One of those days

I woke up this morning feeling great. You know those days when you feel like you can take on anything? You just know that whatever comes up, you'll be all over it. I love those kinds of days. So let's start with pictures from this morning. Morgan has so many expressions. Now she entertains herself with them. Her newest trick is making herself laugh. She starts out with an obvious fake laugh and then it metamorphosizes into fits of genuine laughter. These pictures were taken seconds apart.

The mother who was supposed to volunteer at Taylor's school had to stay home with a sick child today so I filled in. This meant skipping the gym this morning, but I knew Morgan would have no objections. She loves kindergarten. And kindergarten clearly loves her.

She loves feeling like one of the big kids.

But it can take its toll on her!

Now let's skip to last night's pictures. I think this is largely why I am in such a positive mood today. Because I was able to create images like this:

After stumbling upon a new website (Clickin' Moms) I was inspired to set up a photo shoot in my kitchen. I hung up a sheet right by our french doors and placed a small reflector on the other side. My set up looked like this. (I didn't have a wide angle lens, but the top of the sheet was on the edge of my counter and the other side was clipped to a chair.)

I didn't even have to tell Taylor to wear something cute. In fact, I can't remember the last time she wore regular clothes after school. (There's a whole blog post brewing dedicated to her ensembles.)

Then Taylor suggested we head outside for some more shots. She was getting way into it!

I'll let you guess which poses were her idea.

Afterwards came my favorite part. Taylor set up my tripod and set forth creating her own pictures. Using yours truly as her model.

Makes a mama proud (sniff,sniff).

It's so fun to be able to create these images that I think capture the unique beauty in each of my children. So far, Taylor's the only one who will actually cooperate and pose for me. Given Charlie's stubborn streak, I don't know if he ever will. For now I'll settle for images of him dressed up as the "King of Green".

Guess who's the Queen.