last Christmas randomness

I found some random and favorite photos from last Christmas today.  I can't believe how little Z was!  A little baldy.  And, look at all those school projects my girls did that are pasted to the back of our front door.  Classy, I know.

I can barely remember last Christmas.  It's a big blur.  It might have something to do with the fact that I hadn't gotten a full night's sleep in 7 months at that point.  

David and I took a stay-cation while my parents kept the girls.  We took Z and just slept and ate and watched Harry Potter and slept some more.  It was fabulous.

This one was taken on Christmas morning.  I think Z has a crazy gleam in his eye because he wants to grab my camera lens.  I love this photo and his pajamas (both are keepers!)

How different our lives would be without little Z.  I just can not imagine it!  

On a more serious and deeper note, this is the week that little baby O. would have been due, had he been carried to full term.  It would be so bizarre to have another little baby at this point in my life--so bizarre I can not imagine it!  But, there is still sadness at not having met him and not having him here with us.  The sadness does not come very often anymore, though there are still occasional tears, but not as many.  I do look forward to meeting him one day.  I wonder what he looks like?!  It's incomprehensible to think of already having a little person waiting for us in heaven.  Sigh!

I'll leave you with this one of Z and his drooley face.

gingerbread house.

Hello, December!  

It's a good month.  It's the month of festive decorating, fa-la-la-ing, listening to the Charlie Brown Christmas album, sugar cookie baking, Christmas parties, trying to remember the real meaning of Christmas, purchasing gifts, sending out Christmas cards, my birthday...  Whew.  I feel tired just writing all of that down!

I've decided that Christmas in Florida can be just as festive as Christmas in other places, you just have to know where to go and not expect it to feel cold and snowy.  Once you're used to wearing shorts and tank tops all year round, you're much better off.  In fact after 5 years, I just may have acclimatized.  I no longer find myself cursing under my breath at the lack of seasons.  And, I secretly wonder if I'd ever be able to do "cold" again. I'm not saying I wouldn't like a little change of season, but I think I can deal with the weather here now.

So, feeling festive, I let the kiddos decorate a gingerbread house.  Little Z is really getting to be a "poser" for the camera.  Check out his head-tilt!

Miss A is horrified by Z snatching of a piece of candy off the roof.  It was quickly fixed by Miss M.

I can't quite manage to get all 4 of us in the shot anymore.  Almost.

Miss A gets her own photo.

bokeh how-to

It's New Year's Eve Day, and I'm finally posting a Christmas-y photo. Better late than never, I say. Besides getting everyone's fun photos in the mail, another reason I love Christmas is for capturing the lights. This year I didn't get out much, but I did enjoy my own little tree at home.

If you tree is still up, you can try this too. Bokeh is the background blur in an image. It's a made from tiny bits of light that are out-of-focus. In my Christmas tree photo, the bokeh became the subject of my photo. You'll want to shoot at a wide aperture. In the photo below, I used my Tamron 28-75mm at f/2.8, the widest or most open aperture available. Switch to manual focus so that you're actually turning the focusing right yourself, and play around until you get an effect that you like.

It takes just a little practice, but it's a fun effect. Have fun! And, Happy New Year's Eve!

christmas photo album

Wow, the month just flew by! I've missed blogging, but it was also nice to take a little break, even though it was unintentional. I've been a rather sporadic blogger this past year. Maybe 2011 will be different?

One of my favorite things about Christmas is receiving our friends' family photos. Really. I love photos (no surprise), and it's always nice to get a little glimpse of how kids have grown, even if I can't keep up with everyone throughout the year.

I display our photos here on the wall rather informally.


Several years ago, I decided that it was a real shame to toss everyone's photos after Christmas, so I purchased a cute little photo album. Nothing crafty about it. Just a regular album that you can slide 4x6 photos into and out of.



When it's time to put away Christmas decorations, I take down my photos, and put them into our album. If they're too big (like those long envelope-length cards), I just cut off what doesn't fit, and slide them in. Our album sits on our end table throughout the year so that my girls can look though it and be reminded of who our friends are. Some are long-time friends, some are new friends, but I love how it helps them to know that we are loved and part of a bigger community of people who live all across the country.