practice, practice, practice......

When i told Elijah what we were going to go do he got ready and waited for me by the van, "lipper" and "plip-pop" and backpack secured! and these silly faces are all him, I never ask for him to do that...........he is so much fun!

he absolutely loves this hat, I must confess that I had to first sway him though.....when he refused to wear it months ago, I said, "that's fine, Ezra can wear his and be cool, you don't have to look cool!" he snatched it off of the floor where he originally thrown it to and said, "no, I'm cool!" now he wears it when ever he comes across it, I won!

showing off the muscles!

My little poser.....such a goof

this was closest to what I was trying to accomplish....just with a crisper image, oh well, I'm still happy with them.

my attempt to get sun flare......not quite there yet!

his bad little habit..........I'm having a really hard time breaking him of it!

maybe it's time to call it quits......too sunny

Ha, just realized that these were all vertical shots!

The clouds were GORGEOUS this particular day (8-20-09) and I was completely inspired by them.....so I decided to take my test subject (Elijah) out to the local playground and try to capture something brilliant. Well, mission failed, but it wasn't a complete failure as I thought they turned out well enough (I wish I could have had Elijah's face crystal clear in every shot)...Lij was a great sport until the sun peeked out of the clouds and blinded him but he was rewarded with a sucker for his good behavior. I know in time I will get better, it's just going to take lots of practice and not all will be wasted time especially since I will get many wonderful photographs of my kiddos....something I regret not investing in from the beginning of motherhood!

pow wow exhibition

Sneak up...

Men's Fancy Dance...

Women's Fancy Shawl Dance...

Women's Traditional Dance.....

Grass Dance.....this little boy in the yellow was awesome and so cute!!!

Women's Jingle Dress Dance....

This video is the Women's Fancy Shawl Dancer's performing the Crow Hop, my all time favorite dance.

While I was visiting Olivia, in Minnesota, we went shopping at IKEA and then the Mall of America. Much to my surprise and delight we happened upon a Pow Wow Exhibition courtesy of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community......my heart melted as the drummers began and the Grand Entry took place. So many memories flooded back to me bringing me to tears a few times. Those years that I participated in powwows brought me SO much joy....I felt the closest to God back then. When I danced I remember dancing for His Glory....it was sort of a love affair with the true lover of my soul (I know this must sound so corny or even crazy but THIS was the way it was, and I MISS it). My dad introduced me to pow wows and he told me to simply go out there and dance for God, "keep your mind on Him, dance for Him, Nichole and He will be pleased as you bring Him glory and honor"....I took that to heart and I was a natural at the Fancy Shawl Dance style. When I got big-headed and tried to show off, I would be thrown off beat or miss the stop or feel Lost even but I would always be reminded to dance for Him and then all would be as it should! Why did I give up? There are so many answers to that question but I was reminded of how close and organic my relationship WAS with God when I danced. Again I was reminded of my closeness with my Lord during those powwow years when at church this morning a girl spoke of her missionary work in Kenya this summer. She explained how the Kenyans helped her to become comfortable with public worship through song and dance as they would just turn on music, singing and dancing with pure joy (in spite of there desolation) at any given opportunity or location...........I want THAT joy in my life again.

Olivia was so sweet to pull out her point and shoot and capture these images and a few videos for me. Her boys, Owen and Aidan were with us the whole time and were so well behaved (I was amazed) and seemed to soak up the Native American culture....I want that for my boys. I think I will go to the Tipton pow wow this year and share that little piece of my past with them.

and he's off.....

Yay! Elijah can ride his bike w/o training wheels......this began about two weeks ago. Elijah had taken a couple of trips to the bike shop with our new vintage bikes (future blog---got lots to catch up on) to get tune ups and he spotted a bike he wants...a little red Giant. Kenny told him he can't have a new one since he still rides with training wheels....being the competitive, I"ll show you type, he asked to remove the training wheels....sigh! He reminds me so much of Ben--everything (except Lij is WAY more busy), Ben rode w/o trainers at 2 years+4 months and now Elijah at 2 years+11 months. I'm so proud of him yet he worries me that he may be growing up way too fast especially having a much older brother to follow and Elijah has proven over and over to have the second child syndrome----that of a shadow! It took him two days to master stopping by using his break and easily dismounting--most of the time, now if we can only get him to take off by himself........

Father's Day walk '09

Elijah likes to wear Ben's wrist bands that he got from a Harlem Globetrotters Basket Ball game (notice in another photo that Ben is wearing the match).

Ben--my strong guy Elijah--my wild child

see how Elijah is looking at Ben in order to choose his next move--Ben's little shadow!

"hode me, Papa"

Every year for the past 4, me and my dad take a *Father's Day* walk....this sprang from my fond memories of the times he would take us to the state parks in Ohio. Back then, he would take all of us kids (and sometimes Dolores's 5 children, when they lived with us) to Clifton Gorge, John Bryan or Glen Helen State Parks in Yellow Springs, Ohio--just outside of Dayton--and we would go on long walks. As the little kids would run and play through the woods, I would hang back and walk and talk with my dad....those times were very dear to me. So, as an annual Father's day gift, we pick a state park each year and that's were we steel time together. The first two were spent trekking back over to Yellow Springs, Ohio and the last two have been spent in Indiana--Clifty Falls in Madison and McCormick's Creek in Spencer. We had a great time, the boys always do so well out on the trail, running and being loud as boys do and discovering the natural wonders of God's creation. Our walk was cut just a little short with the threats of thunderstorms so the second half of our walk was a little hustled since I had my camera and feared it getting soaked. Ezra slept in the sleepy wrap half the time and towards the end Elijah wanted to be held. Ben was a bit upset that we had to cut out the other trail we planned to hike but quickly cheered up with the mention of stopping at the DQ for the rest of our annual event.

All in all, another wonderful memory to add to the rest....now if only I can become a better photographer to capture these moments better!

for the Lub of Coppee

I had to put a couple of these pics in of Lij wearing his rubber boots and Ben's old baseball helmet...he can be so random, I love it! SOOOO CUTE!

Lij steeling a swig of my coffee, I couldn't resist capturing it.....and I wonder why he doesn't take me seriously when I tell him NO!

oops...I didn't post those in the right order, oh well.

Elijah LOVES coffee....well my coffee, not Kenny's he informed me today. I drink mine with flavor and cream and Kenny considers himself a *purist* by drinking straight espresso (his drink of choice is a Venti Americano over ice, no water--that's six shots of espresso, yuck!). We budget in Starbucks for Kenny every week and on Sundays, on our way to church ,we stop in and I get some too. Lately I have been ordering iced coffee with half and half with toffee nut and carmel--yummy! I HATE the price of Starbucks so I recreate my own at home....I switch back between English Toffee Frappiccino and Iced Coffee with flavored cream over coffee ice cubes. I really should break down the price so I can see how much I'm saving. I have been obsessed with saving jars from spaghetti sauce (and such) and reusing them, these have now become my favorite drinking glasses. So, most days I will make myself some iced coffee and Elijah will express to me, "I lub your coppee, mommy.....I want coppee por eber". He pronounces his f's as p's and v's as b's and I joke that he is almost bilingual!

Everly Jayce

Doesn't she have the cutest baby bump.....9 months....so cute!

this was taken the monday before she delivered her 5th child....beautiful girls, huh! she can almost make ya sick!

I took these photos of Everly when she was 5 days old

My newest niece was born almost a month ago(June 25th)....she makes #14 (nieces and nephews) with two more on the way--my sis-in-law due in november and my sis Christine due in 12 days. Needless to say we have a crazy large family and my brother hasn't even started a family and one of Kenny's brothers hasn't had children yet so it's only getting larger each year!


Sadly enough, i have only seen Everly twice and when I saw her the second time, I took my camera and didn't fully capture her precious size or stunning beauty. Soon, I hope to trek over to Natalja's and photograph all the girls together.

rekindled love.....

I find myself addicted to listening to audio books once again....I use to do this a lot when I was single. I listened to Frank Peretti fiction books based on spiritaul warfare, books that became films like The Princess Bride, a few of the Left Behind books and now I am doing it again. I recently went to the library and decided to sign up for the book club realizing this included the audio books.....ah, I missed listening to them! So I looked up one of my favorite authors but none were in by Judy Blume so I searched for my new favorite book that I read a few months ago, The Shack by William P. Young....nope, sigh. determined to not give up, i decided to look for a book that i have read twice before, Deadline by Randy Alcorn---I love his books, I have read two-Deadline and the sequel, Dominion. Yay! I found a new one that he wrote....oh wait, jackpot, it's a third one in the series....I couldn't wait to see what was new with Jake, Carly, Clarence and Ollie..... :) What was even more exciting was that Benjamin got really involved in listening so much that we found ourselves waiting in the driveway listening till the end of a chapter a few times. Good book, good series. I'm currently listening to Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks in the van and Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult in the house. Ben is listening to the Chronicles of Narnia in his bedroom. I must force myself to stop listening now as it is 1:12 am and I will be getting up with Kenny at 6am, UGH!