The rest of the fall shots

I did get some shots of my other kids last week, too. Even more impressive I got a group shot and one of my going on 13 year old. I guess miracles to occur. LOL

I love Anakin's expression. So true to him. And they are all looking at the camera. And smiling. It may never happen again. LOL

Claudia is as bad as me when it comes to having her picture taken, so I was so happy that she agreed to sit for me. She's growing up so fast.

This shot is a little over exposed and isn't perfect but I love the interaction between my littles. They are so cute together.

I didn't get too much in the way of shots of Anakin. As you can see he quickly tired of me (he wanted to go play soccer with some other kids we met there. LOL)

Homecoming

This past weekend was Homecoming and Claudia had her dance on Friday night. She had so much fun and just loved her outfit I helped her put together and her hair and make-up that I did for her. Made this old mom feel like she was doing a pretty decent job, after all. ;)

I think she looked quite lovely. And for a change she actually let me take pictures of her!!! (Yes, that does deserve three exclamation points. LOL)

My little girl is growing up. *sniffle*

First Day of Middle School

This morning, Claudia started sixth grade. First of all, I'd like to know how the heck that happened?! It was easier when Jesse went to middle school because at least then I could say that I didn't give birth to him, so it didn't count. Know what I mean? Never mind the fact that he starts high school (High school?!) on Monday.

But now...now...I have no excuse. Nothing can erase the fact that I just dropped my firstborn off at middle school this morning. And Tuesday is Anakin's first day of Kindergarten. Full day Kindergarten. I will only have Mia from 8am to 3pm every day. I'm not going to know what to do. I guess I could clean the house or something.

You know, after I'm done inspecting my gray hairs and wrinkles.
OK, so not really. I'm mean, I'm only 32.

So, anyway. This morning she was up and ready in no time. I tried to grab a couple of pics before I took her to school.

Can you tell that she was not enthused with the picture taking? She was ready to go and there I was making her smile for the camera. I got that shot of her and then she was "Can we go now?"

She was just a little excited about her first day. That is until we pulled up to the curb to drop her off and then her voice started to crack a little and the nervousness slipped in a bit. I did good though, I didn't shed a single tear.

Until she was out of the van. LOL

Before and After

This afternoon I was bored and decided to go through some of the pictures I have taken recently and find one to edit. I decided on a pic of Claudia in the pool this weekend. (Yeah for summer weather!)

I decided to share the before and after because I like how it turned out and because I used Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and not photoshop or lightroom like the majority of photographers and enthusiasts (I got it cheap and it's very easy to use so I've stuck with it. I've used Lightroom and love it but would rather put the $ towards a new lens or other item right now.) :)

I'm still learning and exploring all the changes I can make and what looks good and what doesn't, but I don't think I do too badly.

BEFORE:

AFTER:


I will probably go back and make more adjustments sometime, but for now I am happy with it.

Bundled Up

Wow! It's been ages since I last participated in an I Heart Faces challenge. I mean to every week and then it seems that life comes along and distracts me from posting. I had a great jump picture of Jesse doing a back flip into the pool. I had the perfect hilarious outtake of Anakin making a face at his sister while she smiled sweetly at the camera oblivious to his shenanigans. I had a picture of Amelia's hand grasping her Daddy's tightly as she waded out into the ocean for the first time.
Did you see any of those?
Yeah, no.
Kids got sick, I got sick, there were dishes to wash and laundry to fold and I was barely finding time to post my project 365 pictures let alone take any. And really, it wasn't being fun anymore because I was too worried about not missing a day and not shooting things that made me happy.
So I took a break and now I'm back with this week's challenge, bundled up. This is actually a picture I took last year of Claudia. I had a ton of pics from the blizzard this year, but I couldn't pick one so I decided to go with an old favorite. I love how relaxed she is (she usually freezes up in front of the camera). I love the way her face is framed with the hood and scarf. I love her freckles and the specks of snow on the scarf and fur on the hood and the bright colors. I love how she looks comfortable and warm even though it was absolutely freezing out.

She was all bundled up. :)

Claudia's Birthday

This Valentine's Day was Claudia's 11th birthday. Saturday, I ran around all day (first chance I've gotten in a couple weeks thanks to the weather) trying to get last minute things done. It was quarter to one in the morning when I realized I never took a picture. LOL

I did manage to get a few today when everyone was over for cake and ice cream. It was a little hectic though with all of us. LOL I think everyone's been suffering from cabin fever just a bit. :)

Claudia's cake was Percy Jackson themed. The icing was blue and I drew a trident on it and placed some mini figures around it. She seemed to really like the Hades figure. (I think that's just because we laughed so hard at that part of the movie, friday night. LOL)

It seems these days that when we have people over the guitar hero gets pulled out almost immediately. And inevitably, Jesse ends up on the drums showing us all how it's done.

Of course, Anakin and Mia were more than happy to assist their big sister on opening presents.

Happy Birthday Kiddo! Now quit growing!!

(Please note that not once did she acknowledge me with the camera and even hid her face in many, resulting in less pictures than I'd have liked. I guess she is my kid after all. LOL)

Snow Fun

Today we enjoyed the snow!

Snow really does make the world beautiful. :)

"Let's bowl, let's bowl, let's rock-'n-roll"

So who can finish the lyric? LOL

So, obviously we went bowling today. I took my camera and tried to get some shots but it's not easy to snap pics while trying to not bother those around you and get a decent shot. Why are bowing alleys so dimly lit?

I didn't really like any of the shots I got so I just experimented with some editing. I think I like the one of Claudia best. The one of Mia came out too grainy for me and Ethan's could probably use a boost in contrast. Or something. I just can't decide.

After School

This afternoon I took out my camera while the kids were doing their homework. Well actually, Claudia was doing homework while Anakin and Mia were drawing pictures and being otherwise silly.



Mia and I went to Target today while the kids were in school. She needs a new car seat but they only had the one I wanted in an ugly brown color but even then I couldn't leave the store without spending money. I was looking through the clearance racks and got both Anakin and Mia some cute new pajamas for a few bucks each. They put them on as soon as we got home. They were so cute that I couldn't resist photographing Mia's tootsies peeking out from the bottom of her pj's.

Contagious

Today, as soon as I put the littles into the bathtub, the phone rang. It was the school nurse calling that Claudia was running a fever and I needed to come get her. I rushed through the bath, threw clothes at the kids and hoped they would stick and rushed them out the door.

When we got to the school, I signed her out in the office and one of the office assistants went to get her. Of course, in this time of plague, I mean, piggy, ahem...H1N1 they had her in a separate room by herself and when she came out she was wearing a face mask.

Bad Mommy that I am I laughed and oinked at her and took her home to put her to bed. Lovely child that she is, she let me photograph her with her mask before changing into comfy clothes and crawling into bed.

I'm not sure what this says about me as a mom, but I find myself really drawn to this picture. Poor kid, I hope she feels better soon.

The Violinist

Now that the kids are back in school the pile of paperwork has invaded my house once again. There's all the typical forms and permission slips but the fun one for Claudia is permission to be in Strings again this year. Last year was the first that she was able to join and she chose the violin. She surprised me at how well she did and it was a great treat to go her first concert at the end of the year.

I'm looking forward to seeing how she grows and learns this year.

(Kit used is Spring Rain by Jennifer Barette and Kimberly Cameron; Word Art by Leigh Scofield (tricertifiedx2) and Border from Fried Pickles by Rachel Donald)

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. :)