The Continuing Chronicles of Happy Chaos :: Orange County Family Lifestyle Photography

I love documenting family life.  I especially love having the privilege of documenting family life over time.  I’ve had the indescribable pleasure of photographing this family four times over the last five years (blogged here, here & here).  Some obvious things change:   the kiddos’ size, activities, working vocabulary, and the breadth of their imagination … plus a new home with a whole new park trail.  Some obvious things don’t change:  the kiddos’ sweet, silly, spunky dispositions, their speed (!! you have no idea how fast on the shutter I had to be !!), and THE LOVE.  Behold, the continuing chronicles of Happy Chaos …



Last time there were only two little monkeys jumping on the bed while their bundle of new baby sister merely enjoyed the crazy ride.  This time there were three enthusiastic little monkeys jumping…

Baby Sister’s bed has already been converted to a big girl bed …

… making it the ideal stage for dancing.

Big Brother still holds dearly his beloved blankie.

They all do, for that matter.  Each blankie has been lovingly patched multiple times by their Great Aunt who originally crocheted them.

Baby Sister doesn’t have the last word on dancing; Big Bro has some pretty special moves of his own.

Behold Great Aunt – giver of hugs and crocheter extraordinaire-

Big Sister, girl of one million different expressions …

Those curls.

The only time I saw Big Bro in slow-mo was when he switched into engineer mode, transforming his bike & dumpster into completely complicated creations not to be touched by Lil Sis…

Why merely sit at a table, when you can sit on it?

Nay, lie on it.
Siblings are the best of friends.  Siblings are occasionally NOT the best of friends.  And feelings need to be soothed and ruffled feathers unruffled.

Mediating can be hard work…

And, finally, the lovely trail in their neighborhood, replete with tunnels, boulders, fields, and bazillions of ants (but, let’s not talk about those!) …

Ah, home sweet home…

Hot Days = Great Opportunity…

… to cool off at the beach in the evening.

9/11 Memorial

For years I’ve wanted to head up the road and experience Pepperdine’s memorial to the victims and heroes of 9/11. 

This year we just did it.  And brought Mom & Dad along for the ride. Bonus: we all got to see College Kid’s new room. Believe it or not (I still can’t!), he and his roommate had never bothered to open the windows and let all that ocean breeze in.  Little Dude didn’t skip a beat before he was over opening those suckers.  Believe me, that stuffy room needed some fresh air.  And, ummm, how ‘bout that view?!??!!!  Ha!  The desk he never sits at to do his work.  Instead, it’s a gallery of sorts.  Some of these items are for-real favorites.  Some of the items are a total joke.  I’ll leave it to you all to sort them… Heading down to the flags … Some of us took the long roundabout route down a slippery slope.  My bad – my sense of direction has always been terrible. One flag representing every individual.  2,977 flags. Dad treated us all to dinner, and some of us (who aren’t at all worried about caloric intake) topped off dinner with Grom… The gallery behind us is full of works by “Mr. Brainwash”, whose story we’d learned and enjoyed while watching Exit Through the Gift Shop.  Unfortunately, we didn’t connect those dots til we got home, or we would have explored closer. ‘Twas a good day to appreciate having each other and to remember those whose families were sadly shattered fourteen years ago.