Something Borrowed

I recently convinced my little sister to let me borrow one of her lenses (an 11-16mm/2.8 Tokina). I love my 50mm/1.4 ohsomuch, but wanted to play around with something a little different in case I ever happen to have enough money to buy another lens ever again. So. Expensive.

I love the wide angle look that this lens gives, and definitely want to go more wide angle next time I get a lens. (This particular lens doesn't exactly see eye to eye with my Mark II since it's full frame, but I could make it work at 15-16mm.) It was fun to play around with and get a different perspective on my kiddos playing.

Getting a different perspective is usually a good thing, in photography or whatever. Shaking things up and changing things around makes you see things in a way you might have previously missed. Getting down on the kids' level and opening up my eyes (or my lens) always makes me see them as the precious little people they are.

I realize that these sweet kiddos aren't even mine to keep, but I'm just borrowing them for a time; they're a precious gift I've been entrusted with. With a new perspective comes a renewed sense of how important it is to  teach them constantly, be patient with them always, and love them fully. They aren't going to be little forever, but the lessons and the love that I pour out on them now needs to last them a lifetime.

Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.  

Proverbs 22:6

The third shot is for Simple as That, and Sunday Snapshot.

The last shot is for Scripture and a Snapshot

Going Cold Turkey

So this week I decided to bite the bullet and actually put a serious effort into potty training Tirzah. I mean, I have so much free time on my hands, I could use a little excitement in my life. 3 kids just isn't cutting it.

So most of this week we haven't really gone anywhere. Just been hanging out here, playing in the yard, and running back and forth to the bathroom. Not sure how most people do potty training, but I do what I call the insanity method, where you just go cold turkey on the diapers. She's not allowed to wear diapers again and she knows it, not even at night. I did this with Merrick and he was good to go in about 3 days, he never wore another diaper and has had maybe 3 accidents at night total. But I'm not even gonna admit how many times I've looked longingly at the diapers in the closet.

So far she has had a little bit harder time than Merrick, but I've heard girls have a harder time potty training. She is making progress though, and was accident free last night and most of today. She has managed to pee on me more times than I'd like to admit, though. Always on my feet too. Awesome. While watching American Idol the other night, someone mentioned having an alter ego, and I found myself angrily wondering what they needed an alter ego for. They weren't even getting peed on all day.

I know it'll be worth it since I'm not paying for diapering two butts...one is plenty, and J has a few more years in diapers before I'll be doing this again thank goodness. But for now, duty calls...if anyone needs me I'll be running back and forth between the bathroom for the next few days.

Check out more shots at Oh Snap, Photo Friday, Fabulous Friday.

The last shot is for Give Me Your Best Shot, This or That, and Show Off.

Happy Hunger Games

I am constantly reading. I read probably for nearly an hour every day. (As a mom of 3 action-packed children, you  may wonder what hours of the night I manage to do this reading.) Answer: I read on the treadmill while I run. Yes, reading while running is something you have to get used to, but it is possible, and it gets me through all the long miles I log on the dreadmill. It's even easier now that I have the Kindle my husband's parents gave me for Christmas...I love that thing.

I recently blazed through all 3 of the Hunger Games books. They were easy reads and kept me really interested, so I was thrilled when I saw they were making a movie. I didn't think I was going to be able to go (can you say ka-ching? Movies are so expensive) but an extremely thoughtful individual saw me whining about it and gave my hubby some money and told him to take me on a date! :)

I really enjoyed the movie, and so did Billy. I thought it was a better book-to-movie than Twilight, which has always been a bit cheesy (even though I love it) and I'm hoping they'll put the other two books on the big screen, too. (Anyone know if that's in the works?) As always...book > movie, but I thought it was really well done. If you saw the movie and/or read the books what did you think?

The first shot is for Tones on Tuesday, Communal Global, Sweet Shot, and Happiness Project, 

Check out more shots at Wild Wonderful Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday,

Wedding Season

When you are growing up, you always think of time in semesters. As you get older and out of school it's kind of all one big blur. But lately, and the more client work and weddings I've been doing, I've started to think of it as "wedding season" and the off season.

My sisters and I do a lot of work together, especially weddings, and we started off the "season" with a bridal session for a sweet girl we've had the opportunity to grow up with, and watch her grow into a beautiful bride. She was definitely glowing, and it was not a hard job to capture all that "I'm getting married!" excitement.

It was a pleasure to work with her and her family, as always. I did a family session for them back in the fall, and they are so awesome to work with. She and her new husband have been married for 2 weeks as of yesterday, and I hope that these two weeks are just the beginning of a fantastic life together.

Check out more shots at Monday Rewind, and And Then She Snapped

Jericho's First Vlog

I don't usually do video posts, maybe because I am very bad at reading/watching video posts myself, but I decided this was an irresistibly cute way to kick off the weekend. J-Hawk has started jabbering more and more, including jabbering sessions at 4 am. I don't usually video those, since 1) it's an unapproved time for jabbering, and 2) it's too dark and I'm barely conscious.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think this translated to: "I love my mommy; she is the most awesome." That's what I thought he said anyway. (I could be wrong, but I'm the mom and I'm rarely wrong. One of the perks of being a mom.) Hope everyone has a happy Friday!

Happy

Happy first day of Spring! We thoroughly enjoyed the first day of Spring over here. Billy was off from work and it was warm and sunny, so we went to a local park and walked around looking at flowers, and periodically me and the kids ran around scared of bees. I have no idea where they get their fear of bugs from.

The kiddos think all "parks" have playgrounds (and while there is a playground at this park, we went to a different section of it) so when we just wandered around and played in the grass and looked at the gardens I think they decided they'd been gypped. They kept saying, "where is the park?" I felt kind of bad for them, but then I felt kind of bad for myself because they started fighting. ;)

They did end up having fun, minus a major spider incident and several hundred Tizzy tripping over her own feet incidents. She is not exactly the most graceful girl I've ever met, but she is a tough cookie. I also have no idea where she gets this from, either. We finished it all off with Sonic, which we totally justified since we walked/pushed/pulled/dragged 3 kiddos all over the park. I'm thinking running from bees alone burned off those tots. ;)

Check out more shots at Wild Wonderful Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, This or That, and Show Off.

Time Flies

Seems like just yesterday I was in high school, hanging out with one of my best pals, graduating and going off to college. So it seems completely unbelievable that I just did a senior session for that same best pal's little sister. Ya know, one of the ones who was about a foot tall when I was in high school.

She's still not but so tall (even in those killer heels)...but she's definitely all grown up and going off to college this fall. I was so thrilled that she asked me to do her seniors, and also thrilled with the fact that she's so stinkin' adorable that she didn't take a bad shot the entire session. Makes culling the shots kind of difficult, cuz they were all good, but that's a good problems to have.

I hope that she loves college, and loves figuring out her niche in the world. She is such a spunky personality with so much to offer; I am excited to be able to keep watching her grow up.

Check out more shots at Monday Rewind, and And Then She Snapped 

This kind of day...

There isn't a lot of down time around here...with three kiddos, photography clients, church, family stuff, and Billy working a lot to help make ends meet. It's not too often we get a lot of time to hang out, just the 5 of us, without somewhere we need to be or something we need to do. Wednesday was that kind of day. It was pretty great.

We went to the playground, we went out to eat, and then we just hung out in the backyard which is thankfully still mosquito-free. That'll come soon I'm sure. The weather was awesome, literally not a cloud in the sky all day and 80 degrees. I felt so blessed to have that time with each of them. (And am trying to remember that feeling as we are back to the grind today and the house sounds something like Ringling Brothers.) ;)

Check out more shots at Oh Snap, Photo Friday, Fabulous Friday.

The last shot is for Give Me Your Best Shot.

Tooth and Nail

Recently I made the somewhat misguided decision that I should take the kids (all three kids) to the dentist. By myself. This was not my best decision. When I originally scheduled it I thought Billy was off and could go with me. He wasn't. And I said "hey, I gave birth to these people, surely I can take them to the dentist". (I wish I had gotten better shots, but all I had was my iPhone obviously and every time I tried to take one someone started acting up.)

It started off good. As in, while we were in the waiting room it was good. (This was their first time going. I know I know...I probably should have taken them earlier.) Once Merrick got into the chair for x-rays it started to go downhill. Let's just say limbs were flying and people were crying (not me, but I thought about it) and I think I'll just learn to clean his teeth myself. Poor guy. I've never minded the dentist but know plenty of people who hate it.

Tizzy really didn't seem to mind. The kiddos are so completely different. She barely even flinched and was joking with the dentist. However she puked in the car on the way home to make up for it. Puke is never fun, but puke in the car after you've just had to pry a 4 year old off your body in the dentist office is even better. She seemed fine after, so i think she was just feeling left out of all the excitement. ;)

Check out more shots at Wild Wonderful Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, This or That, and Show Off.

Incognito

Those mustaches? Brought to you by spinach. Yes, I said spinach. As in Popeye. I got this recipe for a smoothie called The Green Monster from my cousin who saw it on the linked blog, and heard rumors that it tastes really good.

I tried it myself, decided it was really good, and figured I could pull a fast one on the hooligans. One point for mommy...since they guzzled actual food that is green. Ya know, not counting froot loops. They were convinced it was a green milkshake. What they don't know wont hurt them, right? Especially in this case.

It also has yogurt, soy milk, banana and a little peanut butter in it...so it doesn't taste like grass despite what I was afraid of. It tastes like peanut butter and banana mostly, both on the short list of hooligan-approved foods. The kiddos even had fun helping me make it, and didn't seem to make the connection that the leaves (spinach) in the blender were, in fact, in their milkshake.

I think this "drinking your veggies" thing could become a habit with my picky kiddos. Anybody got any good recipes for this type of thing that you've used to trick your children into eating something besides a chicken nugget?

Check out more shots at Monday Rewind, and And Then She Snapped 

The last shot is for Macro Monday

Tempermental

We have had the weirdest weather this Winter. It's been really unseasonably warm, about which I am not complaining. But this past week the trees started blooming, which is one of my absolute favorite things, and it snowed, all in the same few days.

It was kind of weird to see the snow on the ground and the blooms on the trees. But it was really pretty at the same time. The snow didn't last long, and the trees are probably glad that little incident is over.

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year...when everything is so new and colorful and fresh. My husband probably doesn't agree, as he's already started the annual sneeze-fest. I have him taking fish oil, in hopes that we will all be able to get through the Spring with smiles on our faces. ;)

Check out more shots at Oh Snap, Photo Friday, Fabulous Friday.

The first shot is for Give Me Your Best Shot.