Photo Fun With Jaden

 Many of you know that photography is one of my favorite hobbies. I love it! It is so fun for me. And while I'm no where near a professional at it, I love practicing and learning and getting better. Some day I just might capture that winning photo contest photo, but for now I plan on continuing to have fun and doing what I love. My kids make practicing my photography very fun. Photographing my kids has always been very important to me. Mainly because I don't have many photos as an infant of myself. I remember spending hours as a teen searching through all the boxes of photos my mom and dad had in storage and finding only two photos of me as a baby. My mom assures me that there has to be more but I haven't found any. There is a good possibility that there might be more of me and my little sister Amy in this pile of rolls of film that was never developed, but since they were never developed I only have two. I treasure those photos and I resolved that when and if I became a mom I would capture many photos of my kids. So far I've kept true to that resolve. Every chance I get I will take a photo. This day, February 20th was a beautiful day. I love California weather. Here we are still in winter but warm enough to play at the park in the sunshine. While the older kids decided to run around and chase each other I decided to set Jaden down in the grass and see what he would do. He was just learning how to move himself around by scooting. He actually didn't seem to mind the grass and he even got a few giggles in. It was fun to watch him. I really look forward to when he can really explore the park. So while the kids were running around, I decided to have some photo fun with Jaden! Here are some of the photos I took. It's also fun with picasa. That's the editing software I use and they just updated their software and added more options of editing. So I decided to try a couple of them out. I still haven't decided if I'm sold on some of the changes I made, but still it's fun creating.

 This one makes me smile each time I see it. I can't get over the look he gave me. It was to funny.

 Sweet innocence and true curiosity! Seeing things through a babies eyes makes the world extra miraculous!

 He has such a happy smile! Everything always seems better when he smiles and giggles!

 I love this "what the heck is that" look!

 and then there's the " oh Wow" look!

 Holding onto the swing and waiting to fly. This wasn't his first time in the swing, but he still likes it.

 obviously I messed up the light settings for this photo but I still love it because of how big Jadens smile is. He was laughing and giggling and this will always be a picture perfect memory.

It was a fun day in the park and a fun day for photo practice.

Tristan's 9th Birthday!

 Tristan's birthday is on February 13th. This year since his birthday was on a Monday which meant he would be with his mom that day so we celebrated on the 18th. He really wanted to go bowling so we went bowling. We had fun. The boys of course had the bumpers come up when it was their turns. I learned that I rock at bowling on the wii but I totally suck when I'm actually playing. Even Jaxen who is 5 years old did better than me! It was still fun though. We bowled and ate pizza! I can't remember the scores. I really wish I had taken a picture of the final scores. It was pretty classic. I think I bowled a 17 maybe. At least I can laugh about it and more importantly Tristan had so much fun!

 This year Tristan asked me to decorate a cake for him. He's really gotten into video games especially Super Mario and Kirby. So I decided to make him a Kirby cake. I must admit I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. I didn't have an actual Kirby cake pan but I do have a soccer ball cake pan so I used that and then improvised. I originally wanted to make it 3D and have Kirby standing up but I ran out of time. But this worked out perfect I think. I had the half dome for the body and then I took the other half and cut the shapes for the hands and feet. I really loved how it turned out. Normally I let the kids choose what flavor of cake they want but this year Tristan just said to surprise him. So I made my home made banana and chocolate chip cake! It was fantastic! So so so yummy!

 We had a fun celebration with Tristan. I love to see him so excited! He has a fantastic smile that makes everyone else smile. He loves pizza, Mario and other video games. He loves to ride his bike. Tristan is fantastic with Jaden and loves to play with him and read him stories and give him huggles and snuggles! He has also become very witty this year and can always get us to laugh!

 We always have each of the kids choose a gift for each other on birthdays and holidays. It's fun for them to give and receive. It's also fun for Ron and I to watch them hug each other after they've opened their gifts. It's proof for us that they really do love each other. I love these two photos of Tristan hugging Jaxen to say thank you and then hugging Kaeryn to say thank you. Such happy moments!

 Tristan absolutely loved his Kirby cake! He was so excited when he saw it!

 Making a wish. hummmmm............

Wahoo! Happy Happy Happy Birthday Tristan! We love you so much!

Jaden's First Birthday!

 February 10th our little Jaden celebrated his first birthday! I can hardly believe my little boy is one year old. We have a jungle safari theme going on with an emphasis on elephants so I thought that would be a perfect theme for his birthday. I found this elephant cake pan and couldn't pass it up. It was perfect!

 I love making cakes for my kids birthdays! It's one of my favorite things to do. I thought these jungle animals added the right touch.

 I let Jaxen choose the flavor of the cake. He chose chocolate and strawberry. I made the two different batters and then swirled them together. It turned out so yummy!

 I'm still so amazed that it has been a whole year since Jaden was born. He's been such a wonderful addition to our family. We've had a lot of smiles with his infectious giggle!

 At this point in Jaden's life he loves his snuggle time. He loves story time. He loves macaroni and cheese and goldfish crackers. He loves his bottle first thing in the morning!

 Jaden loves stroller rides and walks in the wagon. He loves to play with his toys and often will turn his toys over and over in his hands exploring every little detail about them. He is a very curious boy.

 We had fun getting things ready for his party. He was all smiles but I think he was also a bit overwhelmed. Which is understandable.

 His birthday was on a Friday so Kaeryn and Tristan were able to be there to celebrate. I loved having the whole family together to celebrate. It helped to make the day more special.

 It was really cute to see his expression when he saw the cake and we sang to him. I think he liked the bright colors.

 He loved his cake as long as daddy or mommy fed it to him. He wasn't interested in playing with it, he just wanted to eat it but like a little prince he wanted to be fed. It was too funny. Hopefully soon he will learn to feed himself and see how fun that can be. I'm still so amazed that my baby was born a year ago! Words cannot express how much love I have for this sweet little babe. He brings us so much joy and laughter. Everyday is made brighter by his sweet smile! I'm so excited for the new adventures that will come! Happy Happy Happy Birthday Jaden Glen Cruz! We love you!

Brothers!

This is one of my favorite photos. I love watching my boys together! It's a beautiful thing! As much as I want Jaden to stay a baby I can't wait to see him grow and start to play and run around with Jaxen, Tristan and Kaeryn.

Fairytale Town!

 February 4th was free museum day here in Sacramento. We decided that we wanted to take advantage of a free day. We've gone to pretty much all the museums here but we hadn't been to this park called Fairytale Town. It's right across from the Sacramento Zoo. It's such a fun place based on all the fairy tales. There's the castle and the Knights of the round table. The boys had fun taking turns sitting in the kings throne.

 They had some animals there to represent some of the animals in different fairy tales. They had potbellied pigs for the three little pigs and some goats for the billy goats gruff. There was a tarantula for the spider who sat down next to miss muffet. And various other animals. So much fun. We weren't allowed to pet the animals though.

 There was also many play structures with the themes of the fairy tales. A pirate ship for treasure island, a giant shoe for the woman who lived in the shoe, a giant cheese slice( I forget what that one is from, maybe three blind mice), there was a maze for the crooked mile. I loved the Cheshire cat in the tree! The kids were having such a fun time. It was a beautiful day and they loved being able to run around and explore and just play!

 Even Jaden was having a good time. We let him sit in the playground to crawl around but there were too many kids and he was unsure about crawling around. But he liked playing with the wood chips where he was sitting. Eventually he just wanted snuggle time with mom and dad. Ron relished his snuggle time with Jaden. He doesn't snuggle with daddy very often because he is such a mama's boy. Ron was absolutely loving it! It really was a beautiful day and the perfect way to spend our free museum day!