I don't have much to say tonight. June is almost over, which means July is almost here...and I'm not ready for that yet. I have too much to do, and my brain is not able to keep up with it all right now. So we'll keep this short...here's a sweet picture of Little Miss Audrey from today. The end.
Here's a picture of Audrey eating her "bebbies" (translation: berries, meaning strawberries and blueberries). Bebbies make her very happy! She was also very happy that she got to play with Amy, Steve and Cael tonight. See Amy's post here.
We're back home from Indy for now (though we will be going back there in just a week for another visit). I wanted to get a picture of Audrey with her cousins Mark and Mariah today. Audrey was very friendly and eager to play with them; it was cute. But I forgot to bring my camera with me. No worries though, because we will see them all again next week, and I will be sure to take plenty of pictures to make up for my forgetfulness today.
Audrey was much happier today, and I don't think she had a fever at all. So maybe she just had a 24 hour kind of thing or is getting new teeth or something. I'm just happier she was in a better mood today.
We are in Indianapolis for the weekend, which means we got to go visit our friends BJ, Kellie, Ava and their new baby Truett! Isn't he so adorable?? As I was taking and editing his pictures, I am convinced that he looks like his mommy.
Tonight was the last night of Garage-a-palooza. And tonight Shannon was rewarded for all of her hard work in planning the event with a cake in the face! It was a good week. I don't feel as worn out or exhausted at the end of it as I have in past years, so that is a good thing!
Here's Audrey saying "cheese" for the camera. I think she thinks the camera is actually called "cheese" now, because that is what she says every time she sees it. And when she says "cheese" she doesn't really smile, but kind of makes a funny face. I think we need to pick a new word for picture poses.
More Garage-a-palooza fun tonight! This is Allison. She was in the Horse group and was listening intently to Becky talk about the different kinds of saddles for horses. Allison is our children's minister's daughter. I've taken pictures of her a couple of times at church events, and I think she is so photogenic. She's not even doing anything here, except for sitting and listening...but I love the sweet expression on her face.
Night 2 of Garage-a-palooza is finished! We had about 20 more kids tonight than last night, so that was good. Our numbers are still a bit down from last year, but everyone still seems to be having a good time. I'm in charge of registration, so it is always a bit crazy the first couple of nights trying to get all the kids registered and signed up for their interest groups.
I'm sure there are better pictures from today that show Audrey did have a lot of fun at The Magic House. But this one is my favorite. The museum had a whole children's village: with a pretend kitchen, market, bank, library, theater, pizza shop...and an ice cream stand. Everything was so realistic looking! Audrey was not too pleased when she licked her ice cream cone and discovered it was fake!
This morning I babysat for little June. She's about 6 months younger than Audrey, and they seem to like each other. Audrey ran around all morning saying "Jew, Jew" (her version of June). I let both of them play the piano for a little bit, and it was so cute. I love how, in this picture, it looks like Audrey is trying to teach June how to play the piano!
Daniel took this picture today, but I wanted to post it to compare with last year's picture of Audrey swimming in the camp pool. I can't believe how much she has changed! And how much her hair has grown!!
The first words out of Audrey's mouth this morning were: "Mamy (Amy)...Cael". And then the whole time we were getting ready to leave she kept saying, "Mamy, Cael", and then she added "clap-clap" (because she really likes it when all the kids at camp clap and cheer) and "chair" (because she has been having fun sitting on chairs at camp and watching all the kids) and "go, go, go" (because that is what she says to the kids while they are playing games). It was cracking me up, like she was going through her head all of the fun things she has been doing this week...she really loves camp!! I think she will be a sad little girl on Thursday morning when camp is over, and we have to go back to being home all day!
Audrey is having a lot of fun at camp!! She wasn't quite sure what to think of all the loud, crazy kids yesterday, but today she seemed to warm up to everyone. I'm sure I have many more pictures to share and stories to tell, but those will have to wait for another day. It's 11:15 pm and we just got home for the night. The kids at camp may have endless energy, but I definitely do not!!
This week is Trailblazer I at our church camp. Our friend Amy is the dean, and Daniel, Audrey and I are going to be helping out this week. We'll spend the days and evenings at camp, then come home and sleep in our own beds at night...it's a great deal! This is actually Audrey's second week of church camp (we helped last year too), and she's not even two yet!Tonight, Amy wanted to introduce Audrey to the campers. She called Audrey's name and asked her to come up on stage. Much to our surprise, Audrey ran from us in the back and went all the way up to the front, up the stairs of the stage and right into Amy's arms. Amy asked her to say hi, and she said the cutest little "Hi", right into the microphone. It was adorable!! Audrey tends to be a little shy and clingy, especially in a new place. So it was pretty impressive to Daniel and I to see her go up on stage and talk in front of all those people! Also, it was impressive that she wanted to go to Amy. When Audrey was little, she did not like Amy. But lately, her and "Mamy" have become good buddies, and it's super cute.
Tonight we went to the Muni for opening night. Seussical was a fun show, and we always enjoy a night out at the Muni (especially a kid free night out!). I also spent the day getting ready for a garage sale we are having tomorrow morning. I'm thinking it was not a good idea to go to the Muni (which means a late night) right before our garage sale (which means an early morning). I am SO EXHAUSTED! I was tempted to just go straight to bed and skip my picture for the day. But I didn't because I'm afraid once I skip one picture, it will be easier to skip another and another and another, until it's been almost a month since my last post. And that would make all of my friends in Picture A Day Land very lonely. Hmm...this is starting to sound like a certain someone that I know...
So we're back to the old 50 mm lens today. The rental lens was definitely a lot of fun. I'm thinking I need to start saving my money to buy a new and nicer lens one of these days.
Today was my last day with the camera lens rental...so sad! Before I shipped it back, I took some pictures of the Deem family this morning. This is Haven. She's about 2 1/2 years old and so adorable! She wasn't much in the mood to sit still for pictures. Actually, I would love to find a 2 year old who does want to sit still for pictures, but I have a feeling they don't exist!
Tonight I took pictures for the Stehling family. Sweet little June did a great job cooperating with us. We couldn't get her to crack a smile, but she also didn't ever cry or fuss. So, with a one year old, I consider that a successful photo shoot! I guess she shares Audrey's fear of grass, which is why she was willing to sit so still on this chair for me!
My practice photo shoots continued today! This morning I took pictures of Cael (age 2), Dylan (age 3), Abby (5th grade), and Alyssa (6th grade). I am still working on editing them all, but so far, I am pleased with the pictures. This photography stuff is totally addicting! Today, I took 240 pictures...at the rate I am going with the editing process, I am guessing I will keep about 80-90 of them.
The look on Audrey’s face here is one of pure joy! She has eaten watermelon before but never right off the rind like this. She loved it! And it was the best entertainment for her. She would slowly suck on the juice, and it took her forever to finish the piece! Plus it matched her outfit, and made for some cute picture opportunities!
It was hot and humid and rainy outside, and Audrey was a huge grump all day...therefore I did not take too many pictures today. I finally grabbed the camera at about 6 pm and walked around the neighborhood, looking for something to photograph. This is a flower in our neighbor's yard. I have decided that I would much rather photograph people than inanimate objects. Flowers seem to be easy enough to photograph, but they are kind of boring to me. I definitely prefer human subjects, specifically kids!
Today I had a big photo shoot with my friend Katie's family. Six kids under the age of 5! I was a bit nervous about it, as it was my first paid photo gig. It ended up being a bright and sunny morning. I suppose that is better than rain, but I think it is hard to get a good picture with the bright sun, at least for my inexperienced self it is hard. It was a bit stressful for me this morning, as I was trying to find photo spots with good light but not direct sunlight and no shadows. And then I was trying to remember everything I was supposed to remember about ISO and shutter speed and aperture. And all the while, trying to take pictures of six kids who only wanted to sit still for less than a second at a time! (Actually, the kids did pretty good at posing...especially the three oldest ones). Stressful, but fun too!!
I have several more photo shoots lined up next week...I don't think I'm going to want to mail this lens back on Wednesday! =)
While I have this camera lens, I gave myself a goal of taking 100 pictures every day for the next week. I didn't quite reach that goal yet today...I've only taken about 75 so far. And out of those 75 pictures, I only saved about 20. And out of those 20, I probably only really like 5 of them. But that's why I am practicing!
Audrey seems to be better. I don't think she had a fever at all today, and she is acting and looking like normal. And that's a good thing, because I needed her to be my model tonight while I took a few pictures with my new camera lens! It's not my lens to keep; I'm just renting it for a week. I am doing a photo shoot for my friend's family, so I decided to splurge and borrow a nicer lens (in hopes of getting nicer looking pictures in return!).
