Two years ago today (Wed, actually) my sister passed away. I have considered blogging about it, but it’s just so insanely personal and so very sad. I was going to go to her grave today, but instead, I just stayed home with my family. I ate comfort food with Miles, distracted myself with cleaning the floors and napped. I laid down on the couch thinking about the afternoon of 2 years ago and just let sleep take it all away. After dinner I did a little shopping therapy and thought about my sister while I had some alone time in the car. (Thank God for alone time in the car!) Tonight, instead of writing about my sister or my grief, I really just wanted to process and post some photos of my family. It’s probably not the right or appropriate thing to do, but today I just allowed my little world of the 3.5 of us in our own little island, without any death or sickness in it, to just let me escape a bit. Maybe next year I can talk about it. So tonight, I bring to you what brought me some happiness tonight and pulled my heart out of a sad place.

Miles is in his “NO PICTURES!” stage, so anything I get these days, is considered a miracle. The night I attempted to take these photos, all Miles was interested in doing was dancing in front of his reflection in the sliding glass window to his dance mix on the ipod. I told him he was allowed to jump on the couch, to entice him to pose for me, which is very precarious since it’s an antique. He got one jump in, about fell off from the wonky springs in the ancient cushions and he was like, “Yea, I’m back to dancing…” You can see how much his feet sink into the cushions, it’s pretty squishy. The couch is a recent find for the studio. We LOVE it. It’s going to be perfect for snuggling families, lounging seniors, sitting babies. Can’t wait!! For now, my family is test driving it. Oh, and it’s crammed in our living room as we await the studio to be finished. (Our house, with all the studio stuff hanging around would drive my type A friends BATTY. I’m pretty laid back and it’s starting to drive ME insane.)

I want to eat that sweet, snuggly boy. (If only I could catch him!)

You have to be so crazy fast when photographing 3 year olds. You don’t get to take your time doing much composition. Just gotta grab it. Thankfully my light is as fast as he is.

I figured some shots of the boys reading would be sweet. Stamp couldn’t stop kissing John. It was hilarious.

The boys made ties out of the plastic that the backdrop stand came in. Of course.

There’s that crazy tongue coming out again.

How hilarious is this? It’s a standard classic portrait of John and the two pugs, but I wasn’t fast enough to catch Miles before Miles decided he was outta thee.

What is it about reading out loud that makes you so insanely tired?

Whisper is so squishy. We don’t let our pugs up on the furniture, but she just has a way of slipping off your lap and right into the perfect nook for her. You can’t say no to her. She’s so spoiled. Look at her cute little paw and smooshed face. I also love how Miles is in the middle of saying something here. He LOVES Curious George stories and always has so much to say about them. John and I just roll our eyes at how stupid and irresponsible of a guardian that Man in the Yellow hat is. It is fun to hear Miles quote those stories all the time, especially when he is exclaiming his favorite quote, “SAVE THE CHOCOLATES!” as loud as he can. (Anybody else read Curious George and the Chocolate Factory?)

Ok, I indulged in a much too long post when I should be editing client photos. But it’s so much fun. Thanks for stopping by!

PS For those of you wondering where our third pug, Leelu, that we are dog sitting is, she doesn’t like her photo being taken. She’s still here, being dog sat, but no worries, Zabel Family, we try to include her in the photos, but she just doesn’t get into it like Whisper and Stamp do.