Happy Valentines Day!

All you need is...

This little photo shoot did not quite turn out the way I had it planned in my head, but hey, I still love it!

They are my little Valentines and I love them! 

What's not to love, the shirt asks?? UM, maybe the fact that you will not look at the camera!!

Sunday was Uncle Bub's real Birthday, so we sent him a birthday message!

Uncle Bub was back working on the boat. We hope he had a great day!

We did a little four wheeler riding!

Allie Ruth was not really enjoying her ride in the trailer. Landon was kind of going fast and whipping it around! 

So we got out her four wheeler from Santa! She did pretty good, but I don't think she quite had the hang of the steering part!

We had a quick Valentine breakfast this morning and the kids opened their treats. Allie Ruth got a new pair of shoes, some lip gloss, and candy. Landon got a new DVD and some candy! Kelly got me some gift cards and I got him a new pair of shorts! 

♥I love you Kelly, Landon, and Allie Ruth!!♥

Fauxtography Friday!

Lesson Two: ISO and Shutter Speed Part One:

ISO is a setting to determine how quickly the image will be captured. The higher the ISO, the quicker it will be captured. The lower the ISO, the longer it will take for the image to be captured. So, higher = quicker, Lower = slower. 

100, 200- good for outdoors or bright lights

400- good for in the shade, overcast outdoors, indoors with a lot of light

800, 1600- good indoors, low-light conditions, sports or action. 

The higher the ISO means more noise. Noise is not good. 

Shutter Speed is how quickly the shutter operates. Think of it like a door and your shutter speed controlling how fast of slow the door opens and closes. 

Use a tripod for SS that is slower than 1/50th of a second. Use a slow SS to portray a blurred subject or surroundings. If you are hand holding your camera, your SS should be at a minimum of 1/60th of a second. Hold your breath while taking the photo to help keep yourself still. If you or your subject is wiggly, increase your SS. Fast moving objects will need a faster SS, around 1/1000 or higher to freeze the action. 

Kitchen Sink Test:

Ok, looking back on these pictures, I failed at this! Mostly, I am going to blame an unnamed 5 year old that was  in my face while I was trying to do this:) I think I should get extra credit for using a wine glass, though!! I am glad this is just practice and I can see the mistakes.

SS 1/80 ISO 200

(my ISO should have been 400)

SS 1/200 ISO 100

( I am not sure how the ISO changed to 100, but should have been 400)

SS 5 ISO 100

Taken with a tripod

(again wrong ISO)

Now I switched my lens and went over to the park to use the fountain. 

( I was by myself:)

SS 1/80 ISO 200

SS 1/1000 ISO 200

Snow Day Number...

I don't even know what number this is anymore! This week we got out early on Monday for snow, then out early on Wednesday and out all day on Thursday. Tomorrow is yet to be determined, but who cares, its FRIDAY!! 

We have had so much fun in the snow!

I have heard from several people that they are sick of the snow. We really have had a lot this year. I am totally content with it. I usually do not like January or February and counting down the days until spring. But not this year! I guess it is because of the kids and their age, its just so fun seeing their excitement! 

They love to play in the yard and over at the park. We have some great sleds that were Kelly's when he was a kid! 

Allie Ruth was interested in the park again and really interested in the geese today!

I could write a whole post on why I do not like these geese!!

AND...

Allie Ruth's new room furniture:

New bed and chair in the corner. The doll was made for me by my Mom's aunt Suzy and matches a watercolor painting that my Dad gave to my Mom. The chair is from my Memaw's too. Its perfect. We rock and read books at night. I am loving the bed and glad its smaller for Allie Ruth. 

Her new dresser! It has a mirror but we did not put it up yet. 

and...

Allie Ruth's crib that I am not taking her out of until she is 5! LOL:)

Its the same crib we used for Landon. Its from our dear friends Ryan and Amy. Both of their kids slept in it and they were nice enough to let us use it!

Tutorial Thursday!

Bleach Pen T-shirt!

What you will need:

A bleach pen and a t-shirt.

The bleach pen can be found on the laundry isle at the grocery store for around $3. I picked a plain navy blue t shirt. 

I decided on a butterfly design and made a pattern for it. I taped it down on the shirt so it would stay in place. You also need to put a piece of cardboard inside the shirt to keep if from going through to the other side. Unless you wanted to go through to the other side of the shirt, that could be cute.

Start tracing your design with the bleach pen. Have a paper towel handy to wipe away extra and a tooth pick to pop any air bubbles.

I added a few free form designs to mine. You have to remember that the pen is not going to make a perfect line and it does spread some. I let my dry for about 3 hours. I have heard of some people letting it dry a much shorter time and some people letting it dry up to 6 hours. When you are ready, wash off the bleach pen in the sink with the sprayer. Then put it in the wash by itself, just in case, you don't want to mess up any other clothes. 

When its dry:

You will have a cute new shirt!!! 

Now somebody come and yank the bleach pen outta my hand!!

What we did this weekend...

WITH NO PICTURES! Boo- but that's the way it goes sometimes.

The weekend unofficially starts on Thursday night in my book. So, Thursday night we went to Shogun for Uncle Bub's birthday dinner. It was really fun and very entertaining for the kids. Except Landon was scared of the fire and every time a flame was lit on the grill at any table he hid under the table. LOL. Why I did not bring my camera with me, I was wishing the whole time I had it!! We did get a cute  family picture taken by the waiter when they came to sing Happy Birthday! They printed it out and I am sure Uncle Bub has it framed by his bedside!!

Just a good ole Friday night with Brad's BBQ for dinner and a late bed time! Everyone slept in pretty late on Saturday morning. By late, I mean 8:30am.  We just hung out around the house for the morning. We had been planning on getting my grandmother's bedroom furniture for Allie Ruth's room. Kelly, Landon, and Hunter went to my grandmothers to get it and Allie Ruth stayed with Gammie. I got dressed (in peace, woot woot) and went to a wedding shower with my Mom.  After the wedding shower, I helped my Mom start sorting through pictures from my Memaw's.

On Saturday night the kids spent the night with Gammie and Kelly and went on a date! Thats right, a real date. We went to J.Alexanders and it was very yummy and nice to have adult conversation with no interruptions.

On Sunday morning I started cleaning out Allie Ruth's old furniture. Then we switched out the old with the new/old furniture. I cleaned her room and washed all the linens. My mom came over later in the afternoon to see what it looked like and help out with the finishing touches. When I first got the furniture, I didn't think much about it. Thought it would look good, but not a big difference. I was wrong. Allie Ruth's new room is so cute!! Looks like the sweetest little girls room. She had a queen bed in there that we will take to the cabin. Now she has a double bed with a head and foot board that looks just so sweet. I will not be moving her to that bed anytime soon. I plan on keeping her in the crib as long as possible. I did tell my Mom that I could not believe that two adults slept on a double bed together for over 60 years. Kelly and I have a king and I think we could both go for some more room, LOL!

The weather was somewhat mild so we got out and went across the street to the park and played in the yard for a while. So nice to be outside.

Super Bowl SUNDAE! We had a party with just our wee little family. Landon requested tacos and ice cream sundaes. Funny, both the kids were asleep at the start of the super bowl. They had not had a nap so we let them have a little snooze. We had our yummy snacks and watched the commercials, I mean game. The kids danced during the half time show!

Time for bed and getting ready to start another fun week! Whats that I smell?? Smells like snow!! Rumor has it theres a SNOW DAY in our future!!

Fauxtography

They say "a picture is worth a thousand words." Sometimes its worth all the words because its so good. Sometimes its worth a thousand words because of the story they tell.  Well, I have never created a photo that would be worth a thousand words but one day I would like to! It would be of my adorable children, of course! That is really all I want to do with my photography is take a picture of my kids that is creative and I love. I have always had an underlying interest in taking photos, but it really did not become a hobby until I inherited this camera from my Dad.

The camera came with accessories and two lens. A minolta 28mm and 55mm. 

I got a digital SLR shortly after playing around with this camera and realizing that a dollar a click of the  shutter was not going to be in my budget. Film is expensive! Plus you have to focus the lens manually and that ain't gonna happen with two small kids! Definitely a camera for taking pictures of things that don't move:) But film can capture a better picture in some situations. This is my favorite picture I have taken with film.

 

I am going to use a portion of my blog to make myself more accountable in learning how to use my camera. I mean, whats the point of spending all that cash on a camera that you have not even taken the time to use it to its full potential. And pictures are one of  the most important things, freezes that moment in time. 

I will be doing a 12 week course to better photos. I started this back in the summer and got stuck on the first week. Ha! I am really bad at math and numbers scare me! There are a lot of numbers and thinking about numbers in photography. The time has come to move forward!! Join me, do the lessons with me! You don't have to have a dslr camera:)

 Here is the link: http://sites.google.com/site/biowbiow002/twopeas_12week

Lesson One: Aperture

Aperture: (or f-stop) um, can you say opposite, opposite?! WIDER= LESS, SMALLER= MORE.

Picture #1 35mm  f/1.8

I am focusing on the M in Mac.

Picture #2  35mm f/8

See how the "fluffy pancake mix" is more in focus? Still focusing on the M in mac.

Picture #3 35mm f/22

Still focusing on the M in mac. Kinda grainy in real life. 

This exercise is best done outside, but since it is freezing cold, no thanks. And since I have already done this lesson back during the summer, I am moving on. Oh, Lordy!!!!

Tutorial Thursday!

Potato Print Penguins!

This is a easy project that kids love! Even a child as young as two could participate with help from an adult. I recommend reading a book about penguins first just to get them involved and interested. Heck, you could make a whole day of it revolving around the letter "P"!

Supplies:

-paper 

-blue, white, and black paint                 

-paint brush

-small potato

-sponge

Paint entire paper with blue paint. I like to tape the paper to a place mat because it helps keep the paper still for little people, plus it makes a nice border. After you paint with blue, let the paint dry.

Use a sponge cut into pieces to create snow with white paint. Sponges are a fun way for little ones to paint because they can hold them easily and sponges create great texture. You can get a pack of several at the dollar store, so they are cheap too! Let the white paint dry. 

Now it is time for the potato! Kids really get excited at this point because how fun is it to paint with food?! Cut the potato in half and I recommend cutting a little off of each side to create a handle. It makes it much easier for kids to hold on to. 

Press the potato in black paint and then press the potato on the painted paper!

It makes the perfect penguin shape!

You can use the thumb or other fingers to make the heads, wings or feet. 

Use the white paint and sponge again to make the white part of the penguins face and belly.

You can use markers, crayons, paint, etc. to make the eyes and beak.

Perfect Potato Print Peguins!!