Anakin

It's hard to believe that my baby boy starts PreK on Tuesday. It's even harder for me to believe that he's going to be five years old in November. Until now, Anakin has spent the great majority of his time with me; there's only been a handful of days that I wasn't home all day with them. He's excited to start school, though and I'm sure he'll do great.



Mommy, however, is another story.

From Yesterday's Shoot

I love this shot of Mia's feet in her boots with just the tutu. It was one I knew I wanted to get because I love the contrast of her girly poofy tutu and her black boots. Like I said yesterday, rock'n roll princess.

Tutus and Black Boots

I took the kids to the school today to try to get some good shots before school started. It's a nice backdrop with all the sidewalks and brick; especially when you live in a small rural town like I do. Plus there's the promise of playing on the swings when they're done modeling for mommy.

Amelia insisted on wearing her favorite new outfit. She got the skirt and top this past weekend and she wants to wear it everyday. The boots I found at Walmart (yes, I know Walmart is evil) and had to get them for her. They bring back so many memories of my teen years and frankly the boots and tutu suit her rock'n roll princess attitude.

I've shared this shot for

at Hey Harriet!

Make A Wish

This week is the final one in Gotta Pixel's Scrap Star Contest. This week the challenge was to scrap an ordinary moment using a template and a kit by Connie Prince called Pocketful of Sunshine. While the kit is rather girly, I decided to use it to scrap some pictures I have of Anakin blowing dandelion seeds all over my yard. I think the happy colors suited it well.

Four Different Ways

Yesterday, when I took the kids out to photograph with the quilt my grandmother made, I had one shot that immediately jumped out at me. I began to edit it and couldn't decide what I wanted to do with it so I edited it four different ways. In the end I entered a different photo altogether, but I still love this shot of my kids.

In the end I think the second and third ones are my favorites. Which do you prefer?

Wrapped in Love

This week it was easy for me to decide what I wanted to use to complete the I Heart Faces challenge of creating a nostalgic picture. I knew immediately that I wanted to use the quilt my grandmother made for my dad. For years it laid unfinished in the bottom drawer of my dad's dresser and as a little girl I would pull it out, lay it across my lap to study all the patches and listen to my dad tell the story of each one.
This patch was from the year my grandmother sewed all 11(surviving) kids matching outfits in a red bandanna type material. This patch was from her favorite church dress; this one from an old apron. There was no pattern to how they were laid out, but it was beautiful to me.
My grandmother had actually made one for each of her children and there were a couple of others besides my dad's that didn't get finished before she passed away. Finally, my aunt finished them for everyone and it was returned to my dad who passed it down to me when I was 18.
With those memories, I took the quilt and my two youngest outside and used it to photograph them. The picture I chose in the end wasn't even my favorite at first. But after editing, it became "The One".

The ABC of guilty pleasures

This week was the third in Gotta Pixel's Scrap Star contest. This week's challenge was to scrap about our guilty pleasures using as much of the Oh Snap! kit by Colie's Corner.

I spent much of the week tossing around ideas trying to decide what to scrap about. It seems I have more guilty pleasures than I realized, but I finally settled on my top three: red wine, books and chocolate!

If you'd like to try this challenge you can get this great kit here.

Wildflowers

One of my favorite subjects to photograph is flowers. Sometimes I'll buy a bouquet of flowers just so I can pull out my macro lens. And in the spring I love the flowers that start popping up in my flowerbeds and the ones that grow wild in the woods behind our shed.

These were some purple flowers I noticed last year. I was wandering around the yard with my camera when I saw them sitting at the edge of the woods. I loved the sun filtering through the leaves onto the purple petals so I took a few pictures.

I missed them this year when they didn't come back.

New Look

Today I've spent much of my time changing the look of my blog. I think I'm finally satisfied. The template I chose is Photoblog II. I adjusted the color scheme and finally made a header that I don't hate using a picture I took on Independence Day of Amelia giving her daddy a kiss.

Bubbles

This week's challenge at I Heart Faces is Bubbles. I wasn't going to enter until Anakin started getting silly today when taking a bubble bath. He decided to lay down in the tub and was completely covered in bubbles but for his face. It was too cute not to capture and so I have my entry.

Nothing fancy or special about this shot, but it was cute and I couldn't not share. :)

Geppi's Entertainment Museum

So Saturday before we went to the airport to pick up Claudia we went to Geppi's as I discussed in my previous post. When we arrived we found out it was a game day meaning that everyone 5 and over got in for a dollar. Much better than the $27 we were expecting!

We spent an hour there and even though we went through all the rooms, I'm sure we missed things as it was hard to choose what to look at first. So much so that even though I took nearly two hundred pictures, I missed more than that and have only uploaded 15 to share.

The first room we went into was the comic book room. All the walls were covered in cases holding more comic books than you could imagine. There were comic books of every kind, from the typical superheros to ones featuring the Three Stooges.

Jason was especially excited to see the copy of Action Comics #1; the first issue introducing Superman.

I love seeing the old advertisements for products such as Coca Cola and for movies. There were movie posters displayed up and down the main hallway and in many of the rooms.

Gone With the Wind has long been one of my favorite movies so I loved seeing this old paint book. Vivienne Leigh was beyond beautiful.

And of course Jason and Anakin were thrilled to see all the Star Wars items.

Also displayed was concept art by Ralph McQuarrie from the first trilogy.

I think one of my favorite items was from the All American Girls Baseball League.

And what about Charles Lindbergh, or my mom's favorite Felix the Cat?

And the Beatles? Who doesn't love the Beatles?

Jason was even inspired to strike a pose by the Woodstock poster.

While I fondly remembered sixth grade and my love for NKOTB. Never mind that I own those dolls sans boxes of course. LOL

And who can beat this autographed poster of many of America's favorite characters?

In the end we spent a little more than an hour there and had an enjoyable time. It was fun for us all and the price couldn't be beat. Especially for a place that was so nicely cared for. I don't think I've ever seen a cleaner public restroom!

Today's the Day!

We're leaving an a couple hours to go to pick up Claudia from the airport. Her father called a few minutes ago letting us know she's in the air. She flies from Seattle to Atlanta, where she'll have an almost three hour layover before heading the rest of the way home.

She loves the layovers; there's nothing like having a group of people who's job it is to make sure you're taken care of. They'll take her to get food if she's hungry and to the unaccompanied minors room to hang out and play games or watch movies until her next flight.

To make it a fun day for the rest of the kids, we're going to Geppi's Entertainment Museum before we go to the airport. This should be fun; I know Anakin and Jesse (and Dad) will love it for the Star Wars stuff displayed.

I don't know how I'm going to make it through the rest of the day; my baby's coming home!

At least the waves were big....

Last summer we went to Dewey Beach for the first time instead of sticking to Ocean City as we usually do. It was August, the water was nice and the waves were high.

That day was the first that I took my 300mm zoom lens with me and got a couple of shots of Jason on his boogie board.

It wasn't until we got home that night and I uploaded them to the computer that we realized how big some of them really were.

To this day they are his favorite pics. Men...they never grow up.

(im)Perfect Princess

This was the second week of Gotta Pixel's Scrap Star Contest that I talked about here. This week's challenge was to use an imperfect photo to create a layout with at least 80% white space and uses a kit called Spring by Heather T.

This was a challenge for me as I'm apt to erase any pictures that don't come out to save space on my hard drive. I think I tried three or four different pictures before I decided on one of Mia in her tutu. I was trying to photograph her when she while she was fidgeting and being all around silly.

In the end, it was the Perfect choice. :)

Those Eyes

Before I got my Rebel a couple years ago, I had a simple Canon point and shoot. My mom bought it for me when I was pregnant with Anakin and it was my first digital camera. Now with the ability to erase pictures as I shot them and to view them on my computer, I began to love photography more than ever.

Sometimes I like to look back at some of the pictures I took using that camera and comparing them to the ones that I've taken with my xti. I imagine I will do the same when I upgrade again.

But beyond the difference in quality or ability, I'm just amazed by how quickly time passes. Today I was looking at a picture I took of Anakin just a few weeks before he turned a year old. I look at his face and am struck by how much he's grown and changed and by how much he still the same.

One things for sure, he will always have those eyes.

Families...

Having five kids it can be almost impossible to get a great group shot. Especially when you have babies or toddlers, though sometimes I think my bigs are even worse. For a couple of years I tried to get a shot but there was always someone not sitting still of giving bunny ears or pulling faces.

It was these pics that inspired me to scrapbook one of my favorite pages.

I've not tried in a year and a half or so, but I've not given up totally. Maybe this will be the year that I get a good group shot.

(Kit used is Fried Pickles by Rachel Donald)

Funny Face

It was not easy to choose a picture to enter in this week's I Heart Faces crazy, silly, funny face challenge. I'm much more likely to get a silly face out of one of my kids than a nice, happy, smiley one which I'm sure I will be seen in future days on my blog. :)
In the end I settled on a picture I had taken back in March of 2008. I had taken the little ones to the park and just followed them around snapping shots as they played. I've always loved this shot, but had never done anything with it until today.
I'm glad I rediscovered it.

Getting Noticed

I love going to the zoo and so do my kids. Luckily we have a small zoo close to us that we go to multiple times a year. Usually when the weather first starts turning in the spring, I start getting antsy to go and this year was no different. Of course, I make sure I have my camera with me because I love taking pictures of the animals. Sure, it's the same animals every time we go, but you never know what they're going to be doing and this last trip was a great example.

We have a few peacocks at the zoo and I love sitting and watching them and hoping that they will display their beautiful feathers. This time, though, one was also being very vocal trying to get noticed by the peahens. I spent a while just sitting there watching him until I was finally able to get the picture I wanted and since this week's I Heart Faces challenge included Pets or animals, I knew I had to enter it. It also fits the challenge of funny or silly faces.

Now if I can just choose which human face I'd like to share. :)

Between Storms

A few nights ago in the early evening we had a few rounds of thunderstorms come through. We were just hanging out at home listening to the thunder and rain pouring down. There was a break in between storms when I looked out the window and noticed a rainbow right over our neighborhood. Of course I grabbed my camera and ran outside.

I had to hop in my minivan because it was still raining a little bit and the next storm was rapidly approaching. I'm not a fan of electrocution, you see.

I was able to get a couple shots, one faintly showing the second rainbow above the main one. My only regret was that I didn't take the time to grab my wide angle lens so I couldn't get the whole rainbow in the frame.

Nine Days and Counting

Our family is a blended family. My husband and I were both married before and both of us had children in those marriages. He has Jesse (will be 13 in December) and Ethan (turning 11 in January). I have Claudia, who will be 11 on Valentine's Day. Together, Jason and I have Anakin (5 this November) and Amelia, (affectionately called Mia who will be 3 in October).

Claudia's father lives in Washington State, 3000 miles away from where we live in Delaware. She flies out to her dad's twice a year; for a week or so at Christmas and for nine weeks in the summer.

While I miss her terribly, I try to look at it positively. I'm happy for her that she gets to spend the time with her father and she's made friends there and really enjoys her time. Well, of course she does; her dad tries to cram a whole years worth of fun into a couple of months. And now that she's getting older and is rapidly approaching those tempestuous teen years, I figure that it will be a nice break from each other. LOL

However, by the end of the summer, I start getting twitchy for her to get home. The little ones are counting down the days and plans are being made to have lots of fun together before the school year starts.

That also means that I start wanting to take new portraits of the kids as I never buy the school pictures because my kids never look like themselves in them.

Claudia especially. She's one of those kids that always seems slightly uncomfortable when the camera is turned her way. She's more likely to stiffen up and smile woodenly with a "please just let this be over" look on her face. It's OK though as she gets it from me. There's a reason I got into photography; it's easier to hide from the camera if you're the one holding it. LOL

Unfortunately, that also means I have less pictures of Claudia because I don't want to torture her. Well, not too much, that is. Maybe this time I'll get her looking at the camera. :)

Gotta Pixel's Scrap Star Contest

Gotta Pixel is the digiscrapping site I spend the most time at. It's where I was introduced to digital scrapbooking and it's the site where I've gotten some of my favorite kits.

This month they are having a Scrap Star Contest. Each week there is a new challenge to be completed and at the end the winner will earn a place on their creative team.

This weeks challenge was to use the kit Comical by Amy Sumrall and Simply Scraps which is a very boy oriented and superhero themed in an unconventional way and to use at least 10 elements from the kit.

I threw around a few ideas and finally settled on this:

If you'd like to try your hand at it, you can get Comical at GottaPixel.net.

About Me

Back in January I was participating in a series of scrapbooking challenges at Gottapixel.net when one of the challenges was to creat a page about yourself. We were given four sentences to finish and then needed to take a self portrait that didn't show our faces.

It was the first time I created a page about myself and ended up being a lot of fun.

The kit I used is called Cozy Kind of Love and was created by Sweet Digi Scraps. :)

I Heart Faces Tamron Lens Giveaway!!

Wow! I Heart Faces is giving away a Tamron 18-270mm VC lens ! Who wouldn't want a new lens? Obviously not me, as I have already entered and you can too! Go right now to I Heart Faces and enter! You have until this Friday, August 7th at 11pm eastern/8pm pacific.

One of my first pages

I believe this is the second page I ever scrapped. It was a re-do of the first page I created which was really horrible. So horrible I trashed it. LOL Even at a young age, my youngest was a total drama queen. I'm not sure what she was crying about now, but her faces were to adorable not to shoot.

You can't tell by the pictures but she was standing in a tall cardboard box. Up until the point that she started to cry, she'd been laughing and playing peek-a-boo so I already had my camera in my hand.

I have to say at almost three years old, she's gotten even better. But that's a story for another day. :)

The kit used is called Express Yourself by Ronna Penner. It was a freebie I downloaded from http://www.shabbyprincess.com/downloads/expressyourself/express-yourself.asp

Surf and Sun Kind of Summer

Living less than an hour from the beach is wonderful in the summer but we usually only make it a few times a year. Well, this year we've gone nearly every weekend. We fill the cooler with some drinks, pack my huge beach bag with towels, sand toys and snacks and off we go.

I love all the colors of the beach. It reminds me of looking into a kaleidoscope with all the umbrellas dotting the sand.

Even though she's not even three yet, Amelia usually runs straight for the water and splashes in.

I usually panic a little until Jason goes after her and grabs her hand before she floats away.

Anakin may be two years older but he's much more timid than Mia. Instead he just goes to the edge and sits, letting the water rush over him.

He then spends the rest of the time digging in the sand, searching for treasures and occasionally playing at the edge of the water.

Eventually, the whole family joins Anakin in the search for tiny clams and sand crabs before heading back into the water for awhile.

This year is the first that Jesse has taken a turn on Jason's boogie board. Jason gave him some pointers and then sent him out into the ocean.

It took a little while but soon Jesse was getting the hang of things and was riding a few waves in.

As always, Mia decides that she wants to do it too, and convinces us to let her have a try at boogie boarding.

Before you know it the kids are starting to tire out and actually sit still for more than five seconds.

Eventually, we drag Jesse out of the water and start to pack up to go.

We're all covered in sand; Amelia looks like she was swimming in it and not the ocean.

We wrap up in towels,

take one last look,

and go, discussing what's for dinner on the way home.

I'm thinking....burgers on the grill?

This blog was inspired by the challenge at http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/This is my first time participating in the challenge and I look forward to participating again.