where the magic happens.

taking pictures of life with our kids generally falls into one of the following scenarios:

1. the kids are dressed decently, teeth brushed, hair somewhat tamed (i.e., like on a sunday when we're headed to church) but the setting is not so very nice.  like our rather uninspiring 'hood.
2. the kids are NOT dressed decently but rather are wearing random playclothes, teeth may or may not be brushed, hair might have been tamed the day before, but we happen to be in a nice, inspiring, uncluttered setting.
3. the kids are still in pjs, one has poopy pants, teeth definitely not brushed, hair hopelessly disheveled, AND we are in a downright unpleasant setting.  like in our house at nighttime with the dark wood paneled walls and the red living room carpet in all their full glory.  

any one of the three above scenarios is where our daily life regularly happens.

getting the whole family into a hypothetical scenario 4 where all are dressed in coordinated, complementary clothes, all are sparkling and clean and smiling, and we're in a beautiful setting perfect for picture taking?  well, that would take nothing short of a herculean effort.

and my back just can't take herculean efforts these days.

my point, and i do have one, is that the memory-making magic of our family life happens in the  disheveled mess of our daily life.  poopy pants and all.  it's those little daily moments that are here today but gone tomorrow that i want to remember forever which is why i keep trying to capture the little details that make up the story of our family. and so i'd like to remind us all to find ways to savor  the fleeting moments of everyday life because that's where the sweetest and best stories are.  :)

anyway, that's all's i gotta say about that.  and with that, i bring you shots from our recent lark on the campus at ucla which happened to fall under scenario 2.  it was a fun afternoon where the kids got to play, i got to shoot them (with my camera, of course!), and we got to spend some quality time being together.

it's a bird!  it's a plane!  no, it's super-mikey!

this is my allie-girl.  she's very girly.  and sweet.

this is my baby.  she on occasion needs to ruffle my feathers.  just to keep things interesting.

this is my boy who has always liked to watch water.

occasional feather-ruffling aside, this one makes her daddy laugh like no one else can.

she also throws in some sugar now and again just to remind us why we like her so much.

my rag-tag little crew.  i just wouldn't be me without them.

and this is how my shadow (including the 7-month belly) looks lately.

my dear hubsters and his iphone.  it's a love-hate thing.  more love on his part, more hate (wow, such a strong word!) on mine.

believe it or not, lauren took this shot!  (with mikey's assistance in holding up the camera for her). not bad, eh?

this is my son who is growing up much too quickly.  he now has two other loose teeth wiggling and jiggling around in his head.

hey yo, yo, yo!  wanna see my latest dance moves?

first you lean it to the left.

then you slide on to the right.

now you shake your little booty.

and throw your hands up in the ai-yeh.

now screeeeam!!!

word to your mother.

peace out.

hello.

hello dear little one,

 i'm sorry to have to tell you...

that you are not the first to be born into this family.

and not the second, or the third, either.

no precious one, you will be one of many.

though you're not the first, or the second, or the third...

we still eagerly await your arrival with open arms and thankful hearts. 

for you are a precious gift from the Lord.

and i happen to know a big brother and a couple of big sisters who just can't wait to hug you and squeeze you and love you forever.

see you soon, little guy.

love,
mommy

she.

if you were to ask her, she'd say she wants to be a mommy when she grows up.  and she's lately decided that she needs to learn how to do what mommy does in order to be a mommy herself one day.  i like the way the girl thinks.

which means, she's been hanging out with me quite a bit in the kitchen as i'm cooking dinner.  and since she's the one who is usually around, she tends to be the one who gets to help with things like stirring the sauce, or adding ingredients to the pan.  i'm not together enough to remember to call little people to come help, but if you make it a point to be around, i'll usually end up putting you to work.  it's kinda just how it goes around here.  sort of a melded "squeaky wheel gets the oil" and a "you snooze, you loose" kind of thing.  anyway, you get the point.  and i tend to think she does too. 

she also gets the added highlight of boasting to daddy that she made dinner all by herself when he gets home.

and after dinner, when the others scamper off to play, she's most often the one still hanging around.  so one night, while daddy was doing the dishes, she asked if she could help.  he said yes, only to comment to me later that it took twice as long with help than if he had just done it himself.  ah but, a mommy-in-training's gotta start somewhere, right?

dishwasher loading 101.

"ready for the next one!"

"got it, daddy-o!"

who knew dishwashing could be so much fun?

so fun in fact, that she needed to jump for joy.

and then bust out her happy dance.

and revel in the sheer giddiness of it all.

before getting back to work.

i think her next lesson shall be laundry folding 101.  it'll make her day.  and definitely mine, too.

the launch.

we got to spend the day with my brother's family a couple weekends ago.  it was a pretty near perfect day.

we brought a rocket.

and we launched it.

four times.

and no one got their eye poked out.

"ready my son?  begin the countdown."

"4... 3... 2..."

the arguably smarter half of the group stayed a safe distance away.  my brother also reasoned it would  be much easier to claim they weren't with us should any law enforcement officer type persons arrive to haul us away. 

"1!"  ...  ...  "did you push the button?" ... "push it again." ... "huh."

[please standby.  we are experiencing technical difficulties.  thank you for your patience.]

"ok, let's give it another go.  count us down, boy."

"3... 2... 1!"

 and we have lift-off!

whoa, that's going pretty high.  everyone, take cover!

"let's do it again!"

notice how the arguably smarter half of the group has abandoned their safe-distance-away post?  heh heh.

rocket launches.  bringing joy and happiness to one and all.  (and my apologies for not getting auntie joanna entirely in the picture.  i took the one picture before my better sense to run back for cover took over).

and then the girls wanted to shoot the rocket, too.

it's no secret who this girl's favorite uncle is.  :)

then we decided not to push our luck any further and left the rocket launchpad and moved on to feeding ducks.  and seagulls.

have i mentioned how much i love living closer to family so that our kids can have the blessing of growing up with their cousins?  well, i totally do.

rare family pic.  (see?  i was there too!)  thanks, joanna for taking it!

ahh, there's just something special about daddies and daughters.

yep, just something special. 

(she just spotted a bird sitting on top of a lamppost.  she's always had a thing for birds.)

like i said, a pretty near perfect day.  :)