My New Camera Lens Kicks A$$!

Mom, remember when I graduated from college? The gift I wanted more than anything was a super nice photo album (which you had engraved for me) and a fancy camera (which you consulted people about and purchased-- thank you!). Ever since then I have been reading and learning and practicing taking great pictures. I have, however, never had a professional grade camera... but I do now!!!!!

I'm so excited!! I'm gonna start taking pictures... like for money... as a hobby on weekends. I need LOTS of practice though! So I got my fancy camera and then consulted friends of mine who are great photographers (thanks Nikki, Heather and Brad!) for more tips. Nikki forced me into buying a new lens. A better lens. Forced me. ;) It arrived today. HOLY CRAP IT'S AWESOME!!!! I can't wait till Max gets home so I can start taking pics of him with it. (for the record, he is SUPER annoyed with my picture taking)

I also purchased some great editing software for the Mac to help me make photos just right. I love it. I have SO much to learn but I have been playing with it in the process. Here are some before edits and after edits I took recently (NOT with the new great Nikki-forced lens but with the lens the fancy camera came with)...

before...

after...

before...

after...

Awesome right? I've already had a few people tell me "nice camera" when looking at my pictures and according to my super-talented friend Nikki, that is the highest compliment a photographer can get! :) Should I brag and tell them "it's not the camera; I've got skillz"? ;)

Anyway, after I have a few practice sessions with my friends I'll be starting my own little business, somehow. It'll be inexpensive and fun for clients... and great for me! I can't wait!

More From Our Ladies Man...

Last Sunday we got an invitation to go to the Dragon's stadium for a family fun night. It was sponsored by Entertainment Book (you know, the coupon books?) and kids who sold a certain dollar amount in books got a ticket to go. Max only sold one book, the one we purchased out of obligation to the school, but because I'm on the PTO the coordinators for this fundraiser were kind enough to give our family a pass to this event as well.

The event ran from 4-8pm. They had free hotdogs and popcorn, bounce houses, obstacle courses, batting cages, blow up slides, base running on the field and pictures with Heater and Gem, the Dragons mascots. They also had people doing face painting and balloon animals (that takes serious talent, btw!) and at 6:00 showed the movie "UP!" on the jumbotron. It was SOOOOO crowded and quite honestly smelled like b.o. and farts everywhere we stood. (sorry, if I had to endure it you can stand to read about it) Max loved every minute though and I really think he ran the 90 ft between every base like 234832 times.

Guess what though? While we were there we ran into the elusive Samantha. You know, Samaaaaaaaaaaantha? The one who gives Max drawings and notes on the bus daily? Well well well... here she is... with Max. They had fun playing together. I think Samantha must have had some chocolate somewhere too, judging by her mouth...

The next day Max got on the bus and the bus driver, Janet, told me that Samantha had a note for him that I might want to take to keep safe. Here it is:

Cracks me up. (sorry it's sideways)

Oh here are a few more random things... Max got his kindergarten pics back from school. Seriously adorable!!! Take a look!

And here are some from a cookout we had at the Breehne's last night... Max had fun with Carley, Christina, Ella and a few other of our friends' kids...

Christina Breehne, Carley Breehne, Max

Max, Carley Breehne and Ella Giuffre

And finally, from today's soccer game. Max scored two goals; he also got plowed by his own teammate and friend, Ryan. Sometimes it's hard for 5 year olds to remember to share the ball or that they are on the same team! :) Max banged his knee pretty hard... I got the shots in sequence! Check it out...

above- Max in front, running for the ball...

Ryan comes in from behind to try to get it too...

and he's down... there he goes!

The "after" shot (why is this underlined?)

Kleather's. It's Tradition.

Kleather's recently stocked up on their pumpkins for the fall and as has been tradition since I was little, we went pumpkin hunting on October 1st. Max was pumped! He waited all week for September to be over so we could go. Plus, Friday Oct 1 was his day to bring home Ducky Duddle from school AND the day the boys got off the bus first. He was full of joy!

We searched and searched and pulled the wagon around and around looking for three perfect pumpkin representations of Max, Chris and me. (yes, we try to find pumpkins shaped like each of us) Max desperately wanted this huge one, just like he does every year.

Max grew very frustrated with me and my camera! DUDE! I'm trying to learn how to use it! Let me take your picture! Oh and poor Daddy had to sit the hunt out this year. He would yell and point to pumpkins for us to go see. It was annoying, really. But poor Chris. That cast is enough to take his sanity... and mine.

Finally. Max found one! But can he lift it into the wagon?? You'll have to wait till the end of the month when we carve and paint them to see how well we did...

I'm Raising a Ladies Man!

Max likes girls. I mean, yes, we all know he prefers to play with them but I always thought that was because nearly all my friends have girls so they are who he got stuck with playing with most of time... but no, I mean, he really likes them. He's a 5 year old ladies man, no lie.

Every single day he gets off the bus with something new that a girl gave him. Most days it's a painting or some art work that the girl should probably be taking home to her parents! Max will hand it to me to look at and I can tell when it's not his work so I'll say "where'd you get this?"... "Oh Mommy, Samantha gave it to me!". Every. Single. Day. Literally. Earlier this week after bringing home the umpteenth "gift" from a random girl I put the art work in the trash. I mean what am I supposed to do with 249238234 drawings by other peoples kids? Max found it in the trash and yelled, "MOMMY! That was very special to me!" and took it out and hid it in his room. (I still can't find it).

Yesterday he got off the bus with a fruit snack and a penny from Sarah. The day before he came home with this "letter" from Samantha or Anna or someone. When does it end?

So today I'm working at the school with Anna's mom. I had no idea her daughter was on Max's bus, but this mother "knew" Max. She said "oh, I think your son is on my daughter's bus... she says he gets on the bus and says 'Hi pretty girls'. WHAT!?!?! What is going on here? Chris claims he is just like him. Is this bragging? I don't know. But I find it hilarious and a tad disturbing at the same time and now look forward to what "gift" he'll come home with each day. I can't blame the little girls though; who could resist this face?

It's Autumn! Must be time to visit Windmill Farm!

This weekend Windmill Farm opened. We took Max. He loves checking out the (nasty smelling) live animals, petting the goats, climbing through the witch tunnels and more! This year we left Chris sitting on a bench in the warm sun with his stupid cast and crutches while Max and I went to see what we could see. We ran into his friends Alex and "Little" Max, too, which made it all the better for my "Big" Max. They played hard; Max has a HUGE scratch on his shoulder to prove it. They discovered Apple Cider Slushies... uh... I must find this recipe, even if it means I have to buy one of those slushie machines! And Little Max got bit by a goat. It's ok, his mom and dad are both physicians and they weren't worried, so I couldn't be either-- even though had that been Big Max who got chomped on I probably would have been in the ER with him. ;)

Every year Max gets his picture taken by the pumpkin growth chart, just for fun. Let's compare....

Fall 2009: 44"-45" Tall

Fall 2010:

Yup, he's just about 48". We know this because he was barely too short to ride the big roller coasters at Kings Island and is begging to go back for Howl Fest and wear "taller" shoes so he can squeak by. Brave!

Happy Fall!

Our Nutso Week in Pictures

I got a new camera. Cheer with me!!!! YAY!!!! A fancier one (thaaaaaaaaaaanks, Chris!) so now I'm practicing with it. Max was out on the trampoline the other evening so I switched modes and snapped away. Got a couple good shots of him doing toe touches, dontcha think? Love the tongue shot in the second one? I do.

And in case you hadn't heard yet, poor Chris broke his ankle on Monday night. He was up at the high school playing with the SHS kids while recruiters from UD came to watch a player. Story goes he went up for a three-pointer and came down on a kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time doing something WRONG! Anyway, he thought it was just a sprain but the thing grew HUGE with swelling. On Tuesday he went to see Dr. Smith who took and xray and confirmed it is in fact broken. He has to be casted for 4 weeks; not a walking cast either-- a full on cast with crutches. And the crutches, I think, are the worst part. He is no good with them. He can't carry anything, they rub his sides wrong, they are cumbersome... and they are making him very grumpy. So don't take your ankles for granted, oh healthy ones! Oh and for the record, he made the shot. He makes sure I tell EVERYONE that fun tid bit. (ps- I kinda can't believe I'm posting a picture of a foot on my blog. Gag me.)

On Wednesday night this week, Max was supposed to start Tae Kwon Do. Mind you he did this for an entire year at preschool with the same teacher and most of the same kids. And mind you he did not pitch one tantrum at soccer or on the first day of school this year. Alas this day, he decided it was tantrum time again. I feel badly for him though (in between clenching my teeth as to not scream at him in front of other parents), and this is why... he is finally to the age where he can begin to voice what is making him react so wildly. He said he was "nervous" and "embarrassed". I'm guessing because loads of parents are watching behind the glass and there are bigger kids in there who seem to know more what they are doing. I think he is intimidated, plus we all know he's never wanted an audience for anything! Needless to say I had to carry all 58 pounds of him out of there kicking and screaming. He WANTS to do it, but can't get past the emotions. TKD is expensive too so I think we're done for now. Need to see about that refund... Here he is though, practicing at home before we left. Even pretending to karate chop Daddy's foot...

Aaaand... because Daddy's has a broken ankle, and because Max gets up SO early, he has vowed to deliver breakfast in bed to Chris every morning. The first morning I helped. He chose the items though. Cookie Crisp Cereal, a Toy Story fruit snack, 3 Starburst and a Capri Sun. Delivered on a tray. The next morning Max created his own breakfast for Daddy while I was out running early. He got a paper plate and poured onto it Cheerios (sans milk), placed on it a bag of chocolate chip muffins and a spoon and presented it to Chris in bed. How sweet is that? Look at the breakfasts!!!

Thursday was picture day at school. It was also the first day of fall but our weather begged to differ with record breaking temps in the mid-90s. I think a lot of people had to scrap their original idea of what their kids were wearing for picture day. Luckily dressing a boy is a lot easier than dressing a girl. We just rolled up the sleeves on a new blue plaid shirt, put on shorts and we were good to go. I took his pic on the way to the bus stop... no, he didn't squint like this for his real pictures; it was just so sunny!

On Thursday night we had Max's Kindergarten Open House. We got to go to his classroom and walk around, see where he sits, look at some of the fun things he's made, check out his mailbox and cubby, sweat a lot due to lack of a/c, and more. I was there all night selling Spirit Wear for the PTO. Here is Max modeling his new winter cap.... with a "mean panther" on the front!

So that's it! Pretty crazy week at our house! Who's ready for a more relaxing weekend? ME!

OH YES!... oh no...

Soccer started. I gave Max a choice this season, "do you want to play soccer?" He said "yes". You all know we deal with this every season... and this is his 5th! He gets on a team, loves to go to practice, but come game time he refuses to play and throws a tantrum on the sidelines. We've learned over the last year that his favorite sports are swimming and tennis and that's great! Personally I think soccer is awesome for young kids because of all the lessons it can teach about sharing, cheering another on, teamwork, commitment, exercise, etc. but if he likes individual sports better than so be it.

Chris is the coach and Kaylee's dad is the assistant. (that was our sneaky attempt at getting him more interested and keeping them good friends since we didn't know that they would miraculously end up in the same kindergarten class!) Max has had 2 games now and let me say, WHOA, he is a changed kid! He is aggressive, he runs the whole time, he begs to be put in, he fights and kicks and elbows and pushes, and he loves it!!! No, I am not kidding! The first game he scored 4 goals and this weekend he scored one. How awesome is that? I'm beyond thrilled that he loves it this season. I actually look forward to his games because of it... even the wet, cold, rainy ones! Ha!

To this we all say "OH YES!"

There were a couple of "oh no's" this weekend too though. The first, I lost my brand spankin new expensive fancy camera. I'm seriously depressed about it and can't snap out of it. I do NOT know where it is. I love to take pictures and have wanted a fancy camera for a long time. I have been practicing with it and was getting comfortable with all the manual settings. I took a picture of Max with it on Thursday before school and set it on the back of my truck. I SWEAR after he got on the bus I walked back in the garage, took it off the truck and inside with me, and practiced with it some more in the kitchen. After that though it's anybody's guess... where is it? Did I really leave it on the truck and the practicing happened another day? (my days can run together you know!) Did I carry it with me somewhere and leave it? Did I stash it somewhere secret without knowing? UGH! I have turned this house upside down looking for it... it's NO WHERE! It is seriously sad... I can't just go buy another one!!!!! UGH!!!!!

And that "oh no" leads to the second of the weekend... Kelly turns 40 on Weds and this weekend Tim and I threw her a PINK party. "OH NO" cause I hate 40 for her and "OH NO" cause I didn't have my fancy camera to snap awesomely fabulous pictures.

The party was so great though... everyone HAD to wear pink and most did so without complaining. We had pink balloon towers and pink flowers and a pink and black zebra cake. I bought Kelly a tiara with pink gems and the tables had pink buckets with pink candy in them. In case you didn't know, pink is her favorite color and she's a bit obsessed with it; we thought having a pink party would lessen the blow of 40 a little... and I think it did! Here are some pics of the night... taken with a pink camera, no lie... I'd rather have taken them with my cool black fancy camera, did I mention that I'm sad about it going missing???

Me, Kelly, Nicole... in pink!

Chris and Me... in pink!

Chris even went out and bought pink socks! That's the spirit!

Birthday Girl and Me

The fabulously delicious and fun cake

Oh, and one last update... Max still looooooves kindergarten and the bus ride! We completed two homework worksheets tonight. It's mostly stuff he learned two years ago in preschool but that's ok, makes him feel smart! LOL! He wants to say thanks to a few people... to Mamaw and Papaw for the nice cards and the puzzles and the books... to Grandma and Grandpa for the money with which he bought cool new shoes... and to Aunt Tara for the "funny and gross" (as he calls it) new shirt for school! :)