POTD - Focus into 2008

Another focus for me is to spend a little more time with my family. I tend to get on the computer and forget about them. Schyler got skipbo for Christmas and we have been playing it almost every day since then. So the 3 of us play and the cat even gives it a try.

I finally got my speedlight out and took these with it. I know almost nothing about it but my "focus" this winter is to figure the darn thing out. So feel free to cc these if you'd like. Can you tell?Here's the baby trying to get involved in the game. She is so spoiled. All my family and friends will go crazy when they see I took these. I'm not a cat person at all but my DH is. Obviously!

I think I oversharpened this one?

Look - her paw is on the card LOL!

POTD - Focus into 2008

Our family focus this year is to get more exercise during the long winter months. We're pretty active from Spring-Fall but the winter months we go stagnant.

Our temperatures have warmed up and we have lost most of our snow. My nieces got snowshoes for Christmas and Schyler got new poles so they wanted to go snowshoeing. Great way to get some exercise during the winter months. So I put on my boots and took them for a hike up on the back hills.

Schyler is the leader (of course, she's the oldest so she thinks she always runs the show), then my middle niece, my older niece and the baby niece.

Baby niece didn't have snowshoes but she wanted to go with us. I was carrying my camera anyway so I didn't mind. She had to keep taking breaks because she was tired. She kept eating the snow and I had to let her in on the "just don't eat the yellow snow!" Of course I got, Why? LOL!

POTD - Hats Off!

Wew, I finally made theme before it was over :) I have a few tactics with Schyler. When I feel like having a practice session, I'll put on America's Next Top Model. Which for the most part there is usually a marathon running on the weekends. So if she sees that I'm watching it, she'll sit and watch too. After a while, she'll say hey mom wanna do pictures? Of course I've already decided in my head what clothes, etc. I want her to wear beforehand. Usually works like a charm! Evil, I know!!

It looked much warmer outside than it really was. We were only out for about 10-15 minutes and our hands were froze.

I don't trust my monitor at all now since my problems with it. So any CC on color is greatly appreciated. Actually cc anything!

When I saw this hat at Ltd Too, it screamed her name so I coughed up the money. Normally I wouldn't have unless it was on sale but it was worth it. She has pretty much worn it every day since Christmas.

I didn't think I needed a reflector because of the snow but it wasn't really that bright out. It was pretty gloomy and the hat brim didn't help her eyes either.

One of my faves!I struggle with BW conversions so cc away!

POTD - My Excitement!

Some of you might remember I took Wendy Schultz's Photography class over the summer. Which was absolutely awesome by the way! I received an email from her on Wednesday. She was starting something new on her blog. She is going to feature one of her student's photos each week and she chose mine!!! This will begin today.

This was one of my favorite photos I got of my 3 nieces and DD. No you can't see them exactly but I love how they are exploring together. It reminds me of a winnie the pooh story for some reason. I think Wendy said it reminded her of a Mark Twain story.

So no this isn't a new photo and I'm breaking the POTD rules but I was excited and wanted to post this :o)


Nikon D70s ISO400 - f7.1 - 1/1000

Happy Holidays

I was so excited when I saw this placed on the table!!! Schyler is 9 and I've been wondering if she still believes. She's been on the fence. She say's she doesn't but this tells me she does! She wrote Santa a note:

Dear Santa: I worked very hard on these pictures and Japanese braiding so I hope you like it.

Sincerely,
Schyler

p.s. you can keep the pen too. Please write back.

One picture was for Santa and the other for Mrs. Clause. Schyler was still working on finishing the Japanese braiding when I took these photos so it's not included. We also had to make sure we left cookies and milk for him too!

It's on! Schyler wants to start running with me this Spring so she can be ready for the Boilermaker 5K and a 5K race that I run in Ilion. She explained to me she needs running clothes though like I have. Well here they are some underarmour and nikey shirts to wick the sweat when she's running her tail off in those races!

Yah, when I saw this hat at Limited Too it had Schyler's name all over it! She's wore it for 2 days straight now.

Ipod Nano was a great gift, plus she got an arm band for running with her musical buddy.

It's not very often we see Brandon (her step-brother) but I needed to get a shot of them together. Last one was on her 5th birthday party. Of course he was holding her then. Now she barely would stand near him. Must be she's getting too old to care LOL!
Kayla getting excited about a gift.
Um, yah, she's not going to like this one but it shows what she was excited about LOL!

Our ornaments

I love ornaments that have meaning to them. I try to get an ornament from every place Mike & I visit. Sometimes that's not possible but here are a few that I love. When we were in Paris I found this metal knick knack of the Eiffel Tower. I knew I could run a piece of gold thread through it and it would be a perfect ornament!We got this one in London at the Windsor Palace gift shop. I paid a lot of money for this more than I would for any other ornament but I LOVED it and it was the only ornament I found in London that I really, really liked.

Schyler's godmother always gets her an ornament every year. Usually they have meaning too. This was last years. It's an MP3 Player and it plays Christmas songs. She got her this one because she knew Santa was bringing her an ipod.
Here's another she got for her. When Schyler was little, she would get her angel ornaments that said "godchild" on them.

Of course we would have a skater ornament for my favorite ice skater!

My sister went Christmas shopping in PA and went to the ornament store. So on Christmas Eve everyone got their ornaments. It was fun opening them to see what everyone got. I screamed "I was always Alvin"! She say's, "I know"! When we were kids, we watched the cartoon Alvin and the Chipmunks. I was always Alvin the leader of the pack LOL! My brother was Simon because he was smart and my sister was Theodore, because he was the baby and so was she.

Schyler got this gorgeous ice skate!

Of course Mike got beer! LOL!

Decorating the tree

Schyler was decorating the tree and I decided to practice some indoor shooting. I didn't mind the yellow from all the lights in these.