So, on the second day of fall I've finally finished processing Nicholas's summer photos. Little behind? Yep, that would be me! ;) But, I figured I should get these done considering it's almost time to take fall shots. :p There aren't as many here as there were from Madison's shoot, but it's very difficult to get a wide variety of usable pictures of Nicholas, as he is very sensitive to sound and even the slight whir the lens makes when focusing is enough to send his fingers up to plug his ears. I managed to get some smiles this day, so all-in-all I'd say the endeavor was a success!

 

Notice the shots of his feet. I'm obsessed with his cute little feet. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since taking these I've gotten my 50mm lens, so I'm very excited to give that a try with fall portraits. :)

Well, that's all for today! Happy fall!       

I finished up some layouts over the past few weeks. Some I like better than others, but hey, you know how that goes. :) Layouts are linked to credits.

Back to school photos:

 

 

Summer photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for tonight! Have a great Monday! :)

Ok, so I don't know if most people consider Halloween an actual holiday, but I do....and it's the best one of the year in my book! Yep, it even beats out Christmas (though Christmas does run a close second for the warm, cozy, homey feeling of sharing good food, laughs and smiles and gifties with the family)!

Last year we held our first annual Halloween party for the big kids. It was a blast and some of our friends are still talking about it (and a couple complaining because they weren't able to attend and they heard about it from other friends). This year promises to be bigger and better than last year. The guest list has grown...by probably about 20 people, the decorating process is already underway (yes, I have Halloween decor going up in early September....but hey, there is a lot to be done and it's my goal not to be rushed like I was last year), and Scott and I have pretty much secured all of the important pieces of our costumes. The Best Costume trophies are done and waiting to be picked up. This year's categories include: Funniest, Most Outrageous, Scariest, Sexiest, and Best Overall. We were really pleased with the engraved plates for the trophy bases we got from a local awards shop last year (Scott attached the trophy tops to the bases and affixed the engraved plates), so we decided to cut out some of the work and have that place to the whole shebang this year.

I'm going to be doing a HUGE batch of my Padded Room Pineapple infused vodka this year and forgoing the rest. I'll have to get that stewing around the first of October. We found a huge 3-gallon ice tea dispenser with a spigot for the purpose. I keep telling Scott I'm going to make 3 gallons of the vodka. I think he believes I've lost my mind.

Lisa's already started her awesome cake creation, which she found on a site. I want to post a picture so bad, but I can't because it needs to be a surprise for our guests. I will say this though...I have a feeling most people aren't going to think it's edible when they see it. Wee!!

There is much more to be done, including some extensive decor creations and now that things have slowed to a normal pace work-wise, I'm looking forward to tackling them. :D I will continue with updates on the progress and share pictures of the house once it's decorated.

Because I pretty much skipped a month and a half without blogging, I plan on playing a little catch up here and in future posts. I'll do this in between general life chatter, showing off new layouts (if I ever carve out the time to scrap) and sharing photos.

Speaking of photos, I have some of Nicholas that I took in July, not too long after shooting Madison (wow, that reads badly, but you know what I mean). I haven't processed them all yet, and I need to get them web ready. I should consider doing that soon.

My poor, beautiful camera has been a bit neglected lately. She (I guess I've decided to call it a "she") did get to come out and play during our day trip to Chicago (must process those as well) and on the first day of school (again, processing needed....see a common theme here?), but otherwise has sat looking spiffy in my new Canon backpack. Scott came home from work one day with that in tow....right before our trip to Chicago. It couldn't have come at a better time because I wasn't really hip to carrying around the camera on my neck all day (I'm forever worrying about bumping it into things because I'm klutzy by nature) and had yet to even shop for a camera bag.

Honestly, I had no clue that they even made backpacks. What an ingenious idea, though! There are all sorts of adjustable nooks for lenses/gear and the Rebel, well, she's safely secured with a handy velcro strap, not to move an inch in there. I find the backpack styling makes it much easier to carry than a standard  bag.

We also picked up one of these wireless remotes, though I haven't used it yet beyond some test shots.

 

And a new 50mm lens. I did take this out for a test drive for back to school pics and I'm really enamored with it. I keep forgetting that my feet are my zoom, and am learning to be more careful without image stabilization, but overall this does a really beautiful job.

I'm keeping a very close eye on the leaves. When they start to turn, I want to get the whole family outside and see if I can't get all 4 of us in a shot (now you know why I ordered the remote). Maybe I'll even get brave and try to get the dog to sit still for one with us too. I have a feeling that's a bit of a pipe dream though. ;)

See? Do you see what a bad, bad blogger I am? I have such a hard time remembering to blog. When I finally sit down long enough with nothing in particular to do it's late at night, I pretty much have no coherent thoughts in my brain. Enter "neglected blog" stage left.

Yah, that has to stop. :p So, the blog has made onto my list. Before I go any further, just let me say that there is something I seem to inherently abhor about lists. Scott insists it has something to do with my mother and her love affair with lists...whatever. He's a man, what does he know, right? (Ok, he probably is right to some degree, but I'm never telling him that!) Now that we've established how I dislike lists, imagine my dismay to have discovered that I actually kind of need them! My lists don't come in the traditional handwritten-on-paper form, but I certainly have started to keep them digitally. My daily to-do list has come to find a home within Outlook. I realized I could set "appointments" for the things I need to do daily, but that often are forgotten by my slightly addled brain--and these appointments come along with reminders!!

With each day that passes, I come to love my lists more and more, and they're growing to reflect that. More things that I forget to do are being added to this never-ending digital list, with reminders set up to reoccur on a regular basis (this is so I don't forget to re-add things to my list that I don't want to forget *tee hee*).  And now blogging is on my list, because apparently I need a naggy little reminder popping up on my computer monitor in order to get it done.

So here I am, the list-hater who's becoming a slave to lists. My friend Christine is a list-maker...or so one would assume considering her blog is called Fabulous Adventures of Listgirl. I bet my friend Laurie makes lists...she has to, she's one of the most organized people I know! Scott makes lists....without them his work day would be chaos. Maybe I'm just late to the list party, and maybe--just maybe--lists really aren't all that bad. Now forget that I ever said that! ;)