Photography Link-up: "little"

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This is my little photographer. All of my kids have gone through this phase at some point or another. - wanting to be the family photographer. Here is the photo he took 

Have a photo you'd like to share? Link it up below! You can link to your blog or Flickr page. You don't have to have an SLR to participate - just share your love for photography! A link back is appreciated. Copy the button code above into the html code for your page or a text link is fine too. 

Weekend Instagram dump

I can't think of a day when I've been more happy about a weekend in awhile. Yesterday my girls had their Boosterthon Fun Run at school, I spent nearly the whole day at their school with my boys in tow - so exhausting, but fun! Now I've got tween pop songs stuck in my head though. The girls came home saying it was the best day ever. I nearly fell asleep on the couch waiting for the hubs to come home. I let the kids have a "sleepover" so all of the girls slept in the same room, mostly all on the floor, they were seriously wound up and didn't fall asleep until nearly eleven.  So this morning they weren't up at the crack of dawn like usual, it was so nice to wake up with Eli and while my early birds played quietly together on the couch I got my coffee and enjoyed a couple minutes of peace and quiet. Just the kind of weekend morning I love. In a few hours we're going to the Library (hopefully before any major rain comes through in the wake of the awful tornadoes that have ravaged some of our neighbor states) and then we're going to conquer our personal Mt. Everst of laundry that needs to be folded and I hope to mop the kitchen floor. It's been crazy-hard to get everything done lately and I'm hoping that the kiddos will be happy helpers today.

Last Week the kids were home for presidents day so we did a re-do of Valentines Day since I was sick this first time around. Mostly this meant spending all day making a red velvet cheesecake.

RedVelvet Cake Batter

Cheesecake layer, Red Velvet Layers & Cream Cheese Frosting

Um, I think we have a problem

Trimmed

Sampling

Finished!

In my fridge

Enjoying some nice weather

  

somebody is ready for a nap

Enjoying a Sunday afternoon at the Park

Finally eating some solid foods!

Grocery shopping

Breakfast

coffee on a Friday

I have SO many photos to post, a bunch are still in my camera - maybe I'll have time this weekend? Here's hoping. So here are a few Instagrams of my little guy - who is getting SO big!

Things I've been doing lately...

• chasing after Eli, who is officially an ankle biter. he scoots around on the floor discovering every tiny little thing, which means constant supervision. He has become a terror in his walker, crashing into Josiah, chasing the dog and trying to explore the trash can. He was my most active baby inside me so I'm not surprised he's one little ball of energy now,
• feeding Eli - which has been fun. I decided not to give up on my attempt to get him started on solids and finally my persistence has paid off, or we're in the right window of time for him, either way he's eating a tablespoon or two of various pureed vegetables every day (sweet potatoes are his favorite, but we sneak bites of peas and green beans in between) and he also eats about an eighth of a cup of cheerios and a few sweet potato puffs.
• teaching Josiah how to read... he's really into it now. We started going through some of the books I bought for Beth when I home schooled her - just to give Josiah something to do - and he's already getting pretty good at sounding his words out.

It's Boosterthon fun run at my girl's school today - so I gotta run!

P.S. my Simply Bliss childhood photography class starts on Monday so there is still time to register!!

Photography link up

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Texture is from Life-n-Reflection

So what have you been up to? As you can probably tell, I haven't been on the blog much lately.

I'm finishing up my February product photography class - which was one of my favorite classes to write so far! Next month I'll be teaching a childhood photography class. You can register for it at a special discount here until the end of the week. You don't have to have special/specific equipment to participate.

If I haven't left a comment on your blog in awhile it is not for lack of desire... I love seeing your photos! Thank you so much for linking up!!

Poetic Winter Photography Challenge Week 4 "Calm"

Instagrams taken w my iPhone 4s of a few calm moments lately

Lately life has been anything but calm - Eli has turned into a holy little terror. It's hard to believe, I know. He's keeping me busy during his every waking moment, trying to crawl, buzzing around in his walker pulling things down and crashing into his big brother. I think he's set some kind of family record with how active he's become at only 7 months. 

But then there are those calm moments... nap times especially.  I've been trying to take the time to read to my boys every afternoon. Josiah usually falls asleep, Eli usually wakes up as soon as Josiah falls asleep! We're working on it it... those moments are some of my favorite.

My plan for this challenge was to photograph Eli napping but he woke up as soon as I got my camera out and didn't go back down until I'd lost my light. So here is one I took of Josiah... I just adore these sweet moments with my sleeping boy. It reminds me how quickly these years are going by and how dearly I treasure these little lives.



I am going to add this photo as well since it's one of my favorites this month... another sweet moment having a snack - when I didn't have to constantly remind my little man to calm down :)

check out the other blogs hosting this challenge Rebecca of Bumbles and Light, Alicia of Project Alicia and Kristi of live and love... out loud 

Be sure to check out Alicia's blog - her post this week is AMAZING plus she will be hosting the (possibly life-altering) tutorial & freebie this week.

Just a few details:

All are welcome regardless of skill level, time commitment and geographic location.

Each Friday, we'll have freebies, discounts to some of the hottest photography resources, photography tips and inspirational quotes or poems to get your creative photography juices flowing.

Share your favorite images inspired by the weekly prompt. The linky will remain open from 9am Friday – 9am Thursday CST. Link directly to your Poetic Winter blog post or Flickr photo, not your blog’s home page or Flickr Photostream.

Feel free to share your photos in our Poetic Winter Flickr Group as well and don’t forget to visit and comment on the previous entry in the linky list.

This time around, we'll be pinning our favorite photos to the Poetic Winter Pinterest Board. Not on Pinterest and need an invite? Let me know in the comments section and I'll be more than happy to send you one.

And last, but not least, don't forget to grab our lovely button.

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Thanks to the following sponsors for partnering with us to bring you these fabulous deals; created exclusively for Poetic Winter Photo Challenge participants and valid throughout the month of February. Click on the images to be taken directly to their sites. Don't wait to take advantage of these discounts before they expire!!