Photography Week - Riley Kids

A friend at church asked me to take some photos of her two youngest children, so she could frame them with her oldest daughter's senior portraits that she recently had printed. I told her we could do a quick session on the playground one Sunday after church so that is what we did. Here are my favorite shots...

It's a toss-up between these two of Amy - I love them both...

And this is my pick of Jacob...

And the best of the two of them...

Thanks Amy and Jacob for toughing it out with me on a cold day traipsing around the playground in the wet grass! You're troopers!

Photography Week - My Kiddos

I'm going to call this Photography Week, because I have a few photography posts to share with you; a couple photo shoots and a wedding!

The first is my own kids... I was waiting until Susie could sit up before getting in a real photoshoot, and here she is walking and I still hadn't done it! I finally got in a quick one the other day. I set up next to the sliding glass door since it is the only light place in my house and the weather was too lousy to go out. I haven't gotten a king size white sheet at the thrift store yet, so I had to use the back of a quilt, which was less than ideal but it works.

Haha, this is what Susie thought of the whole thing...

She was not having it so I went along with Mark who wanted to be in the spotlight...

And then I was able to get a couple good ones with Susie while Mark was holding her...

Can you tell she's about to cry in that last one? She was done. I still kinda like it though!

No, that one above won't be framed, but it leads me into a photography hint... Getting a toddler to sit still while doing nothing and following directions about where to look is next to impossible, but having a little critter, favorite toy or a seasonal item to hold is much easier. Either pick one that you don't mind being in the picture (I like how his alligator added a little pop of color) or choose one that blends in with the backdrop or surroundings.

It also helps to have another person to be wild and silly and get their attention while you are behind the lens paying attention to the photographic opportunities, but I did not have that luxury on this day so it was a short shoot!

Feeding the Addiction

I seriously have a spray paint addiction. Especially when I shop the thrift stores. I wonder how many times in one thrift store trip I think, "I could get this and spray paint it!" Well this time it was not at a thrift shop, but in our church's little portable where we hold Sunday school and Awana where I found the lucky item. The room was sooooo bad. Drab, outdated, old-lady yellow and green 60's floral wallpaper and discolored yellow-green trim. The whole story will be coming soon, but for now, I just have this frame. Check out the before...

... and after...

That sad, outdated frame with a gold edge was outdated and forgotten and sad and now it is so lively, fresh and fun! I love it. I made another burlap matt for this one. I was nervous about the yellow, burlap and cream all together, but I love how it turned out.

In case you are wondering, the verse is a paraphrase of James 3:5b-10...

Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be so.

I thought it was a good reminder for the teens and pre-teens that frequent this room. :)

We are working on the room this Sunday, and should have a fun reveal coming up soon!

Uggs, Tang & a Centerpiece

Okay, I have never been a fan of Uggs. I can't get over the slipper-ness of them. I know they are in style, I just can't do it. But I can make Susie do it...

They aren't real Uggs, but they do look similar. Funny thing is I actually do like these ones... I think the split down the middle makes them less tube sock /slash slipper. Anyway, Susie wasn't sure at first (trying to pry them off above), but after further investigation, she decided she could rock them afterall...

I think she wanted to say, "Mom take a picture and show Leah my new Uggs." Leah is our fashion advisor/friend/Mark and Susie's Godmother. Leah should blog about fashion more because she gets it and I really need help. Anyway, one more thing, see the book on the table in the above picture? She loves books, and I don't mean kid books...

She turns the pages, one chunky handfull at a time, very carefully and purposefully, front to back, back to front, front to back, over and over and it keeps her busy for quite some time. But it has to be paper pages - none of those cardboard baby books for this one - she is interested in real learning. Her favorites are my Exhaustive Concordance and Old and New Testament Word Studies. Those are some big books! With no pictures, that is for sure!

Anyway, as Susie figured out that her new boots did not, in fact, weigh 17 pounds each and she could, in fact, still walk while wearing them, I was working on cleaning this whatever-it-is-in-hard-water-that-stains-things-orange off my dishwasher interior...

Nasty. That dishwasher was immaculate when we got it. It has had wayyy too much hardwater through it since then. Some people had told me to get some kind of crystals from the pharmacy, but mine didn't have them. Then my handyman extrordinaire told me to run a container of Tang through it. I am always afraid of these outlandish ideas. He assured me a mutual friend of ours does it all the time and nothing bad happens. I tried a couple table spoons at first and I could tell it was working, so I tried about a cup, and it worked a little more. I had this mental picture that it was going to fizz and overflow all over my kitchen, but that wasn't happening, to my surprise, so I threw caution to the wind and dumped the whole tub in (it was probably about a 3 to 4 cup tub). The result:

I know you are all going to think those pics are doctored (even the husb did). They are NOT tampered with in any way besides adding the words. The first one was taken in the morning while it was still dark outside so it has the yellow glow of artificial light, while the after was taken with the morning light shining through the window. Look at the details though, you can tell that stuff rocked! Very pleasantly surprised! I like my dishwasher again, even though I have to wash the dishes before it washes the dishes. FYI, the product review I posted when I got it may have been a bit premature. Sorry folks.

So, last but not least in this circus of a random blog post is the centerpiece I made for my mini-late-Thanksgiving table today...

My mom and I saved some sparkling cider and wine bottles, I cleaned the labels off (soaked in warm water then scrubbed with rough side of a sponge), shaved a taper candle smaller (mine are fat Ikea ones), and stuck them in. I like it. I ended up doing a burlap table runner and I really liked the contrast of the dark, shiny bottles on the rustic burlap.

Belated Happy Thanksgiving to y'all -- I was not able to blog during the holiday.... I was heavily burdened with attending four - you read right, FOUR holiday dinners. The last of which I cooked myself - and the turkey, potatoes, green beans, yams, and gravy that were my responsibility all turned out pretty well! It was miraculous. Hope you all ate tons and experienced the blessings of home, food and family!

Self-Family-Portrait

I was hired to do a family photo session this Sunday after church, so I took my own fam out before church to test out the park I planned on shooting in.

On the third attempt of setting the timer and running like crazy back to the fam to pose...

They don't have much patience for photo shoots, so I was happy when I went back and checked the camera and we were all decent, and it was cold so we were done, but not before I got this shot of the people that mean the world to me...

That man is handsome! Those kids are adorable! I am a blessed girl!

BTW, that is not static in Susie's hair. Some days she is Susie Bieber, and some days she has a cornsilk fro. I never knew a cornsilk fro was possible. Until now.

Anyway, I have wedding photos to show you, and a brother and sister shoot and that family session, so stay tuned. Now, I have to go edit!