Family
Babies and Bug-Vacuums
We have a new niece!
In May, our sister and brother-in-law Betsy and Loren welcomed a new little girl into their family. We’re delighted to introduce Lydia:
(She’s pleased to meet you.)
In case you’re new to this blog, Lydia is baby sister to Brooke
(I swear we did not pose her. This is just what she does in front of a camera.)
…and Ethan.
Brooke and Ethan are loving this adorable new addition to their family. Specifically, when Wendy asked Ethan what he enjoyed most about his new sister he replied, “I like it when she’s awake and isn’t crying.” (I imagine that’s a sentiment a lot of new parents can identify with, too.)
As far as we can tell, so far Lydia’s favorite things are eating, her brother and sister (Teachers, feel free to use this sentence as an example of the importance of proper comma placement.), and the bass line to Chic’s 1979 hit “Good Times”.
You might also recognize that as the bass line from The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”, but Wendy went with the closest approximation with which she was familiar: Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”. (On that alone I nominate her for coolest and, simultaneously, most kid-inappropriate aunt.)
Obviously, we had to get some photos of our precious new niece.
Wendy also just finished painting a series of canvases for Lydia’s room to, I guess, remind her parents which kid lives in there. Wendy constantly amazes me; despite not having painted in years, she picked up her acrylics and brought these little faeries to life. (I’m a big fan of the one with the ‘A’.)
While we were visiting, we also gave Brooke and Ethan one of the coolest toys I’ve seen: hand-held bug-vacuums. (Don’t worry, folks, no bugs were harmed in the making of this blog post (well, maybe a couple of mosquitoes), and all the fireflies were released.) Basically, they’re clear plastic tubes with a gentle vacuum attached that pulls bugs in and then lets you observe them up close through a magnifying glass. The kids loved them. They also caught a lot of fireflies.
    
Yes, Wendy actually captured an illuminated firefly sitting on Brooke’s fingers. Also, Brooke poses like a champ.
Keep and eye out for more photos of Lydia (and Brooke and Ethan, of course), as we predict years of escalating cuteness!
Babies and Bug-Vacuums
We have a new niece!
In May, our sister and brother-in-law Betsy and Loren welcomed a new little girl into their family. We’re delighted to introduce Lydia:
(She’s pleased to meet you.)
In case you’re new to this blog, Lydia is baby sister to Brooke
(I swear we did not pose her. This is just what she does in front of a camera.)
…and Ethan.
Brooke and Ethan are loving this adorable new addition to their family. Specifically, when Wendy asked Ethan what he enjoyed most about his new sister he replied, “I like it when she’s awake and isn’t crying.” (I imagine that’s a sentiment a lot of new parents can identify with, too.)
As far as we can tell, so far Lydia’s favorite things are eating, her brother and sister (Teachers, feel free to use this sentence as an example of the importance of proper comma placement.), and the bass line to Chic’s 1979 hit “Good Times”.
You might also recognize that as the bass line from The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”, but Wendy went with the closest approximation with which she was familiar: Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”. (On that alone I nominate her for coolest and, simultaneously, most kid-inappropriate aunt.)
Obviously, we had to get some photos of our precious new niece.
Wendy also just finished painting a series of canvases for Lydia’s room to, I guess, remind her parents which kid lives in there. Wendy constantly amazes me; despite not having painted in years, she picked up her acrylics and brought these little faeries to life. (I’m a big fan of the one with the ‘A’.)
While we were visiting, we also gave Brooke and Ethan one of the coolest toys I’ve seen: hand-held bug-vacuums. (Don’t worry, folks, no bugs were harmed in the making of this blog post (well, maybe a couple of mosquitoes), and all the fireflies were released.) Basically, they’re clear plastic tubes with a gentle vacuum attached that pulls bugs in and then lets you observe them up close through a magnifying glass. The kids loved them. They also caught a lot of fireflies.
   Â
Yes, Wendy actually captured an illuminated firefly sitting on Brooke’s fingers. Also, Brooke poses like a champ.
Keep and eye out for more photos of Lydia (and Brooke and Ethan, of course), as we predict years of escalating cuteness!
Dance Portraits – Charlotte and Lillie
We’re back with more portraits of people who can do things that I (J.P.) can’t do.
Charlotte and Lillie have been dancing for many years and, based on these moves, have been working hard on it. Here Charlotte demonstrates what appears to be a still from that kung-fu/ballet crossover classic Pointe of the Dragon*.
And here you’ll see Lillie practicing her deadly “Grand Jet-Li”.
The Mirosavich Family Photos
The Mirosaviches got in touch with us because they had the rare opportunity to get all three generations of their family together to celebrate their patriarch’s birthday. (“Patriarch” sounds better than “granddad”, right?) It was great to get photos not only of the whole family, but of the family units therein, and, of course, the kiddos.
(pictured: not the kiddos)
Newborn Photos: Lily
I’ve got a quick post for you this morning because I wanted you all to meet my newborn second cousin, Lily.
Lily arrived last Wednesday, healthy and beautiful, and her parents brought her over yesterday for her very first photo session. I dare say the camera loves her.
Here’s Lily just chillin’ in her bow and tutu, like ya’ do.
And here are her precious baby feet.
We’ve been praying for this little girl for a long time, and, while I haven’t actually asked if she’s named after Lily Potter, we certainly think she’s magical.
Family Portraits: The Nazarios
Wendy and I hope you and your loved ones are having a great summer. Though summer is pretty busy, we’ve still made the time to watch two Harry Potter movies and The Hunger Games in the past two days. [Edit: Wendy made me remove potential spoilers, but if you still haven’t read all the Harry Potter books, the only acceptable excuse is that you can’t read yet, in which case, this sentence doesn’t apply to you anyway.]
Anyway, we are doing things other than watching movies with incredibly high death tolls given their young-adult target audience. One thing we’re doing is catching up on a little bit of blogging, and we have a great catch-up post for you today. This is the Nazario family. Carmen, the mamma, teaches Spanish in the World Languages Department with Wendy, and had us take some portraits of her family.
As you can see, Carmen has three beautiful daughters (and one handsome husband), which, as it happens, is the setup of Wendy’s family, and it seems to be working splendidly for both families. In any case, we had a lot of fun with the Nazarios, and we hope you’ll enjoy seeing a few favorites from their session.
