Mr. Mister

This is our third child, Mr. Mister. As you can see from these pictures, the kid has the most expressive face ever! Those big blue eyes of his are going to get him into trouble; they're probably going to be the thing to get him back out of trouble, too!

Mr. Mister has had a very eventful year. A few weeks ago, he lost his first tooth! He was really excited. Shortly after that, we went to the circus, where he won a bike! ("Yea!" for free bikes!) As if that wasn't enough excitement to last a life time, Mr. Mister just turned the ripe old age of six. Does life get any better?

Mr. Mister is one of the funniest people on the planet. On the way home from church today, he informed us that he wants to be the President of the United States. Awesome! Why does he want to be president? "The president has body guards!!!" Is there a more noble motive for civil service? His older sister, the Princess of Awesomeness, informed him that the Constitution dictates that the president must be at least 35 years old. Mr. Mister sighed dejectedly and said, "I wish I was 35." Maybe someday he'll get those body guards.

Of course, this does raise an interesting point. Just what on earth does a six-year-old need body guards for? Kindergarten recess must be a lot tougher than it was when we were kids!

Which reminds me, yesterday he said he wished he could turn invisible. Now what would you do if you could turn invisible? Mr. Mister knows exactly what he would do; he said he would sneak into the school unseen (since he's invisible, after all), wait till recess (who knows what he's doing in the mean time; maybe just learning without the teacher seeing him), then bump into kids so they would say, "Ahh! A ghost!" Now isn't that a great way to use the power of invisibility?

But we're glad he's not invisible; he's too darn cute!

Need we say more?

Rock Star

This is our fourth child, whom we will call "Rock Star." We call him Rock Star because he was apparently born with an internal sound track that only he can hear, and he feels compelled to bust out with ridiculously amazing moves on a regular basis. This kid was born with rhythm. We're pretty sure music just courses through the boy's veins.

It is always fun to hear him belting out the most random songs. He has quite a repertoire, too. We will be getting dinner ready and Rock Star will groove into the kitchen belting out, "You've got blood on your face, you big disgrace! Kickin' your can all over the place", at which point Buddy Boy will join in, belting at the top of his lungs, "We will, we will rock you!" Or we'll be enjoying a quiet afternoon in the living room, and suddenly Rock Star will boogie in singing "Standing on the rooftops, everybody scream your heart out!" Or we'll be driving in the car and he'll be jiving in his car seat, singing "Swing, swing from the tangles of my heart!" (Does anybody recognize the Lego Rockband playlist in all of these?)

One of our family traditions is Friday night movie night. And one of the very best things about Friday night movie night is getting to the ending credits of whichever movie we are watching. Why? Because typically, the ending credits of most movies have some great music, and Rock Star simply cannot resist the music. As soon as the credits start rolling, Rock Star leaps up from his seat and entertains us all until the last note has played. We love it!

Here is just a glimpse of some of Rock Star's killer moves.

He rocks.

Shoe-On

This is our fifth child, "Buddy Boy." He is just a few months shy of being a fully independent two-year-old. As with most children his age, he is pretty sure that he knows what is best, and we, as his parents, don't have a clue. Actually, does that condition ever go away for kids?

Part of Buddy's all-knowing wisdom includes the fact that he must be wearing shoes at all times. And not just any shoes; no, they have to be the right shoes. Although he owns more than one pair, the only ones that will do are his church shoes, which he calls "shoe-on." He has decided that his "shoe-on" goes with every outfit, to include pajamas. Because seriously, would pajamas look good with tennis shoes? Of course not! No, only a nice pair of black shoes with a fake buckle (velcro, of course) will work with pajamas. And although his pajama top may not match the pajama bottoms, he just wouldn't feel right without his "shoe-on."

Buddy Boy's "Shoe-On"

And when we say he has to ALWAYS wear his shoes, we are talking ALWAYS! Including to bed. He will scream and shout if we try to put him to bed without his shoes on. So if you think it looks uncomfortable to sleep all night with your shoes on, that is just further evidence of the fact that you just aren't as wise and all-knowing as an almost-two-year-old!

Our Little Angel

Here are some photos of our Little Angel at three weeks of age. Where does the time go? She is absolutely perfect. We love her lots!

New Introduction

We used to use this blog exclusively for our photography, and another blog as our family blog. We've decided, however, that as awesome as we are at blogging, we really didn't need two blogs to not update. So, we are consolidating in hopes to be better at keeping up to date. We will use this blog to post our adventures in photography as well as our adventures in real life.

So here we are! Watch this space for exciting updates! Or at the very least mundane updates (we have six kids; there will probably be updates about bodily functions, and those qualify as exciting. Or gross. We might give a disclaimer at the beginning of those posts for the squeamish out there).

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Our tree, by the way, really looks nice from about two feet up and above (this picture was definitely taken from above that two-foot limit). Our Christmas ornaments have suffered many casualties this year thanks to This Kid:

OK, we'll come up with more creative names to use for our kids online later! :)

-Sherrie and Jay

Bren & Joe: Wedding

The day was hot, humid, and on the verge of being nasty. So, we did pics indoors at the Union Station in Kansas City. It was fantabulous. The light was amazing, the couple was gorgeous, and even though it was hot, their day was amazing. Bren and Joe, thank you for allowing us to capture your day and the love that you so deeply share. You guys are amazing and we hope that you enjoy the pics.

Why yes, we do love your shoes!

We had to take a few shots with the dinosaur out front. How could we not?

The Scott Family

First off, this post is long overdue! (Sorry!) These shots were taken in the Scotts' beautiful backyard and inside their gorgeous house. It was hot and muggy out, but they all cooperated really well with our madness (even the kids!). Eventually, we decided it would be a lot more enjoyable to take pictures inside (thank goodness for air conditioning!).

We enjoyed getting to know several generations of the Scott family during this shoot. They are a great family!