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I love taking photos of my children when they first wake up……it is one of my favorite times to photograph River. Especially if I get her to tell me a story about one of her dreams…..the expressions that I capture are priceless….especially because her stories go on and on and on..it is a great way to get her to not make goofy expressions the whole time I’m taking pictures..which is what she does anymore..when I take out the camera…..so here are a few good shots that I got the other morning…….
So this month…I think I might be talking a lot about our Christmas traditions…I’ve done it a bit in the past..but it might be more this year..so be warned.
One of our first traditions is getting out our advent calendar. My mom gave this to us years ago and I love it because it is reusable. I also love it because it challenges me to get gifts that are small enough that they fit into these little tiny drawers..which usually means candy or small amounts of change…which is a good thing..because to me the advent calendar is about little tiny things…..(okay..the first day I cheated…I put a little note in the drawer that said to look somewhere else..I got snowman candy bars and they wouldn’t fit in the drawer…but I couldn’t resist..they were delicious…white and dark chocolate with pepermint pieces!!)
We try to do the advent calendar first thing in the morning…when things aren’t too crazy…but River doesn’t always cooperate. She likes to sleep in..and Tuesday and Quinn have to be off early for school. So, we will either do it first thing in the morning…or right after school. If we end up not doing it in the morning, it drives River crazy. She spends the whole day asking why Tuesday and Quinn aren’t home from school yet!!
It is Embrace the Camera time…..better late than never…I didn’t get this post up til late!…oh well…..I so rarely get a shot with me and all my children..I thought it would be fun to do a photo booth style shot….so here it is..I love the site Laphotocabine.com. It is a lot of fun…try it out!
River was dying to make a bead necklace…she wanted to do it completely on her own……she was determined to not have help…..well, only a little bit of help…..she concentrated and worked so hard…to do it all on her own….it was too cute…and she was so proud when she was finished!
It is Embrace the Camera time and this week I was prepared….I thought ahead of time who I wanted to take a photo with….and I thought of my dad….
Since my mom passed away 1 1/2 years ago…. I have wished that I had more photos of her with me and my children……
I haven’t taken a lot of photos of my dad..and I don’t think I have any of him with just me…and my daughter River….I was so excited to set the camera up and try to get some shots….but my camera wasn’t cooperating…..I took some, but when I got home I realized they were blurry (I had the camera accidentally focus on the wall..instead of on us)…but I’m posting them anyway….though I’ve told myself I must..in the near future….take more photos with him..and this time have all three of my children in the photo!
This post was inspired by Emily and her blog, 3 Boys and a Little Lady……..
I was trying to take some good photos of River’s room for a contest…but typical me…I had the deadline of the contest wrong…so I missed the deadline and couldn’t enter the contest. But that’s okay..I learned a lot about my camera and got some pretty good shots of River’s room. I wanted to get some nice photos of the Go Dog Go murals…and just the overall feel of her room.
I also learned about taking photos for a design contest. You look at the room and think you have everything set up perfectly…then you examine the photos and keep finding things wrong with the photo…..clock should be taken out of shot, stuffed animal not positioned correctly, comforter is crooked and doesn’t look perfect….lighting isn’t bright enough…I took tons and tons of photos and I still wasn’t completely satisfied! I don’t think I could ever make the room as perfect looking as the magazines..I’d have to get rid of all the clutter!
I didn’t want the room to look too perfect..but I wanted it to look nice for the photos. Also, River wanted to be in all the photos..but for this particular shoot, I didn’t want her in the photos..so that was a challenge in itself.
The room has a huge window in it…so that made it difficult to get the lighting just right..I wanted it bright..but I didn’t want the sun’s rays all over everything.
I could probably take a lot more and probably get some better shots…and learn even more…but I decided I needed to be satisfied with what I had….I do love to take photos of my children’s rooms…because they always seem to be changing…and it is fun to look back on how they used to look….especially since we are going to be putting a “big kids bed” in River’s room soon!
River keeps telling me that she wants her room painted a brighter pink…but I tell her she has to wait awhile..until she’s bigger….and then she can pick a new color for her room….I’m not ready to paint over the murals that I painted in her room..but I know one day she’ll be bigger and she will have tired of them….and then I’ll have to be ready to paint them over….but until then….
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
Wishing you a lovely weekend!
*Inspired by Soule Mama
So, I wanted to participate in Embrace the Camera with Emily over at her blog, 3 boys and a little lady….and I wanted to take photos with my three children…I can’t tell you if I have ever taken photos with just me and my three children…how sad is that?? Well, River instantly decided she wanted no part of it…..so Quinn and Tuesday and I took a bunch of photos..we had so much fun..and then at the end…River joined us..though she was still a bit grumpy.
We had so much fun taking all the photos..and it was great to get some good ones of just me and Tuesday and then me and Quinn and then the three of us….and then River…..
We took a million photos..I had a hard time picking out my favorites!!
My youngest daughter, River, always has problems putting her shoes on the correct feet. She seems to consistently put them on the WRONG foot. So, I did what I did for my other two children….drew fish on all her shoes……she has to make them “kiss” and then she knows she has them set up correctly..so that they will be on the right feet! Works every time!…except they wear off and you have to keep drawing fish!!
We had a great Halloween weekend…the weather was perfect! We carved some pumpkins (and threw some pumpkin guts around….), perfected our costumes..and did lots of trick or treating!
I hope you had a great Halloween!
