We had a fun little play day with my girl's BFFs and their mom. The funny thing is, we both have three girls, and they are so evenly spaced out, they are like built-in playmates! Laina and her BFF are exactly 1 month apart in age, Mylie and hers are 6 months, and Evelyn and hers are 1 1/2 months. And they all play really well together! So do their mom and I; she is super fun to be around and we are interested in a lot of the same things.
So today we made Valentine's flowers out of paper hearts cut from my Cricut, lollipops, wooden skewers and pipe cleaners. They turned out super cute, but I forgot to take a picture when the bouquet was done.
Here are some pics from the day.
All three of the R. girls have gorgeous brown eyes... all three of mine have blue eyes, and it was neat to try and get catchlights in the brown-eyed girls.... blue eyes are more light-reflective so it is a bit tougher to get them in brown eyes!
And these were from this morning while I was practicing skin tones and custom white balance.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
I can't resist...
...chickadees. Sorry, there is going to be more chickadee pictures today! I think I am starting to get a feel for my style. Things that I like to photograph... things that I want to do better, and learn more about. And I think if I had to try to put it into words, I would say unexpected nature. I want to take photos of things that are rich and bold and vibrant within and outside of nature. So like the vivid green moss on this fence...

The chickadee against the red branches:

and outside of nature...
The colour pop of my kids clothing against the natural landscape:

Reflections and shadows in nature:

This is what I love!
Anyways, just more pictures from today...
This cute little girl stopped to say hi to us on our walk (and her name was Julie too! Lol!)


Love the wings in motion here:





The chickadee against the red branches:

and outside of nature...
The colour pop of my kids clothing against the natural landscape:

Reflections and shadows in nature:

This is what I love!
Anyways, just more pictures from today...
This cute little girl stopped to say hi to us on our walk (and her name was Julie too! Lol!)


Love the wings in motion here:




Friday, February 4, 2011
Ring around the Rosy
We had guests over for dinner tonight that we hadn't seen for quite awhile and boy did the kids have a great time! Between the two couples, we have 6 kids and they managed to engage in the noisiest and most rambunctious game of ring around the rosy that I have EVER heard. Such a cute game, because these little boys and girls from ages 17 months up to 7 years were all having a blast!
Here are some pictures from their fun... Actually first I will start with some pictures from earlier.
DaredEvelyn at her best. I went to pick Laina up from school and Adam was doing some vacuuming the girl's bedroom. I walked in the door with Laina and this is what we found.
(And as always, please excuse my kitchen... it is in the beginning stages of a much needed remodelling)
Here she claps herself on. Very proud. She pushed a kid's table up beside the printer cart, then climbed on the printer, then up onto the counter. She then started rearranging the plates in the cupboard.
Back to the fun playdate. Evelyn shows one of the (cutest) twins (ever) where we keep the "nummy-nums" (her words, not mine).
Here are the adorable little girlies in their matching Gymboree:
I did a custom white balance for this picture but then I moved too much from the light and this turned out very blue, but aren't her eyes just gorgeous?
Wish I could have gotten more pics of them all together, but there was just so many of them all running around, it was overwhelming! But it was great to see them and wish we didn't live so far apart!
Here are some pictures from their fun... Actually first I will start with some pictures from earlier.
DaredEvelyn at her best. I went to pick Laina up from school and Adam was doing some vacuuming the girl's bedroom. I walked in the door with Laina and this is what we found.
(And as always, please excuse my kitchen... it is in the beginning stages of a much needed remodelling)
Here she claps herself on. Very proud. She pushed a kid's table up beside the printer cart, then climbed on the printer, then up onto the counter. She then started rearranging the plates in the cupboard.
Back to the fun playdate. Evelyn shows one of the (cutest) twins (ever) where we keep the "nummy-nums" (her words, not mine).
Here are the adorable little girlies in their matching Gymboree:
I did a custom white balance for this picture but then I moved too much from the light and this turned out very blue, but aren't her eyes just gorgeous?
Wish I could have gotten more pics of them all together, but there was just so many of them all running around, it was overwhelming! But it was great to see them and wish we didn't live so far apart!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
I broke down
My shopping ban has been breached. I shopped the Matilda Jane "House of Clouds" trunk show, but I am not sorry I did. It wasn't an impulse buy, or buying just because there was a sale (for the record, there wasn't). I wasn't buying an excessive amount for a season that I already had too much for. All of those are things I have done in the past and hope to not do again. Whether or not I have finally cured myself of my shopping habit remains to be seen, but I really feel like I don't want to go overboard again and have so many clothes that they couldn't possibly wear them all even once. I just want to have a comfortable number of outfits that I really love...and that they will love wearing. That is my goal.
Adam, Evelyn and I went to a local park today so that I could try and get some pictures of Evelyn. Of course it was raining (because it rains more often than not here) and I didn't end up getting any great pictures but I did get a few that sort of fit what I was looking for, ie. catchlights in her eyes and good skin tone. And they reminded me of how much she looks like Laina, so I will put one of her at the bottom for comparison. Also, I know it seems like Evelyn is ALWAYS wearing this jacket, lol, but it just goes with everything and it such a great weight jacket, that I invariably choose it.





And here is one of Laina at around Evie's age:
Adam, Evelyn and I went to a local park today so that I could try and get some pictures of Evelyn. Of course it was raining (because it rains more often than not here) and I didn't end up getting any great pictures but I did get a few that sort of fit what I was looking for, ie. catchlights in her eyes and good skin tone. And they reminded me of how much she looks like Laina, so I will put one of her at the bottom for comparison. Also, I know it seems like Evelyn is ALWAYS wearing this jacket, lol, but it just goes with everything and it such a great weight jacket, that I invariably choose it.





And here is one of Laina at around Evie's age:
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
My Engagement Story
Since I had an even busier day than usual involving many tutus (I have delivered 16 tutus so far to the dance school... more to come) and a committee meeting, plus all of the daily grind stuff, it has come to be 9pm and I haven't taken a single picture, nor written my blog post. Way back here I mentioned that I would have to tell my engagement story sometime as an illustration of how unromantic Adam and I are. So today is that day... here it is.
I was already a few months pregnant with Laina (and when I think back, I actually have no concept of when we got engaged... I know I was at least 3 months pregnant but less than 7 months....). We were living in an old rented house with my sister as our other housemate. At that point, we had already been living together for 2 years, and while we were pretty sure we would spend the rest of our lives together, marriage wasn't ever discussed, we just thought everything was great as it was.
Adam's parents already knew that I was pregnant, and one evening we went over to their house for dinner. After we had eaten, Adam's mom called him into a different room and it became obvious to me that she was giving him something that she didn't want me to know about. After coming back from the other room, Adam went straight to his jacket and put something in the pocket. My curiousity was piqued. I had to know.
Like a foxhound on the scent, I bagdered Adam to know what she had given him the entire drive home. I was so fixated on finding out his secret, I didn't notice that he had taken off his jacket at home and hung it up on "horsey" just inside the door.
This is "horsey". He/ it figures heavily in this story. It is a wooden coat stand from Adam's childhood that still lives with us.
Eventually, we went to bed, Adam still stubbornly refusing to enlighten me as to what his mom had given him. When I woke up in the morning, the first thing that popped into my head, was that the "item" was still in his coat pocket which was hanging on "horsey". I bolted from the room just as Adam groggily realized his mistake. Being that I was slower, and also pregnant, Adam reached his coat before I did, but he didn't want to waste time fumbling with the "item", so he grabbed "horsey" in it's entirety, tucked it under his arm, and ran for the safety of the bathroom. I got there just seconds after him and wedged my knee and head in the closing doorway. He managed to dislodge my knee by pushing on it, but forgetting that my head was still halfway in the door, he tried to slam the door shut.
It hurt. I decided to change my tactic and go for the sympathy vote, so I turned and ran away crying loudly (but fakely). I threw myself face down on our bed and pretended to cry. Feeling guilty, he came after me to apologize, but I was unrelenting. I told him I would not stop crying until he told me what he had in his pocket.
Always a sucker for my tears, he gave up and said "Fine, if you want to know so bad...." and he held out a little box containing his great grandmother's engagement ring and said, "my mom gave me this in case I wanted to ask you to marry me." Taking this as a proposal, I quickly dried my (fake) tears and said yes.
So let's recap. Adam is in his underwear. I berate him, he slams my head in a door, I fake cry until he basically throws an engagement ring at me. No lit candles, rose petals strewn about, or getting down on one knee. Just pure mayhem. Which is basically the way we live and breathe.
PS. Here we are on our wedding day when I was 7 months pregnant. This was in the days before we had digital photography... so I don't have many pics oon my computer and I just realized Adam has his eyes closed here. Oops!
PPS. He later admitted that he wasn't even asking me. His mom had given him the ring just in case he wanted to ask me... he hadn't decided yet... I misunderstood him.
PPPS. Regardless of how unromatic and goofy we are, I love him very much and he loves me too!
I was already a few months pregnant with Laina (and when I think back, I actually have no concept of when we got engaged... I know I was at least 3 months pregnant but less than 7 months....). We were living in an old rented house with my sister as our other housemate. At that point, we had already been living together for 2 years, and while we were pretty sure we would spend the rest of our lives together, marriage wasn't ever discussed, we just thought everything was great as it was.
Adam's parents already knew that I was pregnant, and one evening we went over to their house for dinner. After we had eaten, Adam's mom called him into a different room and it became obvious to me that she was giving him something that she didn't want me to know about. After coming back from the other room, Adam went straight to his jacket and put something in the pocket. My curiousity was piqued. I had to know.
Like a foxhound on the scent, I bagdered Adam to know what she had given him the entire drive home. I was so fixated on finding out his secret, I didn't notice that he had taken off his jacket at home and hung it up on "horsey" just inside the door.
This is "horsey". He/ it figures heavily in this story. It is a wooden coat stand from Adam's childhood that still lives with us.
Eventually, we went to bed, Adam still stubbornly refusing to enlighten me as to what his mom had given him. When I woke up in the morning, the first thing that popped into my head, was that the "item" was still in his coat pocket which was hanging on "horsey". I bolted from the room just as Adam groggily realized his mistake. Being that I was slower, and also pregnant, Adam reached his coat before I did, but he didn't want to waste time fumbling with the "item", so he grabbed "horsey" in it's entirety, tucked it under his arm, and ran for the safety of the bathroom. I got there just seconds after him and wedged my knee and head in the closing doorway. He managed to dislodge my knee by pushing on it, but forgetting that my head was still halfway in the door, he tried to slam the door shut.
It hurt. I decided to change my tactic and go for the sympathy vote, so I turned and ran away crying loudly (but fakely). I threw myself face down on our bed and pretended to cry. Feeling guilty, he came after me to apologize, but I was unrelenting. I told him I would not stop crying until he told me what he had in his pocket.
Always a sucker for my tears, he gave up and said "Fine, if you want to know so bad...." and he held out a little box containing his great grandmother's engagement ring and said, "my mom gave me this in case I wanted to ask you to marry me." Taking this as a proposal, I quickly dried my (fake) tears and said yes.
So let's recap. Adam is in his underwear. I berate him, he slams my head in a door, I fake cry until he basically throws an engagement ring at me. No lit candles, rose petals strewn about, or getting down on one knee. Just pure mayhem. Which is basically the way we live and breathe.
PS. Here we are on our wedding day when I was 7 months pregnant. This was in the days before we had digital photography... so I don't have many pics oon my computer and I just realized Adam has his eyes closed here. Oops!
PPS. He later admitted that he wasn't even asking me. His mom had given him the ring just in case he wanted to ask me... he hadn't decided yet... I misunderstood him.
PPPS. Regardless of how unromatic and goofy we are, I love him very much and he loves me too!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Capturing Motion
I wish I had something interesting to post tonight, I have been horribly boring lately, but I am just so exhausted. It was our busy day today with lots of activities packed in, but not a lot of sleep was had last night.
I typed out a long post about death and my beliefs and then decided it was just too personal. So instead, I will just say that I am grieving. I know she was just a cat, but to me, she was a member of our family. And I miss her already.
I have been playing around with my new camera, trying out different setting to do with motion. And how you can use shutter speed to either stop motion or to show motion. These aren't great pictures, I was just practicing showing motion with a slow shutter speed while the girls were skating tonight.
I typed out a long post about death and my beliefs and then decided it was just too personal. So instead, I will just say that I am grieving. I know she was just a cat, but to me, she was a member of our family. And I miss her already.
I have been playing around with my new camera, trying out different setting to do with motion. And how you can use shutter speed to either stop motion or to show motion. These aren't great pictures, I was just practicing showing motion with a slow shutter speed while the girls were skating tonight.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Goodbye Sweetie
We lost our sweet Badger today to what turned out to be blood leukemia. She was only 4 years old, and we are all devastated right now. I knew it was coming but it doesn't really make it any easier to deal with my children's naked grief.
I took these before it was time to say goodbye to our sweetie.
I took these before it was time to say goodbye to our sweetie.
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