Michelle Enebo Photography

Happy Happy Joy Joy

(You must play this song as you look at this post. It's a requirement!)

Doesn't that face just say it all?  Kate has definitely hit the 'take my picture at your own risk' stage.

On Friday Allen and I took the girls for one last hurrah this summer to the Family Fun Center.  (Because we haven't had any fun at all yet this summer!)  We'd never been to this place and it was really fun.  There were go karts (yikes on the carbon footprint THOSE engines leave!), bumper cars, bumper boats, trampolies, a kiddie center and a whole indoor arcade. 

It was great fun!  Ellie's favorite part was the go kart race we had against Allen and Kate, Jill's favorite part was the trampoline (next time she'll wear pants!) and Kate's favorite part was collecting all the tickets we earned playing the arcade games.  Such disappointment when we had to trade those in on prizes!

This week is going to be crazy with PTA and first day of school activities.  Wish us luck!

Three is the magic number

Do you remember that song from Schoolhouse Rock?  For those of you too young for that reference, this phrase was also used in a Jack Johnson song for the Curious George movie.  Love that song.  Baby Kylie is the third baby girl I took pictures of last weekend.  How lucky was I? 

Kylie is Mike and Dana's first baby so she also makes them a family of three.  This little girl was so big and strong and happy.  Just a joy to take pictures of. 

I also got to take a fun generational picture of Dana, her mom Verna and baby Kylie.  That makes what?  Yep, THREE generations.  I love it when a concept comes together!

Here are my favorite pictures...

Squish Face

Some expressions are more fleeting than others.  I just love it when I get a good squish face picture because babies only do it for a few months before they move on to other adorable expressions.  It's like capturing time in a bottle.

Josh and Deanna brought their three cuties to see me after they had the winning bid at a preschool auction.  I've done a few of those this month! 

Olivia, the big sister, was very quiet when I first met her.  She totally turned it on, though, when I started taking her pictures.  She gave me a ton of different expressions and clearly enjoyed herself!

Super Duper Cooper is the quiet serious type but you could just tell he thought all of our antics to make him smile were pretty funny.

Lovely Lauren has that impish twinkle in her eye that is familiar to all parents who have three kids.  (Those thirds like to try out everything their older siblings never thought of!)  She was adorable in this floaty little angel skirt.  And look at those eyes.  I'd give her anything she asked for!

Here are my favorites...

Merry Christmas to Me

Whenever I upload a new batch of pictures to my computer it feels like the anticipation I feel at Christmas time.  What sort of fabulous presents are waiting for me on the Compact Flash card?  Look at what I got on Sunday?  How can I send Santa a thank you note?

Isn't this little munchkin adorable?  Little Leah belongs to my college friends Cindy and James.  These guys live in California, but when they come into town to visit the grandparents I get to see them because they come to me every year for pictures. I have no idea what made Leah laugh so hard in this picture.  She was actually most interested in the snacks her mom was holding.  More?  Cracker?  More cracker? 

Big brother, Troy, on the other hand was more interested in his cars.  Can you see how big this car is in relation to his hand?  The car was about 3 inches long and he had three of them hidden in his pockets when he arrived.  I don't even know how this little guy could sit down!

It was great to see all of you and I promise to have plenty of crackers on hand next time you come!

A visit to the market

Normally visiting the market is nothing to rejoice about.  Unless it is Pike Place Market!  Earlier this summer I mentioned to the girls that we needed to make a trek downtown to visit the market.  Jill's reaction?  "Hmmm... I've heard of that place."  Clearly I have been neglecting my children.

The real reason I haven't taken all three by myself before is that it is no fun to push a stroller through the crowded rows (and I can imagine that it wouldn't be much fun to SIT in a stroller with your only view being the heiny walking in front of you) and trying to keep track of everybody.  This year everybody was the perfect age and we had a great time seeing the sights.

We started our journey at the Three Girls Bakery.  This was a favorite of Allen and I when we both worked downtown.  The girls enjoyed picking and then eating peanut butter M&M cookies that were almost the size of their heads.  Next we spent some time watching a magic act (performed by Sunny Bono) that the girls got to participate in and listening to a blue grass band outside the original Starbucks location. 

One of the highlights of the trip was that the girls got to pick a fruit or vegetable to bring home for dinner.  Jill picked blue berries, Kate picked a red apple (way to go exotic there, kid!), and Ellie wanted carrots.  We did also pick up an "Oh My God" peach.  As the name implies, this the what you will exclaim when you bit into it's juicy flesh.  Fabulous! (I never did find out if the critter in the second picture was real.  I wasn't going to touch him to find out!)

The girls also helped me pick out some dahlias and they saw some flying fish.  We finished our visit with a picture on the pig.  I guess I am just so used to trying to get close ups of faces that I forgot to make sure that the pig was in the picture.  So just use your imagination and picture the pigs face under the surly girl on the right.

Camp DDD

Yesterday Allen dropped the girls off with his Mom, Dad and Sister for Camp DDD.  (The DDD stands for Dean, Deana and Dubs.  Dubs is what the girls call Allen's mom, Wanda.)  The girls have been looking forward to this all summer.  There are big plans to do some sewing, visit the county fair, visit the parks and they each get some time with Auntie Deana. 

We thought it only appropriate that if the girls were going off to camp that they should have T-shirts to go in.  While we were at it, we thought the camp counselors needed some too!  We had a great time a few weeks back making tie-die t-shirts and then coming up a with a logo that we ironed on the t-shirts later.  Didn't they come out great?  They looked so neat that I had to make one for myself!

Aren't I just the luckiest?  Not only are my kids doing something that they are excited about, but I get 3 and a half days at home without my kids.  At home.  Without my kids.  Those phrases never go together.  (And this time I am not going to be cleaning their rooms!)

Kate's Night

Wednesday was finally Kate's night for school shopping.  Apparently I was in bad mommy mode, though, because I forgot my camera.  Ugh!  No shots of our Taco Time extravaganza (yes, all three chose different mexican restaurants), no shots of Kate not picking her clothes, and no shots that got me kicked out of Claire's.

We started our evening with dinner and then we hit Claire's first.  Kate's patience for shopping is minimal at best.  If you add the bling at the end of the evening then Kate could absolutely care less about the clothes.  I tried to be tricky and outsmart her but of course we all know that never works. 

Kate had the hardest time picking out her key chain.  That is, until she saw the 'key' key chain.  This was the absolute perfect key chain for Kate because she'd had an issue with some keys she'd 'lifted' from Allen and I.  (I won't give you the details, but suffice it to say that we had to punish the theiving and lying tendencies right out of that little four year old.  Sure hope it worked!)  Now she had a key of her very own and she couldn't have been happier.  The key chain god had reached down and bestowed upon her this fabulous treasure. 

What does Kate want to do after our first stop?  Shop till we dropped?  Fill our bags with clothes and empty our bank accounts?  Nope, she wants to go right home to show Daddy that she now has a key of her own.  I just can't win!

I did manage to talk her into a couple of dresses and a pair of tights.  Good thing that kid has a ton of hand me downs!

This is sporty spice:

This is her 'fluffer' dress (because the sleeves are fluffy apparently):

It's Never Easy

This week I took Jill and Ellie to see the eye doctor for the first time.  Ellie (age 7) told Dr. Erickson that she didn't really like to read.  Dr. Erickson followed up with "Why?  Are you having trouble seeing the words?"

Ellie's response:  "I see the words just fine but I keep wishing for some pictures."

Love that honesty!

The Secret is Out

Yep.  Now I've done it.  I went to the Secret Workshop last weekend and now the secret is out.  What an amazing experience! 

Not only is Cheryl Muhr a great photographer but she is a truly inspirational speaker.  She views her job, as leader of this motly crew,  as 'quit prevention'.  Photographing memories and people is so important to her (and us!) that she makes  sure we know how valuable our skills are.  No worries kids, there is no way I'd quit something I am so passionate about.

I went in looking for specific areas I needed to work on in my business but I walked away with that AND a ton of motivation.  Motivation to come up with a plan for myself.  Motivation to rethink some of my current practices.  And motivation to make better images.

The hardest part of the day, by far, was the free shooting portion of the program.  This was a bit of a free for all.  Many of you will be surprised to learn that it stresses me out to be aggressive.  Since there were so many attendees and two photographers to shadow (Did I mention that Tara Whitney was the guest speaker?  How could I leave that crazy exciting bit of news out!?) it was a bit dog eat dog out there.  I did take a few pictures of the models but I decided that shadowing was more valuable to me than shooting.  Tara and Cheryl as so vastly different in their shooting styles, post processing styles and personalities that it was a great balance.  I loved seeing both sides.  Yin and Yang.

I haven't had a chance to fully digest all that I learned.  I'm sure I'll be savoring all those tasty bits for weeks to come.  (Along with the chocolate they gave us as parting gifts!)

Here are some of the images I got...

Jump for Joy

What's wrong with this picture?  Okay, too broad a question.  PLEASE don't email me with all sorts of ISO and shutterspeed imperfections.  What I meant was look at all those feet.  Shouldn't they all be in the air (or on the ground) at the same time? 

We finally found the jump ropes in the garage last night so we dusted them off and started swinging.  Ellie was so excited that she said she could do it from breakfast to dinner.  That's a lot of jumping!

Jill was busy teaching me how to play Mexican Train with dominos so she didn't join the fun until late.  That's why she's the one wearing the ear muffs.  (Nevermind that it was 96 degrees today.)  Apparently Kate made up a rule that you had to wear the iphones (ear muffs to you and me) the first few turns you had.  She originally had on gloves and a scarf that matched but they must have been weighing her down.  The funny thing is that Jill really didn't even fight her on this rule!

They really did all manage to jump a couple of times in the rope together.  My girls are so talented!