Simple gifts...

"For you, Grammy"...

"You can do it!"

We had a challenge of "Jump" this week, so of course I wanted Hannah to be my model.  she was very happy to jump off the low end of the wall, but when I walked her to the taller end, she panicked.  Oh well....baby steps, right?  I wish it was more evident that her feet are both off the ground, but if you check out her shadow you can see the "air" beneath her feet.  And this is about my speed for an action shot!  :)

Do you like my necklace? Taste it and see...

I've been wanting to do this with Hannah for a while.  Really wasn't sure if she was ready, but she definitely was.  She had no trouble with the hand coordination and it held her interest for a LONG time.  She was so cute at the beginning when we explained what she was going to do. She was stringing her Froot Loops saying, "I really don't get this".  The notion of making jewelry out of cereal IS a little odd....But she definitely admired the end result....and hey...it will make a good snack later!  :)

Two little monkeys...

These are not little girls, they are monkeys...especially the little one on the left with leaves in both hands.  Classic Abigail....she carries something in both hands everywhere she goes, which makes it challenging to learn to walk.  But she did it.  Saw her take 11 steps today!  

"Aunt" Jean bought them these adorable hats for their birthdays.  Thanks Jean!!!!  Abigail giggles when she sees hers and Hannah was very happy to model for their pic.  :)

"Little things"...

Week 9 of the 52 Week Project.  The theme is "white".  I can't help focusing on the little things, like a dimpled hand or those cute little dangling feet.  And I try not to blink, because I know how quickly they disappear.

I love color, so I'm not too likely to do a shot with this little contrast unless it's for a challenge.  It's good for me tho'...working to get all the subtle shadings of white on white.  I really like how the shower curtain shows those gentle ripples...and the subtle reflections on the toilet.  I even like all the leading lines (dots) on the foot stool.  I kept thinking I wanted to do this in color, because Hannah's stripey pants were so cute.  But all those subtleties were lost.  Go figure!

Sew, a needle pulling thread ♪ ♫ ♪ ...

Shot for the challenge of "macro of anything".  I've been longing for some spring color.  It's warming up out there, but nothing blooming yet...at least not around our house.  So, I gathered some of my favorite spring colors from inside the house!  :)

A is for Appeal...

 

Back in the day, long before email (yes, I am old), my father was frequently frustrated by my oldest sister who rarely wrote home. And by "rarely" I mean "NEVER". Dad used to send her cheeky little letters with crude drawings and simple messages..."This is a pen...This is paper....This is a stamp...WRITE, WRITE, WRITE".

So this is in memory of him. I miss him!

Bokeh baby...

Had to get one of these shots in before Abigail is too heavy to hold up high.  She's gaining fast now that she's on whole milk.  :)

Whooooo's the cutest?

Love their little owl shirts.  They were having fun watching G-Pa.  Abigail was in rare form on this day.  BIG FAKE BELLY LAUGHS.  All. Day. Long.  I have no idea what she thought was so funny, but it sure was cute! 

Double trouble...

Abigail and Hannah's first "duet".  Hopefully, we'll see more of this in the future when they both really learn to play.  I was not able to capture exactly what I wanted here.  It was harder than I expected.  This was the only shot where you could see both girl's clearly.  Ahhh...a shot to try on another day.  At any rate, they enjoyed playing...so much so that Abigail cruised up to the piano later and tried to reach to play (from standing).  She got really frustrated that she couldn't reach very well.  Had to give her a second go on the bench.  lol

Discovery...

Really poor quality (low light)...but so funny.  Abigail discovered her belly button this week!

The power of the word...

This was shot for week 8 of the 52 week project.  I actually got inspired to shoot it early this week, which is interesting since the theme was "So Inspired".  Usually I'm scrambling to come up with something on the last day.  I shot this because I am a lover of words.  They move me deeply.  I can't even read a novel without writing down well crafted phrases that captivate me.  Certain words inspire me to change and these are some of my favorites.  Amazing how significant and profound one word can be.

Finally, meet Qwerty, my "new" vintage typewriter.  I expect you'll see him again!  I've wanted one of these for ages and finally happened on one yesterday.  Clearly, I wasted no time in using him for a challenge.

College bound...

My student asked me tonight if I could take a quick head shot of her for her senior bio at school.  We stepped outside and took 5 quick frames.  EVERY one was as beautiful as this.  Seriously...the girl was not even trying.   Life is not fair!  lol

She's wearing her purple because she's TCU bound.  This girl bleeds purples (along with every other member of her family).  She told me today that she wants me to take her senior pictures.  Can't wait!

Veggie Tale girl...

Usually Hannah and Abigail come to our house to play, but on this day I went to their place.   Nathan has been sick for almost 3 weeks.  So SAD about this!  We thought Jenny would enjoy some babysitting so she could get a few things done.  Hannah had a blast showing me every toy she owns :)  and I watched Abigail take 5 steps unassisted for the very first time.  :)  Just before nap time, Jenny let Hannah watch a Veggie Tales video about Daniel and the lions.  This is just a snap, but I  thought it was cute to see even Abigail paying attention.  She was dancing to all the songs!  :) 

Please pray for Nathan! 

"You can observe a lot by just watching"...

Love that quote by Yogi Berra.  Too funny!  And it was made for Hannah who is always in the mood to observe.  In this case, she was watching her G-Pa do yard work.  The child notices EVERYTHING and I love that about her.  And oh yeah...she learned a new word last week...."Why?".  Fun times....and it's challenging us to think!  :)

I usually avoid shots like this because it's almost impossible not to blow out all the highlights.  But I've been inspired by some photos in my 52 weeks group and decided to experiment.  I shot at all different exposures...even tried layers in post process.  I actually was able to achieve a pic that was properly exposed indoors and outdoors that way.  But, surprise...I actually wound up liking this blown out version the best.  I love how the light wraps around her ...can't you just imagine what it feels like?  So.....I'm gonna try to get out of my box more often and experiment with unconventional light.  Let the fun begin!

Eye wonder...

I wonder what color her eyes will be.  Almost 13 mo. old and it's still a bit of a mystery.  They are a darker version of mine right now, including the brown around the pupil.  I also see shades of Jenny's greenish eyes outlined in dark blue.  I just recently finished Abigail's 1 year photo memory book and it was interested to watch her eye color change over the year.  It seems like she's old enough that they would not change, but I swear to you that Kara was about 4 years old when I suddenly realized her eyes were no longer blue...they were hazel.  I'm not exactly sure when they changed, but she was a lot older than this.  I love how God creates us so individually.  There is not one trace of any color but blue in Hannah's eyes...but Abigail's are so multicolored.  Guess that's what happens when your mama has greenish blue eyes and your daddy has very brown eyes.  Cool!

Love lines...

Week 7 of the 52 Weeks Project.  Time's flyin', right?  The theme was "Composed".  I don't know that I love it, but I simply ran out of time to try to execute any of my other ideas.  Maybe I can do some experimenting next week even tho' this theme has passed.  We'll see.  At any rate.  Happy Heart Day!

Models have rights too...

I really want to take natural portraits...so, if it's not a candid, I try to let Hannah make choices about what she wants to do.  There are days when our conversation might go like this:

Hannah:  I'm not going to look at you.
Me:  OK
Hannah:  I'm not going to cooperate.
Me:  Aww....really?
Hannah:  Nope, I'm not going to smile.
Me:  That's OK.  I don't really want you to smile.  Can you just look out the window? :)

Can you tell she's learning to assert herself?  That's OK.  I'm trying to make it fun by listening to her and not frustrating her.  Of course, we DO try lots of silly things to get her attention or make her laugh.  But it's OK with me if she doesn't smile.  The smiley shots are fun (if they're not cheesy)...but I love serious shots of kids too.  So go ahead Hannah...YOU choose!  Either way, thanks for letting me capture memories of you at this sweet age!  And yes, you may have a sticker!  :)

It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to...

Still trying to catch up from Abigail's birthday last month.  Really old snapshots....none of them very good, but I still think they're funny!

 

I love Hannah decked out in her 15 necklaces.  She wears those plus G-Pa's old watch on one arm and the Baylor jingle bell on the other arm.  It's quite a sight and it makes some real good noise when she walks around the house.  :)  I think she needs a tiara.  

All is well until....

"She took my book!!!!"....I am the little sister, so I love this one  :)

Future drama queen...

 

All the drama is already forgotten.  I love how kids can throw a fit and get over it so quickly.  Why don't adults do that?  :)

Smitten...

I didn't take this photo.  It's the work of a pro photographer  http://www.amysmithphotog.com/index2.php   during the Daddy/Daughter Date night at Chick-Fil-A.  I think it's adorable, so I'm sharing for my mom to see.  What a great dad to not only do the daddy/daughter date thing, but also dress up in a feather boa!  Hannah's shirt says it all, doesn't it?  We love Nathan!

The gallery...

I finally decided what I wanted to do with the walls in our family room following the remodel.  Hey...it only took five months!  :)   I was pretty sure I wanted to do a gallery wall, but which photos to choose?  As you can imagine, there are hundreds. I decided to focus on candids that showed people connecting.  For now, they're mostly Hannah shots, but as Abigail gets older, we'll switch some of them for photos of her.

Close up of same wall.  I love the words.  They are vinyl and were really easy to apply.  And the great thing is that I can remove them very easily as they simply rub off.  I don't know that any of this is the perfect arrangement, but I'm happy with it.  Love being able to see our "babies" when I'm relaxing in our favorite room.

One final view.  I bought the white mantle shelf from a carpenter on Etsy. Thought he did a really good job and he matched our paint formula from our wood trim.  It's weird (and kinda great) having things on the wall after such a long time.  I should mention that the only reason I got this done when I did was because our contractor was sending his photographer out to take pictures for his website.  Ha ha!  It helps to have a little motivation!  Can't wait to see what she shot.  We're supposed to get photos and a video at some point, so stay tuned!

Tickled pink...

I pulled this flower out of the closet today and showed Hannah a photo of herself as a baby where we used the same flower as a prop.  She thought that was SOOOOO funny!  Love her!

Some might call it cheating...

but I choose to call it "being creative".  After all, how often do we get real snow here??  I kinda think this fake snow texture works.  What about you?  Her expression just seemed to scream for it.  :)

Joy...

A very different mood from yesterday's shot.  Do you have a fave?  I love them both!

Into the deep...

I ♥ those thoughtful baby blues and that soft creamy skin. 

I ♥ Candlelight...

 "Every moment of light and darkness is a miracle."  Walt Whitman

Week 6 of the 52 week project.  Theme was light.  No time to experiment with light as I wanted to during the day this week.  Had to resort to creating my own light at night.  I do love dancing candlelight...and how every frame I downloaded was unique and different. 

Hope...

No time to shoot when the light was good this week...but I did catch this one moment of drama in the clouds.  Love the light.  And the quote is one of my all time faves.