Hayes and Hailey

I was excited when my aunt Krystle (who is only 4 years older than me!) asked me to take photos of her son Hayes and step-daughter Hailey on Christmas day in Charleston. Nine-year-old Hailey loves the camera and is one of the most photogenic children I've ever worked with. Four-year-old Hayes is a ball of energy and a complete ham.

Here's what I got after chasing them around the yard for 2 hours:

The skateboard Hayes is holding has lots of special memories for my family. It belonged to Krystle's older brother (my mom's younger brother and my uncle) Eddie. More than 15 years ago, we used to ride the skateboard down the driveway of my grandparents' house, carry it back up, and ride down again. Sometimes we would ride solo on our bellies. Sometimes we would ride double with our legs folded up in front of us. Sometimes we would get our fingers smashed between the underside of the board and the wheels. Oh, we have so many memories associated with that skateboard...

When Eddie died tragically in 1996 at the age of 18, my grandmother gave his skateboard to my brother, Bryn (the only other boy on my mom's side of the family). When Hayes comes to my parents' house, he rides the skateboard down the driveway, carries it back up, and rides down again. It was amazing for me to be with my family on Christmas day, reminisce about years past, and see a new generation play with the same toys that were the center of so many wonderful memories in my childhood.

Here's to a year of many more memories and photographs :)

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.