Benema in the City

As soon as I knew Ben and Emma were coming to visit, I decided we would have one day where we would split up. The kids would be in daycare, which would leave Ben and Kei to play golf and me and Emma to have a girly day of pedicures, lunch and window shopping (and [...]

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Sneek Peek

I began editing some photos from my weekend photo shoot and this one jumped out at me.

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Random Monday

A few things that are interesting/insipiring me today:

The story and incredibly haunting art of this blind photographer.
A post by The Pioneer Woman that I could have written myself.
This photo.
A fun weekend photo shoot that I can’t wait to get started on when I get home (featuring adorable children of course).
This informational post: 10 Ways to [...]

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The long and winding road: Benema at the beach pt2

You can read about the first half of our day at the beach here.
When you’re traveling with two small children you need to think carefully about planning your trip around nap times. This is especially difficult when one of the children is still taking two naps. Before Samuel was born, I had forgotten about the [...]

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Something to brighten my day

My photo has been selected for the Shutter Sisters One Word blog again.
Needed the encouragement today.

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Broken Hearted

He’s still tiny, can only say a few words (well, we think they’re words) and is not even walking (although has been teasing us for months), but this child has so much power over me.

For a few months now, he has been a Daddy’s boy. That’s not a bad thing – it gives me a [...]

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Benema at the Beach

It has been so long since we’ve been out to the Oregon Coast. It’s only a couple of hours away, but usually the only time we can go is on the weekend. A sunny weekend means half of Portland is trying to get to the beach and with only a couple of two-way highways to [...]

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So Unfortunately “Nicole” Has a Reputation

I was reading  a blog where it was suggested that you can use Google to generate funny little anecdotes about yourself. Type in “Unfortunately [your name]” and then see what comes up in the list of searches. Of course her’s were all very artistic and civilized (she has a literary name). Mine on the other [...]

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Pure Joy… well, I’m working on it.

Heading to Seattle for a girls’ weekend tomorrow. I’m sure Samuel won’t look like this while I’m gone, but I’m pretty sure I’ll have a smile on my face after a few cocktails and a night on the town.
I’ll miss my boys…but every mama needs some girl time. And it’s well timed after the week [...]

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Ben

We haven’t always had the best relationship. In fact I recall hating him when we were teenagers. I think it was combination of being too close in age (17 months) and the competitive spirit that we both possess.
High school was tough for me. I was on the outskirts of about three different cool groups – [...]

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