Less Than Perfect

This weeks theme at I Heart Faces is hilarious outtakes. I have to admit that I erase most of my outtakes to save space so I had a hard time finding many. And most of the ones I do have are of Mia because she makes some of the funniest faces.

There's the "What's that smell?!" face:

There's the "Braiiiiinnnns! I eat your braiiinnns!" face:

The "Nuts?! Who's nuts?! I like nuts!" face:

The "Whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis?" face:

Then there's....well, there this:

Go here for more hilarious outtakes!

Sun Conure

This week's theme at I Heart Faces is Pets. Now, having five kids we decided long ago that the kids were animal enough for us, so most of my animal pictures were taken at the zoo or in my yard. We have a small zoo near us that is home to a few animals; flamingos, peacocks and other birds, wolves, bison, otters, a bobcat and a jaguar, some llama, an alligator and a few other assorted animals.

I find that I love to photograph the birds the most. I've always been drawn to their bright feathers, like those of this sun conure.

Christmas Bokeh Fun

I've seen this done lots of times on other photography blogs and have always wanted to try it myself. Since my husband had to leave to go out of town yesterday afternoon, I had lots of time to myself after the kids went to bed and decided to have some fun.

It took me a couple of tries to get the star in my filter the right size, but I love how well it worked.

And with out the bokeh effect:

And here are instructions if you want to try it too!

Oh, and please do ignore my crooked star on the top of my tree. I never noticed how bad it was until I took the pictures!

Sweet Dreams

and beautiful faces. That's this week's theme at I Heart Faces.

For some reason I can't find the picture that I wanted to submit this week. It was a picture of my oldest laying with his little brother, fast asleep, on his chest. I love that picture so much I've even scrap-booked it, but still could not locate it.

I did however, find this picture that I snapped of my youngest asleep on the couch from last year. She had fought taking a nap and crawled up on the couch with her ratty old sheet and passed out. I love her rosy little cheeks and pouty little baby mouth. I've always thought she looked like a baby doll in this picture.

A Star is Born

Last week, my husband's coworker approached him about letting my youngest, Mia, be in the dealership's Christmas commercial. She really thought that she would be cute in it and wanted to know if we thought she could do it. Jason and I discussed it and told them that if she wanted to do it and wasn't scared or anything then we'd let her.

Yesterday we went to the dealership to film the commercial Mia is in. They wanted her dressed for the holiday and she looked so cute. We got there at about 11am and she had some time to explore the sales floor/show room while waiting for Santa and Mrs Claus to arrive.

Everyone that works there were just so sweet to her and made such a big deal over her. The woman that asked to put her in the commercial asked her if she'd sing a song; Mia did and damn near made me cry.

Mia stood in the middle of that room with all the sales people, the owner, customers and everyone and sung "When You Wish Upon a Star". But she performed. She sung out loud and clear and looked around at everyone watching her and just shocked the hell out of me. When she was done everyone clapped for her and I could barely breathe.

I only wish that I'd had my camera out for that moment, because it was so amazing how poised she was. After that everyone was asking about all the songs she sings and were making suggestions of songs for her to learn.

Not long after that the Claus's arrived and at first Mia was a little nervous around them but she quickly warmed up to Mrs Claus and before we knew it she was on Santa's lap.

She did really well for barely being three. I was so proud of her. The only part she had a problem with was the phrase "five hundred dollar gift card" at the end. (Heck even the adult that they filmed later couldn't spit it out right half the time. She told him "told you so!")

When she was done she got to have a happy meal while we watched them film the rest and then she was given her "monies" and a bag of gummy bears. After we left I took her to the store and she picked out a baby doll and bought Anakin and Claudia a little toy and still has a little money left over to put in her kitty bank.

She loved it, and talked about her adventure for the rest of the day. I can't wait for the first time she sees herself on television.

And for some added fun, here she is rehearsing her lines for the first time with Santa.