Nifty Fifty lens

I'm practicing with my new lens for Port Aransas next week. We went to the pumpkin patch at our YMCA last night with our dear friends, the Lenfests. Gwyneth posted some great photos of the girls as well.
Suzy continues to absolutely adore her baby brother.
This lens takes a lot of practice, it's depth of field is really shallow. It's great if you hit the target, but really obvious if you miss!


I had some more fun tonight. I used the new lens and some photoshop as well..

Not a lot of smiles, we got the last of our two month shots today. Poor Baby Brother.
I just love his pudgy little fingers.
Thanks for the overalls, Josh! My mommy loves them!

Wednesday Ramblings

My hubby loves me. :) One of my favorite photo bloggers, Amy-Rose King, recommended a new lens called a "nifty fifty". It basically means that just a very small portion of your picture is in focus. I LOVE what she does with it and wanted to give it a try! My sweet husband surprised me with the lens last night with an incredibly sweet card as well. I know my pictures are way far from Amy's, but you have to start somewhere! These are a few shots "right out of the box." Rob actually took this one. He teases me about my little hobby, but I think he secretly likes photography just as much as I do. Sometimes I think he even gets better shots than I do... grrr. ;)
This was the older lens, but it's still a great shot of little man. My post is a little haphazard here. I'm still working on the ordering of pictures and such in blogger.

I had to include this photo. I just love it. I was trying to catch Andy's new found skill of smiling, and she was begging for me to take her photo as well. Sooo funny.
My first photo with my new lens. Rob is so thoughtful, he even included some flowers for me to practice with.
Not a superbly flattering shot of Suzy, but you get the idea of how her eyes are so crisp, yet her hair is a little softer. I just love this lens and can't wait to use it next week at the coast!

Andy continues to be such a little doll. At bible study this morning, we walked in and the little grandmas were like, "Oh, it's Andy!" Coming from the perspective of Suzy never making it longer than about 20 minutes in any nursery setting, I was like, "What? He's a Smith, right? And you like him?"
My second little cutie pie. Thank you, Amy for encouraging me and being an inspiration.

Swee Berry Farm 2008

We had a great time yesterday at the Sweet Berry Farms about an hour from our house. Although it was close to 90 degrees, there was a nice breeze and in the shade it was very comfortable. We were able to go again with or dear friends from our Small Group and it was so much fun! Suzy was very excited about the horses, so we headed there first.Ah, that famous three year old "smile". I was wondering when we would enter that stage. We are in it full blown, along with the ever insistent,... "WHY?"


Even Baby Andy got in on the action towards the end.
Suzy and Brynna are such good little buddies. It just warms my heart to see her developing sweet little friendships. What a bonus that we like the parents as well! Plus, they have Lane who is only two weeks behind Andy. God has really blessed us with good friends who are following our life path along with us.

Here we are mounting out for the Hay Ride. Hay rides are one of my favorite parts about fall.
There was a great Zinia garden that was just begging for some little girl pictures.
This is one of my favorites of Brynna. Isn't she just adorable?
My Sweet Suzy.
OK, maybe this is my favorite of Brynna.
I love the sweet innocence of this pictures of Suzy.
Did you ever wonder what Jennifer Aniston would look like if she gained 60 pounds? (I got a wild hair and decided to straighten my hair this day.)
I believe this was Diana's favorite picture of Brynna in a tunnel leading to the Hay Ride.
Such a typical Suzy shot. She loves to climb just about anything.

Our little old man....

"Hey, who you callin' an old man??"

With Suzy's two year old 'tude, it's hard to get family portraits these days. I thought I'd let you see some of the failed attempts.


At this point, Suzy was completely over me shoving a lens in her face. It's a great set-up though, right?

So much fun was had by all, she conked out in the car about 3/4 of the way home. What a great way to spend a Saturday with the ones I love....

Sweet Berry Farms 2008

Andy's Lovey

What is this? A new Lovey? "Hmmmmm... wonder how he tastes."
"Yes, yes, this will do. Thanks Big Sister, Suzy!"

Andy kisses

Photshop fun

I had some free time today while Suzy was at school (I say free, I should be working on preparing for Ladies Night tonight..). So, I've been playing with some of my new photoshop finds. I modeled this little card after my cousin's thank you card from her little girl, Caroline, born in June. They say copying is the best form of flattery! What do you think of this as a card?

Generic

Do you think Rob and I make generic children? We think so. Suzy got this doll when Andy was born from my friend, Deb, and I thought it looked just like baby Andy. My friend, Jenny, agreed with me.

Then, this photo reminded me of Suzy's doll, Emmy. I just think it's funny how these dolls resemble our kids. I guess we don't have to spend that hundreds of dollars to have the custom made doll that looks just like your child. Good thing, too. I'd never do that. ;)
Special thanks to Vickie for helping me figure out how to photoshop these photos into one. :) I have a new trick to play with now.....

Here's Lookin' at you, Lane

Oh, the concentration...



Lemme think about it.
My friend, Lane, posted his first smile a few days ago. He's a whole two-three weeks younger than me! So, my Mommy has been coaching me. (Just kidding). But, she was very proud when I finally flashed her one of these cutie pies.
It really wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, if it didn't happen soon, Mommy was just going to post a photo of my big sister smiling instead. Funny how much we look alike, huh? It's that whole generic child thing. I'll post on that later.