Nap Time

Atticus and Luca about to nap in mama's and daddy's bed!

Well sort of...How are we to sleep if you're taking pictures of us? :)

These will look nice as B/W, but I couldn't resist putting them up!

Catching Up!

ok, so the focus was on Caleb,but the look on Gavin's face is just too sweet. Caleb was kissing on him.

sorry about the picture not being rotated, these are straight out of the camera and I haven't touched the folder yet...

He loved the sand, he was actually eating it! His squinty eyes say it all!
Ok, I am way behind on this blog. I've attempted to make an update, but get side tracked trying to create a different look to it, but then frustrated that what's in my mind and with the limits of this blog, I can't seem to create. Plus, I noticed that when I upload pics using Picasa, it freaks out and doesn't work all the time, so now I will go back and try to fix those pictures again. But before that I'd like to post some of our trip to Maui and of Gavin's first birthday.

Jody and I spent 8 days in Maui (with Gavin) in the beginning of April. We had a great time, arguing, making-up, sleeping in (sort of) lounging and visiting a few old friends we made when we lived there in 1998.

Gavin turned 1 year on April 21st, 2007. He took his first steps in Maui a week before his birthday, but is just now liking to get around on his own. Everyday he takes a bigger challenge getting around by foot, but still crawling is much faster! :)

We also had the first time experience of one of our boys breaking a bone! Luca was running away from Jody during a game of family ball tag, jumped off the trampoline to land on his left elbow. He was such a brave and strong boy through it all. He only has to have the cast on for 4 weeks, which will be up late next week! He has learned to tie his shoes, put on a shirt and button his pants with the use of nearly one hand! :) He said the first thing he wants to do is ride his bike, when the cast comes off.

Jody and I are excited to start our photography business. Sounds so formal saying "business" but I'm thrilled with the whole process. We have been given a gift put right in our laps by our friend from college. She and her husband have had a wonderful and quite successful photography business grow in the last 4 1/2 years. Something of a gift to them as well, that grew unexpectedly, and through some heart aches. Her story is very tender and inspiring.

They have asked us to shadow them through this wedding season, in hopes of becoming one of their associate teams.

As most of my friends and family know, photography has been a long time hobby of mine and a hobby that would one day turn into a full time job. Being a stay at home mommy since 1999, the last few years I have spent thinking of something that would allow me to be creative and produce something that I enjoyed. Photography is that for me and starting the business side of it feels good, like the timing of my motivation and willingness to take a risk are merging at the same time! Jody's up for it too, by the way. Over our 13 years of marriage, he's been the one to suggest, encourage and support whatever it took for me to feel happy and healthy!

So in the next couple of months we hope to have a website up, business cards and our name out there....stacielee photography! Jody suggested me using my maiden name.

And if all goes well, we are working on building a new two car garage that will allow us to have an office above the garage (Jody could then work from home everyday), and a studio unit that will triple as a place to welcome visitors a place to stay, an extra room to entertain, and a photography studio. It will have a small kitchen, bathroom/walk in closet and then the main room, opening up to our backyard.

How are they doing all this you wonder? Me too, believe me.....I've learned that you have to try to find out. We're going one step at a time, deciding if we can do the next step with the creative resources we can come up with. We're selling stuff we don't need, including the truck. We're hoping that things will come along with photography, too. It won't bring in a ton over night, but over the next few years I hope we'll be able to depend on it.

Whew, that was a lot of catching up!

Oh-so much joy to you all! Stacie

Details

Here's our collection of eggs!
And of course Gavin had to get his hands on them...
Messy hands, but loads of fun!

Passing of the Dipper

Luca passing the dipper to Caleb, and Atti in the background trying to get that egg! :)
Luca looks so serious fishing for that egg!
Caleb's aqua egg.

Coloring Easter Eggs

I had planned on the boys to enjoy coloring eggs outside, but to my late planning, the weather turned on us Saturday, so I quickly set up our table near the bay window to catch any natural light I could (before the dark cloud covered our house)! Whew, that was a long sentence...here is Atticus and his yellow egg.

This last picture is Luca holding his egg oh-so carefully!

4-3-07

Grandma walking Gavin
He's on the move!
Miss Ruby, just so sweet said, "I'll play with you." And off they ran inside to play (wish I had gotten that shot of them running inside together, darn, next time!)
Beautiful Madisson, jumping on our trampoline. Here, she resembles what I might see her looking at as a teenager.
She is my best friend's oldest child, who's 8 years old.

Happy 4th Birthday Atticus!

Atti requested a banana split sundae, so we made one big one and shared it between us all! You see Caleb and Luca's spoons diggin' in for a bite!
Make a wish, sweetie pie!
The sundae
The older three of the four brodders!

Playing with My New Toy

Gavin crawling A neighbor, Hailee.

Caleb and friend, Shelan in background, her sister Rylie in forground.

I took some pictures of our boys and some of their friends the other day. They were playing in a tree and jumping to the zip line.

I have yet to feel confident in the whole post processing part of photograpy. My goal is to figure it out (soon) in order to enhance the pictures.

New Camera!

Well, we got our new digital camera and lenses! Actually, the second lens is on back order and won't be here until Thursday, so I'm playing around with the (heavy) zoom lens! I love the soft evening spring light as the sun goes down, and it's behind the kids. It seems to give such a soft glow.

My sweet high school friend, Richelle (and her husband Tim), had their first baby, a little girl, Lili Katherine about four weeks ago. I will have the privilege of meeting her and taking some pictures of her this Friday. This is great practice for me and a gift all new mommy's love-can't get enough pictures of your first sweet bundle of joy!

Gavin's Growin' and Climbin'

Gavin is ten months now and is still crawling around, no interest in walking to me while holding my hands, but zooms around the house in his walker. He's climbing the stairs and has somewhat attempted to crawl down feet first on his belly. I'm looking forward to him walking though, if he keeps the track record of his brothers, they all crawled 4 months before walking. That would put him walking in April, around his birthday! :)

Jody and I

We were goofing off and dancing when our friend Amy snapped a couple pictures. I take so many of the boys, but hardly any with the two of us-you know how it is.

9 months old

Gavin was in the thick of a head cold on the day of his actual 9th month, you can tell by the look on his face below, next to Caleb. He's better now, and his ear ache is hopefully healed since it's drained.

It's February!

I am so happy to see the sun shining in western Washington state! For some reason the "add image" button will not work on my blog here, so I will just write a bit.

Let's see, Jody's in his 5th week of the fire academy. All things are fire fighting around here, since Jody's gone through the week, everything hinges on getting through the week until daddy comes home. We've gotten used to our schedule however, and the weeks seem to go quickly. I on the other hand try not to hinge everything on Friday evening, to make sure we enjoy each other and live each day to it's fullest as best as I can. We are so proud of Jody. He's stressed but enjoying himself-to wrap it all up in one sentence! :)

My mind is buzzzzzing all around and I find it hard to settle down and stay in the lovely world of my kiddos right now, as I am eager to get my hands on a prof. camera, hoping to hone in on some skills and encourage growth in that creative arena for me. The fun part of photography is that our kids are the best subjects! :)
So, I look forward to Jody's up coming schedule as an opportunity for me to jump out in faith and ignore fear, and go for something I've thought about for many years.

The boys are doing wonderfully. Healthy, love to play together and on their own. Caleb is loving swimming lessons, as he's taken them through last summer and had just a month off after Christmas. Luca chose not to attend lessons again, but will start up in the summer with Atticus, also trying it out. If I can still get Luca in baseball, he wants to try that, as we've not ventured beyond soccer or swim. I love to see them try new sports or school activities-I look forward to seeing their individual tastes develop.

Well, I hear a baby up from nap time.....blessings on your head. -Stacie