Foto Friday...

...I'm kind of in love with this new set of photos. On the cruise, AR would repeatedly ask if she could take pictures. This is proof that I let her... and that the camera weighed more than she did or else it would've been all boob shots! #lovemyAR

Library Photo Contest...

...Our local library offered a Summer Photography Contest. There was four categories: Local Landmark, Nature, Library, and 2014 Summer Reading Theme: Fizz, Boom, Read! I entered every category except Local Landmark. Time got away from me and I just didn't get around to taking a picture.

I found on last Thursday that I won second place in the Library category!!! I won $25 and my photo is in the running for the People's Choice Award. You can go and vote here from now until September 12! I'm sure you'll be able to figure out which one is mine. :-)

Here are my entries:

Summer Reading Theme: Fizz, Boom, Read!
This was an entire family experience to get this pic!

Library-2nd Prize Winner! Woot, woot-go me!!!

Nature
I figured everyone would do flowers and such for nature so why not corn???

Sunny Shutterbug Sunday!!!

...It all started with this pose. The storm was rolling in, the wind was pulling into the house while she tried to put on her Minnie high heels. I grabbed the camera to try to capture the moment.

She smiled at the German Shepard walking by like she normally does.

And then she was promptly over it!

It was sunny so I said let's go outside while I practice with my camera. I got this great shot of the neighbor's tree.

I got lots of awesome pics of Em-Dog!

Oh and now AR wants to love on her Shadie and get in the pictures!

I got three similar shots and I'm loving them all, her smile, him leaning in against her. #precious

Shad's latest thing is rolling around in the grass to scratch his back. AR thinks this is hilarious but I have to keep her out of his rolling distance. He just doesn't understand how big and powerful he is. This is after a roll, AR came over to pet him. How sweet is this!

The dogs were thirsty so we headed back inside. AR had to put their bowls in order. We have an extra one that I got for free. I think it drives her nuts having all three out so she put one inside Shadie's cage.

After we had the bowl situation sorted out, she climbed into Emma's cage with her. I promise I clean it, in fact, I just washed it out last week so don't mind the dirt on the back wall.

Then AR closed the door and started saying, "Shut, Momney, shut!" I'm so lucky our dogs let her do whatever she wants with them.

And that's how my afternoon changed from trying to catch a sweet moment to my child ending up in a dog cage!

March Day at the Playground...

...The weather has been great here this week and I've been itching to use my camera since class last weekend. I figured today was the perfect day so AR and I walked over to the park. Of course, we can see our backyard from there so she had to stand in the parking lot yelling at her doggies for a few minutes before we could actually go to the playground.

Once we were in, I got out my camera and started adjusting the shutter speed trying to get some good shots. All of these pictures were shot in manual.

I have a whole action sequence of her running back and forth on this spot. These were just my two fave shots.

Some girl kept asking if she could play with AR. AR would stop and say hi, give a hug then off she'd go!

She loves this mirror thing and giving the "baby" a high five.

I glance down at my camera for two seconds and look up to see my monkey doing this.

She was so proud of herself!

Seriously, she's a little monkey! Got up and down all by herself.

More hanging!

Failed attempt by Mommy but still got some cute expressions .

The lighting is off here but this is a sweet picture. There was a mom with a little baby on the other side of the fence. The baby was crying so Mother Hen AR had to go check it out.

Then we headed home for a dinner which consisted of a banana, some Goldfish, a fruit pouch, and a few bites of Mommy's sandwich. Hey, it's Friday, okay? I snapped a couple really great shots but I have to be honest and say these next two were pure accidents.

Silly AR saying "Gimme that camera, Mommy!"

Maybe not the world's best photos but at least I know how to change a few things on my camera now! Now let's just hope the weather stays this nice!

Photo Class with Katie Beach!!!

...This afternoon, we had a beautiful day for a photo class at Forest Park! Jenni and I met the extremely talented Katie Beach of Katie Beach Photography. It was a great class because it was a small "class" and hands on. I've taken another class at a local photo place and the room was packed full and you were lucky if you could ask a question, much less have the instructor look at your camera and show you have to adjust your settings. So a big thank you to Katie for your time and expertise! We focused on aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and sunlight.

Jenni and I picked her brain about what settings to use when photographing wiggly toddlers. We really wanted to know how to get the person in focus with the blurry back ground like this:

A big thank you to Katie's daughter, Emma, who was our model for the day. Katie taught us that we we needed to adjust our aperture. The lower the number, the blurry it is in the background. Check out the spine of the book in the next two pictures. The settings on this photo were f/5.6 and 1/1000.

The settings on this one are f/32 and 1/40.

Now on to shooting in the sun. We learned to always have the sun behind your subject and adjust the shutter speed. The shutter speed on this one was  1/1000.

Shutter speed on this was 1/2000.

Shutter speed here 1/2500. Amazing what a small difference in shutter speed will do.

Settings on this one are f/5.6 and 1/2500. I really like the blurred background and the lighting on her hair.

Of course, we worked on action shots too!

More action! I learned how to take action shots without getting blurry hands and legs. Now I'm anxious to try some of this out on AR.

We made Katie get in the pic with her daughter so we could practice and she could get some pictures of the two of them.

I was thrilled with everything I learned. I walked away knowing, and most importantly, understanding much more than I did before I got there.

I told my SIL that I want to re-do their Save the Date cards since now I know what to do. I also understand what shooting in manual means and it's not nearly as intimidating as I imagined. Thanks again, Katie, you rock!!! Oh, and Emma, you earned your McDonald's!



February Photo Challenge Week 4...

...Week 4!!! I totally cheated this week and pulled some photos out of the archives rather than take new ones.

February 22
What you're reading
Not super creative, but this is my library in my Nook

February 23
Anything sweet
Preview of AR's birthday party

February 24
Holding hands

February 25
Your geeky side
I have too much geek to get in one photo.
February 26
Something you made

February 27
Picture in your room
Did that last week so pass.
February 28
Breakfast

Rabbit, rabbit!

EB & Ryan's Save the Date Photos...by Me!!!

...My SIL got engaged over the holidays. She's already full swing into planning mode. They've set their date for September 20. She called me right before New Year's and asked if I would take their "Save the Date" photos for them. I was so excited and honored that she asked...and nervous too!

The Friday before, I spent the afternoon practicing. Here are the pins that were the inspiration: Pin 1 and Pin 2.

My models were less the cooperative.

The dog wouldn't sit still and my husband acts like a middle school boy.

Finally! At least one of them cooperated!

The first Saturday in January, I dropped AR off at my MIL's and headed out to Busch Wildlife to meet my SIL, her fiancé, and their Rottweiler. It's a favorite location of the entire family. Here's some posts I've done when we've visited before: post 1 and post 2.

I'm a long ways from being a professional, but I had fun and EB was happy so that's the important thing! Her fiancé hates to have his picture taken, but he played along while we spent an hour in the snow taking picture after picture. Here are some my faves from the day.

I wish I could've gotten a better shot at her ring, but I think this one is great since they're both smiling. Natural lighting is not my thing.

I did focal black and white editing on this one but you can't really tell. I love her hair in this pic.

This was the shot they wanted for their Save the Date card. Again, focal b&w on the dog/sign with them in the background.

I only took 140 pictures in the hour we were there. I edited a few of her favorite images and let her pick from different styles.

This is my favorite! I can't believe Zeus sat still for so long, he was such a good doggie!

This was EB's favorite, she's got a great smile.

I love this shot of Zeus looking back at them while they kiss.

A family photo, seriously this dog rocked the photo shoot!

After doing this shoot, it makes me want to take another camera class so I can work on lighting, especially outside, and figure out what the heck an F-stop and aperture is!

I took my laptop with me so we could pop in the memory card to make sure we got some good ones before leaving. She was thrilled just with the quick look at them so that meant this photog was one happy girl!

 

One of my goals for 2014 was to do a photo shoot for someone other than AR (not including this one) so I might be calling some of my STL friends to see if I can do a family photo shoot for them. I'm not looking to get into this regularly or seriously, but I want to be able to take good pics, be able to help out friends and family, and be slightly dangerous with my DSLR.

 

Any tips or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also, what do you use for editing? A big thanks to Sara and Katie for the tips!

February Photo Challenge Week 3...

...Week 3 already, this month is flying by!

February 15
Something you see every morning
This is my view every morning when I wake up

February 16

What's inside your bag
My school bag

February 17

Something sweet
Lickin' her lips!

February 18

Nature
Not the best, was trying to capture the wind.

February 19

A gift
This was a gift to myself after my stressful day.

February 20

Something you bought
It's also something I bought

February 21

Best part of your day
This is blurry but I only had one shot at it. This is AR running to me when I walked into the sitter's to pick her up.

I always start these photo challenges so motivated and then I end up having to cram all the photos into one day!

February Photo Challenge Week 2...

...Week 2!!!

February 8
Smiles


February 9
A furry friend
I know I've recently used this but I like it!

February 10
What you wore
PASS
February 11
Your sky
It snowed today, it sleeted, it was nasty out just like this sky.

February 12
A bad habit
I was trying to take a picture of my chewed down nails. Every time I held my hand up, some little girl did the same...

February 13
The color red
Matt's Valentine's present from AR and I. She picked out the screwdriver all by herself!

February 14
Your one true love
My family!!! This is all of us after our Valentine's date to Shogun's.

February Photo Challenge Week 1...

...Here goes the February Photo Challenge! Feel free to join in for any or all!

 

February 1

Self-Portrait
This isn't the greatest photo but it's my life these days: baby in one hand, camera in the other and I'm loving it!
 

February 2

The Color Pink
I found anything and everything pink she could wear: onesie, tights and heels!

February 3

Something that made you laugh
Would this face not make you laugh? Anytime she laughs, I immediately join her.

February 4

An inside joke

I can't explain because then it wouldn't be an inside joke! We love Chester at our house!

 February 5

Family
This seems to be the current trend in family photos. It's not my best work considering I was wearing flip flops and my child was standing at the window inside crying wanting me to come back in.

February 6

Guilty Pleasure
Although this could fall under bad habit, too.

February 7

Something you look forward to

Apparently my child is looking forward to summer because she pulled out the sunglasses. I was trying to capture her looking at our Disney on Ice tickets though.

 



Life in the Fast Lane...

...When I had AR, I put my life on hold. I didn't want to miss a single second with her so I basically did nothing besides work and be a mom. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all, I wouldn't do it any differently, but now that she's a bit older, I've started doing more...exercising, reading, socializing, etc...And in true Alyssa fashion, do you think that I gradually eased into things? Maybe for a couple months, but now my plate is full. As in, big girl, pour on more potatoes, my plate is overflowing! Here's my life in the fast lane these days...

Exercising/Weight Loss-As you've all seen my posts, I'm trying to lose weight. It's a never-ending battle. As this time, I'm really maintaining but hey, I'm almost forty pounds lighter than I was six months ago so I'll take maintaining and lose what I can. I'm trying to do boot camp 2 mornings/week, swim one morning/week, and run twice/week.

I'm an ambassador for Hospital Hill Run again this year. I love that race! I've been visiting local running stores to pass out info about the race. My goal is to run the half again, first half since having AR. I won't start my official training until March but I've got to build up my endurance between now and then.

They're getting new mileage club shirts at work which is the motivation I needed to get back into the pool! Oh, plus there's talk of the Tri Girls reuniting for the triathlon in August. I don't know what' s more frightening-competing post-baby in a tri or wearing a swimsuit in front of co-workers?

Teaching-Today is my first day of teaching...a college class! I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I basically have everything ready through the end of February, still prepping the first test, but I feel prepared for this first week. I've already been asked to teach again this fall. I haven't committed yet as I wanted to make sure I enjoyed teaching and I'm good at it. I did the math and if I do this for four years then I'll have enough money to buy AR's first car before she even turns five!

Product/Book Reviews-I have quite about five products to review right now and a few books to finish reading. My goal is to try to schedule and review two/week so I don't fall behind.

Valentine's Day-After I go to Costco this upcoming weekend, I'll have all the supplies I need to make AR's Valentine's. I'm pretty excited about them and I hope they turn out! I have to make twenty for a playdate and the kids at the sitter's.

AR's Second Birthday-Although it's four months away, I'm already full swing in party planning mode! I even made a trial cake to see if I could do it. FYI-it turned out pretty awesome!

Writing-I've started writing and I don't mean blogging. Through all the book reviews I've been doing, I've been introduced to the world of indie publishing. I decided to try my hand at writing a love story and I, well, loved it! I've had a few people read it and I'm on a critique website. I've gotten good feedback and best of all, no one's straight up told me it sucks to that's exciting! It's a long, tedious process and I just wish I had more time to devote to it, but alas, I don't. I'm going to keep pushing on and hopefully, you'll see a post about it one day!

Photography-I did a "photoshoot" for a couple this month and it's made me want to do more. Not that I want to actually be a photographer but I want to be able to take photographer quality photos of AR and our family. I've talked to Katie Beach, our wedding photog, and she's going to do a natural lighting class on March 9. If you're interested, email or leave me a comment. I'm looking for three other people to do the class with me. I'm also already working on some pictures for the February Photo Challenge I'll be posting on here.

AR-Dude, she needs a social coordinator! Tuesday nights we have gymnastics. Mondays we've started swim lessons. I want to do a Mini Kickers program (soccer) but it's only offered on Tuesday mornings so I'll have to keep looking. She's got a playdate and birthday party coming up on the 9th plus we're going to be celebrating H's tenth birthday soon! Seriously, how did H get to be ten already!?!

I'm also trying to sell her baby stuff. I think I've come to terms with being okay with her being an only child. That should be a post in itself and it will be when I'm 100% okay with it. In the meantime, I've been posting pics and meeting people to get rid of some of her bigger baby toys to make room for all the new ones we got at Christmas. I also need to do a post on her since I haven't done one devoted fully towards her and her developments since, oh, you know her 12 month post which was eight months ago! FYI-We're still not 100% over her cold/sinuses/whatever you want to call it. The doctor said her lungs sounded clear both times we went so I guess that's good but I wish this cough would go away!

So that's what's going on in my world these days. You know, aside from working, being a mom/wife, and trying to keep my head above water in the household department. These next few months are going to get crazy! But hey, that's life in the fast lane, right?

AR's First Birthday Pink Lemonade Celebration!!!

...my sweet AR turned one this past weekend! In January, the Twitter girls insisted that AR had to have a first birthday party so I started hitting up Pinterest for some ideas. I didn't want to do anything traditional or character themed so when I came across one for pink lemonade, I knew it was the winner. We ended up having 2 parties. One on Saturday (her actual birthday) for her friends (10 babies and moms came to celebrate) and one on Sunday for our family.

 

Since most people would prefer to see pictures over a bunch of words, here's AR's Pink Lemonade Party in pictures (and a few words). I've linked up to the businesses I made purchases from. Enjoy!

 

I went to Laulie Cakes for the baked goods. For the friend party, I did mini cupcakes so the babies could enjoy and for our family, we did regular sized cupcakes. Since I ordered so much, I got a smash cake for free! Here's the smash cake:

Smash cake with the regular size cupcakes; some had fondant lemon slices

The mini cupcakes

Kitchen set-up

I made the banner in the window

Food table; veggie straws were a hit with all the babies!

For the friends party, we had salsa/chips for the moms, fruit, veggie straws, Cheerios

and a fruit plate. Judging by what was left at the end of the party, I think it's safe to say the food choices were a hit!

We chalked the driveaway (easy, cheap way to decorate)

AR's Daddy made her a lemonade stand (more pics later) which is where we put the party favors

Each of her friends got a "glass of lemonade" which was really a tie-dyed onesie

The note said, "Thanks for making my party so sweet!"

I glued ribbon around the rim of mason jars with a sticker (I found the perfect ones at Michael's). I tie-dyed onesies pink and yellow (we did just plain yellow for the boys), rolled them up in the mason jar, then put a straw in with the note.

We added some balloons for a little more celebration

This was the house ready for the party! We had a water table (far right) which was a HUGE hit with all the kids. My own child crawled into the table...smh! Then I had a quilt in the middle with toys. There's a wagon to the left, mainly for looks but some kids played with the balloons on it.

This is the wagon. Another easy, cheap way to decorate was to write on her chalkboard.

I also had a footprint craft. I printed a glass of lemonade on yellow cardstock then the kids painted their foot pink and put it in the glass to make it look like it was the pink lemonade.

 I also had this shirt made from Hill Girls Designs. She wore it the day of her friends party with a cute denim skirt! 

This was from her 1 year pictures:

I found this shirt at the Carter's outlet. There was also a blue one with lemons on it too-so adorable!

Ta-da! The lemonade stand her daddy made just by showing him a couple pics I found online. 

Here she's sampling the lemons!

So there you have it, a pink lemonade birthday party! It was fun, unique and I loved planning all of it. My husband asked, now what are you going to do for next year? Luckily, I have 365 days to think about that. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments and be sure to leave an email so I can get back to you.

AR's One Year Photoshoot...

...whew! We survived the First Birthday Party weekend! Mom, Dad and baby, er toddler, are exhausted! I think I took over 300 pictures between both days but I'm too tired to go through them right now so you'll just have to wait awhile for the birthday post. In the meantime, here was my attempt at a "pro" photoshoot...definitely not the quality you get from a real photographer but it'll work!

Okay, so I lied, this was not my attempt a pro one but I had to show you my baby's comparision. I just can't believe how much they change in a year.

Here's AR at 2 weeks old in my maternity shirt and a one year old in my maternity shirt:

She looks like a boxing champ!

"Fresh lemonade for sale!"

"Come and get it!"

I think this one is my fave.

This was her getting ready for the big shoot

Tasting a lemon

Sampling for customers

#lovemyAR

AR's 12 Month Photoshoot...

...all I can say is thank goodness these monthly shots are over! Warning to all the new mommas out there: these are easy in the beginning but once they get mobile, they are next to impossible! I wish I'd done one the day she was born but I still have plenty of good hospital shots to use for those. So enjoy, this is one thing I'm not going to miss!

These were usually the easiest ones in the white basket:

As you can tell, I think the wicker baskets one were a little painful:

And these days all she wants to do is play with the bear!

Wow! These doesn't even look like the same kid!

 

AR, thanks for putting up with these each month. I'm sure this isn't the only crafty "pain" you'll have to endure throughout your life. #lovemyAR

February Photo Challenge...

...the last set of pictures:

February 23: Light
Morning light shining on AR

February 24: Kindness
The girls being kind and playing together.

February 25: Self Portrait
Self timer...me and my Mini Me acting goofy before bath time.

February 26: Artwork
Matt's cousin drew this of Emma and Shadow a couple years ago and we keep it on our fridge.

February 27: Family
Cousins!

February 28: Gratitude
So grateful for this beautiful little girl!

 

And there you have it, friends, my first photo challenge! How'd I do?

February Photo Challenge...

...this week's pics:
February 16: Animals
The furbabies!

February 17: Memories
Our wedding quilt!

February 18: Something New
The jewelry store that DH and I got our wedding rings is going out of business. I bought this diamond necklace for AR to have something from the store. I plan on giving it to her down the road...confirmation, sweet 16, graduation...we'll see when the time is right.

February 19: Best Friend
Hopefully one day they'll be best friends; looks like it's a good start!

February 20: Daily Routine
Pump milk, make bottles, lay out food for breakfast and lunch, clean bottles, pump...repeat.

February 21: Night-time
All necessary items needed for bedtime each night.

February 22: Clothing
Baby leggings!