Friday, December 30, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 51 ~

Last post of the year!  That flew by in a flash...I must be getting old because when you are young everyone says how time flies and you are thinking, yeah, whatever, and then all of a sudden you know exactly what they were talking about.  I meant to post about Christmas this week, but once again I didn't get around to it.  I'm still going to do it though because I have a lot of things that I want to remember and if I don't blog them I'll completely forget.  We had a ton of fun this year.  My kids are the perfect ages to really get into all the magic of Christmas.  I took a ton of photos this week, but there are only a couple that I love.  I had a hard time this week with photography because it seemed I needed to use my flash for everything.  It is just too dark in most people's homes unless the subject is sitting mostly still and let's face it, kids are not known for their ability in that area.  And you can get some really nice bokeh with the Christmas lights so I was kinda bummed since my flash seems to ruin it.  I did turn the flash off for some of them and those are the ones I love.  I got a lot of blurry ones in the process though but it was worth it.  Here are my favorites...

I don't know why, but I love black and white Christmas photos.  I think maybe it's the way they appear timeless.  I love the lights in the background of this shot! 

Another shot of my girl.  She was just relaxing on her new gigantic teddy bear from her grandmama.  I love the look of contentment on her face as she watches people open presents.

I had to include a shot of my boy.  Here he is with his new paper jamz guitar.  I think he's pretty much the cutest rock star ever.  I hope someday he learns to play the guitar for real!

I'll do another post with some stories from our Christmases.  We still have one more to go to tomorrow!  Happy New Year!!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 50 ~

Wow...I just realized that I am almost done with another entire year of Photo Fridays!  I can't believe that I actually stuck with it for 2 whole years!  That's like a miracle for me...I tend to get bored easily.  So, the question is...do I keep doing it?  It just started out as a challenge to myself to pick up my camera more, and it has definitely done it's job.  I think lately I've gotten a little lazy about my creativity though, but at least I'm still posting something which is better than nothing, right?  I kind of want to do something new next year, only problem is that I have no idea what to do.  If you have any ideas for me, let me know.  Back to this week.  Honestly if it weren't for this project I definitely wouldn't have picked up my camera because I have been way too busy getting ready for Christmas!  I've gotten a lot of the presents wrapped (that just happened last night though) but I still have a bunch more to do.  I even still have shopping to do!  What can I say...I work best under pressure.  So, this week's photo is nothing spectacular, but I did get a little self portrait.

The distortion from the ornament makes my camera lens look huge!  I like how you can see the room behind me.  

I was going through all my old Christmas photos yesterday (this might have something to do with why I still have presents to buy and wrap!) and I knew a little collage of all of my kids' Christmases would be fun.  So I put this together and I love it.  These photos aren't great (actually most of them are pretty bad) but they are of my sweet babies and I love them.  And now I really need to remember to take a photo of the two of them together each Christmas so I can keep adding to it every year!  I seriously cannot believe how fast the years are flying by.

Have a wonderful Christmas weekend!!!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 49 ~

Another week has flown by without me blogging.  I always start the week with good intentions and I even have a whole list of blog ideas but I just can't seem to keep up!  Even on days when I feel like I've got it together I still seem to find something to distract me.  Part of it is the time of year and just trying to get all the little Christmas things done.  I did get my cards ordered and I'm hoping to address them all over the weekend.  That's one thing off my list.  I've still got a ton of shopping to do too.  And to top it off I thought I'd earn myself a little extra Christmas money by painting my Grandpa's kitchen including the ceiling.  I've got the ceiling done and I'm hoping to get the walls done today and tomorrow.  I just glanced at my calendar and realized I need 6 dozen cookies by Monday night too!   I'm trying to enjoy the holiday...and I will...I think it will help when the kids are home.  Having them around just helps me to get in the spirit.  I have some fun things I want to do with them including going ice skating and going to the train display.  I'm sure we'll find plenty of ways to fill the days, we always do, even if it's just something simple like watching a Christmas movie or drinking hot chocolate.  Okay, getting back on topic here...let me talk about this week's photos.  We went to see Santa on Sunday!  "SANTA!!  I know him!" - name that movie.  :)  We went to Keehner Park where they have a little log cabin and host a little Pioneer Christmas thing.  We not only saw Santa but got to sample goodies from the time period, like venison chili and apple pie.  It was really fun.  We went straight from church because I wanted the kids to be in their Christmas clothes and we got there early and were the first ones.  I think we might have to make it a yearly tradition.

My kids posing on the porch of the cabin.  If it looks familiar it's because I use this location for photo shoots sometimes!  By the way, why does my son have to have his mouth open all the time in pictures?!!  It drives me crazy!

As I was taking pictures Santa came out the front door and surprised my kids! 

A shot from inside the cabin with the tree.  I had to use my flash because it the only light in there was from candles!  My daughter wasn't sure if he was the real Santa because his voice sounded kinda weird to her.  She said it wasn't deep enough.  :)  They think the real Santa is at the museum (the one we saw last year) so we might have to go visit him too.

Just a shot of my pretty girl.

This isn't a great example of photography or anything, but I found it when I was going through my photos I took this week and I just thought I'd share it anyway.  My kids were in the Christmas program at our church and they have a "cherub choir" of 2 to 5 year olds.  My son was the oldest one, but I don't think he sang more than a couple of words.  He wasn't really into it this year.  That's my cute niece and nephew on the left.      Click here to see my post from 2 years ago about it (I must have missed last year).  I'm sad this was the last year for me to have a kid in this!  

Have a great weekend, everyone!  Hopefully you are getting in the Christmas spirit!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 48 ~

My favorite photos this week were taken during bath night.  My kids still love a good bubble bath.  I wasn't sure if I should post a photo of my daughter, but she gave me permission and it's just her face, so I figured what the heck...  I know that the days of them goofing off in a bubble bath are very numbered, so when my daughter started making bubble beards and told me to take a picture so she could see what she looked like I knew that I had to do it.  Here you go...

Pretty impressive bubble beard, don't you think?!

I love this photo.  I love the grain, the ambiguity of not really know what is going on, and of course, I love her profile.  That's her hair that's blurred in the foreground.

I love this so much that I wish it weren't taken in the bathtub so I could frame it!  I actually have a lot of good photos of him in the bathtub for some reason.  I think I'm gonna need to do a collage on my bathroom wall.

I love this kid's laugh so much!!  Really, it's infectious.  

Have a great weekend!!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 47 ~

I got my camera out last night thinking I would go outside to take a photo of one of my kids for this weekly project since they were outside with the neighbor girls enjoying the sunny late afternoon.  I've always thought these girls were really beautiful, but the older girl who always wears her hair up in a ponytail happened to have her hair down and she was even more beautiful.  So...I did what any self respecting photographer would do...I told her to stand over there and let me take her photo (and ditched my previous plans of taking photos of my own kids).  She was so happy to oblige.  I think she's about 11 years old or so and I'm starting to think that tweens are my favorite age to photograph.  They don't have any of the ridiculous insecurities that the older girls have and yet they are old enough to take direction really well.  She actually told me "I love myself".  How great is that?  When was the last time I said that about myself?  I wonder what it is that causes us girls/women to lose that attitude and at what age it begins to happen.  I really want to encourage any mom's of tweens to really consider having a photo shoot done for them (and I'm not just saying that because I want you to hire me, but of course, I would love it if you did). :)  I think it's so great for them to see beautiful photographs of themselves during this critical time of developing their concepts of beauty.  I actually had this girl come in and look at her photo on the computer because I wanted her to see it and she wanted to see it.  She thought it looked awesome, had a smile of satisfaction on her face, and promptly turned around and told me she was going back outside to play.  And I think that's exactly the reaction I wanted.  She confirmed to herself that she was beautiful and 'loved herself', but she didn't dwell on it and there was not an ounce of conceit there. That's probably what makes her so beautiful to me!


Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

The Lake of Dreams ~ A Book Review ~


I joined the BlogHer Book Club recently and my first assignment was to read and review "The Lake of Dreams" by Kim Edwards.  I was very excited to read this book as the description seemed so compelling.  This book is about Lucy, who has lived abroad for many years after leaving her hometown upon her father's tragic death when she was in high school.  She comes back to see her mother after she was in a car wreck and she rediscovers the relationships with her family while delving into some old family secrets.  She discovered a pamphlet and a piece of fabric locked away in her room and she is driven to find out about why some of her ancestors where seemingly erased from the family history.  It seemed to me like it would be a great mystery and there would be some scandalous things revealed about her family's past.   

Turns out, this book did not meet my expectations.  It was very slow at first and I had a hard time relating to Lucy, the main character as she seemed lacking in the qualities that you expect from someone that you want to root for.  She has no real direction or purpose and she isn't particularly likeable either.  She sort of 'ran away' in the midst of her father's death and life went on without her and when she comes home she is surprised by this?  She's not a teenager anymore and I would have expected her to have more depth.  The 'mystery' part of the story turned out to be rather dull as well, sort of like Lucy's personality.  It revolved around women's suffrage and some stained glass windows.  Not exactly riveting stuff.  The story did get really good though when it was being told from the perspective of the ancestor through some old letters that Lucy finds.   Had the whole book been told by her this would be a very different review.  Lucy does discover things about herself and her father's death and in the end everything ties together very nicely.  I wish she had spent more time on these things rather than on the other tedious things she tended to focus on.

Although I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to my friends, it does have some very lovely imagery. The author is obviously a good writer and she does a great job of making you feel as if you are right there as her descriptions of the scenery are very detailed (this also contributes to the slow pace of the book though). Overall, I am not regretful that I read this book, but it was obviously not one of my favorites.  

If you'd like to find out more about this book and read some other reviews, hop on over to the BlogHer Book Club page and join in.  Note:  This was a paid review for BlogHer Book Clubs but the opinions expressed are my own.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 46 ~

Thanksgiving weekend was packed with activities and I never got a chance to sit down and write this blog post!  We had a wonderful time with family eating some delicious food.  We also celebrated my mom and aunt's birthday (they're twins).  My husband and I had a little Black Friday adventure when we ventured out to purchase a new tv and spent about 5 hours hanging out at Wal-Mart.  We got what we came for and a bunch more deals that we hadn't even planned on.  Overall, it wasn't a bad experience and I actually had a great time hanging out with my husband...my friend mentioned that her and her husband call it a date and I have to agree with her, it kinda felt like a fun, crazy date!  We put our Christmas tree up over the weekend and my son is actually taking a nap under it right now.  It doesn't even feel like it's close to Christmas to me yet, with Thanksgiving just barely being over, but the kids are super excited and I can't help that a little of that is rubbing off on me.  I just have one photo to share today because I have a lot of work to get done, but this is one of my favorite photos from Thanksgiving day.

That's our old tv by the way...  I love that my kids brought out that little ottoman and put it right in front of the tv to watch the parade together.  This photo looks so timeless to me with my daughter in her nightgown and the parade on tv.  And yes...we have a Steeler gnome in our house (rolling my eyes)...obviously that decoration was not chosen by me.

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend!  I know we did!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Stunning Senior ~ A Photo Shoot ~

When this girl contacted me to do her senior photos I was completely flattered.  First, because she's really into photography.  And second, she could never find the right photographer while she was actually a senior, so she's really a freshman in college now and she picked me to do her photos.  I have to admit I felt a little pressure to deliver knowing that she picked me after waiting so long.  She was really doing this for her mom, which I really admire...being a mom and all...I hope that my daughter loves and respects me enough to do things for me that might not really be her thing.  So we met up and the first thing I noticed was that she is adorable and oh my gosh...her hair!  She needs to be a shampoo model.  We had a great time and it was really relaxed.  Her mom became my assistant for the day which was so helpful and I just enjoyed getting to know them.  Those are my favorite kinds of shoots.  I have a bunch of favorites to share so here goes...

I love green eyes...and not just because I have them too...although that's probably part of it. :)

Love. her. hair.  She was the perfect model for this location.  Her hair and outfit just went perfectly with the surroundings.

I love this shot.  I remember we were having this whole conversation about America's Next Top Model and we were making fun of Tyra Bank's and how she tells them to 'smize' (which means to smile with your eyes).  So I told her to give me her best smize and this is it.  I have to say...I think she's got it down.

I love this blue door!  They are renovating the house where I took these and if they paint over this door I am going to be so sad.

Another favorite.  Love the softness of it and the sun flare.

I love her hair in this one and the background with the light streaming through the room behind her. 


She changed into something more formal since she wanted some shots for her grandma to frame in her house and they needed to be a little more traditional.  I love her hair up like this too, and the sun hitting her eyes is perfect.  

Another favorite blue door in the background.  

I usually hate doing black and whites of people with great hair color and skin...but I love this!  She is seriously stunning!

Thanks for choosing me for your senior/freshman photos!  I had a great time!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 45 ~

What a busy week we've had!  I can't seem to sit down and write a blog post during the week to save my life.  I just have no time for extra hobbies right now and when it comes down to it, blogging is a hobby for me.  Last night I was making mashed potatoes at 9pm for my daughter's Thanksgiving Feast at her school this morning just to give you an idea of my week.  The kids were so cute this morning all dressed up like pilgrims and Indians though!  And I basically got to eat Thanksgiving dinner for lunch today. Yum!  I didn't take my camera, duh, I always forget to take it to stuff and regret it.  There was a photographer there from our local newspaper though so maybe I'll get to check out some photos of it in there.   So...this week's photos are actually from last week.  I didn't even get my camera out all week (except for work, which doesn't count for this project).  My husband had his birthday on 11-11-11 this year which was Friday (so these photos were actually taken after my Photo Friday post from last week therefore they count).  I was going to do a big party and stuff, but what can I say, it didn't happen.  We had a cake here at home and we decorated a little bit and then we went to dinner.  The kids were pretty excited about the whole thing.  We had to sing Happy Birthday before dinner because they couldn't wait.  The kids put all the candles on the cake while I was busy doing something else so I came back in the room and was like, WOW.  I'm married to an old man. :)  Just kidding!

I thought that blue gel icing would be cool to write 11-11-11 on the cake with, but turns out it just looked like I used toothpaste.  Nice.

You'd never guess from looking at him that his birthday cake could start a house fire.  Yikes!

I love these three.  Seriously.  Am I lucky or what?

Have a great weekend!  Hopefully next week I can post some more...who am I kidding, next week is Thanksgiving!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 44 ~

I'm such a slacker about posting to my blog this week.  I had a bunch of posts I wanted to share, but time just got away from me again and it seems that my blog is not top priority on my to do list so it always gets pushed to the bottom and I don't get to it.  I did get a major project done this past weekend though!  I painted our garage doors and all the outdoor window trim on our house.  If you've been to my house in the past month or so then you've seen my paint chips and voted for what color you like.  I went with the darker blue/grey color and I love it.  I still need to paint the front door, but that will have to wait for now so I can get caught up on all of my photo editing.  While I was painting the garage doors the other day on one of those unseasonably warm days my daughter pointed out a beautiful butterfly on our flowers.  We just watched him for a while and everyone wanted me to take a photo but I thought he'd fly away...turns out he didn't mind a bit.  He just sat there on the flowers and completely ignored us.  It was like one last tribute to summer.  A beautiful day, my family all home and working on a project, the kids climbing trees, the flowers still blooming and a beautiful butterfly letting us admire him.  Ahhhh....I love days like that.  I will miss them.  I will come back to this memory when it's the dead of winter and I'm freezing and huddled under my blankets and it will help to get me through.  The hope of spring is a powerful thing.


I'm not sure why, but I just had the urge to see how this would look in black and white.  Turns out I kinda like it.  

Have a great weekend!  We will be celebrating my husband's birthday today on 11.11.11!!  How cool is that?!  Happy Birthday, Babe!!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 43 ~

It was Halloween this week and I took a bunch of photos of my kids (of course), so I'm just gonna combine my favorites (as my photo friday picks) and the rest into one big post about Halloween.  My kids are totally into all the spookiness, and the candy, and the dressing up, and did I mention the candy?  They were pretty excited to go trick-or-treating and my boy finally had the stamina to go the whole way with us this year.  The neighborhood crew was out and they joined us for part of the way which was fun.  Oh...and my cousin brought her little 18 month over to trick-or-treat with us this year too!  It was her first time and she was the cutest thing ever!  After we filled our buckets to the brim we headed over to my grandpa's house to ring his doorbell and see if he recognized the kids in their costumes.  Then they had to head out to his neighbors and get some more candy on his street too.  Needless to say, I think we have enough candy to last us through until next Halloween!  Here are my super kids in their super costumes.

Is it too much to ask to have them both look at me at the same time?  Apparently it is.

Supergirl.  Ready to save the world.

Superman.  Ready for a fight.

Super cute, super sweet, super smart...supergirl!

Super brave, super tough, super funny, super smart, Superman!

Super sassy, super model...supergirl!

She's off!

Off to rid the world of bad guys.

Posing with her jack-o-lantern.  It was supposed to be a dog with a hairbow in.  I was not there when the carving took place.

Posing with his scary jack-o-lantern.  He designed it himself.  I think it sort of resembles his frowny face that he does.

My cousin's baby girl dressed as the "World's Cutest Peacock".  This is the cutest costume I have ever seen!  She didn't quite know what to make of the whole ordeal, but I think she had fun.

The little boy down the street also dressed as Superman!  And those Frankenstiens really are twins, one is in my daughter's class.

The neighborhood crew.  They range in age from 6th grade down to kindergarten.  Don't you love my daughter's pose in the bottom left?  You can tell she's got a photographer for a mom...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Brown Eyed Beauty ~ A Photo Shoot ~

One of my favorite photo shoots from last year was of this adorable family and you can check it out here.  When they called me again to do a shoot this year I was excited to see how much their sweet little girl had grown.  I met them at this old historic home and when they got out of the car I couldn't believe #1 how big she'd gotten and #2 how she could be even more beautiful than before!  Her gorgeous head of curls and sweet little personality are the perfect duo.  I wouldn't be surprised if she's got every man in her life wrapped around her pretty little finger already.  Her mom is expecting baby number 2 and I can't wait to meet the beautiful new addition!  This was a mini session so I'm only sharing a few photos.  Here they are...

My new favorite photo of the moment...

I love the whole color scheme of this shoot, but since her mom loves black and whites I thought I'd share one.  

I love her dress.  So classic.  

I love the adorable expressions that two year olds make!  She reminds me of Shirley Temple in this one.

She was very concerned during our shoot about all the dirty places I was making her sit.  Her mom informed me that she has the reputation of being a little princess.  She kept wanting her daddy to clean it up for her.  It was so cute!  I like this because you can see her beautiful curls...they are all natural!  I asked because it kinda looked like they curled it.  Lucky girl.

I often love the ones when they aren't smiling.


I took some family shots too, but I know they are using one for their Christmas card so I'm not going to share any today.  I can't wait to do their photos again next year (hopefully) when they will be a beautiful family of four!


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