Sunday Stills: Green

The Sunday Stills challenge this week, The Color Green, had me thinking for a bit until I looked a little more closely around the house.

The first one is the front of the rock'n'roll guitar Blake got for his birthday...he can actually play cords on it as her rocks out to "I'm gonna rock'n'roll all night..."



And, another mystery photo to figure out...


I'll give you a much better idea...



Thanks to my very willing model...he's suddenly become a poser.


His Aunt Kim made him a new dragon hat that covers his ears. It's fantastic!

Sunday Stills: Macro + Happy Birthday!

This week's Sunday Stills challenge, Macro, coincides with Blake's 4th birthday. It's hard to believe that this little guy came into the world 4 years ago, about 7 weeks early and raring to go. He's turned from a baby into a toddler into a boy in the time it took me to blink.

So, in the spirit of blinking, macros, and birthdays, here are few shots of my four-year-old. Up close and personal.

I can't really describe Blake's eye color, but this shot does a pretty good job. It's a mix of brown, blue and gray. He had a hard time standing still to get the shot, so it's a little fuzzy, but I couldn't resist it.




Here are the famous eyelashes, inherited from his Dad, that he gets so many complements on:



And, finally, the freckles that sprouted on his face, many of them this summer:

Sunday Stills: The Letter W

The Sunday Stills challenge this week, The Letter W, took me awhile to figure out. That is until I woke up on Saturday morning and wanted to do two things: make breakfast and play with the macro portion of my new wide angle/macro filter.

Can you guess my W?



This one should give it away.

Conversations in my house - Part 2

Or...why her Dad may not need a shotgun for the teen years.

After one of Faith's teachers announced she was having a baby....

F: "How can Ms. H be four months pregnant if she got married two months ago?"

Me: <pause - girding loins for honest answer> "Because she had sex before they got married."

F: "I thought that was illegal."

Conversations in my house

Or...why our children are going to grow up with a warped sense of humour.

F: "Guess what happened at school today? Yesterday, they announced 'Sorry, there's no milk today. It will be here tomorrow.'
And, then, today, we were all walking down to get milk and they announced again, .Sorry, there's no milk today. It will be here tomorrow.  I was totally pissed off, that was part of my snack!"

Her Dad: "Did you ask who the asshole was?"

Sunday Stills: Best Shot of 2010

The Sunday Stills Challenge this week sounds easy, but... Yes, time to do the year in review and pick the best shot of 2010. I find this one like trying to pick your favourite movie, or your favourite author. It all depends on the genre. Are you talking portrait or still life or landscape? Black and white or color?

So, because it's so hard to pick just one, I put together a set on Flickr of what I thought were my best shots of 2010 (and you'll notice I have a strong preference for portraits). To give you a taste, here are what I thought were the best of the best.

Best Portrait 
...and probably best shot of 2010...of my goddaughter. Shot this outside on a cloudy day with my 55-200mm lens.


Best Still Life
This is called a Jacob's Ladder and my mom got it for Blake on our trip to Ireland/England.


Best Landscape
This pond is on my way to work...it's surrounding by ugly wires but I managed to get a shot in between that looks quite peaceful.


Best Action / Horse Shot
Sydney showing Faith how to work with Indigo.


Let me know if you agree or disagree...best shots are really just a matter of preference.

Sunday Stills: Hats

The Sunday Stills challenge for the week, Hats, was perfect timing for me. We've been hat crazy around here.

My sister-in-law, Kim, is a talented knitter and maker of extremely cute kids' hats. They were over on the weekend, and I caught my niece in the snow, in her snazzy flower hat knitted by her mom.



I didn't get a recent shot of Blake in his dragon hat, but here's one I took last year, again courtesy of his Aunt Kim.



All this knitting seemed to inspire Faith. Another aunt, Melissa, is also a knitter. So, she gave Faith a knitting thing-a-majiggy for Christmas. It's a set of round looms(?) that you can easily knit hats and other items on. (And, you can tell I'm so not a knitter.) She made her first hat in about three hours...a gift for her friend. Very cool! She has, however, learned, not to leave her yarn out when her brother and cousin are playing....things get a little unravelled!