Braaaaaaains! - 89/365

And this is why I need a filter on my lenses.

And because Thomas is also cute - but serious -

Climb-Slide - 88/365

We went down to visit my sister and her girls today and the kids were all playing outside.  The boys took fearlessly to the playset, which makes me really happy since theirs will be arriving for their second birthday in a few weeks!

The pink sneakers are courtesy of the boys' cousin, Zoe.  I stupidly forgot their sneakers at home!  I have to say that Thomas especially was really rocking the hot pink.  :)

Doorknob - 87/365

And now they can open doors.  Ack!

Man and Dog - 86/365

A man and his dog.

Grandparents - 85/365

We visited Chris' parents over the weekend and I finally got a decent picture of them with the boys.  Unfortunately the boys have their ridiculous pacifiers in their mouths!  ARGH.

First Crocus - 84/365

First crocus poking up despite the freezing cold weather here.

Haircuts - 83/365

The boys got their hair cut today and I am heartsick.  Chris came with me and he was in charge of Thomas while I was in charge of Samuel.  They were cut by different people.  Samuel looks great.  Thomas looks like his hair was chopped by a weed-whacker.  I KNEW I should have gone over there and supervised, but I did say how to cut it and how much, but of course Chris always likes more cut off than I do.  At least there's almost a month for it to grow back before their birthday.  Waaaaa!

Yixing - 82/365

My husband, Chris, just returned from a 10-day business trip to China.  China is one of the places I have longed to go for years and years.  I love the people, the culture, the architecture, the arts and crafts, everything.  As my consolation prize for not being able to go, I asked him to bring me back a teapot for my collection.

He picked out this beautiful handcrafted Yixing pot.  Beautiful.

New Kitchen-set - 81/365

As I mentioned in my last post, the boys managed to break a hinge off of their old handmade kitchen-set and, being the impulsive mother that I am, I went out and bought a new LittleTikes version.  I still love their old one and prefer the wooden style kitchen sets in general, but the boys seem to be taking to this new one, and it certainly has enough room for both of them.  At least most of the time!

Old Kitchen-set - 80/365

I made this little kitchen set for the boys over the summer and I love it.  Unfortunately they are fast outgrowing it and managed to break one of the hinges off the oven door.

Spring Cleaning - 79/365

I was washing one of our glass doors and Thomas decided to "help" from the other side.

Jedi - 78/365

I believe Samuel was attempting to move this cup with his mind.

Full Moon - 77/365

I'm sure a ton of people will be doing this one today, but here's my offering.

Spring! - 75/365

Well, not quite, but it did get to just about 60 degrees today!  Wonderful!  Our street is a cul-du-sac with a grassy median area and as we are nearly at the end of it we get practically no traffic, especially in the mid-afternoon.  The boys had their first "road walk" in a very, very long time and they really enjoyed themselves as you can see. 

Spring Springs!

Water!

More Water!

Reading with Nana - 74/365

This is Thomas, just before bed, getting a story from Nana, whom he adores.  This was an interesting lighting situation.  It was too dark (shooting at ISO3200 and still underexposed) so I put up the pop-up flash (didn't have my speedlight) and used a mostly white page of a boardbook, positioned right on top of the camera, angled upwards, to bounce the flash off the ceiling.  Didn't work half bad!

Cookie - 73/365

The boys' have just had their first store-bought cookie... Lorna Doone shortbread.  It meets with Tom's approval.  He did a little "cookie dance" in his chair.  I should have video'd it.

Dinnertime! - 72/365

I've been moving towards getting the boys out of their highchairs and into booster seats at the breakfast room table.  I don't know why we waited so long, I guess just because it seemed easier with highchairs, and they flung their plates like discuses.  Well it turns out that they are better behaved at the table!

Jumping - 71/365

A moment of suspension:

And landing:

Book Club - 70/365

The boys' cousins, aunt and gramps came over for a visit today!


First meeting of the Four Cousins Book Club

Cuddling with Gramps

Deep Concentration

And in other news, Thomas learned to kiss!

The Little Chef - 69/365

The little chef at work.  Never fear, Chris was right next to him and he wasn't close enough to actually reach the stove.  :)

Mama&Tom - 68/365

By popular demand, I took a matching picture (from a few days ago) with Thomas.

Blocks - 67/365

Today we went down to visit my sister and her daughters.  The boys had a great time and Sam was particularly taken with their Duplo table.

Also:

 

The Destructor - 66/365

Surveying the destruction.

Pasta - 65/365

Surrounded by toys, and he is enthralled by a bowl of dry pasta.

Test-Model Too - 64/365

I wanted to try some OCF again today, so I recruited Thomas.  Overexposed, I think, but I can't seem to get the ETTL mode to work right on the flash when I'm using it with a remote trigger.

Nana & Gramps - 63/365

The boys just love their Nana and Gramps.

Test-Model - 62/365

I was setting things up to photograph a friend's daughter when Samuel wandered into the room.  I was eager for a test subject and luckily he's comfortable enough with his feminine side not to mind the pink backdrop.

Self Portrait - 62/365

I call this one "Self-Portrait With Toddler".

These were also cute from today.