Catch the Moment 365 ~ Week 4

This week started off pretty boring with not much to photograph. The kids refused to get out of their pj's over the weekend and spent most of it on the couch. No arguments there though! Things turned around a bit when we got hit by 'the big snowstorm!' Amazing what an inch of snow does to a southern 6 year old and 2 year old! 

January 24, 2014:  Tyler's new favorite toy. He snagged it out of one of my Kindergarten team members' treasure box.

January 25, 2014:  The kids' favorite kind of meal, a living room dinner of pizza and a movie.

January 26, 2014:  Bubble baths are where it's at!

January 27, 2014:  Little one came home not feeling so swell. She crashed at 7:00!

January 28, 2014:  We finally got some snow!! It didn't arrive until later in the evening, but the kids didn't mind it being dark out!

January 29, 2014:  Day 2 of snow day fun! All she really wanted to do was walk around in it!

January 30, 2014:  Bath time with the little girl. Please excuse the horrible beard shadow, I couldn't get the lighting right to not use the flash. But I love her expression in this one!

Catch the Moment 365~Week 3

This week was a bit more of a challenge. Tyler had a 4 day weekend from school so both kids took advantage and took off for Grandma's house. Losing my usual subjects forced me to step out of the box a little bit more!

January 17, 2014:  Daddy got a new chair for Christmas and it's the best seat in the house.

 January 18, 2014:  Waiting not so patiently to leave for Grandma's house.

January 19, 2014:  Day 1 without the kids. A day celebrating a friend's little one's first birthday.

 January 20, 2014:  Playing with my macro settings and my Scentsy candle.

 January 21, 2014:  Little Ms. Zoe wanting to play.

 January 22, 2014

 January 23, 2014:  Trying to stall bedtime. This teacher/mommy can't say no to a book.

Catch the Moment 365 ~ Week 2!

I am eagerly waiting for nicer weather and daylight to last longer so I can get these kiddos outside for some better pictures! Our house has very few (and ineffective) light sources. I have enjoyed playing around more in the manual modes this week and have even learned a few new things! I hope you enjoy these few moments that I captured of my kiddos this week. :0)

January 10, 2014 A day in the life of Bailey. She was such a grump this night!

 

January 11, 2014:  Looking out the slider at our boxer. Underneath the table seems to be a favorite hiding spot!

January 12, 2014:  Bailey's favorite job, well that and taking out the trash. She's a good little helper!

January 13, 2014:  Tyler helping Daddy make salads for dinner, a family favorite.

January 14, 2014:  I was trying to get a good shot of the kids and Dad looking through the telescope, but the kids wouldn't stand still and they kept coming out blurry. This was the best one! I'm sure they'll get it back out and I'll try it again!

January 15, 2014:  Bailey's favorite snack, an orange. She loves peeling them.

 January 16, 2014:  Tyler's new army men. He loves playing with them at bath time.

I discovered this week that there is a way to change what type of lighting you are shooting in, who knew!?! After flipping my setting to the correct one, I've noticed a big difference in the coloring of my pictures especially the pictures I took of the kids in the white bathtub this week!

The munchkins are headed to Grandma's house for the extra long weekend, which means I'm going to have to find something to take pictures of other than them for a few days. A welcome challenge!

Top 5 Saturday Laughs: 1-11-2014

This first week back to school has been interesting to say the least! We like most of the country, got hit with some unusually cold weather causing us to have a 2 hour delay on Tuesday and Wednesday. The delay was only for the students which meant that I was there at normal time, but I sure appreciated the extra time in the classroom!

As always, I'm linking up with Melissa over at The Mommyhood Chronicles for this week's laughs!

5.  Bailey has been a little chatter box. She is constantly making us laugh with her stories and new phrases. Her little mind thinks so fast that she often has to stop mid sentence and start over to get it just right.

4.  A few weeks ago I mentioned Bailey's new obsession with getting her boogies out. This week, she figured out how to dig them out and wipe them on Daddy's leg. SO FUNNY!!! And Mommy didn't help with this one at all. <-----There is absolutely no sarcasm in that statement at all.

3.  Brandon came home with a can of cashews last week. Tyler was so excited to see them that he exclaimed, "Yay cashews! I love cashews, don't I?"

2.  I have this picture as the screen saver on my computer:

Every time it comes up Bailey happily squeals "It me! I go like dis." and crosses her arms. Funny how she thinks it's funny that she's giving us attitude in this picture!

1.  Tyler can be so random! He came downstairs the other night and announces "I know why I kick my blankets off at night. It's because my pillow is hot and I need a chillo." NO more infomercials for this one! :0)

Have a great weekend!!

Catch the Moment 365: Week 1

I've joined a group of amazing women in a challenge to take a photo a day for a year. I've attempted the this challenge a few different times in the past on my own but haven't been very successful. I also haven't had anything to keep me accountable, so hopefully knowing each week that I need to link up with a group of people all attempting the same thing will help me keep up!

You can follow their journey here:

I'm jumping on the bandwagon a day late, so I'm already off to a great start. ;0) All of my pictures were taken using my Canon T3 and the kit lens.

Day 1:  January 2, 2013

Taken in auto mode w/ an ISO of 800. Edited through Photoshop 2.0

Day 2:  January 3, 2013

Taken in portrait mode w/ an ISO of 800. Edited on Picmonkey

Day 3:  January 4, 2014

Taken in AV mode w/ an ISO of 800. Unedited.

Day 4:  January 5, 2013

Taken in P mode w/ and ISO of 800. Edited in Photoshop 6.0.

Day 5:  January 6, 2014

Taken in Macro Mode with an ISO of 800. Unedited.

Day 6:  January 7, 2014

Taken in Auto mode with an ISO of 800. Removed color and brightened in Photoshop 6.0.

Day 7:  January 8, 2014

Taken in night portrait mode w/ an ISO of 800. Unedited.

Date 8:  January 9, 2014

Taken in portrait mode w/ an ISO of 800. Adjusted hue and saturation in Photoshop 6.0.

My goals for this project are to improve my editing skills, learn to use all of the functions on my camera, and to document my family's year. Looking back at this week's photos I have played with my ability to choose the focal point and several of the different modes of the camera. Next week, I would like to explore and learn more about changing the ISO. Enjoy!

Craft Along Monday

Winter break is great for not only my mind and energy level, but also for my creativity! I've worked on several projects over the last 2 weeks and have several more that are in progress. Plus, Santa brought me my very own Cricut machine which means I will be completing MANY more crafts over the coming months and I can't wait!

This week's craft-along project doesn't revolve around something that I did with the kids, but instead something that I did for the kids. But hey, it's a craft and it's family orientated so it counts right?

One of my favorite winter activities is to knit. I picked it up about 7 years ago and began by knitting a simple baby blanket from a pattern in the book I Taught Myself Knitting by Boye. The first blanket was made for a friend and her baby girl.

I loved the blanket so much that I made one for each of my children and brought them home from the hospital in them. This baby will be no different and will also enjoy a homemade blanket from Mommy. Since we don't know what we are having my project load doubled and I made two. That way, we're prepared for anything!

Bailey approved!

I am secretly hoping this baby is a girl because I am in love with the colors of the girl blanket!

As always, feel free to link up any crafting activities that you have completed!

Top 5 Saturday Laughs: 1-4-2014

Our family has had a wonderful Christmas break. We toured the Charlotte Motor Speedway's annual light show, went to see Frozen, celebrated Christmas with our family, and spent plenty of time relaxing around the house in our PJ's. So far, 2014 has gotten off to a great start!

As always, I'm linking up with Melissa over at The Mommyhood Chronicles for this weeks laughs!

5.  Bailey's favorite song is 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider.' She sings it ALL the time, but her version is slightly different than the one everyone else sings. Bailey's lyrics- De icky picky pider, out sun! Yay!

4.  Tyler decided to teach Bailey the lyrics to her favorite song, only he couldn't sing it either! <-----Parent fail right there.

3.  Karate movies are no longer allowed in my house. Every time we watch one, someone gets kicked by Tyler who is shadowing the moves while watching.

2.  Bailey is usually the first one up. She climbed into bed with me one morning and asked if she could wake Tyler up. I told her no. She thought about it for a minute and then informed that "I wake Tyler up in 5 minutes. 3...2...1...ummm...2...3.... Tay, go!"

1.  I shared this picture in my last post, but it was too cute to not share with our laughs. Bailey received plenty of wonderful presents for Christmas. Most of which she would say yay a new ____ and either play with it for a minute or set it aside to move on to the next one. This was her reaction to the orange she got from Grandma. <-----Yes, that does say orange.

The squeals coming out of this little girl were contagious!

Have a great weekend!