From the category archives:

pictures

scooting right along

January 17, 2012

We were out all day yesterday … Molly Flanagan and I [and our 5 kids!] drove to Atlanta to see one of our dear Flickr friends. The girls and I left our house at 8:15am and got home at 10:15pm. It was a beautiful day, and I am so thankful for friends like this. Unfortunately [fortunately?], I was so intent on leaving somewhat remotely on time, I walked out the door without my camera. Durrr. But just believe me when I say we had a wonderful day!

And today, we are just having a totally lazy day at home …

watching cartoons

catching up on sleep

and catching up on the usual stuff that happens when you’re away from your house for a day.

Okay, so that last picture has nothing to do with laundry or cleaning or whatever else I’ll be ~~thinking about~~ doing today … I just thought it was pretty.

Happy Tuesday!

{ 11 comments }

we go places sometimes

January 9, 2012

in a day in the life,emma,lucy,pictures

Now that Lucy is becoming a little more tolerable in the car, we can actually go places and do things!! It’s amazing!

So to celebrate the beginning of the new year, we took the girls to the Riverbanks Zoo, and it was seriously the most beautiful day. Can’t beat 70 degrees in January!

Even though Lucy didn’t nap the whole day [and I even tried wearing her in the Angelpack for a LONG time!], we still had a great time. I sure do love hanging out with my family.

Something about the people and the gorilla and how very similar they looked really cracked me up. I’m a Creationist, so I’m not saying anything about evolution here … just thought it was funny. :)

Lucy’s pose here killed me dead.

I hate snakes. I am really really scared of them. But behind glass? They move so gracefully and beautifully, and their coloring is always so unique – I can’t help but take tons of pictures of them.

Upside down jellyfish

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Christmas program cuteness

December 22, 2011

in emma,pictures

So Emma had her preschool Christmas program last week, and I’ll go ahead and tell you … I cried. Three times.

I blame it on the fetus.

Anyway, after she hid her face last year [I can't believe I didn't blog about it!!], I was worried that I would have to pull her off the stage again.

My mom and grandmother drove up from Georgia to see her, which was super exciting for all of us! We got there early and got good seats, and then the kids came marching in. I was right on the aisle, so I whispered, “Hey, Emma!” when she walked by, but she looked at me and gave me that, “Not now, Mom! I’m concentrating and walking and singing and being in a program!” look. Point taken.

And then she was on stage. And I got really nervous. That face? With the little smirk and the refusing to look around? I have seen that face. I know that face well. And I knew for sure that this would not end well.

But then the singing started, and you know what happened??

She sang!

She really really sang!

away in a manger, no crib for a bed

the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head

the stars in the sky

looked down where He lay

the little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

And then she played the bells …

I’m telling you guys, I was as proud as I could possibly be for my girl. She was absolutely amazing!

I had to catch myself from running up on stage and hugging her.

SQUEEEEEEZE

So so proud of how much she has grown in a year. Of course, I would have been proud of her, no matter what, but she is really growing up into an amazing little girl.

And then Mema, her great-grandmother, gave her these flowers, which she has smelled and touched and talked about every single day since then.

So if I don’t get online before then, Merry Christmas from our family to yours!! I hope you all have a blessed holiday season.

xxxooo

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when things don’t go as planned

December 7, 2011

in emma,lucy,photography,pictures

I had these grand ideas for our Christmas card pictures. I was going to dress the girls in cute outfits. I was going to take them to this neat little path tucked away in a corner of our subdivision. I was going to lay down a fuzzy blanket and get a bunch of adorable pictures of the two of them.

I was going to have to spend HOURS pouring over the amazing images just to choose two or three.

It was going to be PERFECT.

Yeah.

That was fun.

My vision flew out the window, and I realized that we were not actually going to get anything “posed.” So I just let them do whatever they wanted to do, and I ended up with three really cute shots for our cards. Which is kind of how it should have been since I actually never do posed photography, and I don’t know why I thought it would work now.

I won’t share the main image until after the cards have been sent out, but I was pleasantly surprised with the final result.

By the way? Those shoes are two sizes too small on Emma, but the only shoes that currently fit are pink and sparkly. Just keeping it real.

Anyway, this whole trip ended with both girls crying at the playground and me laughing at myself for thinking it would turn out any differently.

Remind me next year to start working on holiday pictures around mid-September.

{ 43 comments }

taking time to catch up

November 30, 2011

in emma,lucy,pictures

I know you guys are tired of hearing me talk about how I’m not blogging. But I am just kind of living life outside of writing. Not that I’m saying that people who blog regularly don’t have lives. I can totally see how that sentence could start some blogging war, lol. I’m just saying that for me, blogging has taken a backseat to life.

Both of the girls were sick last week, and they are just now getting past the snot and coughs. Miraculously, I didn’t catch it, so I was able to deal with the sucking and the wiping and the hydrating and the humidifying and the Vicks rubbing and the steam bathing. But then I thought about what next year … with three sick kids … is going to look like, and I may have melted into a puddle.

We started putting up Christmas decorations, but I have yet to get a decent picture for our Christmas cards, so … you may get Lucy’s cry-face and Emma playing on the iPad. I know, I should dress them up and take them out and get a good shot. That’s what I should do. But let’s be honest, that probably won’t get done.

As Emma says, “You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit.” So there.

We had a great Thanksgiving, though. SO MUCH to be thankful for this year!

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Are you sick of seeing these pictures of Emma and Ken walking with Lucy? I just LOVE watching Lucy with her Frankenstein-style walking.

Anyway, we got to have TWO Thanksgivings – one with Ken’s family and one with my family – and it was absolutely wonderful. I’m hoping that turns into a yearly tradition, because you just can’t beat two Thanksgiving meals, man.

And now this is the part where I just dump a few pictures and hope that makes up for my lack of talking.

In other news, I just had another post pop up on I Heart Faces — [Taking Great Indoor Photos without Flash] — so if you followed me from over there, hi and hello and welcome! I noticed that there were a few questions in the comments, and I will work on getting up another blog post to break that down for you all that asked – especially about exposing for what you want in your shot.

Also, someone asked for some straight-out-of-the-camera shots, since my editing is “cloudy” … so here are a few: