Oh say, can you see?

Can I see?   Not as well as I used to!...not unless it's through a looking glass, that is.  Aging really is the pits.  lol.   

Rewind....Birthday Blues (pt. 1)...

Some funny snaps from Abigail's birthday below.  She was not in a great mood that day! Most likely those stubborn teeth that just won't come in!  Things started out OK:

She was thinkin' the cake looked good, so why not go get some?  :)  Can we say determined????  And can you see why we thought she'd love her smash cake???

Not so happy that Jenny pulled her back!  :)

After she calmed down, we tried again with Daddy...

Nope....full blown melt down!  :P

Too funny!!!!

Tea Time...

Week 5 of the 52 Week project.  Theme was "My Favorite Color".  I honestly don't have one favorite color.  I think I love them all...and my faves waver from day to day...from soft and pastel to bright and bold.  However, blue has been a fairly constant fave for me.  Even had blue carpet when we lived in Tucson.  What was I thinking?  We also had blue and white flowered wallpaper and blue checked wallpaper for years....again...what was I thinking?  Better to use it as an accent.  I particularly love it with the soft yellow of my new kitchen.  Now, how do you like your tea?

This was not my first concept for this theme.  The plan was to photograph Hannah's amazing blue eyes.  I have a beautiful scarf I was going to drape around her on Grammy Day, but then she was sick and couldn't come.  Sigh....Really missed having her that day! 

He woke up this morning with bread head...

Ok....really not my typical shot, but it was for the challenge of "Faces in Places", a.k.a. "Pareidolia".  Yep...learned a new word and everything!  Pareidolia is the phenomenon of seeing some vague stimulus and perceiving it as something familiar...for instance, seeing animals or faces in the clouds.  I thought immediately of our toaster, as I've always seen a robotic face with cheery cheeks.  I decided to add the bread for some context and that gave birth to the silly title....which I personally believe is the best part of the photo.  lol.  Yeah...and would you believe this one hit Explore on Flickr?  Seriously?????  Musta been a REALLY boring photo day if this was top 500 for interesting! 

You've got mail...

Shot for the challenge of "second place".  Real mail has definitely taken a back seat to e-mail.  I love the speed of communication today, but kind of miss the feel of a hand written letter sometimes.  How about you? 

A bit of spring...

I bought some paperwhite bulbs from the boy next door for his school fund raiser.  And what do you know?  They actually bloomed.  So pretty....but they don't smell too great!  :) 

Girl talk...

Abigail can say a few words, but she thinks she can talk like Hannah.  She jabbers constantly and with the cutest inflection.  Occasionally we catch a real word, but most of it is still Abigail speak!  lol.  Loved catching this little moment between them yesterday.  And I like seeing the silly little details too, like the stamp on Hannah's hand (for going to sleep without playing at nap time) and the smiley sticker on the bear's ear (for helping me with my 52 weeks photo).  That's right...it's called bribery...and sometimes it works!  :)

Let me help you...

How sweet is this?  Abigail still needs a little help and Hannah was very willing.  I think we'll have a toddler any day now.  She stood up in the middle of the floor today with only a little push off on my leg, then she stood unassisted for about a minute (looking VERY proud of herself!).  Yep...I think it's coming soon and Jenny's life will never be the same! 

I just called to say I love you...

This was shot for week 4 of the 52 week project.  The theme was "My daily routine".  My every day life is not really very exciting (and I kinda like it that way), but something I look forward to every day is calling to talk to Hannah.  She's only just turned 3, but this girl can carry on a conversation!  lol.  In fact, she never stops talking!  She likes to tell me what she had for breakfast or lunch, if she's been making good choices...and yes...sometimes even about spankings.  :)  That little sing song voice is really the best part of my day!

I couldn't decide which version I liked better.  I haven't been that indecisive for a while, but this time it just wasn't clear to me.  I like 'em both.  lol.  I'm not sure it was the best choice for a background and I'm not completely crazy about the tree dividing the frame, but we had fun doing it anyway.  And I'm trying a different watermark after some Facebook feedback.  Definitely liking this better...less obtrusive, but hopefully enough to do the trick.  Comments or suggestions?

Twain had it right...

First things first...you'll notice there is a watermark on this photo.  I've been finding some of my photos used without permission for a while now and recently have confirmed unauthorized use on a couple of commercial sites.  I'm not sure how it's happening since I have disabled the download link on my flickr page.  I have however stupidly put a lot of my images here on the blog in full resolution (color me LAZY)!  Some of those photos are licensed with Getty Images, so it kinda "frosts" me that someone is using them for free when they are actually for sale.  I'm very on the fence about this whole watermark issue tho'.  I mean, what does it say about me?  That I think I'm such hot stuff, I assume people want to steal my work?  NOT the message I want to communicate!  And of course, there's the extra time it takes to apply a watermark and the issue of saving yet another copy of that photo on my hard drive.  I also dislike watermarks that distract from the image.  But, if the watermark is too unobtrusive (as I've tried before), people can just crop it out.  So, all that said.....Any opinions on watermarks in general, and specifically on a watermark like this??  I honestly don't know what I'm going to do long term.  Maybe it's best to just not worry about what I can't control anyway.

That said, I think I've been going through a creative slump lately.  I check the flickr challenges every day, but usually can't motivate myself to "go for it".  It's partly a time issue...but I've been lacking inspiration.  I think maybe 365 consecutive days of trying to be creative may have run the well dry.  lol.  At any rate, I've been working on Hannah's annual memory photo book and was out shooting random things like bricks, rocks, etc. to use as backgrounds for some of the pages.  Bokeh shots work really well as backgrounds too, so I intentionally shot out of focus and into the light to grab some soft bokeh.  Oddly, out of everything I shot that day, I liked this shot best.  I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but sometimes I enjoy seeing form and color without any particular definition.  To complete the image I searched for "focus" quotes and found Mark Twain's words.  Aren't they perfect for how I've been feeling?  Must work at depending less on the eyes and more on the imagination!  I do think that's where the magic happens.

Wild thing...

Here comes Abigail, lookin' like a wild thing in those zepra pants!  lol.  I love her curly tongue here...just like Hannah's!  She can't walk unassisted yet, but clearly wants to.  She can let go and stand for a moment on her own and she gets up on one foot and one knee while playing like she wants to stand up.  I don't think it will be long.  And then, watch out world!

She can fly!

Well, our generally cautious Hannah decided to take a little risk...after much coaxing.  She really worried about the first jump, but went back for more with real enthusiasm.  Love her!

Birthday blues...

Thought I would post a few of the photos from yesterday's collage individually, since they were too small to really see her expressions.  This is her first view of the cake.  "Wow...what's THAT?"  lol

She immediately went to touch it, got icing all over herself and got upset.  Such a surprise!  Really not a happy camper!

And this is my all-time fave.  What a face!  Don't you just want to hug her!!  And we did...right after the pic and a bath!  lol

BTW...you should have seen my living room for this little adventure.  It's too cold to shoot outside with no clothes on....so we moved our furniture all around and Jenny and I spent about 30 minutes draping the back of one of the sofas and our floor with a roll of plastic tablecloth material.  I cranked up ISO and shot as close to our skylights as possible. That's the redneck version of a photography studio!  :)    Wish I'd taken a pic of the set up...pretty funny.  TONS of blue masking tape.  But it worked!  This is also the first time I've added the rounded corners in PSE.  It was easy and I really like how it softened the overall "boxiness" of the collage.  I don't see myself using it a lot...but for this, I really liked the effect.  Oh ...and on the crying photo in the middle, I moved Abigail about 10 inches closer to the cake in post processing.  She was too far away in the original for a square crop.  So yay me for learning something new.  Pats self on back!  ha ha!  Of course, it would not have worked if it had not been a clean solid background.

Finally..Jenny assures me that Abigail went home and played quite happily that night.  She was not at all traumatized by her cake experience!  lol

Smash...

Yes, Abigail's birthday was 2 weeks ago, but we've been waiting and waiting for a sunny Grammy Day.  We finally got it today and we were SURE Abigail was going to love her smash cake.  She definitely "went for it", but discovered quickly that she's not too fond of icing that sticks to her hands.  Poor baby!  The things we make our children endure for a fun shot!  Bob told me today after the kids left that Abigail told him she didn't want to come back anymore.  lol.  At any rate, I had fun putting all this together.  It took me a LONG time tho'.   And by a "long time" I mean FOREVER!!!!  :)  And now, we are officially done celebrating Abigail's birthday! 

Look Ma....ONE tooth!

Look Ma....ONE tooth!  Wow....she may be ahead of where Hannah was in some developmental tasks, but she sure is behind on her teeth.  Imagine..one year old and only one tooth!  It's a shame, because this child LOVES LOVES LOVES to eat!  Hopefully, her other teeth aren't as hard to cut as this one was!

We've had a BUNCH of grey rainy days lately.  We needed the rain, but ugh....missing the sunshine!  On this day, Abigail was showing me how she can use her sippy cup by herself.  She would drink it, then reach to put it up on the table....and she thought that was totally hilarious!

Fresh encounter...

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. " (Matthew 11:28)

Shot for Week 2 of the 52 week project.  The theme was "fresh" with the idea of making a fresh resolution.  I was not really able to execute what was in my mind, but my resolution was "worry less, pray more".  I always walk away with a fresh perspective when I spend time with Him. 

A girl and her G-Pa....

So sweet!  Hannah is crazy about him!

Cruisin'....

Yep, she's cruising around the furniture now.  And she's trying to let go too, but isn't quite ready to walk yet.  Incidentally, this is all happening several months earlier than it did with Hannah.  It really makes a difference when you have a big sister to imitate!

And she does ADORE her big sister!

Fabulous four...

This was one of the shots I took for their Christmas cards.  Cute, huh?  And Abigail is really working it!!!  lol  (Thanks to Robin for letting us use her beautiful yard again!)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, precious, firstborn daughter!  I'm so proud of you!  You've grown into such a beautiful woman of God and are such a dedicated and loving mother.  I'm so thankful God brought you into our world!

Tomorrow...

LOVE LOVE this quote...so true!  I guess that's why I keep picking up my camera.  :)

And yes...I'm having a little too much fun with my little camera charm.  Can't help it.  It's just so darn photogenic! 

Everything that flickered...

“Everything that flickered could be made permanent. That was what drew him to photography, what made every painstaking step worth it: the permanence of the image. That was what fascinated him, the working against time...”  (Katie Roiphe)

Well, it's time for a new project!  I am so not up to doing another 365, so instead I'm going to try a 52 weeks project.  One photo a week...much more manageable and hopefully I can feel a little more inspired for each image.  Time will tell.  There are a few 52 weeks projects on Flickr and I haven't decided yet if I will commit to one specific group or if I'll pick and choose each week.   Some weeks I may just want to do my own thing.  Again...time will tell.

At any rate, this week I used the My Four Hens group theme of "time".  There are some amazing photographers in that group...very inspiring...and lots of family images with children, which is what I love.  Check it out.  http://www.flickr.com/groups/m4h/ 
And hey...you might even want to join in the fun and contribute your own pics!

In search of the light...

What do you do when skies are grey and it's too cold to shoot outside?  Throw open the front door, crank up the ISO, and try to focus on those cute little faces instead of all the noise.  So so grateful for our little pink blessings!

Reality 101...

Every once in a while, I have visions of grandeur and fancy myself a "real photographer".  Ha ha!!!! Like on this day....my dream plan was to capture the perfect last monkey shot with Abigail.  Somehow I imagined that Grey skies + home with no studio lighting + Camera that doesn't perform too well with high ISO + wiggly 1 year old who kept trying to throw herself off the sofa covered in fabric = perfect birthday portrait. Ha ha! Seriously...what was I thinking?

Fantasies are fun, but reality makes me laugh. In the end, this is probably better. It's not my best technical work, but it is SOOO Abigail...our determined, excitable, FUNNY monkey. Happy Birthday, "AbbiGirl"! Can't wait to see how you'll change over the next year!

Welcome Committee Kitty...

This is Abby.  She was my favorite....so sweet and calm with the most beautiful markings.  She actually reminds me a lot of Kara's cat, except for her big white "bib".  What a beauty!

Over and under and in between...

This is Albert.  He was probably the most playful.  He was EVERYWHERE, including in and out of their little Christmas tree.  lol

Fun detour...

After returning the lens, Kara needed to mail a package.  There was a UPS store in the same parking lot and next door to that was a veterinary clinic...with a cat in the window.  We can never pass up an opportunity to make friends with a cat, so we stepped inside.  There were fortunately no clients in the waiting room and the receptionist didn't mind having us there. 
There was plenty of light and my camera was in the car...so I decided to be brave and ask if I could take some pictures.  We were amused that every time we turned around another cat appeared.  There were SIX in all....four that regularly live in the clinic and 2 who were visiting temporarily.  Some were camera shy...but not this guy.  Meet Oliver.  He was a feisty one and oh so SUPERIOR!  My fave is the bottom shot, but I also really like the top. 

A woman's work is never done...

The camera store is near Jenny and Nathan's, so we stopped at their place on the way to take a few pics of Hannah with her Christmas present.    We got her a little vintage play kitchen and Nathan put it together Christmas night.  She LOVES it.

Time to cut the carrots!  Yep, a woman's work is never done!

Dinner is served!

The girl in the red coat...

 
 Roads were a little dicey in Plano near the camera store the day after Christmas, so I decided to keep the lens  one extra day.  Kara was nice enough to model for me, even tho' it was still REALLY cold! 

Looks like snow...feels like snow....by golly, it actually IS snow!!!  Is there anything prettier than the contrast of red against really clean, white snow? 

White Christmas...

It was very cool to have snow on Christmas day!  Hannah didn't have gloves with her, so Bob built her a little snowman.  :)  It was too late when they got home that day to build one at her house and she was very disappointed that the snow was too powdery the next day for snowman building.  :(