Meanwhile since I’m sitting down with a fussy/sleeping baby, I might as well curate some photos from this last week. Dom notes that with me and photography it’s usually feast or famine. When I do pull out the camera for a photography binge I can amass from fifty to a hundred photos easily in the space of a day or two.
I’m rather happy with this sequence I took the other day. My happy sunflowery garden makes a wonderful backdrop for pictures of the kids. I thought I might try to get a really nice group shot with all five of them. What I got was a nice group of outtakes. Ben does not like having a camera pointed at him and will not oblige.
Start with sunny Sophie in a cheerful butterfly dress. She has the best smile, always lights up my world. She was kind of a funny looking baby, but boy is she a pretty girl.
Maybe she should sit down? Ok, here we go.
Add one slightly cranky baby sister. She’d rather Mama just pick her up.
Then here comes Anthony. Note the red maple behind his head. Sorry guys, fall is here. The days are shorter and soon you won’t be able to wear those sandals and shorts. Anthony is really loathe to give up his shorts.
No one is looking at Mama, but that’s ok.
And now here’s big sister Bella. Don’t she and Sophie look like sisters? Oh yes they do.
Come on, Ben. Everyone’s waiting.
Oh look, there are some smiles. What is Sophie staring at?
There’s Ben. Bella grabbed him. She’s so helpful that way.
But even if you can make a Ben sit, you can’t make him pose.
I think this is the best of the lot. No one is smiling, but at least you can see their faces.
Ok, we’re done. Lucy is crying, Ben is hiding, Anthony is ready to take off.
There he goes.
The afterward candids are much better anyway. Here, Lucy Rose, here’s a flower for you.
See, everyone smiling. The only problem is Ben is picking dandelions for Lucia.
Lucy doesn’t want flowers. She wants Mama to put the camera down and pick her up.
This really is a lovely portrait because it captures the dynamic so well.
Everybody loves Lucy.
Anthony crawling.
Ben looking so very himself.
Dirty hands, long lashes, so thoughtful. I’m never sure what’s going on because unlike his sisters he doesn’t voice every single thought.
Guess which one is my extrovert. Go on, guess.
Then we found an earthworm.
See that smile?
If you’re cute and you know it….
Now Lucia is happy. She’s got Mama.
No fingers on Mama’s lens!
Ben in a silly mood. A totally different kid.
Anthony laughing.
Brothers.
And worms.
And sunflowers.
Ok. Sick of photos yet?
I’ll let you go.
I’m sure you’ve got things to do.
Promises to keep.
Miles to go before you sleep.
Thanks for sharing our perfect autumn afternoon.
Oh yeah… and to the guy in the grocery store who seemed to think my five kids were a fate worse than death…
I wouldn’t trade a single one of these treasures for all the money in the world. Priceless they are.
You truly are so blessed. 🙂 And so are they.
Thanks, Ellie. We truly are.
+JMJ+
These are wonderful! Thanks for sharing them.
I’ve thought for the longest time that Sophie was your extravert. Even though you’ve said that she is shy at first but likes connecting with people after she gets more comfortable around them. She seems like the network-weaver of the family. =)
Enbrethiliel ,
Thank you.
Bella is not shy at all. She’ll talk to just about anyone these days. But she definitely needs quiet time to recharge her batteries. Sometimes she just needs to hide in her room. And Sophie is shy, though she’s starting to get over that to interact with strangers, but she just does not get the idea of needing alone time. She stands outside the bedroom door crying and demanding that Bella come out to play with her.
Your children are so sweet! I agree, the backdrop is so beautiful! How wonderful even from seeds planted late you have such bounty and beauty!
My sons, especially my youngest, are loathe to give up the shorts. To avoid fights I end up taking away all the short sleeve and shorts by a certain date, because the youngest would put them on Every.Single.Day. He is in heaven with shorts weather!
Jennifer,
Truly, I am so glad that even late seeds can give us such beauty. It’s nice that my procrastination didn’t spoil our garden.
I suspect Anthony will be wearing shorts until it gets too cold. I am terrible about switching out wardrobes. maybe because i grew up in Texas where you don’t really need to have two separate wardrobes. I haven’t really got around to finding winter clothes for all my kids yet. I guess I need to get on it. Bella needs a new winter coat and Ben really needs to get more size four or five pants and long sleeved shirts so I can move Anthony up to the size 3 and 4 he’s currently wearing.
Beautiful! They never wear shoes, inside or outside, do they?? lol
Mary, No, they don’t. Except sometimes Anthony. Dom and I aren’t really shoe people either. Until it gets cold. We joke that we are hobbits.