The Many Faces of Riley (and one of Sanna)

Riley thought the best thing to do during a meal of peaches and macaroni was to run her wet, cheesy fingers through her flowing locks. The result is some crazy hair and a full array of facial expressions for your enjoyment. I threw one in of Sanna to not hurt her feelings. She was better behaved a dinner.

Day 2

I have learned that being stuck on our third floor for most of the day does not lend itself to superb photography. Going to the park, on the other hand, is a virtual cornucopia of sweet photo opps. The neighborhood just south of us has a toddler park where we can basically let them free (unless they want to be on the swings the whole time like Sanna). Enjoy. Riley thought that going down the slides backwards on her stomach was the best until Sanna showed her the right way. Riley also learned that trying to walk down a slide leads to uncontrollable acceleration and almost cracking your head open if it wasnt for a quick-handed mother. The rest of the fun is in flickr.

Photo Crazy

In an effort to document the full beauty of our children I invested in a sweet prime lens for portrait/macro work. It is a 50mm f/1.4 lens for all you photogs out there. It allows me to get great detail on our divas while blurring out the background. Here are some shots I have taken in an attempt to figure out what the heck I am doing with a lens that doesnt zoom. You can focus much closer to the subject and take pictures in much lower light thanks to the huge aperture. Enjoy. I promise to get better fast. There are some low res pics in flickr too.

Sanna with her trademark red cheeks. Someday they will go away. We have been told they are a product of teething and drool.

Owen loves being photographed. If he wasnt so lazy he would have moved to get away from my annoyance.

Riley rarely lets go of her Pineault blankie. So, most photos will include it. The camera chose to focus on a part of the blanket I think which made am interesting effect. With the aperture wide open the depth of field/focus is only a couple inches. I have to get better at manually selecting the area of focus.

We both really like this one, but it is actually out of focus. It was one of the first pics taken. I think I may have been too close/not using the right ISO setting.

Owen is much better than Frankie at posing. He sits for a few seconds when you ask him.

Halloweenies

Halloween was minimally eventful. We went out for about 30 min to hit the neighbors we normally talk to. The girls were given quarters by the homeless guy who hangs out at the end of the street. Apparently Laurin brought Sanna's home. I left mine in the grass for the guy to find later. I thought it would make his day.

Riley mostly enjoyed holding the candy. She didnt get the concept of gathering many pieces over time and putting them in your basket. She thought any candy she let go of would be gone forever. This resulted in bloddy knuckles as she fell twice and wouldnt let go of the candy to brace herself.

Double-fisting as always....

Sanna was a much better trick-or-treater. She would take one piece at a time and place it in the basket. She also went fall-free all night.

Erin joined us in her pumpkin outfit. Ryan was dressed as chemical engineer helping his daughter enjoy her first halloween. Pretty weak from the guy who lives for pumpkin beer and any kind of vampire movie.

Riley working on her stanky leg. Its almost ready for video.

Sanna started to get up, ruining this photo op. So close.

Sharing is Not our Strength

Lately, when we go shopping, the first thing you give the girls to hold becomes the most important thing in their world. For Riley, it was this jar of peanut butter.

For Sanna, it was these bananas. She tried to sneak bites off them as we shopped. It looked gross to us but she had fun. I learned the painful lesson that you shouldnt give them something you dont plan to buy. Putting things back on the shelf is not an option once they declare it their property. We almost had to come home with a wooden snake that wiggled back and forth.

As punishment for something Laurin must have done to wrong Melissa we were left with Erin for the day. As you can see from this picture, she is very comfortable around our two terrors. They were scheming about how they could torture her so that she would never come back and divert attention away from themselves.

Riley on the rocking horse = happy. Sanna on the rocking horse = mad Riley. She tried to pull her off but I stopped the violence. She only laughed a little when I told her no in my best authoritative voice.

She took her own shirt off to bring the sexy. She is staging a gut-off right now with Grandpa.

As you can see, Riley back on the horse does not cause the same reaction from Sanna. She is the more mild-mannered (yet suprisingly devious) child.

'The Move'

Two posts in a day again! I had trouble uploading this video, so many of you are already aware of 'the move', but here you go. Sorry for the nausea-inducing camera work. The move needs to be captured at the appropriate angle. With two of them pulling it off catching it can be tough. Riley is the inventor of 'the move'. Sanna didnt want to be outdone so she jumped on the bandwagon. Its no leg trick, but what is.

Zoo, Boo!

We, along with every other family with a child under 15, decided to take advantage of the amazing weather on Sunday and went to Zoo Boo. It is basically the Zoo, but you dress up in your halloween costumes and they give out candy at a few locations. Laurin really enjoyed the crowds and trying to get our kids in and out of their strollers every time we got to new animals.

Riley saw Manny drop a running head butt on his brother, so they got together to discuss the merits of various sibling attack maneuvers. Riley assured Manny that the bite was clearly the best way to get your point across. Manny saw no reason why the two maneuvers couldnt be combined for sibling domination. Riley gave him a kiss and went on her way.

Ernesto Did not find Sanna's hugs as cute as we do. Sanna's new kicks allowed her to escape at the requisite speed. I really would have liked to see him connect with those cute little horns.

Ernesto had about enough of Zoo Boo. After chasing Sanna away he headed to the highest point in the petting zoo for a break. He had no idea of the climbing skills Sanna possesses and was only saved by our leaving the petting zoo for animals you couldnt touch.

The girls high fived to celebrate their harrassment of the goats. Riley had gathered some sweet intel from Manny and Sanna had scared off the friendliest animals at the zoo.

Thanks to strong buckles in the strollers we were able to achieve a picture with the kids sitting still for 10 seconds. Baby Sam was passed out in the stroller so he will have to wait for next years pic.

Monkeys Jumpin on the Bed

Leaf Peepin Saturday

Thats right people....two posts in one day! When it rains it pours. Check out the beautiful landscapes hidden in Indianapolis.

Without my fancy new camera, shots like this would not have been possible. I might just make it on to this blog now and again. Thank you rotating lcd screen.

Laurin thought that risking Riley's life was worth it for this shot. That tree was only about 8" wide and she used it to cross the ravine.

At least we got one baby to look at the camera in this sweet lakeside pic. Max was busy drinking the lake. Riley was looking for ducks.

Erin got super hungry on our walk and chewed through the side of this old metal drum. I really have no idea what it was. It was huge and rusty. She thought it was tasty.

I set the camera to scenery mode for this one. I think it was the right choice. Fall foliage at its best.

We finally let the girls walk for the last 100 yds. It was about 98 too many. Sanna wanted to pick up all the leaves and Riley wanted to explore the woods.

At the beginning of the walk we were all smiling. Aching shoulders and wiggling babies will wipe that smile of anyones face.

I might have to submit this one to the Talbot Street Art Fair next year. Might have to mount it on the wall for now.

Video Saturday

We have been stuck in the house due to the extreme cold in Indianapolis. So, there hasnt been much action. I am not sure what we are going to do with ourselves this winter. Here is a video of Riley having a conversation with herself and another of the girls holding hands and not violencing each other.

Now you see why we need to put them in very controlled environments. If there is any surface to climb they will find it, climb it, and maybe even stand up and jump on it. In case you were wondering, that is a 100lb weight on the floor. I had just finished about a thousand reps.

Riley took a break from putting the box on her head to try to sit in it. She thought the bigger ones were too easy.

Riley is modeling her look after her grandpas.

If we can achieve this kind of love between bitter enemies for 85 seconds I dont think world peace is far off.