Ephram Photographs...

It was inevitable, really.

With how much love I give to my camera,

It makes sense that one of my little loves would start to love it too.

This spring, Ephram started trying his hand at photography.

I have deleted a lot of blurry shots.

But he has also captured some gems.

I love watching him ground his stance,

Check his handhold,

And set-up his shot.

Yes, he sets up his shots.

In the group of pictures below,

I was surprisingly happy with the photos he took of me.

We were just playing,

In our usually Mommy and Ephram fashion,

And I have to say that I love the smiles he sees when we play.

I hope his life is full of more faces that look like this than the other way.

I also loved the pictures he took of the little ride-on fire truck at my parents house.

He took one picture,

Made a few noises,

Thought about it,

And then stuck his foot out.

He leaned back,

Looking through the camera,

Until it was just right.

And then he took a picture of his foot in front of the fire truck.

Yes, Ephram, foreground is important.

In truth,

I don't really know anything about photography.

Not in a formal, "I'm a photographer" sense.

But I do know what I like to see.

And I do know what I think is interesting.

And I think my job as a photographer Mommy,

Is to capture images that will help my family see in the future what I saw today.

To me, photography is about capturing moments.

I love to see Ephram already thinking about this.

I love to see his little three year old body holding up my big, heavy camera with care.

I love his pensive nature as he looks for those moments.

Maybe he'll be more of a photographer than his mom ever was.

Only time will tell.

Kovar Kids on Easter 2013

The picture that has sat at the top of this blog for about three months,
Is from a few days before Easter.

I decided to dress the kids up really quickly,
One day during my parents' visit while they were in Seattle,
And get the pictures done.

Boy am I glad I did, because Macie had a raging cold by the actual holiday!
In fact, we ended up not being able to go to church that day because of the sickies.
So at least we got some good pictures in these clothes.

I really like this series of pictures.
It shows how unique each of the kids are,
And how they come together as a group.
I love these kids.

Kovar Kids on St Patricks Day 2013

Yes, even St Patrick's Day warrants picture taking fun.
And yes, my kids do think that this is fun.
They are quite the models.
And they all ham for the camera with ease in their own way,
Even the youngest.

True Story: Halloween Kovar Kids

You probably haven't noticed this, but I love to take pictures of my kids for holidays.
Okay, so it's obvious.

But taking pictures of an autistic child, a toddler and a baby -  all in the same place, at the same time, not melting down, not hungry, not tired and actually willing to smile - is challenging.  Very challenging.  So challenging at the stages they were all in this October that I was 100% positive that it would not work out on the day of Halloween.  Surely on Halloween, we could anticipate meltdowns from all three due to anticipation, over-sugaring and overstimulation.

(Yes, my prediction was correct as evidenced on the 31st.)

I am so glad that I can take decent pictures of them, because if I had to rely on studios, we would not have many pictures with them all together in the frame.  You will notice in posts-to-follow that we failed to obtain a single picture of all three costumes together.  Not even a bad picture.  They would not get together in the same frame with those costumes on.  Period.

This year, I decided we had a two week window to get Halloween pictures done.  For two weeks I kept the boys' Halloween shirts and Macie's Halloween dress and headband downstairs on the counter.  There they sat, ready to grab and throw on the kids when the miraculous alignment of picture-perfect happiness would occur.  I straightened my bed every morning, and cleared off the neighboring night stands, so that my scene would be set.  (Really, these are things I should do every morning... but I don't.)

The first week gave me nothing.  I thought about putting the outfits away.  One morning I came downstairs without making the bed, and didn't go back up and do it when Macie took her first nap either.  In fact, I thought about crawling back in bed instead.  Did I mention the autistic child, the toddler and the baby?  Some of my days are so challenging that it takes me a couple to recover.

And then it finally happened.  Charlie had a great day at school and did his homework quickly.  Ephram actually took a nap that morning so he was not experiencing his afternoon cranks.  And Macie woke up from her nap just as their snack was starting.  So I nursed her during their snack and then grabbed the outfits and put them on.  Even the discovery of Ephram's dirty diaper did not stop us.  I had to bribe Charlie with a dollar.  (Usually it is Ephram that takes the bribing, but he ran away before I'd even got his pants on and went to my room where he started self-posing this time.)  They gave me 23 full minutes of photo-taking bliss - yes this is my bliss.  Then Macie let me know that we were done.  Five minutes later she was peacefully sleeping in her swing.  Success.

And that is the true story of how I got these precious pictures.  So, next time you look at pictures of my kids and think, "Wow, they look so happy.  They're always smiling."  Just know that I may have worked hard to make that happen.  I may have waited them out.  It may (probably) be set-up.

Just being real.  Because blogs are so often un-real perfect presentations of our imperfect lives.

Here are my littles, ready for Halloween, six days early.
(And Boone, too.)