Bobo's first haircut

I can't remember exactly when Micah got the nickname "Bobo", but boy, did it stick!
I think it is a combination of "bro bro", which Abby used to call him, and baby brother, etc.
Not really sure...
There is also a commercial that is hilarious...I think it's etrade. The one where the baby is in his high chair and talking on a blackberry...closing a big deal on etrade. He makes a reference to "Bobo the clown" and the boys have always cracked up at that part. So, I think that's where it came from. But at any rate...it really suits Micah.
He is 17 month old now...so hard to believe. We decided it was time to cut his hair when he could no longer see without looking up at us all the time. Kinda looked like a big, shaggy dog.
It looks like I put a bowl on his head and cut around it, but I promise...I didn't. He looks like a mini-me of Chris Farley.
He is adorable.
The best Bobo in the entire world.
We are a bit biased.

Garden Fairy

Abby and I had fun taking pictures in our neighbors garden this morning! She wanted to put on her Easter dress and play dress up, so I thought I might as well take advantage of the moment and dust off my camera. She is quite the little model...

Little girls are pure delight!

Seacrest Beach

We went back to Seacrest Beach, Florida this year for our annual beach vacation. The first week of August was the perfect time to go...no crowds and we go lucky and had some cool weather! Seacrest Beach is on scenic highway 30-A, which is about 30 min. from Destin. It is seriously one of my favorite places on earth and we had an amazing time! The sand is sugar white, and the water is clear blue and just the right temp. Could've done without the jellyfish, though! We went on night walks every night...it's a family tradition. We all take flashlights down to the beach after the sun goes down and we get to see the real beach action...tons of crabs and other wild life. We also go to observe a sea turtle rescue. They dug up a nest on a nearby beach and helped the abandoned eggs with living turtles in them break out. Then they put them in the sand and let them find their way to the ocean. It was so amazing to watch...no flash photos, and I forgot my camera anyways. But I captured some fun moments here. Oh why don't we live there??!!!

Colorado

Estes Park...the view from where we ate lunch.
You can't see them in this photo, but there were elk out in that pasture.

He had some air! Gabe thrived out in the wild.

Josh showing Jake how it's really done...I think shortly after this shot he whipped himself in the back real good. It was pretty funny!

Indiana Jones visits Estes Park...it was a real treat for the locals.

Top 'o the world...or atleast it feels like it!

Grant...too cool for this mountain

Abby in her "J. Lo" shades

Josh and Nicole

You are closer to the sun up there...

All the way to the left of this picture is the road we drove on...Trail Ridge.
It's so high, Jake got a nosebleed in the car on the way up.

Jake made repelling look easy.

Horsetooth Reservoir...the view from the rock they climbed.

Check out those moves...he's a natural!

That's alot of candles, Nicole!

Micah Jones

Not sure about this, guys...

Pike's Peak...I love how blue that sky is! Check out the jetstream.

We left for our family vacation to Ft. Collins, Colorado a few days after the boys got out of school. Jason's brother Josh, his wife Nicole and their son Ollie live out there and we've been dying to get out to visit. The kids had never been to CO and we knew they would love the mountains! The weather was amazing...everything was much greener than I expected. While we were there, we celebrated Jake's "real" birthday on June 2nd. "Indiana Jones" turned 10! He got a real bullwhip (bought at a ranching store) and a brown Indy hat as well as a satchel to complete the costume, for his birthday. He also got a IJ lego set and a few other IJ's books and items. The child is obsessed! But he's a happy camper. We also celebrated Nicole's birthday, so I included a few pics of her party. One highlight of the trip was going rock climbing. Uncle Josh was a great instructor and the boys had a blast! We tried to convince Abby to try it...I really thought she would...but it was a no go. She had fun just digging around in the dirt. They climbed in Horsetooth Reservoir and it was beautiful. I included some pictures of the view from where we climbed...it was amazing! On the way home, we went through Colorado Springs and visited Garden of the Gods. The boys and Abby had so much fun climbing all over the red rocks. It was a wonderful and relaxing week that went way too fast! Thanks Josh, Nicole and Ollie for showing us a good time!

A Princess Party!

On May 27th, Abby turned four. It's hard to believe she is getting so big! We had a Cinderella princess party here at the house and invited lots of her little girlfriends. I made a Cinderella cake and we even had a suprise visit from the real Cinderella. She was so beautiful! She read the girls a story, danced with them and painted each girls nails. They were in heaven!

We are so blessed to have our sweet little girl! Thank you, Lord...for 4 wonderful years.

Micah in the grass - Eight months

I took some pictures of Micah in the grass early this spring. He was just learning to sit up on his own. He had never been "in" the grass before, and he wasn't sure what he thought about it. I thought the other pictures of him in the van were so cute...he makes the funniest faces! He was so proud of himself pulling up to the window and standing on his own. He loves to be in the driver's seat...like all men do.

Easter

Abby's soothing the chick with sweet, calming words.
Notice the poor little chicks feet...he's scared to death! :)

It was a very cold Easter in Nebraska...Easter egg hunts and gloves...yuck!

Micah is 6 months old...I love all his new funny faces!

Gabriel just loves his cousin Ollie so much!

Not happy about all these pictures and poses...

For Easter this year, we went to Val and Gail's house in Nebraska City. Josh and Nicole suprised us and drove in from Colorado! It was a great weekend with family. Ollie was so much fun to watch...he's at such a great age for egg hunt and all the Easter fun. Abby is a woman who loves her holidays, so she was in heaven. She's still talking about Christmas and Valentines Day! :)
For those of you who didn't already know this...Nebraska City is the home of Arbor Day. So there is a really great place called the Arbor Day Farm and they have a nice park with a tree house. We went there for an Easter egg hunt and they had baby chicks! The kids absolutely loved it...they were very generous and let the kids hold them and pet them. It was very hands on and lots of fun. I think Abby almost squeezed the life out of hers...she just "loved" it so much.

A trip to Michigan

This is what Micah is doing right now...he loves to lay on the floor and grab his feet.

Beautiful Carly...

Talk to the hand, cousin.
We hate tummy time!





Uncle Bub, you're the best! We love you...



We took a trip up to Michigan on President's day weekend to visit my brother Nate and his family. It's become a yearly tradition...and it was such a blast! Every trip the guys watch the kids and Laura and I go to the outlet malls about an hour away for a day of shopping...the pottery barn outlet was amazing! On sunday night we got a sitter and the four of us (+2 nursing munchkins) went out to dinner to celebrate Laura's birthday at Carabbas. It was nice to go out with only one kid per couple. You can imagine when we go out with our 5 and their 3 what a rukus we cause. The cousins have so much fun together! We only wished we lived closer. Nate and Laura just recently remodeled a good portion of their downstairs. They put in the most gorgeous bay window in the family room. I put a blanket down and shot the pictures of Micah and Carly there...the light was beautiful and I thought they turned out great. Can't believe it's been a month since my last post...life marches on. Looking forward to spring...

Reading with big bro

Jacob just LOVES Micah. He is such a help to me with this baby. Everyone always told me that I would miss not having a girl first because they help so much with all the other babies that come along (you know, with that maternal instinct and all). I tell you what...I couldn't have asked for a better firstborn in Jacob. He is loving, kind and has a very good way with babies. At night, when I'm working hard to get the middle three kids in bed, Jake will take Micah for me and hang with him. He is such a blessing to me. I know these 2 will always be close.

Man in the mirror

Just some funny faces in his crib I thought I would throw in there...



Being blessed to be the 5th child, Micah doesn't have his own room. He shares a cozy little corner of mom and dad's room and his changing table is my dresser. Since I had a mirror over my dresser before it turned into the changing table, I left it there. Micah loves to look at me in the mirror, or look at himself. The other day after bath, I decided to shoot some of Micah in the mirror. In a few weeks, this will be impossible since he rolled over for the first time today! Next time I will make sure the mirror is clean...oops. Try not to notice the "who knows what" splattered on the glass. We'll call it artistic texture... :0

Sleeping Beauty

There's something about a sleeping child that makes my heart melt. I just love to stare at my kids when they are sleeping and marvel at the little miracles that they are. Mostly I marvel at the miracle that they are actually SLEEPING. :) Never wake a sleeping child...or dog. Sunday afternoon, I hadn't heard Abby's sweet voice in a while so I decided to investigate. Found her curled up in my bed sound asleep...all tucked in with her 2 favorite binks. Like any good woman would do...one is color coordinated to match the outfit...ofcourse. :)

A very rare snow day

I thought it looked really cool the way the snow piled up on these dead flowers.


Our charlie brown Japanese maple...
Post snowball to the face...
A brothers revenge...
Part 2...


Snow angel

Not sure what this scrub brush is doing out in the snow...
It was wonderful to wake up to 8 inches of snow last friday morning. It's a rare day in St. Louis when we get to stay home cause of snow. It was just 75 degrees yesterday...this place is extremely fickle. But we get out in it and have fun when we can. Not sure where son #2 was...obviously not in any of these shots. Must be inside warming up and playing the Wii. :)

What they love...

Why is the tongue being out so helpful when we're trying to concentrate? I still do this...

What a poser...

Okay, so in light of this new picture taking technique that I'm trying to practice, I've decided to start taking pictures of what my kids love. Because, as the years have gone by (darn it, if Jake isn't almost 10!!!!!!) I realize that I can remember how much he weighed and what percentile he was in cause I wrote it down...but I have the hardest time remembering what he was "into". Like, what he ran to in the toy aisle first when we went to Target (thus causing a scene when we had to leave)...or what toy he was willing to risk serious injury to get to first before his cousin did. Maybe it's the fact that I have so many children...but my memory is seriously failing me. Jason and I will have the best time laughing about a memory we have of one of the kids...then we'll sit there with confused looks and say..."wait, was that Grant or Jake?...no, maybe that was Gabe". I guess it's the boys that are running together. Starting to feel a bit like the "little old woman who lived is a shoe". All this to say...I want to start taking pictures of what they love...a nice bonus would be them in the shot with what they love. :)
I took these with my 50mm 1.4. I love this lens...however, we are having a DTR moment at this time. I am seriously behind the 8 ball and just learned what "DTR" means only a year ago. I never used that term in high school or college. (Define the relationship). Right now, what I love about Mr. 50mm is what I hate...as usual. My 1.4 lets me get that juicy, fuzzy background that I am a sucker for. However, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing...though very rarely. :) Thanks for hanging in there with me as I try to keep my little fingers from dialing in that LOW aperature every time I shoot. It's so tempting. I'm still learning the dreaded Aperature-shutter speed-ISO triangle...and I need to learn to manipulate it more to focus on the story I'm trying to tell with my photos.
The boys were playing with their Lego star wars "thingys" one afternoon in the kitchen...at the island. When I whipped my camera out, they asked me to take some pictures of their legos. So I did...next time I may want to focus in on them too. :)

Coming soon... "My Little Pony" photoshoot starring Miss Abigail.

Life with a baby...

Check out the wild hair...this is Micah right out of the bath. I love it!







The truth on this onesie and bib is astounding! I guess if we don't laugh we'll cry, right? Might as well laugh. The many moods of Micah...

Mia and Andrew

We had a to get this picture of Andrew...he fell asleep in his bouncy seat thing, while holding his toy. I wanted to get the photo above from an angle where you could see how long and curly this kids eyelashes are. How is it that the boys always get the gorgeous eyelashes? So not fair.



Today my sweet friend Elizabeth let me practice taking pictures of her precious twins Mia and Andrew. It was my first "official" photoshoot of kids other than my own. It was so much fun! Mia and Andrew were so easy to take pictures of. Thanks, Eli...hope you like what I captured for you.

Which birth announcement do you like best?

#1
#2


I think that I may send out birth announcements for Micah...let's just say that I would LOVE to send out announcements. Not sure if it will actually happen yet, but I decided to go ahead and put these together. Which one do you like the best? Click on the comment below and let me know...you can do it anonymously if you like.

PS...I have heard that a "quiver" is five...I think it's a pouch that holds arrows...so must hold five arrows. Micah makes 5 Roloff children, so hence the verse. I'm probably totally off on that, but all I know is our quiver feels pretty full at this point.

A bit of fun...

I took these pictures in our yard tonight. They reminded me of a few scriptures, so I thought I'd have a little fun with them. Click on the picture if you want to see it larger. Actually, the very first photo of the leaf with snow was taken in our yard in 2006...we got a very early snow that year, and it was so beautiful with the white snow on the colored leaves!

Micah Marston...4 months old

Micah's super strong kung fu grip holding my hand...I love that feeling!

This shot says it all...if only the binky wasn't pink! Poor Micah, someday he'll be so embarassed.

These are some naked shots of baby Micah with my new 50mm 1.4.
Just trying out lots of different apertures to get the blur just right. Felt like my camera had some trouble focusing at times. Maybe I was too close. If anyone has any insight on this, please leave me a comment.

An exercise in shutter speed

Quite possibly the world's most photogenic child...not biased or anything.




Jason is such a great dad...
I love how Jason is focused while Grant "the wild animal" is blurry in the background.


Working the aperature here...hand in focus, faces are blurry. Love this new freedom.
This silouhette shot touches my heart! This baby is so loved by his brothers...

I recently purchased a DVD set upon recommendation by another photog. friend. These DVDs are instructional - some basic info like how to turn your camera on, and how to change your lens. But alot of great information on aperature, shutter speed and ISO. These are geared towards parents taking pictures of their kids. The first DVD is called "refuse to say cheese" and it's about capturing the story of your children, versus interrupting their lives by asking them to grin while you fry their little eyes with your flash. I really apprecited the relaxed and easy to understand style of this set. It is produced by Mera and Brian, a husband and wife team that started Me Ra Koh photography. You can order the set from here. If you're interested, check it out. You won't be disappointed. Here are some shots from an exercise in shutter speed that Mera recommended. I learned how to "blow out" my background by lowering the shutter speed...I was very excited by what I captured.

The wonder of little hands...

These may not be the best shots technically speaking...alot of fuzz, noise, etc (low light in my bedroom, high ISO)...but I love the soft feeling they have...it's dreamy having a sweet baby boy!

Baby's first pigtails

Here are some shots of Abby a few years ago...I love the pigtail shots. That really was the first time I was able to put her hair in pigtails! Girls are such fun...

Micah & Grant

These are some cute shots of Micah and Grant standing in front of a window in our house...lots of natural light. I love the hat! Can you tell it's winter? Grant's poor lips...

Little Miss Chatterbox

The PJ's say it all...

Just some random shots...

I love this shot of my sister...she is so beautiful. I love the color she's wearing and the brick wall beind her...her laugh is contagious.


Our friend Tate at a pool party...even though there is some shadowing from the flash, I love how this shot looks. Love the grin from ear to ear.
The sheer joy finding a caterpillar in the yard brings...I love the wonder in Jacob's eyes.
A boy and his board at the beach...Grant contemplating his next run on the skimboard.
My nephew Ollie...I love half the binky in the shot, and the funky bright bib.

These don't really have a category to go in, but I still wanted to include them because I love them!

Micah "au naturel"

Had a bit of fun manipulating this on is Adobe Lightroom...free trial download. Looks a little strange, but I like the effect.



Took these as soon as my new 50mm arrived...straight out of the box. Wasn't used to all the blur, so they are a bit fuzzy. I had it wide open at 1.8 and let the camera decide the shutter speed.

Abigail in her green dress

I bought the cutest green dress for Abby at the Gap. She loves to change clothes, so I threw it on her, grabbed her up and took her outside on our porch to take advantage of the afternoon light.

Ryder and "Pop"

Our friends Adam and Elizabeth have the sweetest little boy, Ryder. I took these of Ryder and his grandpa...who they call "Pop"...at a birthday party. I love the tenderness here...

Fishing with Grandpa Val

I LOVE this shot of Grant walking to the stream to fish with his Grandpa Val. It's the only one I have...but I had to include it because it's just so sweet. It captures the tenderness between the two. We are so blessed to have 2 sets of very loving and very involved grandparents. We thank God for their kindness, love and support.

A recent photoshoot

We took the kids to Longview Park before the end of the year to shoot our photo for christmas cards. Too bad I never got those cards mailed...oops. :) The pictures didn't turn out too bad. Taken with a new lens 50mm 1.8...which I've recently sent back to exchange for the 1.4. I love the blur in the background.

Missouri Botanical Gardens

I love this shot of Abby...the way she's looking up, the pigtails, the lighting...the bag in her hand.
It's so her! This was taken inside one of the buildings at the gardens...can't remember now which one it was. Back in 2006...




One of my very favorite places to go...

Outer Banks, North Carolina

We went to Outer Banks, NC for summer vacation 2006. It was so beautiful...here are some random shots I took while we were there.






I had just gotten my camera before we went, so all these shots were taken in the lovely "auto" mode. I don't think the camera did too bad...although some are a bit washed out. I've learned alot since then.

Carly Michelle

Here are a few shots I took of my sweet niece, Carly Michelle. I took these on my daughters bed...all PINK, ofcourse. I wish I would have checked the white balance on my camera before shooting these...so many things to remember. :) I think it was set to the "incadescent light" setting which gave the shots a real "cool" tone. There's alot of natural light in Abby's room, and I was hoping to capture that warmth. Oh well...they are still precious.

Micah Marston

On September 18th, 2007, our family welcomed home sweet baby Micah.

He is boy #4 in this house, and baby #5...and what a joy he has been...He is so very loved.

Here are a few shots of him at 3 weeks.

Prima Ballerina

I took these shots of my daughter twirling around in her tutu in our sunroom one afternoon.
They really capture the sweet, silly girl that she is.
She would wear this 24/7 if I would let her...

The adventure begins...

I love photography. I have my dad to thank for that. He was always the guy behind the Nikon snapping our childhood away, as early as I even have memory. I didn't always appreciate it...but I sure did love looking at what he caught on film. I have the best memories of "movie night" at our house...which was before the times of VHS, even. We would pop some popcorn and climb up on the couch and watch my dads slides on the big screen projector. A picture truly is worth a thousand words. They have the ability to freeze in time all those memories, wrap them with feelings and emotions, and tell the story like nothing else. And for the same reason that reading a book is so much more descriptive than watching a movie, I think looking at a picture has the ability for depth unlike home movies. I got my first camera for my 8th birthday. I can remember how exciting that was! Ofcourse my idea of a good shot was roaming the aisles of my favorite toy store and taking pictures of what I wanted for christmas. I also provided the same service to my siblings (for a small fee, ofcourse)...it was very critical that mom and dad have NO excuse for getting us the wrong thing. So, I've been taking pictures for a while now. It's only been a few years that I've stopped taking “pictures” and started seeing each shot I take as unique piece of art. I love being able to capture an image that's more than “cheese”, but tells a story. In my case, a story of God's faithfulness to me and my family and those that I love...the beauty of His creation. That doesn't mean that every shot is serious shot or even a great shot...I've got so much to learn. But in so many ways it has changed what I see and how I frame it when I look through that tiny black box.

I really want this blog to be a place where I can showcase photos of my children, our family and the daily (ok, with 5 kids maybe not daily) happenings around our family. But an important Second, my hope is to get my work out there for others to see and critique so that I may become a better photographer and artist, so please leave comments and suggestions. And finally,I hope that this display of my work will bring me one step closer to my dream of being a “real” photographer with a business of my own some day. If you like what you see here, and are in the St. Louis area, please contact me via the comment section of this blog. I am looking for families to photograph and bring into my portfolio. The sitting will be free and all of your proofs will be given to you on a CD. If you like them, you may print them.

I will be adding photos from my portfolio daily, so add me to your blog list and check back often.

Joyfully,

Michelle