Wordless Wednesday: Self Portrait

Little Boys . . .

. . . are a world of fun.

The Little Red Coat

A "Berry" Special Girl is turning 3!

This morning I did a mini-photo shoot with Naomi because she is turning 3 in a little over 2 weeks! I think the photos really captured her personality right now :). She is a little ray of sunshine in our family and we are so blessed to have her. She has grown up sooo much this past year we find it hard to believe that she is "still" 2 for a couple more weeks. She seems so much older than that to us and everyone who knows her, but she will always be our baby girl! Love you Nomie Bug!

And here is the invitation! Cool thing is I have photos from my 3rd birthday and it was a Strawberry Shortcake party too! Maybe you'll be seeing those photos pop up on the blog soon....

Elijah Lukas - 1 week old photos

When Jesus gave you to us
We loved you from the start
You were just a bit of sunshine
From Heaven to our hearts


Not just another baby
For since the world began
He had a special purpose
for you in His plan

That's why God made you special
You're the only one of your kind
He gave you a body
and a bright, healthy mind


He has a special purpose
That He wanted you to find
That's why God made you special
You're the only one of your kind! *

I had so much fun taking this little guy's pictures, especially with my new camera. He was so sleepy and cuddly I didn't have to take many. In fact, I was planning on trying a couple other poses, but these came out exactly how I wanted so I stopped while I was ahead ;). I also enjoyed making our announcement/New Year's card (skipped the Christmas cards this year for obvious reasons) and I love how it turned out. Happy to share these here now! Hard to believe he is 3 weeks old today, and has already changed so much since these photos were taken! Trying to cherish and savor each and every moment of his little life!

(*Lyrics are from a song our friend, Lydia, taught us and sang to Riley as a baby when he was first born. Since then I have sung it to all my special babies :)...)

An Early Christmas Present!

Sorry, no it's not the baby quite yet, although I do wish I could say otherwise. Contractions are consistently 10 min apart during the day (probably closer at night, but I'm not timing). Thankfully, with the tylenol I am able to get some sleep. (At least we are in the final week!) Thanks everyone for all the encouragement, prayers and thoughts. Even though I may not be able to respond personally to everyone, it does make a big difference to feel cared about when things are not exactly going as planned, at least in my book ;) and I appreciate each and every one of you who have taken the time to let me know.

Brad surprised me Thursday night by giving me an early Christmas present from him and my family (THANK YOU everyone!!!). He said being at the hospital made him realize we weren't ready to have the baby yet, because even though he had brought it with him he had an epiphany that we didn't even know how to use it, or if it even came with batteries and everything, LOL!

I LOVE it!!! I have been researching cameras for a loooong time now and narrowed it down to a couple that were reasonably priced, but maxed out on features with great reviews. He ended up getting me my favorite one, the Canon SX20 IS, which I have been having a lot of fun with over the last couple days :).

I would love to have a nice digital SLR someday, but the price tag is just too high for now, and so I found a few point and shoot cameras that seemed like a happy medium with all the awesome features they come with, as well as many adjustable settings that you get with an SLR. Plus, check out the ZOOM on this baby! It has a 20x zoom built in and comes with the lens hood!!!

I love the LCD flip screen that you can use in several different positions, and did I mention that it takes High-def video? Cool!

I also had some money saved up that I was planning on using toward buying a camera myself (because I was honestly not expecting to receive one as a gift!), so I had a fun little shopping spree on Etsy for some accessories that I cannot wait to get! I bought this funky, fun reversible padded camera strap that will be great for carrying it around with me. I do NOT want to be dropping this baby!


And I bought this gorgeous padded, waterproof camera bag! I can't wait to get it so I can stop carrying my camera around in the box :), plus it's so pretty!

So thank you to everyone who pitched in - I am already loving it and can't wait to take lots of great photos of my new sweet boy and his big brother and sister!

iHeart Faces: No Flash

This week's category over at iHeartFaces is No Flash. I was going to choose an outdoor photo, but then I remembered I took a series of photos for Naomi's 2 year photos by the window in our stairwell using only the natural light from the window. It was pretty experimental for me to turn the flash off indoors. They came out kind of grainy, but it was fun to try it. Here is one of those photos.


Check out iHeartFaces for many more gorgeous {No Flash} photos this week!

iHeart Faces: Creative Crop

This week's category over at iHeartFaces is Creative Crop. I was excited to see they are allowing beginners to join in the fun with all the amateurs and experts! I took this photo, which is one of my favorites, when I was about 8 months pregnant with Naomi. Riley was cuddling with my baby bump and I had the camera on my desk and was able to capture this sweet moment.

Here is my creative crop:


Here is the original:Be sure to head over there to check out all the great photos from this week!

I Heart Faces: Messy

There is a really fun photography blog I discovered a few months ago called iHeartFaces. I love looking at everyone's beautiful photo submissions on there - very inspiring! Since they started a beginner's category (and I qualify as a beginner with my dinky little point and shoot that I can pretty much use to just point and shoot), I decided to join in this week! The theme is "Messy" and with Naomi's birthday coming up at the end of the week, I decided to contribute this photo from her birthday last year.

I guess she wasn't super messy in this picture, but apparently I am more concerned about cleaning up my children when they are messy than I am about taking their picture because I didn't have many options LOL.

Maybe that is a photo skill I need to work on :).

I would love to learn some tips on how to improve my photos by editing other than the basics (cropping, red eye, etc). I played around with the contrast on this, but that's pretty much the limit of what I can do.

You’re a beginner if you can answer yes to 3 or more of these questions...
• Have you recently started taking photos or taking photography more seriously?
I've been taking pictures for a long time, but have always been pretty limited by my camera. I currently have a point and shoot and I'm not even sure it has any special settings on it. If it does I have no idea where they are! I'm getting really serious about purchasing a professional grade camera within the next year if I can save up enough for it!
• Do you have NO idea how your camera works yet?
I can point and shoot with it. That's it.
• Are your skills average or below average?
I would say average, but definitely below average based on the great submissions I've seen on your site!
• Are you clueless when we talk about Aperture?
I have no clue what that is or how to say it.
• You don't even know what editing means.... let alone have an editing program for your photos?
I do have Paint Shop Pro X and use that more for graphic design. I'd love to learn how to use it for photo editing beyond the basics. Usually when I play around they turn out looking awful!
• Are you willing to be open for constructive criticism from the other participants?
Yes! I'd love to learn all I can about how to be a better photographer!

Be sure to head over to iHeartFaces and check out all of the beautiful entries from the week!