26/365: Dressed Up Sunshine

For little boys dress-up means knights, super heroes and policeman, but for little girls it means frilly dresses with lace.  Oh and don't forget that random sticker in the middle of your forehead. :)

Dressed Up Sunshine:

25/365: Riding Home Sunshine

With nice weather we enjoy walking to/from school, but nothing beats riding his bike home!

Riding Home Sunshine:

24/365: Tap Shoes Sunshine

Miss Em is going to start her first dance class soon, a Jazz/Tap combo class and she is excited!  Grandma surprised her with her first pair of tap shoes and you can see her joy!

Tap Shoes Sunshine:

And our little performer testing out her new shoes:

23/365: Paper Airplane Sunshine

For a 5 year old, nothing beats an afternoon making paper airplanes with your cousin.

Paper Airplane Sunshine:

Oh and the girls enjoyed a few moments of a cartoon together:

Oh and I suppose I should mention that Mr. McGee decided to give himself a haircut this morning by himself.  So thankful he didn't cut his ear off!

22/365: Sunday Afternoon Sunshine

Sunday afternoons during football season are one of my favorites!  This year our beloved 49ers were in the NFC championship game and although they had a heartbreaking loss, our afternoon was filled with sunshine!

Sunday Afternoon Sunshine:

Grammy & Em:

21/365: Old Friends Sunshine

Rhiannon, Amber, Liesl, Nathan and I all grew up together from elementary school through high school graduation.  I played soccer with Nathan and softball with the girls.  I was honored to be a bridesmaid in Liesl & Nathan's wedding when I was a humongous 7 months pregnant with Miss Em and so excited to be able to attend their baby shower today!  Liesl is my oldest friend and whether near or far away, she is always dear to my heart.

Old Friends Sunshine:

20/365: Rainy Day Sunshine & an Anniversary

Testing out my new lens today on some raindrops on the window.  I love the rain, especially when we're cuddling inside.  Seventeen years ago today Daddy & I started "dating", or at least we confessed on a high school dance cafeteria balcony that we "liked" each other....and the rest is history!

We headed up to Grandma & Grandpa's to spend the night with Auntie Michelle and Skye... always a special treat!

19/365: Pajama Day Sunshine

It was "Pajama Day" at preschool today - always lots of fun making fresh squeezed orange juice, flipping pancakes and being comfy and cozy all day in their pjs.

Pajama Day Sunshine:

18/365: New Lens Sunshine

I've been wanting a macro lens for a couple of years now, something that could help me take those detailed floral or critter shots - and I finally bought one!  I had a newborn session this morning and was really hoping it would arrive before then so I could use it for those tiny toes, eyelashes, etc., but alas it arrived 2 hours after our session wrapped.  Oh well - I have it for next time! 

New Lens Sunshine:

17/365: Gnawing on a Bone Sunshine

Our baby girl Callie is now 9 years old, but still enjoys her bones and running around.

Gnawing on a Bone Sunshine:

16/365: Skating Sunshine

Today I enjoyed introducing McGee to ice skating for the first time.  His attitude was great - he just kept popping right back up when he fell and he asked if we could come back every day to practice. :)

Skating Sunshine (taken with a borrowed P&S):

15/365: Colorful Sunshine

During all of his months in preschool last year I had to BEG McGee to do some of the fun art projects they did in his class.  Seriously, I would see other parents going home with all of these neat creations their kids made and my son was always the one to opt out of doing any of the art projects in class.  He said he just didn't like it.

Fast forward a year and now McGee is constantly asking for "arts and crafts" or an "art project to work on".  He now enjoys coloring and creating things for others as gifts and has said his favorite thing about his new kindergarten class is "all of the fun arts and crafts we do!"  Let's just say I'm pleased to see the joy in his eyes now when he creates something and our walls and windows are decorated with many of them.

Colorful Sunshine:

14/365: Handsome Win Sunshine

Isn't he so handsome???  My little boy is growing up and looking so much less baby and much more handsome big boy.  Which b/w conversion do you prefer between these two?

How 'bout them 49ers???!!!  Ten years after our last playoff appearance we arrived...and BIG!  What an exciting game we enjoyed with both sets of our parents and our friends the Wards.  It was definitely a Handsome Win Sunshine kind of day:

And on a side note, McGee had his first official "sleepover" last night as we had his friend Jared sleep over.  The boys did great and I'd say it was a big success!

13/365: Creating Sunshine

I love open-ended toys for kids.  No batteries, no electronic devices, just some blocks, cars and as much imagination as the kids can come up with.  The block "town" was created by Miss Em, complete with a "nail salon" (her words).  On the other side of the table, brother was creating a "video" of Cars 2 with everyone on the "stage".

Creating Sunshine:

12/365: She Sunshine

SHE melts my heart.  SHE cracks me up.  SHE is as stubborn as I am.  SHE is one tough cookie.  SHE gets shy around new people and large groups.  SHE loves to cuddle.  SHE dances and sings like a princess.  SHE is funnier and cooler than I'll ever dream to be.  SHE is the one we call Miss Em.

SHE is my Sunshine:

11/365: Boy, Dog, Girl Sunshine

This is what McGee's room looked like when he left for school this morning - cars, trucks and dinosaurs scattered all over the floor.  An all boy room for sure.  A little while later I found our dog Callie trying to make her way out of his messy room.  Then a short while after that Miss Em was practicing her "plie" in the middle of McGee's mess.  It may not be an actual automatic time lapse sequence, but I found the sequence interesting and fun nonetheless.

Boy, Dog, Girl Sunshine (you can click on the image to see it larger):

10/365: Pizza Parlor Sunshine

I grew up going to pizza parlors - for baseball parties, soccer parties and whenever our family wanted to enjoy pizza.  My kids are mostly used to eating Papa Murphy's take -n-bake or homemade pizza.  A couple of times though we've gone out to a local pizza parlor with my brother and sister-in-law and the 5 kids have a blast pretending they're playing the video games after they've used up the 50 cents we give each of them to start the night.  We parents love the opportunity to talk somewhat uninterrupted while they're off playing (within eyesight at all times of course).

Pizza Parlor Sunshine:

9/365: Ballerina Sunshine

This is a favorite book in our house called "I Wear My Tutu Everywhere".  Miss Em loves it so after reading it to her for the umpteenth time, Grandma taught Miss Em how to do a "plie" like a real ballerina...I may be biased but I think she nailed it!

Ballerina Sunshine:

8/365 - Part 2: Hallway Stadium Sunshine

Nothing like a little pre-bed football in the hallway to start the week...

8/365: Sunday Morning Sunshine

Sleeping in.  Braided hair.  Taking Baby Monkey to church.  Laughs and giggles.

Sunday Morning Sunshine:

7/365: Playing in Mommy's Shoes Sunshine

I hopped in the shower and 10 minutes later when I got out this is what I saw in front of my closet.  Yes, Miss Em had a fun time getting into Mommy's shoes.

Playing in Mommy's Shoes Sunshine:

I had a little bit of clean-up, but took the opportunity to purge and ended up getting rid of 7 pairs of shoes!

6/365: Doodling at Panera Sunshine

We took the kids out to Panera for breakfast and Daddy and McGee enjoyed some doodling time while we girls finished eating.

5/365:Strike A Pose Sunshine

My 4-year old niece Addie is always ready to strike a pose whenever I have the camera out.  It makes me laugh looking at this image of her because as the boys are running around crazy up and down the hallways, she was running around with them, saw my camera out and immediately stopped and struck her typical photo pose - I just adore the tilt of her head and smile!  Boys and girls are so different!

4/365: "Bomb" Timer Sunshine

Enjoying our last week with Daddy and McGee off on Winter Break we had a picnic lunch at the park today.  Miss Em was having a hard time eating her sandwich so Daddy whipped out his cell phone and started the "timer" which has been our new program for getting them to finish their food.  McGee was all done eating but didn't go play because he was too excited wanting to see Daddy's "Bomb" go off - the graphic on the cell phone of a bomb that blows up when the time is up.  You can see Miss Em wasn't as thrilled with the scenario, but she did finish her sandwich!

"Bomb" Timer Sunshine:

3/365: Time with Grandma Sunshine

I was out of town today and didn't  have my camera, but if I had....I would have taken a picture of my almost 90 year old grandma as she and I went out for a roast beef sandwich and milkshake.  As it was, I'll have to settle for taking a picture of this older picture of Grandma from my FB page to signify the ray of sunshine spending time alone with my grandma brought into my life today.  Since having kids it seems we never get a chance for any 1-on-1 time without distraction and hearing is quite difficult for her sometimes so conversation amidst the background noise of children can be challenging as well.  Today though it was just her and me.

Time with Grandma Sunshine:

Also as a sidenote - my normal PC nabbed a yucky virus a couple of days before Christmas and it's been so hard not being able to download my Christmas photos, edit anything and all those other things so important to a photographer! :)  The PC has been cleared, but now we have the fun task of installing all of our software again and hoping we can restore all of our pictures!  That said, I can't wait to finally dig in and review our holiday photos and actually edit a photo again instead of shooting in JPEG and posting unedited images.  Just thought I'd let you in on the "fun" that is going on here in our house in regards to the computer - can I just say that people who created viruses are just plain MEAN???!!!

2/365: Lasting Gifts Sunshine

McGee and I bought some dog and cat toys to donate to the local animal shelter earlier last month and when he, Emily and I took them to the shelter he asked if we had Christmas gifts for Callie & Ben (our own canines).  I said we didn't and he insisted we go into the shelter's gift shop and buy the dogs Christmas presents.  He picked out a blue platypus type squeaky toy for Ben and you can see here how long it has lasted.  It may not have lasted long before it's innards were destroyed, but Ben sure did love the job of dissecting!

The little black patent-leather shoes Miss Em is wearing as her "tap shoes" have had the opposite life of the blue platypus toy...they were in fact MY shoes when I was just a little girl and have enjoyed a looong life!  Miss Em loves to wear them and will be sad in the next couple of months when she finally outgrows them.  

Lasting Gifts Sunshine:

1/365: New Beginnings Sunshine - 2012

I failed.  I failed at my daily posting of all 365 Rays of Sunshine for 2011.

Fortunately I am given another chance for a new beginning here in 2012.  With my computer virus stricken and unusable for at least another few days, I will do my best to shoot in JPEG and post straight out of the camera (SOOC) shots these first few days of 2012.  Today we enjoyed a fun and relaxed family day - I love this shot of my son laughing with me - hoping 2012 will be a year filled with lots of laughter for our family!

1/365: New Beginnings Sunshine