On the move

Here I go Mom!

My baby girl is quite mobile these days and when I take a couple of seconds to change her brothers diaper or to use the bathroom myself, I never know where I am going to find her when I come back!  She has just started to move from room to room by pulling her self around on her belly.  I should just strap a duster to her belly because having a dog and 2 cats means we are fighting the never ending battle of pet hair and she is always covered!  I love watching her grow and master new skills but it makes me a little sad when I realize how quickly it is going by.

I love all her faces these days too!

Sweet Summertime

For the past 7 years (minus a few in the middle), at the end of August, we have gone to the Country Music Festival at Gillette Stadium with a big group of friends!  It is headlined by Kenny Chesney and it always a blast!  This year the other artists were Tim McGraw, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and Jake Owen.

Our view of the stadium from the parking lot and our tickets

This was our first time leaving Lily where we didn't really have the option of a quick drive home to get her if she needed us.  We were lucky to not have to leave her overnight but it was still a few hours away.  I am happy to report that she did great and we thoroughly enjoyed our night after getting a text message saying that both kids were asleep by 7:30!

The guys and the girls

This show was the last one on the Brothers Of The Sun Tour and because of that we were treated to an extra long show and a few surprises.  The best surprise of the night was an appearance by Faith Hill to sing a song with her husband!  The crowd went crazy and although it was short, it was awesome to hear them sing together live!

The stage (with Tim McGraw) and my husband and I

It was great to spend some time with my husband and our friends and I am looking forward to another concert this weekend!  Its a great way to end the summer!

The group and a picture of me with my husband and his brother

Photography Scavenger Hunt

I am having a lot of fun with this scavenger hunt, here are my interpretations of the list this week.

School - While spending the weekend with my brother-in-law, he got his guitar out and Levi was instantly intrigued.  This is his first guitar lesson.

Rule of Thirds - While on a walk with a friend and her son, Levi stopped to smell the flowers on the side of the path.  My sweet boy even picked one and gave it to me with a big grin on his face!

Side Profile - This was taken while we were in sitting in traffic for a country music concert.  I will post more photos from the concert later this week.

Small - A little frog that I almost hit with my stroller, he jumped away shortly after I took this photo.

Motion - This is my cousin with Levi on his shoulders while we were on a walk.  He was running back and forth on the path and Levi was loving it!  I love that you can see his hair blowing in the breeze.

The list for next week is:
-Candid
-Toys
-Any of the five senses
-Batteries
-Half

I am excited for another week and even more reasons to get behind the lens!

Sunday Snapshot

Taken with my Nikon D3100, 35mm prime lens, f/2.2 , 1/160 , ISO800

This is a picture of my mom helping Lily to crawl.  She is so close to doing this all on her own but hasn't quite figured out how to get up on her hands and knees at the same time.  She has been getting her little bum up in the air a lot lately, so I have no doubt that she will be up on her hands and knees in no time, then I will really be in trouble.  She is already pulling her self all over the floor and getting into her brothers toys, which he does not like at all, we are working on sharing.  I can't believe how fast she is growing up already!  I wish I could slow time down for just a little while...

Friday Favorites

1. We had a crazy storm cloud pass us tonight and before the rain started I was able to practice my photography skills.  I am finally learning how to use the meter in my camera to properly expose my photos!  Here are my favorites:

2. I love the fact that our son can be quite a little nerd like his parents.  This is something he does quite often (it is the inside of his play hard hat).

That is it for this week!  It's been a crazy week of doctor appointments, home improvement, cleaning up after said improvement, packing for the weekend and doing many loads of dishes and laundry!  This is all while trying to keep my 2 kids entertained.  I am excited for a concert this weekend and the opportunity to go out with my husband and some friends while the kids stay with their Grandmother!  I hope you all have a great weekend and I am very much looking forward to fall and less crazy schedules!

A walk in the woods

We went for a walk today in Acadia National Park and I was able to get a few photos when we stopped for a quick break on the bridge over this stream.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

Taken with my Nikon D3100, 35mm prime lens, f/2.2, 1/125, ISO200

In this one, Levi is watching my uncle and cousin who had walked down to check out the structure of this stone bridge (what can I say, they are fellow engineers, its what we do).  You can see the tight grip that my mother has on him, other wise I would not have been able to get this shot.  My son is definitely a little daredevil.

Taken with my Nikon D3100, 35mm prime lens, f/2.2, 1/320, ISO200

Photography Scavenger Hunt

I found a new blog this week, Rambling and Photos by Ashley Sisk.  She hosts the Scavenger Hunt Sunday link-up.  Every Sunday, she posts her photos from the precious weeks list as well as a list of 5 photos to find for the next week.  She encourages you to be creative when interpreting the list.  I decided that this would be a fun way to get more practice and to get photos of things other than my kids (although I do realize that 3 of out 5 photos this week are of my baby girl...oops)!  As you can see, I do love photographing my kids but I think that expanding my subject matter will help me improve my photography overall.  So here goes!

Forest - I got a little creative with this prompt and decided to use this photo of Lily in a forest of toys!

Morning Light - I love the less harsh light of early morning and late afternoon.  This was taken at the playground this morning, it was Lily's first time swinging, she loved it!

Touch - This photo was taken when we got home from the playground.  Lily was exhausted enough that I could carry her in from the car without her waking up, which is a rare occurrence around here.  I love how she fell asleep holding her Sophie giraffe.

Newspaper - I don't really have time to sit and read a newspaper these days but I do like to keep up with the goings on in the world so I rely on news websites and social media to keep me up to date.

Coffee or Tea - If you had asked me this question a couple of years ago, I would have answered with orange juice!  I did not like coffee until I had a job that required me to work the night shift on occasion.  Everyone always told me that I would find the love for coffee in college but that never happened.  I am still not a daily drinker but I do enjoy an iced coffee every now and then.

The list for next week is:
-School
-Rule of thirds
-Side profile
-Small
-Motion

I am excited to see what I can come up with and I hope to learn something along the way!

Sunday Snapshot

Our dog, Axle, is not allowed on the furniture but he has been breaking the rules at night and sneaks out to the living room and sleeps there until morning.  He usually gets off when he hears us get up but he has been caught red pawed on a few occasions.  Yesterday morning, I guess he decided the he didn't care if he was caught and stayed right where he was.  Levi hadn't gotten up yet so I put Lily on the floor and went to get myself a cup of iced coffee and this is the scene that I returned to.  They are looking at each other like what are you doing up/down there!  The picture below looks as though they have been caught doing something that they should have been.

Hi Mom...

Both photos were taken with my Nikon D3100 with my 35mm prime lens at f/1.8 1/125 ISO3200.  They were edited with Photoshop Elements 10.
  

A new look!

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I have a new header and button!  It's ok, you can go look now...

A few weeks ago, I won a custom header and button design on Sarah Halstead's blog, The Naptime Momtog.  The header and button were designed by Stephanie at Behind the Camera and Dreaming (you can also find her at her Etsy shop Gray Mornings Photography and Design).

I love my new look and it really shows off my two red birthstones (aka, Levi and Lily).  Stephanie was great to work with and was very quick to get back to me on any changes that I requested.  I would definitely work with her again and am thinking about having her design something for my page links just below my header so that it's all just a little more cohesive.

If you would like to make my day, you can grab the code for my button on the right and post it on your blog.  If you do, come back and let me know!

I hope you will take time to stop over and check out both of these lovely ladies and say hi!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Friday Favorites

1. The new Pinterest app for the iPad is great!  It is so much easier to use than through Safari.  I could never get the right category to show up when I pinned something in Safari.  Now I just need some time to make some of the projects that I have pinned...

2. Making forts with my kids in the living room and camping out underneath with a snack and a movie turned out to be one of the best rainy day activities there is!

3. Eating popsicles on a hot summer afternoon is a great way to cool down and to get a toddler to sit still for a good 10 minutes!

4. My son and I played outside with some chalk while his little sister slept and then we played a bit in the small pool before we headed back inside.  My son had wet feet and walked right through the chalk and ended up leaving little chalk footprints across the porch.  I love those little feet!

5. A new blog header and button that will hopefully go live soon!