Happy New Year!!

I can't believe it's 2011 already!! Where on earth does the time go? Lots of big changes on deck for this year! First of all, with the project 365 - I don't think I can not do it - it's become such a habit for me to take pictures that I'll almost feel guilty if I stop now!! To freshen things up a bit, I decided that my take on it this year is to take 2 pictures a day. I can take more, obviously, but 2 that I want to get everyday are one of each girl. Yep. Should be interesting and I'm sure it will be a challenge at times, but as long as I have a picture of both of them at the end of the day, I'll be a happy girl. Another big change this year? We've done lots of talking and praying and we've decided that I am going to start homeschooling Libby in the fall. I really thought about doing it this year, but decided to go ahead and send her to Kindergarten. I'm not a fan of the really long days, but I understand it's something those kids have to get used to. I sent my sweet five year old off to school late last summer and more often than not, I've been returned a little sass monster. It's amazing the not-so-great habits/attitudes she's picked up during her short several months in school. I feel like I'm constantly trying to correct bad behavior and I hate feeling like I'm always on her case. School is so different now from how it was when I was in school. Our society is completely different and not in a good way. People's values aren't what they used to be - I feel like kids are so lost nowadays and I feel like there have been more not great influences on her than positive. I do love her teacher this year and I think she does a great job. She'll still have her social outlets - dance, soccer, etc. She still has friends that she'll see. I've talked to her about it and she's completely on board with it. I've got several months to really do my research and find a curriculum that suits us. I'm so excited for this new adventure and think it will benefit our whole family. I wish we could start right now, but we'll just have to wait for the new school year. :)

An amazing contest going on!!

So I'm completely in love with actions. I have so much fun with post processing my photos and if you check out actions by Annie at Paint the Moon Photography and Sarah at My Four Hens Photography, you'll see why. Completely amazing and talented ladies right there. I don't use Lightroom all that much, but after seeing the gorgeous presets at Pretty Presets, I just may have to start using it again!! So they're holding a contest in honor of Mother's Day and I'd say it's VERY sweet and whoever wins will be one lucky girl!! You can get all the details here.

I'm having troubles...

....I'm having a bit of an issue here and I'm not quite sure what to do about it. No, it's nothing serious, but it's been bothering me a bit. Everyone knows I love to take pictures. A lot of pictures. That's an understatement. My dilemma? First off, I don't know as much as I know I should about my camera. It's my goal to learn and understand this camera more. As much as I use it, I should know it inside and out. Because I don't know it all that well, I take a gazillion shots all to try to get those occasional perfect shots that take your breath away. Even though I'm capturing the moments, I feel like the camera is keeping me distanced from the moments. It's kinda hard to explain. It's like a catch-22. I know that if I'm not taking all of these pictures, I'm not capturing the moments, but while I'm taking all of these pictures I'm actually "missing" a lot of these moments. I'm actually afraid to put the camera down because I don't want to miss something. I really need to figure this out and find a balance. But how?

What brings tears to my eyes?

This:


Nate went in to cover Claire up the other night and came back out and told me how cute she looked because she was hugging her bunny. I immediately grabbed my camera (because that's just how I am) and oohed and ahhhhed over how sweet she looked. Then I blindly took a picture and prayed that I didn't wake her up. There is so much sweetness and innocence in this picture. My littlest baby all tuckered out after a long day of playing and snuggling, sweetly hugging her bunny as she dreams of tomorrow's mischief-making and adventures. I do love our quiet time after the girls go to bed at night, but I'm always a little sad when we put them to bed at night because it's yet another day that's done (they're going by too quickly) and I'm actually sad to have to be away from them for the night. *sigh* I can't help it - I'm in love with my girls.

A little bit of nature...

We went to see my mom and Chris tonight. They live in a beautiful house on a gorgeous wooded lot. I love all of the beautiful scenery and wow can you capture some amazing photographs there!! I got some pretty awesome shots tonight and I'm excited to share!! There were some pretty serious storms going on in the area tonight - nothing crazy where we were, thankfully. It got pretty dark, a few rumbles of thunder and lots of rain. As the rain was ending the sun started shining and we saw a rainbow. It was hard to capture it since it wasn't actually in the sky but if you look very closely, you can see it.


The sky was very strange the rest of the evening. Sometimes the sky would be really blue and you would look over in the other direction and you would see huge, dark clouds rolling by. Very cool!!










And then of course, I couldn't forget about the flowers...

A Photo Share

Another thing I want to try on this blog is to share some of my favorite photos. Doing the 365 project is awesome - I actually (most days) really love taking a picture every day. The only problem is that it's so hard sometimes to choose just one favorite for the day. Ultimately I choose the photo that I think best represents a part of our day, but it may not always be a fantastic photo. So here are a couple of my recent faves :)

New layouts

I've yet to post these in my galleries, but here are some of my newest layouts!! Some gorgeous CT stuff I've gotten to work with lately!! *swoon*


*Spring Has Sprung* by Tracey Howard and Heather Roselli


*He's a Jolly Good Fellow* by Shawna Clingerman


*using Template Set 50 by Cindy Schneider and Lisa Writes by Darcy Baldwin*


*Enchanted: I Do Believe in Fairies by Traci Reed and template by Cindy Schneider*


*Papercropz Volume 5 by NeeNee and Paradise by Flergs


*Mommy Deerest by Meg Mullens and Lyndsay Riches, template by Cindy Schneider and Lisa Writes font by Darcy Baldwin*