365: 30 + 31

{dimple cheeks}

{Malakai's growth}

365:29

another taken by Ben...

{snuggle}

365:28

{the littlest boy + I}

365:27

{just before bath}

365:26

365: 24 + 25

It's been too cold, icy, snowy, and just plain wet to do much about the leaves out back. Thankfully part of this year's Christmas gift from my in-laws is a new yard!

{365:24}

This little mister is always scratching up that precious face of his. As soon as one heals up he seems to do it again, even when his nails are trimmed short!

{365:25}

365:23

A sneak peek at what we did earlier today...

more pictures + details later at Breaking New Ground.

365: 21 + 22

I've become immersed in reading The Help. This is where I read when the boys are napping. 

{365:21}

Daddy + Kai snuggle after a busy morning at church and a nice afternoon nap.

{365:22}

365:20

Kai often drags his blankets and especially his pillows to different rooms in the house. Today however, he didn't get past the hallway just outside his door before he decided to curl up with a good book, or five.

365:19

{up too early from nap}

365:18

Yesterday's photo, a bit late. I'm also cheating a bit...cause Ben took this one :)

365:17

For Ben's diet I made these gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free muffins...and they taste good! I'll try to post the recipe over at Breaking New Ground soon.

{yum!}

365:16

365:15

Malakai got new "Cars" bedding from his Mima + G'Pa...he's just a little excited about it. 

365:14

This is my beautiful friend Carina. She agreed to pose for a picture so I could possibly steal her haircut...

365:13

{lashes}

365:12

{stripes}

356:11

365:10

{lovie}

365:9

{Kai's little chair on our back porch}

365:8

I harvested these from my garden in the fall. I'm not sure what is the best way to cook them, or if they're even any good anymore...

{sweet dumpling squash}

365:7

{brothers}

365:6

{those eyes may be the end of me}

365:5

{he should be sleeping}

Taken with my new 50mm f/1.8II. I think I'm going to really like this lens.

365:4

This picture is very representative of today. Malakai got dressed without a fit and wanted to play outside. 

{drying off his play structure}

365:3

{Malakai Benson}

365:2

Ready for the Rose Bowl. 

{quack!}

365:1

I realized fairly recently that I am not taking nearly as many photos of Desmond as I did of Malakai. This is for the obvious reason that having two kids is much busier than having one. It's funny to remember how busy I thought I was. Silly me. 

I also received a new lens for "my" camera over Christmas and learning to use it has inspired me to take more time to use the other functions of the camera. I took photography in college but it was before they taught digital photography, so I'm a novice when it comes to moving out of the auto mode on a DSLR. 

So those things combined inspired me to join others in the 365 challenge or project or whatever you want to call it, of taking (and sharing) at least one photo every day for a year. I've never done a New Year's resolution and this is probably as close as I'll ever get. 

Here is a photo I took of Kai with Ben's iPhone 4s. I am going to inherit an iPhone 4 soon and am excited to have a better camera to capture moments like this when we're on the go. There are plenty of times when running for the "big camera" would result in a missed shot, especially with toddlers + babies.

In this picture Kai was wearing his sunglasses and then took them off and gave me this sly grin. It's not the best shot, but I just love his smile.

I have a feeling the majority of the photos I post here will be of my two boys, but I'll attempt to branch out to other subjects as well.

Happy 2012!