Cooper and Brooks

Our sister Jodi recently took our nephews Cooper and Brooks to a photographer in West Des Moines. She wasn't thrilled with the outcome and knowing that Kelli and I love taking pictures, asked us to come visit and snap some shots of the boys. She thought it would be good practice for us if we ever decide to try our hand at a side business. We agreed!

We went to Des Moines on Thursday. Between a quick stop at the mall, a bucket of crab legs at Joe's Crab Shack, fishing camp, creepy crawler camp, and a baseball game, we had roughly ten minutes to squeeze in some pictures. Thanks to Cooper and Brooks being good sports, we did it! We had fun and learned a few things . . . for instance, we had never considered how difficult posing subjects could be. Not that Coop or Brooks were difficult, but it's definitely an area of photography that we had totally overlooked. Luckily, Kelli caught on quickly and arranged the boys while I snapped away. We'd love to practice with them again soon when we have more time to practice angles and settings and such, but for the ten minutes we had, we were pleased with what we got! Here are a few of them . . .

The boys are so great with Charly. She loves them. Her little face lights up the instant she sees their shaggy blond hair. They fight over who gets to hold her and they smother her cheeks with kisses all the time. Some of the widest smiles we've seen on Charly's face have come when the boys are around.

They have grown up so fast. Cooper will be in 5th grade this fall, while Brooks will be in 2nd grade. It seems like yesterday we were babysitting them, looking for bugs and frogs at Island Park, and riding the lawnmower around at Grandpa and Grandma Henning's. Charly is lucky to have older cousins like these two. They're a perfect blend of rough and tough and kind and sweet. She's bound to have all sorts of raunchy fun yet be well taken care of in the process!