I Heart Faces / A Touch of Whimsy

When I saw that this weeks I Heart Faces challenge was a "Touch of Whimsy" I immediately thought of this photo I took of my friends daughter. It's one of my favorite pictures of her. She was playing with her hair because she was still trying to warm up to the idea of being my model! I think it made for a super cute whimsical head shot!



Don't forget to stop over at I Heart Faces and see all the amazing photographs with just a touch of whimsy"!

Not Just for Recipes Anymore!

I have been a longtime fan of the Pioneer Woman. If you have ever wandered over to my recipe blog, then you already know this! I have always gone there for delicious recipes, but now I have been wandering over to her photography tab and tonight I saw she has a photography assignment up for Funny Faces!

So, I of course immediately thought of this photo I took of Shaun on Sunday!

I Heart Faces / Let's Hear it For the Boys!

In honor of Father's Day this weeks I Heart Faces Challenge is Let's Hear it for the Boys! Between my husband and three boys, I have plenty of "boy" themed pictures to choose from but I am choosing this one because I snapped it on Father's Day yesterday and it shows off (in my opinion!) why my boys have the best Daddy in the world! I snuck up on their little heart to heart to snap it and the joy on David's face warms my heart!

I am also proud of this picture because I am getting more comfortable shooting manual! I think it shows from a year ago when I first got my first DSLR and basically used it as a fancy point and shoot!





Don't forget to honor all the dads, brothers, uncles, sons, men and boys by stopping over at I Heart Faces and checking out the other great submissions! Or sign up and share your own photo honoring the boys and men in your life!

Our Little Graduate!

Yesterday was David's preschool graduation! It was so cute! The kids all sang songs and each of the three classes did different skits. David was one of four boys in his class and so they were all paired up to do the Bumblebee Song! And just like his mother, you could hear him over all the other kids, he was one of the loudest ones!

Here is David right before going into the hall to graduate!


David performing one of his songs!


Our graduate! We're all so proud!


I cannot believe he just graduated from preschool! Next year he goes to the "big" school! He's so excited about going to Kindergarten in the fall, so much so, that he's already talking about the kind of back pack he wants!

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge / Bright and Vivid

I was introduced to this site by a friend and decided to check it out when I decided to take my interest in photography to the next level. Today I am entering my very first challenge. I'm a newbie, so I hope I am doing this right!

The challenge is bright and vivid and so I am entering this picture of my one year old Evan with the big red car he couldn't stop playing with at a friends house! Nothing says bright and vivid like a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car!



Please check out the I Heart Faces website, enter a photo of your own or get inspired by others, like myself, who love photography and want to get better!

Shaun 3.0

As of 6:21pm last night our middle guy is officially THREE! We talked a lot about how it was going to be his birthday on the 10th and we would ask him how old he was. He said 4 a lot, (because he hears David say that he is 4) but we would hold up three fingers and he would then say THREE! He told everyone he saw yesterday that it was his birthday, even David's teacher and since they were celebrating the kids who had summer birthdays at school that day she gave him one of the birthday crowns she passes out! He was so excited!

He has really come out of his shell over the last year, mostly due to finding his words. By the end of December he was speaking full sentences and while he was evaluated still a little behind, it wasn't enough to keep him in Early Intervention. He "graduated" and we continued to work with him on our own and through our various playgroups. Today, unless you knew he had EI for speech, you probably wouldn't even know he ever had any issues!!

Shaun's personality is so infectious. I have been told by many parents at our various playgroups how he lights up a room, and that he's most likely to end up being the class clown! Even when he's fresh it's hard to be mad at him because he makes it look so cute!

Shaun's famous "MAD" Face! See hard not to laugh every time he makes that face when he is mad or in trouble!


He's growing into such a funny, energetic, sweet little boy and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for him as he will be starting Preschool in the fall!





The Birthday Boy!


Edited to add:
Shaun never had a 3 year check to get his stats but I estimated his height to be: 36.5 inches

On This Day 3 Years Ago...

Charlie and I were sitting at a table at the brand new Comcast Building in Philadelphia, PA all dressed up for his Residency graduation dinner. I was 41.2 weeks pregnant with Shaun and our induction was scheduled for first thing the following morning!



Fast forward three years and here we are again all dressed up headed to the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA (though NOT pregnant this time!) for Fellowship graduation! The end is here and I am a very proud wife!



Can't believe it has been THREE years already, our time in Boston is coming to an end and there are a lot of mixed emotions that I am feeling. So this won't be a good bye to Boston, it will be a see ya later! We'll be sure to visit often!

The Photo that Started it All

This is the photo that started the research, the google searches for online tutorials and the amazon.com orders for books on exposure.

A New Blog, A New Adventure

I am taking my love of photography to the next level. That means practice, practice, practice! Ever since I can remember I have always loved taking pictures. It was with an old school 35mm point and shoot FILM camera (do they even make those anymore!) but still I always carried it with me where ever I went. As anyone who knows me can attest to, I spent hours and hours surrounded by my photos, organizing, labeling and putting them into albums. Now we enter the digital age and I do the same thing, just on a laptop and a beautiful program called Photoshop!

I have a long way to go before I can call myself a pro, but I'll get there and this blog is going to help me along the way. I found a few websites that post weekly photo challenges and I am going to start participating and documenting my results on this blog. From what I have read and been told, this is a great way to work on fine tuning skills! I am excited and I am looking forward to seeing where this takes me!