Towering Probsts

So we headed over to Tower Groves Park in the Compton Heights neighborhood of St. Louis this evening for some pictures. The park is beautiful with some really interesting architecture, but also wide open green grass and lots-o-trees. After unloading my herd of a family, I looked down to find the battery symbol flashing on my camera. Are you KIDDING me?! I didn't grab the camera bag, just the camera and headed out the door, so I had not an extra battery or the charge. Ugh. After taking it out and re-inserting it several times, I was able to scrounge a few photos out before it finally kicked the bucket.

Just One of the Moms

Yesterday a few of my mom friend's and I headed to Busch Stadium in St. Louis for the Cardinals game. While I am a true Cubs fan at heart, I will never pass up the opportunity to head to the ballpark for some sunshine, hot dogs, and cold beers! We got SO lucky when it was only 85 degrees, low humidity, and a nice breeze. Much better than the recent rainforest-like conditions we have been enduring in the Lou. It also doesn't hurt to have some beautiful mama friends who let me work on my picture-taking!

Daddy-O

In our day to day photographic efforts, it is very rare that my husband or myself actually remember to take pictures of ourselves. We have close to 15,000 digital pictures, and probably have more pictures of naked butts than we do of ourselves! I thought this was a great non-naked-butt picture of Tim, my fellow baby maker.

Splish Splash

It has been excruciatingly hot in the 'Lou these last few days... which means one thing. Sprinklers! We busted out the sprinkler and hung in the heat for less than an hour before the kids were ready to head back into the A/C. I can't say I blame them, and frankly, the sweat rolling down my back was an indication that mom was fully cooked as well.

What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?

My original plan for this morning was to drop Kyah off at her sewing class at 10:30 and then head over to Vlasis Park in Ballwin, MO with the boys. They have this really neat water feature called a splash pad, which was ideal given the 97 degree heat and 80% humidity levels. When we arrived, we saw several kids already anxiously awaiting the 11 o'clock hour when the water turns on. After waiting a short while, a very kind mom came over to inform us that the water feature was (gasp!) BROKEN! Needless to say, I took the opportunity to sweat my rear off and squeeze in a few sweaty pictures of Noah.

A Walk in the Park

We headed to the park a few evenings ago so I could practice during the *golden hour* and try to crank out some decent photographs. I've heard it is extremely difficult to photograph your own children - but I had never heard anyone accuse their child of over-posing... Apparently I need to enroll this girl in some drama classes. I had a heck of a time getting good pictures out of her because of her glamour-shots posing rituals!

Hit the Deck!

Unfortunately, these are some of the last photographs I got of the boys on the deck before the hot, humid, unbearable St. Louis summer set in. We were not aware of this when we moved to St. Louis - or the icy winters that are nearly exempt of a good snow. At least we have these memories to fondly look back on until mid-September when we can, once again, come out of summer hybernation.

Just One of the Boys

My two youngest aren't always the easiest to photograph. My middle one is at that I-refuse-to-look-at-the-camera-if-you-point-it-in-my-direction phase and the youngest moves much too quickly for my very modest camera skills at this point! I managed to get a few shots, but nothing too exciting.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

I love watching as my kids grow and become more independent. Independence means a smaller diaper bag (if any), less wiping of butts other than my own, and more time for... tantrums? Independence in our home brings strong-willed children who know what they want. Teaching them how to express those wants in a civil manner is not always an easy lesson learned!

Lights, Camera, No Action?

My youngest child is an extremely fast crawler. He may never walk, but he could win a crawling contest any day of the week! For this reason, it has been difficult to get quality, blur-free pictures of him in low light settings. He is fascinated by our back door which has a giant window in it. He loves to watch things outside, bang on it - sometimes with hard objects (yikes!), and of course leave bits of leftover food and saliva in swirly patterns on a regular basis. Needless to say, this door has provided some amazing light for photographs!

Windows to the Soul

All of my children have these huge, brilliantly blue eyes but my middle one, Noah, has the most intense eyes of them all. His obvious resentment of me taking his picture definitely helps the dramatic effect!