Easter Bunny Encounter

Hendrix met the Easter Bunny at the "Spring Fling" at Reiman Gardens this weekend.

There was an Easter egg hunt, and in the midst of all the chaos, daddy managed to snag one little egg for Hendrix. 

He was thrilled with it!

We exchanged the empty egg for a goodie bag, and Hendrix was fine with sharing all of his candy as long as we let him shake and rattle the bag.

He loved walking around the park in the baby bjorn with daddy.  While he tolerates the stroller pretty well, he seems to enjoy this closeness an awful lot!  He is almost too big for it, so we better enjoy it tons in the near future.

He fell asleep while we were waiting in line to go into the butterfly garden, so we decided to save that for another day.  We have all spring yet to enjoy with him!

sun on my face

Hendrix loves to be outdoors.  He has always enjoyed stroller rides and wagon rides, but now he enjoys the freedom that he gets from being on the grass, playing on the playground, and eating wood chips and straw.  :) He likes to explore the nature around him and it is fun to watch!

He doesn't really laugh or giggle when he is swinging (which I was kind of expecting) but he is very content.

He loves it when daddy has some time to come with us to the park.  What cool matching dudes they are!

I haven't figured out how to keep him from eating the mulch yet.  He is so intrigued. 

This summer is going to be so much fun for Hendrix and for mommy!

sports enthusiast

Uncle Josiah

Last week we watched my little brother play his first high school soccer game.  Hendrix was the tiniest fan there but I think he might have been more engaged than some of the other fans.  :)  The game started at 7pm which is pretty much his bedtime and he fell asleep on the way to the game.  I snuggled him into his stroller thinking he would snooze right through the whole thing.  

He might have if we hadn't scored right away which, of course, required lots of cheering and clapping.  This scared him and he woke up screaming!

After his initial distress about all the racket, he settled right into our various laps (he got passed around from one family member to another, until his daddy finally called dibs on him) and watched the game intently.  His eyes were following the ball, or at least the movement, around the field.  He was so cute!  I was glad that it was a really nice evening and we all enjoyed the fresh air.  With Hannah and Josiah both playing on the varsity teams, there will be plenty more soccer spectating yet to come this spring.

His last soccer game was in the fall when we watched another brother of mine, Jake, play for Central College.  At just a month and half old, he most definitely slept through that entire game.  Look how tiny he looks!

Uncle Jake

He has been to both college and high school swim meets.

Uncle Jason

But his first sporting event ever was a high school football game when he was just a few weeks old.  We didn't want to miss homecoming, and it was fun to take him and show him off!

Uncle Joel

I don't know what happened to that teeny tiny baby.....but before I know it, he will be the one on the field playing, and I will be the most supportive soccer mom ever!  lol

Wordless Wednesday

a day in the garden

Our first flowers bloomed today!

It has been gorgeous weather for this time of year in Iowa, and we started planting our vegetable garden last weekend.   We continued where we had left off this afternoon with the help of Hendrix.

He was overseeing Daddy's hard work, and distracting Mommy from helping!

He drank all the water, which was much needed as the temperature soared into the 80's.  

We were thrilled to spot our first sprouts!  This is either spinach or spring mix (we planted them together) that we planted last week.

We got rather carried away with our seed choices this year and have everything imaginable from brussels sprouts to garlic and everything in between.  We finished off the planting with some fence-building to keep out the monster bunnies that live around here.  

Now we just wait for yummy fresh veggies!  

photoshoot #1

Hendrix was a rockstar in my photo shoot today. 

I love taking pictures. 

And I especially love taking pictures of this kiddo!

I have been taking pictures since I was in middle school.  Not to date myself here, but I was that girl that was spending my paper route money developing my 35mm rolls of film.  Doubles of course so I could have one to frame and one to scrapbook.  lol  I have no formal training in photography, but I do have a passion for photos which has only deepened now that I'm a mom.

Last fall I mentioned a daydream to my hubby that had been growing and evolving in my head for a long time.  I told him that I thought it would be really fun if someday down the road I started taking pictures for a living.  You know, getting paid to do something that I really love!  

I think it could be a really ideal career for a mom as there is plenty of flexibility with scheduling.  I also really appreciate my husband's creative thoughts and tips as studio art was his major in college.  He thinks 'outside the box' and helps to inspire and direct my wild ideas! I could see us working as a team sometimes either during the photoshoot or afterwards during the editing process.  

He was supportive of my dream 100% and even set the ball rolling into motion.  While I would have been content to just think about getting into photography; he bought me a camera for Christmas and rallied some coordinating gifts from my family members including a tripod, gift card to a photo printing website, subscription to a photography magazine and a couple books on the topic as well. 

Now all that is left to do is start shooting I guess, huh?

It was a gorgeous day and I unexpectedly had the whole day off work, so I practiced with Hendrix today.  I decided that I needed to learn more of the ins and outs of my camera, experiment more with a moving (and sometimes uncooperative subject), and just become more comfortable with the decision-making moments in photography.

Here a just a few important lessons that I learned today:

• Have plenty of toys available to entertain my subject while I am busy figuring out the lighting and posing.
• Using a tripod really helps to capture steady shots from varied angles.
• I need to learn how to make adjustments on the tripod more quickly in between shots.
• I need to keep tissues in my pocket while shooting outside (for catching boogies and sneezes).
• Hats and sunglasses are fun accessories, but they can be a huge distraction ;)
• The sunshine really jazzes up any picture.
• And of course, a 7-month-old is going to try to eat rocks if you set him on a pile of gravel!

All I need now is some more practice.  If you want to share one of your adorable children with me for an afternoon, I'd love to practice taking pictures of them.  Right now the going rate for my time is negotiable.  (I am a sucker for coldstone ice cream or mommy-coffee-dates).

seven months already!

This little peanut is seven months old. 

He is getting stronger and more coordinated at sitting everyday.  He can lean pretty far to reach for toys and still right himself without toppling over.

He has this funny habit of picking up his toys, one by one, and throwing them back behind him where he can't reach or see them, and then he hollers.  :)

He also started doing this really funny "head bob" movement thing today.  I have no idea what that is all about, but it sure cracked me up!

The other big thing that I have been noticing is that he is a lot more vocal these days.  He likes to babble and blow bubbles and holler.  He can be really emphatic but he still isn't very effective at letting me know what he means or wants.  I often have a hard time telling if he is grumpy, excited, frustrated or just confused.  

Hendrix really likes music.  He has always seemed to be noticeably soothed and entertained by the music that we listened to often while he was in the womb (Bob Marley, Howie Day, the Beatles, Israel Kamakowiwo'ole....).  

But now that we have been going to the baby and toddler times at the library, his music repertoire is growing and changing.  He is especially partial to ToeKnee ChestNut and  Skinnamarink.  He recognizes the beginnings of these songs and he holds his face out there waiting for me to touch his nose.  If he is unhappy in the car, all I have to do is belt out one of these songs while I am driving, and I have a quiet audience.  I do wonder what the people I pass think when they can hear me through my cracked sunroof. ;)

Each day brings something new and we love it all!