Who knew

That a pair of $1.00 sun glasses...from the Target bargain section...

could make a kid so happy.

 Who knew?

And, I had some more self portrait adventures. Joe thinks taking self portraits is vain. Silly man. I used to think that, until I joined the photography world and realized it is a natural part of documentation. For me, it seems like the only way to document that these kids have a mother. lol You know how Max and Ruby(you know, those cute bunnies on Nickelodeon?) are always alone. There is a facebook page called, Where the Hell are Max and Ruby's Parents? LOL It has over 13,000 likes. Good Q. They are ALWAYS alone. I got to thinking. Maybe Max and Ruby's mom is the one filming them. Hidden behind that camera. Maybe? Anyhow, if you look at my life in pictures, it appears that my children, like Max and Ruby, have no mama. Where the Hell is she? Oh, yeah, behind the camera. Anyhow, at Clickinmoms, I came across a photographer, Misti, that took selfies. She said the best thing. She said that someday, when your kids look back on your family's pictures, they are going to want to see pictures of you more than themselves. So true. I love seeing pictures of my mom at different stages in our life. LOVE it. So, I took that to heart and started getting in more frames, even if it is just me and the camera in a refelction or distorted arms-length shots. LOL Here are some of my latest attempts. Camera held at arms length. Mama is half a person here because the distortion was so bad, I chopped off the big crooked looking nose. This is my better half, so that is good. j/k ;)

And, I am proudly wearing my new cardigan from Target.

Who knew a cardigan from Target could make a mama so happy?
Who knew?

 And, when I uploaded these, I thought I looked like my sister, Eva. Sometimes I see a pic of myself and think I look like one of my many sisters. This time, I swear, the whole pic(except the big ol' nasty distorted nose) looked like my sister Eva.

Past weekend...on film

It was nice out, besides the mud and gray skies and chilly wind here or there, of course, so we got outside. Figured it would be a great time to play around with some film. 

We headed down to the rails to trails for some bike riding. For anyone that does not know, the trail is an old rail line, turned into a biking/hiking trail.

Joey has really come into his own with this whole bike riding thing. He rocks. He even attempted some wheelies. 

We had not gone very far before we saw this thinga-ma-jingie. From best I can tell, it was a handy way to load coal onto the trains below. We love finding little bits of history in places like this.

 

 The boys(and Joe) started exploring, and we soon found that piles of coal were everywhere.

See it? How old was it? How long has it been piled up here after the rails were abandoned? Pete spent several minutes doing this, basically getting no where, like a little running man, until I finally gave him a boost. 

If you look real close, Paul is like, look ma, more coal. 

Then, we started collected it, and placing it in the stroller. *sigh*

 Okay, boys, that is enough with the coal.

When Jude saw everyone get out, well, that was it for his peaceful strolling. He had to get out too.

And then we were on our way back.

 2 funny things about this picture. 

1. Paul was just smiling for the camera. He was fussy the whole time, and him and Joe were bickering back and forth about his chain skipping, not pedaling enough, the training wheels, etc. Those two. LOL

2. See Joe in the background with a piece of coal? Just like the kids, isn't he? Joe, enough with the coal. Put it down. 

Then, on Sunday, we had an Easter Egg hunt at the Knights of Columbus Hall. 

I was metering without a light meter, using some old filmy rules. You ever hear of the sunny f.16 rule? Of course you have. What about the cloudy f.11 rule? Yeah? Have you heard of the Central Pennsylvania-light-vacuum-more-dreary-than-before-charlie-found-the-golden-ticket-in-the-willie-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory-movie-f.8-rule?  Oh you have. That's good. That is what I used. 

Earlier in the day:

Me: Joe, do you think we need to wear our mud boots to this?

Joe: Nahhhh.

 Lesson learned...in Spring in Central PA, always wear your mud boots...

I should be making dinner, but...

I choose to take pictures, edit pictures, and blog instead. I am sure you understand. lol 

It is Joe's late night. Making dinner is a little harder when he is not here, so, I don't know, I stall. Looks like fritatta and toast again.

I have been obsessed with blanket pics lately. I love the simplicity of them. It's just your subject and the blankie. I spent a good amount of the day looking for blankie pic inspiration, and pinning my favorites to pinterest. lol So, I decide to play around. 

Jude was just not having it today. I got one shot, not great, but the only one. 

Playing around with editing, can ya tell?

He just won't look at me!

Hold on, I gotta go make the fritatta real quick.

Okay, I am back.

So, I had this super idea...I told the boys to take off their shirts and lie on the bed.

Hey you guys. Just try to look natural, k?

Yes, Pete, look right there. 

Oh were you wondering where Jude was?

 Here he is. 

He only made it in a couple of pics because most of the time it went like this.

Oh, and Joey's face...that is apparently his do not smile but look natural face I asked him to make. Riiiiiiiight.

Okay boys, never mind! Go play...yes, you can keep your shirts off. 

Hold on, I gotta go pull out the fritatta.

Awesome. When Joe comes home, it is going to look like I actually had a plan.

And now I have a few seconds to finish my thoughts.

So, I am going to spice up my blog. I have been looking around at templates and what not. 

Have you seen the new blog designs at ProPhotoBlogs?

My sissy is one of the talented gals at Luxecetera, who have some designs up there. So proud of her. 

Anyhow...I love these! Would it be weird if I bought one, seeing as I am just a mama-blogger and not a pro? I am seriously tempted. 

I made spicy coleslaw to go with the fritatta, by the way. Does not really 'go' with it all that well, but who cares! ;)

Oh, and this is Jude these days...using utensils!

 Hey, you gotta start somewhere.

Okay, I gotta go finish the toast, get the shirtless boys to set the table and, again, act like I had a plan when Joe walks through the door. 

Balloons...in my bed!

The other night, I took Jude up to my room to nurse him to sleep. I pull back the covers of my bed, and I see this.

At first, I thought they were trees. Maybe leaves. Then....ah yes, of course, balloons...in ink. I quietly grabbed Joe. We had to sleuth it out and figure out who did this. I figured it had to be one of the older boys, because these are pretty well drawn balloons. I just knew they would try to pin it on Peter, so we had to be sly. We called Joey in the room first. Wasn't Joey. We called Paul in the room. Wasn't Paul. We had our doubts. We called Peter in the room. Pete gets on the bed, tells us they are balloons, and shows us which balloon belonged to which brother. It *was* Peter! When we told him (again by the way) that he could only draw on paper, nothing else, he says, "I wanted to turn it into paper." Pete, that does not fly, bud. After a good tongue lashing(okay, not really, more like, Honey do not do that again. Only draw on paper. These are pretty balloons), Joe and I just smiled and laughed when the kids were not looking. 

I love my new balloon sheets. I hope the ink is colorfast.

Then I had a little re-shoot with Jude on the blanket.

Trying to get him to actually LOOK at me and SMILE.

 Smile? Check. Look at me? Uh, not so much...can't tell to be honest.

Look at me? Check. Smile. Nah.

Look at me? Check. Smile? Almost!

Bingo!

I have been thinking about this photography thing. Where am I going with this? What are my goals? When I first bought my dslr my one goal was to take better pics of my kids, to capture the beauty I saw in my mind's eye but could not reproduce in jpeg format. I wanted to take pics at home that were professional quality. I think I have acheived that goal. Sure, there is always, always, more to learn, and I am far from perfect, but yes, that goal has been met. Yet, I want to keep growing. I want to get better. I keep raising the bar on the standards I set for myself. This is a consuming hobby, lemme tell you. Where am I going with this now? Specifically? Presently, I want to get better with post processing. I might try Lightroom. We'll see. ;) I want to try Off Camera Flash. I want to shoot some new faces in new places. I cannot wait for the trees to green up and play around with some greenery bokeh. :) I might give my blog a little face lift.
What are your goals?

Just me and my Jude-y

The boys at at some kinda monster truck rally. No, I am not kidding. 

So it is just Jude and I. What will we do? Oh, I don't know, attempt a photo shoot...mwahahaha!!!

Jude will not look at the camera. He just won't. I make clicking sounds, snapping sounds, yelling sounds, you name it. He just looks left or right or up or down. Never at me. This is the best we got. 

So if anyone out there has any suggestions on how to get a baby that is too used to seeing a camera to look at the camera, lemme know. ;)

Oh wait, he is looking at me now...with my lens cap. *sigh*

Not much goin' on...

Have been kinda blah on blogging and photography...I don't know...kind of in a creative rut and not feeling like editing. The other day, Paul got all of his Army dress up clothes on, and I had to snap a few though.

Since he was 3, Paul has been telling us that he is going to be an "Army guy."

When I was taking these pics, I wondered...will he? Maybe? Someday? I don't know. Who knows. Probably not. I mean, I wanted to be a ballerina when I was 3. I am not a ballerina these days, by the way.

 Someday, will I tearfully look at my tiny little soldier in these pics, knowing that he is fighting a war somewhere...for real? I don't know.

I do know that there are moms out there that did have little soldiers grow up to be the real thing, and God Bless them. I pray for them. I am proud of them, and I would be proud of my son if that is what he did. But, I would be heartbroken with worry. I know that. Today, he is just my tiny pretend soldier though, so I will stop allowing myself to think about the what-ifs. LOL

I sold my beloved 60mm macro to fund the 100mm macro. Why? I wanted to use the macro with my film camera as well as my digi, and the 60mm does not work with my film camera, but the 100mm does. There ya go.  I decided to make sure it was sharp...

So, first up are some Spring blooms!

Then, I decided to see how it works as a portrait lens.

Whoa, 100mm on a crop is tiiiiigggghhht! Too close mama...back up!

 Better...

Hey Paul, I need you to be my model!!!

 Um. Thanks Paul. Really. Good Job. Nice.

With a longer working distance, these type of shots are easier. :) 

This is a shot I will be working on...

We had Joey's first reconciliation this past weekend. I bought him a bow tie for the occasion.

 And I played around with window light from a big stained glass window until Joe nearly lost his patience. Nearly...

It was hard to keep the baby entertained. Joe propped him up on the ledge, next to that stained glass window.

 Look Daddy! A chain just for me. I am going to yank it.

This is Jude's face right after Daddy said 'no.'
Jude understands no, don't let him fool you by acting like he is a wee baby that does not know what you are saying...oh, he knows. Trust me.

As you can tell, Mama was no holds barred in taking pics, mwahahaha!!! 

Oh the bow tie. So cute.