Fall Family Fun

My brother and sister-in-law kindly allowed me to shoot their first family portrait session. When I asked them what the pictures would be used for, they said for hanging on their walls, handing out to family, you know, that sort of thing. No pressure... really!

I was happy to be able to capture this happy and loving family with kids full of mischief and imagination. Andrew and Lynda, here's your sneak peek...

Little Miss Independent

What happens when you are rushing to get out the door to work and don't lay out clothes for your daughter? Addison was happy to show me the outfit she chose to wear to school today when I got home...

Why didn't I think of this???

How to Keep Matching Sheets Together in the Closet

 

 

 

Martha Stewart Living, January 2011

Don't let your matching sheets get lost in the linen closet. Use this simple trick: Tuck the sheet set inside one of its pillowcases, and then stack according to size (twin, full, queen, king) or by the room you use the sheets in (master bedroom, guest room.)

More Martha Stewart Good Things

New bird trick

So I suck at low-light photography (and the below pic illustrate this). Karen from Snapshots of a Goodlife is offering a 2 week forum so we can ask a tonne of questions and hopefully you'll see my mad skills in the weeks to follow. I highly suspect it's a combination of my camera maxing out on it's ISO that is causing all the digital noise (that, and I'm shoot in AF instead of full manual in low light... something I'm going to practice this weekend to prepare for the beginning of the forum next week). I think I need to save up and upgrade my camera body.

Now for the new bird tricks...

The first wave of halloween

It's not about the rituals or dark side of the holiday. It's the joy in our kids faces to be able to dress up and wear costumes to school and decorate our house in a style that speaks about us...

Thanksgiving Part 2

The next day we went to my parents for a pot luck thanksgiving dinner. I tried to make a 10 layer jello salad for the kiddies. It wasn't quite 10 layers but they loved it. And I took a family pic before the twins make their appearance and while my sister can still waddle around!

Thanksgiving Part 1

Traditionally Craig's family heads out for a Chinese buffet for Thanksgiving. This is really ideal for us as my family does the turkey, stuffing, mashed potato thing so we don't end up having two of the same meals in a row (unless you count the boat-load of leftovers I ended up bringing home from mom and dads!).

Our buffet day started remarkably well with the kids actually wanting to get some pictures taken. That being said, they wanted to do their own thing which always ends up looking like Tyler is going to strangle his sister.

These are some of the pics I took. I'm needing to find a lens that I can use in cramped, low-light situations. Some of these I had to take with a really high ISO so they have some beautiful noise (I'm saying that sarcastically). I have Lightroom at work and it does an amazing job of reducing noise. I need to get this for home!

This is the first time Addison let me braid her hair. Tomorrow is picture day at school so I'm hoping she'll let me again!

We also spoiled the kids with chocolate milk shakes which they were totally excited about.
And which Quinten ending up chucking later that evening. Note to self: chocolate milk + sushi + oysters + deep fried goodness does not a happy stomach make!

Craig's Aunt thought the picture below was 'different'. I like that Addison's bite framed the logo on the plate.

Quin is quite happy learning to read and was sounding out his fortune.

Sigh

Sometimes the kids drive me nuts. Who am I kidding... it's most of the time (or as my wonderful husband says when he's reading this over my shoulder, "the other times you're at work"... oh, he's a comedian). But then, I have to breathe, remind myself that they are just kids, and remember days like this one where Tyler reads Addison and Quinten's library books to them.

It's twin boys!!!!

No, not for me! My sister Jill just had a gender reveal party. At her ultrasound she asked that the genders be sealed in two separate envelopes. She then took the envelopes to a baker and asked that the icing in between the cake layers correspond with the genders of the babies (blue = boy, pink = girl). Then she had a party with friend and families so we could all find out at the same time what the genders will be.

Well, Meghan will now get her own room and Nathan can team up with his new little brothers. It's going to be one crazy-busy house!!

Here are a couple pics of the day: