Seriously...this is INSANELY cute!

I read a lot of photography blogs (in addition to many other types of blogs). This particular photographer takes absolutely amazing baby pictures. I mean, just look at this photo! Don't you just want to take them home?

However, what I want to know is how in the heck she gets so many amazing pictures of diaperless babies. I mean, that has to be a very messy photography set.

Do they get the kids asleep while they don't have any clothes on, and then take pictures? Or do you take off their clothes after they are asleep, but without waking them? Whatever she is doing...she is GOOD.

I guess I probably could just ask her and satisfy my curiosity.. stay tuned..




EDITED: I got a response from the photographer. She takes off the clothes and diaper and then swaddles the child. Once they fall asleep, she carefully pulls back the blanket. I am sure this can be a frustrating venture! I give BIG time KUDOS to this photographer for her patience and determination. I am sure she has had many attempts that turned out....shall we say....messy.

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Skywatch Friday! (and some photography chat..)

This skywatch picture was taken in a "sort of dangerous" way. I was driving to the big Burgh Mom get-together last Friday. The sky looked pretty cool so I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. Now, since I was driving, at about 70 mph, I really couldn't look through the viewfinder, so I just held the camera with one hand and the steering wheel with the other. Don't worry, there was NO traffic whatsover at this point.

I also did some Photoshopping of this picture as well. I found a tutorial that teaches how to do an HDR effect. I was just playing around, but was really pleased at how well this picture was improved. The SOOC (straight out of the camera) shot was very very "OK". This version looked so much more interesting to me.

Now, coincidentally, Digital Photography School's weekly assignment is "From the Hip". "From the Hip" means taking pictures without first composing it through the viewfinder or LCD. So I just had to enter this picture. Not that I will win. There are so many excellent and professional photographers that my chances are nil. But it is very fun to participate each week and you do learn a lot, both from participating and from viewing everyone else' entry.

Skywatch Friday is hosted by Wiggers World!

Have a great weekend!!!

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Well, there goes the neighborhood...

And I am not even kidding. When we built our house here 7 years ago, it was such a nice little neighborhood. We live in a small development with about 12 or so homes. It is a wooded neighborhood with 2 beautiful log homes, a few ranches and a few 2 story homes. Everyone took really good care of their yards and everyone was very friendly.

But then things changed.

Our next door neighbors moved. They were young, very friendly, had 2 little boys, and turned their tiny ranch house into a really pretty little lot. They added tons of bushes, flowers and perennials. They built a nice sized deck complete with built-in flower boxes. They put in new doors and windows.

And then they moved.

And a new neighbor moved in.

She doesn't have, shall we say, a green thumb at all. She literally NEVER cuts her grass. It gets so bad that my husband will cut it when she isn't home. And, as you can imagine, she has not even touched any of the bushes, perennials or flowers so they are completely overgrown. She actually doesn't even care that my hubby is cutting her grass, she usually thanks us when she sees us and makes an excuse about why she hasn't gotten to it. And her little sunroom off the back of her house? It is filled to the ceiling with junk and garbage and boxes.

Now she does have a disabled little boy, but she has him every other week and she has outside interests like her pool league. So I am thinking she probably just doesn't care and want to make time for yard work. And, unfortunately, it just really drags down our previously pretty little neighborhood.

Then there is the house across the street.

It is a gorgeous log home. The couple that lived there when we moved in were the ones that built it. The lady literally picked out each and every log! She did tons of landscaping. She added three beautiful ponds. She added two decks and a hot tub. She added a bunch of perennial gardens. She and her husband used to literally be out there every day doing yard work.

And then they moved.

And a new neighbor moved in.

Now this log house was fairly pricey for our neck of the woods, but new owners apparently got an inheritance so they could afford to buy it with cash. The couple is fairly young and just had a baby this winter.

But they also lack any desire to work on their yard. They have yet to cut their lawn or do any yard work whatsoever. There are sticks, leaves, weeds etc. everywhere. Everything is messy and overgrown. And I am wondering if they are the type of people who don't really appreciate the money they received because they didn't work for it. Unfortunately, sometimes that happens. Here is a glimpse of their 'curb appeal' :


And, the best thing of all about these new neighbors? They took their garbage to the curb a month ago.

And it is still there.

Can you say "Maggots?". YUCK. That garbage has to filled with things I don't even want to try to imagine. I don't know if they think the garbage fairy is going to show up and take care of it, but we, and the rest of the neighborhood, are getting a bit sick of it.

Anyway, it is a frustrating situation because we really aren't sure if there anything we can do about it. I know that is the chance you take when you live somewhere with nearby neighbors.

However, there is a small clause in our neighborhood deeds that state that "the lot shall at all times be neatly maintained and trimmed and no dumping of garbage is permitted." I am not sure how, or if, this can be enforced, but I am definitely looking into it. But my husband is also afraid of causing animosity which could make life in our world a little difficult.

Now I do not want to sound like a snob, or a nit picky neighbor. And maybe these people have a very good explanation on why they don't seem interested in any maintenance. And maybe their new baby is causing problems and they just can't afford to get their garbage picked up. So I may be eating my words soon and feeling really bad that I even complained. But it is just a little frustrating when such a gorgeous neighborhood, that others worked so hard to make that way, is being completely neglected.

So I am just venting and hope there is a good explanation for all this.

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Whew! What a weekend!

I am just beat. It was a crazy, but fun, Memorial Day weekend.

On Saturday, we spent the day/evening at my in-law's cottage on the river. The kiddos love the cottage. The cottage itself is pretty much, just a cottage, but the river is so pretty and quiet. And the kids just run, and play, and just, well, be kids!


Kallie, enjoyed some fishing with Daddy...


...and a healthy dinner consisting of BBQ potato chips with a side of marshmallows. She only had a slight melt-down when I told her that a half a bag of marshmallows was quite enough. I am sorry, but this photo just captured her "It is late, I am tired, I have only eaten junk" mood to the T.


Sunday we were off and drove an hour north to my family's for another picnic. The weather was gorgeous and the kids again just ran and ran and had a blast. I swear they ate their hot dogs while continuing a freeze tag marathon. Kallie ate 3 popsicles and some chips.

And then today.

It was back to the cottage for yet another picnic.

Today was calmer. The kids seemed a bit more subdued, maybe due to just end of the weekend tiredness.

Cousin Brea just hung out and enjoyed the view of the river off the deck.


Eric and I went on a 4-wheeler ride and I took a few pictures along the path. Nothing breathtaking, but the ride was nice.


Christina climbed trees, chased frogs and fell in the river a couple times.


And Kallie - yet again - ate a healthy meal which, this time, consisted of one package of Necco Wafers (yuck). Luckily, today there were no major meltdowns.


Early afternoon, I took Kallie and Caroline and left the cottage so they could take a good nap at home (they needed it) and I could just get home.

After they were tucked in, I got on the couch and was asleep in 1.2 seconds. Eric and Christina rolled in, dirty and tired, a few hours later.

It was such a long weekend and I am really looking forward to things getting back to normal.

And this week we are going to start "Operation Kallie". If you noticed a trend from this story, Kallie is probably the absolute worst eater EVER. She won't eat even the typical kid foods of hot dogs, hamburgers or french fries! Seriously.

She eats pb&j. Sometimes.

She drinks milk.

She will occasionally eat a waffle or toast.

Oh, and yogurt. That is IT.

Of course, if she had her druthers, her list of preferred foods would also include cookies, ice cream, chips, candy and, of course, marshmallows.

So my plan is to rid the house of any and all junk food (and honestly, I don't even buy that much), and fill it only with fruits, healthy cereals and snacks. I am hoping, if enough options are removed, that her only recourse is going to be to actually eat real food.

Wish me luck.. I'm gonna need it....

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Real live bloggers!!!!

Yes, I met real live bloggers yesterday at the Pittsburgh "Burgh Mom" get together. We all met up for some good food, good drinks, HUGE desserts and lots-o-fun!!!

I am not officially a "Burgh Mom" but I am not THAT far from the burgh, and I spent quite a few years living in the burgh, so maybe they would make an exception.

I often miss living in the "city" and a night out with someone other than my husband pretty much never happens. I also was able to sneak in a trip to the mall for some summertime shopping and made a day out it. Which was a definite bonus.

It was a great time . Some of the bloggers I knew, some were new to me, but all were incredible nice, funny and sweet. We had representations from all ages - from early 20's to 40's - some working moms, some SAHMS, some married, some not. Everyone fit in and everyone seemed to have a great time! I know I did!


The wonderful Burgh Moms are (left to right):

Jen from Jayesel

Karen from the Rocking Pony.

Gina from My very last nerve. Gina actually brought everyone gift bags! How sweet it that? Except for the fact that she made the rest of us look bad! (just kidding!)

Kim from Three Dogs and a Baby.

Michelle from The Burgh Baby (who also was the brains and the brawn behind this whole get-together...THANKS!)

Allison from Allison Says.

Yours truly.

And last but definitely not least -

Susan from the One Woman Show.

Seriously. What a great bunch of ladies. Thanks all for letting this "non-burgher" join in the fun.

Anyway, it was a long drive home, and I am not used to being up much past 10:00, but I called my husband and the chatting helped keep me awake.

Everything seemed OK at home. It is not often my husband is solely responsible for getting all 3 kids in bed. Everyone was tucked in bed sound asleep with only a few minor issues:

1. Caroline was put to sleep in her clothes.

2. Apparently a small tornado had gone through our family room.

3. And the kids bedtime was pushed back an hour or so. Dear hubby claims "is no big deal" when the kids stay up late EXCEPT it is sort of a "big deal" because of the fact that no matter how late the kids go to bed, they will wake at 7 a.m on the dot which means cranky kids, fighting kids and just a lot more drama. Ugh.

Oh well, it was definitely worth it and I hope we can do that again. Maybe a little more north next time?

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Global Warming?

Seriously. If there really is global warming, it seems to have missed our little piece of the world. We are on the brink of Memorial Day weekend and it is 45 degrees, drizzling and we have our woodstove cranked up! Crazy! And it has been like this all week. This is just not right.

I don't really doubt that there is global warming, but I always take the doom and gloom news with a HUGE grain of salt. Only a couple years ago they were claiming that global warming will result in more frequent and more devastating hurricanes (like the Katrina season). Now some scientists are doing a complete 180 and think global warming will cause less hurricanes. So what should you believe?

What about all the other potential tragedies that they experts and media have tried to scare the H$LL out of us about? Like SARS? Like the bird flu? Now it is the honey bees. I never know what to believe and when it truly is time to panic. And what good is panic going to do anyway.

Honestly, I don't watch the news very often because it is just too depressing. I keep up with world events by reading online, but I don't overwhelm and submerge myself in all the horrors of the world. There is too much. It is too sad. And it only serves to depress me and adversely affects my ability to sleep at night and be a good and happy mother in the morning. And there is only so much I can do about it.

Anyway, on the local front....

The weekend looks good so far. I think Monday it may hit 80 which will feel quite incredible to us. I think we are also going to have big, bright sunny skies all weekend. So maybe I can actually get outside and start some landscaping work. I seriously have done very little. But the weather really has not cooperated. I just can't wait to get my hands dirty and have it feel like summer is almost here!

Yesterday my kiddos still went out to play despite the almost-winter temps. They ran around, blew bubbles and just had a great ole time. Although their fingers were literally frozen when they were done!

And here are a few pics of course.....




Have a good one!

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Did you know we have an indoor pool?

No? Me neither.

But according to Kallie, we have a pool that pretty much runs throughout our house.

Kallie has an incredible imagination. She plays with dolls, Barbies and her Polly Pocket Ariel doll all the time. They talk to each other, they dance, and of course, they swim. Christina was never like this. She played a little with dolls, but was always more into dancing and crafts and just running around outside.

Kallie also talks non-stop about the bear in our backyard. She yells at me when I take my rugs outside to shake because:

"YOU ARE GOING TO WAKE UP THE BEAR!!! SHHH! THE BEAR IS SLEEPING IN DA WOODS!"

We moved her room around this weekend, but had to move it back last night after 3 days of insisting that she is too close to the window and -

"THE BEAR WILL SEE ME!"

And then there are the times when she runs lap upon lap upon lap around the house shouting:

"THE BEAR'S GONNA GET ME!"

And of course, she still loves to don her tutu or princess dress while holding her magic wand declaring -

"BIBBIDY BOBBIDY BOO!".

And back to our "pool".

One of Kallie's favorite activities is to swim throughout our entire downstairs. She will literally spend hours swimming on the floor and on our couch. Her "swimming" is actually a tummy crawl thing. She slithers around on her tummy, wearing only a onesie (her swimsuit, of course) while declaring -

"LOOK MOMMY - I AM SWIMMING!!!"



Who needs hundreds of dollars in expensive toys? An imagination is so much more fun anyway!

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What's new?

My header is new! But I actually had no intentions of changing my header today.

However, once in a blue moon, I get the inkling to change my blog around. I should just walk away. I should remember that I can never conduct a complete overhaul of my blog without huge problems and lots of frustration.

But, today I was looking at a website with free templates so I took the plunge and tried to download one. It worked.....sort of.

Except I lost a bunch of stuff from my sidebar. I guess they are technically called "widgets".

And except my header photo got all goofed up and I couldn't fix it.

So I decided to just forget it. And I was smart. I did save my old template. But when I went to upload it, the header was gone. Why? I have no idea. And I didn't have it saved anywhere that I could find, so I spent way too much time today re-doing the whole thing. But I like it. I think.

Next topic....

We are quickly approaching Memorial Day weekend! Can you believe it? Christina has less than 3 weeks of school and Caroline's last day is tomorrow. Our big beach vacation is only 6 weeks away! I guess with the colder weather we have been having, it really just doesn't seem like summer is around the corner. But this weekend looks good.

My in-laws have a little cottage on the local river so we are planning on spending one day this weekend out there. I am really looking forward to taking pictures down at the river this summer. We see a lot of Osprey and the occasional Bald Eagle and, hopefully, I can try to get a shot of one of those magnificent birds.

And then it is Indy weekend. And my hubby is an Indy car FAN-atic, so Sunday will be spent in front of the TV whether I want to or not.

You know, sometimes during the year, I really miss some aspects of living near a bigger city. I miss the shopping, I miss having options for indoor activities.

However, when summertime hits, there is nowhere I would rather be. Seriously. It is beautiful around here and there is so much to do if you like active outdoorsy things and don't want to bother with crowds. I mean, how cool is it to have views like this literally in your backyard!


Have a good one!

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Snapshot Sunday!

We didn't do a lot this weekend - it was pretty cool and wet. We pretty much just hung around the house and did some spring cleaning. Not that exciting.

We have a bird feeder in our front yard and I noticed some Indigo Buntings in it yesterday. I love these birds. Their color is gorgeous. I was inside the front door, and I zoomed in as much as I could and then cropped this picture. The quality up close isn't perfect, but it was the best I could get. I knew if I opened the door and attempt to get a bit closer, they would be gone.


We had a good rainstorm late yesterday afternoon. It was one of those nice rains when everything is in bloom and the colors outside become amazingly vibrant. After dinner, the rain stopped and the sun started peaking through the woods in the backyard. The wet leaves against the dark bark looked incredible. I tried to capture it with my camera. Not sure if I did, but I still like this picture.


Until next time!

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Babies, babies, everywhere!

It is that time of year! BABY time!!!

NO - not for me thankyouverymuch.

Three little babies are quite enough right now. Especially when the almost 3 yo has been suffering with a cold and has been just a tad bit, shall we say, demanding lately.

So this morning is my morning off. My hubby took a 1/2 day vacation this week to turkey hunt, and I thought I would take a 1/2 day off myself. My MIL is watching my little ones this morning.

And my hubby kept asking me last night, perplexed, what are you doing tomorrow? Why is my mom taking the kids? Because I don't get vacation days dear. And I just want to do...whatever I want to do!

Obviously, my kiddos are my life. But it is really nice to have a few hours of time off once in a while. ...
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Oops, sorry, I was just sitting here in the absolute quiet marveling at the realization that no one has asked me for chocamilk or gogurt or go-fish yet!

This feels strange folks!

But don't get me wrong. I know they are little for such a short time. And before I know it they will be gone. And that is part of the reason why I stay home with them - I don't want to miss a minute.

Except today. Today I will miss a few minutes (OK, hours).

Next topic.....

This week I was lucky enough to observe some springtime babies!

The geese have their goslings. Kallie and I went to lake to watch them. They weren't too happy about us showing up, and those geese definitely gave us what for. But Kallie just squealed in delight watching them swimming around. The goslings were so cute.

And I also was able to observe a mother Killdeer protecting her eggs. These birds build nests in the gravel. This particular Killdeer decided a gravel parking lot would be a great first home her family. Yeah, I am thinking Killdeer aren't the smartest birds on the block.


Luckily, someone found the nest and has put up barriers to prevent their certain demise. But she is a fiesty one. I actually didn't notice her and her nest until she started giving me "what for" for coming too close. Luckily I had my new lens on my camera so I could zoom in for a shot.

I just marvel at how fiercely protective ALL mothers are of their babies. It is amazing.

And then there are my babies. My oldest baby is getting so big! And loves to be my model. I was talking to her yesterday as she was standing by the back door. The light coming in the door looked so pretty on her face so I got my camera. And this is the pose she gave me.


Seriously, who does she think she is? America's Next Top Model? I am not kidding, this girl knows how to "strike a pose".

And Caroline. She is back to horseback riding every Thursday night! There is a local facility that offers therapeutic horseback riding for disabled people. It is fantastic. She actually rides a donkey, but Betsy (her donkey) is absolutely the sweetest and most gentle animal ever. She really knows who she is carrying.


And the riding is such great therapy for her. It really helps with her trunk control. Last night she wasn't too happy about being outside though, it was a little chilly and quite windy.

And Kallie. She is crazy as ever. Her new thing is to call everyone "difficult". I wonder where she learned that from. OK, probably, me. But this cold has definitely made her a little more difficult than usual. But that's OK.

But soon enough, all our babies will spread their wings and fly away.

And I will sit here at my computer, in the silence, and just ache for the days when "Gogurts!" "Chocamilk!" and "Go-fish!" were constantly in demand.

Well, on that sad note, have a great weekend!

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They may be weeds from a neighbor's lawn....

but to my kiddos, they are a beautiful bouquet of flowers picked just for me!


And I think they look beautiful in the late evening sun!

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A Tuesday trip around my neighborhood!

Yesterday it was cold, wet and rainy. Yuck. It was May 12th and we had the woodstove going most of the day! How crazy is that?

Actually, it wasn't outrageously cold for this time of year, but isn't it funny how when you add an all day drizzle to the mix, you just feel chilled to the bone!?

But I still wanted to get out and take a little walk. So Kallie, Caroline and I took a quick trip around the block and a quick walk around our yard.

We found some beautiful yellow tulips about to bloom at one neighbor's. With the raindrops and overcast sky, the colors were just gorgeous!


We also saw a beautiful bush of some sort (I don't know what it is) in a neighbor's yard - maybe a dogwood-type bush? Is there such a thing?



And I looked over the storm damage from the Mother's Day. We didn't really have a STORM storm, but it was extremely windy and we had a few small trees and a LOT of branches come down in our yard. Like this little maple that crashed down across our backyard. Thank GOD the kiddos weren't out running around!


I also observed a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak in our feeder. This is a female. The male is black and white with a red breast.


It was hilarious watching her because she would not let the male bird anywhere near the feeder. He would inch across the deck railing, hoping to get a little tidbit of sorts, and she would just nip at him and throw a big fuss anytime he came near her. She is a feisty one!

He doesn't have a chance. Poor guy.

And lastly, we have Kallie. She got her little bike out and rode up and down the sidewalk one time before she insisted we go back inside. Too cold for her today!



Have a good one!

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Monday Montage

This post is a mish-mash of all my weekend happenings. It was a fairly nice weekend, but it was emotionally all over the board:

Happy

Well, it was a very happy Mother's Day. I had my family down for a get together. We whipped up margaritas, my mom brought all the old Mother's Days cards my sister and I gave her. She read them all and we laughed a lot.

My Christina made me about 10 cards and had a bunch of gifts she made me at school. She was so excited and proud of herself. It was incredibly sweet.

Scary

Saturday night I was tossing and turning and not sleeping when I heard something walking on our deck right below our bedroom window. I jumped up, hit the flood lights (we have a switch in our room) and there he was.

Mr. Bear.

That SOB was trying to pull down my brand new Oriole bird feeder! I woke up hubby, he jumped up looked out and whistled at the bear. Mr. Bear ran down our steps and to the back of our yard. Where he stopped, looked around and ambled away to the next neighbor's yard.

It was the first time I have seen a bear in the wild. Pretty cool in that respect. But now we have to bring in our feeder every night. What a PAIN.

Infuriating

This emotion was courtesy of hubby. He is a turkey hunter. Turkey hunters, if you don't know, must get up before the crack of the dawn so they can be in the woods at the crack of dawn. And you can hunt only until noon.

But we had a busy weekend planned. On Saturday, I told him I really wanted him to be home by 10:00. We had a b-day party that day and the Mother's Day get-together the next. I needed to do a lot of shopping, cleaning etc. And he said that was fine.

So at 10:00 I was ready to go. But no hubby. 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00.

At 12:15 he rolls in and apologizes profusely.

"We were going in on a bird, it took longer than we thought..blah blah blah...."

Whatever.

And then later that night, we watched a movie and I was thinking of starting another one - it was only 10:30 - and he said, bleary-eyed, it is bedtime. But it is early, I said. And he starts getting cranky and claiming we always go to bed at 10:30. blah blah blah...No, only during the week. We usually stay up a big longer on the weekend...EXCEPT WHEN YOU WERE UP AT 4 AM FOR THOSE DAMN TURKEYS.

Whatever.

I hate turkey season.

And lastly -

Sadness

Or should I say melancholy? One of the gifts my Christina made me at school was this pillow. She gave it to me when I woke up. I was so tired that morning (because of being up with that damn bear) and then I couldn't sleep in because my hubby was still comatose (because of recovering from his damn turkey hunting). So I was a bit more emotional in the morning.

But this little gift touched me because it just smacked me in the face with the fact that my sweet little girls are growing up so fast.



Yeah, tears were flowing.

And I probably need to stop being so angry about things like my husband and his damn turkey, and just enjoy each day a little bit more.


But I still hate turkey season.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!

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Our sweet Caroline

I was pretty excited to get some really sweet pictures of our little Caroline. Since she is our special little girl, and we can't tell her to "Stand here!", "Sit here", "Smile!", it is hard to get good pictures. And she isn't mobile, so I am not snapping pictures of her running around being a typical crazy kid.

So, unfortunately, she is often left out of my photo sessions. Bad mom.

But today I actually got some good shots! It only took about 100 shots, but here a few sweet ones:




I can't decide which one I like the best.

And here is what my crazy "almost 3" year was doing in the meantime:


Yeah, I think that hair needs some attention...

Have a great weekend!

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Skywatch Friday!

It is still Thursday here, but I wanted to get my Skywatch Friday photo up. Not really a huge favorite of mine, but it was taken last weekend. We are finally seeing green hills along with our bright blue skies! I would have included more of the green hills, but there was a parking lot in my way! Oh well.

Skywatch is being hosted by Wiggers World!

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The unabashed love of Daddy's girl

Who is coming....????


RUN!!!!!!


It is DADDY!!!!


So sweet, but isn't it also sad how quickly the unabashed love and adoration our kids have of us dies?

Yes, they still love us, but they don't run at breakneck speed to jump in our arms when we enter the room.

And they don't always blow kisses to you and yell "I love you!" as they get on the bus every morning.

Oh well, I guess I was that kid too. I remember REFUSING to walk with my mom at the mall when I was about 13. I mean, what would my friends/schoolmates think if they knew I had a mom! Oh the horror!

I honestly don't want my kids to be like me. But when I am the bus stop, blowing kisses, my neighbor just laughs as his 5th grader hops on the bus, with her head down pretending she doesn't know her dad. He told me today "Oh, you wait!".

I know, I know, but is there something I can do to make these changes a little less severe?

Sadly,

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No wonder she's tired

Did you ever try to keep up with an almost 3 yo all day?


Seriously. I mean literally follow around all day.

Nope, me neither.

But yesterday I made a note of how much activity Kallie had.

As I took a shower in the morning, she scooted around my room, on all fours, barking and panting. Yes, she was pretending to be a dog.

As I talked on the phone and started laundry and cleaned up, she literally ran lap upon lap upon lap, singing at the top of her lungs, throughout the downstairs.

And then I put her down for a nap...where she proceeded to cry "I no wanna go NIGHT NIGHT!!!" for an hour.

So that nap didn't happen.


After her sister came home from school and, of course, got her bike-with-no-training-wheels out, Kallie proceeded to literally run laps around the block trying to keep up with her sister.

And then we sat down for dinner where she drank milk and pushed aside her dinner - "I no like it", and ate only peaches.

And then we were back outside for more laps around the block.

Whew. Those feet can move.


No wonder she crashed at 8 p.m. not to move until 8 a.m. this morning.

Maybe I should forget my YMCA membership fees and just try following her for a day.


Have a good one!!!

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Was it just a dream??

It was a HUGE day yesterday for my 6 1/2 yo. Yes, she finally learned to ride her bike without training wheels!!!!!

She has tried many many many times to take the training wheels off over the last year, only to get too scared and just cry in despair until we put them back on.

But yesterday was different.

My hubby took her to a local park with a lot of flat grassy areas. And, after a few falls, she finally got it. She was obviously thrilled and didn't stop riding for the rest of the day.

And last night, when I was putting her to bed she said:

"Mom, I know how to ride without training wheels! But I keep thinking it was just a dream!"

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More Saturday Snapshots!!!

I spent some time playing today! Christina was my ever cooperative model. She loves it! This was just a close up picture that I used some Pioneer Woman Photoshop actions on. I love the eyes and the light.

And these were my attempts at playing with DOF and using some Photoshop actions to boost up the color a bit.



I love the way these photos turned out. Next time I will have to find a prettier flower for her hold. An 'ole dandelion weed just doesn't cut it.

Have a good one!!!

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Snapshot Saturday! And appreciating depth of field.

My first rhododendrum is starting to bloom. Which gives me an opportunity to take more pictures and play with a few Photoshop techniques.

One thing I REALLY love with my new DSLR camera is the control of the depth of field (DOF). Up to a few months ago, I had NO idea what DOF was and why it mattered. But I have since learned it is what can make a good photograph fantastic.

DOF is the part of the photograph that is in focus. On many standard point and shoot cameras, almost all of the photograph is in focus...from the subject to objects 20 feet behind the subject.

But in a DSLR you get a much more controlled DOF - meaning you can take pictures where your subject is crisp and in focus, but the immediate background and foreground are completely blurred out. You can see this in my picture above. The background is completely blurred and even the buds closer to the camera are slightly out of focus. A small DOF really makes the subject pop out of the photo.

You can also take pictures where everything in this photo is in focus. And this would be desirable when you are taking pictures of things like landscapes, where the entire photo is pretty much your subject.

DOF is controlled by the aperture. To get just your subject in focus and everything else blurred, you need to set your aperture as large and possible. Which means your aperture number must be small. In my above photo, the aperture is f5.6. To get everything in your photo in focus, you need a small aperture - like an f22.

For photos of stationary objects, like the flower, I usually use my aperture priority setting on my camera. I set the aperture as big as possible and the camera takes care of the rest of the settings. And to take photos of a landscape, I just dial in the smallest aperture as possible. There is obviously a lot more to it than this because you also need to make sure you are still getting enough light. But that is a whole 'nother can of worms that I don't want to get into right now. But, if you are outside and have lots of light, that is pretty much all you need to do.

The DOF difference between my camera and a point and shoot camera really came to light when my mother in law gave me some pictures of the kids this week. The pictures are adorable! And I love them. But I found it so interesting that her camera was set at a very large aperture, but the entire photograph is pretty much in focus!
The aperture in her camera (using the auto setting) was at 3.4 which is VERY large in DSLR terms. However, apparently, with a point and shoot camera, you have a hard time getting the same DOF as a DSLR camera on the same settings. and it is very hard to get anything but a large DOF with a point and shoot.

Now, I am sure many people will think - so what? But it was just a interesting thing I learned this week that I wanted to share. I never knew there was that much of a difference between the cameras until this week.

And my hubby is out turkey hunting this morning, my kiddos are playing, and I have no desire to do any work around the house. So I am wasting time blogging of course!

Happy Saturday!

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Skywatch Friday!

A sunset from a couple weeks ago. I like the dark, moody clouds with the peaks of sun underneath.

Skywatch Friday is being hosted by Wigger's World!

Have a great weekend!!!

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