One Camera. One Lens. One Photo a Day.

Eva and Kate, Playdate…

Holding hands the neighbors and “twins” (born one day apart) head up the street for their weekly playdate exchange.  One week Nicki gets the girls, the next week Erin gets the girls.  It certainly helps keep them busy (and give Mom a break, at least every two weeks) while school is out.

Life of the Party…

Back from Legoland, a tired and hungry little boy who only wanted to crawl around and play with his toys after being held hostage in the stroller for most of the day…

Helping put Sparky to bed…

It’s become a bit of a ritual for Kate to help Nicki get the boy ready for bed.  She’ll often comb his hair, or just look in his face and giggle.  Whatever she does, he just simply laughs and smiles.

Tonight, though, she was WOUND up and was trying to carrying him off the bed as we were trying to get him to WIND DOWN.  They were both excited tonight for some reason — probably because they’re going to Legoland tomorrow.

Such a tough life these kids have .

Lunchtime….

Sparky during his late morning lunch today.

He’s now eating big people food:  bread, cheese, turkey and so far seems to eat just about everything.

San Juan Hills H.S….

A cool blue and graphic view of the theater at San Juan Hills H.S. in Ladera.

I was there all day doing portraits of students from Ladera Ranch Dance Academy and this image was made at the end of the day after wrapping up.

Sparky, by the bedroom window….

After breakfast we took the baby upstairs while we got ready for the day and he loved being around the window (closed most of the way for safety reasons) and playing with some of his toys.

His hair is an absolute mess because he ended up trying to use his Gerber rice cereal as a new form of hair gel.  And hey it just might work.  Nicki wet his hair to clean him up and as you can see here, it’s still doing the job of holding that style.

The light draws me to this photo and especially how it hits his hair, lashes and cheeks.

Kate’s Last Day of Swim Lessons…

Today was “Safety Day” at Miss Connie’s, where Kate has learned to swim for the past three summers.

The students have to wear their street clothes and shoes so that they can be safe if, God forbid, they fall into the pool accidentally.

So the kids spent the session doing jumps off the diving board as well as swimming races (like here) and relays as well as just being able to play around on floats at the end.

Miss Connie is simply incredible and teaches the kids in a language they understand and flat out makes kids into successful swimmers.  At four, she’s already doing the crawl, breaststroke, and able to do flip turns.

Michael Phelps, watch out.

Two Princesses….

This morning while I was out of the office, Nicki called me:

“You should see your daughter and Eva.  They’re both dressed in princess dresses and we’re in Albertsons.  People are looking at them and smiling.”

This was the time I wanted to have the new iPhone with the video capability while on the phone because I just wanted to see it.

Luckily, when I got back from my meeting, the girls were just getting back and they were in all their princess finery (handmade dresses by Granny Moira — Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty), plus a couple of balloons for extra adornment.

I love this age, and want to bottle it up.

Thankfully the photographs do that.

Last day of pre-school…

Today was Kate’s last day of her first year of pre-school and here she is with one of her favorite classmates, Luke, after school was let-out.

Mom, Dad, and Sparky all were hand and there was a festive little mood as parents were around photographing little ones at the end of another milestone.

And I continue to shake my head in wonder at just how fast the past nine months have gone  — Kate started school the week that Sparky was born and look at them both now.

It goes so very fast.

Nicki’s tulips on the dining room table…