I Heart Faces Weekly Challenge: FEET!

Nothing is as sweet as baby toes...as every mother knows. Goodness knows we count those toes, kiss them and tickle those feet enough....before too long they pitter patter but when they are young...they are just too cute.



Head on over and check out all the other little feet at I Heart Faces!

Paper Mamma Challenge: October Favorite

So, over on The Paper Mamma, she's having a contest...it has to include your kid(s) and this month it has to be about Halloween type things....

Well, we took the kiddos to the pumpkin patch, and while Allan and Liam meandered their way through through the corn maze I took pictures of Kayleigh with the pumpkins....I think she liked them, but maybe I'm biased, you be the judge...

Check out some other fantastically cute kiddos over at The Paper Mamma's blog...

I Heart Faces Weekly Challege: Black

This week the focus is on black...I have MANY silhouetted shots of my kiddos but this has got to be one of my favorites.  I love the cheeky look my son is making that you can just barely see as he's hiding in the shadows on a beautiful sunny day.

Make sure to check out all the other wonderful "black" shots at I Heart Faces!

She's On the move!

So, in keeping with the "Let Them Be Little" idea...It's amazing to me how fast Kayleigh's growing up. I regret SOO SOO SOO much not having the tools I have now with her when Liam was little. Now he rarely wants  to be in a photo, and tells me daily that he "quits" when I pull out my camera. Or else he's photo bombing by jumping in with a goofy face in front of his sister...

But the last couple days have been big big days...the Bug has really started to get crawling down and is now scooting around the living room at will instead of scooting herself backwards under the couch and getting stuck.  So today, I decided to capture her just being the bug...

Finally, She decided to look at me and smile....

Of course, she found the  fact that I was lying on the floor extremely funny...

She wanted my camera strap...so decided to investigate...

Here she comes......

Oh, wait, whats THAT?

I'll go get that instead.....

Just had to crop in close...

All that crawling makes for a tired Bug Bug...

After a long day of go go go, this is what we get....is there ANYTHING more peaceful than a sleeping baby?

I Heart Faces Weekly Challege: Let Them Be Little

This is Kayleigh. Otherwise known as "Kayleigh Bug", "The Bug",  "Missy Bug", "Bug Bug" and other variations on "Bug". She is now 7 months old. Yesterday, she said Ma Ma clear as day for the first time. The day before she crawled across the living room. I love to watch this stage of infancy, everything is new, they are discovering their bodies and how to move them. They are learning language and relationships. It's the age of firsts.

What I DON'T like, is watching it go by so fast with my own kids. My son, is a 16 year old in a 6 year olds body (back seat driving and all), and it seems like yesterday I brought him home from the hospital. This little thing, she's my baby, I'm going to miss holding my sleeping baby. Her sweet snuffle of baby snoring in my ear as I try not to wake her as I lay her down.  I'll miss the complete joy she gets on her face when I simply say "Bug bUUUUUUg" in a silly way to her as I come into the room to get her up from a nap. I'm going to miss her wee cute noises in the background of my day. Pretty soon the word NO will come into her world. I'll be chasing a toddler instead of cuddling my baby.

There are TONS of other  cute little ones over at I Heart Faces...Check them out!

OKTOBERFEST!

I grew up going to Leavenworth every year around this time. We had a family reunion every year. All the extended family would meet to celebrate birthdays all at once. (There were like 6 or 7 right around late Sept. early October) 

Leavenworth is this little town, nestled in the Cascade Mountain range that has a Bavarian theme. ALL the stores..even the Starbucks, the McDonalds and the Subway are in "Bavarian" style buildings. It's quite quaint. Now, if you have young children, it's a good destination for winter time, the main street of town has a large hill that beckons even the most fuddy duddy old guy to sled down it. It's beautiful all lit up in the snow for Christmas. And in the fall, for Oktoberfest, it's a brilliant display of fall colors everywhere. It's also very busy. And if you have issues with people drinking around you I'd advise not going there during the HEIGHT of the Oktoberfest festival. 

Allan has swapped over to a Canon 30D camera. (I'm just a SMIDGE green)  He's also gotten a nifty fifty to play with. This was our first real outing with the new camera. 

We ate at Uncle Uli's (great little place BTW) where Allan had the Bratwurst Burger...it basically replaces ground beef for ground bratwurst...and he said it was the best burger he's EVER had. It was also very kid friendly, long benches outside seating, but under a balcony so you stay dry on a rainy day. 

Allan and Liam passed the wait time (it was Saturday of a festival day and VERY busy) by playing thumb war and rock-paper-scissors, which Allan kept cheating with by adding in, Fire and Rain...a la Joey from "Friends." 

I did say it's beautiful. The lower right picture on this collage is from a spot where about 15 years ago was destroyed by a forest fire. The fire was on either side of the 2 lane highway into Leavenworth, and  before it was over the fire threatened the town itself. The beauty of the vibrant colors through the scorched land is breathtaking, believe me when I say the photo doesn't do it justice. It's amazing how much it's come in just the last few years much less the last 15! 

For a week, we had a dog, and he joined us on this outing. He was a sweet little thing. A mix of Cairn Terrier and Dachshund. But, alas, both Allan and I were terribly allergic.  Here you see again the recovery of the forest fire, and the Willkommen banners in the wee town. 

And NO post would be complete without kiddo collages...I gotta say, I may be biased but she's just too cute. Also, Allan upstaged me this time around with pictures of The Bug. All but two of these are Allan's, my favorite included, which is the top left. 

And of course, there's Liam. Who really doesn't like having his photo taken anymore :( But we still manage to get a few here and there.

Hurricane Ridge

So finally...new post!  YAy...

A couple weeks ago we headed over to the peninsula yet again....We tend to find a lot of fun stuff to do over there. This time we decided to do a impromptu camping trip...if you can call renting a KOA cabin for a night camping.

Our PLAN, was to get going DIRECTLY after Liam got out of school at 2:30. After all, a 3o minute ferry ride and an hour or so in the car and we should be able to be at the campground and hang out for a while, build a fire, make some smores etc. HOWEVER, one thing on top of another, and we ended up not getting to the cabin until 9:30.  The next morning, we went to a little diner in Sequim...and then coffee of course (we are Seattleites, born and converted after all). And off we headed to Port Angeles, and then up and into the mountains.

I haven't been to Hurricane Ridge for around 15 years, and things haven't changed much. Due to extreme heat, and my issues with my ankle we thought to do the 6 mile walk to the tiiiiiiiippy tippy top of the mountain. But ultimately we decided to do the smaller set of trails...to keep it fun and easy and be able to take  our time rather than have to RUSH through 6 miles.

Turns out our choice was a good one. Like a previous walk (that I will eventually add as well) that took us into the upper altitudes, after a little bit, Kayleigh just lost it. Between teething and that we're at the HOLD me ALL DAY stage,  she won't sleep in her buggy. But we managed to get a number of great photos to commemorate our crazy weekend.

Notice the picture here with the white in the background. Due to the area having an extra 10ft of snow this last year, and a cool summer there was snow over the trail and along the side of the mountain as well. (Of course, I didn't snap a picture of Allan pushing the buggy over a large pile of snow!)



















Keep an eye out...coming up is also, the Iron Goat Trail. Not to mention a number of just fun pictures of the kiddos etc to come.

I Heart Faces - A Touch of Sunlight

So this weeks challenge is  A Touch of Sunlight. I just so happen to have captured this shot while taking pictures of Kayleigh for her 6 month shoot.

Make sure to head on over to I Heart Faces.com to check out all the other touches of sun!

Back to School!

So, we've been busy in the McGregor household. Kayleigh's beginning to get mobile..(she's mastered the backwards scoot)...Allan's been working crazy hours (70+ a week for a couple weeks there) and then of course, BACK TO SCHOOL. My Little boy has become a big boy. Headed off to 1st grade. Here's a little collage to commemorate his 1st day.

Apparently, a summer away from each other doesn't dampen childhood crushes...

We have been out on a number of outings in the last few weeks. I will be editing and telling you all about them soon!

I Heart Faces Weekly Challege: White

This week the focus is white. I thought of a number of different ideas for shoots but ultimately chose this picture. The white blanket used for a backdrop here is a fantastically beautiful handmade shawl. It was made by mother in law for my son when he was born, it was then used for my daughter as well. I have never in all my life seen such a finely made piece as this one I hope that our children will use it for their children.

I Hope you enjoy the shot! After are are done admiring the handiwork (of the shawl) go check out the other visions in white over at I Heart Faces!

I Heart Faces Weekly Challege: Pets Week

This week is pets week...And though we don't have a pet, this beautiful pet likes to hang out on our deck, and attempt to come into our apartment. Those eyes have caused many a mini heart attack in the middle of the night looking through my window screen on the way back from feeding my newborn.

However, in the light of day they are quite the beautiful sight!

For more pets this week check out: 

ww.iheartfaces.com

I Heart Faces Weekly Challege: Eyes

This week's challenge as you can tell is Eyes...And since I have a couple of kids with the sweetest eyes around I have had the HARDEST time deciding on a picture..In the end, I chose to use this quirky and fun shot of my son...he's got these BEAUTIFUL brown eyes...with LONG eyelashes that are just to die for. I also wanted to honor all of us brown eyed peoples, and to show that brown eyes can be just as eye catching as blue ones.

So..take a gander then meander over to I Heart Faces to check out all the other beauties!

Fort Ebey

This week we went to see Fort Ebey State park. I've been wanting to go see it for a while, since last summer as a matter of fact when we went to Fort Casey...in the pouring rain. That trip wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, I had a walking boot on and was about 3 months pregnant at the time...did I mention it was raining? 

Anyway, it WAS NOT raining this weekend. In fact, it was perfect for a sea side stroll/hike, just enough heat to make the wind coming off the water nice and refreshing. It was a great day for picture taking, and again I have to say, I actually haven't included ALL of the best shots...I just couldn't overload you with anymore...There were soo many good shots, but while *I* love to look at all these pictures of my kids, I understand that they tend to blur to others...so I tried to edit down the numbers...and I still have far too many...Oh well... you can scroll past them ;)

Anyway, it's a great "park". I put that in quotes because it's quite large and spread out. There are a bunch of different little dookits. There's the beach and gun battery, where there is camping allowed, there's the Prairie part as well as a bluff....there are crops actually being grown and harvested on the land as well. 

Fort Ebey, is also on Whidbey Island, which is but a 30 minute ferry ride from the Mukilteo ferry dock. In fact, we spent more time in line (45 minutes) waiting to get to the toll booth than we did on the ferry. This was our very 1st ferry ride as a family. So it was quite exciting.  

 We took the beach route, the buggy was pretty much not even an option so Allan put her in the pack and I carried the bag. We started out toward a small lake near the beach, then up through the land and down this perilous switchback hill down to the beach. Once we got to the beach it was pretty easy going for us since there was a loop back to the car w/o having to follow the switchback hill back up THANK God because that thing was crazy...had I realized we weren't having to go back up it, I'd have taken a picture at the bottom of it. Suffice it to say, I was THRILLED to realize we didn't have to retrace our steps.  

Kayleigh loved it, she spent most of the time either chattering into Allan's ear smiling away; or sleeping...Liam loved it, but then he loves to walk, and any time he's allowed to climb something, run or throw something he's a happy camper..You can only imagine how excited he was here where he could do it all! 

After we were thoroughly tuckered out from the hills and the beach we decided to try our luck at the Bluff, where there was more ability to use the buggy. Which was a twofold plus. One, while a 15lb baby isn't TERRIBLY heavy, she seems to gain weight exponentially by the minute. Two, she is a red head...and it was sunny, and we had no hat. No matter how much sunscreen I slather on her I worry about her fair skin. 

The cool thing was this was also where crops were being grown. I have in all my *cough...cough* years, have NEVER actually SEEN wheat. So that was very cool. I'd also never seen a cabbage's plant they are large bushy odd things I'd never had guessed a cabbage was under all the "fluff".

Liam had fun running along the very dusty, rutted farm road...playing scarecrow in the "wheat" which was really just tall grass since he couldn't actually go into the wheat. I think his favorite part though was near the end he'd found that he could hang on Allan's arm and drag and it didn't hurt, but it sure did LOOK funny, and kicked up quite a bit of dirt. Add his now FILTHY clothes to his "dirt shiner" and  he was quite the epitome of a the old saying that a boy is nothing more than "Noise with dirt on it."

Volunteer Park

So, after a few days of summer like weather this year, while the rest of the country melts in 100+ degree heat we have had rain, and fog, and nastyness..until yesterday. FINALLY! So, we packed up the kiddos and headed out. We ended up at Volunteer park, it's nestled in a residential area of Seattle, it houses the Asian Art Museum and Conservatory...as well as some walking paths which made it perfect for us because there was enough to take pictures of and yet not so rugged that we'd have to either A) carry  Kayleigh, who's getting heavy. Or B) Worry too much about injuring my ankle further before surgery next month.

I've made a few different sets of collages here :) We just had soo many good photos. Believe me when I say this is just a drop in the bucket. I could have posted way more.

So I made one collage solely dedicated to the views we had of the Space Needle and city...and then threw in a pretty good shot of a plane overhead...it shows of Allan's zoom and tele converter...I think he was at 400mm there ;) Most of the city shots were taken from the water tower at the park. it's over 100 steps up so I push Kayleigh around the bottom while the boys took the trek up...from what I hear it was one heck of a climb! 

I sometimes wonder how I ended up with SUCH a photogenic kiddo. Unless he's making a goofy face or is mid blink you just can't take a bad photo! (shoot and even some of those are classics!)

Then of course there is the Bug. In one of my favorite outfits on her because of her red hair...The yellow just compliments her. :) She slept through a LOT of the walk etc and we didn't bring her out of the buggy until later into the outing for pictures...so not as many different "poses" but, then she is only 4 months, it's not like she's going to be striking a pose and be leaping in the air for us like Liam!

Allan and I both love Macro shots...and taking pictures of flowers gives us good reason and opportunity to use this effect. One of the coolest plants we saw this time was the "living stones" they are found in South Africa and really do look like stones! See for your self (lower left photo of collage) 

Anyway, yet another fun day out. If you are ever in Seattle, I'd highly recommend the park to you. Especially if you enjoy Asian Art,  flowers and views. Other neat things, in the summer they have a wading pool that's open daily, it was open when we were there, but we didn't bring towels or anything to wade. They also have a large playground, and the building that houses the Art Museum is a BEAUTIFUL Art Nouveau style. 

I Heart Faces Weekly Challege: Water

Due to the lack of summer here in the PNW, I haven't been to the pool/water park etc so much this year so there weren't a lot of recent shots involving water. SO, I dug into the archives. And AH_HA! I found this gem. It's of Liam a couple summers ago on his FIRST time to the water park. He had a blast, and it was just after I'd acquired my First DSLR camera, so I was all about capturing the moments!  This is typical of Liam, carefree and goofy. Though while in this photo he was dancing through the water, now he's karate chopping his way through it...Sigh, they grow up too fast!

Go on over and check out some other great shots @ I Heart Faces.com