Yes, I got a facelift!!

For those of you who visit my blog from time to time you will have noticed that it looks a little different now. My wonderful bloggy friend, Mrs. D, from the Duncan Dialogues designed this blog layout for me. I think it is so cute and I get to have a sweet picture of the girls at the top!! If you are interested in getting a little plastic surgery to your blog too, head on over and let her know. Right now she is busy studying to take the BAR exam but she may start doing blog designs as a side job. She is great to work with and I would highly recommend you at least stop by and give her a sweet comment. Who likes studying anyways?? So, tell me what you think?? Do you like my new face?? I love it!

I Heart Faces "Sepia"

Sepia is the theme this week at I Heart Faces. I love sepia, sepia loves me sometimes. Anyways, here is my entry for this week.

I just couldn't help myself when I saw this cute wire basket this weekend at Hobby Lobby. My first thought was..."I could fit a baby in that," and so I decided I had to have it for a photo prop for the upcoming shoot I am doing for my friend's newborn baby girl. After we got home I plopped Aislynn down in it to see what she looked like and started shooting. I love my baby girl, she is such a great model for me. She is at the stage where a hand is constantly in her mouth. I am almost certain a tooth is about to emerge from the top any minute now.

Go over to I Heart Faces to see what everyone else's entry is. There are some really talented people and I love looking at all the entries each week.

-Lindsay

Show Us Where You Live Friday- Bathrooms

Every Friday at Kelly's Korner she does a "Show Us Where You Live" edition. I don't have anything really worth showing this week but I thought I would join in anyways. So here is my bathroom:




And here is my kids bathroom:
They decided on the fishies theme. Something bright and colorful.

S'mores Schmores

Last night was family night at our house. Every week we try to find one day where we can all do something together. McKenna has been begging for the past few weeks to go to Olive Garden. At first she was just calling it the place with the grapes on it. We went there one time and she remembered she liked it and that there were grapes on the outside. We kept telling her that it was called Olive Garden and so that is all she wanted everytime we asked her what she wanted for dinner. This week we gave it and decided it was a family night thing to do. So, we went out to eat, had some yummy salad and breadsticks along with our meal and then came home and made s'mores on the grill. Of course the grill does not work as well as a campfire but we made due. And boy were they messy. I think the girls had a good time. What do you think??



And of course I had to add a random picture of Aislynn when she was modeling the baby caps for me.

Check Up Time Again

I took McKenna and Aislynn to the pediatrician today for check ups. McKenna was just there to get a physical for school. That's right, I said it, school. She officially starts Kindergarten in the fall. Wow, where has the past 5 1/2 years gone?? She weighed in at 39 lbs. and is 3 ft 7 inches tall. McKenna is still missing her two front teeth. I am not sure when those are going to come in. She loves to run, anywhere and everywhere. We have to tell her multiple times a day to stop running in the house. You would think by now she would know better. Sometimes when we ask her why she is running in the house again she replies, "because it's so much fun." Another one of the silly things she does is pretend to be a dog. That is what she is doing in the photo of her. Aislynn is a little over 9 months old. We are running a little behind on her well baby check up because of the trip to Disney. So today she weighed 16 lbs 12 ounces and is 29 inches tall, just barely over 2 feet!! Even though she has yet to officially crawl she is making much progress. I suspect that any day now I will be chasing her throughout the house. She likes to talk in her own little way. Alot of the time she is just yelling and making noise. Usually it is when we are talking and she decided she wants to be the loudest one. She loves watching her big sisters play also. She is such a happy baby most of the time. She knows what she want when she sees it and will persist on something until we give in. She loves trying to get the remote. It's her new favorite toy. Sometimes we have to get the one out of the other room so we have peace while we watch our show and she't not changing channels on us.

So much to learn

Since I finally took the plunge last month and got a DSLR camera, I have loved every minute of it. It has been money well spent. When I first got the camera I didn't know much about it. I have read the manual at least once over so I know how to change the settings and get it to where I want it to be. While we were at Disney I mainly used the presets because it was still so new to me that I didn't know any better or really how to set it for the pictures to turn out how I wanted. I was still very pleased with my photos none the less.

I want to learn more, I want to be better. So, I have come to realization that I need a new lens. The stock lens that came with my camera doesn't bring out the full potential of what the camera is capable of doing. At this time I am going to rent a lens here and there and see what I like and what works for me. That will give me the time I need to decide which one I want to save up and buy.

I love advice and tips and tricks. I would love for anyone that knows anything about photography to let me know how I can be better. I am a mom that loves to take pictures, not only of my own kids but of everyone else's too!! I look forward to this journey of learning. I look forward to trial and error but also of growth. One way I am doing this is by using the Manual mode and doing all the setting myself as much as I can. In order to learn, I have to try. Even though I still somewhat uncomfortable shooting in Manual, that's the only way I will get comfortable with it. In the last two weeks I feel as if I am growing already!!

I strictly use natural light. I don't like flashes if I don't need them. The sun is my friend and I am trying to find more areas to shoot. The beach is great but I want trees, and open fields, and color!! I will always be posting pictures, maybe one day I will start a blog that is only about my photography. Until then I will have to leave you with this. The first photo is McKenna on a pouty day. She didn't want to take pictures and was upset with Kambry about something. I don't know why this one of McKenna didn't post the way it was supposed to, you will have to turn your head to see it the right direction.

The second photo is of Aislynn. I took her outside the other day to get some shots of her in her new dress I got off ETSY. The sun was not cooperating. When I was getting ready it was overcast and perfect lighting. By time I got outside the sun made it's appearance so the pictures were a little on the bright side. I edited it with picnik.com and did a cross process effect on it. I like how it turned out.

Not Me! Monday!

Could it already be Monday again?? The past week went by very quickly again. Now it's time to tell all. This blog carnival was created by the wonderful Mckmama. She and everyone else is ready to let everyone know what they did NOT do this past week.

I have three girls. They like to run around in the buff. Can I blame them?? If I were their age I would too. McKenna, my oldest, wanted to play in a tutu yesterday. Just a tutu. I told her to put on a shirt. Then she decided she didn't want the tutu on anymore so she took it off and played joyfully around the house. After dinner we all decided to run a grab a sweet treat. I did not let her get in the car with nothing on but a tank top and panties. After all, we weren't getting out of the car, just going through the drive thru.

I did not order pizza two nights in a row. We did not decide it was perfectly okay to feed the kids cheese pizza two nights in row also. I did not drink lots of Coke and I certainly did not feel fat afterwards. I totally did not take advantage of Sonic's Free Root Beer Float night either. I know it was my own fault, it was just so good!!

Here's a good one. I did not finally get around to washing the sheets off my daughters beds after about a month and a half(or maybe a little more). Then my cat did not get up on the top bunk to take a nap, then get sick, and throw up not only on the top bed but also over the edge onto the bottom bed leaving me no choice but to wash everything again only two days later. I just love making their beds. Did anyone tell me when I bought bunk beds how hard it would be to make them? NO! I actually have to climb up on McKenna's bed to get her sheets on.

Alright folks, now it's your turn. Tell me all about it!! Check out what everyone else is NOT doing this week.