Our little Gryff finally cut his first tooth at almost 8 months, and it was a doozy. I’m talking no sleep, red cheeks, won’t eat, clingy little snot ball. We finally found some relief in frozen fruit stuffed inside a mesh popsicle (what would you call these things?), followed by a bath in the sink with big bro. Now, this series may paint a picture of a nice fun time for all, but the clean-up I tell you was no joke. I think I used 4 bath towels to soak up the water on the floor, and I had to wipe down all of the cabinet doors and countertops in the entire kitchen. Not even joking, the entire kitchen. Was it worth it? 100%.

Sometimes there are things you need to do. Like shower, or get dressed, or cook dinner to feed your family. But sometimes it is way more fun to stay in your pyjamas all day and play instead. I’m not always the mom that is down on the floor playing pretend with my kids, but the times that I am are so special. And although dinner was a bit late and Eric came home to find us all still in pyjamas, it was an awesome day. And the laundry basket in the kitchen is proof that I was at least attempting to get some laundry done. That counts for something, doesn’t it?

In an effort to finish off this series in decent time before my 2017 projects begin, I am going to keep the chatter to a minimum. This weeks post is a little all over the map, but without further ado…

One of Archer’s favourite activities:

Mr. Gryff in a sea of bath tub letters:

A lunch date with Dad, and a pout because lunch had to come before cookies:

And a little glimpse of the finer moments between naps, meltdowns and time outs:

Happy New Year everyone! 2 more posts to go!!

I have had a few people ask me recently where I get my inspiration and how I keep learning new things when it comes to photography. With my boys changing and growing every day, there is always something to inspire me. Taking images of them will never lose its appeal, but my creativity definitely ebbs and flows. The photography community online is so amazingly supportive and there is always someone to talk to or something new to explore. In particular I am part of a small group of photographers that I now consider some of my best friends, and a few of them led me to some ebooks last month, both of which were big inspirations for me. So if you’re looking for something to spark your creativity or a gift for the photographer in your life, check out the links below.

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Week 45:

I tend to avoid harsh light. I don’t feel confident shooting in such harsh situations because I don’t ever think the light provides enough detail for the story without casting harsh unforgiving shadows on my subjects. In November I purchased two photography related books which kind of sparked a bit of creativity in me. One was Everyday Composition by Karen Osdieck, and she really got me thinking about lining up my shots, using my environment to frame, and the way your eyes travel through images to read the story. Now Gryffin follows Archer everywhere, and Wilf is usually not far behind. When I saw them all sitting in this patch of harsh light my instinct was to leave it and not grab my camera, but then I saw the lines, the way they were frames between the door and the counter top, and how the shadows fell off to the right, and I went for it. Are they spectacular images? No, but it was a first step out of my comfort zone.

Literally all I have been seeing after reading Karen’s book is lines, frames, reflections, and compositions. Our Monday night routine at the arena was not a let down…

Week 46:

Another book I read in November was Stories of Home by Kate Densmore, and one of her exercises was to try to tell a story in one image, and then in a set of 5-8 images. So one morning while Gryffin was napping and Archer wanted to paint (in his underwear, obvious, because that’s how he rolls), I gave it a go.

The story in one image:

And the story in 7 images:

One of my goals for 2017 is to be more intentional when shooting, and capture more variety in my image sets. This exercise from Kate really inspired that for me..

Well anyway, I hope that answered some questions for a few people, and if it was boring, at least the eye candy wasn’t too bad, right? 😉

Cheers,

B

Weeks 43 and 44 were all about Halloween and Archer’s 3rd birthday. We were a little behind schedule and finally ran out to find some last minute pumpkins a few days before Halloween to carve. Archer had already carved one at daycare, which he told everyone was for his little baby sister. No announcements over here, just a toddler who is putting some pressure on Dad for #3. Anyway, we found a little stand close to home with a few remaining pumpkins for Archer to pick out. He was as you can see, quite ecstatic when I told him he could jump off the hay bails.

Our local library runs some amazing activities for the little kids, one of which was pumpkin decorating after some Halloween stories. I have no idea who he was making that face to, but I sincerely hope it wasn’t another child.

Archer’s 3rd birthday Eric took the day off work and we went to the Superstore in the morning so Archer and I could do a little kids cooking class. It was really fun to do with him, and I highly recommend them to any locals with kids! They usually run on P.D days and for each holiday. After that we got a few donuts and headed home for a relaxing afternoon. That evening we had a little get-together for him with some friends and family. It ended up being a bit more than we had planned, but I think overall he had a great day.

Now, when it came time to actually carve the pumpkins we got, I thought I would give Archer his little toddler knife and I could show him how to do it properly without having to worry about him hurting himself. Turns out he has some serious knife skills and he just went to town on that pumpkin. It was a little unnerving, so when it came time to do any actual cutting I took over so no innocent bystanders would be hurt.And in keeping with our Halloween tradition, we hit up Nanny’s house first and took a front step picture for the books. Check out these two hams…
My game of catch-up is almost complete with only 8 weeks left in 2016! I am planning some fun stuff for 2017 too, but stay tuned for November and December shenanigans.

xo, B.

Time is flying so fast with Gryffin, I can’t even believe he is already crawling, eating solids, and the other day Eric says he pulled himself up. But I don’t believe that, not until he does it in front of me. He doesn’t do new things unless I’m around, right?

When Archer was nearing 6 months, I was so exhausted and desperate for him to sleep through the night that as soon as someone told me feeding him solids might get him to sleep better I ran out to the store and we were home trying baby cereal within a few hours. Now, in my desperation it didn’t even cross my mind that Eric might want to be present for the event, and I think he was a little disappointed that I did it without him. So this time I knew I would wait until all four of us were home to watch the funny faces Gryff made as he tried his first taste of food. It was fun to do it together, and we even let Archer get involved and try to feed him a little spoonful.

Gryffin has since decided he does not like pureed food at all, and just wants to feed himself chunks of chicken. Needless to say, this little phase was short-lived, but well documented. And now that I’m looking at it, in a short months time he has outgrown those clothes and is no longer allowed to sit in that seat because he can get out of it. Time is a real bitch sometimes.

A little Halloween-themed birthday party for our friend Nolan brought a bunch of these cuties together – a great excuse to wear their Halloween costumes to do some Fall activities.

Those cheeks, Nolan. Oh my gaaaaaaad.

On Sundays we usually go watch Eric play hockey, and on a good day I am a disaster carrying a carseat, blankets, Timbits, coffee and a diaper bag through the arena while chasing a 3 year old. Buuuut on this particular day, I may have been seen dragging a certain someone who was throwing a little bitty tantrum from the arena to the car. Good times. I was able to get one buckle on his carseat done up through his thrashing to restrain him while he finished his yelling enough for us to talk. Once he calmed down we had a little chat as these pretty little lights danced on his face and I couldn’t help myself.

Of course, getting so frustrated is exhausting.

And rounding up Week 42 was a little combined birthday party for Archer and Lachlann at Grandma and Papa’s house. Dollar store grab bags for the win!

Can you believe we only have 10 more weeks to go before the end of the year?!

Phew. What a whirlwind few weeks it has been. I have finally found a few minutes to sit down and blog while a little someone crawls around my feet. Yes, he is crawling. Before 7 months. I’m in trouble.

Here is a round up of Weeks 39 + 40. Because at this time I was focusing on making our October family film, I don’t have too many actual images from the month, so I think the next few posts will be combined weeks. And then I will catch up faster! Bonus! I am hoping to not drag this project too far into the New Year, so I need to get cracking!

First up, when you drive by a sunflower field and the owner happens to be walking her dog along side it, you jump out of your car and ask if you can check it out! Let’s just hope that next time it’s not in full sun at noon.

This was on our way to the orchard to go apple picking. One of the local orchards had been kind enough to let me bring some clients there this fall, so I took the boys to get some apples of our own and support the local business. Archer loved the apple picking, and he only ate about 3 apples in the 3o minutes we were there.

A little selfie action with my little Mr.

And the morning we bought Archer’s Halloween costume was the first of many spent playing Firehall. It is now nearing the end of November and the costume has yet to be put away in the costume bin.

Thanks for stopping by!

B