Momarazzi Chronicles

On The Spot Studio!

2010-08-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

On The Spot Studio is having a awesome sale and giveaway right now to celebrate her new site and products. Take a look! http://blog.onthespotstudio.com/updates/

I Heart Pets!

2010-06-28T03:21:00.000-07:00

So, we don't have any pets. My husband and I and now our son are allergic to cats and dogs. I'm not really into fish, and hamsters, well, they remind me too much of mice. *Shudder*

Thankfully the ladies at I Heart Faces is allowing us to post a picture of any animal. So in honor of my daughter's most favorite animal, I have chosen this horse. ;-) He's a pet, just not our pet.

Click to enlarge.

I Heart Babies!

2010-06-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

It's baby week over at I Heart Faces and I couldn't have picked a better week to come back! I am loving the idea of newborn photography. I just wish I knew more pregnant ladies! For this week's challenge I am including a photo of the lovely Miss M. She is the niece of one of my good friends. Enjoy!

IHeartFaces - Collage

2010-04-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

My Collage submission is of the gorgeous flowers we saw this past weekend. I have a new favorite flower and it is Foxglove. Absolutely gorgeous! My son leaned in for a quick smell. Click to enlarge.

Fix It Friday - Little Cutie

2010-04-02T04:34:00.000-07:00

This week at iheartfaces the Fix-It Friday is a little beauty and her doll baby. I used Florabella's Vintage Wine action and then added her linen texture. Super simple this week! Click to enlarge images.

Original:

My edit:

iheartfaces - Dramatic B&W

2010-03-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

Life is crazy right now. My mom's cancer has progressed and she is dealing with many issues and is in and out of the hospital. That has put this blog on the backburner. It's actually put photography on the backburner. I still love entering the iheartfaces challenges though so I wanted to stop by with this week's photo.

This is my son looking in the front door waiting for me to get boots on his sister. He wanted to play in the snow really bad! Lol! Click to enlarge.

iheartfaces - Angles

2010-03-22T05:27:00.000-07:00

This week at iheartfaces the challenge is angles. Sometimes I try really hard to get an angle that is new and different. Unfortunately what I envision usually doesn't display on the picture. However, the photo I chose for this week is one that I really enjoy. It is a photo of my daughter on a carousel horse. Let me know what you think! Click to enlarge.

iheartfaces - Bundled Up

2010-03-15T04:26:00.000-07:00

Where I live, we have had more than a couple chances to "bundle up" this winter. This winter we had three major snowstorms. All three had 18+ inches of snow. Our last one was the beginning of February and there is still snow laying in the yards. This is after having five days of mid-50-degree weather!

Here is my submission for the iheartfaces Bundled Up Challenge. Click to enlarge.

iheartfaces Fix It Friday - Pinball

2010-03-12T05:08:00.000-08:00

Pinball can be a mesmerizing game to watch. The lights and the sounds are probably too much for a child to pass up. Such is the case with this week's Fix It Friday by Amy Pinney.

I will try and go through the steps I took but sometimes I make so many changes that I forget what I did.

Original:

My edit:

1. Used levels and curves to adjust exposure.
2. Cropped.
3. Cloned to take the blue shirt out of the corner.
4. Used the Florabella Cappuccino texture.
5. Cropped a bit more.
6. Used the magnetic lasso at 5feather to select her face.
7. Ran Gaussian blur so that I could get the color but not the actual texture on her face.
8. Dodged the eyes a bit to make them stand out more.
9. The green in the background was distracting me so I lassoed that and desaturated.
10. Touched up the face to make the green completely gone.

Jump for Joy - The cutting room floor.

2010-03-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the shots I took for the Jump for Joy challenge. All photos can be clicked and enlarged.

Oh right, it's iheartFACES not iheartMICKEYMOUSEUNDERPANTS.

Um, not even close to centered.

I debated between this one and the one of my husband.

The little princess needed her shot at iheartfaces fame.

Hmmmm, this is where burst would have been smart.

P.S. Don't you love that bridge? I can see some future photos being taken with that backdrop.

iheartfaces Challenge - Jump for Joy

2010-03-08T19:27:00.001-08:00

This week iheartfaces is Jumping for Joy! I am jumping for joy because I am finally starting to understand my camera in manual mode!! Yay for me!

I am also trying to take photos for the challenge instead of going through my folders and finding what I feel is the perfect shot. I have many pictures of my son jumping that I could have used but I really wanted to use my newfound "manual" skills and get a new shot.

So, here is my wonderful hubby jumping for joy. The poor guy was sick but obliged me in my quest to get a good shot. I took several this day and many of my son but I decided to go with this one. I like the contrast of the b&w conversion. Unfortunately I can't seem to fix the blown-out side of his face. Live and learn. To see outtakes from my attempts at Jumping for Joy, click here.

Click to enlarge.

iheartfaces Fix It Friday - Garden Baby

2010-02-26T05:54:00.000-08:00

It's another edition of fix-it Friday at iheartfaces. This week we have a beautiful little beach baby (oops, she was in a garden but it looks beachy to me. Lol!). To me, this photo just screamed sunbleached. I wish I could remember the steps I took but honestly, I just kept playing until I got it the way I wanted. I will attempt to tell you what I did.

Original:

First I cropped, adjust levels and curves, added the Florabella Milk & Honey overlay, adjusted to liking, then ran PW's seventies action, adjusted to liking and finally ran PW's Soft & Faded action.

Bubble Fun

2010-02-25T05:36:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get some good bubble pictures lately. Not entirely sure what exactly I'm looking for but Isabelle is having fun while I attempt to get it.

iheartfaces Challenge - Hands On

2010-02-22T01:34:00.000-08:00

For this week's iheartfaces challenge I decided to actually take a photo instead of looking through my past photos. That's the point, right? You'd think I would have done that many challenges ago!

Here is my daughter playing with a lovely glob of Play Doh. This was no ordinary glob, in my daughter's eyes this masterpiece was ........................ "poop". Nice.

Clickinmoms

2010-02-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

**I am not being paid by anyone mentioned below. This is just my opinion.**

I have heard of Clickinmoms many times on numerous blogs. It sounded neat but I was always torn by the fact that you have to pay. Not that these ladies shouldn't earn money from their idea, it's just that there is so much free information on the web that I couldn't justify the cost. (Even though it was only $50/year)

Enter Savvy Photography. She has a code on her site that will allow you 10% off a membership. On top of that, if you sign up through the link on her site, for a 6-month or 12-month membership, she will email you her Savvy Size Guide for free!

It was too good to pass up. I signed up for Clickinmoms through Savvy Photography, got my 10% off and within 12 hours she had set me the Savvy Size Guide.

To make this all even better, I have learned more information (Poor Man's Macro!!!) in the few minutes I have been on Clickinmoms than I have in all other forums. No lie. This site is awesome. I can't wait until I have time to delve into it more.

So check out Clickinmoms and Savvy Photography. You won't regret it.

iheartfaces Challenge - I Wanna Dance!

2010-02-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

My kids love dancing! I knew I had a great picture for the iheartfaces dancing challenge. My daughter, who had just turned two at the time, had a ball at my cousin's wedding last summer. She outlasted some of the adults! Here she is busting a move under the disco ball. If you look closely you can see her disgustingly-dirty-but-I-had-fun socks. Click to enlarge.

iheartfaces Fix It Friday

2010-02-12T06:41:00.000-08:00

It's Friday! I love Fix It Friday. I have so many of my own pictures to enhance but I don't know where to start. Fix It Friday at iheartfaces allows me to be creative while only worrying about one picture. Love it!

This week is a picture of a sweet little girl. I didn't do a whole lot to the picture. I played with leves and curves. Tried to hide some of the shadow on the right and then added some textures for fun. I sharpened the eyes and then did some dodging and burning to get a somewhat natural look. Does that make sense? I'm not wild about my crop though. I might have to figure something else out.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

Momarazzi Monday

2010-02-08T04:10:00.001-08:00

I always thought that Momarazzi Monday required "photos that aren't posed, just capturing real-life", to quote myself, but I also think it could be when I force my poor children to not play for 5 minutes so that I can get the photo I want.

Take this puddle for instance. It was from snow that had melted earlier in the day and all my poor kids wanted to do was play in the puddle and what was left from the pitiful snow. However, I could not resist the reflection I saw in the puddle.

1. Hey, your reflections look really cool. Can you guys stay still for a second so I can get a picture?

2. No, I need you to stay still. See the water, it's moving, I need it to be still. Just one more minute I swear.

3. Yay they stood still. But now their reflections look like zombies. Either that or children whose mother was crazy and if they wanted to play they better stay still for just a "second". ;-)

I Heart Faces Weekly Challenge - We ♥ Kisses

2010-02-08T04:04:00.000-08:00

This week at iheartfaces the challenge is all about loving kisses! Who doesn't love kisses from their kids? I especially loved when my babies were learning to kiss and gave those open-mouth kisses. So sweet. However, for this week's challenge I chose a picture of my two kids on their first Valentine's Day together. My son loves his sister and even as a baby he was constantly giving her smooches. Clearly, she wasn't always receptive to these gestures of sibling love. Lol.

Fix It Friday - Snowman

2010-01-29T07:44:00.000-08:00

This week at iheartfaces we have a photo of Angie's daughter with a little snowman. The background is the perfect backdrop for using texture!

Here is the original:

I changed the levels and curves, fiddled with saturation and then

added a ghost bokeh from Shadowhouse Creations.

Momarazzi Monday

2010-01-25T06:34:00.001-08:00

This is only the second time in my blog's history that I have done a Momarazzi Monday but it's fun and it's in the name so here is another installment. Momarazzi Monday is when I post photos that aren't posed, just capturing real-life.

Isabelle's first haircut. She did fantastic! I really didn't want to do it but she would get food in her hair and the knots were getting out of hand thus making her cry when it was time to brush.

She kept looking up to see herself so the hairdresser finally gave her a mirror to sit on her lap.

Alex got his hair cut also.

Towards the end she was done sitting still. She wanted down.

Trying to get a shot of her new do. I should have known better than to try and get it while Spongebob was on.

iheartfaces Challenge - Texture

2010-01-25T06:14:00.000-08:00

I love texture! Seriously. Hardly a day goes by that I'm not fiddling with texture on some photo involving my kids. However, I decided to go back to May 2007 for this week's iheartfaces challenge. It is of my daughter the day she came home from the hospital. The sheets on the hospital bed made for the perfect backdrop to play with texture. It was so fun playing with a picture I haven't seen in a while. Although we aren't having anymore children I have to admit that this picture made my heart swoon for another.

Fix It Friday - Family

2010-01-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

So this week at iheartfaces we have a Fix It Friday that has been on my mind all morning. The Zwart family has been given the news that the patriarch of the family has terminal cancer. Not just any cancer, leukemia.

Leukemia is a cancer that I know all too well. Twelve years ago my mom was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. She was 43. Thankfully her youngest brother was an exact match for a bone marrow transplant. She has had many residual effects of that leukemia but she lived. By God's grace, she survived. Now, here we are twelve years later and she has been diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer. She's 55. We've seen God's miracle once and we are praying for that miracle again for her.

I am now praying for that miracle for Jeff and his family. Please feel free to visit their sites and offer some encouraging words and/or prayers for this young family. Jeff's Caring Bridge site. Adrienne's Blog.

Here is the original photo:

Here is my edit. I cropped, adjust levels and curves, ran Pioneer Woman's seventies action and I was done. Again, please keep this beautiful family in your prayers.

Twelve on the Twelfth

2010-01-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

I'll get to my point in a minute but typing the word "twelfth" is really odd. It doesn't even look like a real word. Strange.

Anyway, I was reading The Daily Digi the other day and they were mentioning things that could be done instead of Project 365. I just don't think I could take a picture every day for a year. That is just too much pressure for me right now. However, twelve pictures on the twelfth of every month? Totally doable. So I looked at the 12 of 12 blog (that is no longer updated) and I decided to challenge myself.

This month I just focused on getting the twelve photos. I did ok but could have done better. Next month I'd like to focus on the actual photography part of it. Bettering my photography skills is one of the things I'd like to accomplish this year. Also, these are backwards. The bottom picture is morning and the top is evening. I just don't feel like rearranging them.

So here are my twelve photos from January 12, 2010:

My hubby wearing his sunglasses on his forehead. Cracks me up.

Alex using his corn as a golden tooth. Dinner for the kids was rotisserie chicken and corn.

Isabelle refused to take her coat off to eat dinner. Whatever floats her boat.

My awesome hubby making our dinner. Greek salad with rotisserie chicken. Yum!

Alex waiting in the car while Ben was in the Sears Tire Center pricing tires.
My car had a blowout earlier in the weekend.

Hmmm. Ok, I had a picture of the kids' dentist door on here

but since it listed name, address and phone I decided to take it down.

But it is part of my twelve.

Isabelle after dropping the kids off at school.

My son is allergic to peanuts and I'm just not ready for him to ride the bus to school. We drive him the three minutes to school every morning. The taller boy in the back is my nephew. He lives up the street and sometimes misses the bus. When he does, he hitches a ride with us. Today happened to be one of those days.

School supplies waiting to go in the backpack.

Who doesn't like to bust-a-move after breakfast?? Lol!

My beautiful girly in her "sweet" pajamas.

Dropping a rubber ball down the stairs. My son loves that we live in a split level.

Storytelling Saturday

2010-01-16T04:53:00.001-08:00

Blogger isn't letting me upload my Storytelling Saturday picture. I'll try again later.

iheartfaces Challenge - Best Face Photo

2010-01-10T05:51:00.000-08:00

The iheartfaces Challenge this week is Best Face Photo. They are celebrating their one-year birthday! I have been a part of iheartfaces since August of 2009. I'm so sorry I didn't know about them sooner, I love the site. So without further chitchat I submit my photo for this week. This is a photo of my son on New Year's Eve. I take a photo of my kids on the last day of the year, every year. I decided to do a closeup this year as well. Worked out well for this challenge!Also, his eyes really are that blue. I did not change the color at all. People have always commented on his baby blues since he was, well, a baby! I think they're absolutely stunning. He gets them from his daddy.

Storytelling Saturday

2010-01-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

Storytelling Saturday is when I randomly choose a picture from my picture folders and then tell the story behind the picture. Sometimes pictures aren't always so self-explanatory.

Below is a photo of Isabelle when she was 7-months-old. She was just learning to sit by herself in the tub. Her brother was dumping water on her head and she didn't mind at all. I love the way this picture captures the droplets falling from her head and that not-quite-clean-yet face. Also, her and her brother have amazing eyelashes. Mine, not so much. They must have gotten that from their daddy!

Fix It Friday - Birthday

2010-01-08T04:46:00.001-08:00

This week's Fix It Friday celebrates I Heart Faces one-year anniversary!

Here is the original photo:

I wanted to focus on the child and decided that black-and-white with a splash of color was the best way to accomplish that. I ran Pioneer Woman's B&W Beauty action and then used a layer mask to highlight the candle. I hoped by doing this it would distract the eye from the cup in the foreground.

Christmas!

2010-01-04T06:38:00.001-08:00

Christmas was fun this year. Rushed as always but fun! Here are some momarazzi photos from our holiday.

When my son was four my grandmother bought him a suit for Christmas. He thought it was the best thing ever! This is the third Christmas that she has bought him a suit and he still loves opening the gift and modeling his new clothes! Mr. GQ.

While shopping at Kohl's a few days before Christmas I found this dress for Isabelle and her baby, Mary. Even though the dress was not my all-time favorite, I had to have it because her and her baby would match. They look adorable together!!

Every Christmas Eve the kids get new jammies. Usually they match but the time has come that their sizes no longer jive with matching jammies. So this year they got jammies that represent our trip to Disney. Even though Spongebob isn't necessarily Disney, we did see him at Universal Studios on our vacation.

Since Thanksgiving the only thing Isabelle asked for was a dollhouse. I guess it was good that I had already planned on giving her my dollhouse from my childhood. My grandfather made me this dollhouse for my second birthday. That was 31 years ago!! My husband sanded, painted and put new hardware on this house that my daughter now can call her own. I love that.

Alex's number one wish for Christmas was an electric guitar. Santa came through and brought him one with a built-in amp. It's not too loud, thus making mom and dad very happy!

I Heart Faces Themed Photos

2010-01-03T12:58:00.001-08:00

I Heart Faces is one-year-old this month!! To celebrate they are having a special contest. We need to present photos that naturally or electronically shows their I Heart Faces name/logo. I'm all about the computer so I used their logo and ran with it. Below are my five submissions for this awesome week!!

“I am submitting these photos into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photo for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.”

Hilarious Outtakes

2010-01-02T04:52:00.000-08:00

Brooke from Dinkypops No More chose the photo of my husband in my grandmother's wig as her third place I Heart Faces Hilarious Outtakes winner. Thank you Brooke! And thank you to my hubby who didn't care that I was posting that less-than-stellar photo of him for all of you to see!

Here is what Brooke had to say:

Third Place:

Momarazzi Chronicles
I was sitting on the couch looking through entries, when my husband leaned over, peaked at my computer, and said "Now that one is funny!". I couldn't agree more and giggle each time I think of this guy sporting grandma's wig.

My New Blog

2010-01-01T08:36:00.001-08:00

http://adisorganizedlife.blogspot.com/

I ♥ Faces Challenge - Hilarious Outtakes

2009-12-29T05:09:00.000-08:00

This week at I Heart Faces the theme is Hilarious Outtakes. I have quite a few from this holiday season. Below are three of my favorites and a bit of an explanation! Lol!

On Thanksgiving my family found my grandmother's old wig. We all took turns trying on the wig. This is my husband in the wig getting ready to say something to me. I snapped the picture and this is the result! Lol! I've been told he looks like The Church Lady.

This is my son's attempt at being Rudolph, a red Christmas light up his nose.

My daughter showing off her makeup techniques. She found my mascara and figured out how to open it and swipe it across her pretty little eye.

Check out I Heart Faces for more funny photos!

Fix It Friday

2009-12-11T07:28:00.001-08:00

This week's I Heart Faces Fix-It Friday is a little different. No cute kid faces this week, nope, today we have a rough and tumble cowboy! This photo is so cool. I wanted to make it look a little rustic. A little old. A little vintage. So here is my take on this awesome picture!

The original:

My take invovled a crop, then some curve and level adjustments followed by Pioneer Woman's Heartland action with some adjustments to those layers. Finally I topped it off with a texture from Florabella textures:

I ♥ Faces Challenge - Sweet Dreams

2009-12-07T04:07:00.000-08:00

The challenge this week at I Heart Faces is Sweet Dreams. Since I rarely take pictures of my hubby sleeping I knew I wanted a picture of one of the kids. Then I remembered a picture of Isabelle and I when she was a newborn. She had just fallen asleep and I told her "Sweet Dreams Princess". I still say that to her to this day but now it's "Sweet Dreams Princess Belle", she loves that.

Storytelling Saturday on Sunday It snowed!!

2009-12-06T05:55:00.000-08:00

I'm having a ball taking snow pictures this morning! Once I'm done taking pictures for the day I will be uploading some. Until then here is one of my favorites from earlier this year.

Alex had just thrown a snowball (snowdust?) and I captured the "explosion" leaving his hand. It's one of my favorite snow photos.

Fix-It Friday

2009-12-04T07:39:00.000-08:00

This week at I Heart Faces we have a sweet little boy named Bennett. For whatever reason I love editing others' photos more than my own. Odd isn't it? I guess it's not that I don't like editing my photos, it's just that there are so many I don't know where to start. Fix-It Friday lets me do one and not have to worry about any others, that must be why I like it so much!

Here is the original: He is so cute!!

For my edit, I used curves to fix some of the colors. Then I added a few textures from the Florabella Texture collection and then went through the blending modes until I found what I liked.

Thankful Thursday

2009-12-03T06:11:00.001-08:00

I'm thankful for these three beautiful human beings. They bless me every day!

You Capture - Food

2009-12-01T13:17:00.001-08:00

This Week at I Should Be Folding Laundry the theme is food. I wanted to capture the Cinnamon Roll Bread I made Thanksgiving morning. Unfortunately it wasn't that tasty and the blue icing my son wanted didn't make it look very appetizing but at least I captured our breakfast on this day of food.

Cancer Part 2

2009-12-01T06:01:00.001-08:00

Yesterday it was confirmed that my mom has esophageal cancer. It's apparently a rare form but the doctor is confident that it's treatable. My mom seems to be handling this news with the same grace she did the first time she was diagnosed with cancer. It's ironic actually. Twelve years ago this month she had a bone marrow transplant to kill the leukemia she was diagnosed with four months earlier. It worked. Her doctor said that if she could beat the type of leukemia she had before then she can beat this cancer.

This news is really crappy to hear but even moreso during the holiday season. I'm just storming heaven with prayers that her PET scan on Friday shows no metastasis to other organs. If it does, we have a big problem. So for now I'm going to keep praying that it hasn't spread. I need my mom. My sister and brother need my mom. My dad needs my mom. My kids need their grandmother. She's a blessing to us all.

In honor of my mom, I have gathered some of my favorite photos of her.

I ♥ Faces Challenge - We ♥ Tooshies!

2009-11-29T15:49:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love little baby tooshies?!? I guess there are some grown up tooshies we love too but for this challenge I thought I'd focus on the baby. In our house that would be Isabelle. The photo I chose for this challenge is of 12-month-old Isabelle's tooshie decorated with clothespins courtesy of her brother. That was a year-and-a-half ago and it's still never a dull moment in this house!

Cancer

2009-11-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

So I dropped my mom off at the hospital yesterday for an endoscopy. She has been have trouble eating and swallowing. We hoped it was just heartburn. Our hopes were dashed.

It's esophageal cancer. The prognosis is not good. We don't have all the specifics yet. An ultrasound of the esophagus is scheduled for Monday and a PET scan is scheduled for December 11. The PET scan will tell us if the cancer has spread to other organs.

This is her second battle with cancer. Twelve years ago this December she had a bone marrow transplant for leukemia. Her road has not been easy since then but she was cancer-free. Now here we are and this time she is facing an evil that will not be as kind. She's only 55. Please, if you are the praying type, we could use some prayers for her. Prayers for quick reports and quick treatment.

My Black Friday Plan of Attack

2009-11-23T06:55:00.000-08:00

Twitter Moms and Target are hosting another great giveaway! If I could shop at Target every day I would. No lie. My husband would probably divorce me so I don't. ;-)

This Black Friday I plan to be at Target at 5am. It's inevitable that I will find something there worth getting up early for.

After Target I will hit Toys R Us. I'm on the hunt for a dollhouse and I'm pretty sure there will be at least one on sale that day.

After Toys R Us I will probably head to the craft stores. A.C. Moore and Michael's are in the same shopping center so I can hit both at the same time.

I will then pick up my kids from my mom's house and we will all go to breakfast. Just like we have the last three years.

I love Black Friday!!

I ♥ Faces Challenge - Sun Flare

2009-11-23T04:28:00.000-08:00

The I Heart Faces Challenge this week is Sun Flare. Let me tell you, it was a huge challenge for me. I tried every setting I could possibly think of to get those beautiful rays and I just couldn't do it. Below is the best I could get. Please keep reading after the picture for a request from me.

I am asking for help from the wonderful I Heart Faces readers. What can I do? I shot for 2 hours yesterday trying to figure it out and I couldn't. I live on the east coast and it was around 2:30 when I started. The above photo was taken around 4:30.

I have a ton of pictures that have a huge white blob on the side. I have read the tutorials and kept my f-stop on a high number, usually hovering around f/22 or so. I also tried to position myself where I could see the rays and I could see them in the viewfinder but when I snapped the picture it was white. Either the whole picture was white or the side of the picture was white. I shoot with a Nikon D80 and used the kit lens.

The Exif for this photo is:
f/16 - one of the lower ones I tried.
Exposure - 1/200sec
ISO - 1600
Focal Length - 58mm

When I shot this same photo with the above information but at 1/50sec the top was extremely white and the subjects were brighter. Here is a screen shot of a few I took.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Amy

Storytelling Saturday

2009-11-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you tell a beautiful little 17-month-old to give the pumpkin a kiss.

You Capture

2009-11-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

I Should Be Folding Laundry is a blog that I have skipped over to a couple times. I am always interested in her "You Capture" series. This week it is Sunrise/Sunset. I would love to post a picture from today but it is rainy and dreary. However, I have the perfect photo for this theme. It was captured this past August right in our backyard. It was the most amazing sunset I have ever seen in my life. The rays were amazing! Well, here, see for yourself! These are completely unedited, SOOC. Click for a larger look.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-18T04:35:00.000-08:00

I ♥ Faces Challenge - Autumn Beauty

2009-11-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

The challenge this week over at I Heart Faces is "Autumn Beauty". Seeing as we usually do a Fall Photo Shoot as a family I knew I had a great shot for this challenge. This is Alex sitting in a pile of leaves at my mother-in-law's house. She has an abundance of leaves this time of year and it's a lot of fun taking pictures there.

Click photo to enlarge.

Super Beautiful November Sunday

2009-11-15T13:56:00.000-08:00

It was so beautiful here. So not typical for this area in November. My kids had fun playing outside with their dad while I went on a little photography trip on my own. A little time to myself. It was topped off with a trip to Target. Total Bliss!

After I got home and Isabelle woke up from her nap we went back outside. Again, it was total bliss! Lol! Being outside with no shoes on and playing around. Totally fun!

Storytelling Saturday

2009-11-14T05:35:00.001-08:00

During a trip to the park this past July, we spotted some geese getting ready to get into the pond. They were headed across the pond to a family that was throwing bread pieces to the geese. Alex thought this was very interesting and decided to walk with them. This picture makes me laugh. He looks like he is pay extra attention just in case one goose decides to go rogue and come at him!

I ♥ Faces Fix-It Friday

2009-11-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

It's Friday! I love Fix-It Fridays. This week we have one sweet looking little man. His big eyes are just adorable! I'm still obsessed with textures so I decided to use it for this photo. The clean background was fun to play around with.

Here is the original:

Here is my "fix":

Twitter Moms and Target Thanksgiving Traditions

2009-11-11T08:38:00.000-08:00

Twitter Moms and Target are hosting a contest! You simply have to tell us three Thanksgiving traditions you are or are planning on passing down to your children.

For us we do the following:

1. Snuggle on the couch and watch the parades. Get some popcorn and the remote and just flip back and forth between the channels. It's fun to see the different floats and acts the parades have.

2. Eat pumpkin pie with whipped cream! Yum-O! It's the only time we have pumpkin pie and my son loves to pile on the whipped cream!

3. Thankful Turkey feathers. I draw a turkey and then about ten days before Thanksgiving I add construction paper feathers to his back listing the things we are thankful for. It makes a great little decoration for Thanksgiving!

The Perfect "Momarazzi" Photo

2009-11-10T05:18:00.001-08:00

This is Isabelle at the park the other day. She is literally saying "no, mommy, no take my picture". Apparently I had pushed her too far and all she wanted to do was play on the playground. Ok, pumpkin butt, point taken.

But I did get these fun swing shots!

I ♥ Faces Fix-It Friday

2009-11-06T04:43:00.000-08:00

What a beauty we have today! I Heart Faces is hosting Fix-It Friday with a photo from Hotomom.

Here is the original.

Here is my take. I rotated the picture and then played with the curves and dodged the eyes a bit. I then ran PW's Seventies action and tweaked the contrast and brightness a bit so her face wasn't quite so bright.

Texture Tutorial Thursday

2009-11-05T04:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, the title is a little lame but it's all I could come up with. Feel free to offer some other alternative! I am seriously loving textures. They give you a freedom with your photos like you wouldn't believe. Just changing the layer style gives you a brand new picture, add to that a higher or lower opacity and you have a work of art! This is the photo I am going to work with today:

At this point you may want to go sign up (free) at CG Textures. I used their "PlasterWhiteDirty0054" texture for this tutorial. They have awesome textures, as many as you can think of!

Step 1. Open your photo in Photoshop.

Step 2. Now open your texture. Using the move tool, drag your texture onto your photo. If it does not cover the whole photo, drag the transform controls so that it does. You can do this quickly by dragging diagonally.

Step 3. In your layers panel, choose a style from the drop-down menu on the left. I usually start with overlay. Now my photo looks like this:

Step 4. Change the opacity of the texture layer. I like this texture but it was still a little too harsh for me. I dropped the opacity to 75% so the photo now looks like this:

Step 5. I wanted the prominent, open flowers in the front to have a little more pop. So, on the texture layer I added a layer mask. That is the square with the cirlcle in it at the bottom of the layers panel. Now, making sure that your foreground color is black, paint the open flowers. This takes away the texture on the flowers. You can change the opacity of your brush if you want to leave a little of the texture on the flowers. For this photo I left it at 100%. You'll notice I did the mask on the right side of this flower. This was for demonstration purposes so you could see what the mask does.

Here is the final product.

Did I miss something important? Do you have any questions? Please feel free to ask. I have never done a tutorial before but I know that some people really enjoy seeing textures and have wondered how to use them.

WFMW - Christmas Traditions

2009-11-04T07:39:00.000-08:00

It's Works For Me Wednesday over at We are THAT Family!

It is so easy to get caught up in the craziness of the holidays that you lose touch with what is really important. I have a few traditions with my kids that keep us connected and give us time at home to enjoy each other. These are the traditions that I'd like to keep throughout the years, the ones that I hope my kids will pass down to their children.

Paper ring countdown. I have a small tree that I decorate with a paper ring garland. Each day starting December first the kids take a ring off the tree and do what I have written inside. Sometimes it's reading a Christmas story, watching a Christmas movie or singing carols around the tree. My son looks forward to this every year.

Graham Cracker houses. I do not have the patience to make real gingerbread for a house. So we use graham crackers and icing to create houses. Again, my son loves this. Isabelle helped last year but this year she will be making her own!

We have a small nativity for the kids that I got at our local Berean store. It helps keep the true meaning of Christmas alive. Each day for seven days you read a part of the Christmas story, then you take out the box and place the character in the nativity. The kids love having a nativity they are allowed to touch!

This tradition is not for my kids but it is something my family enjoys doing every year. We hold what is fondly known as The Cousin's Christmas Tour. My mom's cousins get together around the first Sunday in December and we meet at my house where my husband has made a delicious meal. We then travel to each participating cousin's house so that we can see their tree and decorations. It's always a fun day and we end with dessert. I love this tradition and hope it stays alive for when my daughter is my age.

Toys for Tots. Each year I take my son to the local Dollar Store and let him pick out 20 toys to donate to Toys for Tots. I explain to him that there are children who don't have much on Christmas and this way their mommies and daddies can get them gifts. Thankfully he hasn't asked why Santa doesn't bring the kids gifts.

I think that's about it. I love finding new traditions for my kids. What do you do?

I have how many Disney pictures???

2009-11-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

All together, I have about 1200 pictures and videos to go through from Disney. How crazy is that? I took my Nikon to the parks, the water camera to the pool, my dad's Flip Video to the park's and my dad's small Kodak mini golfing. On top of that, I let Alex use my old Kodak digital camera at some of the parks.

If that weren't bad enough, I uploaded my MIL's SD card to my computer and she had 1000 pictures. I whittled that folder down to just 195 photos.

I have no idea when I will actually be done going through my Disney stuff but I really wanted to get some pictures up here.

This photo was overexposed so I tweaked it a little to look animated. It looks much better this way.

My guys in their matching t-shirts.

Really big slush drinks at the T-Rex cafe.

The famous Mickey ice cream pop.

What a princess looks like after eating said ice cream pop.

My Red Bubble Store

2009-11-03T06:12:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned here a couple times about my love of using textures on photos. I have decided to open a Red Bubble store to showcase some of my photos. I am mostly interested in selling notecards but I have dabbled with a few mousepads also. We'll see how this pans out. Please visit this link and let me know what you think!

http://camerainhand.redbubble.com/

I ♥ Faces Challenge - Balloons

2009-11-02T03:21:00.000-08:00

This week at I Heart Faces the challenge is balloons. I knew that I had some great balloon photos from Alex's birthday party in February. Here he is looking through the snowflake balloon my mom brought him and Isabelle.

Storytelling Saturday

2009-10-31T06:43:00.001-07:00

A little before Mother's Day this year, Alex disappeared into the toy room and told me he was working on some craft projects. Apparently he was creating some crafts for me for Mother's Day. This is him sitting in front of the gifts he gave me. At school he drew a picture of the two of us and put it on a piece of construction paper to form a frame. I loved getting this one-of-a-kind gifts from my sweet boy. He may drive me batty sometimes but he sure is a sweetie!

Fix It Friday - Halloween Fairy

2009-10-30T15:44:00.001-07:00

For my first post since getting home from Disney, I am doing I Heart Face's Fix It Friday! Today we have a sweet little fairy.

Original:

My edit involved a crop, texture overlay and some color tweaks.

Disney!

2009-10-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

We are in Disney right now so I have not been able to update my blog the way I would have liked. I'm bummed that I am missing the I Heart Faces Challenge this week but I am excited to be on vacation with my family.

We have been on a train (the auto train) and to Sea World and Universal Studios theme park and I have taken 650 pictures!! I will be spending a lot of time uploading when we get back. We haven't even made it to Magic Kingdom yet and that is what I'm looking forward to the most.

I will be back to my blogging self this coming weekend. We leave on the auto train for home on Thursday afternoon and will arrive home some time early Friday afternoon.

Pioneer Woman Chose my Photo!!

2009-10-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

The textured assignment Ree hosted the other day had three winners. My photo was in the second set and she chose my horse photo from the second set. Oh my good gravy I can't even tell you how excited I am! I am floored. All the entries were so amazing. I am so honored and humbled to be chosen by such a great woman! Oh my, I am just on cloud 9 right now.

I ♥ Faces Challenge - Pink for Breast Cancer

2009-10-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

My photo this week is very special to me. While my mom has not battled breast cancer, she has battled leukemia. When she was 43 (1997) she was diagnosed with AML. Three months later her youngest brother (she is one of five children) donated marrow for her to have a bone marrow transplant. While life has not been easy the past 11.5 years, she is here. She has seen my sister and I get married, she was in the room with my husband and I when my son was born and she kept my son when I went to the hospital to have my daughter.

Just a month ago she had her second hip replacement. The drugs she was on for her cancer and subsequent transplant rendered her hip bone useless. She is a trooper. She faces trials with a finesse that is enviable. She is amazing.

I can never explain in words how happy I am to have my mom still here with me. We are very close and my life would be so different had she not been in it these past 12 years. She is a wonderful mom, superfun nana and a great daughter. I love you mom, more than you know.

I captured this photo of her snuggling a newborn Isabelle. It's one of my favorites. I'm sure this week will feature many stories that will tug at your heart. Some good, some sad and many inspirational. Remember to check out the other entries at I Heart Faces.

My Photo Included in Pioneer Woman Assignments!

2009-10-18T12:22:00.001-07:00

Over at the Pioneer Woman photography page they hold assignments every once in a while. The most recent was an assignment to use textures. Since having bought the Florabella textures (Thank You!!) a few weeks ago I have been going crazy texturizing all sorts of photos. I submitted several photos to the assignment and low and behold one of them was featured on her site today! It is the sixth one down of a wild horse we saw while on vacation in February. I'm so excited to be featured on her site, I can't even tell you! Here is the photo that is featured:

Here is the original photo, it's amazing what a few tweaks in Photoshop and some textures can do to a photo!

Storytelling Saturday

2009-10-17T04:39:00.000-07:00

On Saturdays I like to open my Pictures file and randomly (with my eyes closed, ha!) choose a folder and then randomly (eyes closed again) choose a picture. Then, I write about what that picture was about. If you'd like to join me just leave a comment!

Very simple story today. Can you guess what food is causing my baby girl to make such an awful face? It's yellow. It has a peel. You can mush it up and make great baby food!

Yes, bananas caused Isabelle such angst. She was about 8-months-old in this photo. She is now almost 2.5 years and she still hates bananas. Can't even smell them! She's a funny girl!

I ♥ Faces Fix-It Friday

2009-10-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

It's another installment of Fix-It Friday Over at I Heart Faces. This week we have a beautiful little ballerina baby with a sweet little tutu and headband! Talk about sugar overload, this baby is so sweet!

Original:

Soft Version:

This edit involved a crop, some Pioneer Woman actions and some opacity fiddling. I really have to remember to write my steps down!

5 Minutes For Mom Silly Kid Contest

2009-10-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

Check this out! http://www.5minutesformom.com/8054/elefun-friends-silly-kids-photo-contest/

The picture below is of my son on his 6th birthday. My mom bought him these silly goggles and every time I see this picture I crack up. He looks so ridiculously cute!

Click to enlarge for an even heartier laugh!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-14T06:07:00.000-07:00

Momarazzi Monday (On Tuesday)

2009-10-13T05:38:00.000-07:00

Being a momarazzi sometimes requires stealth and swift movement. You know, so your kids don't know you have your camera. You're stalking them, checking them out, waiting in the wings until they do the cutest thing and then you leap out and snap away. Ok, maybe it doesn't quite work that way but I thought Momarazzi Monday would be a great way to show off the photos I've taken that required a little more than "Look at mommy", "Where's mommy's camera?" "Please, just look at me one time".

This week we have Isabelle caught in her baby doll's pack n' play. She was just sitting there holding her doll. Then when she turned around I noticed that she had her "nukie" in her mouth and that's why she was so quiet. She knows that the "nukie" is only for bedtime. Talk about being stealthy! That girl is already a pro.

I ♥ Faces Challenge - Excited!!

2009-10-12T01:39:00.001-07:00

We are excited over at I Heart Faces this week! The first picture that came to mind was this photo of my son on his sixth birthday. He was so excited have his family members sing to him. Especially when his cousin added the infamous new-age line of "cha cha cha" every every stanza.

Hope on over to I Heart Faces and see what the other particpants are excited about!

Storytelling Saturday (On Sunday)

2009-10-11T07:37:00.001-07:00

First off, my children have been known as "A" and "I" since I started this blog a few months (weeks?) ago. It is hard for me to remember to type that so even though we are losing a little more anonymity in the blogging world I wish to tell you that "A" is really Alex and "I" is really Isabelle. There I've said. It's like a load of my shoulders I tell ya. :-)

This week for Storytelling Saturday I randomly opened my May 2008 folder. I literally closed my eyes and swirled the mouse around until I landed on that folder. I'm a little wacky that way. Anyway, this photo was taken from Alex's first time mini-golfing. He was so excited. My mom and dad went with us and Grandpa was very happy to be taking his grandson on his first "golfing trip". We even went bowling after this but my baby girl was very sick. It was two days before her one-year birthday and she was sick with roseola. We didn't know it at the time but that's what it ended up being. So that's the story! Also, these were taken with a handheld Kodak that I didn't really care for. I have since gotten my Nikon D80 and love it!

What is your story? Find a picture or two and let us know in the comments!

I ♥ Faces Fix-It Friday

2009-10-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

It's another wonderful Friday! That means I ♥ Faces is holding another Fix-It Friday. Last week was a special Critique Friday and although I got some wonderful advice, I really missed "fixing" a photo. This week we have a beautiful little guy that Kim from My Family's Circus submitted. Her nephew is adorable!

I prefer to leave my pictures of children as they were. While others might see the food on his face as flaws, I see them as the little boy was at this stage in his life. Kids are messy, no doubt about that. So I didn't patch the flecks on his nose or cheek. I wanted to leave them there. I think they're cute. I loved the photos the contributors did and I will admit that taking the food away made for an amazing portrait, but I'm just a mom who likes to leave the food there. Lol! Enjoy!

My version:

Original:

Travel Tuesday

2009-10-06T10:00:00.001-07:00

Today I went on a hunt. A hunt for some good fall pictures. Unfortunately where I live, the trees are not at peak color. However, I was in the mood for a photo shoot so I gathered up my daughter and off we went in search of, well, something. We drove to a spot where I thought I might get some good shots but decided against it. I'm not real fond of walking into the woods by myself so I decided to drive some more and see where I end up. I really wanted to find a body of water so I could get some reflection shots.

As I drove I saw a sign for a Hiking Trail that included a lake. Hurray! Even better, it had a playground where my daughter could run off some the energy that had been pent up in the car.

Here are some shots from my impromptu travels today! Click to enlarge.

Storytelling Saturday and a huge thank you!

2009-10-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

First of all, thank you so very much for all the comments on my last post. I truly appreciate it. I will be visiting you all leaving a thank you personally but I want you to know it means a lot to get your input!

The picture below was taken last year during our "fall photo shoot". It's an annual thing we do at my mother-in-law's house. Come November she has a ton of leaves laying on the ground and it makes for great photos!

This particular photo always makes me laugh. "A" was throwing leaves and decided it would be fun to throw them at daddy. Daddy was not so thrilled but still allowed his cute son to do it. The joy on "A"'s face makes the shot. Granted my husband's face all wriggled up is funny too but I love that you can feel the glee my son was feeling that day throwing leaves at his pop!

Constructive Feedback Friday

2009-10-02T05:21:00.000-07:00

Today at I Heart Faces they are doing Constructive Feedback Friday. As we all know Constructive Criticism is sometimes bad and sometimes good. It's how we all learn.

Above is my edited version done in CS4, the photo was taken in JPEG but I used Camera RAW for my edits. For whatever reason I got the background focused and not her. The colors still seem too "blue" for me. I would love a way to have it focus on her even though it's not in focus and still look good.

Exif data:

Here is the original.

Wordless Wednesday - Chicken Head and Cheese Monster

2009-09-30T06:40:00.001-07:00

Click to enlarge.

I ♥ Faces Challenge - Blue

2009-09-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

It's time for another I Heart Faces challenge. This week is the color blue.

This is "A" during a bike ride this summer. I love how his blue helmet compliments his blue eyes and shirt. As a baby the first thing people noticed about him were his eyes. "My what blue eyes you have" was a common phrase when he was a baby. He still has amazing eyes and I can thank his handsome dad for those baby blues.

My Fix-It Friday #5

2009-09-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

This week at I Heart Faces we have "Wee Man" shot by his momma Catherine. She explains the reason the picture is dark and says that it is due to "Mommy Brain". As moms we sometimes suffer from this "mommy brain", it really should be an actual diagnosis! Lol! So below is my Fix-It of her cute little boy at the beach. I went a totally different way this week and turned the one picture into a watercolor. The other I played around with in camera raw until I found what I liked. I think the vignette is a bit much though. Hope you enjoy it!

The original:

Inspiration

2009-09-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

When you take photographs, inspiration can be found everywhere. The internet is also a great place to find inspiration. Today at I Heart Faces there is a great tutorial on textures. I have fallen in love with postprocessing photos with textures. Eventually I would love to make my own notecards or even prints. That is a dream that will hopefully come to fruition in the next couple years. I have lots more work to do before I can feel comfortable selling my photos.

The tutorial inspired me to play around with some textures I downloaded from Flickr. Below are two pictures I processed using different textures and opacities. Let me know what you think. I love honest criticism, even if it's bad! Lol! You can click the image to make it larger.

Wordless Wednesday - "Grace" falling on the Bouncy

2009-09-23T04:24:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge for a good chuckle!

New Blog

2009-09-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

I think I have mentioned more than once that I am overweight. I twitter about it, I complain about it but I don't do anything about it. Until now. Starting tomorrow I am going to blog about a commitment to not only losing weight but to getting my family and myself healthy. Follow me and if you feel so inclined, join me! So check out Losing it with Momarazzi tomorrow for an interesting post!

I ♥ Faces Challenge - Completely Candid

2009-09-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

This week at I ♥ Faces the photography challenge is Completely Candid. I sometimes forget that imploring my children to "smile" is kind of unnatural. While they have beautiful smiles, it's nice to catch them completely offguard and see a more natural side of them. This week I have chosen "A" playing with his sprinkler on a hot day. I'm not really sure what he was trying to achieve but it made a great photo-op for Momarazzi! Make sure you check out all the other wonderful entrants in this week's contest!

Click to enlarge!

Fix-Friday #4

2009-09-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

This is my fourth Fix-It Friday and again, we have one stunning model. Thanks to The Animator's Wife for such a great picture to work with! Below you will see my edit. The little girl's face was so beautiful that I wanted to focus on that. Enjoy!

The original shot:

"Mom"arazzi

2009-09-17T04:51:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that my love of photography must come from my dad. Had it been up to my mom, I don't think we'd have the amount of pictures from our childhood that we do. But my mom had three kids and a household to run. Not to mention the fact that I think you have to really love taking pictures in order for it to happen.

Anyway, my point to all of this is that my mom is going in for her second hip replacement this morning. I know that sounds like an "old" person's problem but my mom is only 55. She was diagnosed with leukemia at the ripe old age of 43. Medication taken after her lifesaving bone-marrow-transplant rendered her hip brittle. Thus the hip-replacement surgery. However, the doctor somehow misjudged the correct size and my mom has been going the last eight years with her one leg an inch shorter than the other. We are hoping this new surgery and new surgeon will fix that problem and allow her to walk normally. As many people know, cancer sucks. The repercussions of cancer can live with the patient long after they are "cured".

This is for my mom. I love her more than words can say.
P.S. You'll notice the flowers all around. My son decided to "set the stage" so to speak. How cool is he?!?!

Wordless Wednesday - SOOC

2009-09-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

I Heart Faces "Contemplative" Challenge

2009-09-13T20:36:00.001-07:00

It's time for another fun photo challenge over at I Heart Faces. This week the category is Contemplative. It took me forever to find a photo I thought fit. While going through my files I found a lot of pictures where my kids were staring but they didn't appear to be deep in thought. The one I finally chose was taken of my daughter in May at my brother's college graduation party. She was watching "A" and my dad play and couldn't decide if she wanted to join them or stay on the swing. She eventually decided that playing looked like way more fun! As always, click for a larger look!

Storytelling Saturday!

2009-09-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

Find a picture and tell us the story behind it. Grab the button for your blog and leave a link in the comments section! I randomly open a folder and choose a picture from that folder. You can do it however you like, just tell us the story!

"A" loves to swim, however, after a very close call last year, too close actually, he was a little timid to get in the water this year. Floaties were not enough support for him so we tried the ring in addition to the floaties. Perfect! He was able to float by himself but still feel secure enough that he wasn't going to go under. As a child, I loved swimming and always hoped that my kids would be little waterbugs also. I definitely got my wish! Click photo to enlarge.

Fix-It Friday

2009-09-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe this is my third Fix-It Friday! Head on over to I Heart Faces to see other amazing entries and the contributors' take.

I have been lucky enough to have three crazy-adorable kiddos to work with these last few Fridays. This week is a cute bugaboo with amazing eyes. I really wanted to make this picture as dreamy as possible. The innocence children exude is too much to make the picture too sharp. I know the picture looks blown-out and if I had more time I could try and fix that but I was happy with where it was and I have to get "A" ready for school, so here is my take on it and then below is the original. Click to enlarge.

Photo Blogs

2009-09-10T17:48:00.000-07:00

So lately I have been going bat crazy over photography blogs. It's like an addiction but better. Some of the people I have found are magnificent and all I can do is salivate over the saturation and clarity of their photos. Not only that, they tend to capture people in a way that only a creative artist could. Who are these people? In no particular order:

These are my top five. I have a few others bookmarked but these are the ones that keep me coming back for more. Especially the yummy, delicious babies! They are so sweet and chubby and make me want to send my hubby back to the urologist if you know what I mean!

Who do you follow?

Watercolor Wednesday

2009-09-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

I have used the watercolor filter in Photoshop only a handful of times. I just never seemed to have the right photograph for it. That is until I ran the filter on one of my beach pictures. I love it so much that I'm thinking about getting it on canvas and hanging it. Let me know what you think!

I Heart Faces "Back to School" Challenge

2009-09-07T05:13:00.001-07:00

The photo challenge this week at I Heart Faces is Back to School. The picture I am submitting is from last year when "A" started kindergarten. He was a little sad and kept saying that he was going to miss us. I told "I" to go give him a hug and this is the result. I ran Mulletgod's Color and Contrast action and then Vintage White action. Click to enlarge.

"Grace"

2009-09-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

My daughter "I" turned two the end of May. She started walking at 11-months, a month earlier than her brother had. To my dismay the walking stage was short-lived and she moved onto running. A lot. With running comes a lot falling, something "I" has been notorious for ever since. Because of this we have nicknamed, lovingly mind you, "Grace". So, if you're ever reading this and I mention Grace, you'll know I was talking about my daughter. My beautiful but adorably clumsy daughter.

This photo was taken while Grace and her brother rode their new stick ponies. Apparently she tripped over the crack.

Storytelling Saturday!

2009-09-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

This is "I" on her first Easter. At 9.5 months she was eating many, many solid foods. As you all know, sweets are pretty high on the favorite food list for kids. "I" was no exception. Although I think the texture of this Easter goodness was not so thrilling to her. She ate a few bites but didn't cry when we took it away. Whew. Crisis averted. Thank you Just Born for the wonderful Easter favorite, peeps.

Fix-It Friday #2

2009-09-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

It's time for another Fix-It Friday at I Heart Faces. Today is a phot of an adorable little boy looking like he is in some deep thought! Lol. For this picture I lightened it up a bit, sharpened the eyes and dodged them and then added a wood texture to the photo. Here is the final product:

And here is the original:

Self-Portraits

2009-09-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

I felt as though I could have written the latest artcle on I Heart Faces. My son's childhood has very few photos of me with him. It really makes me sad but there is nothing that can change the past. I swore I was not going to let that happen with my daughter. While I did really well when she was first born I pretty much forgot about getting in the picture with my kids. Part of that is my horrible sense of self. I'm overweight, there is no denying it when I see myself looking huge in a picture with my small children. However, they look at me every day so why do I care what a picture shows?

I am hoping to get in front of the camera more often this year. My kids and I are together every day and we have lots of fun, I want to remember these moments! Below are a few of my favorite mommy-and-me photos.

This is the only photo I have of my daughter and I on the day of her birth. How sad is that???

We have lots of pictures of her but only one of her and I.

This was just taken the beginning of August. You gotta love the extended-arm self-portrait!

Another arm-extended portrait when my daughter was only about 7-weeks-old.

About a week before my daughter was born I did a "photo shoot" with my son. I wanted a few shots of just the two of us before his sister joined our family.

First Day of First Grade

2009-09-01T04:04:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better than the smell of new crayons or new erasers? A started first-grade yesterday and he loved it. Although he said he was going to be sad, he jumped out of the car so fast at drop-off that he forgot his backpack. We had to tell him he was forgetting something kind of important! It was hard watching him go off into that big school without me but life is going to be full of opportunites for him and I, some he'll do alone and some I'll walk with him.

Below is a photo of my handsome boy standing in the spot where we used to take pictures of him in front of a tree. (In fact, two posts below you can see the tree.) He has had three first-day photos taken since starting preschool and they were always in front of the Bradford Pear tree in our yard. Unfortunately last winter proved too much for the old gal and she split in two. I had A stand in the new grass where the tree used to be. He is so sweet. You can click for a larger picture.

Sweaty, Hot and Thirsty

2009-08-29T18:12:00.001-07:00

I don't even let my poor children drink in peace.

Storytelling Saturday!

2009-08-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new feature on this blog. Seeing as this is only my second day of posting, everything is new I suppose!

Post a picture and tell the story behind it. Leave a comment if you'd like to join in!

The following picture is A's first day of kindergarten. We actually tried homeschool for a month due to his peanut allergy but after a month of trying to get him to read I decided that a more structured environment would be better. I really did like homeschooling and so did he .... as long as we were doing anything but reading. Seeing as that is pretty much the foundation of life, I felt that being in school with his friends would be good for him. He had a wonderful year and is now looking forward to starting first-grade on Monday!

My first Fix-It Friday

2009-08-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

First, I am in the middle of creating my background, that is why this page looks so blah.

As mentioned in my first post, I Heart Faces is doing their Fix-Friday today. I have never done this before and am hoping I am not too out of my league here. First off, the picture of this little girl was already beautiful! She is stunning. Here is the original:

Like I said, beautiful!

So here is what I did:

I am a sucker for desaturated pictures. These are the steps I took to get this:
1. Crop
2. PW action Define & Sharpen
3. Desat to -76
4. Dodge the eyes to make them pop a little more.
5. Brushed the flowers to make them a little darker.
6. Magnetic lasso to select background and then used Gaussian Blur.
7. Unsharp mask. (I know everyone uses this but I honestly don't understand why it's called "unsharp" anyone?)

So there it is, my first Fix-It Friday on Momarazzi.