A new haircut

Well, Johan is sporting a new haircut.  He looks a bit like a wild animal that is shedding.  Remember his almost strawberry-blonde locks?  

 Well, they are gone and he'll soon have a buzz cut.  Here's why...

One good thing that came out of this "event" is that Kip and I were able to sleep until 8am (no wonder they were so quiet!)  :)  Look for pictures of his new "do" soon!

My new favorite picture

It seems like such a rare opportunity to get a picture of all three kids together.  If I get them together and take a picture, it is a big deal.  If they cooperate and look at the picture, I'm excited.  In this case, they all looked, Johan gave Anja a hug, and it was a cool background.  I love this picture and can't wait to get it printed (something I don't do very often!!). 

i heart faces - week 12: dramatic B&W

This week's theme at i heart faces is dramatic B&W.  Here's the description, "We are looking for B&W photos that are dramatic, sensational and/or moody in the way they are presented."

I thought this picture fit the the theme - a little girl in a big city.  You can take a look at other dramatic black and whites on www.iheartfaces.com this week.  Check it out!  Also, Tara Whitney is one of my favorite photographers to follow and she is the guest judge this week.  Her blog is really fun to follow.

Ruby turns 2!

Anja spends time with her good friend, Ruby, twice a week. Ruby is four months older than Anja and is turning two years old today! The two of them really seem to enjoy playing together and both light up when we suggest going to each other's houses. We were able to attend Ruby's party this weekend and I made this collage from some of the photos that I took.

i heart faces - Week 12: Angles

I took some maternity photos for my friend, Jess, a few weeks ago.  One of my favorite shots from the day was this one where I stood on a ledge to take the picture.  The baby bump is not as obvious, but you can tell it is there and she looks great.  Good luck to Jess - she's due in 3 weeks (maybe less)!!

Head on over to i heart faces to see how other photographers are using interesting angles to capture faces.

NEW STADIUM

Kip and Gus visited the new stadium today. The report back is that the stadium is the "bee's knees." They were able to sit in our season tickets, which are front row, top deck and along 3rd baseline.  It was a cold day, but the seats are in the sun!  Yay!  They toured the entire stadium and all of the seats had a great view.  Kip even tried the wild rice soup and says it was worth the 6 bucks!  Gus is excited that they now have "pink" lemonade.  He told Kip, "I don't really like pink more than yellow, but I do like this pink lemonade." 

St. Patrick's Day

We had such a fun night out with our friends on St. Patrick's Day. We waited for an hour to get into Kieran's Irish Pub, which is in a new location downtown on Hennepin Avenue. We were entertained during our wait with the sounds of bagpipes (video below) and the tricks of the St. Paul Bouncing Team (photo below). Anyway, it was worth the wait. We found a table right away which was very near some great live music, so the atmosphere was perfect!

Enjoy listening to the bagpipes!!
<----- Click on video to the left

We got Dowling!

Gus will be headed to kindergarten in the fall {sniff, sniff}.  We received notice from Minneapolis Public Schools that we got our first choice, Dowling.  The longer name for the school is Dowling Urban Environmental School, and we are excited about the emphasis on environmental education.  The school is on west River Road and has lots of trees, grass, and space to run and build stick forts.  Gus looks pretty little in front of that school, huh?  He turned 5-1/2 today.  He is growing so much and we are enjoying watching his "not-so-shy" personality emerge.  Kindergarten is just around the corner!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I entered this photo into a St. Patrick's day contest on "the maternal lens" and took 7th place.  Click here to see the other winners!

 

Kip is half Irish and he looks just like his mom who is fully Irish.  I took some pictures of Kip wearing his Grampa Cecil's hat.  His grampa was also 100% Irish and Kip looks great wearing his hat.  We are looking forward to the crowds at Kieran's later today to celebrate St. Patty's Day with some good friends.  Enjoy something green today! 

Is it March or mid-July??

Well, it was around 60 degrees on Sunday and the boys thought is was summer.  They were running around the backyard with their shirts off.  They played with sand and water and got totally soaked.  We are definitely ready to be outside more.  Anja loved being outside as well and followed her brothers everywhere. 

Gus joins choir!

Gus has been going to kid's choir practices at church with his friend, Hope, and cousins, Addy and Elsa.  He has been enjoying it so far.  On Sunday, he willingly went up front to sing with his choir!  Go Gus! 

Constructive Feedback Friday - i heart faces

Today, various contributors at i heart faces will be giving constructive feedback on editing photos.  I have been trying to improve my skills using CS4 Photoshop, but I still am having a lot of trouble when the photo is taken indoors or if the photo is a bit overexposed.  In this case, I think her cheeks were overexposed - maybe beyond repair??
 

Here is a photo of a friend who was turning 5 years old.  I have included both a color and BW edit that I tried.  I'd love suggestions!  Thanks so much for taking the time to look.  The photo is on Flickr, click on photo to find the largest size of this picture.

f/4

50mm lens

Canon Rebel XT

ISO 800

Shutter Speed: 1/60

Here is my color edit (too yellowish??):

Here is my B&W edit:

i heart faces - week 11: Bundled Up!

Well, today is 58 degrees and sunny in Minnesota.  It might just last for a day, but I'm glad that we are at the end of the "bundled up" season.  It's a lot of work to bundle a 1, 3, and 5 year old each day!


Anyway, enjoy this bundled up picture of our darling neighbor.  We had a great time sledding together at our cabin in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. 

Getting Outside

It has been so nice to get outside on these warmer days.  The kids have enjoyed being on their bikes and trikes again.  Anja loves to put her boots on and be outside.  We all have spring fever.  Johan was telling other adults at church that "it is almost spring."  He's right and we're all happy about it!

Birthday Party

Gus has enjoyed getting invited to a few birthday parties of preschool friends lately.  Here is is with one of his friends.  Aren't they cute?

i heart faces - week 10: jump for joy!

We had fun with this theme!  Over President's day weekend, we were at my parent's cabin and we JUMPED!  In an attempt to be a little different, I thought a sled going over a jump would be cool.  We tried lots of times and I think my husband was holding his breath each time he had to land!  It was fun and he caught some air (notice the shadow under the sled - definitely some air).  Click HERE to view our other jumping pictures.  Thanks for looking.

 Head over to http://iheartfaces.com to see all of the other creative entries this week.

We JUMPED!

We tried lots of jumping over President's day weekend to get a shot for my i heart faces contest.  Here are a few.  (Notice: I cannot jump.  It's embarrassing! Ha!)  My husband, on the other hand, has no fear!  Go Kip!

Stone Arch Bridge

It has been so nice outside, so we headed to the Stone Arch bridge to get outside and enjoy the warmer temperatures.  It was a fun walk and the boys got to RUN!  They also really enjoyed seeing the falls.  Anja loved people and dog watching.  The stroller was fine, but she was happier to be walking on her own.  Yes, I did do an outfit change to try and get some cute photos, which is totally silly, but fun for me.  A photo of the kids all together was not going to happen - the best one is at the bottom of this post.

Anja in the AIR!