You Capture-Smile

Forcing a smile and showing off his train car! 

SO HAPPY to play trains with his big brother!

NOT HAPPY that little brother is playing with his trains!

Those whispy baby hairs make me SMILE...

...So does this picture!
*This photo was taken by Jen Brackbill

NOTE: All of my photos this week were taken with a Nikon D70.  None of them were edited.

You Capture-Youth

"I love you forever-

I like you for always.

As long as I'm living-

My baby, you'll be."

~From Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

Nothing fancy-dancy here. I took this with the Instagram app for iPhone and just LOVE LOVE LOVE it more than anything else I shot this week. He seems so big and yet, I need to remind myself that he is still my baby. He is still little. And he still needs his Mommy.

Emotions in Black and White

DELIGHTED to be on Mommy's back and "helping" plant the garden!

DEVASTATED that Alistair is in the bath and he isn't. 

ANXIOUSly waiting for Daddy to get home! 

You Capture-Doorways

*Note: This is NOT a very creative post.

When I first saw the topic for this week's You Capture, I immediately thought of Herman Melville's quote, “The eyes are the gateway to the soul.” I knew I wanted to get some shots of my boys because they seriously have THE MOST BEAUTIFUL EYES! They captivate me!

Take this picture of Alistair at 10 months:

Gorgeous eyes, right?! 2 1/2 years later one glance can still make his Mommy melt!

Well, I decided that the eyes topic was just a little too obvious and began to think about doorways, literally. I didn't want to submit just any doorways. I wanted to post something about doorways that I actually had feelings about. So here are those doorways:

My back door!

I LOATHE these curtains that were left by the previous owner and I'm not really sure why I haven't replaced them yet. But, now that I have a sewing machine, I will MAKE some!

The only thing worse about this door is the color of the outside!

Pink/peach/salmon? Our siding is beige, our shutters are dark green. This door sticks out like a sore thumb!

Okay, the back door is bad. But, what about the front? Well, this is what you see as soon as you walk through the front doorway:

Another door...or lack thereof! The hinges broke on the closet door and Noah finally got so frustrated with fixing them, he broke the door!!! (Still makes me laugh)

Now, for a doorway I like! The boy's room! Not only did Alistair pick the color that I painted the walls, but I FINALLY got their names hung up this morning (after a year on the "in-progress" list) AND I just love how it looks as you look out at the blue walls in the hallway! I honestly, stand in the hallway a lot and look through the different doors and admire the colors we have chosen to use in our house!

Catch more You Capture at ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com

Top 10 (15) of 2010

The You Capture assignment this week is "Top 10 of 2010."

I was having a hard time, so I picked 15!

Hey, it was a BIG year!

All pictures were taken with my Canon PowerShot A640 point-and-shoot unless noted.

Also, none of these pictures were edited (beyond cropping) except the one I "adjusted" in iPhoto.

(In order ONLY by the date they were taken)

Snowmagedon

I had to dig the sand table out of 2 feet of snow

to get enough sand to put on the icy steps.

Chopsticks

Alistair did an AWESOME job eating Thai food with chopsticks!

He was already such a good big brother!

*Photo taken by Krista Centric

w/ Noah's 35mm Rebel

9 (what would turn out to be 7) weeks from our

Family of 4!

*Photo taken by Krista Centric

w/ Noah's 35mm Rebel

I just LOVE this!

Shot on an old 35mm Canon Rebel, no editing, just skill!

*Taken by Noah Brackbill

Playgroup at the park turned into Jake, Sadie and Alistair in the water!

It was fine with me! Let 'em be kids!

(I used this pic for Noah's Father's Day gift)

 I snapped this with my iPhone 3g right after Ronan was born.

I just love the proud look on Noah's face!

 And I love Love LOVE how perfect my hair looks even

after being in a hospital bed for almost 24 hours!!!

(This was taken in L&D less than an hour after Ronan's birth.

My left leg was still numb and Alistair was sitting on it.)

Snapped this one with the iPhone, too!

I just LOVE the "evidence" of summer fun on Alistair's face!

Playing in the sprinkler at Uncle Steve and Aunt Krista's house!

Qualifies as one of my ALL-TIME FAVORITES!

Early morning snuggles!!!

Even got a smirk from the 3 month-old

This picture is cute, but it's even cuter with Alistair's quote:

"It's ok, Ronan. The doctor takes care of little kids, not peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!"

These three will ALWAYS be my "babies!"

Just walking around the yard with Mommy!

 *Color adjusted in iPhoto

Story time with Grandma!

Linked up at ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com

What Inspires Me

I had lots of very witty and poetic things to say in this post, but I am so emotional about these photos that I'm just going to let them speak for themselves!

I am inspired to get to the weekend, so I can soak in some of this:

Friday night-Sunday night, he is Daddy's shadow:

And it wouldn't be a post about what inspires me without a photo of my boys together:

(LOVE their coordinating Carters blankets! I'll have to post that story sometime!)

I'm linked up on this week's You Capture

@ ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com

Together....That's How it *Should Be

Together.

Because everytime we hear "Stuck Like Glue" By Sugarland,

Alistair says, "Mommy, we're stuck like glue" because we are!

Together.

Because I choose to wear my baby, keep him close, nurture him and

give him every opportunity for discovery and LOVE.

Together.

Because Alistair has a thing about lining things up.

Together. 

Alistair and "B."

Because he sees Mommy do it all the time.

Together.

*Because he only gets 2 days a week with Daddy.

Ok, I cheated a little bit. That second picture was not taken specifically for the YouCapture assignment. I had Noah take it for a post I'm drafting on my journey to babywearing, but, as the photo was taken, I was actually thinking about the word "togetherness." Crazy, huh?


This post is linked to this week's YouCature @ ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com

*Daddy works out-of-town M-F every week. We miss him A LOT!