Friday, January 28, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 4 ~

I have three very different photos to share this week.  I decided to take some self portraits the other day thinking I'd use one for Photo Friday, but I really need to get more creative with them.  This one resembles one I took last year a little too closely.  I still like it though, so I'm sharing it.  Someday my kids will appreciate looking at old pictures of me, just like I love seeing old pictures of my parents.  I need to stop being so self critical, because in their eyes I am beautiful which is one of the many, many wonderful things about being a mom.
Me.

Meet my grandma.  She was beautiful when she was young and she's still beautiful now, even in her eighties.  I love her dearly and I know I will cherish this photo of her someday.

On a completely different note, here is an interesting picture I took of my daughter this week.  We were sitting at the kitchen table and there were leftover cupcakes from her birthday on a cake plate with a dome lid and we noticed that if you looked in the ball on top of it you could see the person across from you upside down.  Pretty cool.

Hope you have a great weekend!  If you are doing a similar project, please leave a link in my comments so we can check it out!

Monday, January 24, 2011

My Favorite Girl ~ A Photo Shoot ~

I have a favorite girl and a favorite boy (one of the perks of having only one of each).  My daughter will write me notes and sign them "From Your Favorite Girl" and it is the sweetest thing.  Her birthday is tomorrow and I can't believe she is going to be seven!  I decided to do a photo shoot with her last week since I haven't really ever done a formal shoot with my own kids.  I take a ton of photos of them as you know, but I don't ever purposefully style them and take them to a location specifically for a shoot just with them.  I decided it would be something fun to do with my favorite girl and since she likes to have her picture taken it seemed like a treat.  We drove just a couple minutes from our house to some train tracks.  I have never done photos on train tracks before.  I was kinda avoiding it thinking that every photographer uses them and I don't want to be generic, but I think I now understand why every photographer uses them.  They are great!  My girl had so much fun playing around on the tracks.  And let me just say that it was very, very cold that day.  If you are afraid of doing a winter photo shoot, don't be, because the photos turned out amazing!  And how fun to document her birthday in the snow since she was born during a snowstorm and it snows almost every year on her birthday.  I was ready to be done way before she was...my fingers were frozen!  She was just skipping around and having a great time though.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of my favorite girl.

Seems like every photo shoot I do I have a favorite photo that is from when I was just testing the lighting.  They are always so natural.

My sweet baby girl.  I love her little pose.  

Twirling.  What little girl doesn't love to twirl?

Her sweet smile.  She's wearing my giant scarf because she's already lost 2 scarves at school this year.

This might be my favorite.  I love her big blue eyes and her cute expression.


Her grandmama gave her some bubble gum the day before so she was obsessed with trying to blow bubbles.  I want to remember that she was just turning seven when she finally figured it out.

 She did it!  Oh, and those are her little brother's gloves that she loves because the mitten part flips over to show her fingertips just like mine.

Her serious face.

I love this!  She was balancing on the tracks.

My little showoff.  Notice she's just balancing on one leg.  I love her smile.

I really love this.  It's not completely in focus, but I like that about it.  It's soft, like a memory.  And I love the way the wind is blowing her hair.


I just love all of these so much!  I'm totally biased because she's my baby girl.

I love her profile.  And I love her boots, and I love the pop of her pink hairbow and the tracks fading off in the distance.

I'm so glad I have these photos to remember exactly what she was like the year she turned seven.  She's sweet, she's sassy, she loves to dance around, she adores her family, she loves to read, she loves to play with all her little animals, she's a little drama queen, she loves to play dress up, she likes to ride her imaginary horse, she likes to pretend to be Maggie the dog, she loves to play with her little brother, she loves to snuggle, she's a shameless beggar, she has a huge sweet tooth, she has an infectious laugh, and she drives me crazy sometimes but I love her to death and wouldn't change anything about her.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 3 ~

We are on our second snow day this week.  It is so cold I feel like I may never get warm again.  I feel like nestling in my comfy chair with my down blanket and getting lost in a really good book.  Maybe I will.  Maybe we'll stay in our jammies all day.  Or maybe the kids will build a snowman if they can stand the bitter cold.  That's the thing I like about snow days.  They are wide open.  No schedule, nowhere to be, nothing specific to be done.  It's nice.  Yesterday my daughter was trying on her dress up clothes and I noticed that they are all getting a little small for her.  So I went to the spare bedroom closet to see what I could find.  You see, my mom saved all of my old ballet and tap dance costumes from when I was little.  I occasionally pull one out for my daughter to play dress up in.  She loves them.  Except every time I see her in one I start to feel extreme mommy guilt for the fact that she doesn't take any dance lessons.  Actually, she doesn't do any organized activities outside of school.  She did take ballet for a while last year and she loved it, but then when she was going to graduate to the next level it was going to be twice a week which I thought was too much with her also starting first grade at the time, not to mention it was much more expensive.  Sometimes I think it's great that she has free time to play because I think most kids don't have enough of it these days, but then other times the guilt kicks in that I am not giving her the same opportunities that my parents gave me.  I hope that at some point we can afford  for her to take lessons and try different activities and sports, but for now I am happy that she is content just to play dress up and pretend.

I caught her in the middle of flipping her hair.  I pretty much love everything about this.

I was definitely older than her when I wore this, but I'm not sure how old.  I was very tiny for my age when I was growing up.  I'll have to see if my mom has any old pictures of me in it.  That would be fun.


There are so many things technically wrong with this photo, but I just love it anyway.  I can't quite figure out why, but I just like the feeling that it evokes.

Hopefully someday I'll be able to see my baby girl on stage performing in some way, if not for any other reason than for her to experience it and to gain confidence and poise from it.  But for now, I am enjoying her private performances that are just for me.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Playtime

This is our toy box.  Super classy, right?  What can I say, toy boxes are expensive!  

Why play with toys when the actual box is so much more fun?

 I actually hate it when they dump the whole toy box.  But how can I be mad at this cuteness?

This is a song my girl wrote for me.  I was completely impressed and had to take a picture.  Then about five minutes later she confessed that she got the idea from a similar song off of the Cat in the Hat show.  That's okay, I'm still proud of my sweet girl.  And I love her in those footie pajamas, they make her look so young.

I'm enjoying another day of playtime with the kids since they have a snow day again today.  So far they've put on a puppet show and built a fort in our upstairs hall closet and it isn't even lunch yet.  Can't wait to see what the rest of the day holds!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Happily Ever After ~ A Photo Shoot ~

This wedding took place on New Year's Eve which I think is very fitting as it represents new beginnings.  This bride is a dear friend of mine who I've known since we were about twelve years old.  We went through bad hair together, cheerleading drama and all the fun of junior high and high school.  After that we sort of lost touch as I went away to college.  It was so nice to reconnect a couple of years ago and here she is starting a new chapter in her life and I get to be a part of it again.  I just want to say how wonderful it is to see this couple in love.  They are such a great match for one another.  They are so comfortable together, you'd think they would have been together for years.  And I think it's totally romantic that they had such a short engagement.  I mean, when you're ready to get married, you're ready, just do it!  (Says the girl who had a four month engagement.)  I was really nervous about photographing this wedding because it all took place after dark.  I call myself a natural light photographer because that is my comfort zone.  So this wedding definitely took me out of it, but I think it turned out pretty good.  It helps when your bride is completely laid back and puts complete trust in your abilities.  So, enough typing, let's get to the photos!

Getting ready.  Her shoes were awesome! 

We did photos before the ceremony.  This is when they first saw each other.

She did all the flowers herself...I think she could have a career in floral design if she ever wanted to give up being a lawyer!


We were actually able to go outside for some photos because of the crazy weather.  It was almost sixty degrees out, but the lake behind them was still frozen.  


She was such a classy bride.  Her dress was stunning.



I love a couple who isn't afraid to be affectionate in front of people.

I love this.

I love the way they look at each other.  

Gorgeous!

Their ceremony was definitely unique...the man performing it had them say "I do" twice!  I think he was a little flustered.  They are definitely officially married. :)   I'm sure they'll look back at it and laugh.

Love this.  A stolen moment just the two of them right after the ceremony.  Husband and wife.  Contentment.

These pictures are making my mouth water...mmmm...cupcakes...

It makes me so happy to see my friend this happy.

What a fun way to ring in the new year!

Mr. and Mrs.

Congratulations to a wonderful couple.  I am so lucky to have you counted as friends.  I've enjoyed watching your romance and can't wait to see what the future holds for you!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Photo Friday 2011 ~ 2 ~

I have a serious love/hate relationship with snow right now.  I really can't stand to be cold, but I do enjoy the occasional snow day home with my kids.  I'm thinking about two days per year would be perfect...and then the rest of the days could be sunny and 80 degrees and I'd be happy.  Anyone know of a place like that?  I'd like to move there.  Anyway, we had a snow day this week and the kids got all bundled up and went outside to play thinking that I was going to be along in a couple minutes.  Since I don't have any boots and it was pretty deep I just decided to stay inside and watch them out the window.  I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it is to not have to be right with them every second anymore.  It was so fun just watching them explore our yard.  They found a giant stick and drug it around making tracks in the snow.  Then they made snow angels, and then they just dug around in the snow in random spots in the yard and cleared all the snow off of the playset.  They stayed out there for a really long time.  It made me think back to when I was a kid and me and my brother would stay outside forever making snow forts.  I really am glad that my kids get to experience snow even though I really would prefer to live somewhere warm and beautiful all year long.  Here are some pictures that I took of them that day.

 I was standing at the dining room window spying on them and they didn't notice me until I knocked on the window and they finally saw me.  Then my daughter proceeded to act super silly once she realized she was being watched.  This is a heart I drew with my finger on the window.

My girl all bundled up.

She loves the snow!

Throwing snowballs at me.  I love the storm door!

I didn't get many shots of my baby boy.  He was too busy with his giant stick way at the back of our yard.  Unfortunately, I think we will have plenty more snow days for me to get some pictures of him.   

If you started your own weekly photo project, please leave a link in the comments section below so I can check it out!

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