I work on Saturday pretty often so on Sunday I like to just hang out around the house. I always try and spend some special time with Sayer when Finn naps. They compete for my affection and attention so much when they're both awake so the one-on-one time is really relaxing for me. We did a bunch of art projects and all kinds of pretend play imagination type games. You know the drill..."ok, you be Mater and I'll be Lightning McQueen" and so on. Here he was sitting on my legs and I was telling him the grossest things that I could think of in an effort to make him laugh.

Then we played a little game where turtle became best friends with Mr. Cockroach (blech). The roach isn't real obviously. Can you imagine going to the toy store, where you have this huge array of cool toy choices, and you pick out the roach? Welcome to boy world.

Then we took pictures of the dogs! I love this picture of Milo. Ah, a dog's life...

Milo looks all relaxed and look at Phoebe, she can't help but look sort of nervous.

Giving the camera a little love!

Tonight we started moving things around at the house. We decided to redo the living room and change some of the bedrooms around. I'm excited! We bought all new furniture. The best part is that we got the guarantee ($160 price tag) that will repair or replace the couch and chairs if anything happens to them. For those of you who have no kids all you need to do is visit our across the street neighbors (who have 3 kids) and see the marker drawings on her antique dining room chairs and you know why this is such an awesome deal. The kids can literally take a knife to the couch and it's covered. Now, let's hope and pray that my kids are not running around the living room with knives one day but if they do...at least the new couch will be safe. The best part of all this, our living room just might look like adults also live there! Finn has also moved out of his baby room and into his big brother's room. He's still in a crib but that will be our next step once we get all the rooms organized. It's yet another reminder how big they are getting and just how fast it happens.

On the studio front, I had the cutest little subject last week. Her name is Sabrina. Isn't she just beautiful?

she loved her little cookie monster!

Love these energetic early steps

and look at this face!

I love photographing pets and it is such a nice change of pace. I'm a big fan of dogs. It always amazes me how connected dogs get to their owners and how much they love us! My dogs just look at me like I hung the moon. I can just be sitting there not doing much of anything and look over and there they are gazing at me lovingly. It always makes me laugh.

In October, I'll be doing 2 pet portrait days at The Dog Bowl on Sunset. I'll post the complete details once I get everything settled. In the meantime, visit The Dog Bowl's site for some preliminary information. We had this event last year and it was great. The days book up fast though so call The Dog Bowl and book your appointment. soon!

So, back to today's puppy...Mr. Harry Winston came in for his photo shoot today. Check him out!

Loving his Mommy...

The rain returned today with a vengeance. The kids got sent home from school and my studio had a huge leak. So, the work day was cut short and the rest of the afternoon was spent at home. Steven bought this Canon point and shoot and I have been trying to use it and get used to it. It is so hard to take good pictures with that camera! It's crazy. I periodically go to local groups and give a talk about taking better pictures of your kids. People moan and groan about their cameras and I can only reassure them that consumer point and shoot cameras make it difficult to take good pictures. The camera's delay combined with the lack of control makes it impossible. I'm sure if I actually read the manual it might make it a little easier. Anyway, these pictures are with this little point and shoot. If I side by side compare these with images from my pro camera the difference is really incredible. So, if you feel frustrated by your camera, you are not alone!

So, what do you do when it's raining all day? You play dress up of course! Phoebe and Milo even got into the mix (they didn't volunteer in case you were wondering).

Doesn't Phoebe look like she's having an awesome time??!

Then the kids made a "magic house" out of a bunch of toys.

This basket was the most fun of all.

Finn, peeking out of the house.