first day of hockey.

He's been counting down the days all summer until 'kid hockey' starts. Him and dad got equipment over the weekend and he's taken it on and off no less then 100 times and all I've heard for past 3 days is "mom, 2 more sleeps until hockey!" and "after tomorrow, I get to play hockey!" and "Mom! Hit me with the hockey stick to see if it hurts" (after all equipment is put on).. needless to say he was pretty excited and grinned the entire time while on the ice. It was the cutest and I couldn't be more proud to see him having fun and doing something he clearly enjoys and is proud of himself for it. And in good ol 'proud mom' fashion, I took a few photos ;). - 

nana's pool

We spent the Canada Day long weekend (hence the Canada tatoo's!) on the island at Nana's place. A few photos taken here and there while spending most of the afternoon's in the pool. 

15 minutes in January

One of my goals this year is to take more photos of my own family with my actual camera and not just my phone. To be honest, I've gotten in a bit of an i-phone rut and often find myself being lazy and just snapping a photo with my phone. And then I'm often kicking myself for not having my camera with me. Don't get me wrong, the iphone is great for taking those quick snaps and the quality is decent enough to make small prints.. but it's just not the same. And I miss taking photos of them with my camera. Plus I feel like I'm only going to be a better photographer by actually photographing with my camera more often ;). 
 
So all of that being said, I decided to start my own little project this year and see where it goes.  Once a month, 15 minutes of our day randomly documented. Absolutely nothing special about it, other than maybe I'll be inspired by the light or something else. Just the ordinary and mundane on goings of our life at that time. I didn't want to commit to a full day of taking photos because lets face it, that can get annoying for those involved (ie my kids haha!). I figure 15 minutes is a little less intrusive and I can go back to being 'mom' after I'm done.  January's entry entails morning lego building, my flashlight and hockey obsessed toddler, a bit of paper airplane throwing and even a cuddle at the end. 

And as a side note to add to all of this, I often struggle with how much of my boys to be sharing online. I know I share a lot and am often posting everyday on instagram which has become a bit of a 'journal' for me to look back on. But especially now as my oldest is getting closer to school age, I think I'll be sharing less and less of him as the year goes on - particularly on instagram.  This little project entailing 15 minutes each month seems like the perfect amount for right now :). 

Happy 1st Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday my little boy. I can not believe you are one already. This year has flown by so incredibly fast and it really does feel just like yesterday that we brought you home. You are such a sweet and perfect addition to our little family and I am so so proud to be your mama. I love you an incredible amount. I think my heart might actually burst with love sometimes. I now know what people meant when they said that your heart will expand with love when you have a second.. and if that's the way you feel after each baby, we might be in trouble! ha! You are such a cuddly boy and ready with smiles for everyone. You are silly and have a funny little sense of humor, although this could be from always observing and watching your big brother's antics! And speaking of your big brother - you adore him and he adores you. I love watching the two of you together and that relationship forming. Seeing the love you two already have for each other has been one of my favorite things this past year. You love to hysterically giggle .. again, mostly at the silly things your brother does to make you laugh. You love to play peekaboo and you LOVE to dance.. any song with a beat will do but your favorite is 'uptown funk.' You love to pull all the books off the shelves (especially after I've just put them all back!) and you love to play with balls and throw them back and forth with us. You can spot one a mile away, pointing and saying 'ball ball ball' until we retrieve it for you and play. Otherwise, you love playing with anything your big brother has. You love to drink water out of a cup (I have to sometimes hide my own water around you unless I want to give it up!). And you call all drinks 'hot' .. your daddy taught you that coffee cups are 'hot' so now you've decided this is your word for drink and thirsty.. pointing to the sink and saying 'hot hot' until we pour you a cup of water. Your big brother thinks this is hilarious. You love blueberries and chicken but otherwise not a big eater (which is surprising considering your chubs!). You love the water and splashing in the tub. You like to give big kisses and wave and say 'hiiii' which you say when people are coming and going. You don't love to sleep and are up at night more times then I'd like to admit (sigh..). And you do not like sleeping in your crib.. which is ok, because time is going way to fast and I don't mind snuggling up with you while you're still so little and snuggly.

I could really go on and on. There is so much I could write about you. But I'll leave it at that and a few photos from your first year for now. I love you so so much and I am so honored to be your mom and get to watch you grow. Happy Birthday my little Liam. xoxo

An evening at the beach with friends . Vancouver Family Photographer

You know those friends who you sporadically keep in touch with throughout the years but of course with families, and jobs and it doesn't help that you live half way across the country from one another. Yet somehow you do keep in touch through weddings and random visits and facebook messages.. and when you meet up it's just like it always was.. plus a few extra kids and husbands.. and wow, life goes fast sometimes. Such a great visit this past weekend from one of those friends who last time I saw her, had a new baby boy, and now 5 years later and 5 boys between us. Such a wonderful weekend spent catching up and meeting the rest of her family. A little beach outing at Spanish Banks on their last night here and a few random photos.. I actually meant to take a lot more but I also was just enjoying myself so slacked a bit in the picture taking - it sat in the stroller nonetheless and every now and then I picked it up and snapped a few. A few of those -

Easter Weekend in Photos.

Last weekend, we headed over to the island for Easter to spend time with Ryan's mom. I always say that I'm going to document one of these long weekends we head over and this time I decided to do just that. I'm also trying to use my actual camera a bit more with my own boys instead of just my phone so I'm happy I decided to bring it along. A bit of a random assortment of photos but here are a few of my favorites - even one of me to prove I was in fact there ;)!

Three.

My boy turned 3 yesterday and I can not believe it. He is incredible and I can't even begin to express how much we love him and how awesome we think he is.And when I asked him where he wanted to play outside with his 3 balloons.. he immediately said jumping in puddles.. so that's what we did!

Happy Birthday little boy. You make me so so proud. Even after 3 years, I still can't believe how lucky I am that I get to be your mommy.

xo

Liam . newest addition.

We welcomed our newest little guy, Liam, into the world several weeks ago (has it already been almost a month!?) and I thought I would share some photos of him here. He's so perfectly squishy and adorable and although sleep is in hot demand around here (he is one hungry little guy!), knowing how quickly this season passes, I'm trying to savor every moment of him. The savoring is better on some days than others, but there is something about your 2nd baby and knowing just how fast it does all pass. Admittedly, I haven't taken a whole lot of photos of him with my big camera, but I do document our daily life via my phone & instagram (you can follow me if you'd like on instagram here or search for @justineboulin). It's been fun to look back on the photos from this past month, and I think I may do a separate blog post for that in a few days because they are some of my favorites of our day to day.

But for now, a few of Liam from the other day when I had a bit of extra time to take some with my big camera -

waking up.

the last week or so with just this boy so have been trying to capture a few everyday things here and there before baby #2 arrives. A few out of focus, a bit grainy.. but they are perfect regardless. My boy waking up from his nap.

May 10 on 10

Every month I do a 10 on 10 project with a pretty fantastic group of photographers from all over the place. Basically it's 10ish phtoos posted on the 10th of each month. For those that have followed the blog circle around and have arrived from DeAnna McCasland Photography, thanks for stopping by! For this month's 10 on 10 I took my camera along for one of our early morning adventures. We often head out in the mornings, but this morning was a particular early one and after we ate breakfast, I saw that the sun was starting to come up and I remembered that I've wanted to go to this little spot for a while now. I knew that we'd likely be the only ones there with it being so early and that there would be a good chance of seeing some baby geese this time of year. We were in luck as they were all hanging out right on the trail path. We spent some time exploring around, walking on the docks and watching the geese before running around in the trails for a bit - all with a car in each hand.. because you know, it wouldn't be the same with out bringing your cars along to the park!

Some of my favorites from our morning -

Be sure to follow the blog circle around and head over to Stacy Montgomery Photography to check out her 10 on 10 post this month.