Before I forget, today is the LAST day to vote for your favorite finalist in the Fatherhood Photo Contest!!! Last I checked, we were ONLY 135 votes away from a total of 400 votes!!! That’s amazing and such a blessing to all the finalists! Don’t forget, the 400th voter gets a $20 Starbucks card too!! So cast your vote by midnight PST tonight! The deadline is really and truly midnight tonight! Click to here to vote!

Because you were wonderful at giving us ideas on how to spend our 11 yr. anniversary, I thought I’d share what we ended up doing. We only had the day from 9am to midnight. What better way to start the day then with a great bike ride!

We loaded our bikes and kissed the kids goodbye. Our plan was to head to La Conner (where the Tulip Festival happens) and ride around the farmlands for a few hours. As we got on the freeway to start our trip, I said “Hasn’t it been working out great to have one car lately?” Back story for you, our lease ended on my SUV and we thought we’d see what it was like living with one car instead of two. Gas is ridiculous, and I sometimes felt like two SUV’s was overdoing it for our family. So what the heck, we thought we’d try being a one car family.

As I say this “Hasn’t it been working out great to have one car lately?”, no kidding, our car starts shaking! Engine is totally freaking out on us! We pull over, check the oil, check the gas, check the engine, all looks good. Get back in the car and try again. The shaking is even scarier this time. So we take our car to the shop and wait. We wait because it’s to early for the shop to be open. Then we have the idea to rent a car! Yeah! We’re off again!

By noon, we had our rental car and headed out of town. Not the most romantic way to start the day, but we didn’t fight! That’s the key friends! We made it without fighting!!! Yeah for Me Ra and Brian!

We got on our bikes and went on the most beautiful ride! Here’s Brian leading the way.

I liked this one of the “Berries” sign and big red farm!

Even though it started out rough, we ended up having a great day! We grabbed lunch in La Conner, browsed a couple boutiques, found comfy chairs in a bookstore and read, then went to Duke’s in Seattle for dinner and caught the movie Ironman before we headed home. BTW, fun movie.

Roxanne, my superstar canvas lady, helped me surprise Brian with two beautiful Gallery Wrapped canvases of these images.

There is a wonderful story of discovery behind these images taken. If you haven’t read this post, you can by clicking here.

I hung the canvases in the house with bows wrapped around them and decided to see how long it would take before Brian noticed them on the walls. Bad huh! Lucky for him, he noticed them sooner than later! And he loves them! Thank you Roxie!

Thank you for sending us so many well wishes and wonderful comments on the blog! You totally blessed our anniversary! We had a wonderful time, and we are so excited to try some of your great “Day Trip Getaway” ideas for future celebrations!

Much love to you all, Me Ra and Brian

FYI, our Land Cruiser just needed a good tune up! Phew!! We get it back today!

Today is our 11 year wedding anniversary! It’s safe to say we are more in love than ever–almost feel like honeymooners.

Fighting is better, making up is better and the added bonus of two cute kids–good stuff!

Happy anniversary sweetie! I love you!

After Erica endured over 24 hrs. of labor, baby Grayer Rae is HERE!!!

He is 20.5 inches long and weighs 7.52 ounces.

Not even being 30 minutes old, Grayer reached out and held his daddy’s finger.

We love you Grayer Rae. You are our little miracle.

It’s been such a gift to be with my brother this last 24 hours. It makes me think of a favorite line from the Four Quartets;

Home is where one starts from. T.S. Eliot

I love Father’s Day because if anyone deserves the “Father of the Year” award, it is Brian.

It is one thing to have had a great dad in your childhood. But when your childhood was rocky, and you feel like your trying to figure out fatherhood from scratch…Brian deserves the award for Best Recipe of “Being a Dad, Made from Scratch!”

When asking the kids what they love about their dad so much, Pascaline gets all red and swoony. “Because he’s so handsome. He’s my prince.”

(photo by Rick Chapman)

Pascaline has always been a bit territorial when it comes to Brian and often reminds me that since she and dad are getting married, Blaze and I will be needing to find a new place to live. “BUT”…she adds “You are always welcome to come for dinner.”

But even beyond his swoony good looks, I think the kids and I love Brian most for his endless ability to surprise us all!

I don’t know many dads who will walk into a friend’s garage for the first time and decide to hang upside down. How can you not applaud a dad like this!

Happy Father’s Day Brian. We all love you so much!

This is the week that leads up to Mother’s Day, and I’ve been so excited for ALL the things we’re going to post on the blog in the next five days! I want this week to be all about celebrating wonderful, beautiful moms! (When I told this to Brian, he said “Really? That will be different for the blog.” Do you hear sarcasm in that because I TOTALLY did!)

For starters, I have two moms I’m going to feature and introduce you all to. They love taking pictures and are both going for it. You’ll be inspired and excited to meet these two ladies, hear their stories, and see what they’re doing.

We are also going to start a special on our products in honor of Mother’s Day! Starting Wednesday morning–lasting till Sunday at 12 midnight PST, all DVDs and 101 Kits will be marked down 30%!! If you are looking for a way to celebrate your wife, mom, sister, friend, or even better, yourself for this Mother’s Day–we hope you enjoy the big discounts that are in honor of moms!

Attention all moms who own the Mom’s Survival 101 Kit!! My business coach and I have been scheming up something special for moms who already have or will be purchasing the Mom’s Survival 101 Kit! I’m SUPER excited about this surprise! This surprise will be a MAJOR added bonus to all of you. That’s all I can say for now…but it’s going to be good! More later this week!

Can you hear how fast I’m typing because of how excited I am about this week’s blog posts!!!

But first, is it OK to start our Big, Blog Party Week with my little guy who turned 4 today! Little Blazey is growing up (hear me cry…). We had a Batman Birthday Party yesterday, and I have to share these photos with you. There are a few so humor me. (I love you little Blazey Batman! luv, mama)

We started the party off with Poison Ivy Sodas! (fyi, Poison Ivy is a villain that causes a lot of trouble for Batman. She is played by Pascaline on most days. ;))

It was given the “finger licking good” award by the kids!

Pascaline and Eva, partners in crime since they were two.

And then Blaze got a letter delivered to him saying that the Riddler

had snuck in to his party and stolen the birthday cake!!!

There was no time to lose! Calling all Junior Dark Knights! The Riddler had left 12 riddles around the house for the kids to solve! Could they solve the riddles and find the birthday cake before it was to late?

Go Blaze Go!!! (and in case you’re wondering, nope, he doesn’t want to cut his hair–and it’s OK with me :))

Wow! There they ALL go at once!

I couldn’t stop laughing!

Thanks to one of our special moms who follow the blog, Addie on the East Coast! You totally got my juices going and the scavenger hunt was the HIT!

One of the clues was taped to the bottom of a Batmobile Pinata. The kids went crazy when the thing busted open and dumped candy and toys all over the grass!

Addie, I owe you one!! Addie is one of my blog readers and has also attended one of our workshops with her sweet teenage daughter. She helped me piece together a major scavenger hunt for the kids. We had 12 riddles in all for them to solve.

In the end, Batman found his birthday cake!

During the hunt for the birthday cake, Uncle Shauni was entertaining my mom and Korean aunt, Komo, with bubble blowing. Brian caught these photos, and I could not stop laughing at Shauni’s face in these shots and especially Komo’s enthusiasm. It’s hilarious! (These are especially for you “Oooh La La Rachel” :))

Starts out like any other bubble blowing afternoon.

And then the excitement builds.

And builds a little more!

And even more!!

Then look out…

Uncle Shauni gets really serious! I mean wow, look at the form on his lips and his sheer concentration! He’s not messing around! (can you tell I’m the big sister? :))

Okay, so after everybody left. Guess who steps out with his new outfit on?

Right away, dad puts it to the test! (This must be a dad thing.)

He regrets that quickly!

And when the little guy retires for the night, guess who I find playing in the backyard???

Just guess who that would be??? UNBELIEVABLE!!!

There was even a neighbor watching him from the other side of the hedge without Brian knowing!!!

I’d say we all had a great Batman Birthday!

Today is one of those days where I have so many things I want to blog about that I don’t know where to start!

I want to write about my new Zumba classes (salsa time baby!), or post up the WPPI photos I’ve still yet to do!, or tell you about a few moms who are blowing my mind (breathe Me Ra, breathe). Where do I start?

I think I’ll start with shoes.

Pascaline turned seven last month, and I can’t think of any better way to show you what seven is all about for this little girl.

Her birthday started with breakfast in bed. She is my little Ms. Swoony, so any thing that sounds indulging is right up her alley!

And of course you can’t leave Blaze out of the equation–sitting by himself in his bottom bunk. C’mon, give that little guy a Starbucks!

This face he’s making is so him right now. He’s soon to be four but still transitioning out of baby talk and all the attention he can get from it. Any parents of 3 year olds know what I mean?

After breakfast I surprised Pasc and told her that we were going to go to Nordstrom’s today for a new pair of shoes. Just the girls.

She LOVED the big discount rack. “It’s like a world of shoes!” she said.

She LOVED dancing in the mirror next to the discount rack.

She LOVED having the sales clerk help her with another pair, and then another, and then another.

We must find just the right shoes, or at least keep trying dozens and dozens of shoes on.

These are the shoes that finally won!

These were a tough second, but mom had to pull the reigns in a bit. (should we be worried?)

And then Pasc turned her magic on–you know, the kind of magic that enlists the BIG BROWN eyes. “What’s a new pair of shoes if you don’t have a new dress to match it?” she says to me.

And when it was all said and done, we went upstairs to the Nordstrom cafe for lunch. Can you believe that my mom and I have been coming to this little cafe since I was in middle school? Pascaline just loves dates with mom at the Nordstrom cafe. And since Nordies is in the process of building a new Nordstrom and will soon be tearing down this special place, we had to ask the waiter to take a picture of us.

(There’s just a little bit more background then I wanted in the shot, but it’ll work.)

There you have it! All about being seven these days: shoes, dresses, and going out for lunch. A lot like being six with just a bit more sass involved. What could be better than documenting stories like this?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

To order our new DVDs, Refuse to Say Cheese: Capture the Story and Beyond the Green Box: Understanding Your Digital SLR, click the titles!!

For information on Me Ra’s popular photography workshops visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.”

If your a pro and tired of reinventing the wheel, check out our 101 Kits!

Mom’s, don’t miss the new 101 Kit, The Mom’s Survival 101 Kit: How to Survive as a Mom While Juggling Family and Dreams!

To see our day job, visit our website.

Me Ra asked me to write another Blog post for her tonight.

I just finished looking at photos of Me Ra speaking at PMA for Sony and Bride/Groom Marian and Greg who we shot in LA this weekend. My brain is fried tonight, but I’ll try to post a sneak peak of Marian and Me Ra in LV tomorrow. I know Me Ra wants to talk about all of that fun, but I like to be mischievous sometimes when I can.

Oh yeah, Me Ra went to the doctor today and no wonder she’s so sick, she has Bronchitis.

She also asked me to announce our contest submission final date is this Sunday at 5 PM PST. The winner will receive a copy of Adobe Lightroom. We started using lightroom for all of our post-process work a few months ago and LOVE IT!!! Thank you Adobe!

We will also be selecting a random voter winner who will receive a copy Beyond the Green Box: Understanding your Digital Camera, Starring the smartest and most entertaining professor in the world (yours truly) and co-starring my beautiful wife Me Ra. If you’re fortunate enough to already own your own copy, then the winner will receive credit toward any of our new 101 kits coming out in March or any of our already popular kits.

Well I hope I said everything Me Ra asked me too. I’m sure I said more than I was suppose to say.

After five full days of speaking and shooting, Brian and I are so glad to be back home.

I’m fighting this horrible cold that doesn’t want to give up. So I’m going to spend some time laying low today and being with the kiddos. But I’m excited to catch you all up on how great our trip with Sony was in Vegas, as well as the wedding we shot in LA on Saturday. Good stuff!

Thanks so much for all the bday greetings to Brian! Your messages meant the world!

Happy Birthday to my sweetie!

You are the most amazing husband a woman could ever ask for. You are the perfect partner for all our crimes! Whether it’s parenting, our business, our marriage, there is no one more giving than you.

People are surprised time and time again with how you don’t need more credit in our business, that you are okay with how much spotlight is put on me, and yet, you never think about it. It doesn’t even occur to you to want more glory or recognition. This among many other things is why I know there is no other husband like you.

You are King Daddy Brian to the kids, and they love you for it. You have been through experiences so hard, I can’t even begin to fathom your survival.

You have loved me back to life. You hold a light of hope when I’m to tired too. And you make me laugh like no one else.

I love you. Happy Birthday sweetie!

_________________________________________________________

If you have ever experienced Brian, will you post it up today!

Your posts would be the coolest birthday surprise!