Flying!

I got these fun shots today of Lily flying through the air!

Thanks to my friends Ali & Megan who volunteered to throw her over and over again!

And please don't worry, she was being thrown into a huge foam bean bag- and she loved it!

No children were harmed in the taking of these photographs!

A Perfect Home...

Lately I've been feeling the desire for a perfect home, the perfect town to live in, and the perfect community in which to raise our family... and often feeling like the town we live in isn't it.

And then the other day Lily and I were looking through her Jesus Storybook Bible and I was reminded...

God has made a perfect home for us.

It's heaven.

And He's written heaven on our hearts (so it's pretty normal that I would long for it).

And the best part?

Someday I get to live there.

In Motion!

Here is Lily "frozen" in motion as she "colors" my paper!

Lily just started playing with the fan (that we have blowing warm air from our wood stove)-They aren't perfect, but I love these shots!

I love this shot of the flames slowed down (I do, after all, have to photograph something other than Lily every now and then)!

Sliding to the floor!

In this picture I was trying to pan for the first time (which would blur the background and keep Lily, who was running with her Curious George monkey, in focus)- obviously that didn't work, but it turned out to be a really interesting picture!

Dancing!

Clapping!

Spinning!

And shaking her bear all around!

I had my second photography class last night...I'm still loving it!

Although I admit that I wish I were improving at a greater pace (I'm sure I have unrealistic expectations of myself)!:)

So, yesterday I began learning to really control the shutter on my camera- which is most important in pictures with motion. So, I'm learning to play around with motion- and what shows motion in pictures (sometimes freezing motion, sometimes allowing for blur, and sometimes something in between). So these are my first attempts today- they didn't all come out quite how I would have liked or planned- but hey, it's my first try!

Wooden Toys

I just love wooden toys! They are often very quality, educational, unique, fun, beautiful, etc... I imagine that the few toys we keep and pass on to our grandchildren someday will be the wooden ones. But don't get me wrong, we have our fair share of colorful plastic toys in our house! In fact, the very large plastic climbing cube/fort/slide that we bought Lily for Christmas is probably the best toy we own- so it's not that I have anything against plastic... but I do really love the wooden toys!

So recently I found this great company that makes/sells mostly wooden/fabric toys- it's called Moolka. I got their catalog in the mail the other day and I took one look at the cover (pictured above) and fell in love with it! Check them out at http://www.moolka.com/

The little tea set they make (pictured above) is just one example of their adorable toys (and this tea set will be on Lily's birthday list)!

I also happen to love The Wooden Wagon site and wooden toys made my Melissa & Doug.

It's like getting to be a kid all over again (sort of)!:)

Saturday Morning Photo Shoot!

We got a little photo shoot in this morning and I thought I would share some of my favorites!

Afterwards all four of us (Joe, Lily, Indy, and I) went sledding at a little hill nearbye. And believe it or not I didn't even bring my camera. I thought it might be nice to just have fun and be mom instead of the family photographer!

Unfortunately Joe pulled a muscle in his back yesterday and he wasn't able to do much sledding (or carrying of Lily up the hill) and Lily was pretty fussy. Oh well, at least we got out there and tried!

Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday!

Facebook

Okay, I did it, I caved in... last night I joined Facebook.
Maybe it was because it was 11:00p.m. and it was a moment of weakness- but I did it.

For some time now I've resisted- despite many friend's attempts to convince me- I resisted.

But then yesterday two things happened.

First I talked to my friend Heather in Vermont. She is one of my closest friends and she recently gave birth to her 4th little one. I've been dying to see pictures of her newest little one and I was informed last night that the only pictures they have posted are on Facebook.

Then a few hours later I got an email from my friend Jennifer asking me if I would please join Facebook.

Apparently these two things in one day were just too much for me and I gave in.

So if you want to be my "friend" I am currently accepting new ones on Facebook!:)

P.S. I realized as I was looking for a profile picture for my new Facebook account that I have VERY few pictures of myself. I have TONS of pictures of Lily, but when you're the one taking all of the pictures it's hard to be in them too! So maybe during our little photo shoot tomorrow I'll have to use the self timer on my camera. In the meantime I was forced to use this picture from Halloween (hey, at least it was taken in the last year)!

Lighting Issues

Normally I take a lot of pictures. Now that I'm taking a class I'll be taking a ton of pictures. And this blog is my outlet- so bear with me!

These were some of my favorites from yesterday's photo taking. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any until late afternoon and by then the natural light in our house was next to nothing. So all of these required a flash- which was so frustrating because of all the shadows (and my lack of knowledge about flash photography). And our class on lighting isn't until week 5- so sad! So if you can ignore the lighting issues they are still some pretty cute ones of my favorite little subjet!

Black & White

I started my first photography class on Tuesday! I can't even tell you how much I loved it! I am a little overwhelmed by how much I have to learn (in general, not just for the class)- but I'm doing my best to take it little by little.
Yesterday I was trying to get some shots for my next class and I was quite frustrated with my lighting, but today was a bit better as I shot for the first time in black and white!

I just love black and white photographs and I can tell you already I'll be doing them a lot more! My lighting was still a little dark, but I can't help but love these shots of my little girl!

Awww Nuts!

You might remember that this fall we found out that Lily is allergic to peanuts. Yesterday we went back to her pediatric allergist for a second round of testing (since she is so young they don't want to do too much at once). Well... unfortunately we found out that Lily is also allergic to walnuts and pecans. And this essentially means that she is allergic to ALL nuts! Her test in the fall showed she wasn't allergic to almonds at the time- but apparently this allergy could develope over time. Her doctor said that 15% of patients allergic to peanuts are allergic to all nuts- and apparently she falls into that category. Oh well, she didn't like the almond butter that much anyway! Actually, I was pretty disappointed when we found out- since now I have to be even more careful (I thought peanuts were in a lot of things, but tree nuts are in just as many it seems). On the positive side she is not allergic to dogs, cats, pollen, and seafood (among other things)- so I am greatful for that. And even though my nutty little girl can't have nuts she is happy and healthy and that's all that matters!

Sledding Ramp!

Joe's parents bought Lily this beautiful, wonderful push sled from L.L. Bean for Christmas! We already love it! So last week Joe made Lily a little sledding ramp in our backyard (going down our porch stairs)! My husband is so creative! It is just perfect for her- just enough thrill (but not too scary to do on her own). So if you come to visit and we don't answer the door just check out back- I think we'll be spending a lot of time back there!

We Love Snow!

Here's our little house buried in snow!

Yes, it's true...we love the snow! And we got plenty of it the other day- almost 20 inches! I feel just like a little kid again everytime we get a big snowstorm like this! Okay, Joe looses a little bit of his excitement after shoveling for 2 hours- but even then he is still excited to take Lily to play in the white stuff! And Lily loves it too! In fact she insisted on going outside IN the snowstorm (she only lasted about 15 minutes- but still)! Yesterday she was outside playing in the snow twice (for a good 30-4o minutes each time). Don't get me wrong- I do not like cold weather or being cold in general- but I LOVE snow- and if it's going to be cold there might as well be snow too! So bring on the snow (at least until March)!

Nature's Popsicle!

The other day we were all in the living room when Joe opened a window and grabbed this large icicle that was hanging right outside. Our little girl happens to love to eat ice-so this was a big treat for her! Not only did she spent minutes licking it, but she also got Indy (our dog) to lick it too!