cousin play days

we've been seeing quite a lot of one of my sisters and her two girls the last few days. saturday we spent a good part of the day at their house since matt was out of town, and then today they were here at our house to play for an hour or so. these photos are from saturday, when my sister's neighbor was taking the kids for golf cart rides through the yard. the picture of sawyer pretty much speaks for itself as he gazes longingly at the basketball hoop towering above him. nothing personal, but at this stage of his life, this is of much more interest to him than his cousins. :)

favorite photos

i've really been enjoying getting out more with my camera lately. i love getting flower close-ups... here are some of my favorites.

rachel henderson photography

here's my little "shout out" for rachel, a friend of ours who is just starting up her own photography business. she was kind enough to come to our backyard last friday and take a heap of pictures while the kids played. i love how she captures the moments and the essence of childhood without making them pose. this slideshow goes fast, but if you click on "Browse Gallery View" at the bottom right you can see the individual shots.

kid quotes

Levi, our 4-yr-old back seat driver: "Dad, put on the speed!" (Matt: "Why?") "Because I need you to go faster and catch up with them!"

Miriam, playing with Levi: "Levi, I'm 10. I realize I'm actually 6, but for REAL-PRETEND, I'm 10."

Miriam -- we were discussing how Jesus was probably about daddy's size when he lived as a man on this earth, and she followed it up with: "Yeah, but now he's HUGE!"

annual family picnic

we had such a great time yesterday with my dad's side of the family... all 50-some of us in my parents' yard! this family gathering has been happening annually since way before i was born, i think. my dad has four brothers and one sister, who all together had 18 children, many of whom are now married and having kids of their own, the number of which is now up to 12 and counting! we cooked out, caught up, doted on each other's kids (that's me below with my nephew, trey), and even got in a rousing game of wiffle ball.

what would yours be?

i am slowly working my way through a book called The Artist's Way: A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self, and one of the chapter-end "tasks" given was to list five imaginary lives that you would choose if you had five other lives to lead. i thought i would share what came to mind for me, and thought it might also be fun for my readers/friends to share what theirs would be, as well. perhaps it will give us some new insights into each other's personalities and interests. :) this is just supposed to be fun -- don't overthink it too much!

I would be...
1) in an indie band
2) a world traveller
3) an organic farmer
4) a naturopath
5) a hippie

tulip time in full swing

tulips make great subjects. i love their bursts of color and the way the sunlight illuminates them. while miriam was out on the town with grandma today enjoying the festivities, i decided to venture out with the boys to catch some of these glories of spring before they said their last goodbyes for the season. what started out as a rainy, overcast morning turned into a perfectly sunny afternoon -- just in time for the parade! we spontaneously ended up downtown holland just in time to see it. levi loved the marching bands, the motorcycles, the army jeeps, and the "big cow". we even ran into miriam and my mom and watched the last half of the parade with them. what a fun and totally unplanned day!

here are a handful of my favorites from today.