I Heart Faces: Pets

OK, so maybe not a pet here, per se, but the lovely folks at I Heart Faces said we could use any animal, even if the animal is not quite a pet, and since this is probably in my top 10 of "Right Place at the Right Time" moments, I'm going with the dolphin photo I shot on our vacation this year. Wish it were my pet! Well not really. I hardly like touching the cat food, so I think I might have a problem with the wet slimy fish these guys eat. Anyhoo.

But we went out on a boat that day hoping to see some dolphins and boy did we! Best.Vacation.Ever.

Usually there are lots of cute faces at I Heart Faces, but this week there's lots of cute pets (animals) so head on over and check em out!

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I Heart Faces: Pets

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-heart-faces-pets.html?m=0

iheartfaces: Balloon Week

It's balloon week at I Heart Faces! Once upon a time, a little boy cried his eyes out when we released a balloon high in the sky. We thought it would be fun, he thought it was tragic. I was looking for that picture, but instead, I found this one, taken on the same day. Static cling. Or "static clink" as we call it around here. Head on over to I Heart Faces for more balloon shots!

iheartfaces: Balloon Week

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/11/iheartfaces-balloon-week.html?m=0

iHeartFaces: Excited!!!! Yippee!!

excited, originally uploaded by Christie O..

This week at iHeart Faces, the theme is excited. Which I'm excited about because all I could think about was this photo. The one where my three-year-old got to go to Chuck E. Cheese for having, how do you say, "potty success".

He asked to wear his fireman outfit (which he wears every day and I said yes.) You just can't get much better in three-year-old-land than getting to be a fireman while meeting Chuck E. Cheese.

iHeartFaces: Excited!!!! Yippee!!

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/10/excited.html?m=0

iheartfaces: Nostalgia

We had a candy picnic today.

Actually, they had a candy picnic, and I just took pictures of it. The theme this week at iheartfaces is "Nostalgia" and of course, what makes me nostalgic like dot candies on the paper, the kind where you eat half paper, half candy, and candy necklaces and ring pops!

Probably my favorite thing about having children is having fun with them and introducing them to things that I loved as a child. Today, I was having a fun photoshoot at the park, but to them, they were having a candy picnic, dubbed so by my three-year-old and that was probably the best part of it.

I did also get a "Gank you Mommy, Gank you!!"

And then we promptly came home and had vegetables. OK I lie, we picked up Mickey D's on the way home and it was a terrible eating day for me and the children and they bounced off the walls quite literally, but hey, it was a great time and I am pretty sure they'll remember raising their little candy rings with me and yelling, "Cheers!"

iheartfaces: Nostalgia

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/08/iheartfaces-nostalgia.html?m=0

iheartfaces: Bubbles

In our house, bubbles have a very special meaning. Bubbles = chocolate milk.

Of course, it also means a big fat mess usually, but blowing bubbles in chocolate milk is an age-old tradition and is really just kind of irresistable. Just like my three-year-old.

Join the fun at iheartfaces and check out more bubbles!!!

iheartfaces: Bubbles

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/08/iheartfaces-bubbles.html?m=0

i Heart Faces: At the Beach!

This week's theme at i Heart Faces is the beach. And I actually spent the entire week of vacation with camera in hand snapping away. But I still hadn't fallen in love with any of them, in comparison to my little nugget at the beach last summer. In his little hat, in our little cabana. Scrumptious.

Head on over to i Heart Faces to see more beachy photos! I've already seen some of them and they're beautiful!!

i Heart Faces: At the Beach!

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-heart-faces-at-beach.html?m=0

iheartfaces: Feet Week

I hate feet. But believe it or not, I take about a zillion pictures of them. For someone who HATES feet, I have two pictures of feet up on my mantel. They're black and white pictures, one is of my feet, which are in flip flops, while I'm overlooking some mountains in Utah with snowcaps. It was warm where I was sitting but it was snowing as far away as I could see. The other is a picture of my babies' feet together, just their little babyfeet. Who doesn't love babyfeet. I mean, really.

So I take lots of pictures of them. I could eat babyfeet. I love them so much. Here is my baby's feet. And I know I'm supposed to be focusing on feet here, but since it is I Heart Faces and it's mostly about faces (on most weeks, anyway) I figured a little face in there wouldn't hurt.. right?

Anyhoo, I'm off to check out the other entrants this week! Hopefully I won't run across too many adult feet. Babyfeet are so much cuter! Just kidding. Kind of.

ps. Mantra Monday returns to its regularly scheduled programming next week! I'm on and off the internet this week (mostly off) because the husband is home and we're having some much needed family time! Hugs!

iheartfaces: Feet Week

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/07/iheartfaces-feet-week.html?m=0

iHeartFaces: Weddings

It's the Wedding Bells edition of iHeartFaces this week! My entry for this week is from my sister-in-law's wedding in March. They had just said, "I do," and I swear the proud new hubby couldn't stop staring at his new wife with those eyes. You know the ones. It was very sweet.

Join in the fun at iHeartFaces!

iHeartFaces: Weddings

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/06/iheartfaces-weddings.html?m=0

iheartfaces: Boys

There is no shortage of boys in my life, that's for sure. I have two of them, my best friend has three, my cousin has three, another one of my friends has two...

Oh yes, they're pretty much everywhere.

There are very few dresses in my life. Except for my dear beautiful niece Maddie.

It's "Let's Hear it for the Boys" week at i Heart Faces which is fitting for the Father's Day weekend. And since there are boys everywhere in my life, choosing a picture was actually pretty hard. So I have two entries this week, one for Kids: my son, the Mini...

...and one for the Adults category, featuring, my Dad, "Poppy" to me, "Papa" to my kids.
And while I'm at it, I'd like to say "Thank You," to all the boys in my life; my dad, my husband and my children for making my life worth living. I never knew life and love could be this sweet.

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Make sure to head on over to iHeartFaces for some beautiful photos.

iheartfaces: Boys

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/06/iheartfaces-boys.html?m=0

i Heart Faces: Sepia

This week at i Heart Faces, it's Sepia week! This photo screamed "sepia" to me long ago while I was playing around with pictures I took at my sister-in-law's wedding. This picture is of her nephew, or my inlaw's inlaw, if you can follow that. Either way, he's just darling!

Make sure you stop on over at iHeartFaces to check out other sepia photos this week!

i Heart Faces: Sepia

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/06/i-heart-faces-sepia.html?m=0

iHeartFaces: Birthday & Animals

It's birthday and animals week at i Heart Faces and there is only one picture in my mind when I think about birthdays.

I loved him in his hat. This is Mini at his first birthday party and he wore this hat for about a second before he yanked it right off. I wish he'd have kept it on because he looked so darned cute. Check out more great birthday faces at iHeartFAces! Here is my "pets" entry even though that's no pet I want to have! But they did mention that they had a loose interpretation of the category of "pets". This is Poops in a faceoff with a white tiger at Busch Gardens. The tigers are my favorite. And I'm pretty sure he knew we were there.

iHeartFaces: Birthday & Animals

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/06/iheartfaces-birthday.html?m=0

i Heart Faces: Silhouette

I had a lot of fun with this week's theme at i Heart Faces! It was all about the silhouette and I spent hours trying to figure out how to do this and even with the tutorials I had a hard time getting it just right. I must have taken hundreds of pictures in two different rounds of pictures. So I took Poops out in his firehat after dinner and tried one last time. The only way I could get him out there to take more pictures is if he was allowed to wear his firehat and fireboots (with shorts of course). I was ok with that! So this is what we came up with. Honestly, I looked at this week's submissions and they are all just so amazing I am sure I'm not even close to even touching the competition, but I'm just happy I came up with something! Head on over to see for yourself!

i Heart Faces: Silhouette

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-heart-faces-silhouette.html?m=0

iheartfaces: Blurb Photo Book Contest

My favorite thing about photography is taking a picture that in the grand scheme of things is just kind of ok, but seeing one spectacular little detail. This picture in its entirety had my husband in the background, a water cup on the table, but my son's expression spoke to me. So I got rid of all the other stuff. What I ended up with was such a statement from my son. Because normally, he LOVES him some dessert. But by the time I took this picture, we had been at a wedding, it was probably an hour past naptime, and he, sitting in his little tux because he was the ring bearer, was just spent. Too spent, even for cheesecake. If you knew him, you'd know that he must've been exhausted, because that plate would be clean if he wasn't!

Head on over to I Heart Faces for some seriously great pictures this week!

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I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

iheartfaces: Blurb Photo Book Contest

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/05/iheartfaces-blurb-photo-book-contest.html?m=0

iheartfaces: Laughter

I love this little man. He really really loves me. Me.

He reaches up for me. When someone else is holding him, he looks for me.

As a mommy, it is nice to feel wanted.

It makes a girl feel good.

And when I pick him up, he hugs me. Hard. He wraps his tiny arms around my neck so tight and puts his head on my shoulder as if I haven't seen him for days, or years. He's my little monkey and I know I probably shouldn't, but I could hold him all day and if it weren't for a hot stove or a potty, I would. He has such a wonderful, happy, beautiful soul and his smile and laughter is infectious.

He is the baby who says "Hi" to everyone. He's the one who waves to everyone and waits until they acknowledge him. He greets everyone who comes in the door, it doesn't matter if it's my house or a restaurant. And it's not like he wants the attention. Because he wants to give the attention.

If someone passes by after he says "Hi!" in his big happy smile with his big happy wave, and they miss it, I feel bad. Because they missed out on such joy. But he's just fine. He moves on to someone else right behind them.

You can imagine that it wasn't hard to find a picture of him laughing, it was only hard to choose which one to use. This one was taken during the self-portrait photo session we had a couple weeks ago for the self-portrait entry. For that one, I used a picture of me and his older brother, who was in hysterics with me. For this one, I was tickling him while I was taking pictures and he was in a full-body laughter and if I close my eyes I can hear it clearly in my head.

I just love my children. They are laughter embodied.

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Check out more great pictures at I heart Faces!

iheartfaces: Laughter

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/05/iheartfaces-laughter.html?m=0

iheartfaces: self portrait kids

I can't seem to take a self-portrait without closing my eyes. It doesn't help that Poops and I were in hysterics in our little photo session (which by the way included cookie bribery -- I'm not above it). Anyway, I really liked this theme because it kept with the theme in my life which is trying to be "present". And we had a lot of fun doing this. Go see more faces and meet the people behind the photos!!

iheartfaces: self portrait kids

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/04/iheartfaces-self-portrait-kids.html?m=0

iHeartFaces: Pets

So I've tried, but I just can't let this week go by without telling you about Putty during Pet Week on i Heart Faces (by the way it's pronouced Putty like Putty Tat as Tweety Bird would say.)

She has kind of an odd face, I know. But that's part of her charm.

When I was living in New York in my teensy tiny studio apartment on 49th street, my friend's sister needed someone to catsit for a couple days while she moved. Three weeks later...

I found that I loved her company. There, but not...minds her own business, comes out to keep me company sometimes, a little purring...the perfect roommate really. And that's all she wrote. I asked if I could just keep her and then Putty became mine. She's this tiny little 6 pound kitty cat who is very dainty (whenever I would try to give her a french fry, she wouldn't eat it unless it were on the floor. On a napkin.) And yes, I figured that out myself.

She's so quiet you'd hardly know she was around. She has a TON of hair when it all grows out, you can hardly find her face. And sometimes, you just find her sitting in the oddest places with this look on her face like, "What?!"

I found her sitting in the high chair once like she was waiting to be served. (I still have no idea how she actually got in it.) What makes it so funny is that she's so not the type to climb into random places. She goes about her business, she actually is not that sociable and absolutely does.not. like being picked up and petted. Which was a hard fact for me to get over since I love to love my pets and pet them and hug them. So finding her in places like a high chair and sitting on the toilet always cracks me up. After I run to grab the camera of course...

Anyway, Putty moved to Utah with me and kept me company, then moved back to sunny Florida with me and met my husband who also has a soft spot in his heart for her. So here's Putty. On the Potty. Because why wouldn't she be.

See more great pet pics at i Heart Faces!

iHeartFaces: Pets

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/03/iheartfaces-pets.html?m=0

iheartfaces: Pouty face!

This week's theme at i Heart Faces is "pouting" and unfortunately there is no shortage of pouting around here! There is no shortage of smiles, either, but since tragedy comes in many forms to a one and two year old, for example, God forbid someone has misplaced the beloved green blanket or needs a juice refill or is without their favorite toy because they are in timeout for hitting or wants CEREAL -- NOT WAFFLE!! after mommy already made waffles, well, the effect is the mighty pout.

Which doesn't get anyone anywhere, just in case you were wondering.

But it is pretty cute. And sometimes I have to hold back my laughter because pouting and crying over things like trucks and footballs (in the house) make me think, "Hey, if that's the worst thing going on here, we got it pretty good..."

So here is my older son's version of the pout, which is actually a "furrowed brow". I am constantly saying, "Get that look off your face," in a funny voice, which actually makes him laugh and then we laugh at it together. So here it is, the pout-slash-infamous "furrowed brow".

Check out other pouty faces at i Heart Faces!

iheartfaces: Pouty face!

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/03/iheartfaces-pouty-face.html?m=0

iheartfaces: no flash!!

It kills me. It really does. My kids love to play in the curtains. And I have a love-hate relationship with this. I love it because they are so cute when they're in the curtains. They pretend it's their long flowy hair, they make shadows behind them and when there's bedhead involved, it's hilarious. They play peek-a-boo... But then there's the pulling and the yanking and the curtains have fallen down more than once. And now my curtain rods are all bent and bowed and curvy where the kids have pulled on them. We've had to screw the rods in a million times over and now we have attractive holes surrounding the curtain rods, reminders for all of us of all the places where the curtain rods once lived. (And by the way, this is on my last nerve so I'm making today a spackle day.) Anyway, I can't help but take pictures of the kids when they're doing this (this is mommy sending really mixed messages about curtain playing --- wait! don't do that! let me take your picture first! ok, now you can go play somewhere else...) And this is one time when the sun was setting and the light that comes through the front window is always so beautiful, especially when there's a child in it to fall on (of course while playing in the curtains.) So for "no flash" week, I submit the following:

If you wanna see more "no flash" pictures, head on over to i Heart Faces! I absolutely love this photosharing site because I am learning so much about Photoshop and photography. I have all these fun tools but I had no idea how to use them! Well, I only sorta know how to use them now.. but one day I plan to get there.

iheartfaces: no flash!!

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/03/iheartfaces-no-flash.html?m=0