Portraits of Family

Mother's Day & Mother's Day Eve

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Mother's Day at my house means getting together with lots of family.  My mother-in-law had 8 boys: they're all married up (well almost) and most have kids.  Below are the cutest ones - just kidding!

We celebrated Mother's Day Eve at my house.  I got to 'boss everyone around' (said my 5 year old).  So I told everyone we were going on a picnic at the beach.  My husband will not ordinarily picnic at the beach as he claims that his food always gets sand in it.   So this was indeed my chance to 'boss everyone around'.  We had a really nice time actually (which I was quick to point out every few minutes or so).   And yes, there may have been a few bite fulls of sand.   We topped off the evening with Baskin Robins ice-cream and my son claimed "this is the BEST Mother's Day Eve EVER!"   I will have to say being a mom to a 5 and 8 year old is a lot easier than being the mom of babies and toddlers.  For those of you out there who can't see the end of the breastfeeding, diaper changing, sleepless nights circle.... i promise you the end will come and believe it or not it will seem like a really long time ago.

Littlest One

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This is my littlest one.   He's 5 and totally great.  My husband and I say we want to be like him when we grow up.  He's got lots of forgiveness and hospitality built into his soul.  He's also precocious.  Last night he tried to pull a fast one.  After verbally offending his dad who was taking a shower he decided he better take a new course of action quickly to avoid punishment.   Taking advantage of the fact that the water was running and dad was having a hard time hearing too much, he pipes up, "hey dad, just wanted you to know, Starbuck's food isn't very good".  To the outsider this looks like a complete tangent but to my littlest one,  he was making a quick get a way.  Husband ends up cracking up and littlest one is home free.   Pretty good for 5.

Barrett Family Photoshoot

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This family has been in my life for a very long time.  Bill was my youth pastor at one point overseeing many night time toilet paper raids, Polaroid treasure hunts, trips to the Tijuana dump, and helping me fund raise to work at an orphanage in Ecuador for the summer. Ojai, California was a sleepy town to grow up in and Bill kept us out of trouble as best he could.   In 1996 Bill officiated my wedding while his beautiful wife Janet sang with her songbird voice that always gave me goose bumps. Janet has always been a woman Ive admired for her kind heart and many domestic talents.  It was an absolute pleasure to take their family pictures while I was home for a brief visit last week.