Week 4 of 52

20-26 November 2011

What a week this was. Hectic to say the least. Thanksgiving week and yes, I COMPLETELY forgot to take any photos on Thanksgiving day! Whoops. It's also a week filled with Ethan waking a lot at night from a stuffy nose (mama is soooooo tired right about now), and the washing machine breaking down the day before thanksgiving and us not realizing until the day of...  you know...  once the washing had already started piling up. The washer got replaced this past Friday with an oldie off the local yard sale site. It's not that pretty, and needs a good clean, but it works and that's the main thing! ;)

It was also Black Friday this past Friday, which means I indulged in a few actions for editing in PSE (Photoshop Elements) and presets for LR (Lightroom).  I haven't dabbled with my PSE ones yet, because let's face it, I'm clueless on PSE right now...good thing I have a PSE "how to" book on my Christmas list for Mr Santa ;)

So, for now, I've been playing with the LR ones. I'm especially loving the Film Art presets from Clickin' Moms. I also used some presets from My Four Hens Photography, the "Flatten" action from the Pioneer Woman, and the storyboards from Paint the Moon Photography.
And without further ado, here's this weeks photos:

Week 2 of 52 - late but better than never!

6-12 November 2011

I'm trying to worry less about getting something done late, so long as it gets done.  So in the spirit of things, here are last week's photos!

We were surprised with a visit from "Uncle Jeb". The kids were so excited to see him. He'd only ever met Jared before, so it was delightful to have him meet his niece and other nephew as well.

Mia very quickly wound him around her pinky, just as it seems she does to everyone she meets. We're going to have some serious boyfriend issues in the future, she's way too good at it. I'm fighting the urge to lock her up already, thankfully she has me wound around her pinky too, so I just couldn't do that to her! ;)

Now for the rest. Don't judge my Lightroom processing...well...I don't want to keep saying that each week. So Just assume until I say otherwise that I have no idea what I'm doing and at least the photos were improved by my efforts, even if no prizes will be won with my techniques! ;)

 Mia LURVES her new Lightning McQueen "sandles"! Yup, she picked them! and yes, Daddy couldn't say no. Lol!

Click your heels together to go home ;)

 Little Mister is getting bigger by the day *sniff sniff* 

 "Boo-Boo" is getting bigger by the minute! But he can be such a happy guy, which is great!

Such a wide range of sizes in the house right now! J is a 4.5 youth, Princess is a 9 toddler, and Ethan is already a 5 toddler!

See you soon for this weeks photos!

(Can't wait to figure out more in LR to process these photos better, the mistakes are staring at me and laughing...mean little buggers...)

Let the fun begin!

Mama's new toy arrived this past Thursday. My pretty, almost new, Nikon D90 as well as my brand new Nikon 35mm f/1.8G lens! I was also spoiled rotten enough to get the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 zoom lens as well!
*This is the part where I do a really crazy looking happy dance, and you pretend you're not feeling the urge to run away in fear, or take really embarrassing blackmail photos!*


So this is the start of my own personal 52 week project. I am hoping it will be one that shows growth in photography while at the same time documenting our crazy lives and silly kids over this coming year. 


I won't just do one photo a week. I'll be doing a small collection of the best of each week, and it'll most likely happen over the weekend. Really busy weeks it might only be one, but other weeks it might be 10!


So without further ado:


WEEK 1/52

Princess Poodle seems to have had a mild reaction / eczema type reaction to something she ate that landed up on the lower portion of her face - we're really hoping it wasn't the strawberry jam that she smooshed all over that area a few days ago, as she won't like missing out on strawberries. This is how it looks on day 3 and she's been fiddling with her lip again.

Mia pretending to read all about "Jack and Annie" in the Magic Tree House to Jared. Can you believe that's our first baby? He's going to be NINE years old in December...we're definitely not ready for him to be this big already!

Love the vintage look from the Adobe Lightroom free preset I downloaded from MCP Actions. So cute! Two cute kiddos just enjoying the book and pretending to read for Mommy!

Ms Ariel Dolly was a very patient model for me, and to thank her she's getting her sweet little smile posted online. Thanks again Ms Ariel!

Mr Funny Face himself! That's his "I'm so excited and chatting all at the same time" expression. And he's a very good sport with not being bothered by being in a pink and purple bouncy chair, even when it's displayed online!

Ms Ariel, while a great model, is awfully naughty and doesn't keep her shoes on. This sometimes means Mia is required to pin her baby down to get her shoes back on. It's so difficult being a mama!

Ah yes..the typical "You hurt your WHA-AT?" (my sad attempt to type the famous line from Mater in the movie Cars) facial expression from Mia. We see this one so often and yet I've never been able to capture it on camera - til now!

Pretty Del Mar beach in bright afternoon sun.

Same spot a little further into the sunset. Don't judge my post-processing in Lightroom2 too harshly. I'm a total newbie (I've only had the program installed for less than a day now!) as well as a total DSLR camera newb as well. 

But seeing as I'm half asleep at the keyboard, I'll end this first week right there. Night all and see you again for Project 52 next week!