Life is crazy busy and it's EASY to stay focused on the to-do's of it all and miss the littlest moments that mean the most. My camera is my tool to slow down, reconnect with the present moment and SAVOR who my kids are right now in their current stage of life AND what I love and brings me joy in my busy mama life. When life is busy and I happen to see something that lights me up from within with a happy smile, I stop, grab my camera (iPhone or SLR - it doesn't matter because what does matter is that I capture the moment...), click what I see and savor the FEELING of that JOY so I can keep connecting to what fills my heart up with love and SO my kids will always have a visual reminder of WHO they are and not disconnect from themselves as they grow older, like I did.

During our snow days last week, D made the kids a fun fort to play in. C LOVES it when D does this for her. Luca...well, he's just starting to catch on with what it's like to sit under a bunch of sheets, but he's definitely not in the stick-around-long-enough stage yet. But, neither is C. :)

It's usually a build it, run around, laugh and sing in it, sit down for a bit in it and then run out and do other things for a bit.

Yep...fort fun!! It's the best!! :)

As the kids and D had their fun "forting" around (hehe!), I had my fun savoring it all through lens (I did get in at the end). Taking pictures, in this way, is where my heart bursts with happiness the most. It's the moments when I get to sit back, relax, smile, play, snap and BE 100% focused on how my kids faces light up with joy, because right now, in their current "stage" of life, having a fort built is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

And, this IS pretty much the reason behind my PASSION for photography and taking the pictures the way I do...no force...no trying to figure out poses...just life, happening as is, right before my eyes.

So I was nourished big time while taking these!!

But, as an aspiring photographer...one who LOVES to take photos with my SLR on manual mode so I can snap pictures in a way that'll look EXACTLY how I see and saw it in person...I'm NOT a fan of the color of our walls in our living room.

When we first moved in, every room was SUPER dark...like Christmas tree green, chocolate brown, orange and some color I called puke...but was probably a mustard yellow.

We painted all those rooms mentioned above, but we haven't done our living room and little hallway. Mainly, because those rooms weren't SO bad (and painting your house with little kids isn't the easiest thing to do)...but, I still struggle with the way they look when I take photos indoors. I tell D, almost daily, and especially when I'm taking pictures with my SLR, "WE NEED TO PAINT THESE WALLS...ASAP!!!" but, again, we haven't.

The reason being...we were only going to be living in this house for 4 years, but, we just got word that we'll now being staying for another 3 years...so woooohooooooo!! I'm READY to paint those walls a LIGHT COLOR!!!! Which, when I say those words..."light...white...soft...neutral" D freaks out and says, "It's gonna be like we're living in a hospital...you want everything white!!"

Oh, if he only knew, that once you start learning photography, you can never go back to DARK walls...EVER. And, for the record, I don't want "white" walls. Just a lighter, more neutral color. I could NEVER live in a house that reminded me of a hospital. ;)

When I pointed out all the different shades of yellows in my pics below, he says, "What??? It looks GREAT...it has GREAT contrast!!" LOL!! Um, NOOOOOO!! LOL!!

But, I could be writing all of this, and you could start looking at the pics, and if I never said anything, you probably wouldn't have even noticed. :):)

Oh, and no offense to those who LOVE dark colors in your home...it's just for me, there's nothing better than snapping my subject in the most beautiful light...especially when they're surrounded by natural light reflectors...those dark colors...they can reflect some pretty yucky tones on your subjects. Yuck...yuck...YUCK...in my book.

BUT...most important of all...even though I'm not a fan of my yellow walls that can reflect SO many different shades of yellow...like 50 shades of yellow...haha! I know...I know...bad joke....I would NEVER, EVER allow them stop me from savoring the moment and capturing it allso I can look back and remember the FEELING that joyous moment brought me and everyone else included.

Now...on to the SAVORING!! :)

C new EXACTLY what was going on...she was getting a fort built and she waited SO patiently. Now, Luca on the other hand...he was a little upset that his slide was moved to another area in the living room. Poor guy...if only he knew what was coming. :)

Once the sheet went up, suddenly, no more tears!! Awwwww yeah!! Now this is the life!! :)

Big sis jumped right in and was overjoyed with glee. Because, yeah, there's nothing better than being under a bunch of sheets. I remember that feeling well back in my childhood days. Don't you?

Then...they waited and waited and waited SO patiently for D to get all his fort building tools out to make the best fort ever!! :) My heart filled with love and happy smiles as I watched them sit down and wait and then stand up and wait and sit down and wait and sit up and wait and...you get the picture. :)

Happy about her fort!!

And then she pulled the, "moms taking my picture, lemme give her a pose" ...something this mama isn't too fond of....so I asked her, "Does Tarzan do this...and I blew a big 'ole raspberry" and SCORE!! She did one right back. Now that's what I'm talkin' about...give me those FUNpics, C...but, yes, that posed pic melts my heart, too. My sweet, sweet girl.

Then the fun began...Luca began to realize..."Hey...I can STILL play on my slide over here and under all these sheets...

And then he pulled the old, "Where's Luca???" trick...one that gave me happy heart-filled memories of C doing the same thing when she was his age.

And, guess who wanted to re-live her first year of life????? Dorothy from Wizard of Oz!!! Oh wait, or was it the witch?? Yes...the witch!! ;) ;)

And then I caught this awesome moment of D all snuggled up with C to read her new Sofia book...D isn't a fan of me taking his pictures, but I do it anyway...I mean, come on...I tell him all the time, "Do you have any idea how many awesome pics YOU have with your kids???...way more than I do....and they're pretty freakin' awesome...you'll thank me years down the road when C and L are SO happy to have these moments captured so they can always look back and remember the awesome things their Daddy did for them."

And, yeah...Luca isn't a fan of Sofia...the iPod is WAY more interesting.

And then she quickly emerged to see what he was up to, and then she ran out to go do something else, that was no where near her FUN fort that was just built for her. Ha! :)

Did you make forts when you were younger? I don't remember my parents doing them for me, but I can remember making them outside in the bushes with my neighborhood friends. SO fun!! :)