Five-Year-Old Photography

My wonderful friend Tonia had the best idea for a play date today:

Give Cooper and Sam one disposable camera each, teach them how to take their own photographs, drop the cameras at a one-hour developing center, and let them each make a poster with their printed photos.

Great idea, huh?

I gave each of the boys a 27-exposure Fuji Film camera and taught them how wind the film, look through the viewfinder, and press the shutter button. After Sam and Cooper took their first photos, they immediately asked to see their photographs. I tried to explain that the cameras were film instead of digital, but I'm not sure they really understood. They don't remember the days before digital cameras...and that makes me feel really old :(

Anyway...we walked down to a little lake at the Arboretum and the boys snapped away. Tonia and I taught them basic photography skills (framing the subject, landscape versus portrait photographs, foreground and background, shooting from different angles, etc.) and encouraged them to photograph lots of different objects.

Film has always been my favorite form of photography and I couldn't wait to see what the boys came up with. Because you can't peek at the photos until they're developed, there's a sense of mystery and excitement that goes along with shooting film.

What do the boys see through their viewfinders? Do they have an "eye" for photography? Do they enjoy photography enough to learn how to use a real camera one day?

The boys' photos did not disappoint. Both Sam and Cooper got some great shots! Here are three of my favorites that Sam took:



Pretty good for a five-year-old! I think he might have "the eye"... :)

No Jink!

I really missed the boys over Christmas break! Aaron pointed out a few days ago that I talk about them all the time - but especially when I'm on vacation :)

Monday is a bath day for the boys and also the day I do their laundry. While they're playing with millions of bath toys in the tub, I take advantage of the fact that they are both entertained and contained to a 2-foot-by-4 foot space by folding and putting away their laundry.

While I was in the hallway outside the bathroom putting the boys' shirts on hangers, I heard Toby start to cough.

Toby: (coughing) Sa-ssin? (The newest form of "Mrs. Allison" - although "Sin" is still used quite often...)
Me: Yes, Toby?
Toby: No jink! (No drink!)
Me: Did you drink some bath water?
Toby: (long pause...) Ummmmmmm. Yes.
Me: Are you supposed to drink bath water?
Toby: No! Yucky!
Me: That's right. Please don't drink any more bath water, okay?
Toby: Okay.
---- 2 minutes later ----
Toby: (coughing) Sa-ssin?
Me: Yes, Toby?
Toby: No jink! No jink!

Ugh. If he only understood how gross that water is...

Christmas 2008

Wow.

This Christmas has been the best one in a really long time.

The best gift I could receive is time with my family for the holidays...and we got a lot of family time in the past week!

In addition to lots of family time, Aaron and I were blessed with many thoughtful, useful, and generous gifts. I'll post more about those later when we get them in the house and I can take a few photos :)

I hope you all had a fun, safe, and blessed holiday season!

It's Official...

Sean's spare Nikon D200 camera body is offically ours! After putting aside the money from shooting two weddings with Sean plus some babysitting in-between, the camera I have borrowed all year long and grown to love is mine forever :)

In honor of the new addition to our family, I posed for some photos with her in Sean's makeshift "studio" as he set up a place to take Christmas photos of the boys.

I'd like to introduce you to...

Me and our beautiful new camera :)

Now, she just needs a name...

Busy Week

By the end of this week, I will have:

• spent 65 hours working
  
• been to one of the best concerts of the year
• baked a ridiculous amount of Christmas goodies
  
• finished my Christmas shopping
• wrapped too many Christmas presents
  
• opened a few gifts with Aaron on our very own "Christmas Morning" (Sunday!)
  
• worked enough for this guy to officially own his spare Nikon D200 camera body (seriously!)
  

Oh, what a wonderful week it's been. And next week will be even better! Can't wait :)

The Music Genome Project

If you've never heard of Pandora Radio, you should check it out now. These people are geniuses.

So...let's say you fall in love with the music of Robbie Seay while on vacation in Oregon a few months ago. You have his CDs, but your husband is tired of listening to Robbie Seay and won't stay in the room (or car) with you if his music is playing. I...I mean you...obviously need some new music but don't know where to find artists with a similar sound.

Enter: Pandora.com.

Type in "Robbie Seay." Pandora creates a free radio station for you with other artists' songs that have a similar sound to his (like Passion, Hillsong, Tree63, Jeremy Camp, and the David Crowder Band among many others).

When you feel like listening to rap music while cleaning your house, type your favorite rapper's name into the seach bar and enjoy the selection of music that the geniuses at Pandora put together for you.

Come across a song you never want to hear again? Give it a "thumbs down" and Pandora will remember to never play it on your station again.

Read more about the Music Genome Project here. And get a free Pandora account. You'll love it.

The Blanket Sleeper

While searching for the perfect birthday present for Sam, I browsed through the boys' section at Target. Hoping to find a Spiderman, Superman, or Batman t-shirt, I happened upon a big rack of these:

The Blanket Sleeper

There were Sam- and Toby-sized blanket sleepers...and then there were Mrs. Allison-sized blanket sleepers. No kidding.

I don't know why, but it gives me the heebie jeebies to think about anyone over the age of 5 in a blanket sleeper. When I went to the Target website, my suspicions were confirmed. Go here, click on "guest reviews," and scroll down to read the first and last reviews.

The last review sounds like something my crazy brother would write just to mess with people, but it's creepy nonetheless.

Yikes.

I Love This Boy...

Me and Littlest Lyon :)

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Sam is 5-years-old today! Can you believe it?!

I've been sick all week, so I owe the birthday boy a photo shoot and some home-made cupcakes next week. Stay tuned for new photos...

Happy Birthday, big guy! Mr. Aaron and I love you very much :)

Ugh.

Sorry for the lack of new blog entries this week.

I caught a nasty stomach virus on Monday and have been trying to recover ever since.

I'll be back in the swing of things soon. I hope.

Rock-A-Bye Baby

Rocking babies to sleep is one of my favorite activities.

There's nothing like that little head lying on my chest and those tiny hands clinging to my arms as we rock back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. So peaceful. So relaxing. So safe.

Toby doesn't need me to rock him anymore. Soon, Asher won't need me to rock him anymore, either.

I often find myself anticipating the next big step or accomplishment in the lives of the many children in my life.

Tonight, as I rocked Asher to sleep, I was reminded that always anticipating the future causes me to miss out on the present.

Live for today. Enjoy what's in front of you. Invest time in meaningful relationships today and stop putting it off until tomorrow. Rock a baby to sleep because one day he'll be bigger than you :)

Brett and Nicholas

When my friend Brett approached me about taking some photos of him and his brother as a Christmas gift for his mom, he openly admitted that he knew nothing about photography.

"We want to frame a huge photo for my mom," he told me. "How will you make the prints? In a dark room?"

Oh, boy.

After giving him a brief overview of the wonders of digital photography and online photo services, we scheduled a photo shoot for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Too bad the forecast called for rain...ALL DAY.

Instead of sticking to our original plan for a sunset shoot, I convinced them to be ready to take photos at 8am.

Somehow, the rain held off just long enough for me to get a few usable shots for their Mom's Christmas gift. This is the photo they chose to have enlarged to 24"x36" canvas print:

Here are some individual photos that I thought their mom might like, as well:

Nicholas

Brett

I'm learning a lot about photography these days. Although I'm used to shooting with a photographer who knows a lot more than I do and is always there to answer my questions, it's important for me to get experience shooting on my own.

It's good for me to make my own mistakes and learn from them.

It's good for me to learn how to make the most of gray skies and wet weather.

It's good for me to tackle obstacles on my own every now and then.

It's never fun being pushed out of my comfort zone, but it's necessary for growth and maturity.

In what areas of your life are you becoming comfortable yet stagnant? Push through your complacency into unknown territory and see how much you'll grow. I dare you :)

When It Rains, It Pours

Isn't it so true? When one thing goes wrong, new problems seem to come out of the woodwork and fall in one right behind the other. It's been that way over the past few weeks for Aaron and me.

My car has been having problems for the past few weeks. It still runs, but not very smoothly. We had it tested at AutoZone and found out that either two oxygen sensors are bad (a problem that Aaron can easily fix) or the mass air flow sensor is bad (a problem that will take big money to fix). When we have time, we'll take it to a shop and have the exact problem diagnosed. In the meantime, Aaron and I have switched cars (he only drives 5 miles each day).

Aaron has been sick for more than a week with congestion and a crazy cough. No matter how much NyQuil he takes, his cough intensifies at night and neither of us gets much sleep. It's not easy for either of us to do our best at work if we're tired and cranky.

Hobbes is sick with what we think is a urinary tract infection. He has always been the most laid-back, easygoing cat...but for the past two days he has been in a lot of pain, unable to use the litter box, and extremely grumpy. Hobbes has never been sick before, so I called my mom in tears this morning, hoping that she would be able to comfort me from 300 miles away. She has three cats of her own, so she knows how it feels to drop one of your animals off in a strange place with strange people. I got teary-eyed when I handed Hobbes over to the Vet and she assured me they would take good care of him. We're still waiting to hear exactly what's wrong with him.

When trying times like these overwhelm me, all I can do is look to the Lord and trust Him to take care of me and my family. Thank you, Lord, for taking care of us.

"Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always."
-- 1 Chronicles 16:11

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

I had the best Thanksgiving vacation with my sweet husband!

We've been insanely busy for the past few months...so it was nice to spend a weekend at our house, decorate for Christmas, and have lots of time to just relax.

Aaron and I bought our Christmas tree on Saturday! This is our first Christmas in the new house, so we've anticipated decorating our home for Christmas since we moved in January. We're big supporters of our local farmer's market, so we drove by on Saturday afternoon to view their selection of trees. After walking around for 10 minutes, Aaron and I saw the perfect tree at the same time:

Isn't it cute?!

Putting lights on the Christmas tree is our least favorite part of decorating.


All done :)

Aaron and I spent the entire year collecting unique ornaments from every place we vacationed or visited. Our families also gave us lots of memorable ornaments that we can tell our kids about someday. Here are a few of our favorites:

These angels (there's another one on the reverse side) are made from oyster shells and moss. My parents gave it to us as a gift last Christmas and every time I look at it, I'm reminded of Charleston.

We brought this cute little moose back from Crater Lake, Oregon. One day, I'll tell my kids that the day we visited Crater Lake, we were too tired to walk around because we spent 10 hours climbing Mt. Thielsen the day before :)


This little beaver is Aaron's favorite Christmas ornament ever. Aaron's parents bought it from Hallmark when he was a little boy we can't find another one like it anywhere. Mom and Dad Fowler gave us the beaver ornament a few months ago for Aaron's birthday.


And here is our cute little mantle! I love Hobbes' stocking. It says "MEOW" on the top :)

There's nothing like listening to Christmas music, eating sugar cookies, drinking eggnog, sitting by the fire, gazing at our beautifully decorated tree, and remembering why we celebrate this time of year. Through all of the hustle and bustle of the next few weeks, remember that Jesus is the reason for the season :)