Head on over to iheartfaces this week.  It will make you “smile”. 

Remember THIS post from over a year ago?

Where the discussion around the dinner table was about how Erik thought he needed glasses and I thought he just WANTED them?

Well, it turns out he does want them but he also needs them.

I finally took him in at the request of the school nurse.  His eyesight is actually pretty close to 20/20 but he has a prism problem? His eyes are rotated in slightly and they are always straining to straighten out.

He gets a lot of headaches.

He officially needs glasses.

He was SO excited!  It’s been a LONG week waiting for the wonderful people over at Family Eyecare Specialists to have the glasses ready.  But they called this morning and we picked them up.

And loves them!

You can go ahead and award me  Mother-of-the-Year right now.  It’s only been over a year since he started complaining about his eyesight.  Live and learn I guess.

I’m guest posting over at my sister’s fabulously popular blog Tatertots and Jello today.  It’s the first in a series on how to take better pictures.  GO check it out.

Happy Thursday!

Gosh, I haven’t entered an i heart faces contest in a long time. I’ve been busy with an awesome workshop I’m taking, a new camera, and balancing life and photography. But when I saw the theme, I knew I had to take a moment and enter. I’ve been practicing with angles for the Bloom Workshop I’m in the midst of.   The photo I’m entering is one I took for a mini assignment just last week. I caught this right after my 5 year-old was told (by me) that I wouldn’t push him on this swing again. For the 25th time that day. I was all “pushed out” for the day. (And just so you know, he eventually wore me down and I did push him for the 25th time that day. And the 26th. And the 27th…)

Head on over to i heart faces and take a look at all the incredible photos posted for the contest this week.  You won’t be disappointed!

Shana Rae, an incredible photographer and artist,  is guest judge this week.  Her Florabella textures and actions are wildly popular in the photography community!  They are also my very favorites!

Go take a peek at more inspiring “texture” entries this week at iheartfaces!

advent activity:

go for a bike ride (where did these activity ideas come from?!!)

temperature outside:

ummm, we’re taking a pass on day 17.

only 17 more days until Christmas!!!

Advent Activity:

Drink hot cider

only eighteen days left before Christmas!

YIKES!

time’s tickin away.  i’m off to start my Christmas shopping.  i sure hope there’s something left at amazon!

advent activity:

make silly hats out of construction paper and craft supplies

only 19 days until Christmas!

I was up late last night trying out something I’ve been reading about.

I really wanted to get a good picture of our Christmas tree all lit up.

Every year I snap a picture that looks something like this:

Look familiar?

Kind of blah.  Nothing special. At the least  I will remember what our tree looked like in 2009.

But I wanted a fantastic picture of our tree.  Something that expresses the beauty of the Christmas season.

So I’ve been reading up on how to get one of these images you might see in a magazine.

I was up late last night, after everyone went to bed, trying out what I learned.

Here are the results:

Better, right?

So, I thought I would share what I learned with you all so you too can take some spectacular pictures of your holiday lights this year.

Take these at night.

You’ll need:

• A tripod (a must.  I tried without one and it was a disaster)
• A camera you can shoot in Manual mode.  (most point-and-shoots can be shot in manual)
• some Christmas lights

Without going into a long explanation of why and what the settings do, set your camera to these:

manual mode (usually an M on your camera)

aperature: f/16-22 (my camera only goes up to 16 but some will go higher)

ISO: 100-200

shutter speed: 20-30 seconds

You’ll have to play around with the settings until you get just the right amount of light.

Put your camera on a tripod.

Adjust so you get the entire tree in your view finder.

Turn on the tree lights.

turn off all other lights

click and then don’t touch the camera

wait

check viewfinder

adjust settings until you get the desired beautiful, amazing, spectacular, awe-inspiring image of your holiday lights!

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

activity:

it’s 21 degrees right now.  this may or may not take place tonight…

Only 20 days until Christmas!!!

activity:

discover how to say “i love you” in 4 other languages

(i know this picture resembles a mug shot.  that’s what  kids look like when their mom is constantly snapping pictures of them.)

1. sign language

2. quechua (ancient inca)

3. greek

4.  japanese

Only 21 days left until Christmas!!!

i don’t know who made this advent calendar, but whoever did, did not plan very well.

they should know better than to plan a time consuming activity for a crazy day like a thursday when people are running here and there.

today our advent activity read:  ” make and decorate sugar cookies together”.

if you’ve ever made sugar cookies with kids (or without kids) you know it’s not a quick little project.

there are steps involved.

first you make the dough.  then you refrigerate the dough.  then you clean up. then you roll out the cookies and bake them.  then you clean up. then you let them cool.  then you make the frosting.  then you decorate the cookies. then you clean up. again.

well, it’s almost midnight and as promised, i am blogging about our advent today.

we made the cookies and frosted them. (well most of us did.  one of us was caroling with the cub scouts.)

here’s the proof.

Only 22 days left before Christmas!

as promised, i am updating the blog.

i remembered something yesterday.  i remembered why i do not craft.

it takes too darn long!

that’s why i usually leave it to my uber-crafty sister tatertotsandjello whose blog is literally saturated with craftiness.

so, my goal yesterday was to make an advent calendar for the kids.

after surfing for ideas online for a few minutes, i headed out to the craft store.

{by the way, there are TONS of great ideas for advent calendars out there, for any of you even more last minute than me who wants to make their own}

i thought i could whip out this simple paper bag-strewn clothesline advent calendar in an hour or so.

my goal was to make it, stuff it with goodies, and open the first bag with the kids last night.

well, long after the kids were all in bed, i strung the last of the bags on the line, exhausted from so much crafting, covered in glue and glitter, and wanting nothing more to do with my cricut.

but, it’s finished.

the kids love it.

and we opened our first {two} bags this evening.

in each bag is a scripture, an activity, and four little treats for the kids.

day 1: buy and read a new Christmas book.

luckily i had been to barnes & noble just last weekend and picked this up:

the kids named him … what else but …  Buddy the Elf.

buddy will sit on the shelf during the month of december watching over the kids, magically flying back to the north pole every night to report to santa, and then magically reappearing on a new shelf every morning.

the {little} kids are excited to see who will be first  to find buddy each morning.

what a genius idea!

only 23 days left before Christmas!!!

How exciting to have [B]ecker as the guest judge this week!  He is an incredible Los Angeles wedding photographer.  I’m a huge fan!

Our challenge this week was to post a photo with some sun flare.  This is a photo taken right as I was getting serious about photography.  I had done a little research about how to capture sun flare and was in the backyard with my daughter practicing.

To see more fun photos with sun flare, head on over to iheartfaces.  While you’re at it, go visit [B]ecker and check out all the cool photography tutorials he has.  You’ll quickly become a fan if you aren’t already.

My new blog site is up and running (or at least strolling along).

Who knew customizing a blog could take so much time?  Oh yeah, I did.

I finally have a home for all things photography related.

This is where I’ll post sneak peeks for clients as well as images I have captured through my lens.

You can also scroll through my galleries up top and check out all the amazing people who have been part of my portfolio building these past few months.

I hope you bookmark me, come back often, and let me know what you think.

My new blog site is up and limping along.  But it’s up all the same.

I’ve really wanted to separate my personal blog from my photography blog for quite some time.  But creating an entirely new blog site is a TON of  work.

I’ve been neglecting this blog for so long in an effort to get my photography business up and running.  Now that my busy fall season is coming to a close, I will have some time to devote to personal blogging.  Yay!

So, go check out my new site.  I’ve loaded the galleries with lots of the faces I’ve been lucky to photograph in the past few months.  I’m working on adding music and tweaking all the details, but for the most part, it’s dressed enough to go out in public.