanging in there, we think she will be 13 (it's 13 or 14) in January. She has slowed down a little but not much, she is still such a great dog!

I shot some fun ones at baseball today. I will try to get those up in the next couple days, before I go to San Francisco.

New stuff

2007-08-03T03:58:00.000+01:00

I am going to a photography workshop in San Francisco next week and I was itching to get a couple new lenses for the trip...so I did!! These are from us playing around tonight after dinner. Finally a couple of the 2 of them. Felt good to take some time and shoot! I have been slacking since our Paris trip because we have been so focused on house stuff.

Isn't Macguire looking old...sigh...already 4 and a half.

The shoes! We were at Walmart today and these were at the end of the aisle and she screamed when we passed. The she screamed "shoes off, shoes off, shoes off" so I would take hers off and put these on. Well they haven't come off since. She wears them in the house and everywhere, she cried when I took them off at nap time too. They are pretty cute though. Niya loves her some Dora. We also got a Dora baseball hat which she wore (only) backwards for about 2 hours, she refused to wear it the right way.

Sneak Peak...the (soon to be) new house

2007-07-30T21:52:00.000+01:00

I know it has been a while since I posted. But we have been busy with Inspections, Appraisals and a lot of running around trying to get things lined up for the new house!! Yes, we finally agreed on something (it only took 4 months) and it is a great house. It is a 2 story (even though the picture doesn't look like it). There is room for Marc's pool table and there is a side yard for the kids to play, because the back yard is a pool! We are hoping to close by August 23rd. Here is a picture of the front and back. Once we move in I will put up pictures of the inside. The kitchen is awesome!!

Here's the front. I have to hire a gardener because I would definitely kill all the rose bushes in the front if they were left up to me, I do NOT have any kind of green in my thumb what-so-ever.

And here is the pool. Macguire is really excited about the pool and that there is a fire pit. He CAN NOT wait to have a "camp fire and cook marshmallows". It is so peaceful out back, there is a waterfall/fountain thing in the corner of the yard too.

Newport Beach, Macguire boogie boarding with friends

2007-07-15T04:11:00.000+01:00

The weekend before 4th of July we went to the beach with friends (our good friends from TN were visiting so we had SO much fun!). We bought Macguire a new boogie board because all the kids were having so much fun with it and he was great! The water was cold, but he was out there probably 45 min. It was so fun to watch, he is growing up so fast.

Everyone getting ready...from left to right...Macguire (behind the blue board), Isabelle, Blake, Kate, Trevor (and of course the Dads).

Marc was having some fun too!

Macguire is leading the pack.

Racing Kate (because he always HAS to be first...we're working on that one:)

Niya LOVES the sand

2007-07-15T03:48:00.001+01:00

OK, so here is Niya's post. This girl was covered with sand! Nose, mouth, ears, toes, everywhere. She had such a good time though.

Flirting with the Newport Beach lifeguards...

Click on this one to make it bigger and then you can see the sand in her scalp. It was just awful to get it out of there.

Paris, they're all up.

2007-07-12T03:37:00.000+01:00

OK, so I have finished going through the pictures. Here are a few of my favorites from inside some churches. You can see all the pictures here if you would like to see more... http://mcduff.smugmug.com/gallery/3110550#170220389

Round 1 - Paris

2007-07-06T19:40:00.000+01:00

OK, so I have been trying to get these up but I am still working on them. SOMEONE is very anxious to see them though (starts with a Lo ends in a Ra). So I have gone through a third of them and here are a few. I will post a few more here and then put them all online somewhere and give you a link. For now this will have to do:).

We're back!...and we had such a great time.

2007-06-30T14:44:00.000+01:00

Hey there! We landed yesterday around 1pm and we were happy to be home and see the little ones. After being up around 24 hours I finally went to bed last night at 8pm and then I was up at 4am this morning. So I downloaded the pictures and I really liked this one so I thought I would share. There are more to come but just wanted to say we had such a great time, so relaxing.

No new posts for a couple weeks...

2007-06-19T06:13:00.000+01:00

...I am headed to Paris! Marc is already there for work and I am joining him in a couple days. No kids!! My parents and his are taking shifts watching them at our house. I am so excited! We haven't had a real vacation, just the 2 of us, since our honeymoon...almost 8 years ago. I am sure I will have a ton of pictures when I return. Au Revoir!

Sesame Street Live

2007-06-19T06:01:00.000+01:00

About 25 of us (8 Moms with kids) went to the Sesame Street live show in Long Beach last Friday. It was pretty fun...all the seats next to us were empty so Niya had fun playing in them. Macguire (that's him in the orange stripe shirt) made his way down to sit with the older girls and dance. It was too dark for pictures when he was dancing...I was very sad about that because he was getting his groove on!

Staying Alive Bert

My friends baby slept through the entire show!

The carnival

2007-06-12T03:27:00.000+01:00

At the beginning of every summer there is a church carnival here in Brea called Summer Fest. They get known bands to play and have good food and rides for the kids. We ran into friends of ours so we ended up having a really good time. Here are some pictures.

Macguire's first cake walk (you start on a number and then walk until the music stops and if they call the number you are on you win a cake, well he picked 4 because of course he is 4 and the number he ended up on was 25..and of course #4 was picked for a cake and he yells "but that was my number"). So close, he was very dissapointed because he wanted to win Daddy a birthday cake.

Mac is on the inside of the car, that is his friend that we ran into.

Niya was not a huge fan of this but she went by herself which was a huge step.

Us, on the big yellow slide, Niya actually really like it and wanted to go again!! (click on the photos to make them bigger if you want)

Preschool open house

2007-06-07T15:54:00.000+01:00

Last Thursday Macguire's school had their open house and the room was decorated with all of the art projects from the end of the year. He LOVED showing everything off that he had made. I got one picture with his teacher too. She makes an end of the year scrapbook for each child so that is one of the kids from his class checking his out. We love this school and can't wait to be back there next year. Only 2 more school days left (Fri & Mon)!! Then what am I going to do??

Monkey Zoo (AKA Santa Ana Zoo)

2007-06-06T00:22:00.000+01:00

I know it has been a while since I posted last...sorry. So last Thursday I went to the "monkey zoo" with a friend of mine. We had a great time. But the zoo seriously only has monkeys! I am not complaining because they have a great playground and it is only like $6 for an adult to get in but they must have 20 cages of monkeys and 5 cages of other things...so funny. But the kids like it and that is all that matters. Especially Niya where she perfected her "Monkey, Oo Oo Ah Ah Ah". I didn't take the camera out much but I had to get a picture of my Moms favorite thing. The first one if for you Mom!

Friday's session

2007-05-28T16:53:00.000+01:00

I had a great session on Friday with such a fun family. Their house was full of life and the kids were SO sweet! Here are a few from the session.

A picture of me! (sort of)

2007-05-20T02:51:00.000+01:00

I am always behind the camera but Marc snapped this last weekend just after Niya got up from her nap. That is about the only time she likes to snuggle, just after she wakes up and right before bed (but not always). She is VERY stubborn and independent.

Beach Day!

2007-05-15T22:18:00.000+01:00

We finally made it to the beach! I have been wanting to go for a while and no one could argue with me on Sunday so that is where we went. It was very fun. Niya got completely covered in sand and Macguire spent the day wave jumping (the water was freezing! but he had a blast). His first time to really be in the water most of the day. It was a nice relaxing day, on the way home from the beach we stopped for Mexican food, again, because no one could argue with me:).

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T22:15:00.000+01:00

A fun one from the park on Thursday. He loves that he is big enough to do the fireman pole now. I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day!

Niya the (not) swimming super hero!

2007-05-10T23:32:00.000+01:00

It is HOT here. On Tuesday we went to the pool, it was over 100 that day. It was Niya's first time in a suit and I was trying to get her to go in the water but all she wanted to do was walk around the outside of the pool. So here is Niya rocking her new "Me Mouse" swim attire and a flower hat. She borowed the goggles from our neighbor Olivia...she was cracking me up!!

Jumping fun in the playroom

2007-05-06T23:11:00.000+01:00

Marc worked late on Friday so after dinner the kids and I had some fun in the playroom. Macguire was jumping off his toybox onto his gigantic bean bag so I had to grab the camera. Then Niya had to join in the fun!!

Niya's new dress (by Grandma Great!)

2007-05-02T23:14:00.000+01:00

These pictures are not great technically but they are what I got after she woke up from her nap on Monday. My Grandma on my Dad's side (Grandma Great for the kids) was visiting us in February and while they were here we stopped at the craft store and bought a book for knitting dresses, coats, and things. Well we got 2 dresses on Monday and put one on as soon as she woke up! I love this dress!! The other one is a little big and she should be wearing it in a few months.

And then I got the kids doing some strange dance move for the camera.

Me and my misery

2007-04-30T02:33:00.000+01:00

I realize I have not posted in over a week, so let me fill you in. Last Saturday I woke up with some stomach pains and by noon I was in tears...we had no idea what it was so off to the ER I went and Marc went home with the kids so Niya could nap. Our neighbor (thanks Sandy!) came over for an hour so Marc could bring me food and magazines. They did a CT scan thinking kidney stones, but nope. They did find a large cyst on my right ovary, they gave me an ultrasound and sent me home to see my regular Dr right away.
Dr Roca saw the results Monday and said I needed to be there first thing Wed (7:30am!) before they opened (they only do OB on Tues). He repeated the ultrasound that morning and said I was having surgery the next day because it was BIG and I didn't have a history of having them. I had surgery to remove the cyst Thurday morning at 7:30am, I was home by 3pm. It was quite the whirlwind...
We were a little freaked because of the urgency of everything but all turned out fine and I am healing well. This is my first day back on the computer in a while and Marc has been home all last week and probably won't go back to work until Wed at the earliest. So that is what we have been up to. I do have some pictures of the surgery and thought about posting them, leave me a comment if you want to see them. They're not really gross or anything just didn't know if it would be too much.
We have such great friends here is Cali. We have had someone bring us dinner every night since I have been home and they are going to bring them through Wed!! And I got some beautiful flowers too! Thanks for being so supportive!

Update: We never actually spoke to the Dr on the day of surgery so when I had my stitches taken out it was interesting to learn that it was actually a tumor. Which is good because cysts can return and usually do and tumors don't. But creepy to know that my body will grow a large tumor. The GREAT news about the surgery is I lost 9 pounds in 1 week. Apparently when there is something growing on your ovaries it makes it produce extra hormones that make the weight stay on. I wish I had a few more to remove:)

Baby "O"

2007-04-19T15:09:00.000+01:00

My good friend had a baby last Week and he is such a calm, sweet boy. I got to snuggle him for a while after the shoot! Here is one from the hospital last week (2 days old) and the rest are some favorites from my shoot yesterday (1 wk old). Check out the smile he gave me while sitting with his dad!

Niya's new room

2007-04-14T22:46:00.000+01:00

I haven't had a chance to decorate Niya's room yet so I have been shopping for when she is out of her crib and in a bed. I bought a really cute white quilt with ribbons around the bottom and all these colorful swirlies all over it, a couple throw pillows that match, and a bright blue one with a N embroidered on the front...really cute. Then I came across this and I LOVE it. It ties in all the colors and is going to look adorable when we move (yes, we are probably moving again...we are ready to buy a house here). This site (www.etsy.com) I found has many different sellers and all the stuff is homemade, so cool! This is an original signed 20x20 painting from Scheri, this is her store http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5105783.

Easter (belated)

2007-04-12T23:20:00.000+01:00

Sorry it has been so long. My PC has been having some issues...which is great since it is a whole 2 months old! So Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a great day!

Here is Niya on the hunt for eggs.

Macguire found the baskets!!

Niya helping Daddy film, she must not want him to miss anything.

So Grandma (Shii's Mom) sent Niya a cute shirt for Easter and she had to put it on right away. So I asked her "what does a bee do?" and she does this with her hands and makes little circles in the air with a light buzzing noise that you have to strain to hear. But so cute (the shirt is a picture of a bee and the words HAPPY, get it BE HAPPY!!).

This is Macguire when I was trying to get him to take a nap...yeah right!

It's ready!! It's live!!

2007-04-05T04:50:00.000+01:00

Phew...finally done and here it is.

http://www.shiimcduff.com

Preschool program

2007-03-30T03:02:00.000+01:00

These are from Macguire's preschool program that was last Friday. It was about how you should open the door when Jesus knocks. He played "Rude Ronald" who was stubborn and stomping and wouldn't open the door. I wish I would've taken video because he got the biggest laugh...look how into the stomping he was!! He said his lines and stormed to the back, perfection! The first picture is all the 3 year old classes at his school (yes, Mac is the biggest!), they are singing the finally. The last picture is the love of his life (besides me!) Ali, they are looking at Ali's mom in the picture.

Busy...

2007-03-28T00:19:00.000+01:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a week. I have been busy at work on my website with all my free time. The website should be up in the next couple weeks. I am so excited to go live!!

So, it is SO hard to get a good shot of a 12-20 month child as many of your know so I was SO dissapointed that I overexposed this shot, but it is still worth sharing because it is probably one of 300 where she is actually looking at me when I clicked.

Macguire | Photography

2007-03-19T00:01:00.000Z

So a couple of weeks ago I downloaded the pictures from our point and shoot. It was so funny to see what was on it! Macguire loves to go around the house with it and when he is done I usually just delete them but I took a couple of shots that I wanted so I didn't delete them this time. Here are some of the ones I found, the self portrait and the "Cars" series. BTW, I love them...the one looks like the cars are moving.

Baby girl...so so sweet

2007-03-15T02:51:00.000Z

Hey

I had a session on Sunday where I got to photograph a 17 day old and she was beautiful. It was a great shoot and I have started to edit, but I wanted to share this because I think it is SO sweet!

And who doesn't love some teeny tiny baby feet...

More Visitors...Michael and Daniel (the Marine!)

2007-03-09T23:05:00.000Z

We have more family visiting, my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins from Seattle area and some friends are here for my cousin Daniel's graduation from Marine Bootcamp in San Diego.

My cousin Michael will be a senior next year so I did a session for him while they are here.

Here are some shots from the Friends and Family day at the Marine Recruit Depot on Thursday. Daniel was allowed to spend some time with everyone. It was great to see him! I was much more emotional than I ever thought I would be. It was amazing to watch these 225 men pledge themselves to protect us and we also saw a video of what they have to do...crazy stuff!

Namma and Papa's visit

2007-03-04T15:43:00.000Z

We had so much fun with Namma and Papa. They were here for about 6 days and we hit the beach and took Macguire to Disney for his bday (without Niya) so he could go on all the big kid rides. He hasn't enjoyed fantasy land in months, they're 'baby' rides. He prefers Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, etc... The 3 of us started the day at a character breakfast and ended the day with a huge pouting boy when he once again had to measure himself to make sure he hadn't grown enough to ride Indiana Jones (he has to measure EVERY time we go and he is about 2 inches to short, it's the only ride he can't go on there, it just breaks him). But he did get to take on Darth Vader and Daddy and Mac thought that was WAY cool!

While they were here they wanted a shot (in BW) of the 2 of them. Hopefully you like it.

Namma or Papa took this one, I don't have too many of the 2 of them together, this is what they do when they wake up in the morning.

We played outside when he got his new skateboard and Niya got some chalk (check out the plumber crack!!).

Take Care!

Macguire is FOUR!

2007-03-02T05:33:00.000Z

We had such a fun day yesterday. He had preschool, where we brought Cake flavored ice cream (thanks to Laura) and he brought little sunglasses for his classmates. When Marc got home Macguire got to pick dinner (El Pollo Loco, totally random in 2 years that was our 3rd visit). Then we came home and took out the power ranger cake, which he had been wanting for about 7 months and opened presents. He loved everything of course! And for those of you that don't know Macguire wanted to go to TN instead of have a big birthday party but we told him that we would still get a cake and he would get a few presents, he loved it. It was just a nice day, he is so happy to finally be four! Here are some pictures from yesterday. We did a Target run and since he got to pick out a toy I got a little something for Niya too. She is such a girlie girl...I love it:)

The skate board was an early bday gift from Namma and Papa's visit just before, I will post pics from that soon.

Take care!

Trip to TN

2007-02-24T16:06:00.000Z

OK, so we had such a great time. The Jones family was so awesome for letting us stay there. Macguire misses those boys so much, he probably would have stayed forever if it weren't for the rest of us in CA. They played Star Wars, road bikes, played games, watched movies, didn't get enough sleep, went to Trevor's Basketball practice, Blake had his birthday party, and Meredith set up a little one for the boys since all of theirs are within 10 days (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREVOR!!!). Here are pics of the mini cupcake decorating party.

I also did a little mini session for the boys. Here are some of my favs...

We also went to Alabama to visit our friends from Seattle (who now live outside of Huntsville). Baby Gabe was 4 weeks old so of course I had to squeeze in some pictures and the big kid is big brother Josh.

O yeah and Niya went too...she LOVED the 'BA BY' and the last day we were there she started to call him 'Ri Ri'. She was so sweet and just wanted to be near him all the time. Here she is with piggy's and trying to keep up with the boys outside.

And, now Marc's parents are here. We have been so busy lately...phew!

TN trip

2007-02-17T14:35:00.000Z

Just wanted to say that I haven't forgotten about this already, it is just that the kids and I are in TN visiting friends and Marc is in Las Vegas for work. I will have tons of shots when I return. We are having a great time, we got to see my parents on Sunday and we are going to AL to see friends tomorrow...and of course we have been having a blast with the Jones clan. Pictures will be up in a few days. Take Care.

The second post:)

2007-02-15T19:00:00.000Z

I forgot I had some really cute pictures of the kids from the beach last week. We had a random 90 degree day so I thought "why not". It was my test to see if I could take them by myself and it was so FUN, we will be visiting the beach a lot this year (Niya was too little last year and I have been missing it). We were there almost 3 hours...and no one else was there.

The first post

2007-02-15T18:52:00.000Z

Hey!

I wanted a way to share photos and stories from our family to yours. Once my photography business gets going I will also share session photos for you all to see. My portfolio website should be done by the end of March. I'm getting really nervous and excited all at the same time.

So here goes...Macguire had a VDay celebration at school yesterday and here are the things he brought home (along with a ton of candy). So Happy belated Valentine's Day to you all.

I will try to update this a few times a week. This should be fun...