Ivan's First Photos

Ivan's First Photo Album

I bought Ivan a sub-$100 HP digital point & shoot camera for Christmas. The first couple days the box didn't even get opened. He didn't understand why he needed a camera because MOM is the one who takes all the photos - she's the photographer. It took a brief conversation with him to open his eyes and his mind to the idea that he could take his own photos and show his own perspective. Suddenly he was excited about it. This morning we decided to walk down to the school so they could play on the playground and explore around our neighborhood a bit. I suggested to Ivan to take his camera along and he really enjoyed his hour of photodocumentary work. *cheer* I'm so proud of him. (I took the first few photos and I put a caption where his work begins.)

Christmas at Home - 2007

Christmas at Home - 2007

Click on the photo above to be magically whisked away to view my photo documentary of our family Christmas at home. Our first holiday season in our hip, happy little apartment overlooking downtown Fort Worth. Smiles and Season's Greetings to all from our family to yours.

Christmas in WF

Christmas in Wichita Falls

After we had our Christmas at home, we loaded up and headed out to visit Michael's family in Wichita Falls for the rest of the day.

Christmas Snazzy

 

I took the kids to see the Nutcracker ballet put on at Bass Hall by the Fort Worth Ballet. They were tickled to get dressed up "fancy," as they put it, after being dressed up just two days ago for their school winter program. (Ooops, did I get photos of the kids together that night!?) Anyway, we got in the doors late and were seated at the back of the floor. Those were good seats -- and since they were in the center, the kids enjoyed the view there. But during intermission we went to find the seats to match our tickets and the kids were at first annoyed that they were stage-level the first box to the right of the stage. They complained that they wouldn't be able to see anything from that angle. *giggle* I assured them to TRUST ME... and when the curtain rose again and the Sugar Plum fairy, et. al. came twirling on stage they were transfixed. I wish I had pictures of their expressions and their cute excited child-applause. It was PRICELESS! So, when we came home, I made them stand in front of a backdrop for a quick portrait to commemorate the evening.

 

Gift for my kiddos

 
Ok, so I'm a sucker. I couldn't stand making all these posters and prints for the school and not putting up a little extra effort to make a poster for my own kids to put up in their bedroom. I think they'll be tickled to add to their own private art collection. :-) Smiles to all - time for this tired crazy momma to go to bed before the sun comes up!

Turkey Trot Poster

 

This is a sample of the posters I made for the kids' school to make a new display in the front entry way of the school celebrating the students doing the Turkey Trot the day before Thanksgiving break started. Note that is Ivan in the squad car... he fell down on the first stretch of the race, but when the car drove up to where I was I encouraged him to get out and run the last bit of the race. So, imagine me in my bright red winter jacket running down the street holding my big work camera in one hand and Ivan's hand in the other hand bounding along together... once we got to where the spectators were I let go of his hand and I jumped up to the sidewalk and let him run by himself to the cheers and clapping and urging of everyone from his school. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life to be there hearing every student, every teacher, and every parent present cheer each and every child across the finish line -- from first to last. It made me well up alternately with tears of pride and awe. The race had nothing to do with the running. I hardly sensed competion there at all. It was all about cheering for the others, about community and team-building. I am grateful to have been there to be a part of it and witness it with my camera that chilly morning.

A Sweet Character

 
Now that we're in the midst of the holiday season, you can bet my photography schedule is heating up. I just had to post a couple of my favorite heart-tugging shots of this little guy. He had the sweetest personality of any 1 year old you could meet. I think if you look into his eyes you'll know exactly what I mean. This is the sort of thing that makes me love my job and thank God for putting me in my right place in my life at this time.

 

Quick Pic

 

I know I will have to work hard to get some of the great photos of the kids from Thanksgiving Break up on the blog here. I am tremendously busy with photo work right now, but believe me I never forget that it was my own children who inspired me in the first place. Here's a photo of Ivan that was love at first sight for me last Tuesday when I took it at our MOMS club Thanksgiving party. Hugs to everyone and hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Digital Scrapbooking

 

Although I have a few bins full of manual cut 'n paste scrapbooking gear, I haven't used it too much. I had to make Ivan's "all about me" kindergarten book and aside from that I have a very thin 8x10 album of pages. So you can imagine how exciting it is to me to use my photoshop skills and tricks to scrapbook... and no mess to clean up either. I used elements from Chocoberry Creme from digital freebies online store. Cool stuff. This is my first "real" digital scrapbook layout complete with embellishments and page transitions that I cooked up all on my ownsome.

Ivan's Halloween Page

 

Since I made a foofy page for Bianca, I had to make one for Ivan too. It was tough coming up with elements that were not too overly feminine. I guess scrapbooking really is by girls, for girls. ;-)

Halloween Quick Album

 

I got this 4x6 layout from retrodiva's online digital scrapbooking store -- just had to get that in there so I keep with Terms of Service! (Same with the layout below.) All other layouts I'm uploading tonight are my originals... yeah, and I'll bet you can tell the difference. *giggle* - - - - - - - - About the image.... these were a sampling of the pix I did of my friends' kids the night we went trick or treating. They all got pretty goofy for the camera, and I had so much fun with it.

Leftover Halloween Crafts

 

This will be the last page in my 4x6 Halloween brag book that I'm printing. I still have to put journaling on most of the other 8 pages. I'm pretty tired tonight, so it will wait. :-)

More Halloween Fun

 

Just playing around with some new photo tools on the Halloween pics. Enjoy!

Album: Duck Pond & Sliding Hill

Duck Pond & Sliding Hill - Nov 2007

November 4th. Took the kids and a couple bags of stale bread crusts to the duck pond before dropping in at IHOP for the kids' favorite dinner: breakfast. :-) They enjoyed putting on a show for the ducks (and geese, yes, there are geese in the photos too -- I know who will point this out to me if I don't comment on it -- you know who you are). Then Bianca wanted to climb up one of the grassy hills, and that's when they saw the people sliding down on cardboard. In the past they have always considered this very curious and odd behavior, but this time they were intrigued and wanted to try it out. So Mother consented and the children commenced their sliding down the hill on old cardboard. I even got into it once or twice myself, and I have to admit it was great fun reminiscent of tobogganing down the huge snow hills as a kid, but without the burning cold of snow getting into my mittens! Great fun. Next time I think we should remember to bring out own cardboard boxes... (let's not even go there. EW!) Suffice it for now that we used LOTS and LOTS of hand sanitizer when we got back to the truck. (Oh, and don't forget to click on the little square photo above to see the whole album.)

Pick a horse, any horse...

 

Over-priced "Fruit Slush"

 

The kids wanted strawberry "fruit slush" at one of the vendors at the amusement park, but when I got up to the clerk to order they said they only had "vanilla fruit slush," so I got two of those for the kids. Now, I'm not sure where the fruit is in the vanilla fruit slush, but it sure looked and tasted an awful lot like basic vanilla soft serve ice cream! *giggle* Call it MARKETING.

 

Jammin' Out

 

While going through the purse I keep in my camera, I found a few old photos from over the summer I hadn't tossed online. Here's a favorite of mine taken at Jazz on the Boulevard this summer here in Ft. Worth. The kids and I paused from dancing together for Daddy to snap a photo. I had rushed over from work to join them at the festival grounds and we all enjoyed turkey legs and funnel cakes and ice cream together while enjoying the music. We brought home a big bag of kettle corn that lasted a good while as afternoon snacks for the kids. Another happy memory for our family together in 2007.

All Attitude

 

It's been a family attitude lately, and it's made everyday a joy. The kids have settled in at their new school and Michael has been a super daddy while I've been working at the photography studio more hours lately. I'm about to quit to backup status at the studio and focus on my own business again. Meanwhile, my munchins and my sweetie have been great partners in this life-adventure. My heart is full!

Family Fun!

 

This was the first time in a couple years that we got together with friends on Halloween night. It was a blast! My friends were tickled that Michael dressed up and all the kids enjoyed trick or treating together. Pardon my cheap puns, but Halloween was very sweet this year. Life is good. (And thank you to Michael for being such a big help and a good sport in going out with us. I love you, Sweetheart!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

Before I ran off to work this afternoon I threw a backdrop up on the livingroom wall and grabbed a couple of my studio lights and asked the kids if they'd like to try on this year's Halloween costumes before Halloween. The kids were cooperative enough -- bribed with a handful of peanut M&Ms -- to suffer through a few quick shots. Tonight I took some time to make this cute post card and ordered 100 of them to send to our best friends. *giggle* (Yes, some sarcasm. We don't have that many "best friends" but I couldn't order less than 100 and it was a good deal!) Anyway, I thought it was a cool creation and rivals our 2005 Halloween collages. (No, that's NOT a real lightsaber -- I created that in Photoshop. I am the 7th Wonder of the World! *muahahahahaha*)

 

School Photos - Fall 2007

 

The kids wear uniforms to school now and these are their school photos for this fall. I find it hilarious how they look so much alike - right down to the goofy tight-lipped smirky smile.

Album - Pumpkin Patch '07

The kids had a day off school on Monday, so we planned a little outing with our old MOMS Club friends to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch. I didn't want to ruin the fun of their new costumes before Halloween, so I got them to wear their costumes from last year. They were tickled to dress up and have fun with their friends, and I enjoyed the photo ops!

Pumpkin Patch - October 8, 2007

If you delve into the album, you might even catch a photo of Mommy (witch!) with the munchins. Enjoy!

Album - Underwater - Pool Memories Summer '07

After the kids got so comfortable in the water, I couldn't help but buy a little disposable underwater camera to capture some of the first memories of them playing like fish!

Summer '07 - Underwater

I am so proud of those kids. :-)

Once Upon a Time...

 

I wasn't feeling well today, so when Bianca approached me this afternoon wanting to play dress up I had to find a way to dodge her desires. I suggested that instead we go play makeup and SHE could dress up, but Mommy needed to stay low key. It was a big treat that we got to use Mommy's makeup instead of Bianca's el cheapo makeup kit this time. When Daddy saw how pretty his little princess was, he made extra work for Mommy and insisted that such a pretty girl needs photos taken of her. Ugh, yeah, I wasn't about to go out to the truck to get my strobe remotes and pro gear. Instead, I threw a piece of white foam core on the futon behind Bianca and snapped a few photos with my speedlight bounced off the ceiling for a little fill light. Viola! A little boost from photoshop and here is our princess Bianca this afternoon.