FIVE!

Five years ago, this little person came into our world and changed everything.

He is silly.

 He is beautiful.

He is athletically gifted.

He is an awesome big brother.

He is fun.

He is bright.

He is observant.

And every day, we are thankful that God has entrusted us as his parents.  On the day he was born, I had no idea what kind of kid he would be, and it has been such a joy discovering him these past five years.

On his [second] annual birthday questionaire, I asked him what his favorite animal was.  His answer last year was "cheetah."  This year, he said, "A lion.  I mean a cheetah, because they're the fastest.  They're meat-eaters."  Last year, he wanted to be a ninja when he grew up.  This year, he wants to be a ninja turtle when he grows up.

We went to the pedestrian tunnels at The Kastel at Adriatica in McKinney for these.  It was our first time there, but definitely not our last!

swim

We do the opposite of most - we take swim lessons all year long and STOP in the summer!  We just finished up for the year.  This was little sister's first year, and her brother's second year.

happy as a clam to be in the water

so excited to get her medal, she forgot her trophy

a running dive off the board - first time ever, just happened to have my camera since it was the last day!

tongue out helps you jump farther

tongue out is also appropriate when you're feeling a wee bit proud of your new trophy

Anna Lily

One of my roommates from college recently had her second baby, Anna Lily.  I went over one day while the kids were in school to capture some photos of their new family of four.  I wish I looked as good on a normal day as Krista looks SEVEN days postpartum.  

So we moved her to a big girl bed,

and now she crawls back into her crib during nap time!  Sweet little girl.  This month's creativity exercise on Clickin' Moms is High-ISO Color Photography.  I probably never would've tried these in color without that suggestion, but I'm glad I did!  I'll submit one of these for that exercise.  I really had to push my camera...

f/1.8, 1/30, ISO 5000

See how she tucked her baby in?  

library

 I enjoyed some rare one-on-one time with this little man when he stayed home sick from school one day this week.  We used to go to the library all the time when he was little, but fell out of the habit after his sister arrived.  We've got to start going again - doesn't make much sense to stop as he's starting to read!  I asked him what kind of books he wanted, and he chose Star Wars and jets.

playing with...

                  dramatic light

Ninja

I've been going back and catching up on some editing so that I can stick to my goal of ordering prints.  There is so much 'wrong' with these, but they make me smile!  He is very into ninjas lately - he likes TMNT [32 points if you can identify that acronym] and Ninjago.  He was quietly practicing his moves on the couch next to me while I chatted with a friend on the phone.  When I hung up, I asked him if I could take pictures of his ninja moves, and he jumped at the chance.