fast

she's doing great on her bike and has graduated from the driveway to the greenway.

parade of hills

we didn't really know what the "parade of hills" was. it was supposed to host the ohio state fiddle festival, a raptor exibit and good acoustic music. we didn't find any of that. what we did find, was this garish wonderland. blew a quick $25 bucks on plastic toys, loud rides and food choices my mother would not be proud of. and then we all felt an intense need to come back to our cozy, middle-of-nowhere, home.

superiority

adda deeply aggravated at hudson for splashing her in the bathtub "i'm mommy's best girl, i'm the daughter. you're just the little brother". hearing nothing insulting, he exclaimed "yeah, me brother" and splashed her some more.

fire

a beautiful old maple is dying in our front yard. once majestic, now diseased and dropping limbs. it provided us this happiness, our first bonfire of the year.

pickles for breakfast

they wanted pickles for breakfast. there wasn't really a good reason to say no...

the beginning of a classic tussle over possession...

hudson has been winning most of the scraps lately - the boy will not unhand anything. look at that face!

she reloaded while he was making his get away and then as soon as he went through the door, she shut it and locked him inside.

he didn't get mad, just stood there making funny faces at her through the screen. she started laughing, called him a "silly pickle eating little biscuit" and let him back outside. they finished their pickles happily and begged for more. the end.

choo-choo

went to the wine on the rails fundraiser for hocking valley scenic railway last weekend. it was a 2 hr sunset/full moon ride with hors d'oeuvres and live music. the band played twinkle twinkle little star for adda & hudson and everyone made a big fuss over them as they were the only kids on board. they were so excited to ride a real train. it was a sweet family night out.

mommy make my picture

so adda asked me to take her picture one day. sure, i take her picture frequently. she neither likes or dislikes it, often she's unaware. never before has she requested it. she put a hat on, climed up on top of jonathans dresser and proceeded to work the camera for several minutes straight, completely undirected. she was posing and posing and laughing. i have no idea where she learned this, i haven't taken her on a shoot with me since she could walk. i guess it's just inside her and it was really beautiful to watch her confidently open herself up in this way. i fired off 50 frames in a couple of minutes, 40 of which were good. i hesitated to post these knowing someone will say "oh how sad, the daughter of a photographer being exploited like that, taught to pose and be so self aware at 3 years old". but i want this blog to be a faithful rendition of our lives and this is the way it happened. i rarely edit any of their photos. i try to just be a mom with a camera here, posting the wild hair and crusty noses, the blown out, and the blurry. but i loved a few of these and took them in to photoshop/lightroom and played with them, i think the last one is my favorite.

her very own first necklace - she's in love with it.

nectarines at the farmers market

manners

hudson while spinning in circles trying to keep the neighbors dog from licking his face "no thank you, no thank you, no thank you".