Twenty Tiny Toes

A picture can relay so much information about its subjects. For instance, when I look at these little toes I see:

1. Katy's personality shining through with her choice to paint her toes lots of different colors. In a pattern.
2. Livie's love of order with a single color choice (and her current favorite color is blue).
3. Katy's toes are sticking straight out, with confidence, and she's having a hard time keeping them still (see that one big toe that's in mid-tap?).
4. Livie's little toes look a little shy, curling back and under just the tiniest bit.
5. Katy's feet are shaped a lot like mine (and my mom's, and my sister's, and my maternal grandmother's): kind of wide at the front, and narrow at the heel. But she got lucky with nice toe nails that just beg to be painted (mine are really itty bitty teeny tiny).
6. Livie's feet are shaped a lot like her daddy's (and his mom's): somewhat narrow at the top and more narrow at the heel, and her first 3 toes are all even in height. She also got lucky with those fabulous toe nails!

And this is what I love about photography. That so much information be captured, and preserved, at the touch of a button.

Picture of the Day {POTD} - Project 365

Looking back over my first Project 365 from 2009, I can only feel grateful for Becky Higgins who was with Creating Keepsakes magazine at the time (now she's got her own amazing business!), for introducing the concept to me.

While I was an avid scrapbooker for about eight years, I was always behind. And while I continued to scrap regularly after the birth of my twins, I really just kept getting further behind.

Now, I still love spending time scrapbooking with friends and being creative with paper and adhesive and photos, but I was in desperate need of a way to get a little caught up; a new way to look at my hobby; a way to capture and document those everyday moments that tend to fall through the cracks. Project 365 was my answer: a picture a day for an entire year. Now, I still take WAY more than one picture a day! And I will still make individual scrapbooks for my kids with photos and ideas that are more specific to them, but our family scrapbook will be done like this.

The best part to me? When you pick up your camera every. single. day. for an entire year you become much better at taking pictures, and you start to capture those things that make up your actual life.

And today? On February 22, 2010? We're grilling out for dinner. Yum! So here's my picture of the day, so that I can always remember that tiny little detail:

Lunch on the Deck. In February. No Jackets Required!

I may have mentioned that I really enjoy winter in North Carolina before, but the sentiment bears repeating! It's February. And we've definitely had some cold days, and even a little snow.

But today? Today is gorgeous. And when the girls asked to have lunch outside, I simply had to oblige.

Our pal Syd spends a fair amount of time playing with my girls. Let's just say that the path between our homes is well-worn in both directions!

I'm sure there will be more cold days ahead, but we will take these spring-like days any time God chooses to give them to us! (Have I mentioned that I am in love with this 50mm lens? So glad I went ahead and got the 1.4 f-stop...)

cole | newborn session

I love babies. I mean, I really love babies! There is something absolutely, wonderfully, miraculous about a newborn, so fresh from heaven, so utterly innocent. I thought that I would love photographing newborns, and I was right!

Livie's teacher was kind enough to let me try my hand at photographing a newborn for the very first time with someone's baby other than my own!

He was an absolute dream, and let me fuss with him as I tried figuring out how to pose a newborn.

I love the contrast of a newborn's skin against a parent's, especially a father's. Look at how teeny he is!

I sure wish my skin looked so luminous... :wink:

The session took a little longer than I had thought, but I am so thankful for the parents' patience with me and the opportunity they gave me to learn!

Valentine's Pictures - {Reunited}

I met my bestie, Steph, when we were both pregnant with our first children back in 1999. We were in the same Lamaze class, and our class had so much fun that we ended up having several reunions over the first few years of our babies lives. Steph, being the super organized, fabulous coordinator that she is, got the whole thing rolling with our first reunion about 6 weeks after the first baby was born. We discovered that we both had been doing scrapbooks for our babies, and started getting together fairly regularly in the evenings to work on them together.

And as our children grew, so did our friendship.

When our babies were just over a year old, we decided to do a Valentine's photo shoot together to make gifts for the dads. And of course we had to get some pictures of Ryan (mine) and Samantha (hers) together too! Because they loved playing together. And so a tradition began.

Each year we would get together just before, or on Valentine's Day and take pictures. The next year, Cameron (hers) joined our group. And I was VERY pregnant with Olivia and Katy the following year. And now we are five.

But then we moved. And timing just didn't work out for the next three years to be together at Valentine's. We were so excited when we realized that she and the kids would be traveling to visit us over Valentine's weekend this year!

We planned to get the kids all dressed up in red and white, and hoped that the weather would cooperate! I had just gotten my new 50mm lens and couldn't wait to give it a try.

There has been an old canoe abandoned by the lake in our neighborhood's park for about a year, and it made a perfect seating spot.

Steph and I are great complements to each other when it comes to taking pictures of our kids. She has a knack for photo styling and posing and getting them to smile (or act goofy...) while I stand back and fire away.

My focus fell a little soft on Cam--I used a bit too shallow setting for my depth of field. So glad that I tried this lens out for the first time on framily instead of a client! But I should mention how much I am loving this new lens overall. Look at that beautiful creamy bokeh (blurriness for you non-photog types) in the background! It is just so lovely and ethereal

I can't believe how old my boy has gotten. How have ten years gone by so quickly? And it just doesn't seem possible that he's gotten so much older when I haven't aged a bit! Okay, maybe a little bit.

See how Ry is smiling so nicely? This is so rare! But we always seem to get amazing pictures when he is totally relaxed and hanging with Sam. Their friendship has grown over the years too, and Steph and I may or may not have big plans. Or at least hopes. But we mostly just want them to both be happy. Honest! Livie is getting ready to totally crack up here, and Katy has that particular look because Steph is behind me with a HUGE branch and lifting up my hair. And possibly threatening to whack me upside the back of my head with it...

Ooops. We asked Katy to lean in a little closer. She's a very literal child, that one. And that beautiful bokeh! I think I'm in love with this lens.

Had to sneak in another one of my handsome little man. Loving those natural, relaxed, genuine smiles!

Sometime over the past 6 months or so, Cam suddenly grew up. Maybe it's the braces? I know his orthodontia has changed the shape of his face, but there's something in his eyes that looks so mature too. Or maybe it's because I got him in focus this time?

And when you put Sam and Cam together for a picture? Pure magic, I tell you! They are such pros thanks to a certain shutterbug mommy (I'm so jealous, Steph!).

By the way, have I mentioned how much I'm loving this new lens? Because it sure is loving these beautiful kids.

Loyal Fans?

As the younger sisters of an athlete, the girls have logged lots of hours in gymnasiums "watching" basketball games and practices. Thank goodness for these little game pads that I found in Wal-Mart this year! They love to play the boxes game where you connect the dots and try to make as many boxes as possible, and these pre-printed sheets are wonderful!


They also regularly raid my purse for gum, mints or lollipops. And this is my Picture of the Day (POTD) for my current project 365.



Will the Real Livie-lu Please Stand Up?

Everyone who meets Livie thinks that she is shy. They think that she is very quiet. And to be fair, that is the way she acts around people she doesn't know very well. It's also the way she acts at school, because the thought of getting in trouble for her behavior is not something she can handle.

It takes her a long time to show her true self to people, particularly adults. She needs to know a grown up for a while. Like years. And folks are always amazed when they get to meet the Livie we live with for the first time!

You see, she is a complete ray of sunshine in our home (except when she's not, and then she is rather whiney...). There is very little about her that is quiet.  And she has an amazing, dry sense of humor. She is forever making us laugh!

Oh, and she is nothing like her brother when the camera comes out... Then she really turns on the charm and begs me to take her picture! We always get such a kick out of looking back at outtakes from group photo sessions that she's a part of because her facial expression is so animated, and it changes in every. single. shot.

So while we're thankful that she is well-behaved at school. And it is probably a good thing that she is wary around strangers (even if she's known them for a year). We always look forward to the moment that she decides to introduce her true self.