The Sunday Wrap

FLAG FOOTBALL

Porter's flag football is going well.  He seems to really like it.  This past Saturday they split off into teams. Lucky Porter, he ended up on the Green team (his favorite color!).  They're called the Packers.   

Now, being the opinionated Mama I am, I did find myself quite annoyed at this most recent practice.  Let me explain.  The kids were split off into 6 different color teams.  There is one "main" coach (I'm assuming the High School Football Coach) and he oversees all 6 teams.  And each team is coached by about 6-8 high school football players.  Kudos to them for stepping in and spending their Saturday mornings teaching all these little rugrats.  HOWEVER... I was kind of annoyed at how so many kids seemed to get "lost" in the HS coaches playful banter against their buddies.

For example...in the beginning of practice Porter was the kid who started with the ball (Ryan tells me this is the Center).  He tosses the ball to Big Boy, and Big Boy passes it to Runner Boy.  And then the little squad of 5 or so kids run at the other teams squad of 5 or so kids.  Now, after Ball Tosser (Porter) passes the ball, everyone else runs and chases the kid with the ball (or tries to grab a flag or whatever)... and what is my kid doing?  Standing there.  In the middle of the field.  Dinking with his flag.  Okay.  Maybe he didn't pay attention.  But this happened FOUR plays in a row.  FOUR.   I don't know a thing about football but I'm pretty sure I've never seen a high school, college or pro game where the Ball Tosser just stands on the field while everyone else does their thing.  Why did these HS coaches... all 6 or 7 of them... not notice and give him direction?

And then... they'd just place kids in spots, and the HS coaches would go gather in their little huddle (okay there were two HS coaches on P's team that actually dispersed throughout the little kids to keep them on task).  I kept thinking... "Why don't they each choose a kid or two and follow that kid throughout the practice to explain what is going on as it is happening... while they're waiting ect.?"  Instead, they ball would get played, half the kids followed the ball (as did ALL of the HS coaches) while the other half of the kids ended up across the field tackling each other (none of which had the ball).  So... essentially, half the kids didn't have a clue what was going on at any given time. 

I know.. I know... I'm one of "those" mom's.  "I can do it better."   No.  I 100% admit I don't know a thing about football... but I do know they aren't reaching each of these kids or holding their attention and I feel there are better strategies they could be implementing.  And I also know that the HS coaches seemed much more interested in the banter with their buddies who were coaching the opposing team.... whose "team" won yards etc... rather than keeping the kids focused on what was really going on in the play.  

WHEW!  What a post.   I know.  I know.  My wise FIL made a very good point on Saturday.  He said... "These kids aren't going to be won this year.  They aren't going to be sold on this game this year, or fully invested.  You can't guarantee they will love football and want to play in 5-10 years.  BUT... you CAN lose them.  This is a critical time... those coaches aren't going to win the kids over this year... but they can easily lose them."   So. So. True.  

So I'm hoping that maybe as practices go on the HS coaches will gain a little insight or skill to teaching the sport that I know they love and know all about.  I hope that they do their best to reach all these little kids who are looking up to them and to instill in them the love of this game and not just the winning little scrimmages against their buddies. 

MASTERS CLASS

My class starts tomorrow and its safe to say I'm already dreading it.  Not to mention already behind.  I think we have an assignment due tomorrow.  I'm not in the mood or mental state to even deal with a class right now but I'm not sure if I should drop it and wait until next semester to take it.  

AWANAS

The boys started Awanas tonight.  It actually is the 3rd week but we didn't realize it had already started.  Hudson is in Cubbies- this is his first year.  Porter is in Sparks, and seems an old pro at going- confident and sure of himself.  Hudson kept telling us he "Hated Cubbies" and after talking to him about it he admitted that he was actually just really nervous about going.  I told Porter this and he ran downstairs to Hudson and said 'Hudson, you're going to have a lot of fun!  And if you don't know what to do, then you ask your teacher if you can come get me and I'll help you.  My room is right next door to yours!"  It was the sweetest thing.  They both did great at drop-off.  Hudson requested 4 hugs and 4 kisses (this has become his ritual... not sure the significance of the number 4?). 

Ryan and I had 2 hours alone!  We've declared Sunday our date night.  YAY!  This week we went to the Dawson's to pick up a smaller dog crate we are borrowing for Cooper (details on him soon!).  We hung out with them for a bit then went and got flurries at TJ Freeze.  

When we picked the boys up Porter wasn't even worried about seeing us... he said "hi" and smiled and turned right to Hudson's room and waited for him to come out.  When he came out he hugged him and was so excited to talk to him.  It was adorable.  I love seeing little tidbits of the boys like this.  There are so many hours full of fighting and bickering, but moments like this make up for it!

ISO PHOTOS

Oh I've been such a slacker on the website that was pretty much my idea.  Go figure I get all gung ho on an idea, ask Michelle to help start and run this thing and then I totally slack off.  Thank GOODNESS for Michelle, who has solely taken over my slackerness and been doing more than just her share of ISO.  

I did have an image to participate in this weeks challenge: Silhouette.   Its not new (boo) but it is from our recent trip to Mackinaw. We all went up to the Soo Locks to watch the ships come through.  It was really neat.  The ships (barges??) were HUGE!  I think this one in the picture was 800ft long.  

September Chapters

CHAPTER 1: School/Daycare Transitions
Porter is doing great with Kindergarten.  He is writing his name much neater than he did over the summer (speaking of writing... MUST get back into our Pen Pal writing with Saw-Man!  Sorry Heather....).  He thinks Hot Lunch is great (EWW). He's had some frustration with a friend in class (Gill... which he sometimes calls Finn by mistake... oops... different part of the fish!) calling him "Quarter".  Wow.  Its so funny because that was SO not on the "teasing" radar when we decided on his name.  Porker, sure.  But Quarter?  Okay, so Gill isn't really teasing him, but he can't seem to understand his name is "P"orter.  And he's not the first kid to do this.  So I told Porter... just keep correcting him.  And if he keeps calling you Quarter, well... just call him Fill.  Or Jill.  Or Will.  Porter thought that was hilarious.  So the other night we were talking after bedtime story and he told me Gill wasn't calling him Quarter anymore.  I asked what happened and he said he kept calling him Quarter so he said "My name is POR-ter, not QUAR-ter, okay, Fill?"  And Gill said "My name is Gill!"  And Porter tells him, well, MY name is PORTER!"  HAHAHHAA!  And so Gill gets it right now.

Hudson transitioning back to daycare... not going so hot.  I'm not sure if its just the transition thing, his love for Oma or what... but oh my... the past week has been terrible at drop offs.  He's been worse than he's ever been... crying BEFORE even getting to her driveway.  Mind you, he has fun at Miss Marleen's and she's so good to the kids.  I know for her he's (usually) a good boy (minus this past week)... so I'm not sure what is up with his attitude.  He's usually pissed off because its "Not an Oma Day" so I'm thinking that's the main problem and it usually escalates. Yesterday morning (hell of a morning... I'll write more later) he was crying and kicking and screaming from the driveway in and I had to leave him screaming and kicking.  I got at text saying he was dry heaving for 10min and was carrying on for almost an hour.  When I picked him up I asked if he had a rough morning and he said "I just wanted a hug and kiss, Mom."  AAWW.  I swear I gave him a hug and kiss... but maybe in his tantrum of not wanting to stay he didn't realize it and then it escalated because not only was he staying but he didn't get a hug and kiss (so he thought).  I dunno.  Hopefully Friday's drop off will be easier!

CHAPTER 2: Lunch Love
I'm totally loving packing Porter's lunches this year!  I love the idea of Bento Lunches and all the neat Bento/Laptop Lunch containers available but I wasn't about to shell out $20 for one lunch container and have to wash it every night (or spend $20 x's however many to always have one to use!).  I found Ziploc had a 3-section container that is sold in a 2-pack for under $3.  SCORE!  I really enjoy trying to be creative with his lunches and making sure he has lots of fresh fruit, veggies and good "unpackaged" foods for lunch.  He has recently began loving hardboiled eggs (YUMMM) so I often send him a hardboiled egg, a cutout sandwich, some fruit and a couple muffin wrappers in there with goldfish or a cookie.  Perfect!  I also found (on Pinterest) some great (and free!) printable lunch notes.  He can't really read yet, but I hope he enjoys the little notes!


CHAPTER 3: Septembers' Curse
As much as I love September... the lower temperatures, the fresh air, the leafy breeze.... September seems destined to be a downer month for our family.  Particularly this week. Tuesday was Cathy's Day.  And then yesterday morning...we woke up to no power and then found Ramsey had died in the night.  Let me tell you, telling your 3 and 5 year old their dog they've known since birth had died and went to Heaven is not something fun to do.  Ramsey deserves her own post, as she was our "first baby" and was with our family for 10 years.  I'll write more later. 

CHAPTER 4: Photography
I am completely booked for the rest of 2011 for photography. WOO HOO!  I decided to take on 16 mini sessions (8 in September and 8 in October) and 2 full sessions per month in September, October and November.  I'm booked!  I'm excited but oh my... I know I'm going to be busy.  Especially these past two weeks I've been teaching full time (and lesson planning... which I'm lucky I normally don't have to do w/my Lit Coach job) so I've been behind on photography stuff.  I do have Hudson at Marleen's on Friday's for Preschool (M-W-F) so I think after I go back to Lit Coaching/RTI work I'll continue to take him to Marleen's and use Friday's to work on photography stuff.  Fall is always super busy for me and I'm typically booked... but I'm hoping this year I didn't bite off more than I can chew.  I think by splitting up the mini sessions into two months will help!
 
CHAPTER 5: Scrap Weekend!
I am so so looking forward to our bi-annual Girls Weekend at Duck Lake.  We're going a little later this year so I'm really really anxious for the weekend to come!  I know it'll be here before we know it.  It feels like it has been so long since we've had our Scrap Weekend!  I have a ton to catch up on because, sadly, I rarely scrapped over the summer and I've gotten behind on Project Life.  Hopefully sometime this fall (maybe on my Friday's off?) I can make a little time to catch up.  

CHAPTER 6: School Sickness
Oh my... it is only the 2nd week of school and our family is already fighting off sickness.  We've all had stuffy heads, noses, coughs and on and off sore/scratchy throats.  UGH!  Every September for the past 2 years or so I've suffered awful sinus infections.  I'm pretty sure I'm on my way to one now. 

Shadows

The other night after dinner we were out in the yard playing baseball with the kids, the kids were running around and I was lounging in the hammock enjoying the (finally) typical Michigan summer weather.  I was taking some pictures and noticed my long shadow... which happens to be one of the ISO challenges this week.  I rounded up the family and made them stand with me for a minute to take a few snaps.  Ugh... our grass is dead from the lack of rain but I love the picture anyway!

There is still time for you to join in the photo challenge!  Grab a camera, or your phone, and snap a picture of a SHADOW this week!  Post it on your blog (or flickr) and link up to the ISO blog. 

Summertime!

Since starting our ISO {In Search Of} photo challenge, I've been searching the internet for photo challenges to participate in.  On The Paper Mama, the theme is "Summertime", which happens to be the same theme we're doing at ISO this week. Sweet! 

The perfect picture composite

I have a confession.  

I love Photoshop.  

I love Photoshop because it helps me create The Perfect image out of images that might normally be not so perfect.  

For example... late this summer Heather and I took all 4 kids on a little excursion to get a picture of all 4 of them together.  Have you ever tried taking a picture of a 5 year old, a 4 year old and two 2 year olds?  Two of those kids whom are sick to death of the camera and make god-awful whiny faces when forced to sit for 2 seconds?  

Well... needless to say the task wasn't so successful. 

Enter: Photoshop

I had a couple "possibly good" images.  This one of Porter and Aubri... cute, right?  Well, here's another confession.  Porter's head is actually cloned in from a different picture.  Yep.  I had a picture where Aubri looked so cute and Porter looked like butt.  And a picture where Porter looked cute and Aubri looked like butt.  So, I did a little Photoshop wonder and voila!  A great shot of the two of them.  

 

And then there's this cute picture of Hudson and Addi.  Cute, right?  Well... another confession.  I did the same thing with this picture as I did with Aubri and Porter's.... I had a picture where one kid was great and the other not so great looking... made a combination of the two and voila! 

Now here comes the FUN part!  I really wanted a picture of all 4 of them together.  And I didn't have one.  But, I did have two great pictures with two kids in each.  So... a little Photoshop magic and VOILA!  The perfect picture with all 4 kids looking sweet as ever.  :) 

Florabella

I recently got a few sets of actions to play around with... I got the Totally Rad Actions 2: The Revenge (TRA2) and they are nice... but my favorite so far is Florabella Collection.  The new line, Luxe, is my absolute favorite and I've been having a blast playing around with the different sets and actions (I purchased the whole collection... all 6 sets of actions plus 2 sets of textures).

I love this picture of Hudson from Lake Michigan.  I was playing around with different actions and couldn't decide which one I liked the best.  I thought a little comparison would be fun!  Which is your favorite?

Two Awesome Giveaways

I started reading Shana's blog years ago when she just had little Sophie Lu, her daughter she adopted from China.  I dream of someday adopting a little girl from China and loved reading about her journey.  Since then, she has adopted a sweet little boy, Oliver, and given birth to another precious little girl Sasha.  And even more... become a wonderful photographer and action/texture maker (is that a term?? HAHA!)

She is the owner of Florabella Designs and is teaming up with Skye Hardwick (amazing photographer) to give away not one, not two, but THREE different products to SIX winners.

So... check out the Florabella Blog and Skye's Blog for details on how to enter!

On a high

I just got back from photographing my first commissioned birth session. The Richmonds hired me to do S's maternity and newborn session and we got to talking about the recent birth sessions I'd captured. She watched the slideshows and immediately wanted me to capture her birth.

I was texted this morning and she said she was being induced this afternoon. At 4pm she was 2cm and they broke her water. I was sure I was going to be called in late in the night and was prepared to have a sleepless night.

At 7:45 I got a call from B saying she was 8-9cm. I called my grandma to come over and I rushed to the hospital.

I was so nervous on my way there, not to mention cursing every red light. I wasn't sure how it would be photographing actual clients.... people I only really knew from one session. I told myself... "Just be a fly on the wall." And I did. And it turned out great. The entire Richmond family is wonderful and warm and friendly and welcoming. I made it to the hospital with less than 10 minutes before Lila Grace Richmond made her appearance.

I am on a high. I just love doing these type of sessions. Now if only I could choreograph births to be a little more predictable...

Workflow

I am in desperate need of a new workflow for editing pictures. It is taking me SOOO long to edit even one session... I'm very behind and its frustrating me.

Sorry to bore you non-photogs. But... here is my workflow. Please let me know what I can do to make things quicker!!

1. Load RAW pictures to a folder on the computer.
2. Rename Folder and transfer entire folde to my "Clients" Folder
3. Convert all RAW files to DNG files
4. Open CS2 and browse pictures in Bridge
5. Skim over files, open those that catch my eye and do a quick exposure/color adjustment.
6. Save as a JPG in the same folder.
7. Do this x's 30 images.
8. Go to the folder with JPGs and open them individually and edit in CS2, adjusting curves and sharpness etc.
9. Save
10. Crop
11. Size/Watermark for Web.

AUUUUGH. I am able to get about 5-10 images edited per night. It is taking FOREVER.

Pizza, Pop Rocks and a Perfect Papa Picture

Today we celebrated Shae's 5th birthday. This was her year for her big party- she had her birthday at a park with pizza, cupcakes with pop rock topping and lots of her friends. I got a few good shots to share:

Hudson and his infamous Bear Crawl...

If only he'd do a little more of this independently....


This one seems to sum up Shae to me... she's been the serious girl from day one and she's such a sweet, caring little girl. I played around with the color and texture.


I really wanted to get a good picture of Hudson and his Papa. The last "good" picture I have of them is when Hudson was about 5 months old. I am in LOVE with this picture.... just goes to show that if you wait it out long enough, the right moment happens.

I also managed to wrangle these two boys together to get a couple shots of them. For some reason I don't have many images of Ryan and the boys together.

Maternity

I'm loving my new camera. LOVING the full frame. Oh my word!

I too Leslie, LeeAnn, Maria and Carrie downtown yesterday to try out an urban maternity shoot. I'm not sure I'm cut out for it but we sure had a great time and ended up with some awesomely unexpected pictures! Check them out on the blog!

Butterfiles

Yes. Butterfiles. I'm dubbing the images, the files, that bring butterflies to your stomach as "The Butterfiles".

I was recently going through some of the images taken on my new 5d and came across this image of Hudson. I literally, and I'm not joking, caught my breath and got butterflies in my stomach.

Who is this boy? This BOY.

I stared at him and studied this image, taking note all the things I don't seem to notice on a daily basis.

His porcelain skin, ever so slightly tanned from the sun.

His wispy blonde hair, which is filling in quickly.

His baby blue eyes.

His pouty lips.

I can't believe this is him.... Hudson... my baby. Where has he gone?!

Summertime contest..... time is running out!!

Maybe you haven't heard yet.... I'm having a Summertime Fun contest on my photography blog and am going all out on the prize. Normally I give away a free session and maybe a storyboard or a few free prints.

Not this time.

This time I'm not only giving away a free session BUT ALSO the COMPLETE SESSION ON DISC with a release to print wherever and whenever you choose!

Folks, this is big.

For more details on how to enter, check out the photography blog. Entries MUST BE IN by 5pm MONDAY!!

Logo?

What do you think? Thoughts... opinions.... advice?

My new colors can be seen here. and here

I Heart Faces: Pout and Pets

This picture, from 2 years ago, immediately came to mind when I saw this weeks theme. And to this day, he still is pure drama...

And for the pet category... this is one of my favorite favorite photos of the late Samson... he was such a good ol' boy...
I Heart Faces... come on, join in!

And it goes on and on and on....

Hudson is STILL sick. He's barely eaten anything all weekend and we've resorted to syringing liquids to him because he's now refusing a bottle 75% of the time. If he's not better by tomorrow (which is what I keep hoping every night that I put him to bed), I'm taking him in. I don't think they'll tell us to do anything different than what we're doing (syringe feeding is what they told us to do last November when he had the week long pukes/shits), and I don't think he's dehydrated as his mouth is still wet/slobbery and his eyes are wet and he has tears. But, he's eating less than one bottle a day and I want to make sure, from a professional, that I'm doing all that I can to help him get better.

It breaks my heart to look at him as he just looks so sickly... so emaciated. He's losing weight, his face is thinner and his eyes are sunken in and look dark around them... just not the normal, round faced little guy he normally is.

If he hadn't gone through this in November (week long sickness), I'd be freaking out but I think that he just has a nasty stomach virus that is kicking his butt. The doc on Friday didn't seem too worried.

This weekend was gorgeous... still a bit chilly but very springy. Saturday we emptied the garage... literally... and reorganized everything. Kyle, the neighbor boy, came over to play basketball and play with Porter and he walked up and said "Are you guys having a garage sale?"

Porter had fun with him... before he came over Porter could hear him down his driveway and kept asking "Can I go over to my friend Kyle's house?" Well, not long after, Kyle came wandering up with his sister and a friend to hang out for awhile. Kyle's in 3rd grade, but he plays well with Porter.

After he left Porter walked into the garage and said "Mom, I had a great day with my friend Kyle" Awww...

Today I had an extremely long newborn session. Thank goodness the parents were great to hang out with. We chatted for nearly FIVE hours while trying everything under the moon to get their little guy to sleep.

Speaking of photography... I'm contemplating a new endeavor. Well, a couple. I'm wanting to get into birth photography and luckily I have lots of pregnant friends right now so I'm trying to get some experience/build a portfolio in that aspect. Two, I was just contacted by the photographer that Ryan and I hired for our wedding... asking me if I am interested in weddings and if I'd want to be a second shooter with him once business/economy picks up. WOAH! Now, I've been asked SO many times to do weddings but I turn it down every time. I just don't feel confident/competent/good enough/trust myself enough to do something that momentous. Ryan's cousin is pressing me hard right now to get me to shoot her wedding next spring and I'm *thinking* about it. And now Chris contacted me and I'm thinking... hmm... maybe????

Anyhow... back to our weekend....after I got home, we finished working in the garage and I can FINALLY park my car in there! We only have a 1 car garage so its a little scary driving into it... its narrow... but at least I have somewhere to park in the winters!

Teefers

I found this photo tonight while digging through the past 2 months folders. It was from early February. I love how sparkly his eyes are. And that it shows his two bottom teeth, a sight that soon won't be around anymore... those top two teeth are through!!

The Eyes Have It

Just jumping in for another week of photo challenges at I (heart) Faces. Hop on over and join in! Its fun!

While I will forever think that my nieces (especially Shae and Brenna) have the most reflective blue eyes, this little girly blew me away in a session this past fall. I barely touched her eyes in editing... they just reflected the light in the most amazing way.

I thought I'd play along in the pet category as well.... it was "Anything Goes" this week, but I remembered this photo that I took last summer that cracked me up and it just happened to fit into the "Eyes" category. This is my cousins' dog, Otto.... and the blur in the foreground is Wild Man Porter himself. Doesn't Otto look terrified!?

Joy

If this isn't a joyful little face, I don't know what is. :)

A day of improvising....

Since we got dumped on with snow today- nearly a foot- I thought it'd be great timing to go build a snowman. I thought we'd go out while Hudson took his morning nap but the more I thought about it (and the more I stared out the window at the gobs of snow coming down) the more I thought it wouldn't be such a great idea..... by the time I got both Porter and I geared up to go outside and half of the snowman made, Hudson surely would be waking up from his 45 minute morning nap. And I have no clue where our baby monitor is let alone if it even works, so I'd have to keep poking my head in the house to listen for his cries.

Soo... I improvised. I dumped out Porter's bucket of trucks and went outside to get some snow and we did this....

We made a little mini snowman with the snowman kit that Denise sent us last year (thank you Denise!)
And Porter tried on different "hats" on him...
He tasted the snow
And had to step in it to see how cold his feet got
H. Riley joined us after his nap....

He wasn't too sure about the cold snow... he just wanted to get the truck out
He was curious about the snowman... but that's as far as his hand got... he changed his mind the second I took this shot.

My boys...And what a great use for Mr. Potato Head! I'm so glad I picked up Mrs. Potato Head from Disney last year... I wish I could find somewhere that sold the pieces separately like they do at Downtown Disney as I'd buy up some new parts! Porter loves Mr. Potato Head and I think he'll get lots of use this winter as our Indoor Snowman Decorator.


Playing inside in the snow literally kept him busy for about 2 hours. I just threw down a towel, played with him for a bit and then left him to entertain himself while I did a few things around the house. Awesome!

Our day home went great... I'm looking forward to a good 2 weeks off. I'm hoping that I don't get too stressed out or burnt out with the boys... I tend to go crazy when I'm home too much (sad to say). My doc put me on a medication so hopefully I'll be less irritable with them (err... Porter). So far I'm doing great.

My plans this evening changed a bit though. I was really looking forward to going to Jen's in Lansing but the roads were terrible. We talked this afternoon and I grudgingly decided not to attmpt the 45 minute drive. However, after I got done laughing and chatting with her on the phone I was really thinking how fun it'd be to go eat pizza and hang out for the evening... but then once Ryan arrived home and said the roads were TERRIBLE and that there were idiots driving everywhere (HAHA!), I decided it was a better idea not to get out on the roads. I'm hoping and praying we can find time over break to get together!!

At the last minute this evening I called our neighbors (the ones with the two kids) and invited them over for pizza. I had spoken to Julie earlier in the day about our New Years party and we both said we'd been wishing/needing/wanting to get together. So, as I pondered dinner I thought... what the heck, let's see if they're free and see if they want to drive the 2 second drive over! Luckily they did and we had a great evening. (they laughed and said that Kennedi, their 4 year old, had said on the way home "Are we going home and being boring again tonight?" and they were excited to hear our message when they got home so they didn't have to be "boring" all night AGAIN! LOL!)

The kids played pretty well together, they brought their new puppy over (she'd been inside all day while they worked, so she tagged along to get snugged on a bit by us!), and we ate pizza, watched Horton Hears a Who and played a game of Nertz. I'm glad they were up for a spur of the moment get together! Hopefully we'll get a chance to get to know the rest of our neighbors a little better on New Years.