It is both a blessing and a curse to have family stationed all over Canada. We don’t get to see them often, but when we do we always make it count. Week 31 was sandwiched between two great family gatherings with some faces we don’t see nearly enough.

My aunt and uncle celebrated their 40th (!!) wedding anniversary at their cottage on Lake St. Clair, and it was the perfect setting for our huge family, complete with a small beach and lawn games. Archer had a blast hanging out and getting to know a bunch of new cousins, while Gryffin was happily passed around between all of the cousins, moms, aunts and grandmas.

Mid week Archer got creative and built an epic train track under the dining room table (all by himself might I add), but not before neglecting the colouring book and drawing only on himself while I nursed Gryffin. At least it wasn’t the walls, right?

A few evenings a week we head back to the garden after dinner to see what is going on out there. Our garden was cut in half this year because we decided to put up a play set for the boys, so there isn’t a lot to pick most nights, but this year we planted snow peas and they are so fun for Archer to find and pick on his own – and eat right off the vine. I love doing this together, and I hope it creates a healthy relationship with food for our boys (and myself, too!).

Can you tell we are potty training? You’re probably thinking “Does that kid ever wear pants?”… No. The answer is no.

Our week finished with a birthday party for Gage and Neely with a few more little people than a normal Sunday, making it extra special. Plus, a shark cake and a dino cake to top it all off.

Funny faces!

Ages: 7, 6, 5, (almost) 4, 3, and 2! So much fun!

We are so blessed to have such a big family. I remember spending almost every weekend with my cousins as a kid, and I want our boys to see the value in family, both near and far.

And even though I doubt he is reading this, I just want to shout out a Happy Anniversary to my #1. He makes every day awesome, and I am lucky to have this life with him.

Cheers!

B

I met these beautiful people out in Mitchell’s Bay one gorgeous evening for some fun following some of the happiest months for them. A new grand baby and a wedding already this year!

Thank you to the McGee Family for having me document this amazing time in your life! I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

In retrospect, transitioning Archer to his big boy bed and potty training at the same time may have contributed to the struggle. Hindsight is 20/20 they say. But here we are a few short weeks later and the all-night head-banging has been dramatically reduced and the bleaching of poopy underwear is on the decline as well. Progress, my friends.

On the other hand, Gryffin has decided that sleep really isn’t is thing after all. He gave it his all for the first 3.5 months, but that got boring apparently. So I will savour these Sleepy Gryffin pictures and remember the good times. Maybe if I pray over them I will get to sleep again soon…

Some other weekly highlights include:

Eyelashes.

Goofy smiles.

Puppy love.

And big brother stuff. I’m going to try to not laugh at Gryffin’s face, clearly asking me to save him. But when there is a photo opportunity Gryffin, never. #sorrynotsorry

Here’s hoping your week is also full of some hilarity.

B

Another Thursday has come and this weeks theme is SUNFLARE.

We often find ourselves in the garden around sunset after the heat of the day has lifted, and Archer loves helping me out picking beans and peas. And of course, he is running around in his undies, because it’s potty training central around here.

Click here to check out Ali’s SUNFLARE image this week!

There are some special guests here in Week 29. Some of the usual suspects in our summer adventures: Stewart, Nolan, Knox and Gemma. A play date at the park with the next generation boys club made for a fun day (I think we need to come up with an actual name for these boys!), and Archer was beyond happy to see “his girlfriend Gemma” there too (his words, not mine!)

Gryffin, being the champ that he is, slept through the entire play date. So instead of pictures at the park, here are a few from an afternoon at home just the two of us:

The other exciting event we had was A Day Out With Thomas. Quite possibly the most overpriced family event ever, but Archer had fun and that is all that matters. Whoever owns the rights to Thomas is basically printing money, am I right? These pictures made the rounds already on my Facebook and Instagram a few weeks back, so I will spare you any more details.

I hope you’re having a great week!

B

A few months back I started a new adventure taking a course on shooting family films. Through this process I learned so much about my camera and even though I have just scraped the surface of the video world, I am hooked. I never thought I would find something that feeds my creative soul more than photography, but I was wrong. Having these little films will be so special in 5, 10, 20 years when I can watch and see my boys again, hear their little voices, and the sound of their little feet on the floor. Photography is an amazing hobby of mine, and I have learned so much about myself through my camera, but this is something so much more. I can’t quite explain how different it feels for me, but I will say that this is the first time I have felt proud to share my work, because I know how much it truly reflects me and my creativity. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I’ve only watched it about 200 times….

Cheers!

B

This week’s theme for my 2×52 with Ali is DOUBLE EXPOSURE, which to anyone who doesn’t know a lot about photography, probably means nothing. So I will enlighten you! I am not going to even attempt to claim to know much about film photography, because I am purely digital, but this is the quick and dirty run down. Back in the days of film, you could take multiple images on one frame of film, a technique I am now in awe of having given it a try. With film, you have no indication of what your first image was, or how the composition was in order to get the best combination of images. Now in the digital age, doing a double exposure in camera is a lot easier. You take your first shot, and then your live view screen is nice enough to show you a translucent version of your image in order to compose a second image on top. Are you lost? I kind of am too. I am a little embarrassed that this took me two whole nap times to take these images, and I know they are so far off from being perfect. Want to see some awesome double exposures? Just google it. You will be blown away.

Anyway, here is my images from this week, plus a bonus because I suck a picking just one. Click here to check out Ali’s DOUBLE EXPOSURE!