that cute little messy face has never looked happier
he's got this thing about his stomach and exposing it and/or checking it out...it's both hilarious and adorable.
5/4/10
sunshiney
we heart you, beautiful evening backlighting on sunny days. BIG heart. We're also pretty crazy about this little blonde boy with messy hair, a messy face, and energy that could sail him to the moon and back.
that cute little messy face has never looked happier
he's got this thing about his stomach and exposing it and/or checking it out...it's both hilarious and adorable.
that cute little messy face has never looked happier
he's got this thing about his stomach and exposing it and/or checking it out...it's both hilarious and adorable.
spring + van = blossoms + happiness
Totally stoked about all the pink flowers with his dude buddies. Okay, so they've totally got crusty bored-out-of-their-mugs expressions in this photo and they were much more interested in the big truck driving past than anything pink and fluffy. These guys were all born within 20 days of each other, Van right in the middle. They've been tight ever since, and it's so fun to have an excuse to get together with their moms while we let our boys play. For the cherry blossoms we took them to a little used-to-be-secret-but-everyone's-finding-out-about-it neighborhood in MD just outside of the District that is LOADED with cherry trees. Every street is seriously lined with them. It's beautiful.
Later that evening Jon and I headed back to a nearby park to enjoy the weather while we let the maniac go wild and be happy. This kid loves digging and playing in the sandbox, and I love how transparent his joy is.
Here's our kid showing off his social bug skills. Van is so friendly and quick to play with strangers (I know, totally safe, right?). He has no reservations whatsoever with other people's personal space, property, or attitudes, but he's so sweet about it that people can't help but love him. I love how he brought this lady to life. It's so Van.
a recurring theme
Can anyone see something in common with all the photos below?
(some of these are from December when he much smaller and desperately needed a haircut, so you'll have to excuse the frat-boy-in-a-holiday-sweater appearance. You'll also have to excuse that some of these are awful photos with the worst lighting and focus ever, but they were too funny to exclude so they got thrown in the mix.)
Someone's got an obsession. For most of these he's holding old phones of ours that we'll charge for him and let him play with. But our favorite's are the plastic CB radio from the plastic firetruck in the park and the computer mouse that clearly looks more like a phone to a one year old than we would have thought.
This is just a small sampling of the things he'll pick up and hold to his head like a phone, it's hilarious! It's always accompanied by a "e'oh?" (hello), "ummm", and "yes", which must be what we say on the phone most since he's mimicking us. It's the funniest thing ever, especially the "ummm." We laugh at him all the time (and I guess we could work on utilizing the unintelligible "um" a little less often in our educated adult conversations) and can't believe how much that little brain of his takes in and remembers. It's amazing. We love our little parrot, he's our constant entertainer!
(some of these are from December when he much smaller and desperately needed a haircut, so you'll have to excuse the frat-boy-in-a-holiday-sweater appearance. You'll also have to excuse that some of these are awful photos with the worst lighting and focus ever, but they were too funny to exclude so they got thrown in the mix.)
Someone's got an obsession. For most of these he's holding old phones of ours that we'll charge for him and let him play with. But our favorite's are the plastic CB radio from the plastic firetruck in the park and the computer mouse that clearly looks more like a phone to a one year old than we would have thought.
This is just a small sampling of the things he'll pick up and hold to his head like a phone, it's hilarious! It's always accompanied by a "e'oh?" (hello), "ummm", and "yes", which must be what we say on the phone most since he's mimicking us. It's the funniest thing ever, especially the "ummm." We laugh at him all the time (and I guess we could work on utilizing the unintelligible "um" a little less often in our educated adult conversations) and can't believe how much that little brain of his takes in and remembers. It's amazing. We love our little parrot, he's our constant entertainer!
like father...
This kids adores his daddy, and I absolutely love it. Stealing photos of them doing things together is one of my favorite things. Van loves to have dance parties with Jon, build blocks, play with cars, get pulled around the house in the laundry basket at top speed, read books, and the cutest thing is how he says "hi" to his dad whenever he sees him, in his cute, high little boy voice. Jon's mom told us that when Jon was a little boy he would always say hi to her whenever she came in the room, even if he'd already said hi seconds before, so I love to see this little friendly habit coming out through his son. I love my boys!!
Storytime. Making the "choo choo" train motion together for The Little Engine That Could book.
Laughing together during The Pigeon Wants A Puppy book. Van is crazy about this book because it's all about a puppy, and Jon totally promotes the book because in the end the pigeon changes his mind and doesn't want a puppy at all (he's hoping this might sway our children from begging for puppies in the future). :)
Enjoying the warm weather outside together. These two are both so much happier when they're outside (and Van's been that way since the day he was born). I love that they both crave it and would rather make a mad dash for the door than do anything inside.
Oh how I love these pictures...a cuddle moment on the couch, and Van taking a walk with his daddy in his daddy's shoes (which he seems to be managing surprisingly well). Life is so good because of little moments like this.
Storytime. Making the "choo choo" train motion together for The Little Engine That Could book.
Laughing together during The Pigeon Wants A Puppy book. Van is crazy about this book because it's all about a puppy, and Jon totally promotes the book because in the end the pigeon changes his mind and doesn't want a puppy at all (he's hoping this might sway our children from begging for puppies in the future). :)
Enjoying the warm weather outside together. These two are both so much happier when they're outside (and Van's been that way since the day he was born). I love that they both crave it and would rather make a mad dash for the door than do anything inside.
Oh how I love these pictures...a cuddle moment on the couch, and Van taking a walk with his daddy in his daddy's shoes (which he seems to be managing surprisingly well). Life is so good because of little moments like this.
life in a basement apartment while awaiting warm weather
While we were hibernating in the winter, Van was off growing up on us. We became creative with ways to stay entertained, but after seeing the photos below, our methods don't sound so creative anymore. I'm gonna tell myself I forgot to take pictures of the creative things and then I'll feel a lot better. Here are some of the cabin fever highlights we managed to capture over the past few months.
**********
Mastering the remote. He's the real deal now, or he likes to act like he is. He can, however, turn on the TV manually. And beg endlessly to watch Cars. He wakes up asking for "cahs...voom voom?" and will seriously have a breakdown anytime we tell him no. If you could see him say "chow!" (for Lightning McQueen's 'ka-chow!') or sing to the music, you would probably want to laugh out loud and eat him up as much as we do.
Coloring. He loves to scribble, especially if he can switch crayon colors approximately once every 4 seconds. His attempts to say "color" are darling and hardly decipherable, and his skills are pretty amazing when he's not pausing to eat the crayons (note: washable crayons are a nightmare in disguise for a crayon eater! When they're wet they might as well be paint on a paintbrush!) This photo of him just makes me want to smother him with kisses!
Rocking. We got Van this sweet Radio Flyer rocking horse (who knew Radio Flyer made those?) at a consignment sale last month for $10 and it was a total steal! Van calls it his "hoyce" and makes horse sounds when he sees it. He loves rocking as soon as he gets up, right before he goes to bed, and anytime he remembers it exists in between. It's totally prepped him for the park this spring, now he knows how to ride all the toys! Cute little rider.
Surfing. Skating. Climbing on anything he can and trying out gravity's limitations. His balance is surprisingly good, so unless it's in the dining room where tile lines the floors, we pretty much let him have at it and show off his mad skills.
Gettin' techy. As if we would expect anything less from a child in the current generation. He loves the glowing screen and would kill for us to let him take full reign of the keyboard and mouse. This was more like a "you can touch it for the picture then forget about it!" moment. Poor kid, someday all his computer user dreams will come true!
Eating. Or being terrible...same thing in our house! If we could ever win the mealtime battle with this kid, it would be pretty awesome. He looks cute as ever and innocent here, but don't let him fool you! I'm sure seconds later he was launching his plate, mashing his food in his hair, throwing his fork at us and screaming for us to give him something to eat all at the same time. Always a party in the Smith home!
Praying. Is this not the sweetest thing EVER??? Whenever we tell him it's time to pray, this is what he gives us. Cute little chubby hands together, bowed head, and closed eyes. He only lasts about 5-10 seconds before he starts talking while we pray, but then he attempts an "amen" and smiles. SO CUTE. We were cracking up one night when he kept thinking it was time to pray for no apparent reason, giving us the chance to steal some pictures of him in action. What a sweetheart!
Brushing. He LOVES brushing his teeth, even if he's pretty terrible at getting the job done. We try to take over so that his future dentists don't curse at us some day for being bad teeth brushing parents, but that little Van is a muscle man, and he's so hard to wrestle a toothbrush away from!! When we let him try to do it by himself, he's sooo happy. As you can see below. Sometimes on good days we can get him to say "ah" and brush a tooth or two in the brief window of time that buys us. He'll thank us someday!
Getting desperate. Before things finally warmed up around here, some days we would just slap on winter layers and brave the cold for the sake of our sanity. Clearly a little oxygen and sunshine makes someone besides myself happy! And that little smile makes me even happier...
**********
Mastering the remote. He's the real deal now, or he likes to act like he is. He can, however, turn on the TV manually. And beg endlessly to watch Cars. He wakes up asking for "cahs...voom voom?" and will seriously have a breakdown anytime we tell him no. If you could see him say "chow!" (for Lightning McQueen's 'ka-chow!') or sing to the music, you would probably want to laugh out loud and eat him up as much as we do.
Coloring. He loves to scribble, especially if he can switch crayon colors approximately once every 4 seconds. His attempts to say "color" are darling and hardly decipherable, and his skills are pretty amazing when he's not pausing to eat the crayons (note: washable crayons are a nightmare in disguise for a crayon eater! When they're wet they might as well be paint on a paintbrush!) This photo of him just makes me want to smother him with kisses!
Rocking. We got Van this sweet Radio Flyer rocking horse (who knew Radio Flyer made those?) at a consignment sale last month for $10 and it was a total steal! Van calls it his "hoyce" and makes horse sounds when he sees it. He loves rocking as soon as he gets up, right before he goes to bed, and anytime he remembers it exists in between. It's totally prepped him for the park this spring, now he knows how to ride all the toys! Cute little rider.
Surfing. Skating. Climbing on anything he can and trying out gravity's limitations. His balance is surprisingly good, so unless it's in the dining room where tile lines the floors, we pretty much let him have at it and show off his mad skills.
Gettin' techy. As if we would expect anything less from a child in the current generation. He loves the glowing screen and would kill for us to let him take full reign of the keyboard and mouse. This was more like a "you can touch it for the picture then forget about it!" moment. Poor kid, someday all his computer user dreams will come true!
Eating. Or being terrible...same thing in our house! If we could ever win the mealtime battle with this kid, it would be pretty awesome. He looks cute as ever and innocent here, but don't let him fool you! I'm sure seconds later he was launching his plate, mashing his food in his hair, throwing his fork at us and screaming for us to give him something to eat all at the same time. Always a party in the Smith home!
Praying. Is this not the sweetest thing EVER??? Whenever we tell him it's time to pray, this is what he gives us. Cute little chubby hands together, bowed head, and closed eyes. He only lasts about 5-10 seconds before he starts talking while we pray, but then he attempts an "amen" and smiles. SO CUTE. We were cracking up one night when he kept thinking it was time to pray for no apparent reason, giving us the chance to steal some pictures of him in action. What a sweetheart!
Brushing. He LOVES brushing his teeth, even if he's pretty terrible at getting the job done. We try to take over so that his future dentists don't curse at us some day for being bad teeth brushing parents, but that little Van is a muscle man, and he's so hard to wrestle a toothbrush away from!! When we let him try to do it by himself, he's sooo happy. As you can see below. Sometimes on good days we can get him to say "ah" and brush a tooth or two in the brief window of time that buys us. He'll thank us someday!
Getting desperate. Before things finally warmed up around here, some days we would just slap on winter layers and brave the cold for the sake of our sanity. Clearly a little oxygen and sunshine makes someone besides myself happy! And that little smile makes me even happier...
firetrucks are a lot cooler from far away
At least that seems to be Van's consensus. A couple months ago someone in the ward put together a big playdate at the closest Fire Station, and I jumped on the opportunity because Van LOVES firetrucks and had been imitating their sounds for months. I thought for sure he would be the happiest kid on the planet to see them up close and personal!
But the kid started screaming the second I put him in the driver's seat. I guess they were a lot bigger than he thought! He liked watching the fireman demonstrate putting on his gear, and then his attention span was spent and he was ready to run. This is the Van we know and love.
It turns out the back of the firetruck is just as scary as the front. All tears!
What does he really want in life? To play with dirt, rocks and sticks. He was much happier there than on his fancy playdate. There's nothing better than getting little toddler hands dirty outside!
But the kid started screaming the second I put him in the driver's seat. I guess they were a lot bigger than he thought! He liked watching the fireman demonstrate putting on his gear, and then his attention span was spent and he was ready to run. This is the Van we know and love.
It turns out the back of the firetruck is just as scary as the front. All tears!
What does he really want in life? To play with dirt, rocks and sticks. He was much happier there than on his fancy playdate. There's nothing better than getting little toddler hands dirty outside!
3/30/10
our first giveaway!
free stuff = happiness. :)
In case you didn't make it through the lengthy text of the last post, we have officially started our photography business! You can see it here: http://www.jonandmelissaphotography.com/.
And for all you wonderful people helping us to get the word out, we're hosting OUR FIRST GIVEAWAY on the new blog! Jump over there to check out how you can win a free photo shoot...because who doesn't want free stuff??
3/18/10
some people sit on the dock of the bay...
You could just skip the story/buildup part and get to the big news debut at the end, should that
seem more enjoyable. :)
Jon and I had kind of a fun, crazy, unexpected, rushed, but perfect-for-us beginning. I was an intern in Washington, DC. He was a full-time graphic designer in northern Virginia. We briefly met at church in May. We had our first conversation mid-July, sharing a blanket on the grass at the ward luau. He flirted. I liked it. He emailed me photos from that night. I emailed back. We emailed daily. We called and talked a lot. Time was not on our side and by the time we went on our first "official date", I had only 3 weeks left before I headed back to Utah State for my last year of school.
3 weeks.
We had no clue what would happen, but it was all very exciting, very refreshing, and somehow, so very very right. When Jon drove me to Dulles airport the day I was going back to Utah, I gave him the card pictured above. The post title may sound familiar if you've ever read our blog header, because they both came from this very card, which encapsulates one of the things I love most about Jon. On the inside, the card says,
Some people sit on the dock of the bay.
You're more of a jumper off the dock of the bay.
I'm so glad he is. If he weren't, I don't think we ever would have met, or even both been in DC at the same time. Nor would he have asked out an intern who would soon be leaving across the country.
I love that about him. Sometimes I like to jump off the dock of the bay too. Sometimes it scares me to death. Sometimes I'm excited and feel like I'm losing my stomach at the same time when I think about jumping. This is one of those times.
Trying to sum up how I feel right now is almost impossible. People ask how we're doing, but I find that the answer would be much longer than they're expecting, and I don't know if I could cover it even if they had the time, so my response is always "good! busy!". But more fitting would be to say I feel like I'm sticking my head out of a car window on the freeway while going 85 mph and hoping to get enough air. Or like I'm about to go bungee jumping (which I would NEVER dare do, such a sissy) and I'm not even guaranteed if the cord will be secure. Or like we're about to take the raddest trip ever and I'm so excited I can't even stand it. I feel like life has taken a complete 360 so many times in the last few months, and the way I see things and think and our life as we know it is totally foreign—and yet totally, completely, and absolutely enthralling. Exciting in a new way we never thought it could be. So exciting that we don't ever get to bed before 1 am and when we do we can hardly sleep without dreaming about all the exciting things happening. So much to learn. So much to do. So much improve. So much work that goes into this kind of thing that I NEVER thought of.
No, we're not moving. No, it's not because I'm pregnant.
And in a way, (especially now that I write it down), I often feel like I could totally be overreacting, like the stress and excitement is beyond overboard for what our reality actually is right now. Like we're acting like it's the biggest deal ever, and it could end up just being nothing.
But then again, it could end up being something.
One of the first reasons I loved Jon was because he was a jumper off the dock of the bay. So I should pretty much be crazy madly in love with him now. Because we're about to do (what feels to us like) some serious jumping. It may sound little to you, and it probably is, but little as it may be now, it feels crazy, big, and completely exciting to us.
So we wanted to share it with you.
After tons of encouragement, excitement, support, and motivation received from our friends and family (and blog readers!), we're doing it. We're starting our own little, new, fledgling photography business.
It's finally real.
YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT HERE.
Please do. We'd love to hear what you think.
seem more enjoyable. :)
Jon and I had kind of a fun, crazy, unexpected, rushed, but perfect-for-us beginning. I was an intern in Washington, DC. He was a full-time graphic designer in northern Virginia. We briefly met at church in May. We had our first conversation mid-July, sharing a blanket on the grass at the ward luau. He flirted. I liked it. He emailed me photos from that night. I emailed back. We emailed daily. We called and talked a lot. Time was not on our side and by the time we went on our first "official date", I had only 3 weeks left before I headed back to Utah State for my last year of school.
3 weeks.
We had no clue what would happen, but it was all very exciting, very refreshing, and somehow, so very very right. When Jon drove me to Dulles airport the day I was going back to Utah, I gave him the card pictured above. The post title may sound familiar if you've ever read our blog header, because they both came from this very card, which encapsulates one of the things I love most about Jon. On the inside, the card says,
Some people sit on the dock of the bay.
You're more of a jumper off the dock of the bay.
I'm so glad he is. If he weren't, I don't think we ever would have met, or even both been in DC at the same time. Nor would he have asked out an intern who would soon be leaving across the country.
I love that about him. Sometimes I like to jump off the dock of the bay too. Sometimes it scares me to death. Sometimes I'm excited and feel like I'm losing my stomach at the same time when I think about jumping. This is one of those times.
Trying to sum up how I feel right now is almost impossible. People ask how we're doing, but I find that the answer would be much longer than they're expecting, and I don't know if I could cover it even if they had the time, so my response is always "good! busy!". But more fitting would be to say I feel like I'm sticking my head out of a car window on the freeway while going 85 mph and hoping to get enough air. Or like I'm about to go bungee jumping (which I would NEVER dare do, such a sissy) and I'm not even guaranteed if the cord will be secure. Or like we're about to take the raddest trip ever and I'm so excited I can't even stand it. I feel like life has taken a complete 360 so many times in the last few months, and the way I see things and think and our life as we know it is totally foreign—and yet totally, completely, and absolutely enthralling. Exciting in a new way we never thought it could be. So exciting that we don't ever get to bed before 1 am and when we do we can hardly sleep without dreaming about all the exciting things happening. So much to learn. So much to do. So much improve. So much work that goes into this kind of thing that I NEVER thought of.
No, we're not moving. No, it's not because I'm pregnant.
And in a way, (especially now that I write it down), I often feel like I could totally be overreacting, like the stress and excitement is beyond overboard for what our reality actually is right now. Like we're acting like it's the biggest deal ever, and it could end up just being nothing.
But then again, it could end up being something.
One of the first reasons I loved Jon was because he was a jumper off the dock of the bay. So I should pretty much be crazy madly in love with him now. Because we're about to do (what feels to us like) some serious jumping. It may sound little to you, and it probably is, but little as it may be now, it feels crazy, big, and completely exciting to us.
So we wanted to share it with you.
After tons of encouragement, excitement, support, and motivation received from our friends and family (and blog readers!), we're doing it. We're starting our own little, new, fledgling photography business.
It's finally real.
YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT HERE.
Please do. We'd love to hear what you think.
3/17/10
2/26/10
pink or blue?
The verdict's out, and it looks like we've got a little lady on our way!!
When we saw the baby moving like crazy in the ultrasound and the technician kept making comments like, "You've got an active one!" and "It won't hold still to get a good measurement!" I thought for sure we had a little copy of Van on our way. A crazy, bursting-with-energy, non-stop boy.
But no...it turns out all Smith kids must be crazy! Boy or girl. Maybe she'll surprise us and come out a sweet, mellow, quiet little girl, but we wouldn't be shocked if she were just as high-energy as her big brother! I guess she'll have to be to survive in the same house as Van. :) After it was confirmed we're having a girl, the technician at one point said, "C'mon girlfriend, hold still for just a second!" Hmmm...sounds like the things we say to Van ALL the time (minus the girlfriend part).
We're ECSTATIC to have a girl joining our family in July, and I'm really happy that all the cute girl purchases I've been snagging at thrift stores and consignment sales for months have not proven to be sheer craziness on my part. :) She looked absolutely perfect. Hands, face, spine, ribs, toes. She moves like a maniac, and we can't wait to meet her! As an added bonus, girl names are SO much easier for Jon and I, so we are already down to 2 finalists that we love, which is a huge relief.
We're so grateful for this little life that's growing by the day, we still can't help but be amazed seeing the miracle of creation unfold. Babies are a blast. Van totally agrees. He can't wait to hug and squeeze his little sister too tight and poke her eyes out. Because what else are little sisters for?
2/15/10
VOTE NOW! voting ends in 15 minutes!
Help send our friend Allison to Mexico to a photography workshop by voting for her video. The name of her video is "inspire me mexico" (3rd video down)! Allison was one of the top 2 videos for this exact same contest last year to go to Italy, and she lost by a tiny margin in the last few minutes! She's down by 100 and this time we want her to make it!
THANKS :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)