Baby Jayce

This weekend Tyler's cousin Megan was in town! We got to go to Becky's house and have a nice visit with her and baby Jayce. He is so cute, and I was glad I brought my camera. I might have gone a bit crazy, but I cannot resist taking pictures when there is a baby around. It wasn't a formal photo shoot or anything, but here are the pictures I got!

Jayce has the cutest Mickey Mouse outfit. Ashton knows who Mickey is, and he kept saying "Mickey hat! Mickey hat!"

We realized after Megan took the hat off that it disappeared. Ashton made off with it and we didn't even notice! Pretty sneaky.

I'd say he looks pretty pleased with himself...

Gloomy Day

Today the lake looked dark and gloomy. It was actually very cool and pretty, I think. I was staring out the back door at it for so long and then I realized--I should just take a picture!

Sadly, I cannot claim to be a landscape photographer, (I think I might have used the wrong lens...) so the pictures don't do it justice. Just trust me, it was cool. I love having such a great view from our house!

For His Entertainment

Some of the interesting ways Ashton chooses to entertain himself:

1. Wandering around wrapped in a blanket, which includes getting very upset whenever it falls off. His recent favorite is the pink snuggie that Tyler got me for Valentine's Day.

2. Watching DVDs. And I don't mean watching the movie. I mean literally sitting and staring at the DVDs--it's too funny! Sometimes he pretends to count them, or he names the pictures ("dog!" "boy!"), or he takes them out and tries to put them back. But other times he's happy to just sit and stare.

3. Dressing in strange clothing. Like pajamas, a blanket cape, church shoes, and a snow hat. Or other times, he tries to put on multiple pairs of pants at once.

And of course those mini balls are always close by...

A New Favorite

We have my mother to thank for this one! When she was visiting, she bought Ashton three little foamy balls--a basketball, a baseball, and a soccer ball. She also got him a bouncy Buzz Lightyear ball. He is now completely attached to them, the way most kids are attached to their blankets or pacifiers! No matter what he's doing, they are usually in his little hands or carefully lined up close by. The only problem is that they are so small that they often get lost, and oh dear, you would think it was the end of the world. He gets extremely distressed when he can't find one, and we have to drop everything we're doing and scour every inch of the house until we find it. But how could we not? Just look at the joy on that face!

(We have decided, though, that we will be buying him some larger balls soon that won't get lost so easily...)

Family Picture Flashback

We got a present in the mail from Alycia--our family pictures from Christmas! Yay!!! So I have to interrupt the current postings for a little flashback, because these are too good to miss.

We went out to take these pictures on New Year's Day. It was one of the coldest days of the whole winter, so we had a very narrow window of time to get it done before we all froze to death. Add on top of that the fact that half of us had the flu, Alycia had her appendix removed only days before, and the sheer number of people involved (three of whom were small children who don't like to look at the camera when told)...it is absolutely amazing that Alycia got all of these great pictures. So here we are: the Hinton Family!

Carlton and Becky

Myself, Ashton, and Tyler

Ashton, who decided to sit in the snow for his moment.

Why so sad?

That's better!

(My favorite! Love, love, LOVE that face!)

Gabe, Carter, Alycia, and Preston

Royce

Bryant

Grandpa and Grandma with their handsome grandsons

And the most random of the bunch...the German soldiers. From what I understand, Royce has long been interested with German soldiers and WWII. His uniform (far left) is an actual Nazi uniform from WWII. The other two are reproductions. Pretty interesting. And spooky.

And that's all of them! Well, actually these are just my favorites--there were many, many more than this. Pretty good for only being there a half an hour, eh? Like I said, Alycia is amazing. If you are anywhere near Seattle, you should definitely use her for all of your pictures! You can see lots more of her stuff at her blog: puzzlepiecephotography.com/blog. Thanks Alycia, we miss you!!!