Pickin' up the pace

It has been quite a while since I've reported on the happenings of the Williams family. As spring aproaches, we are awakening and our activity level is increasing. We had such an atypical winter as far as the weather was concerned. My goodness, we didn't even have a single school cancellation. Still, we spent this winter the way we spend most of them. We stayed indoors and hibernated.

We rested. We played games ( we definitely had a record number of family game nights!).

Charlie explored new ways to irritate Taylor while Taylor learned new ways to trick Charlie into doing what she wanted.

And little Morgan just took it all in and tried desperately to do big girl things like her sister.

I know springtime is not officially here, but try telling that to the birds that serenade me each morning or to my daffodils who have already shown their playful faces. Likewise, my family has also responded with new burst of activity and joy. Most notably, we've been spending more and more time outside. Taylor has been such a great sport in my quest to learn how to shoot in lots of different lighting.

We went to the park the other day after I picked her up from a birthday party and took turns making up poses.

She was such a good sport. She even carried my tripod for me. (Doesn't she look like a golf caddy?)

I needed the tripod so we could take these photos.

Of course, it was clear when she'd had enough and was ready to head home.

This weekend was especially busy because we had a flurry of family activities. First, Uncle David came in town. I am so thrilled that he's been able to spend so much time with the kids over the past year. Charlie couldn't wait to play him at checkers.

I'm not sure if Morgan quite remembered him initially, but once he read to her they became instant buddies.

We took advantage of Uncle David's presence to have a nice family dinnerat Aunt Sue and Uncle Les's house.

There were seven children there ages 6 and under.

Of course that was nothing compared to the 200 people we saw the following night. Mark's cousin, Tyler, is entering the military. We threw a huge surprise party for him with family coming in from all over the country.

And guess who was not intimidated in the least by the presence of so many people.

That's right, Morgan couldn't be happier running around on her own amongst so many people.

We finished off the weekend with yet another family gathering at home. It was my mom's birthday and we had a wonderful afternoon with her. Mark graciously agreed to make his famous grilled pork medallions while the rest of us played outside in the beautiful weather.

Grace had seen some of Taylor's photos on my blog and decided it was her turn to pose for a few. Isn't she beautiful?

Then Jessica decided that it was time Addison had her first feel of grass.

Surprisingly, she was not very phased by it.

It was a fun day for mom. She was around all her grandkids and even got to skype with Julie on her birthday.

I gave mom a photo book from shutterfly using all the pictures she had taken during her visit to Chile.

Phew! After laying it all out like that it's obvious we did not have a quiet, relaxing weekend. However, seeing so much of our family in one weekend was a blessing. Another reminder of how lucky my children are to be surrounded by so much love. This is why we live in Ohio. It may not be the most exciting place in the world, but it's home. And it's home to 95% of our family as well. (Now if we could just get Uncle David to move back...)

I leave you with two photos from today. My beautiful and patient daughter.

Pop!

After writing my last blog and expressing my frustrations I took a deep breath and picked up my camera again. Sometimes it's painful to snap pictures knowing they are mediocre. Knowing they look just like the last ones I took. (I'm getting really sick of the interior of my house.) But I know it's the only way to improve. Then I turned to the internet in search of some new editing techniques. I really like the 'clean edit' look. The kind that look so clear and crisp like you didn't do any editing at all. And that's when I had my breakthrough. I found a tutorial on how to make eyes pop. Here's an example:

This is so fun! It does take several steps to achieve so I really need to work on being a better editor (only selecting the cream of the crop to work on). Still, you'll be seeing a lot more twinkle in my children's eyes from here on out :) Also, I will get back to posting more blogs about our everyday lives with less mention of the photography soon. I just like to document my journey periodically, and for me, this is a huge step in the right direction!

Ugh.

Today is just one of those days where I'm experiencing a lot of frustration with my photography. I don't even feel like I'm qualified to use that term yet. Photography. I know this is normal, and I know that all I can do is just fight through it. Just keep taking pictures. Try to keep learning. It's just that there are so many resources out there and so many opportunities to spend money on this hobby that I don't know where my time and money will be best invested. Most of the time I'm truly exhilarated by the plethora of information available to photographers online. But today I feel overwhelmed. I feel inadequate.

I know this will pass. I only write this to remind my future self of where I came from. I also want to make a public vow (I use the term public loosely since I'm pretty sure only about 5 people read this) to help others like me once I figure out what I'm doing. I want to help other moms who want to capture life's moments with creativity and beauty.

Another Weekend

Another weekend has come and gone at the Williams house. We had a pretty uneventful, yet satisfying weekend. It did begin with a bit of excitement when we had reports of a huge storm coming on Friday evening. I told the kids that we'd have to eat dinner a little early and then we'd hang out in the basement for a while.

Luckily, the sun came out by the time we finished eating, and we were spared any wind damage. It did get me thinking, though. The weather has been so crazy, so destructive the past few years. I love spring, but I do not like the spring storms that it brings with it. I've decided to have some things stored in the basement to make the decision of should-we-go-downstairs-or-not easier. This year I'm not messing around. If there's any chance of tornados, we'll be camping out in the basement. Something tells me the kids won't mind a bit.

We found ourselves with no plans at all this Saturday so Mark decided to take the big kids swimming.

That was the plan anyway. Unfortunately Charlie's pinky toe got in the way of these plans, or more accurately, got in the way of the locker room door when they were headed to the pool. The poor little guy cut it up pretty badly. They cleaned it up and decided that he wouldn't need stitches so Mark took him and Taylor out for ice cream instead. We've been nursing the injury all weekend.

Taylor didn't let the change in plans stop her from wearing her swimsuit for the rest of the day. She pretended that this basket was a boat complete with paper towel holder oars. I love her imagination and her amazing ability to create new games on a daily basis.

Meanwhile there was a lot of this going on this weekend. Electronics and Napping.

In an effort to spruce up our Saturday, I suggested movie night with popcorn. Everyone was up for it so we decided on Judy Moody and The Not Bummer Summer. I was surprised by how attentively Charlie watched it (even when his popcorn was gone!). Morgan was good, too. She doesn't get to play in the basement much so she was very engrossed with the toys down there.

We found ourselves all on one couch for the end of the movie. My heart was swelling. I love any time we are all five together, but put us all snuggling together on one couch and it's almost too much joy for one mama. I love this family.

After church on Sunday, Grandmama came to visit and the kids couldn't be happier. Taylor decided to style Grandmama's hair, and had fun trying out her new braiding skills.

Then it was my turn. I think she made it her mission to use every ponytail holder and bow she owned.

This week is looking like it will be a fun one. Complete with a visit from Uncle David, three parties and Donuts With Dad at Charlie's preschool. With parties and pastries who can go wrong?

One of those days

I woke up this morning feeling great. You know those days when you feel like you can take on anything? You just know that whatever comes up, you'll be all over it. I love those kinds of days. So let's start with pictures from this morning. Morgan has so many expressions. Now she entertains herself with them. Her newest trick is making herself laugh. She starts out with an obvious fake laugh and then it metamorphosizes into fits of genuine laughter. These pictures were taken seconds apart.

The mother who was supposed to volunteer at Taylor's school had to stay home with a sick child today so I filled in. This meant skipping the gym this morning, but I knew Morgan would have no objections. She loves kindergarten. And kindergarten clearly loves her.

She loves feeling like one of the big kids.

But it can take its toll on her!

Now let's skip to last night's pictures. I think this is largely why I am in such a positive mood today. Because I was able to create images like this:

After stumbling upon a new website (Clickin' Moms) I was inspired to set up a photo shoot in my kitchen. I hung up a sheet right by our french doors and placed a small reflector on the other side. My set up looked like this. (I didn't have a wide angle lens, but the top of the sheet was on the edge of my counter and the other side was clipped to a chair.)

I didn't even have to tell Taylor to wear something cute. In fact, I can't remember the last time she wore regular clothes after school. (There's a whole blog post brewing dedicated to her ensembles.)

Then Taylor suggested we head outside for some more shots. She was getting way into it!

I'll let you guess which poses were her idea.

Afterwards came my favorite part. Taylor set up my tripod and set forth creating her own pictures. Using yours truly as her model.

Makes a mama proud (sniff,sniff).

It's so fun to be able to create these images that I think capture the unique beauty in each of my children. So far, Taylor's the only one who will actually cooperate and pose for me. Given Charlie's stubborn streak, I don't know if he ever will. For now I'll settle for images of him dressed up as the "King of Green".

Guess who's the Queen.