A Night With the Girls...

Last Friday night I had the pleasure of hanging out with some fanastic moms! Nette Parks, Whitney Price, Leia Sejac, and Devon Vibbert all joined me at my house (Nette hosted!) for some chatting and eatting!

We shared many stories, recipes, and creative ideas! I do have to share one website that Leia passed on to me: Ruby Slipper Guide! If you live in or near the eastside (or want to take a day trip) this is a great site that had fun activties and ideas for the day. Lots of fun tidbits and the site is ran by moms! Some things are free, some costs, but all are fun ideas!

Refuse to Say Cheese....

As many of you know, I love photography. I love taking pictures and also seeing others pictures. I have come to adore this idea "Refuse to Say Cheese" by Me Ra Koh. She is a local photographer...who has now gotten to the big time. She has a dvd set (if you have the money or the time seems like a great idea), which explains her 'say no to cheese' theory. Click on this link to see a bit of video of Me Ra, its short but you get the idea. I adore/love/admire candids. About 90% of my wedding photos were candids and have decided to take that appoarch with Kena's photos. After getting the best birthday gift ever from my hubby, a Nikon d40 digtal SLR, I started to explore taking photos. I have never been a big fan of 'posed pictures', some are and thats great. For me, I love to capture and remember those little moments. Like in my last post, I realized I took a bunch of pictures of her feet...not touching the ground on her trike. I guess I really want to remember that, because before you know it they are on their way to preschool! I love feet, their little shoes, all their clothes, the toys tossed about the house. Yes, in some of my pictures (ok, many of my pictures) the house is a mess. I claim to NOT be a house keeper, just not one of my things. I let Kena go like a huricane in my house and clean up at the end of the day. So if my table is covered with stuff...oh well! I love taking pictures of the mess of paint Kena makes. Seriously how adorable is that?

I actually was interviewed for an online catalog about photography! Babiestoday page 3 or 4, I can't remember. Here is the picture I was talking about:

Well, I hope I get to see some of your photos one day!

Kena's Frist Trike...

For Christmas, Santa (g'ma and boppa) brought Kena a trike! One of those awesome classic trikes that we all had as a kid! Eventhough the weather has been less then perfect, Kena has enjoyed riding around in the house. In the next couple of weeks we will buy her a helmet (just in case...she is my child after all).

I love how her cubby little fit doesn't even come close to touching the floor, thats why I took so many pictures of it!

When Dada's at Work....

...We chat with him on Instant Messanger. Thats one of Kena's favs! She will sit and type all sorts of...well...numbers. But Dada has a video camera on his computer its great for those long days when Kena needs her dada!

Our Friend Hudson...

This is my dear friend Nette's little boy, Hudson Mack. Kena just adored him! She loves babies.

A Brief Catch Up...

As I sit here, its been too long since last time I blogged! My goodness! Its because, well, Kena is just too busy!

We are right now recovering from a double ear infection and pink eye. Thats right. Dada came home from work today with the stomach flu so he is stuck in his room, Kena is stuck only playing with toys I have yet to disinfect. She loves being sick because she gets to do her favorite thing, movies!

G'ma and boppa stopped by this weekend to drop off some meat and brought Kena a 'magna doddle'. Now, that is just about the best investment ever. She LOVES it. She woke up the morning after getting it and went right to it, crawled into her pink chair and went to town. They have three shapes-circle, square, and star. Everything to her is a 'circle' because thats the only word she knows.

Kena is learning how to 'test' her parents. Standing up in her pink chair is her favorite things (as I write this I have to pause to tell her to get off the chair). Kena has become She is interested in the potty, which might mean early potty training.

And I realized, two weeks ago, that this time next year we will be signing Kena up for preschool. Freaky? You have no idea.

Kena and Liv

Cousin Noah. Its hard to get a picture of him.
Cousins!
Look at that girl!

Cousins trying to find kitties at Grandma Alice's house.

One day, Kena decided to dress her self. That's right...I did NOT pick out this out fit.


The end of our painting experince.
At some point...you just don't care anymore. As long as they are having fun.

Full on painting!
...and then one day mama decided to bake cookies.

...that meant Kena wanted to bake too!

...and then there were the stickers.

There is only so much you can do in doors.
Dada thinks this picture looks like Kena should be in prison...

I KNOW...

I promise to have pictures and stories of our trip to Maui in the next couple of days. We had to 'tap' into someone else's interenet in our condo in Maui so it was super slow and I didn't want to mess with it.

We are now back home...to SNOW! We had a fantastic time with many, many memoires (like Kena boogie boarding in the water) and was amazed by how well my daughter travels (her mother on the other hand is another story).

So in the next couple of days, I will compile those pictures with the stories and make mulitple entires.

But until then I must unpack!!!