Doorway portrait...

It was pouring when we went to breakfast Christmas morning and we even had snow by the afternoon.  We had absolutely no sun tho'....so I had Jenny stand by the front storm door with Abigail and I turned my ISO down to try for a decent portrait.  Pretty sharp on Abigail I think...but I should have closed down a little for Jenny. 

First Christmas...

How sweet to watch Abigail enjoy things for the first time...

Santa's helper...

 

Hannah was all over handing out presents and helping people unwrap them!  :)  BTW...this is my friend Kaylene from church.  We loved having her with us as her family lives in Michigan.  And yes, I know that bottom pic needs straightening, but oh well!

Also, I rented the 24-70mm f/2.8 lens for this day.  I've been saving for it and want to try it out before I spend that kind of money.  I don't know what I was thinking to rent it for Christmas.  Low light for a cold day spent indoors and too busy in the kitchen to really experiment very much.  I think I like it, but may rent it one more time before I decide.  I was worried that it would be too heavy, but it wasn't bad.  Very nice to have a zoom and wide aperture.  But my ISO was so high I really didn't have an opportunity to test its sharpness. 

Rewind to Hannah's Birthday...

We had a wonderful Christmas day but, before I post pics of that, I think I should back up and do Hannah's birthday.  lol.  It's been busy around here!  We had a very low key celebration for Hannah's birthday.  I was so busy prepping for Christmas that I didn't even try to make her cake this year and ordered from one of Kara's friends.  Julie did a GREAT job and Hannah loved her cake.

Big difference between this year and last in Hannah's ability to open presents, blow out her candles, etc.  And she started asking for cake as soon as we sat down for dinner.  lol.

25 Days of Christmas [Day 25]

Yay!  I finished the project!  And now, maybe I can catch up with editing photos from other events that have happened in the last couple of weeks.  lol.

Today was Christmas day and we had a wonderful day!  Lots of smiles and hugs...good food, laughter, an excited 3 year old, a curious & playful almost 1 year old, 2 helpful daughters, a sweet friend, and SNOW!  So many blessings!

This was a very rare photo op for me...The girls both only sleep in their beds, in dark rooms, behind closed doors. They don't even sleep in their car seats. Abigail usually wakes up as soon as we open her door, but was so tired today she slept through me opening the shade and setting up my tripod. Sweetness!

25 Days of Christmas [Day 24]

25 Days of Christmas [Day 23]

 

"Dear Santa...I've been a very good girl!"

I'll finish up the project tomorrow and then, hopefully, get going on editing Hannah's birthday photos.  Yep, I'm behind!  At any rate, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!  I hope your day is full of blessings and time spent with the ones you love!

25 Days of Christmas [Days 21 & 22]

 "'Cause baby, it's cold outside!"  ♪♫♪♫♪♫

"The thing about trains...It doesn't matter where they're going.  What matters is that you decide to get on."  (Polar Express)

25 Days of Christmas [Day 20]

BTW...this image is courtesy of Jenny and her camera!  Last year they got a nice point and shoot for Christmas and she's been trying to use it more often to capture those things that happen when I'm not around with my camera.  YAY!  Her camera has a pretty big aperture and often can shoot in natural light. The exif data on this one said f/2.2....so I was impressed with that.  At any rate, Jenny shot this at their church where they have a little stable and costumes set up in the foyer for parents to dress and pose their kids.  How fun is that?  I wasn't loving the church walls in the background, so I played around with adding the starry texture.  I kinda think it works....what about you?  And yep...I'm also lovin' the ethnic baby Jesus and those  colorful swaddling clothes.  :)

But joking aside, this is what it's all about.  Let's all take time to worship at the manger.

25 Days of Christmas [Day 19]

Yay for snuggly moments and makin' memories!

25 Days of Christmas [Day 18]

I love folk art and playing with textures.  :)

Better late than never...

Yep....only about a month late, but I finally got around to processing.  :)

25 Days of Christmas [Day 17]

Giving us the dimple again!  :)

Missed my focus on this one (yes...children MOVE!..ha ha)...but I still like it! 

25 Days of Christmas [Day 16]

Love them!  ♥

25 Days of Christmas [Day 15]

A little sparkle to brighten your day!

25 Days of Christmas [Day14]

Yesterday was Grammy Day, so Hannah helped us make cookies.  Too cute and actually very tasty!  Wish I could say it was an original idea, but I saw it on someone's Facebook page.  I never could find the mini chocolate pretzels.  These were a little harder to use, but still turned out pretty cute.  Hannah was all over eating one!  As soon as she sat down for lunch, she said "I believe I'll have a reindeer cookie." No lie....her exact words!  TOO FUNNY!

Link to recipe below...tho' I'll confess we used a mix for the peanut butter cookie dough.  Hannah's attention span is not long enough for mixing ingredients AND decorating.  Her favorite part was sorting out the brown and red m&m's from all the other colors.  :)

http://buddingbaketress.blogspot.com/2010/12/peanut-butter-reindeer-cookies.html

25 Days of Christmas [Day 13]

Two from Jenny's bear collection.  A few of her bears decorate Abigail's nursery, but most are stored in boxes.  These 2 only come out at Christmas.  So cute...even if they are having an identity crisis! 

25 Days of Christmas [Day 12]

The last shot with my macro before my tripod fell over and went crashing to the floor.  Glass EVERYWHERE...but I think my lens is OK.  At first my camera was giving an error message, but it righted itself after turning it off and on a few times.  It seems the UV filter was all that broke.  SO THANKFUL.  Just hoping I can still thread a new filter on.  Bob had to PRY the old one off as it was significantly dented and wouldn't screw off.  Time will tell, but I think I dodged a bullet this time. 

BTW...this candle holder is a fond memory from my childhood.  My mom had one like it and I always enjoyed watching those little angels spin from the rising heat of the candles.  Was not exactly sure how to capture it photographically...not really sure I got it, but best I could do.  A slower shutter speed definitely captured the feeling of movement, but I could never catch the angels in a good position to make them recognizable.  Tried this shot in daylight and at night.  Night was a total flop...this is broad daylight, believe it or not. 

25 Days of Christmas [Day 11]

Really love the golden light in this one.  I so seldom shoot with a small aperture and wide angle.  Should probably do it more often.  Good to get out of my box occasionally!

Celebrating Hannah...

Happy Birthday to the sweetest 3 year old I know (and her little monkey friend)!  Hannah was so cute as she started telling Jenny the day before that she was "so excited to get my picture taken with monkey and balloons"!  She had a great time with those balloons too!

Winter light meant my ISO was up higher than I like for all of these...boo....but Hannah is at a great age for taking photos, if she's in the mood.  Young enough to not be inhibited, but old enough to follow directions pretty well.  :)  LOVE HER SOOOOOOO MUCH!

25 Days of Christmas [Day 10]...

While shepherds watched their flocks by night...

25 Days of Christmas [Day 9]

25 Days of Christmas [Day 8]

Getting a little carried away with the added textures, but it's the only way we're gonna see snow around here.  Record highs for December!  At any rate, I really do like how this one turned out. 

A break from our previously scheduled programming...

Ooops...I forgot to post Abigail's 11 month monkey photo.  Only one more to go until monkey returns to his semi-retirement.  Soon, Hannah will need her 3 year pic with monkey! 

25 Days of Christmas [Days 6 & 7]

This sweet miniature nativity was given to me by my friend Judy.  She brought it home from Argentina after her son's wedding.  Thanks Judy!  I love it!

Just one of my favorite ornaments with a little texture added.  I just love all the little added details like the hay, the string beard, and the lamb's wool. 

25 days of Christmas [Days 4 & 5]

I love being a musician, but especially at this time of year.  So many beautiful Christmas songs to play.  This one is my best attempt to send you a musical greeting card.  BTW...if you count in the background, there are only 6 stockings (when in fact, we need 7).  Fear not...Abigail does have a stocking, but I have not found a stocking hanger yet.  It's on my "to do" list.  lol

I found these cute little guys at Target.  So fun!  They're made by Betty Crocker out of icing and are meant to decorate cakes and cookies.  Each one is about 1 in. tall.  CUTE!

Christmas Countdown...

I decided to start a short term photo challenge, because I am so NOT up to another 365.  This will be a 25 days of Christmas (or a 12 days of Christmas if I'm crunched for time).  Simply put, posting one Christmas themed photo each day until Christmas.  A photographic Christmas countdown.  I've been keeping up with the schedule on flickr so far, but got behind on the blog...so I'll be posting more than 1 pic a day to play catch up.  Yesterday's snowman cookie was Day 1...and Day 2 was our cutie pies below.  BTW...first time these two have EVER looked up and smiled at the same time.  Oh happy day!

 

Abigail LOVED that box!!!

 

Day 2...just some silliness...

 
The irony here is that I have a couple of Thanksgiving pics I still hope to post, but I'm not done editing them.  Oops!   Guess we'll have our holidays out of order. 

Holy bokeh, it's that time of year again!

Be prepared.  I'm sure this is only the beginning of the Christmas tree bokeh shots.  lol.  Love that snowman cookie!

Cool girl...

Love her, looking too cool for school!

Art?

What do you do when you have a sweet photo that's a little bit out of focus?  Have a play around in PSE and call it "art".  lol

Harvest hands...

Love those chubby little fingers and that callous on her thumb (from sucking it).  lol