30 Day Photo Challenge, Part III

Hey, I did it!!  Here are the last of my pictures.  By the way, that was fun.  The best part is that I have a variety of pictures that I probably wouldn't have taken otherwise.

Day 18: Getting dressed

Day 19: Looking out the window

Day 20: Laughing

Day 21: Hugging a loved one.  Note to self: don't forget to take a picture all day and then drag out the camera when everyone's tired and cranky.

 

Day 22: Little hands at work.  Here we have Rapunzel with Pascal sitting on her head.  :-) 

 

Day 23: Brushing teeth.  There's Nathan.  Yup, he's brushing his teeth.  I couldn't come up with anything interesting for this shot.

Day 24: Catch them not paying attention to the camera.  They are in their own little world.  They drew nests and eggs and were pretending to be birds. 

Day 25: In low lighting.  How's that for a jack-o-lantern shot?

Day 26:  Telling you a story.  Brooke has taken over a devotional of mine.  She loves that it has gold rimmed pages and a ribbon bookmark.

Day 27: With a prop that represents them.  Nate is SO into Spiderman right now.  This was a no-brainer.  He looooooved that I wanted to take pictures of him in his Spiderman mask.

Web shooter close-up.

Day 28: Helping with a household task.  I submitted a different one for the challenge, but on second thought,  I like this one better.

 

Day 29: Playing in the leaves.  This shot is the result of a 5-minute outdoor playing session at the park.  The 55-degree weather seemed so cold after the 85-degree days we had earlier that week. 

Day 30: Self portrait.  Eli was cracking up and having a ball, and we were all laughing.  This was a fun little moment.

Pumpkin Patch 2012

Don't you know we had to take our crew to the pumpkin patch this year!

No fun until I see some smiles.  I mean it.  Mama has to have her pictures, you know.

And off we went.

One of the best parts of the pumpkin patch we went to was the pig race.  I LOVE pig races!  I have fun memories of going to the pig races at the state fair with my grandparents. 

 

The pigs' names were awesome.  Brittney Spear-ribs.  Lindsay Lo-ham.  And of course, Kevin Bacon.

And they're off! 

Next we went down an underground slide and rode some little kiddie rides. Then the main event: off to pick some pumpkins!  A tractor ride close-up of Grandma and Papa.

The kids had no problem finding the perfect pumpkin.

Finding the pumpkin: easy.  Carrying the pumpkin: not so much.

We hauled our little pumpkins back home.

One pumpkin fell asleep in his pumpkin seat.  Pun totally intended.

30 Day Photography Challenge, Part II

Here are days 10- 17...

Day 10: Holding hands

Day 11:  Tiny feet

Day 12: Eating breakfast

 

Day 13:  Shoot from above and show how small they are

Day 14:  Quiet time

Day 15:  Playing outside

Day 16: Interacting with siblings/friends

Day 17: Walking away

30 Day Photography Challenge: Photograph Your Kids

Like the title says, I've been doing a 30-day photography challenge with some other moms on Facebook.  As though I need encouragement to take more pictures of my children.  Anyway, I just thought I'd share them here, too.  :-)

Day 1: Self-portrait

Day 2: Your child sleeping.

Day 3: Your child/children reading their favorite books.

Day 4: Your child playing/running around.

This took me a few (hundred) tries, but I caught it! 


Day 5:  Your child with their favorite toy/stuffed animal.

I have a different picture that I like much better and that, you know, actually shows a child.  But Nathan is in his underwear, so I thought I'd post this one instead.


Day 6: Crack the door and photograph what they are doing.

They are playing "Sleeping My Little Ponies."  That was your next guess, right?

 

 

Day 7: Playing in the bathtub

 



 

Day 8: Silhouette

 

 

I want to go back to this bridge sometime when there's a pretty sunset.  I bet that would be a cool shot. 

 

Day 9: Crying/having a melt down

 





 

Eli gets super mad when I wipe his face off after he eats.  The nerve I have, right?  I had my camera ready and he delivered.  See the little tooth down there?  



A Princess Party

To celebrate Brooke's fifth birthday we had us a little princess party. 

 

This was our first "friend" party. Admittedly, I was completely stressed. I've never hosted anything like this. I didn't want anyone to be bored. I worried that they wouldn't have fun if I didn't plan it well.  I poured over Pinterest and made list after list of possible games and activities.

 

Then our sweet friends started coming over, dressed in their little princess dresses, and I immediately stopped worrying.  Really, what was I thinking?  The girls would have fun if I hadn't planned a thing. 

 

 

We started in on the activities. Everybody knows a princess must have a crown, so we started off with some crown decorating.

 



We hunted for Cinderella's lost shoe in the backyard and played Pin the Kiss on the Frog.

 

Next, the moment we'd all been waiting for...Princess Belle!  Yes, the real, live Princess Belle was coming to the party! 

 

We waited for Belle to arrive. 

 

Then we waited some more. 

 

Then her Royal Highness called to let us know she'd be thirty minutes late. Do you know how long thirty minutes is when you're entertaining 8 little girls?  It's long.  I sort of panicked. 

 

Thankfully, two fourth grade girls, Grace and Charly, were at the party.  They were a huge help. Grace and Charly painted the girls' faces and organized some outdoor games.  For these reasons and others, I would please like a fourth grade girl for Christmas.

 

And then...finally...Belle arrived! (Which I missed because I was feeding Eli...sigh.) 

I do love the face on this one...

Turns out, Belle is a pretty fun girl.  She read a book, did the limbo, and played Freeze Dance with the girls, which was a big hit.  She took some pictures with the girls, too.

What's a birthday party without cake?

 

 

It was such a fun and memorable day!  Brooke is still talking about it three weeks later. And do you know what her favorite part was?  She says her favorite part was having her friends here...seriously.  That's how awesome our friends are.  Even better than Belle and cake and gifts like Barbie and My Little Pony. 

 

And that's saying something.