Photographing Everyday Life

So I haven't posted in a while and therefore didn't mention about my nice, wonderful camera being broken. It was, of course, horrible timing. I had been asked to photograph Shayla's dance recital by the teacher, for which she gave me a free ticket. The camera stopped working on Wednesday night, and the recital was Saturday night. I called the repair shop and he said it would take three weeks to get finished. THREE WEEKS without my camera?!? When I asked, "Really? Oh, man!" the nice man asked when I needed it back. I mentioned the dance recital and he said for sure not for that. However, when I told him it was my baby's first birthday the following week he said he'd rearrange and get it done. Phew!

In the meantime we've got the old camera to use. I emptied off the card and realized that Zachary and Shayla have used it quite a bit to take pictures. My budding little photographers captured things I may not have ever captured myself about our lives.

I'm sure if any of you have called here you've always wondered what phone we're using. ;) Well, now you know. We have six handsets but are only using four of them -- three on the main level and one upstairs. So although it seems like a lot, sometimes still I can't find any of them while the phone is ringing:

In all of our addition photos I'm guessing we never posted a picture of our new family room ceiling fan. We spent enough time and trips to multiple stores to agree on one, so it's definitely worth a picture, too:

This pic shows I haven't uploaded pictures from this camera for a while. No, I don't still have spider webs (fake ones anyway ;) on my banister -- this is from Halloween. This landing is what we call our Rameumpton since it seems so high and mighty.

The kids are starting to understand games a lot more now, which is a lot of fun. Here we are playing Bang! Our latest is Settlers of Catan, and they love it. (I also love it because it doesn't take nearly as long as I originally thought.) Other favorites include Doodle Dice, Blokus, Battleship, Bonanza (the bean game), Ticket to Ride, TransAmerica, etc.

I still love my photos on the wall. Only thing is that I took new pics to put up months ago and still haven't gotten to it. I'll have to make that happen soon.

Yes, that's right -- I take off my shoes and socks the second I can. If the kids see me at home with shoes on they know that means I'm not home to stay. What you can't tell from this picture is that I'll wear flip-flops or sandals any time I can get away with it -- even in the middle of winter sometimes.

Yes, we have a loop and the kids sometimes use it. :) Growing up our house had a "loop" where we could literally run circles all day long. My younger brother (whose bedroom was under the kitchen part of the loop) vowed he'd NEVER have a loop. Can you believe with our addition we added this loop, as well as one that can go upstairs and downstairs? And as you can see from Shayla running away, this loop gets used! (In the background Becca is getting her hair done for Sweethearts. :) Oh, and my brother who vowed he'd never have a loop has one. Fortunately for him his baby can't even crawl yet so there isn't any loop-running in his house ... yet.

This picture captures something you can find ANY day of the week at our house: Zachary's dirty socks. I had to buy him and Tyler different socks so I knew who was to blame for the dirty socks on the floor, and the only time it has been Tyler's is when Zachary wore Tyler's by mistake. Sigh. Maybe one day he'll find the hamper without being told!

Yes, we have scouts at our house every week. I love that we don't have to go elsewhere to do it. And we love that it is with Tyler and his friends right now. It's a sweet calling that I've enjoyed and am glad I don't have to give up with a new calling I've received. This also proves we do the Cub Scout Oath every week ... and that Tyler isn't always necessarily paying attention. ;)

If I didn't have a picture would I ever record how much Paul loves the Sunday color comics? It's the first part of the paper he reads every week. We both love Dilbert (having worked in cube environments) and he has to get his weekly fix. He also enjoys looking through the rest of the paper and NOT recycling it when he's done. :)

This picture shows two things: 1) I still love this man I married -- he makes me smile almost every day. And 2) If you drop by my house, 99 percent of the time you'll find a basket or two of clean laundry in the family room waiting to be folded. Or just folded and not put away. I'm notorious for not putting things away until I need the laundry basket the following week, because I only do each person's laundry once per week and then I'm done until the next week.

This is Becca doing yoga. She says she LOVES it. She's nuts. Of course, she's obviously not doing a bunch of it right if she's in jeans, but she tries once in a while. And again, the laundry in the background ...

And, finally, who doesn't love a picture of a cute little guy? (And I'm not talking Cookie Monster this time. :)

By the way, I got my camera back and can resume "normal" pictures. I didn't have it in time for Paul's birthday, but I got it in time for Austin's. Pictures to come ...