she is probably wondering why she keeps seeing my grubby thieving hand reaching up over her fence…

my sister told me there was an episode of i love lucy that involved stealing from over the neighbor’s fence.  well, i think i channeled that yesterday.

it was kind of my fault for trying to teach them colors.

see the pink flowers and the bright orange fruit?

ihave?

no, say pink!  orange and PINK!

ihave.

then they started with the toddler fingers pointing at the oranges and flowers.

uh oh.

oh yes, preeety…now look, ball!, (in my best “let’s acknowledge and then deflect” voice.)

then came the toddler demands.

i have.  i have.  i have.  I HAVE.

i tried to explain the morality of the situation.  that was met by screaming.

I HAVE! (in her best “this is not going to end well for anyone” voice.)

so naturally, i reached up and grabbed the flower.

the fence is tall.  i had to jump.  a few times.  the flower, like the orange her brother wanted, did not come off.  there was a lot of waving of branches, but the flower stayed securely attached.  at this point i was screwed.  the kid knew i had caved and her screams and my tugging on the tree were as close to a burgler alarm as you can get in the backyard.  finally the flower came free.  the orange took a few more yanks.  the neighbor either ignored me or was completely unaware.

lucy would have been proud.

we took the orange right off the neighbor’s branch that overhangs our backyard.  i am sure she would not mind and the adventure of it all made it even sweeter.

i am going to like this warmer weather.  so are the twins.

photo details: taken with an old love, the nikkor 60mm f/2.8 D micro on my d3.  all it took was two frames and i was ready to run in slow motion on the beach at sunset into the lens’ waiting arms.

so when i was 12 or so, i loved the movie, war games. loved it.
and it was so absolutely absurd and unbelievable that you could play games with strangers on a computer somewhere else in the world.

totally science fiction.

that was only 21 years before gemma was born.

last night, like most nights, gemma played math games online. she played against kids in other places in the world. it is normal.
no big deal.

totally mainstream.

yet, it is mind blowing when i stop to think about it. what is the world going to look like in another (mere) 21 years?

cause look at what i can do.
no hands!

i have been taking pole dancing fitness classes for 6 months now, and i love it. i feel stronger than i have in my life and i have met some amazing and powerful women. not to mention, the class is a blast. it may be hard to get motivated to leave the house at 8:30pm after all are fed and the kids are sleeping. usually, i just want to get into jammies and collapse on the couch with my laptop, husband and tv. i have to remind myself that i have not been anything but inspired as soon as i get to class.

so out the door i go and challenge myself to do things that look impossible. like hanging upside down with no hands, for one.

i never thought i would ever do anything with a pole. really. poles are only for strippers (or firemen), right? wrong. very wrong.
pole dancing is the little secret that i carry around behind my smile. it counteracts all those preconceived notions that go along with the title (that i proudly wear) of an almost 40 year old mom of 3.

i finally remembered to ask someone to take a quick photo tonight. can’t wait to see what i never thought i could do next.

what about you?

warning: the twins pick out their own clothes now.  my apologies to your eyeballs.

impromptu dance parties. that is what keeps us sane during the day with 2 year old twins at home. usually (like i said in the last post) it is a request for “the nienies” which is what they call the chipmunks (and i have no idea why.)  now, it was funny for the first few times to me, the next couple (hundred) for gemma still, but the twins have YET to tire of it. we listen to a lot of my favorite music, but sometimes it is nice to pop in something just for the kids. since the gleam has worn off the actual chipmunks cd from over-play, we were THRILLED to find some new music that the twins would dig and i could not only stand, but actually like!

released yesterday and already charting on itunes, you can check out some snipits of the songs and click on the link to buy the album right on dofunstuff.net with 100% of the profits going to a great cause. if you have ears and kids, you will love this album.

sesame ellis’ kids approve.

I met an amazing photographer, Ryan Marshall, at BlogHer and as I have had a chance now to get to know him better through his blog, I can see that he and his wife, Cole, are incredible parents and all around good people.  I kinda (ok, really) wish they lived next door.  I have a feeling that they don’t do anything halfway (I mean, have you SEEN the maternity photo series that got him all famous and stuff!)

Their 6 year old, LB, has been diagnosed with a rare disorder called Smith-Magenis Syndrome and from what I can tell in the year since the diagnosis they have become outstanding advocates for that little boy.  Proof to the point that nothing with them is limited, Ryan has put together a benefit album with 100% of the proceeds going to a grant fund that he established (I know, impressive enough right there) so that grad students can have money to study and research SMS.

Some people put on a bake sale, Ryan does this:

I have already bought my copy. It is hip music for your kids and has now THANK YOU RYAN MARSHALL replaced the soundtrack from the chipmunks movie as our dance party house music. Please buy your copy and tell your friends to tell their friends and so on…like a game of telephone, but better.

today’s “stating the obvious” fact:  mouth injuries bleed a lot.

(how cute are his fangs though?  and people think gemma looks like a vampire kid…)

gemma went as Matilda for her school book week character day.  and that slight smile is hiding her first ever wobbly tooth.

come on tooth fairy, we are ready.

clover finally has enough hair for a ponytail.  a wispy, straggly, wish of a ponytail.   i wonder how old she will be when she gets her first haircut.

kieran has found that he has pockets and like the littlest of tiny men, stands around with his fat baby hands shoved into them..

but at the end of the day, they are still all my babies.

we are just gearing up to enter the tooth fairy phase…bring it on!

they are crazy…thanks for asking.

kids wear things on their heads…right?  cause all i can think about is the little boy from the movie “parenthood” who walks in circles with a bucket on his head, so um, please say your normal kids do this too.

oh and photo info…shot these with my new Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.  not bad.

and this may be the closest i get to actually doing one…

this blog has never really been about showing off my client work.  instead, it is just the ordinary moments in a fairly ordinary life. and i have realized that defines pretty much the only blogs that i follow as well. both written and image based. the blogs openly sharing the familiar scenes that help us recognize ourselves in the lives of people all around the world. i am amazed by the power the simple tales and photographs have as they connect us to ages gone by and leave a record for the future.  i am the type of person who really wants to know the answer when i ask someone how they are and i feel such an affinity for people who spill their guts online.  the majority of them without ever really knowing if anyone is actually listening.

oh this is is getting all “if a person blogs in the forest do they make a sound?” or something like that.  i don’t mean to be sappy, but…

2 weeks ago in new york, that forest came alive at blogher and it was awesome.  it felt amazing to meet so many of the people i have been getting to know over the years online.  it was an honor to meet so many new people as well!  the most surprising though… being stopped by people in the halls of the hotel to thank me for the inspiration and information to go out and photograph their own lives!  well, i came home inspired to keep doing what i am doing and to work on new exciting things!  (stupid human blogger tricks being one that i need to make a video for!!!)

i think i have been pretty open about all the technical FAIL that enveloped me along the way.  it should then not be surprising that even though i was meeting all those fantastic people and lugging around my d3 the whole time, i only have these photos to show for my trip to the big apple.

(except for the awesome session with torrie and her family, but i am still in the midst of editing things for clients)

i can’t wait to share all the great things that i learned from my visit to adorama in the city as well.  i was able to play with the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 lens there and while i did not buy it, i am glad as i am now saving for the brand new one that was announced this past week.  i will be getting that lens from adorama online as soon as i can.  spending an hour there with joel and the rest of the team just made me even more sure of the fact that they take care of their customers and that i will always be able to get what i need there.

i was overwhelmed and jetlagged the entire time so i feel like the whole trip was a bit of a dream.  i just want to say thank you for sharing your world with me and for watching me ramble on about mine here.