No Pictures Today Either

Just wanted to let you know that I won't be posting any pictures for a few more days. The whole family got sick a couple days after Christmas. I'm being nurse, Mommy, and sick-person, and none of that leaves time for pictures. Hopefully we'll all be well soon.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Peanut saw Mommy kissing Santa Clause. ;)

Spinning tops

Sometimes I believe my daughters are spinning tops. They are wound up with lots and lots of energy, and eventually they crash.

Today has been a pretty good day. Actually, all this week has been good. What do I mean by good? The house has stayed reasonably clean, I haven't been losing my temper with my "spinning tops," and we've all been pretty jolly. Not too shabby.

Even though the weather outside is windy and very cold, we had good light, which enabled me to take some pictures. I found a way to get my girls to sit reasonably still and smile...play with a top. These are a few of what I managed with my fully manual 50mm:






Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!

Snowy Day

I love that my girls get excited about playing out in the snow. I've seen other children, who were just around the age of two, cry inconsolably about being out in the snow. Peanut just loves to eat as much snow as possible, and Popper likes making snow angels, throwing snowballs, and building snowmen. Our first snow of the season brought us dry, powdery snow. It probably would have been good for sledding, but we do not currently own a sled. We'll have to rectify that situation. Popper made about 6 or 7 snow angels, and Peanut was quite content grabbing a stick and using it as a spoon to help her eat snow.

This might be my favorite shot of the day. I have others that I'd like to tweak, but this one really didn't require any tweaking at all.

Tea Party

If you've never had the pleasure of having afternoon tea at Pinkadilly Tea in Fredericksburg, you really should make a point to go. My sister-in-law treated me to a wonderful time there, and even the kids love it. There is one spot, in the back of the tea room, where they have a wide assortment of hats to try on. Of course, this spot is a favorite with the children (not just because of the hats, but also due to the low hung mirror).

Popper, as well as her cousins, loved the fact that they got to put sugar cubes into their tea. I'm pretty sure more than a few sugar cubes skipped the tea cups and went straight into the children's mouths.

Been Busy

I've been busy doing Mom stuff, taking pictures, doing a few photo edits, and playing in the snow!! Here are a few quick pictures:

Two Posts in One Day?!

I was looking through some pictures I took this fall, trying to decide if I liked them or not. In particular, I was looking at the ones I took with my manual focus 50mm lens. It's tricky to shoot with this lens (although it wasn't back when I was using my film SLR) because my DSLR has no way for me to make sure my image is in focus (except for my eyes). Also, the metering won't work with this lens, so I have to guess with that as well. I would LOVE to own an AF 50mm, but I don't have a spare $120 to get one right now, so I'll just make due.

I took this one with my old lens, and while it wasn't the most interesting shot, I was impressed that my daughter's face is in focus (she hardly ever stands still, making manually focusing even more tricky). After playing with this using photoshop for a bit, I came up with this:



I rather like it.

Cookie Exchange

I had the opportunity to leave my girls at home with my husband and escape to a cookie exchange. I jumped at the chance (been having a bit of a nightmare week), and I am so glad I did. I had an AMAZING time: got to enjoy wonderful conversations, see friends that it has been far too long since I've last visited, listened to some fun Christmas music, ate some delicious food, and saw my friends' beautiful children! This little girl not only sparkled with beauty but also with an electrifying personality. What a darling! I would love to babysit her just because she's so happy and so much fun!

Christmas at the Farm

They aren't the greatest pictures, but I did learn about Photoshop while I was making the collage. It was REALLY cold, so my fingers were pretty numb as I worked the camera controls. Popper didn't want to stand still, so it was difficult to take a picture of her waiting in line for Santa; that is, until Bear picked her up.

So my collage consists of Popper and Peanut waiting in line to see Santa, the wreath on the barn, Santa driving a tractor, and a picture of Popper talking with Santa (with improper exposure). The picture we paid for had an unsmiling Santa, Popper not looking at the camera or at Santa, and Santa's hand in an odd place and weird gesture. So, we opted for my picture.

Playing with Photoshop

I was playing with various actions on photoshop,and it seems many people liked the "toned down" or "vintage" look to pictures. Typically, I'm all about lots of color saturation or as close to "normal" as possible, with a little help. While looking at one of my pictures of Popper apple picking, I thought I would go ahead and try some of the toned down actions. I combined a few, and played with opacity, and came up with this image. It actually kinda like it.



I know, no pictures from our Christmas fun at the farm...well, the one picture of Popper with Santa that I really like was messed up due to me not having my camera on the correct settings. The rest of the pictures are just snap shots...nothing I feel like sharing...well, not right now.

A Not Quite Christmas-y Picture

I was torn on whether or not to leave this picture in color or go for the black and white. In color, the poinsettias in the background definitely give the picture a Christmas feel. But, with combination of how A has his lips and the black and white, the whole picture had a very classic little boy feel. I'll have other Christmas pictures to post, so I decided to go for classic little boy. Hope you like it too.



Tomorrow we head to the farm for some country Christmas fun. Wish me luck on getting lots of great pictures.

Rainy December Day

It's one of those days where you are tempted to wallow in self-pity, but know that you really shouldn't. So, instead, you think about how sinful that action would be, which then leads you to think about other sinful things you have done lately and how you aren't living up to the standards you had set for yourself, which then causes you to want to once again wallow in self-pity. Yeah, it's one of those day.

It is rainy and chilly outside, but the girls are on the insane side, so we all went outside for a bit. It is REALLY tough to take pictures of an object that moves constantly in random directions, but I did manage this one.