Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, from our house to yours!

IHF: Silhouette

Everyone knows by now that I love me some i heart faces photography! So this weeks theme, silhouette, of course piqued my interest!

I love how a great silhouette shot makes you want to see more of the picture...

If you want to see some fabulous shots, click on over to i heart faces!

Basement Dwellers...

I feel like this is my first chance to sit down, clear my head and work through my thoughts on "paper". Virtual paper, anyway...

Moving back to Kansas and changing jobs has been a true blessing for us, but still a strain none the less. I realized after reading my last post, I didn't even mention something: we are living in my parent's basement! It wasn't an intentional omission. Choosing to live in a small town, we also limited our available housing pool. We have also been doing a bunch of number crunching to decide if we want to buy or rent (decided on renting for a while) and then also finding a rental that will allow us to have our dogs (non-negotiable members of our family). Lets just say the number of houses that allow dogs but also meet my standards for safety and cleanliness are few and far between. Thankfully, my parents have been more than gracious about allowing us to inhabit their space, take up their free DVR space with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and give them all the grand-daughter time they want. We have saved quite a bit of money already by doing this, but we do hope to have our own place in the next month or two. Honestly, I can see why some cultures have multigenerational housing arrangements! It's four sets of adult eyes to watch the kids, and extra companionship for the adults in the evenings. Besides that, when we have a two year old screaming, crying melt down, there's an extra reserve of experience and patience in the house. I try to cook most evenings when I get home from work and it's been nice to have a real family-style meal with Madigan on most weeknights. I can actually say I'm enjoying living with my parents and I think Brett can say the same. (Would my parents agree? Hmm...) That still doesn't negate the fact that we plan on moving out when the right place opens up. :)

Besides that, I'm loving my new job. I know I'm still in the "honeymoon" phase, but I think it's a great fit for me. I haven't regretted the job-change once yet! I got to meet "my" surgeon- the doctor that I'll be solely dedicated to working for- and I definitely got good vibes from her. I know that the 30 mile commute will get more tedious in the winter months, but for now it's been great time to clear my head and "process"! Brett's also loving his new job as well, and feels like he's in a job he could retire from in 40 years.

We are excited for the next few months to work themselves out and get us more settled. 2010 has been a year full of big changes- and I have a feeling that the wild ride of the "unexpected" is just beginning for us....

Where do I begin?

Sheesh, it seems like I haven't blogged about "real" stuff in a long time- where to begin?

Maybe with our move across state borders...

A few months ago, I applied (on a whim) for a job in a cardio-thoracic surgeon's office. I had 2 interviews to follow, and was offered the job! We relocated to Kansas, where Brett was also hired as a loan officer. Madigan started daycare full time this week, Brett & I are both working and getting into the swing of things. This move back "home", our new jobs- it's all seems to be working out with some new, exciting plans that we have for our family... ;)

My brother is being deployed to Kuwait. This is his second tour in the middle east, and we are praying every day for his safe return! I captured this picture of Madigan kissing him at his deployment ceremony, and it just fills my heart every time I see it :

I love her squished up nose and her fist-full-of-face. I entered it into the pixel perfect blog's annual photo contest. If it even makes it to the point where you can vote for it, I'll post a link.

I also found out that several of my "in real life" friends actually read this blog! Hello, Friends! Feel free to comment... :)

IHF: Orchards

Week 42 at i heart faces theme is "In the Orchard" and boy are we sure lucky!

That trip to the apple orchard paid off in photography and in apples.

Madigan was SO excited when we visited- she has been to several "farms" and so it seemed natural for her little brain to call this place an "Apple Farm"!

She walked so slowly up and down the rows of trees, and finally picked a big apple off a bottom limb and bit right in!

I love this picture because you can see the little smile on her face, the full cheeks, and the juice running down her chin. As soon as she could speak, she said "It's so... juicy!"

I know at age two, she's still too young to be able to remember this day herself, but it will be one of my "forever memories" of her childhood.

Click on over to i heart faces to check out the other entries this week!

PP Before/After Hop

I (obviously) love photography blogs, I love learning everyone's techniques and getting ideas from other photographers to use in my own practice. One blog I always read, Pixel Perfect, hosts a before/after blog hop that I love to look at but rarely (if ever?) have participated. The concept is to post your straight out of the camera shot, then your edited shot with an explanation of how you got the finished product. The one I'm posting today is a six-month old and his parents. It was one of the first "Fall" days and I felt like I could either "edit out" the tiniest bit of sun flare in the upper left corner, or work it to make it "feel like fall". Here's the "before":

I used PSE 6 and a Pioneer Woman action called "Sunshine" (you can download it FREE from her, by the way!) to get this result:

I feel like it warms up the shot and gives it that Autumn feeling that I remember from that day's photo shoot!

Picture Post

"If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm."