Vahl Family Highlights

She got her ears pierced

2009-12-11T00:27:00.004-05:00

Gerben and I firmly believe in waiting until our girls can decide for themselves before having their ears pierced. On November 13th, we finally gave in and took Emma to get her's pierced. She had been asking on and off for a few months prior to that and has been drooling over all the earrings at Claire's when she goes in their. I knew she wanted them done but I also knew that she is a bit of a chicken and was quite nervous about it hurting a lot. Who can blame her? It does hurt and we told her that.

How did I know she was completely serious about getting them done? Well, she did her research, as well as any six year old can. November 13th was a Friday and she came home from school with determination in her eyes. She had been talking to her friends at school and they were telling her all about what it was like. Emma's friend Hayley had only had hers done a few months before so she remembered it clearly. Her parents had bought some cream for her ears to numb them and so she didn't feel it at all. Emma immediately asked me to call Hayley's mom to find out what the cream was. If we could find that cream than she was ready to get this done. She practically stood beside me begging to call Hayley's mom. I did call her, but she wasn't home. I still managed to find out that this stuff is call Emla cream. I knew of the cream from my nursing days but at the time it was only prescription. Now you just have to ask at the pharmacy. It's behind the counter but they have it. So, I got it. I coated her ears in it and we heading to Cambridge. Amy recommended getting it done at Peoples Jewellers. So that is where we went. There was a ton of nervousness but in the end she was a trooper and she did it! No crying because she never felt it. She chose a beautiful pair of earrings that are pink flowers and she is now counting down the days until she can put new pretty earrings in her ears.

It was so cute, because as we were heading out of the mall and on to Amy's house for a visit I handed the phone to Emma so she could call Gramma and tell her all about them. Unfortunetly, Gramma wasn't home but she did get to speak to Grampa. I think he teased her about them more than anything but she was so proud to tell him all about them. I remember when I got mine done he kept telling me I would only come home with one ear pierced. I think he was carrying on the same joke with her.

Of course, my favourite part of the entire event was getting a chance to get some photos of the girls because Emma wanted to show off her earrings to Oma and Opa and Gramma and Grampa.
And these days, whatever Emma does, Natalia wants to do. So who knows, it may not be long before Natalia get's hers done as well but so far she only asks on rare occasions so until it becomes an obsession we will wait.

So what else have we been up to lately?

2009-12-09T12:33:00.004-05:00

Seeing as it's been such a very, very long time since I've posted on here I decided to have a look back and see what else we have been up to lately.

In September, Gerben had a show to attend in Vancouver for work. When the time came we all made to trip with him and we jam packed a million activities into the week long trip. The first 5 days or so were dedicated to the show and so the girls and I got to do lots of lounging around the pool and touring the cool downtown area of Vancouver.

Part of the sight-seeing adventure in Vancounver included going to the Vancouver aquarium. In all honesty, it was much smaller than I expected but there was still lots and lots of cool things to see.

After the show was over, it was time to hit the road for a weekend of family time. The first item on the agenda was a tour of the Boeing Factory near Seattle. Emma and Gerben were taking the tour while Natalia and I stayed behind in the Museum part. Natalia wasn't big enough to take the tour. I know that Emma and Gerben really enjoyed the tour and we got several goodies to take home with us at the boeing store.

The next part of our weekend involved driving farther into Washington to take Emma to see Mount St. Helens. Anyone who know's Emma, know's she has a passion for volcano's and has for years. This was our opportunity to take her to see the destruction of one first hand. It was incredible. I couldn't believe how much damage you could still see. It was a powerful site. Definetly worth the drive down to see it.

The last leg of our trip took us back through Seattle while heading towards Vancouver for our flight home. We had some extra time so we made an extra stop at the Seattle Space Needle. It was ok. Way smaller than the CN tower but basically the same idea. I think the kids preferred the small amusement park below it more that the Space Needle itself. But I can't say I expected it to be any different.

So keep checking back here and maybe I will add a few more updates. I'm going to try.

Christmas is coming

2009-12-08T00:09:00.006-05:00

Ok, so seeing as Christmas is fast approaching I thought it was high time I update this silly blog. I just wanted to share a few photos from my recent shoot with the girls. I got some new black seamless paper and the girls were more than willing to be my models. I love it when they are so agreeable.

Emma is growing up so fast. It blows me away. She just got her first report card for grade 2 and she made the Honour Roll. She is loving her teacher and her class this year. She is keeping a very busy lifestyle with dance, swimming and piano. Next up on the agenda is to get this girl skating. But first I need to get her new skates.

Natalia is the same old spirited little critter that she has always been. She is full of crazy stories to tell us. Today she told Gerben and I that a monster must have crept into her room while she was out and opened a box in her room. It was all we could do to not laugh at her. She is going to preschool 2 days a week and absolutely loving it! It is the highlight in her week. She is going to be so sad at the end of the week because she has a 3 week wait before it starts up again. Then to add insult to injury, swimming lessons is also finished this week. What in the world is she going to do with no swimming or preschool?

So all in all we are doing well. I have been working a part-time job lately. That's been lots of fun getting out of the house and doing something different. It's only seasonal with the chance of more but we will see how it goes. I know that if it doesn't go longer I am going to look for more work. I'm really liking the escape.

How cool are these?

2009-08-04T20:25:00.002-04:00

Just having a little photoshop fun tonight. I learned a new trick and I love the results.

I just might print and frame these a cool abstract shots.

Long Point Beach

2009-08-04T00:14:00.005-04:00

Seeing as we finally had a beautiful day this summer and the girls have been begging to go to the beach we decided to do that on Saturday. The weather was fantastic. Not too hot and not too cold. The girls had a blast playing in the waves. The water was fairly warm and the sand was perfect to play in. What more could you ask for at the beach?

The girls started by testing the water. Natalia needed a little help from Daddy because this was her first trip to a beach to swim. We saw the beach in Holland but never swam in it.

Of course we bought the girls some sand toys and we all took turns working on some sand creations. I thought Gerben's castle turned out pretty good.

This is what I like to do, sit at the edge and let the waves come over my legs. I must say that the waves were pretty high and the undertow was fairly strong. We insisted that the girls keep their lifejackets on.

The beautiful sky at the end of a fabulous day!

Coupon Crazy!!

2009-08-01T00:45:00.002-04:00

Ok, so after I had my kids I was a bit of a coupon crazy mom. I refused to pay full price on things like diapers or wipes because you can ALWAYS find coupons. Well I had kind of fallen out of that scheme until I saw a website on the news. It's called Smart Canucks. It's AMAZING!! I can't believe how much of an idiot I have been. I didn't realize just how much money I could save doing this. I have saved a ton this week alone thanks to smart canucks pointing me in the direction of great coupons and great sales any ways to combine them.

For example, this week I saved 59.18 just for using coupons. I had a 25% off my entire purchase at Old Navy including sale items. That saved me $32.38 on Emma's back to school clothes. Plus another $6.00 off $26.00 at Zellers. This could get very addicting very quickly.

The funniest part was seeing my excitement when the smart source coupon clipper showed up in the mail today. Now I am off to figure out the best way to organize all my coupons and what to do with the saved money.

Thump, Thump, THUMP!

2009-07-29T23:28:00.007-04:00

Do you hear that sound? "Thump, thump, THUMP!" That is me. Banging my head against a wall. OMG, Natalia is driving me CRAZY! She is such a pest right now. All she does is bug Emma. I swear she knows every button to push to get a reaction out of her and she uses them over and over again all day. She will sprint into Emma's room, grab the nearest item and run, while Emma just stands there and screams. OMG, I am so tired of it. You have no idea. If Natalia knows Emma is about to sit somewhere or do something she takes off running like a bat out of hell and makes sure she gets there first. Of course this leads to more screaming and crying from Emma. If Emma finally stands up to Natalia or we catch her in the act and give her shit Natalia will throw herself of the nearest piece of furniture and scream and cry into it. Is there a crime against having your child's voice box removed? Because right now I would happily sign her up for that. Or better yet, some sort of sound barrier between me and the kids. One that I could turn on and off as needed. Something like the Muffliato spell in Harry Potter. Oh how I wish I had something like that.

Tonight was one of those classic bratty little sister moments. Emma was sitting on the floor listening to her mp3 player and not bothering anyone. Natalia leaned over and yank the headphone out of Emma's ear. Just to be a brat. No other reason. URG!! Luckily Daddy caught her and she got in trouble.

In Natalia's defence, it's got to be tough when you receive mixed messages like this from your big sister.

It's not much of a "Happy Party" when you are constantly being told to "Stay Out" of the venue, aka Emma's Room.

To add to the frustrations around this house is this awful summer weather. It's so wet,yucky,cold and very unpredictable that it's tough to do anything with the kids. They are bored of being stuck in the house. They want to get out and do stuff but it always seems to be storming. This was the weather around here the other day.

Hail stones, the size of cherry pits, pelting our house. Not to mention the crazy thunderstorms. Just this morning we had one that took out the sensor in one of Gerben's coolers at work.

At least on Monday we did get out of the house for a bit. I took both the kids to Burford to meet up with some friends at the local splash pad and playground. It's awesome and the kids had a blast. Seeing this new splash pad and playground does make me miss a little bit of Burford. It would be fabulous to have this close to home but them again, it makes a great day trip.

Today, Emma had a classmate over to play. It was nice because adding one extra kid to the house cuts down on the fighting significantly plus gives the girls something different to do. They spent some time in the pool but the majority of the day was spent crafting. We did tons and tons of shrinky dinks and of course make beaded necklaces to hang them home.

Tomorrow, Emma has 2 more classmates coming for a visit. I am hoping that goes as smoothly as today does. Then on Monday, she starts 2 weeks of summer camp. It is going to be so good for her to get out of the house but I will need to find things for Natalia to do as well.

On a final note, I just have to share these pics with you. They are of a very cool leaf that was on my patio step this morning. It had really weird furry water drops on it. I strongly recommend clicking on the image for a larger view. It's cool.

Photoclub at the Fergus Auto Wreckers

2009-07-24T10:39:00.005-04:00

So much to my surprise photoclub did happen last night at the Auto Wreckers and in all honesty the weather turned out quite nice. When I first got to the location I was immediately lost. I had no idea what I was going to take photos of. This is so far out of my element but after walking around for a while I managed to find stuff that captured my eye and in the end I had a ton of fun.

I did learn a big lesson on this shoot. Before you head to a location, think about your footwear. I don't think it was smart to wear my croc sandels to a autowreckers. The ground was very muddy and wet and full of broken glass. Oh well, I survived with no injuries, lesson learned!

Canada's Wonderland

2009-07-23T23:20:00.004-04:00

On Sunday we decided to take the kids to Canada's wonderland. We all had a blast. Emma is turning into a roller coaster junkie. She LOVES them. Natalia had fun on the kiddie rides but I think she is quickly growing out of them. Both kids just squeeked by their hieght requirements which allowed them the most bang for our buck.
Natalia was able to ride some things all by herself and Emma was able to go on the faster roller coaster rides.

Natalia loved the Flintstones Merry-go-round. She insisted to ride on the flamingo aka Dino.

Emma's favourite ride, "The Silver Streak!"

Happy 60th Anniversary!

2009-07-18T22:05:00.005-04:00

Today we were off to Fergus to visit family and help to celebrate my Grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. Congratulations Gramma and Grandpa we love you both! You are a huge inspiration to everyone in our family.

To celebrate this huge milestone, our family held an open house in Fergus. The venue was packed! There was so many people that came out to congratulate my grandparents. It was fantastic!

I captured a few pictures of my neice and nephews while I was there. They are such cuties and I really wish we got to see them more often. I think it's time I scheduled a pool party and invite them over.

After the open house we all headed to Elmira for dinner. The kids needed to wear off some energy so we decided to stop at a park on the way. Gerben decided to follow the route the gps wanted us to go instead of the way I would have went and it totally worked in my favour. We got to stop at the super cool "Kissing Bridge" in West Montrose. It's been a long time since I have been there and it's just as pretty as I remembered it.

The last stop, of course, was the park. The kids were thrilled to get to run around for a bit and I was thrilled to have a pretty little spot to take a few pictures. Gerben and Emma even let me capture a few shots of them.

Awe, it's so nice to capture some beautiful shots and edit them to the super saturated feel that I love so much.

Tomorrow it's off to Canada's Wonderland. I am going to leave my dSLR at home and just take my point and shoot. Wish me luck! I am sure I am going to kick myself for doing that but I really don't want to deal with the worry and weight of carrying around my dSLR.

I'm in such a photo rut!

2009-07-16T23:03:00.005-04:00

I'm in such a rut lately that I don't even feel like pulling out my camera. But, today was photoclub so I had to.

Just before leaving for the Railcar Museum, our photoclub destination for this evening, I pulled out my gear to get ready and remembered that I wanted to get some photos of the gorgeous Gerberas that Aunt Karen and Uncle Jack brought for Emma the night they saw her dance. The colour of these flowers is amazing. I LOVE gerberas. Emma does too because she was really worried I was going to ruin them when I was photographing them.

Here's my favourites of the batch.

I took a ton of pics at the railcar museum but these are the ones that jumped out at me. I ran a vintage action on them. I'm not totally sure I like it but it's ok for a quick and dirty edit.

Another School Year has passed

2009-06-28T20:54:00.006-04:00

It's hard to believe but another school year has come and gone. Emma completed grade one with flying colours and even made the honour roll. We are so proud of her. She keeps telling up that she doesn't want school to end and that she wishes she didn't have summer. I am sure she will feel differently after she sees all we have planned. With all the stress that we had at the end of kindergarten it was so nice to have a smooth ending to Grade 1.

This is Emma on her first day of Grade 1.

And this is Emma on her last day of Grade 1.

To end the school year I decided to have a little pool party for all the girls in Emma's class. They had a blast. The best part of the day was getting to push Gerben into the pool. He was such a great sport about it and I am sure the girls will be talking about it for weeks to come.

For the next week we are also lucky enough to have Miranda and Kirsten staying with us while Mariska and Al enjoy a trip to Cuba. The girls are loving every minute of it. We have spent every day in the pool since they got here. And to Gerben and my big surprise Emma has also broken free of her fear of the diving board and look at what she is doing...

So far summer has kicked off with a bang. I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store for us.

Oh, the things they do for money...

2009-05-09T23:35:00.009-04:00

Today was a crazy day for the weather. It was warm then cold, calm then windy, sunny then rainy. It literally did these weather flips all day. At one point in time the rain was coming down in sheets. It was insane. Gerben and the girls were standing on the front porch watching it when Gerben got the bright idea to bribe Emma into running out into the rain for a dollar. Emma is all about money right now, so she took him up on the offer.

Then he offered her more money if she would stand out in the rain for 10 seconds, so once again she took him up on the offer. This girl is itching for more money. After a few trips out into the rain, to earn more money, she discovered the puddles.

And as always around here, one can't have all the fun. Pretty soon, Natalia was in on the action.

Although, I am pretty sure that she didn't realize the consequences because she wasn't thrilled when she realized she was soaked.

After Emma had filled her shoes with yucky, muddy water it was back out to the puddles to try this goofiness barefoot.

First, she takes a few tentative steps near the puddles

Then we have to stand in the puddle and decide if we are brave enough to actually jump in it with no shoes on.

And finally, we jump!

And look, these dirty little feet survived! With nail polish still intact! :)

And a smile to prove that she actually had fun and managed to wiggle $1.75 out of a very surprised Daddy, in the process.

Hmm, come to think of it, we probably should have made sure she had a bath before she went to bed tonight. Oops!

Spent some time with the camera today

2009-05-08T21:30:00.004-04:00

I must confess, I hate gardening! I have no use for it. I wish my entire yard was grass. It's so easy to take care of and I don't have to worry about knowing the difference between a weed and a plant. But, that being said, I have a magnolia tree in my yard and I LOVE it. I love the flowers that it produces in the spring and I love that it's the best climbing tree on our entire property. I would happy take round up to the majority of my yard but my magnolia tree is sacred ground.

I think this is my favourite photo of Natalia that I have taken in the last little while. She looks so innocent. Which is surprising given the massive fit she threw this morning over the crust on her bread.

Look at my munchkin in amongst the fallen magnolia leaves. Isn't she cute!

I don't have any idea what this tree is but it's cool. I wish I had it in my yard because it's so pretty.

Now, most people assume the because my husband works in the flower bulb industry that I must have the most beautiful gardens. Well, I assure you, I don't! My "beautiful" yard is filled with millions and millions of these lovely "flowers."

Long time, no post!

2009-05-05T23:00:00.005-04:00

Sorry guys it's been a while. But, I promise it's all good. I have been busy working on a new project. It has been totally monopolizing my time but so far it's been well worth it. You can see my newest project here...

www.cedarlandstudios.ca

A few weekends ago, Gerben and I packed up the kids and drove to Grand Rapids Michigan for a FABULOUS photography seminar. It was so worth the trip and I learned so much that I was completely overwhelmed. I think it took an entire day for me to absorb all the information. It says alot about a seminar when it's 5.5 hours long and it felt like I was there for an hour. My attention never waivered.

While at the seminar Gerben spent some time with the girls at a park and swimming at the hotel. The took me to the park the next day and all I have to say about it is that it's the most beautiful, well kept, massive playground I have ever seen. The part that you will see in the photos is only about 1/5th of all the playground equipment. It was awesome.

Oh and just to clarify, I am not just 4 feet 5 inches, I am infact, 4 feet 11 AND A HALF inches tall! This scale is seriously wrong!

Hopefully, this is the start of me being able to keep up with my new endevour and this blog. I promise to try!

She lost her tooth!

2009-04-23T16:19:00.004-04:00

This little tooth came into Emma's life on the day she turned 4 months. And now 5 years, 11 months, and 7 days later it has fallen out!

Emma was so excited today when I picked her up from school. She couldn't wait to tell me about losing her first tooth. I guess it fell out during her second lunch period when she "wiggled it too hard!" She looks too cute without this little tooth but man, does this ever prove to me just how quickly she is growing up.

Finally an update!

2009-04-23T00:15:00.008-04:00

Things have been crazy busy around here and as per usual the blog has been neglected. It was absolutely wonderful to enjoy the warm weather last weekend. The girls insisted that we have our supper outside. This was our first meal of many for 2009 on our patio. And what did we have? Pannekoeken! Yummy!

It also just happened that Gerben and I had the same idea on Friday. While at the grocery store I picked up a pot of beautiful yellow tulips and when he came home, he had a gorgeous bouquet of red gerbera's. My two favourite flowers and candy for my camera lens! he he he

The girls are funny right now. One minute they will be playing like angels laughing and giggling together and the next minute one of them is screaming, "Get out of my ROOM!!" On Monday morning they were skipping together on the way to school. Laughing and giggling the entire time. Ah, music to my ears! Why can't it always be like this?

Yesterday, I took Natalia for a haircut. She was finally agreeable so I definitely needed to get it done before she changed her mind. She is very attached to her hair and her ponytails. I love her hair this length. It's so much cuter and some much more in control.

And then there was today. Poor Emma got an unexpected day off school. I took her to school in the morning and as usual I waited with her until the bell rings and she goes in. When the bell rang she ran towards the area where the class lines up, which happens to be beside a huge wooden planter about 18 inches off the ground that houses some of the trees on the school yard. Well if the poor girl didn't trip. She went flying head first into the edge of the planter. She had a huge black mark about 2.5 inches long across her forehead and she scraped her knee. Now, I'm usually the "suck it up" parent, but this was different. It was horrible to watch. We took her into the school and got some ice on her head and decided to take her home. She was pretty shook up and I wasn't sure just how big this mark was going to get. It swelled up fast. Luckily, we got the swelling down quick and the dark purple changed to light purple and it looks pretty good now. But I am sure it will be a lovely colour tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm freaking out about her head and all she is worried about it an itty bitty cut on her knee.

I took a few photos but these were late in the afternoon and the purple is really light. I am sure it will look worse tomorrow.

I'm only posting one of them here and I am doing it in both black and white and colour. I just can't decide which I like better but I do know that I love the photo.

1 more photo for tonight

2009-04-16T01:07:00.003-04:00

So I managed to get 2 photos of Natalia edited tonight. So you get a bonus post.

Here's the second photo.

It's all about the bikes in our house!

2009-04-15T23:56:00.005-04:00

All the girls want to do is be outside and ride their bikes. I really don't blame them, the weather has been pretty good but windy. Natalia is loving almost every minute of her time spent on her bike. She is pretty good at falling off it though. She seems to do that at least once a day. Emma is trying desperately to learn to ride without the training wheels. It's not going so well, but she is determined to not have the training wheels put back on. She cannot stand it when she wants to do something but can't. I think it's because he mind has very few limitations. She figures things out so easily and is way beyond her years. The problem is that biking is a physical thing and in that aspect she is still only a 5 year old. I have no doubt that she will get it and soon but unfortunately, she is finding it frustrating at the moment.

And her is my little "McDougall" on the bike. Always sticking her tongue out. I love it!

And last, but not least, another studio shot. I picked up this adorable dress and hat for Natalia at Zehrs today. I could resist and I knew it would be perfect for this background. I absolutely love the background colour but boy it's tricky to work with. It causes skin tones to look blue/grey and that is a bit tricky to fix.

Ok, so yesterday and today

2009-04-14T00:32:00.006-04:00

Once again, I am playing catch up! Seeing as Gerben is in the basement right now, kindly installing the new outlets and cover for my studio, I thought it best that I didn't go to bed on him!

Of course yesterday was Easter and in our house that means the Easter Bunny comes. Emma was beyond excited. She has been bouncing off the walls with excitement for days now.

This is the loot that the Bunny left on our coffee table for the girls.

Natalia was the lucky recipient of a new bike and Emma got a Wii game. Normally the Bunny isn't so generous but seeing as Natalia has long outgrown her trike, the Bunny decided to use Easter as the excuse to get her a new one. She was beyond excited. Emma, on the other hand, is crazy about the High School Musical movies so it was an obvious win for her when she received with Wii game.

It was such a beautiful day, and Natalia was just itching to get outside and play with her new bike, so we decided to take the kids to the school so they could get some bike time.

Emma has taken notice that the other kids her age are beginning to have the training wheels taken off their bike and so she insisted that Daddy do the same for her. We warned her that it wasn't going to be as easy as she thinks to ride without them but she insisted.

Honestly, she never did figure out how to ride without the training wheels and she was very annoyed with herself. I feel bad for her but her stubborn nature is holding strong and she is determined to figure this out. I have no doubt she will. She thinks the only reason she couldn't do it yesterday was because she had to pee!! He he he! If only it was that easy!

Today was another day off school for Emma. We had a good day. Kelly came over with Jillian so the kids got a chance to play. They seemed to have a great time as they usually do. I am loving that Natalia is napping most afternoons again. It gives me that extra little break in the afternoon and takes away some of the crankies.

Tonight I was so lucky again. Both girls were agreeable to having their photos taken and here are some of the results.

Oh and in case you are wondering, the girls choose the poses they wanted to do. That was they only way they would agree to this! But I must say, I do love them!

Just one quick photo

2009-04-13T00:24:00.003-04:00

I actually took a few hundred photos today but computer is giving me grief. So, I am just going to post this one.

The floor is now finished in my new studio so I have all my goodies set up and ready to play. Unfortunetly, there still is a ton to do but atleast I can play for now. This is one of my first photos.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVA!!!

2009-04-11T23:51:00.005-04:00

First off, I have to wish my beautiful Niece, Ava, a very Happy 3rd Birthday! I am so sorry that we didn't make it to your party. Please forgive us! (more on that later)

Ok, as per usual these days, I am playing catch up with my photos.

I think Wednesday was the last day that I posted so here we go. First up is Thursday.

Gerben, the girls and I went to Toronto on Thursday evening to go to a great photography supply store. On the way home the clouds were so cool as they floated past the full (or almost full) moon. I was dying to try and get some photos but, I must say, they SUCK! It totally doesn't give the site justice. Here is my feeble attempt.

I am still trying to get used to my new camera, and I must say that I have noticed one thing that I completely miss about my D80 that I don't have for the D300 and that is the little tiny wireless pocket remote. It makes shots like this so easy because I don't have to worry about timers or shaking the tripod on these longer exposures.

Friday was a holiday for all. So while Gerben worked away at laying the floor in the basement the girls and I decorated Easter eggs. I think it took them about 5 minutes to decorate 18 eggs! Sheesh, all the excitement surrounding decorating the eggs and it was done in 5 minutes. It hardly seems worth it but they loved it, so I guess it was worth it.

Today was Ava's 3rd birthday and also her birthday party. Natalia and I were planning to go, while Gerben and Emma stayed home so that Emma could attend a friends party. All was going well this morning. I had Natalia all dressed up in her adorable little party dress. Her hair was done up in the cutest little pigtails and she was beyond excited. All she talked about was going to Ava's house for the birthday party. She has been complaining on and off about a sore tummy lately but I hadn't really thought much of it. My friend Kelly's kids have both been sick with a stomach bug lately and I thought maybe Natalia was getting it but she seemed fine this morning. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Natalia and I started on our way to Arthur and just about 15 minutes from home she said to me, "My tummy hurts!" Next thing I knew she puked. A LOT! All through her car seat. All over herself, her pretty party dress and into every buckle on her seat. She was so upset. I felt horrible. I told her we had to go home and that we wouldn't be able to go to Ava's party because she was sick. Well, I'm telling you, she cried and cried. She was more upset about missing the party than getting sick.

Luckily, it seems to be that this was a one time thing. She only threw up the once and then after getting cleaned up and having a brief rest on the couch she was back to her old self. Poor little kid! I feel so bad that she had to miss the party but I did promise her that we would go and see Ava very soon, so that she could give Ava her present. That seemed to make her feel better.

So, my photo of the day, is my little sickie on the couch right after munching on a jam beschuit (a dry dutch bread) because she was starving after throwing up her breakfast and this stuff is pretty gentle on the tummy.

I love the UPS guy!

2009-04-08T22:27:00.004-04:00

Ok, so I don't really love the UPS guy but I do love that he dropped off my studio lighting today. The floor in the studio is still not laid and we all know that when some knew toys shows up at your door, you just have to play.

Needless to say, I tore apart my dining room and quickly set up a bee with reflector and the shoot-thru umbrella (the softbox was just too big for my dining room) and then bribed the kids with chocolate so that they would let me fire off a few shots of them. The kids were actually good sports about it, although, not all that patient seeing as I am still learning.

These are the best 3 shots that I did get. Nothing spectacular but decent for 5 minutes of work.

Not bad for a first try. I can't wait to see what magic I can produce with a little practise and a lot more space. Oh and more than 2 minutes of editing per photo. This was a rush job all around.

At last! An Update...

2009-04-07T23:07:00.008-04:00

So besides being completely busy working on my new studio, my stupid keyboard has also been tempermental but, alas, I am here to post my photos.

Starting with Friday, really nothing too exciting going on besides the work on my new photo studio. Needless to say, my photo is pretty boring as well.

Here is my hubby laying the first layer of the subfloor.

On Saturday, we needed to go to the airport and pick up Frans from Holland. We decided to stop at a photography store seeing as we were in Toronto anyway. I really wanted to buy my studio lighting locally but man it is so much more expensive here. I wasn't willing to pay double the price, so we went with good old Alienbee in the states instead. All my lights and goodies should arrive tomorrow. I'm just disappointed that my studio won't be ready. But, I'm sure that won't stop me from playing.

Here is a few photos that I took in the airport. I was hoping to get a pic of the girls walking the wrong way on the moving sidewalks but they are in the other terminal. I was so disappointed. It is, by far, their favourite thing to do at the airport.

Sunday was the very first day, since starting project 365, that I missed a day. We were just so tired with painting and laying the floor that I forgot about my photo. In all honesty, it would only have been of an empty half finished studio anyway. Oh well, it was bound to happen. Now it's on to Monday.

What the heck is going on with this weather? It's awful! We went from beautiful sunny warm weather, to a friggin' snow storm! Geez, I thought we were done with winter. I KNOW I am.

And now, I am finally up to date because here is today's photo.

My photographer friend, Rachelle, invited me over to play with her alienbees today. It was so much fun and very informative. I feel like the second I get my bees (tomorrow) I will be able to whip them out of the box and get it set up and ready to go in no time. I am sooo excited! Rachelle has 2 beautiful little girls, Megan and Erin, so it was like a playdate for the mommies and the kids. The above photo was the only one I got of Natalia. She is a little munchkin and hates when I take her photo but she did let Rachelle get a few cute ones. You can see them here. Thanks Rachelle! You are more than welcome to come and visit me and the girls anytime.

Sorry Everyone, I'm having keyboard troubles

2009-04-06T22:37:00.000-04:00

No post tonight (again) Hopefully tomorrow. I am using my tablet to write this and its a big pain. Studio work is going well. I will post tons of photos tomorrow.

Wednesday and Thursday

2009-04-02T23:56:00.005-04:00

Well, Wednesday was another busy day. They all seem to be that way lately. I had another photography lesson with Trina. It was good but no where near as good as last time. This time all we did was talk and learn more about design and what elements make a good design. Of course, I am a hyper critical person and feel as though beauty is in the eye of the beholder. She told me she wants me to be open and say what I honestly think. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can be the most outspoken and blunt person going. So to give me freedom to be honest is a scary situation at times. There were times, while looking at photographs, that Trina was overjoyed and totally taken with a photo and I was kinda going, "Huh? I don't get it!" She would try desperately to explain why it was a great shot but in all honesty I still didn't see it. What I did learn, is that I am too critical of my own work and too quick to delete. My assignment for this week, is to bring in some photos that I am contemplating deleting or would have deleted to see what we can learn from them. That is going to be tough. Who wants to show off their "garbage?"

Next time I go, it's all about shooting. We will be working on histograms and other goodies like that. I can't wait, it should be a great one.

Seeing as I didn't get to go out shooting with Trina, I did stop at Churchill park on the way home and captured these beauties. As you will see, I am still totally in LOVE with sun flare shots.

Today was fantastic! The weather was amazing. We spent most of the day enjoying this beautiful weather and I managed to capture these photos.

Just for kicks, I also have to share this photo of Emma. I can tell already that when gravity kicks in for her, the results may be scary! he he he

This photo absolutely cracks me up but I am sure she will kill me if she sees it on here!

Many, time can sure get away from you

2009-04-02T00:27:00.008-04:00

This studio building is crazy! We have been plugging away as much as we can. We have stripped off all the trim and taped off some of the walls in preparation for painting. And now tonight, we removed all the carpeting and underlay in prep for the new floors. I think it's going to look fantastic. We just have a long road of prep work ahead of us and of course that means, late nights and no blogging :(

So, lets go back a few days, on Monday the girls had dentist appointments. It just happened to be Natalia's first dentist appointment ever. They both did fantastic. No tears, no arguments and best of all...NO CAVITIES!! Emma was thrilled to also learn that she has, not one but TWO loose teeth. The dentist told her that she needs to wiggle them lots to get them out. Well, if you know Emma at all, you know that she is now the wiggle queen! She is working constantly to get these teeth out. I don't think her fingers ever leave her mouth. It will be a bit of a bittersweet moment when her first tooth does fall out. It's just another sign that she is growing up, and not my baby anymore.

First off, I just have to show you this photo. My dentist's office has the coolest toy EVER! I love it and I want one. Check out this girls technique! I think she watches her mommy way too much!

Don't you just love this thing! OMG, I sooo want one for my studio!

Ok, enough drooling over a toy camera. Natalia was the first to hit the dentist's chair. At first, she was a little nervous.

But man, when the hygienist gave her these super cool shades to wear, Natalia was just thrilled!

From then on, she was a trooper. The only part she didn't like was when the chair was moving backwards and laying her down. She told me she didn't like it but after that she was just fine.

Emma was up after Natalia. She also did fantastic. No problem at all. The hygienist just kept saying that she wished all the kids were like mine. I was so proud of them.

And here is Emma enjoying the BEST part of the dentist visit...picking out her THREE toys to go with her new Shrek toothbrush. Natalia got a Diego toothbrush. She told the hygienist that she didn't want the Dora one because she already had that one at home.

Tuesday's photo isn't very exciting but here's the story behind it... Natalia is ALWAYS taking Emma's new sunglasses from the birthday party a few weeks ago. It annoys Emma to no end when Natalia does this, so today we went to Zellers because I needed new sunglasses and we picked Natalia up her own pair as well. Hopefully the fights will stop now! Natalia is so proud of these glasses because she got to pick them out herself.

Ok, I'm beat, it's 1:00am so I am heading to bed. I will post todays photos tomorrow. Have a great night!

Busy weekend!

2009-03-30T01:54:00.005-04:00

OMG, it's been a busy weekend. We have decided to tackle our deep, dark and dingy basement. It is extremely dated and disgusting! Why are we doing this? Well we have decided to use this large and unused area for a photography studio for me! I am so excited and so nervous all at the same time.

Before this weekend, this room was such a mess that you could hardly move and it was too embarrassing to even take a photo of, not to mention post it. There was a pool table, treadmill and HUGE weight set (oh and I can't forget the washer and dryer) taking up all the floor space. Not to mention all the toys and boxes. It was bad! It was really bad.

By the time we went to bed on Saturday night it was looking much better. Mariska and Al came and took away the pool table and helped to get some of the big stuff out. Our basement looked like this...

Please, take note of that amazing red and black carpet. Not to mention the stunning black panelling! ICK! Yuck! What were they thinking?

It's now Sunday night, we have made more progress. The weight set is gone. The walls are all washed and prepped for paint and the gorgeous new flooring is acclimatizing as we speak! YEAH!! I'm so excited to update this nasty little secret in our basement.

Stay tuned, as the new studio space continues to take shape. I will be sharing more and more photos! Now on to decided what to get for studio lighting.

I love where I live!

2009-03-28T00:56:00.009-04:00

It's days like this that I love where I live. The weather is fantastic. My neighbours are great albeit a little weird sometimes (see pic below) and there are lots of kids around for mine to play with. I really do love it here.

I live on a really quiet street so it was pretty funny to watch people slow down and stare as they saw this happening. It was the adult in the group that started this silly little fire and all the kids were grabbing debris like crazy to throw in it.

After school, the girls and I never did go inside. They wanted to stay and play outside so I grabbed my camera and the bikes and we stayed outside until Daddy got home. The girls had a fantastic time playing with all the kids. It was so nice to watch some of the boys teaching Natalia and Emma how to play basketball. They were even racing Emma on her bike down the street.

Michelle, my neighbour, got the freezies out of her freezer for the kids to enjoy. These are the first ones of the season and judging by Natalia's outfit you would think it was June not March. The weather was a balmy and sunny 10 degrees!! Not quite freezie and sundress weather but that's what we did anyways.

I just had to get a new pic of my snowdrops today because they are so cool looking! I love the way they look all opened up.

And the one thing on my entire yard that I love more than anything, is my magnolia tree, and it is starting to bud! I LOVE seeing this thing all covered in flowers. It is gorgeous. I just wish it lasted more than about 5 days to a week in flower.

Oh yeah, one last photo I just have to show. This little guy is in Emma's class and was so into me taking photos of him. He asked me to take this photo for him and I am so glad that I did. He actually stood on a bucket and jumped off it to make this shot in the basket. It's not best, but I cloned out the bucket under him, and I'm going to give it to him at school on Monday. He was so excited to see this photo on my camera today and I promised him a copy.

I took over 400 photos today! ACK!

2009-03-26T23:36:00.008-04:00

Ok, I admit it's a little crazy but we had such a fun and busy day. Natalia and I went to our favourite drop in program for the majority of the day. It is the best place. There is so much to do and tons of kids to play with. Today was actually a pretty small group so the kids got to play Roly Poly on the ball. It is always a hit!

On the way to get Emma from school I asked Natalia to sit on our bench so I could get a photo of her to play with on the computer. I love the photo but man the colour is killing me. She looks so pink. I am sure that is because of the reflection of her coat but I don't want her looking like a lobster. Does she look like a lobster to you?

After we picked Emma up and got settled in at home I begged the girls to go outside and let me take some photos. They actually agreed. I didn't get much that I loved but it was fun taking photos of the girls playing with their outside toys that they haven't seen in a while. Emma was so excited to get her bike out. I don't think she got off it for more than 2 minutes.

Of course, Natalia was watching her like a hawk, in the hopes to get in on this cool action! But she didn't.

Not only did we get some playtime outside but we also got the front gardens cleaned up a bit and Emma found our first spring flower. She was so excited!

Heck, I didn't even know we had flowers in this particular planting bed.

What would a day outside be without sidewalk chalk and tree climbing? Our poor magnolia tree seems to constantly have a kid in it. It's the perfect climbing tree.

There is one more thing that I just have to show tonight. You may or may not know this but Natalia is OBSESSED with her hair and in particular, she is obsessed with ponytails. I honestly think that if I cut the child's hair off she will go into withdrawal. Anyways, last time were were in Arthur, my cousin Melanie gave these hair elastics (at least that is what we use them for) to Emma and Natalia. Well, Natalia just LOVES these. She wants to wear them constantly, the cow in this photo is by far her favourite. Thanks Mel!

Program mode is my friend, not my enemy!

2009-03-24T23:27:00.005-04:00

Ok, so in the 2 plus years that I have owned an dSLR I have really only ever shot in either aperture priority or shutter priority and on occasion I have used manual. I am beginning to learn that if I am only chasing the kids around that I need to relax and trust program mode. It actually does a pretty nice job. All these photos, with the exception of Emma were taken using program mode. I am no longer a "program mode snob!"

This first group of pictures is for Aunt Karen. She pointed out that there is some McDougall in Natalia. That's the part that sticks out her tongue every time she concentrates on something! I'm pretty sure my brothers used to do that a lot while playing sports.

Today, I took Natalia to the park at the school just before we had to pick Emma up. I must say that this is one of the most pathetic parks in all of this city. The worst part is that the best slide for the little kids is the most treacherous to get to. Here is Natalia scaling the bars to get to the slide.

Stupid park! No wonder we never go here.

I have one last photo to share today.

Emma went to a Hannah Montana themed birthday party over the weekend. Up until this she had absolutely no use for Hannah Montana. I guess now that she knows her friends like Hannah Montana, she suddenly does too! It's crazy how kids must follow what their peers do. I remember being just like that.

The crazy, ugly sunglasses were part of the goodie bag that she got at the party and I must say, she LOVES them. I personally think they are dorky but this is coming from a woman with NO style.

I learned a new trick today!

2009-03-24T00:10:00.007-04:00

So of course, I just had to try it out. This is a sun flare and so easy to do! All you do is close your aperture as much as possible and you get these cool flares. I love it! Supposedly it's awesome at sunset. I must try that!

Last week when the girls and I were at Chuck E Cheese, Alexander was so sweet and bought Natalia this huge lollipop! She was so excited! So today, I finally gave it to her and took the opportunity to shoot lots of photos of her with it. I think I got some really great shots. I love her eyes in these photos. I didn't even touch them up in photoshop. They just popped today.

And last but not least, is the look I get when Natalia is sick of me and my camera! She informed me that she doesn't like having her picture take.

Off to Arthur for the Day

2009-03-23T01:02:00.008-04:00

Seeing as we have 3 birthdays in our family to celebrate this month, we always get together once and celebrate them all at once. Today was the day. We headed to my parents house for the day.

I didn't take too many photos but I did take a few. Here they are...

Mom's laundry drying on the line.

Down by the River (couldn't decide if I liked the black and white or colour better so you get both!)

My beautiful niece, Ava

I also wanted to post 2 other photos. One of Emma from the other day and one more from my walk with Amy yesterday.

I don't know if anyone has noticed but I have also been slowly getting behind on my weekly 365 layouts. I finished up week 10 tonight and here it is.

The kit is called Me and MaryJane by Angie Kovacs and LilyAnne Taylor at ES.
Template by Chrissy W and is in her A Photo a Day set.
Border, number tags and the "best buddies" tag is from Life 365.

A few fun days

2009-03-21T23:57:00.009-04:00

Yesterday, Emma, Natalia and I went to Cambridge to spend the afternoon with Amy, her friend, Sue and 14 kids at Chuck E Cheese. Surprisingly enough it was actually not as bad as it sounds. The kids were really good and because you hardly saw them you never even noticed that there was so many of them. After we left Chuck E Cheese we went back to Amy's house to get clothes for Madison, as we had invited her for a sleepover. We just happened to beat Amy there so Emma took the opportunity to bounce on the trampoline.

It wasn't long before Natalia saw the great fun that Emma was having and so she decided that she wanted on the trampoline too. Now, I know you all think that Emma is my sweet innocent little angel. But you know, she isn't always that way. Check out this look! What do you thinks on her mind?

Hmmm, maybe a little of this?

Which of course, caused some of these...

And Emma, being the amazing big sister that we all know she is, had to do just one more of these...

And that, my friends, is proof that Emma isn't always the innocent angel that she comes across as! :)

Seeing as I am a day late. I am also going to post some pics from today. I had to bring Madison home this afternoon and I decided to take the opportunity and invite Amy out for a few hours of just wandering and taking photos. We decided to head to downtown Galt near Millrace Park. There are some beautiful ruins down in that area along the river. And it's pretty easy to find lots of things to photograph. We were out for about 2 hours and these are a few of my favourite photos.

I also used this opportunity to try the bracketing function on my camera because I had just heard about HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography and wanted to try it out. Basically you take 3 different photos of the same image but at different exposures and then blend the photos using a program called Photomatix. I learned about it on a podcast called dtowntv. They also have a website. www.dtowntv.com The podcast is all about Nikon and this was one of the things they showed in episode 2.

Here's my first attempt at HDR. Please excuse the watermark. Because I am only using the trial version this is automatically placed on my photo.

It's a pretty cool effect if you ask me. Do I want to shell out the money for this program? Probably not. It's a fun toy but not something I would use frequently.

Fantastic Class today!

2009-03-20T00:31:00.005-04:00

Well I must say that I am totally impressed with my photo class today. It was so nice and inspirational to hang out with a really awesome photographer and pick her brain.

She taught me a million things about metering and how to get it right. Especially with my D300 as it seems to handle it completely different than my D80 did. We worked on how to see in black and white and how to find your inner creative being.

What I really need to work on is learning to ignore my inner critic and just let the process happen. Relax and enjoy what I am shooting and not let the technical get in the way of the fun parts of photography.

The exercises today were all about relaxing and finding my creative space and what speaks to me. It was actually really neat. I am a huge fan of conscience relaxation and that is one of the techniques that she used.

My assignment for the coming weeks is to use crayons creatively. They are bright and colourful which I LOVE but they also make great black and whites and teach you about the tones you can get in black and white photography. These are a few of my shots from tonight and I must say that I am in awe at how well the crayons converted to black and white.

The other two photos that I have to share are of a ravine near Trina's studio. I really like how the shots turned out. Not sure what it is that I like about them, all I know is that I do and that is an encouraging feeling.

Just 2 for today

2009-03-18T22:31:00.002-04:00

Just two quick photos for today as I am trying desperately to be prepared for tomorrow's photo lesson with Trina. If I would just get my butt off facebook that would help.

I'm getting very frustrated with what I am shooting lately so I took the girls outside for the sole reason to get some great shots. Well...here is 2. I am thrilled with the one of Emma by herself and I must say that the one of the pair of them is the best photo of them together that we have. It's not fabulous in my world but it's still good.

Here your go...

A Fabulous Day for the Girls and I

2009-03-18T00:26:00.008-04:00

Today, Natalia Emma and I headed to Arthur for a visit with Aunt Karen and Uncle Jack. The kids were very excited to go. They know that there is always fun stuff to do at Uncle Jack and Aunt Karen's house and of course they get their undivided attention.

Seeing as yesterday was my birthday, Karen invited my grandparents and was sweet enough to bake me a fabulous banana cake to accompany our delicious lunch. It was AMAZING!! And she was even kind enough to cheap out and only put 20 candles on it, instead of 32! he he he! She's the best! Awe, how I wish I was 20 again!

The kids had a great time playing with the pool table and instruments at Aunt Karen's house.

But I think their favourite toy of all was the marble racing kit. The girls loved watching and helping us adults build it as high as possible and then spent forever climbing up on the couch to reach the top to drop the marbles down. I am sure that this will be the first toy they ask for the next time they go to Jack and Karen's house.

And last but not least, I can't forget the ever adorable Stewie! The treat and box loving kitty! He's got such personality.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

2009-03-16T23:29:00.004-04:00

So today is my birthday! I'm a whopping 32 years old! Now that's hard to believe seeing as it feels like only yesturday I graduated from High School! For my birthday, my fantastic husband decided to buy me the Nikon D300! I got it on Saturday and have had some time to play with it but not as much as I would like. I am actually finding it a bit frustrating at times. I am sure this is because I know my D80 inside out and backwards. The D300 is a different camera with a different sensor and layout and of course different quirks. For tonight, I am just going to throw at you a few on my photos using the D300. Nothing spectacular but they are a start.

If anyone out there in blogland has some tips on the 300, I would LOVE to hear them.

I think this first photo of the tree is my favourite of all. It's a little strange and contrasty and that's what I love about it.

One of the things Gerben and the girls love to do is head to Toronto and spend the afternoon watching the airplanes come in. I tend to avoid this and let it be their activity, as it does nothing for me, but on Sunday I tagged along because I thought it might be a great opportunity to practise with my camera.

Airplane watching is very serious business in my family. I am sure you can tell that by the look on Natalia's face. She goes balistic every time she sees a new airplane turning in for final approach.

My favourite aircraft shot of the day was this one

Today I took the girls to the park so that I could get in more practise. All in all, things went ok. I am really thrilled with the speed of the camera but I was really struggling with blowouts at times. On my D80, I almost always used spot metering and underexposed by .7 to prevent or help alleviate that. I haven't gotten a handle on the D300 yet so it was beginning to get pretty frustrating. Gerben figures it's because I am putting too much pressure on myself to learn this camera quickly, as I am starting my private lessons on Thursday and I don't want to look like an idiot. He's probably right!!

Here's a few shots from today. Like I said, I like them but I don't love them. I am definetly still learning this camera.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

2009-03-13T23:06:00.009-04:00

My goodness, I have been a terrible blogger this week. Sorry about that. Sometimes, life just gets in the way.

On Wednesday, Gerben decided that he didn't have enough of being sick the week before and started throwing up again. I'm telling you, I am so sick of all these stomach bugs. We have never been hit so hard in such a short amount of time.

My photo for Wednesday is the entire sum of what Gerben ate for the day, or at least attempted to eat. I don't think he finished a quarter of the toast or the tea.

Thursday was a better day for Gerben but then Natalia started to complain of pains in her legs. I am sure it's growing pains because she has been eating huge amounts lately. She wouldn't even walk to school to get Emma and told me that she needed the stroller. Poor little critter. Emma went through these for a while too.

On the walk home from school I decided to given Emma the camera and told her to be careful but have fun. Here's a few of he photos.

I personally love the one of Natalia, she looks like she is about the bite the head off the next thing that looks at her.

After school, Natalia had a nap. She's been doing this a lot lately and I am LOVING it. After her nap she was back to her happy little self and the girls got silly. At bedtime, Natalia decided to wear Emma's jammies and Emma wore Natalia's jammies. It was totally cute and definetly photo worthy. The photos are crap but oh well. Emma and Natalia both got a chance to take pictures too. They loved it.

As for today, well it's the first day of the March Break and the weather was beautiful. The girls went outside for a while and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air. Emma has gotten back into skipping and Natalia figured out how to pedal her bike by herself. I think we might take them for a walk tomorrow and see how she does on the sidewalk.

Life on Monday and Tuesday

2009-03-11T00:34:00.004-04:00

Nothing too exciting has gone on the last two days but I did take a ton of pictures. Here they are

Seeing as the weather was so beautiful I decided to use the opportunity to take Natalia for a walk and snap some outdoor photos.

A very cool piece of birch bark

My little pouting girl! I'm sure she was thinking, "Please don't take any more photos."

Off to school to pick Emma up.

My crazy Emma.

That's all for tonight!

Too many days since my last post

2009-03-10T22:47:00.008-04:00

Since it has been so many days since my last post, I am just going to hammer you all with lots and lots of photos.

As you know we went to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls over the weekend. The girls had an absolute blast playing in the water park and arcade. Gerben and I also loved it but after a while you begin to feel like a drowned rat. I took a few pictures but not many. I was scared to death to bring my camera into the waterpark so I only did it once for about 5 minutes and then took it right back to my room. I was so scared of it getting wet.

Each night they have story time at 8:00 for the kids, so my photo for Friday is of the animals telling their story. It was so much fun to watch and then was followed by one of the people from the hotel reading 2 stories. On this night it was More Pies and Mortimer by Robert Munsch.

On Saturday, during breakfast I just had to capture this photo. Playing on the TV in the bar was Sesame Street. It was pretty funny considering all the liquor in the background.

Now here are my quick and blurry photos for the waterpark. I couldn't get my camera out of there fast enough and it shows in these photos.

By the time we left on Sunday we were all exhausted! The kids were crabby and we all needed some serious rest. I guess that's a sign of a great time.

For Sundays photo I am going to choose one of these photo. The kids needed some serious chemical stripper for the hair after all the chlorine and so this was them enjoying their bath while the chemical stripper did it's work.

All in all, this was our weekend. We had lots of fun and were totally exhausted by the time we got home.

Finally some outdoor weather

2009-03-06T00:01:00.008-05:00

After school today the temperature outside was actually fairly warm. The girls really wanted to stay outside and play for a bit and I decided that it would be ok. After spending a few minutes attempting to climb my magnolia tree I did finally convince them that we should play out back and not in the tree.

Emma took to the swing and slides pretty quick, while Natalia just kinda followed her around and whined.

After Natalia watched Emma climb up the slide, she decided to try it on the smaller time. Next thing I know, I look over and she has her boots off! Now, maybe it's just me, but I think it's a little too cold for that. She was mad when I made her put them back on because I guess it's easier to climb up the slide without them.

I also decided to play around a little with the macro feature on my new lens. I found this plant in my yard and decided to capture it. It turned out to be a pretty cool photo I think.

And last but not least, a goofy photo of Natalia. Kelly has asked me to take a few photos of Jillian while she was here this afternoon and so naturally, Natalia wanted in on the action. She allowed me a full 2 shots before she disappeared. And this was the goofy expression she gave me.

Gerben and I are heading to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls with the kids for the weekend so unfortunately this will be my last post until Sunday. Hopefully, I will have a ton of photos to share then.

Just a cute puppy

2009-03-04T22:47:00.003-05:00

I had to go to the dentist today for a filling. I left Natalia with Kelly. Kelly got a new puppy about a month ago and I have been dying to get some photos of her. Well I finally did that today. She is about 3 months old and weighs 2lbs. She is about the size of a guinea pig and so adorable.

Natalia hated it! She was too wild and jumpy for Natalia.

Having kids isn't all bad...

2009-03-03T22:32:00.009-05:00

Somedays it feels like all I do is whine and complain about what little buggers my kids can be. I am certain that all kids are that way some days. Today was one of the better days because I realized just how useful they can be...

When it's your own kids, you can put them to work throughout your house and not feel quilty. Hey, it's them who made the mess to begin with, why not make them clean it up. Case in point...my chronic crumb dropper

Ah, such bliss watching her vaccuum for once. I quite contently followed her while snapping photos and pointing out misses spots.

I think the cute little plummer butt is adorable.

Then when she wasn't partaking in our household chores, she was providing me with endless, goofy photo opportunities. For whatever reason she has this thing with watching tv like this and was more than happy to pose like this for the camera.

What a ham she is! She even went back and removed the yellow toy from in front of her because she didn't like it in the photo and make me take it again. he he he

Life completely changes when Emma gets home from school. She feels that Natalia should always do exactly what she wants her to do. Sometimes it goes ok and other times it fails miserably. Usually if things don't go as Emma wishes, you will see things like this show up throughout the house. I'm not sure if she realizes that Natalia can't read but I love the notes.

There is one huge advantage of having older children, that you can reason with, is that if you really want something (such as cooperation so you can take just one more set of photos) you can always bribe. Emma really wanted to play the wii. I really wanted to try a few shots using my patio door as lighting. Guess who won? We both did! Here's the proof.

Have a great night. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Lots and lots of photos

2009-03-02T21:22:00.008-05:00

So, after yesterdays success at the workshop, I decided to play a little today. I took lots of photos of Natalia and just relazed and had fun with it. I even let her jump on my bed! That is something we really try to avoid because our bed is so high now she could easily hit the fan but she did fine. So without delay here are my shots of Natalia.

I think that if I had to choose, one of these next two would be my favourite but I really do like them all.

I have often seen people take amazing photographs of their childs beautiful long eyelashes. I have tried a few times over the years but never with much success. Today, I tried again and I think the results are quite pleasing. Completely out of the box for me but I do like them. I must say that what I love most is Emma's freckles. They are the cutest.

You may or may not know but when Emma was about 3.5 or so, she cut her hair. I was pretty upset at the time but I also know that kids do this and that my famous saying when it comes to hair is that, hair grows!

Well, she did it again! I was soooo not happy. Although, part of me was thrilled that I get to chop off her stringy ends that she has been hanging on to forever. Emma knew I was really upset when I figured out she had cut it and then was mad when I told her we had to go to get it cut properly now. She loves her long hair. Once we got to the hairdressers and the cut started, she was all smiles. She loves her new hair and so do I. I just wish she didn't cut it herself first.

So, here's the before shot...

During...

After...

Did I say that I love the new cut? Because I really, really do. Silly kid! But I guess this time I can forgive her.

Conversion

2009-03-02T00:32:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I just converted the first pic of Jen to a black and white and I think I prefer it. What do you think?

Trina Koster Workshop

2009-03-02T00:14:00.005-05:00

Today Jen and I disappeared to Guelph for a workshop at Trina Koster's studio in Guelph. This lady actually was the photographer for Jen's wedding and did a fantastic job. This seminar was all about creativity and finding it in ourselves. It wasn't too earth shattering but we did get an opportunity to have our photos critiqued by a professional and that was wonderful.

One of our challenges was to see an object differently and try to photograph it. I immediately fell in love with her lights in the studio and they were my choice for photographing. I was thrilled with the results. I am starting to realize that I have a tendancy to prefer the play of light and dark. Especially the yellow tones of incandescent lights.

I also got the opportunity to shoot a few photos of Jen. I am pleased with the results but not thrilled. It's hard to really get into the process when you are on a time crunch. If you want to see a few of me you can check out Jen's Blog.

One of the observations that Trina had for me is that I tend to stay pretty safe in my images. She suggested trying different angles and crops as well as starting an inspiration folder. I think I am going to follow this idea over the coming weeks and see what happens.

All in all, it was a great day.

I'm the only one left!

2009-02-28T23:24:00.003-05:00

So after shampooing Natalia's carpet at midnight and dealing with her throwing up until 3:00am, it's now Gerben's turn. Poor guy. He hates to vomit and really, who can blame him?

Jen and I are off on another of our photo adventures tomorrow so I better not get it. I will be so upset if I do.

So, with another rough day in our house there is only two photos to share. I will spare you yesturdays, as it ended up being the steam cleaner cleaning up Natalia's mess. Hey, it's life! Might as well capture it all.

Just before swimming lesson's today, Emma got the great idea to create graduation hats for all her critters in her room. Including one for herself. Here is the photo of the animals that she took.

And here is my poor little critter. After her rough night she was exhausted today. When I got home from swimming with Emma, this was where Natalia was resting and Gerben was on the couch.

Here we go again...

2009-02-28T00:43:00.005-05:00

As I am writing this post. Round 2 of vomiting has begun. Poor Natalia. She just doesn't know what to think. Lucky for us, after christening our carpet with the first batch of puke, she has been pretty good at hitting the bucket since. Seeing as todays photos are still on the camera and it's in the same room that Natalia is, I am going to post several of my all-time favourite photos. Feel free to provide any and all constructive critism. I am doing this to improve.

Now onto the many photos.

And to end this post, 2 adorable photos of Ava and Natalia back in their baby days. They were soooo cute!

This will be a Whinny Post, Sorry!

2009-02-27T09:29:00.009-05:00

OMG, I can't honestly say that I was thrilled to see the end of yesterday. Emma woke up around 3:00am and had vomited all over her bed. Honestly, Gerben dealt with her this time. He stripped her bed, threw out her pillow and gave her a bath. I only knew something was going on when I heard her puking in the toilet. She ended up being put in our bed and around 4:00 she sat up and puked all across Gerben and his side of out bed! Ick. Well, this is basically how Emma spent the hours from 3:00 until 10:00.

Poor kid! At least once 10:00 hit she quit puking all together and felt much better. But she was really upset that she still couldn't go to school and that I had to cancel her dentist appointment.

Emma wasn't the only one to give me a run for my money today. Natalia did this to my couch...

If you are wondering what it is, it's pee! URG! She pushed the cushions off the couch and then peed on it. I cannot wait until they are bigger so that I can get a new couch. This one is disgusting. If anyone out there has a couch they want to get rid of, please let me know. I just might be interested. Needless to say, on top of the crazy pile of bedding laundry I had to do, now I had to scrub the couch.

This wasn't the only accident of the day either. She also peed her bed in the night and didn't tell us. She must have done it late enough because I think she just got up and changed into clothes for the day because she never said anything. I found it by stepping on the wet underwear on the floor in her room. EWE! So this meant I had 3 out of 3 beds to strip and wash.

Finally when Emma was ready to eat something and I decided to make me some lunch, this is what happened when I opened the fridge door.

Have you ever seen what a Correlle dish does when it breaks? It's not pretty. The pieces flew a good 5 feet or more.

What a mess!

Overall, the entire day wasn't a right off. Emma was feeling better by the afternoon so we decided to go the the family fun night at her school. It was Science themed this year so it was right up her alley. She loved it. The milk trick was her favourite.

You put a small amount of milk on a plate, enough to cover the bottom, then add a few drops of food colouring. When you touch the milk with a q-tip covering in soap the food colouring scatters to the edge. She loved this!

Natalia seemed to love playing in the slime. Do you remember mixing cornstarch and water and getting the funny half liquid and half solid substance. You can pick it up in chunks but it will then melt in your hand? She LOVED this stuff.

We also got to watch a quick demonstration using dry ice. It was really cool and the guy was hysterical. Natalia got to be a volunteer. She had a dry ice bubble put on her head. She thought that was pretty cool. Of course this was after she told the guy off because he kept teasing the kids and putting up 4 fingers instead of three. She finally yelled out, "Put down your thumb and baby finger! That's three!" It was hysterical.

So in the end, the day turned out OK. But it started out pretty rough.

Sorry no post tonight

2009-02-26T23:17:00.001-05:00

Sorry everyone, it's been an extremely long day. It began with Emma puking at 3:00am and pretty much continued. I will post my photos tommorrow.

Good night!

Look mom...

2009-02-25T20:52:00.002-05:00

Look mom, I got the kitty!!

Natalia was more than happy to let me snap these photos. She was thrilled with her "capture!" Mind you, it's the stupid cat who sat down beside Natalia. What did the idiot expect?

I think I took a million photos today!

2009-02-24T20:59:00.011-05:00

Wow, did I ever get carried away with the photos today. It was fun. But it was also super easy to pic my photo of the day. For whatever reason I am in love with this one photo.

First off is my photo that I took just for my favourite SIL, Jen! I just had to copy you because I know how much you love it when people do. :P

Ok so, now that I am done tormenting Jen, on to the rest of my day.

I had a bit of a nap this afternoon in my recliner chair because I was struggling with a headache. You honestly never know what Natalia will do when this happens but she is usually really good and just watches the movie that I put on for her. Well, when I finally came alive, this is how I found her cute little face.

She told me that it was marker around her eye but she refused to tell me where it came from. My first guess, is her sisters room. The ultimate forbidden playground!

A little while later I made her lunch and told her it was on the table, then I disappeared upstairs. Next thing I know, she is in the kitchen finishing up making her own lunch instead of eating the sandwich I made her. She was really proud of herself.

Sorry about the crappy photos but it was one of those opportunities where you just need to get the photo.

A little while later Natalia was partaking in a wrestling match with her shirt. She decided to put her body through the neck hole and I decided to capture her struggle to get loose. I guess I could have helped her but this was much more fun.

"Ha! Look Mommy, Success! Even without your help."

Pretty soon, it was time to get Emma from school. As Natalia walked out the garage door she tripped on the steps which of course lead to a few of these.

And instead of me being the rather unsympathetic (suck-it-up) style parent that I usually am, I decided to make her forget about her fall and allowed her to play in the puddles during the walk to school. Secretly, it was just because I had my camera and wanted some photo ops.

And just so that you don't forget that I actually do have 2 little girls. Here is a few of Emma after school.

Phew what a day! I hope you enjoy all the photos.

Just another day

2009-02-23T22:02:00.005-05:00

Nothing too exciting going around our house today. Natalia beat us all downstairs this morning and this is how I found her on the couch. Please note, she is wearing Emma's shoes, Emma's backpack and is contently playing the DS. Such a goof. She was so proud to have snatched Emma's stuff.

Emma comes down the stairs shortly after and Casper(the cat) is hot on the trail. She is just itching to be pet. For whatever reason the cat has taken a recent liking to Emma even though Emma is the one in the house that probably likes the cats the least.

After dropping Emma off at school, Natalia and I got a surprise visit from Kelly. We decided to all go out for breakfast. My favourite place to go for breakfast is Cora's. They give you giant portions but what I like best is all the fruit. It is so good! I always order the eggs benedict. It's my favourite.

So really, for the most part a pretty boring day. With the exception of me telling off the Roger's rep that I got stuck on the phone with. I was looking into getting the iphone because I returned the blackberry. Well, just because I am an existing customer they want to charge me $50 more for the phone than if I was a new customer. Hmmm, I don't think so. I have had cellphones with them for the last 6 years or more. I think I deserve the discount. Needless to say, I was less than happy and the chick on the phone knew it! Only time will tell whether I actually get the iphone or just stick with my basic cheap cell. I really HATE Rogers.

Not the most exciting day!

2009-02-22T22:15:00.006-05:00

Well, I can't say that today was the most exciting day, but it was productive. This is what my office/scraproom looked like before I went on a cleaning binge.

And this is what it looked like after

I have been hoping for weeks to get the bed out of my office so that I can use it again. We had put the bed in here for some guests and now that they are gone, so is the bed! The reason I wanted back into the office was so that I could use my precious desktop computer. It has a 24 inch monitor and my Wacom Tablet that I have been itching to play with again. I am so glad to be back in here.

All this cleaning had a great effect on the kids as well. Not only did Emma help me clean up my office but her and Natalia also cleaned up their rooms with absolutely NO arguments. It was fabulous!

Awe, it's so relaxing to look at a relatively clean house. I know it will never last but it great for now.

Thanks for looking.

Off to the Library

2009-02-21T21:13:00.007-05:00

Gerben had some books to return to the library today, so we decided to make a family trip of it. The girls are always game to head to the library. They have the best toys there.

Not sure what the obsession is with these toys, because if you ask me they arn't very exciting but the kids absolutely swarm them.

It doesn't usually take Emma long to find her 2 favourite sections in the library.

I was also really feeling left out having never seen a "Froggy" book. So I took the opportunity to find a few for Natalia so that I could become one of the crowd!! Doesn't this photo look familiar?

These last two photos are of the two bookworms, in my life, on the hunt for the perfect read.

2009-02-21T01:06:00.001-05:00

As some of you may or may not know, my in-laws are currently living in Australia. They happen to live only about 20km from the wild-fires that raged through that country. A little too close to home in my eyes. I received an email today from Studio Flergs. She had some information about a HUGE collab kit that you can get, if you donate to the relief funds in Australia. Here is a little preview of the kit.

I believe it includes over 160 papers and 300 elements created by over 30 designers. The preview is linked. You can have it for only a $5.00 donation made to either the Australian Red Cross or Salvation Army. You make they donation directly to them and send proof of donation to Carolyn Kite. Easy as pie and for a great cause. If you would like more information you can go to Studio Flergs Blog. The photo of the koala, on her blog, nearly broke my heart.

Thanks for listening. This is something near and dear to my heart and I am in no way involved with any of this. I just feel that it is something worth donating to.

Naked Bakin'

2009-02-20T15:52:00.008-05:00

First, I want to say, thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments that you all leave on my blog. They are awesome to read. Anyone who uses blogger may noticed that I haven't left any comments on their blogs lately and that is because for some reason I can't. I get to the part where I need to add the code and it won't actually give me the letters to type in. It just says "loading" I have no idea why but as soon as I get it figured out I will add comments. I promise I'm not neglecting anyone.

Now, onto my day. It's only 4:00 here and I have taken a ton of photos. I started out the day with a photo of my most favourite treats in the entire world. Mini Reese Peanut Butter Cups. Yummy. These were the last two in the pack and quickly eaten by me before the kids saw them.

Then I decided to snap a photo of Emma's lunch pail. Today is Friday, my favourite lunch making day of the week because it's hot lunch at school so I only have half as much to pack.

You have all heard me talk about the kids obsession with Mamma Mia. Well that has changed recently and this is out new obsession.

And here is Natalia watching it for the thousandth time this week.

There is only so much of this I can take before I need a break so I broke out the ingredients and we did some baking. Naked bakin' for Natalia!! I was fully clothed.

Of course, I had to let your enjoy the best part of baking. The pre-bake, taste test!

I also have 2 more photos to share. Just because they are cute and I love 'em.

Today is also the end of week 7 for me. So, here's my layout.

Dreaming of Spring

2009-02-19T16:39:00.002-05:00

I can handle winter. Come on, I'm Canadian, I have to handle winter. What bugs me is the teasing. One day it's really warm and for a week straight we watch the mountains of snow slowly melt away. It's such a refreshing feeling when that happens and then BANG, you get a blustery, windy day like today. It's -8 outside with a windchill of -18 and I am walking Emma to school. Brrr!

Needless to say, I am dreaming of Spring. Gerben brought home some beautiful tulips the other day. They are hands-down my favourite flower. I'm not really a flower person but the sight of tulips makes me think spring and for that reason they are my favourite. In an attempt to encourage warm weather and spring I decided to photograph my flowers for today. Here is the results.

She kicked his butt!!

2009-02-18T20:41:00.003-05:00

There is something about kicking your Dad's butt at playing the wii that brings out the sillies!

Emma just finished slaughtering her dad at Mario Kart and here was her response. I believe Emma came in 1st and her Daddy came in 12th, otherwise known as LAST!!

I've been tagged

2009-02-18T10:26:00.003-05:00

Ok, ok, I guess I will do this. I have been tagged 3 times now so I guess I will do as I am told and complete this silly thing. Thanks to

Erika
Jen
and
Annie

Random facts about me

1. I took nursing in college, completed the the program and worked as an RN for a few years. Absolutely hated it! Unfortunetly, I now have no idea what I want to do with my life.

2. I love musical movies. This includes anything from Grease to Mary Poppins to High School Musical. I was more than happy to run out and buy HSM 3 for the girls yesterday, the day of it's release.

3. My husband was so sweet and bought me the blackberry. Unfortunetly, I hated it. Too frustrating and complicated for my taste. We sent it back and I am going to save up for the iphone. I love my ipod touch and my friends iphone is amazing. I would rather that then the blackberry. Much more user friendly.

4. I am allergic to dogs and cats. Everytime I go to a house with these animals I have to take allergy meds or I turn into an allergic mess. I have two cats but once they are gone we won't likely be getting anymore animals.

5. I would quite happily remove all the flowerbeds around my yard. I don't mind cutting the grass but when it comes to the flowerbeds, I'm not touching them. They are a pain in the butt and I have no idea the difference between a weed and a plant.

Alright, now who am I going to tag?

Amy
Biancka
Sarah

If I tagged you, just link back to my blog and then list 5 random things about yourself and feel free to tag some others.

Slimy, Yucky and Gross!

2009-02-17T22:11:00.006-05:00

That about sums up my day. We woke up this morning and all seemed normal until Emma got downstairs and told me that something must be in her hair because it's stuck to her ear. Turns out, she ruptured her eardrum. Ick! It was gooey and slimy and running down the side of her head. After a quick phone call to my ear expert, Amy! :) I decided to keep Emma home and give the doctor a call. Surprisingly he took her in right away and in no time she was prescribed some of these goodies and given a referral to an ear, nose and throat specialist.

It's really not a big deal. These things happen all the time it's just rather gross. I spent the rest of the day swabbing all the gooey crap from around her ear just as it started to run down her head. I can tell you, I think I went through a million q-tips just so that she didn't have to deal with this gunk all over her head and in her hair. No worries, I never actually stuck it in the ear canal but at times I was wishing I could stick a plug in it to stop the guck.

Hopefully the drainage will stop by tomorrow so that she can go to school but if it's still draining it will be another day at home with me. And I really hope we can get to see the specialist soon because she isn't allowed to swim until she does. That is not going to fly with my little fish.

Try as I might, I couldn't get yesterdays photo to work out as I would have liked so I tried it again today. I still hate it but at least I tried. I just couldn't figure out a good exposure when trying to take a photo of the computer screen. Anyways, here is yesterdays photo. My favourite evening reading material.

It's Jen's blog. If you are curious just follow this link. She is my sister-in-law and this is a great way to keep up on each others lives. Plus, she is the one who got me going on this Project 365.

Happy Birthday Ethan and Owen!

2009-02-15T20:52:00.007-05:00

It's been one year and one day since Ethan and Owen entered this world. Time has flown and yet it feels like they have always been here. Today we heading to their house to celebrate. We all had a fantastic time.

First up, a few photos of Ethan. The older of the little love bugs.

Then we have Owen, the younger, smaller and more social of the little cuties!

And one great capture of Emma for the day.

Thanks for looking and just to let you know, I have also added my photos for the last two days. Just keep scrolling down.

Playing catch up

2009-02-15T20:39:00.007-05:00

Ok, so I have been neglecting my blog for a few days but no worries. I have still taken my photos.

Friday was a warm and muddy day. I decided to take a few photos of Natalia playing at the school before we picked Emma up. The school yard is a mess and the kids are stuck playing on the hard-top of recess. If you ask Emma she says it is a boring recess when that happens.

Natalia absolutely loves running around this wierd painted circle at the school. I have no idea what type of game it's for but it keeps her very entertained. She tells me she is going to run the circle.

After the circle, Natalia decided to try hopscotch. It took some demonstrations but Natalia finally got the idea. It's so funny to see just how uncoordinated they can be at 3, when faced with a new challenge. She did finally figure it out and had a blast.

Yesterday, as I am sure you are all aware was Valentine's Day. Nothing exciting happened at home but Emma did have a Birthday party to go to. She had a blast celebrating her friend Quinn's 7th birthday at Putthut. It is minigolfing under black light. Quinn's mom, Amy, gave me control over the camera for a while and this is one of the photos that I captured. I am sooooo in love with this photo. Thanks Amy for sending it to me. I hope Quinn had a great time.

Interesting day with a BIG Shock!

2009-02-12T23:17:00.007-05:00

Our days started out pretty normal. Natalia and I took Emma to school and when we got home she wanted to watch Mamma Mia. First thing she did was march up stairs and of course steal one of Emma's dresses for the occasion. Part way through the movie, I noticed that she is starting to practise her yoga moves. I must say her tree pose is pretty good but her downward facing dog needs some help.

After the movie and some more crazy yoga moves I decided to pull out the paints. It's a windy, wet day here and I wasn't interested in going anywhere. Natalia is getting better and better with her painting. She was so excited when she created a happy face that she ASK me to take a photo of it.

Painting is one thing that I love to do with the kids. I love the bright colours and seeing what I can make. This is one of the things that I did for Emma. She LOVES it and wants it on her door!

And now, for the surprise of the day. Early this afternoon the doorbell rang. It was the UPS guy dropping off a package. I asked him if he was sure because we were not expecting anything. He says, "Yep, it looks like something from Rogers. Probably a blackberry or an iphone!" Meanwhile, I'm thinking, "Yeah, right. I have been begging for a Blackberry forever. I know that won't be one." I WAS WRONG!

My dear sweet husband bought me a blackberry for our Anniversay. It's on February 15th. We have been married for 7 years now. What a great guy! Thanks babe!

I have clean floors!!

2009-02-11T23:16:00.003-05:00

Yep, that's about the most excitement I had today. I washed my floors. Here's the proof.

Seeing as I didn't think that was interesting enough for my photo of the day I attempted to take photos of dinner in progress. The pancakes were fabulous. The photos suck!!

Oh well, at least I can still say that I haven't missed a day!

What a difference a few days can make

2009-02-10T20:16:00.006-05:00

For the last few days we have been experiencing a bit of a winter heatwave here in Ontario. Only 6 short days ago, this is what our walk to school looked like.

Today, we were greeted with this walk.

It was such a nice feeling to be able to walk to school this afternoon and not have to worry about hats and snow pants. It was about 10 degrees Celsius and so beautiful. I know it won't last but it sure is refreshing for the spirit when it comes. My all time favourite days are the bright, sunny and warm winter days. They are a really boost for the soul.

I also managed to drag Natalia outside for a very, very brief goofy photo shoot. Here's a few of the crazy, fun photos that I captured.

Boring day at home

2009-02-09T22:13:00.006-05:00

Not much happening here today. Emma stayed home from school because she has been complaining that her ear hurt. She has been doing this on and off for days. I wasn't sure if I believed her or not because she always seems fine when she has some tylenol in her but I gave her the benefit of the doubt and let her stay home. After the tylenol she stayed in bed for another hour or so and then once she did get up, this is what she did for the morning.

It's always amazing to me how well the girls get along when one or the other isn't feeling well. There were almost no arguments all day and I even caught them in situations like these.

By about 4:00 I was pretty convinced that Emma wasn't sick at all. Until Natalia blurts out, "Emma, your hot!" So I decided to take her temperature and sure enough, she has a low grade fever.

Ok, next time I will try and believe her but it's tough when she is acting normal.

I obviously don't get out much!!

2009-02-08T21:19:00.011-05:00

Yippee! I got out of the house WITHOUT the kids! This is something that doesn't happen often and it is soooo great when it does.

Jen and I decided to sign up for a Black and White photography seminar and have some much needed girl time. The seminar was really good. I honestly learned a lot and I think I just might try converting more photos to black and white because you never know what you might get. I have one great example from today that I just have to share.

First is the colour shot. For whatever reason I totally love it. This was taken inside a super dark restaurant. I love the effect of all the different coloured lights and I am so pleased with the results as is but I had to try a conversion.

And here is the results. I totally love it as well. I honestly don't think I could choose. I highly recommend clicking the images to see the larger versions to get the full effect.

All in all, I would have to say that this was a totally worthwhile seminar for me.

Ok, so enough of the bragging. On to what happens when you set me lose with Jen, our cameras and some new toys for an afternoon.

You end up with photos such as this...

or this

Or I decide to deface her vehicle just so that I can get this photo.

Hmm, I wonder if my brother will ever let me near his vehicles again?

Of course what would an afternoon away be without a little shopping?

We decide to hit up Old Navy, just so I can get Jen's advice about the boys' birthday gifts. (I can't believe the little men are going to be 1 on Valentine's Day!)

Here is us capturing our little shopping trip.

I personally thought it would great fun to have grabbed supper here

But, alas, we ate here instead. It's nice to be adults once and a while.

and what can I say, this is where I captured that great black and white at the start of the post and also this shot...

Ok, I'm ready for another day out. It's tough to come home after having such fun. I can't wait to do this again. How about you, Jen?

Photos for Feb 07

2009-02-08T21:05:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I did take my photos yesterday but I didn't get a chance to upload. We had some olds friends come for a visit and had a great time talking and playing Rockband late into the night. Thanks so much, Rob and Melissa. We had a blast.

So, without furthur ado, here's my photos.

The girls and their instruments.

Week 5 Layout

2009-02-06T22:51:00.002-05:00

Here we go, another week down and never a day missed! I am pretty proud of myself. I guess, I did cheat one day and had Emma take my photos but the camera has still been used, every day!

This is the first week that everything I used on my layout is from the Life 365 Kit available at Weeks and Wildflowers.

Seasonal Identity Crisis

2009-02-06T14:09:00.007-05:00

I am sure Natalia is suffering from SIC also know as Seasonal Identity Crisis. The weather is cold, there is 3 feet of snow on the ground. And her wardrobe has been nothing short of creative today.

First up, Is it Christmas Time or Summer Time?

Next thing I know she disappears up stairs and emerges like this and is begging to go swimming right now! I guess it worked because we are going swimming tonight thanks to this little episode.

And finally, she followed up with this, back to the summer/winter confusion

If you want to know the truth behind these crazy outfits, they all revolve around the movie Mamma Mia. If Sophie or Donna are wearing dresses, so is Natalia. When Sophie has a bathing suit on, so does Natalia. And finally at the end when Sophie was getting married, she opted to blend the outfits and choose a bathing suit and the scarf, because Donna was wearing a scarf at the end. She totally cracks me up.

Here are a few other photos from my little variety pack child today.

What do you do when your not in the mood to take photos?

2009-02-05T20:41:00.003-05:00

What do you do when you are not in the mood to take photos? You hand your camera over to your 5 year old. Pray to God she doesn't drop it. And marvel are the results of what she sees through the camera lens.

All photos today were taken by Emma. I only cropped the globe and brightened up the rest.

I love the shot of the junk on my fridge because in it is a photo of Emma at about 19 months.

OMG! Is this winter ever going to end?

2009-02-04T20:21:00.006-05:00

At least the kids are continuing to enjoy it. The temperature is supposed to drop to -22 degrees Celsius tonight. I am so tied of the snow and cold. The snowbanks along the sidewalks are up to my waist and the school has actually called someone in to remove the snow hills on the property so the kids don't hurt themselves. If you ask me, that sucks! Who hasn't played "King of the Hill" as a kid. I think it's time we take a holiday!

Anyways, enough whining and complaining. Here's some photos of the kids having fun in the snow. Starting with, Natalia, my little Sumo Wrestler.

Check out the way the scarf dangles between her legs. It totally looks like the get-up that Sumo Wrestlers wear.

Next up is just a few pictures of the insanely gorgeous blue sky today and the moon which was visable at 3:15.

Now a few shots of the snow removal going on at the school.

And this last set is back to the kids and them having tons of fun in the snowbanks surrounding our driveway.

Yesterdays Photos, Today

2009-02-04T08:25:00.003-05:00

So the photos that I took, for Project 365, yesterday are not very exciting but they are pictures none-the-less.

As you all know by now, Emma is my little nerd. She loves all things science and really loves to learn about the earth and volcanoes. For Christmas, Daddy found Emma this globe. I have always thought it was a goofy, seeing as it is a chia pet globe made by Planet Earth, but Emma loves it. Over the weekend, Emma and Daddy finally got it planted. It was really quite funny because as Emma was spreading the seeds she was saying things like, "Does Russia have enough seeds? How about India or China?" It always seems weird when my 5 year old says things like that. This is how the globe looks right now.

It should be interesting to see what this thing turns out looking like when it grows.

Next up are just 2 random photos of Natalia. Nothing special but I think her eyes look pretty cool. She has such expressive little eyes.

Princess in Training

2009-02-02T20:33:00.007-05:00

It was so easy for me to pick my photo for today. I only spent a total of 2 or 3 minutes shooting photos of the girls playing, but this photo won my heart. I'm not sure why I love it but I think it has something to do with the book about princesses and the crown on Natalia's head. It's almost like I planned it.

I must say that I also loved these photos. Natalia is so attached to her thumb. I think it is cute and one way to constantly remind me that even though she is 3 she still is so young.

Today was one of the few days that Natalia actually wanted me to take photos of her. But, she wanted only really wanted photos of her fingers. Not of her. She was trying desperately to hold up 3 fingers. I didn't realize it would be so difficult for her but as you can tell in the photos she was quite excited when she did it.

And my last photo for today is a nice one of Emma. She was also agreeable to having her photo taken and didn't flash me a goofy grin. It was so nice to capture some great photos of the girls today.

If you want to check out my layout of these photos you can find it over on my digiscrap blog. www.scrappinitdigitally.blogspot.com

A First for Natalia

2009-02-01T22:12:00.006-05:00

For Natalia`s 3rd Birthday, she received some money from Uncle Jarret and Aunt Sara. The deal was that we were to buy Natalia some skates and yesterday, that is what I did. I went to Canadian Tire and bought both myself and Natalia a new pair of skates. Natalia didn`t know I was going so when I got home and showed her what was in the box, she went CRAZY! She was jumping around the house yelling, "New Skates! For Me?" She was beyond excited. Unfortunately, the weather yesterday was very cold, blustery and windy. Needless to say, we had to wait until today. Today, the weather was AMAZING! Bright, sunny and a balmy +5. A perfect day to hit the outdoor rink downtown.

Natalia, Emma and I strapped on our skates, while Daddy kept his shoes on and off we went. Emma did an amazing job and in no time her confidence blossomed and she was skating around on her own with no tears and huge smiles on her face. Natalia found skating a little more difficult. She has never been on skates but she did her very best. Her little feet slid out from under her and she had trouble standing but she never cried and she did her very best. I think she will ever go again. It was lots of fun for all of us.

To me, this next photo speaks volumes. It shows me just how much fun Emma really had on the ice. It was a nice change from the screaming and crying that we usually experience.

On the way home, we stopped at Lowes to pick something up. I decided to stay in the car with the kids. We happened to park beside one of these signs and boy did it spark some questions.

How the heck to you explain to a 5 year old the point behind the stork on the sign about expectant mothers when she KNOWS where babies come from? It made for some interesting conversations and honestly, I don't think I ever gave her a straight answer. All I wanted to say was, "Some dumb idiot didn't want to tell a child that a baby is shot out of woman's vagina like a bullet in slow motion, so they just said a stork brings it." I didn't say it but I sure was thinking it. That would just have forced me to answer even more questions. She knows where babies come from and we will just leave it at that.

And last but not least, I am going to leave you with the name of a bar here in town. Say the name a few times out loud and you will see why I think it's the perfect name for a bar.

This ones for you, Jen!

2009-01-31T19:48:00.009-05:00

I only wish I could shoot one of these babies through Internet land and have it land in your hand for your personal enjoyment! This is number 1 of many that we deserve!!

Ok, so enough of the cryptic talk that only Jen will get....

It's been a pretty boring day here at my house, but I have snapped a few photos. Up first, is Natalia's must have bedtime item, her bear lamp. She won't go to sleep unless it's turned on. I took this picture around 12:30am this morning. Natalia didn't even notice me taking photos.

Do you remember the mess that was Emma's room? Well, we got it cleaned up. It took some time and some pressure from Mommy but it looks wonderful. I am sure it won't last more than 24 hours. Hmmm, that gives me an idea. Maybe I will take a photo or two again tomorrow and we can see just how long this clean streak lasts! Any guesses?

As I was taking photos of Emma yesterday, I noticed she was pretty puffy looking in the face and I wondered if she was coming down with something. She said she was feeling fine. Well, she's not so fine now. Here she is this afternoon, complaining she is freezing while wearing her hat, sweater and at least 2 blankets. A few hours later her temperature spiked and she was no longer feeling fine. But, no worries, in true Emma style, once the Advil kicked in she was bouncing around the house like a normal kid. Drugs do wonders for her! Now we just have to wait for her to crash and we know it's time for another dose.

One last photo for today, it's nothing just some folded laundry but I have a rule in my house when it comes to laundry. The rule is...if it can't go in the dryer, it doesn't belong in my house! Everything, and I mean every piece of clothing in this house goes in the dryer. I cannot be bothered worrying about shrinkage or anything getting ruined, besides I'm 4 foot 11 inches tall, shrinkage is a good thing for me.

So this is it. January is officially over and I didn't miss a single day for my project 365. I am looking forward to developing my photography skills over the coming months and I would also like to say, Thanks for checking out my blog and leaving all the wonderful comments. It sure does help to keep the motivation. See you in February!

A new day means new photos

2009-01-30T19:32:00.006-05:00

I have had such a nice day today. It started out with my girls playing like angels together. Emma and Natalia both dressed up as princesses and Emma was nice enough to Natalia's hair for her as well. There was no fighting just peaceful playtime. It was such a sweet moment to watch.

I admit these are not the crispest shots but they had to be snapped quickly before the moment passed.

Next up for me was a trip to the dentist. This is one thing I was NOT looking forward to. I think the last time I was there was mid 2006. Ouch! Too long and I knew they would be digging and scrapping forever. Much to my surprise, my teeth were not too bad. Both the dentist and hygienist were surprised. I have one cavity but I knew I had it. I had it in 2006 and never had it filled then so I am super surprised that there wasn't more. I didn't feel right taking a photo in the dentists office so instead I took a pic of the free goodies that I left with.

While I was at the dentist the girls spent the day with Daddy at work. It is so nice to have some quiet time to myself. It just doesn't happen often enough. I decided to take my time getting home and just enjoy the silence. As I pulled onto my street I noticed this...

Today was garbage and recycling day. For those who don't know, recycling is part of garbage pick up every week here in Ontario. Every house has a blue box to put their recycling into. I was so proud to see that each and every house on our street had a blue box on the street today. I hate seeing people with 4 bags of garbage and no recycling. You can't tell me that there is no products to be recycled in all of those bags.

Last but not least, I'm curious, do you think this is a sign of my kids having too much stuff? It's beginning to drive me CRAZY!! She cannot keep it clean for more than 2 hours. I swear!

I know what I need to help with this. I need some "Mary Poppins Magic." Just snap my fingers and the mess cleans itself up!

Oh wait, I almost forgot...I have my week 4 layout finished up. Here it is

I am so tired of being cold!

2009-01-29T21:54:00.003-05:00

It is starting to feel like winter will never, ever leave. We have 6 foot snow piles on our lawn from scraping the driveway. It is bitter cold walking Emma to school and no matter how hard I try, I cannot get Natalia to walk faster than a snail on the way to school in the morning. Today seemed fine when I left. I think the thermometre read about -9 degrees, which is good in comparison to the temperatures that we have had lately, but what I wasn't expecting was the wind. Jeez Louise, It was BRUTAL. My cheeks were stinging by the time I got home.

It amazes me how the cold doesn't seem to affect the kids as much. They really don't complain much and if it were up to them they would stay outside for hours and play. The problem is that I don't want to be outside watching them.

Needless to say, my photos are all about the weather today.

First up, is a very, very rare shot of my girls together and they both look pretty decent.

While Gerben was shovelling the driveway last night the girls were beyond excited to see their snow mountain growing and growing and growing. The just had to admire it on the way to school this morning. Then after school they used it as a super cool slide. Oh how I wish I had their energy.

The long, cold walk to school! It's actually quite a short walk but when it's so cold out it might as well be 3 miles uphill both ways! :)

Natalia standing on a little hill at the end of our sidewalk. She trips over this hill each and every day!

Playing it up for the camera. She loves how the snow makes a great chair when it's piled up at the edge of the sidewalks.

What was I thinking?

2009-01-29T00:32:00.003-05:00

So, after editing my winter photos from this afternoon, I got this dumb idea that I would like to try taking some shots of our street at night. Of course, the minute this idea comes into my head I just have to do it.

Picture this scene...

It's 12:30am, it's -10 Celsius and you see your crazy neighbour outside without a coat taking pictures of a street! I am sure my neighbours think I am a few bulbs short of a chandelier but that's ok. I got a pretty cool shot! Not bad for being hand held, as I was too lazy to dig out my tripod.

Ok, so I could have done without the goofy angle but I was starting to shiver and I was trying desperately to hold the camera still. Next time, not only will I use a tripod, but I will also put my coat on... and maybe my hat and mitts!!

My Croc Hunter

2009-01-28T23:07:00.006-05:00

I have this awesome pair of crocs with the fuzzy liner in them. I absolutely LOVE them. They always keep my feet nice and warm and my feet are often cold. Well, lately I have the worst habit of leaving them all over the house. When my feet finally get warm I kick them off. It doesn't matter where, so honestly, I am constantly losing them. Natalia has become my "Croc Hunter." When I can't find them or I am too lazy to go upstairs and get them I send the Croc Hunter. Natalia loves doing this for me and of course I have to play on it!!

Next up for the day, Natalia and I made cupcakes. They turned out terrible! I think the batter was old. But, at least we had some fun time together. I had to laugh when Natalia took a page from Ava's book. As soon as she saw the beaters she covered her ears. I was just waiting for her to climb under the chair next!! Unfortunately she didn't. I was hoping. It would have made a great photo.

Now, I have a confession to make... I'm a beater licker! I LOVE to indulge myself with this little treat while I bake. I know I probably shouldn't, given that there is raw egg in it, but it's Oh so Yummy! How can I resist? And besides, I've made it almost 32 years and haven't gotten sick from it yet.

I also had to take some pictures of the weather today. I couldn't believe how much snow fell here. Poor Natalia had a brutal time walking to school, the fresh snow was about 6 inches deep. Here's some shots from our front door this afternoon.

Little House

2009-01-27T16:32:00.004-05:00

As a child, one of my earliest memories of reading, was sitting at the table in Metz with my Mom reading. We were reading different books but it was quiet time that we shared. I remember reading the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My set of books were yellow. I have no idea what happened to my old copies of the books so I decided to order a new set from Emma's book order this month. The order came in today and Emma was so excited to get these books. I swear, she hasn't been home from school more than hour and she has already read 12 pages. Have I mentioned that she is only 5? Gerben and I are also big readers, so it's not a surprise that Emma is too. We read each and every night and are constantly at the bookstore.

Thank God for my King Size Bed

2009-01-26T21:42:00.004-05:00

If there is one thing I hate, it's having my kids sleep with me. My bed is my space. Unfortunately for me, Natalia loves coming into our room and night. I am usually too lazy to get up and take her back to her room but now that we have a king bed it's ok. I don't mind her sleeping with us so much. Last night, she was struggling with bad dreams. After coming into our room once and having Gerben take her back to bed she got smart and came to me the second time. I totally don't remember doing it but I guess I picked her up and put her in bed with us. She must have had a good long sleep after that because I had to wake her up at 8:30 so that I could have Emma to school for 9:00.

More photos with the new toy

2009-01-25T15:56:00.005-05:00

Slowly, slowly, I am working at getting better with my new toy. There is always a learning curve but so far I am happy. It seems to do extremely well in low light situations which is a huge bonus!

Gerben made us a fantastic Sunday breakfast today filled with yummy fruit and croissants. He even finished it off with a fantastic Breakfast Dessert, strawberry mousse with lady fingers and berries. Yummy!

Here's my photos for today but I need a little help with the last one, do you prefer the colour or the black and white?

New Glass for my Camera

2009-01-24T23:10:00.007-05:00

Ok, so I have been really frustrated with my camera in low light lately and would love a macro lens. Today, as a gift for my anniversary and birthday, Gerben let me go shopping for a new lens. I decided on this one for my Nikon D80.

My current most used lens is also a 18-70mm but at a 3.5 to 4.5 aperture with no macro. I am hoping this will cover the low light issues and give me an added bonus of the macro which I really want. I haven't had a great deal of time to play with this tonight but here's a few shots and for you techies that understand I will put the settings with each photo. Oh and yes, I realize my shutter speeds are still crazy low.

1. ISO 800, Shutter 1/40, F 2.8, no flash, 17mm, hand held

2. ISO 800, shutter 1/50, F 2.8, no flash, 17mm, hand held

3. ISO 800, shutter 1/125, F 2.8, no flash, 17mm, hand held

All in all, I'm pretty impressed. I definitely need to play some more to decide if this is what a need and if it is a good replacement for my current favourite as I will have to sell the one I have.

Now, on to my photo of the day. This afternoon, I took Emma skating at an outdoor rink in Cambridge. As usually, Emma was completely freaked out to begin with. She has only really skated twice before and they both started the same way. With a lot of pushing on my part and a lot of tears her part we managed to get her going. Once she finally gets her footing she is fantastic. She is full of smiles and having fun. She is just tough to convince to try new things and be brave. I chose two pics for the day to post here. They are the happy shots!

I remember these days

2009-01-23T12:04:00.003-05:00

It's inside-out and backwards day at school today. Emma is so excited about it. She has been planning what to wear for days and days. This morning she was up early and dressed in no time. She was so proud of herself because she even thought to put her underwear on inside-out and backwards. Can you say, "Wedgie?" Damn, you wouldn't catch me with my underwear on inside out and backwards. Although, I am sure that when I was 5 and it was inside-out and backwards day that I probably did the same. I remember going so far as to wearing the tie on my outfit on my back and putting my ponytail at the front instead of the back of my head. Here's a few shots of Emma's little clothing adventures this morning.

Now, on to my layout for week 3. I used a kit called Day Dream Believer by Angie Kovacs and Jennifer Barrette. The doodles and attachments are from the kit Life 365. Large alpha by CD Mucklosky and small alpha is called "Burst my Bubble."

The difference between me and my husband

2009-01-22T17:11:00.005-05:00

At times, Gerben and I are polar opposites. I tend to call him "anal!" Something I am definitely not. He likes to have his toilet paper hung a certain way, he lines up all his books alphabetically and then, I think, by release date on our shelves. It used to drive him crazy when our kids were babies and they used to mix up his books. He always hangs his shirts a certain way and can't handle too many wrinkles in his clothes. I have to admit that he has eased up since living with me.

I, on the other hand, am the furthest thing from anal and if he wants clean clothes then he can't really complain or they may not get washed. For a long time, I wouldn't even fold his shorts because he was so picky about the seams lining up. In my world, if the books are on the shelf neatly I could care less what order they are in. I don't care how the toilet paper is hung, as long as it's hung. And, as long as my clothes are clean, that's all that counts. Most things he has lightened up about, over the past 7 years of living with me. But the other day he just had to show me his sock drawer. He was so excited by this...

All I could do was roll my eyes. If this is his little piece of anal-retentiveness that he gets to maintain when I am around, I can live with it. he he he

Oh and it wouldn't be fair if I didn't show you my drawer for comparison, so here it is...

I just ball the socks up and pitch 'em in!

Recently, we redecorated out bedroom and the theme is mostly black, grey, white and red. Well, if you are a Twilight follower and lover as I am you will understand this, the covers for these books are a great match for my new bedroom scheme. Well, I decided to stack the books nicely on the fireplace in our room for decoration. They look so good there. Next thing I know, he has put the books on the bookshelf. Urg, the battle has begun. I will win, these books are definitely worth showcasing! Even though in his little anal world they belong on a bookshelf.

Don't they look pretty?

OK, seriously, ENOUGH Mamma Mia!

2009-01-21T16:18:00.004-05:00

Don't get me wrong, I love Mamma Mia. I love the music, I love the movie, I love it all but my 3 year old is beginning to drive me Mamma Mia CRAZY! For the last 4 hours, we have watched the movie, danced to the music on CD and then watched just the songs on the movie, over and over and over again! And, in case you are wondering, she is upstairs now, dancing to Mamma Mia in her sisters room!

The best part of today is that she sneaked up into Emma's room. Put on Emma's favourite dress and is now dancing around the room while using Emma's radio and carrying Emma's purse! If Emma was home, she would have a total FIT! Lucky for me, she is at a friends for supper.

Here's some proof of the little munchkin at work.

You would almost think I didn't do anything, child friendly with this kid considering her obsession with Mamma Mia, but today, we went to the "Launch Pad." It's a fabulous drop in program in my city for kids from newborn to about 6. Natalia loves to go. There is crafts and toys and of course circle time. She loves all the songs and dancing. Today, they had real clay to play with and the water table was filled, mud and water, what could be more fun for a 3 year old. Here's a few photos of her enjoying her time away.

Bath Time for Natalia

2009-01-20T15:38:00.002-05:00

Well, now that she is 3, bathtime photos are soon to be a thing of the past. I must admit that I love these photos though. I like trying to capture the sweet, bubble moments in tub. After spending some time at Kelly's house and finding out the Jillian always takes a ton of Polly Pockets into the tub, my kids decided that Barbie needs a bath too. It drives me crazy because Barbie isn't, technically, a bath toy but they love it!

I really had some struggles with the colour in these photos, they had a very, very strong yellow cast to them, but in the end they look good to me. I actually shot the one of the Barbies in RAW. Listening to Jen, I decided to give it a shot and in all honesty, it was so much easier to edit my colour issues. I am going to try RAW format more often.

Still going and still having fun

2009-01-19T19:55:00.007-05:00

I can't believe that I am still plugging away at this little 365 project of mine. It has been so much fun so far. I am capturing photos that I otherwise may not have considered. I started out today having no idea what to take photos of, so as an idea, I shot the girls favourite toy at the moment. Emma has a very short-term interest in toys. She outgrows them and changes her mind about them about as often as she changes her underwear. For the last little while both girls seem to like Ponyville Ponies the best. If you don't know what they are, they are the miniature My Little Ponies.

Of course, after you resign yourself to taking photos of toys, something interesting happens! Natalia has to go potty! She has been trained forever but I really wanted to get a potty shot of her. I think the look on her face is hilarious! I think if I could read her mind it would be saying, "Not now, Mom! Can't you see I'm busy?"

Then, the day got better yet. Emma asked if a friend could come and visit after school and I said, "Sure!" Taylor and Emma were beyond excited about this new development. It's always fun to have a new body in the house. Taylor is a great little kid. Her and Emma decided to have a "Webkinz Birthday Party" using the leftover party hats from Natalia's party. I was so cute seeing all the animals dressed up and the girls were thrilled that I was snapping pictures of their fun.

Want to play a game with me?

2009-01-18T21:47:00.005-05:00

Seeing as I spent the entire day confused about which nephew was which, it's now your turn! Do you know who is who?

"I can't see a difference. Can you see a difference?" he he he

Here's a hint, just in case you need it, Jen decided to through a kink in her normal rules of attire. I wonder if I will ever be able to tell these two little darlings apart.

Ok, now that I got the off my chest. Here is my photo of the day. It was Natalia's 3rd Birthday Party today. Ava and her family were her for a visit. Just after Jason and Jen got Ava into her jammies the girls decided to give each other a huge hug. Lucky for me, I had the camera in my hand and managed to snap a shot of the super sweet and unexpected moment. The two little cuties absolutely love each other.