Day 4/365

I'm on a roll! I've got two pics today for Day 4. ;)

Katie, my most willing subject:

Nikon d70, 70mm, f4.5, 1/200, ISO 1600 (and Andrea's Color Pop and Black and White action)

And I thought I'd try this. I like the texture. ;)

Nikon d70, 70mm, f4.5, 1/25, ISO 400 (and Andrea's Color Pop action)

3/365

Two pics today because I couldn't choose. I'm not completely happy with either. The light was bad for both, so to compensate I had to bump up the ISO, which created lots of noise. Oh well. I need to take pics in the am before we head to school and the gym, but our timing isn't that good. lol

So here's Katie (with chopped off hands--oops!)

Nikon d70, 38 mm, f4.2, 1/1000, can't remember ISO

and one of Katie's toys (with chopped off ears. I'm bad today!):

Nikon d70, 70 mm, f4.5, 1/30, can't remember ISO

2/365

I've made it back here two days in a row. Whooohooo!!

Here's Day 2 of my 365 challenge:

Nikon d70 (Nikor 70-210mm lens at 155mm), f5, 1/40, ISO 800

I liked this shot, too, though:

Nikon d70 (Nikor 70-210mm lens at 135mm), f4.8, 1/40, ISO 800

Feel free to leave any constructive criticism!

Project 365 for 2008!

In an attempt to get better about blogging every day and to (hopefully) improve my photographs, I thought I'd jump onto the Project 365 bandwagon and commit to taking a photo every day of 2008.

Here's the picture that I'm going to start out the year with:

Miss Maggie was cheeseing it up for me. Settings: 70mm, f4.5, 1/125, ISO 400

The side of her face is a little blown out here, but her eyes (especially that right one!) are super sharp. Yay! The only photoshopping this image saw was a change to Black and White (using a change in mode to Lab Color>Lightness and then back to Greyscale, just in case you're interested!).

Of course, I can't leave Miss Katie out:

Check out those catchlights! She's such a cheeseball. Settings on this one: Nikon d70, f4.5, 1/60, 400 ISO (I think...can't remember).

Here's another one where she was cheesin' for the camera:

She was playing peek-a-boo with the camera and I caught her just peeking her head around the corner of my lens. lol Settings Nikon d70, 70mm, f4.5, 1/60, 400 ISO (I think...)

So maybe I'll be a better blogger. lol

Let's see...a quick update. Maggie is in a nice place right now. Her behavior is mostly good and she's so sweet. She's very good with her sister and is having a great time at school these days. She learned "Away in a Manger" for her Christmas program and has been singing it nonstop lately, especially if Katie is upset. Too sweet. Katie is walking and bordering on running, and I've gotten her weaned. She's adjusting quite well and is just such a happy little kiddo. Not to say that she's always easy...the child has a SCREAM that could pierce eardrums, and she's not shy about letting loose if she thinks she's being wronged. lol On the whole both girls are super independent and definitely clear about what they want or don't want. I keep telling myself that this will be a good thing as they get older, though sometimes it's a struggle right now.

Chris and I have been working out really hard lately and have both lost some weight. yay for us! Chris has lost about 25 pounds and I've lost 40. I've still got quite a ways to go--80 pounds to get to my ultimate goal--but I'm working hard and doing well. I've been working with a personal trainer (Brandon ROCKS!), though my last session with him will be later this week. Hopefully I'll continue to be successful on my own. Chris and I are going to walk/run in a 5k at Nashville Zoo later in January, and I'm planning to meet some super cool digiscrap chicks from my Biggest Loser group in Maine this June to run in a 5k up there. WhooohooO! I'm so excited!

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow to post another pic. :) I hope you're (whoever might be reading this!) all doing well and that you have had a great beginning to this New Year!

ps--OH! Totally forgot the biggest news!! My brother (Dermot) and sister-in-law (Aimee) are expecting another baby! They will add to their family in July and sweet Will will be a big brother! Yay! Congrats, guys!

Halloween fun!

Another year of Trick or Treating has come and gone. I thought I'd share a couple of pics of my little Minnie Mouse and ballerina.





Here's Maggie as Minnie Mouse:

and Katie as a ballerina:

and the two of them together:

Katie, cheesing for the camera. She's still pretty pleased with herself about being able to stand up. ;)

Do you think Maggie loves her sister just a little bit? :)

Not the greatest pics, but at least we have some memories. :) Thanks for looking!

Long time no blog

Angela called me on not blogging, so I figured now would be a good time to update the old blog. Life's been busy lately. I've been completely consumed by my quest to change my life. I've tried to lose weight before, but my efforts fizzled out after a few weeks. I've been at it for months now (and going really hardcore for 8 weeks) and I'm seeing some real success. I'm down 35 pounds overall. Whooohooo! I have been lucky enough to be part of the Biggest Loser Digi-Style (which is a group of digital scrappers attacking weight loss Biggest Loser style...without the vote-offs) for the last 5 weeks. Just during that challenge, I've lost 12 pounds and 41 inches. Yep, you read that right. 41 inches!! I'm so proud of myself!

I've been working out every day and pushing myself hard. I've been working out with a trainer for 2 weeks now and I'm enjoying that, too. Brandon (my trainer) is a great guy who's really good about pushing me hard and encouraging me, too. Oh, and not only have I been working hard, but Chris has been inspired and has been working out, too. He's lost about 15 pounds in the last month. I'm really proud of him, too.

On to the girls...

Maggie is her usual hilarious self. She's so sweet these days. Every now and then she'll wander by and say, "Mom (or Dad...whoever's there), I love you." What a sweet girl. :)

Katie is almost walking. She takes 2 and 3 steps at a time and just laughs her head off. She's such a happy little baby. I can't believe she's almost a year old--not really a baby anymore, is she?

Wanna see some pics? Sure ya do!

Miss Maggie. :) Auntie Fi came over when we were at my parents' house last week and brought mini pumpkins, glue, and glitter. We painted the glue on the pumpkins and dumped glitter over them. What a fun way to spend the morning!

On the way to my parents' house we made a pit stop in Clanton at the pumpkin patch that we've been going to for the last couple of years. Our wonderful friends Debbie and Delaney met us there and then we went back to their house for the night. Katie was being particularly cute, so I snapped a couple of pics of her while Maggie and Delaney were playing in the hay loft.

These are straight out of the camera. I probably should adjust some of the levels, but I think they're pretty good for SOOC.

Katie was happy to see her buddy Mrs. Debbie.

Maggie and Delaney on one of the wagons at the pumpkin patch.

The best shot of the three girls together. It's not a great shot, but when you're dealing with two 4 yr olds and an almost 1 yr old, I guess you take what you can get. hehehe

So that's what we've been up to. How about you? :)

A couple of pics

I got a few minutes to take some pics yesterday and today and I thought I'd share...

Here's a pic of Maggie at the Botanical Gardens last weekend:

and Katie today:

Couldn't you just eat those cheeks up?!

And here's a sneak peek of a normal afternoon here at our house:

It's not the best picture, but it does capture these days for us. Maggie is completely fascinated by swimsuits right now and wants to wear one all the time. She gives in and wears a dress to school, but as soon as we get back home it's off with the dress and on with the swimsuit. I guess she thinks of her little trampoline as a stage--either that or she just enjoys being able to jump and bounce around WHILE singing and playing her guitar. Like we needed more activity here, right? lol And usually Katie is perched there at the edge, gazing up adoringly at her big sister. I feel sure this sort of thing will be repeated and mimiced by Miss Katie in a couple of years. hehehe

whew...sleep woes!

Oh boy, it's been a rough weekend! Chris' parents and aunt and uncle came up from Georgia and Panama City (respectively) and we had a terrific time with them. We went to the Children's Museum and Constitution Village in Huntsville on Saturday and then we went to the Botanical Gardens on Sunday. The girls had a great time with Nana, Grandad, Aunt Ree, and Uncle John. However, being out and about and going all day meant that Katie didn't get all of the naps that she needs, which means that her nighttime sleep has been off, too. Top it off with a snotty nose and congestion and poor Katie is struggling. Oh well...she's still a sweet little monkey. I'm not even going to mention Maggie and her whole sleep issues. Oh well...she's pretty cute, too.

So how about a couple of pictures? :)

That's Maggie enjoying some watermelon at Grady's birthday party the other weekend. Do ya think she liked the watermelon?

How stinkin' cute is Miss Katie? She wasn't much interested in actually eating the food, but she was way into just chewing on the spoon itself.

Speaking of Katie, guess who got some new food experiences this weekend? Miss Katie was CHOWING down on rice at Rosie's Mexican Cantina on Saturday--we're talking fistfuls of rice heading right for her mouth. Sure, there was tons of rice on the floor, but lots made it into her mouth, too. (and we left a big tip as well as trying to pick up as much of the rice as we could.) Then on Sunday Katie and Maggie went with Nana, Grandad, Aunt Ree, and Uncle John to a German restaurant for lunch and Katie ate her fill of the German Rye bread. Who knew!?! I am still trying to give her baby food at meals, but she's getting less and less interested in that. Zwieback Toast? Oh yeah. Baby applesauce? Not so much. No wonder she likes real food. She's cutting her 8th tooth!

Maggie is riding her big girl bike like a pro (with training wheels, of course). She loves to ride it around inside the house, and she and Daddy go on rides down the sidewalk after dinner. :) I'll have to upload a picture of her proudly riding her bike tomorrow. :)

Ok, enough from me. I'm heading off to bed. Have a great night, all!

Holy COW!!!!! Maggie's on CK's Home Page!

Ok, let me tell you how super duper excited I am! I've been away from the computer all day and I come back to see a message from sweet Michelle at The DigiChick telling me that one of my layouts was featured today on Creating Keepsakes Home page as a Featured Layout! WHOOOHOOOO!!! I can't even describe the ginormous grin on my face!

Here's a screenshot:
And here's the layout:

"School Rocks"

Click on the layout to see a bigger version in my gallery at The DigiChick. I'm so stinkin' excited!! (For those of you who don't digiscrap, Creating Keepsakes is THE scrapbook magazine--predominantly for paper scrapbooking, but they do some digital stuff, too. This is their online website, but wow, what an honor to be picked out of all the layouts that are posted each day!)

Recent Layouts

So I said that I was going to share some layouts last night...life (and Maggie) interfered, so I didn't get them up last night. Here they are now, though! Click on the photo to go to the image in The DigiChick where you can see the credits (and leave me some comments--lol!). :)



"Flirt"





"I'll Miss You"





"Sparkle and Shine, Baby"





"You at 3 1/2"





"4th of July Lost and Found"





"{Jump!}"





"Just Like to Smile"


I've done some other layouts lately, but those are some of my favorites. :) Thanks for looking!

pics of me and my girls--yay!

I'm not even going to comment about how slack I've been about blogging. Er...I guess I just did, didn't I? Anyway, enough of that...

I was super duper lucky to spend an afternoon getting my picture taken with my two favorite girls in the world--Maggie and Katie. My sister Fiona has a good friend who is starting a photography business. Her name is Lindsey Lingenfelter and she's super talented. You should check out her photography blog Linden Tree Photography here.

Here are a couple of my favorite images from that day:

Since I'm the one who's usually behind the camera, it was a real treat to spend some time on the other side of things. Lindsey is so sweet to work with, too, and she was so good with my girls. Thanks so much, Lindsey! You rock!


I put together a little blinkie for Lindsey, so check it out over in my sidebar. If anybody in the Atlanta area (or Georgia and Alabama), I would totally recommend setting up an appointment with Lindsey!

I'll be back in a minute with a few of the most recent layouts I've done. :) I've got to make up for not posting for a long time, right? :)

My Photography class

I've been working on my photography more and more lately, and I was lucky enough to be able to take a class with an incredibly talented local photographer--DeLeigh Kelly of Fairy Tales Fotography. Chris took Friday off so that he could be with the girls while took part in this class, so it was my "Mommy" time, too. (YAY for that!) DeLeigh took us through lots of the basic information about camera settings (aperature, shutter speed, ISO) and how to make them all work together for the best pictures with natural lighting. It was a lot of information to take in, but I already feel like I've learned so much! I need to practice practice practice now! :)

Since I need to practice, I figured I'd pull out some of Maggie's tutus and see if I could get some good pics of the girls. Here are some of the best:

This was shot at an ISO of 400 with a shutter speed of 1/50 and an aperture of 4.5.

This was shot at an ISO of 1600 with a shutter speed of 1/40 and an aperture of 4.5.

This was shot at an ISO of 400 with a shutter speed of 1/50 and an aperture of 4.2.

There are definitely things that I could do to improve, but I'm fairly happy with my first images using my manual settings. :) What do you think?

Wow, long time no chatty...

I won't even make any excuses. I'm a bad blogger. lol

Now that that's done with, let's see what I've been up to. First of all, we're moving north...not that far north--just up to the Huntsville/Madison area. Still, Chris says that it's like a whole different world up there and that it's much more like Raleigh was. YAY! :) We close on the new house on Thursday and we're moving up on July 5th. Our Montgomery house is on the market (has been for a little over a week now), so we're hoping that it sells quickly. We've had a couple of showings and one potential buyer who was choosing between our house and a different one (they chose the other one), so hopefully it will all go smoothly. We'll see...

Other news...Maggie's on her second round of swimming lessons. This is the second week of her second set of lessons and she's made SO much progress. She started off being a little nervous about the water, though she'd put her face in okay. Today we took the girls to the pool for the afternoon and she actually was able to swim about 4 feet (no swimmie wings or float belt or helping hands!!) with her face under the water the whole time! Go Maggie!!

Katie is trying SO hard to crawl. She's getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth like crazy. Sometimes she just rocks and then flops right back on the floor. Other times she rocks herself backwards. About a quarter of the time, though, she actually lurches forwards! :) She's so funny. She'll get there soon, I'm sure. She's so dang happy all the time, even right now when she's cutting more teeth. I felt the third one (one of her top canines) poking through today, and the other canine should be through in the next couple of days.

Let's see, what else? Oh, Chris has been working up in Huntsville for a month now and living out of a suitcase in the Holiday Inn there. He's also been to Taiwan, which was a cool experience for him. He came home this weekend and the girls (and me) were so so happy to see him. He pretty much spent the whole weekend with the girls so I'm sure he's exhausted, but it was really good for them. Tonight before bed, Maggie even asked him to read a story to her, which is out of the norm--that's been my job for the last 10 months or so. We enjoyed having Daddy back here for a couple of days. :)

I've been busy, too, but I'm going to tie up this post and be back in a second with a new post about what I've been doing. :) Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far!

DUDE! Here I am!

It's been pointed out to me that I'm a blogger slacker. LOL Like you're surprised... Here I am with an update. The kiddos are growing bigger every day. We had their well check visit yesterday (Kate 6 months and Maggie 3 yrs...even though Maggie's 3.5 already. Like I said, I'm a slacker!). Maggie is up to 41 inches and 38 pounds. That's off the chart for height (like she has been) and about 80% for weight. Not bad. Turns out that the nose ouchie from a few weeks ago probably wasn't a broken nose after all, so yay about that, too.

Miss Kate is up to 19 pounds 12.5 oz already and 27.5 inches. That puts her firmly in the 95% for both weight and height...right where Maggie was at this age. Munchkin has two teeth already (bottom center) and is working on her top two front teeth, too. She's got all the parts of crawling but just can't put it together yet. One of these days.

Let's see...other news. We're moving! We're moving to the Huntsville/Madison area. Chris is already up there working (actually, he's in Taiwan right now for the rest of the week). We went up there the first two weekends to look for houses and he came home the 3rd weekend. He was traveling last weekend, but he'll be back here this weekend. I'm sure he'll be exhausted, but I've been here with the girls for 2 weeks by myself, so he's going to be pulling some definite Daddy duty when he gets back. I contacted a realtor today about putting this house on the market, and I've been spending every spare minute working on getting stray things packed up, getting this house decluttered, and trying to get it ready to sell. I'm exhausted. Whew!

With all of that, not many time for pictures of late. Even less time for scrapping! I did take a few pictures of Katie the other day, so let me share those quickly.

My happy girl:


I love this cheesy grin:


"Talking", as usual (she's going to be chatty like her sister, I think):


And just being a cutie:


ok. I'm off to try to get some stuff done. Hope you all have a great day!!

Boy I'm a slacker! (and Gatlinburg pics)

I'm such a slacker (as some of you have kindly pointed out. lol!!). I won't even promise I'll do better (but I'll try).

Some of you may have seen these pics on TDC, but I thought I'd share here, too. These are some of my favorite pics from the long weekend trip we just took to Gatlinburg, TN and the Great Smokie Mountains. We had a blast!

We went to a little kiddie amusement park:

Probably the best times that we had were by (and in!) the little stream beside our cabin, though. Maggie could have spent all day every day there!

and finally, on Sunday (Mother's Day), Maggie came to me with these little daisies and said, "To you, Love Me. I love you, Mommy!" What better Mother's Day present could a girl get? :)

And lest you think that we left Miss Katie at home, never fear! :) She was with us but was napping when I took all of the stream pics. I'll try to upload some recent pics of her tomorrow.