The footstool

This is Hale on the footstool in his nursery. His favorite game this week has been climbing on it. At first, he just climbed up on it and jumped down (as shown below). Now that he's had lots of practice doing that he will bring a book with him and sit and read for a while. You can tell he feels important sitting on his stool.

Hale highlights

Here are the Hale highlights from last week:

Hale and I ate dinner with Landon in the tractor on Tuesday night.

Landon went with Hale to his Wednesday night swimming lessons. Swimming in the pool was way more fun with dad.

Here they are at the beginning of the lesson

and playing with a watering can

and jumping in from the side...he's a little bit more wild with his dad

blue eyes/big tummy

Last week I spent Wednesday afternoon pondering catchlight placement and decided to do some experimenting when Hale got up from his nap.

Catchlight is thought to be most appealing when it falls at 10 and 2 o'clock in the eyes - so I probably should have been at slightly more of an angle. But I still like this close up of him.



During this "session" Hale mostly wanted to walk around carrying his tractor. I caught this shot of him standing over me sticking out his big tummy. I'm not sure why I'm attached to this picture...I just think his awkward posture is funny.

Around the farm on Thursday

Hale and I went to the farm last Thursday. I went in search of "textures" for this week's photo challenge. Hale was hoping for an adventure with his dad. Fortunately, we both got what we wanted.

Field work is just getting started for the year, which means more opportunities to send Hale with Landon in the tractor. Hale got to make a few manure-hauling trips with his dad while I took some pictures around the farm. Hale is much more interested in the tractor now that he is a little older. For the most part he sits nicely and is very observant. Landon's only difficulty is convincing Hale that he is not the one who gets to run the steering wheel.


Hale in the tractor while Landon loads up the manure. He didn't take his eye off what his dad was doing.



I tried to take a picture of the two of us in the rear-view mirror...but like I said, Hale was too busy watching his dad.



I was trying to capture the "fuzzy" texture of a baby calf. I came away more with a slimy texture, though, because they kept licking my camera.

Happy Easter!

He is risen! We had a wonderful day celebrating with family. The weather was crummy - this is a shot of some beautiful local blossoms that I snapped Thursday.

Recent portraits

Last month I had the great pleasure of photographing some of the adorable kids in our family. Thanks, Andrea and Tarelle, for the opportunity to have fun with your kids. Here are some of my favorite shots!

Hale the explorer

Lately, it has been difficult to keep Hale safely contained in the house. He is an excellent walker now but that is not really my problem. He has become a maniac climber! I've had to remove much of the furniture from his room because I cannot keep him from climbing up onto (and then falling from) it. Last week he climbed headfirst into a drawer and got stuck. It really scared him but it didn't slow him down much.

I was making dinner on Monday and turned around to find him like this:

Spring Yardwork

We were blessed by another sunny weekend here in Washington! We worked in the yard as a family and, as you can see, Hale was a lot of help.