I’ve been happily occupied–working, taking care of the J man and, as the title suggests, going on a playdate.

I have to confess: after I complained about it here ad nauseum,  J was invited for a weekly date by our neighbor/sitter AND for another date with the son of a colleague.  That last one won’t start yet, but we’ll be in contact in a few weeks.  Yay!  Today was the first, and although my face is burned and J consumed at least a cup of sand (must watch for worms in stool, yech), it was wonderful.

J was tired, T got some alone time and I got a nap after I put J in bed for his afternoon nap.  I even talked T into putting the piece of tin that was torn off the shed’s roof this winter back in place.  It’s, like, perfect.

AND I sold another bunch of announcements, designed another announcement template and TOOK pictures…just in time for the Thursday Theme: Childhood.

Tags: announcements, photo announcements, photography, playdate, toddler

Today was the most relaxed I’ve felt in months–months. I suppose if you live in a warmer climate, you might not understand that this feeling is something to be cherished, but today when I was out weeding one of my overgrown flower beds I felt the warmth of the sun penetrate into my muscles, relaxing me in a way that it probably just as good as an awesome massage. After months of cold, rainy weekends (or weekends full of paperwork and books), we finally had a perfect set of days to get yardwork done, visit with family and plant the garden.

J watched T wash the cars and then played in the mud puddles left over from last night’s thunderstorms. I had time to make one of T’s favorite recent recipes for lunch, and J took a long enough nap for me to get a nap in AND finish weeding the biggest of the flower beds, and the one that needed the most attention after last summer’s baby-related neglect.

I just can’t wait for summer, but this weekend gave me enough of a break that I know I can handle two more weeks. I hope your weekend was just a pleasant!

Tags: gardening, peace, photography, relax, weekends

I love the way my niece’s fine hair is in focus on this shot, and I love the baby-round shape of her cheeks…and those beautiful eyelashes. You know, sometimes I feel guilty for not taking as many shots of J when we’re out with family.

Sunday afternoon was like most of our get-togethers. I was busy trying to get some nice shots while the kids were playing outside in very different places. They’re still young enough to not really play together much. J and his older cousin, E, did dance together a bit, and there were a few other moments that were photographable, but I was busy socializing and didn’t have the camera near (and I’m not upset about it at all–I can’t miss out on life just because I’m the family photographer).

Later, when they went outside and I got out the camera, they went in three different directions and J was doing what he does best. Testing boundaries, far away from the rest of the group. I made myself busy getting shots of the girls and keeping an eye on him, but letting him explore.

I don’t know. I should probably make sure I spend an equal amount of time on each of them, but since I have opportunities at home with J, I’ve been concentrating on the others when we’re all together. I hope he doesn’t look back on the huge photo archive I’ll have by the time he’s 18 and wonder why there are so few shots of him when they’re all at Grandpa and Grandma’s. It’s not that I think he’s any less cute…but I’m worried he’ll think so.

I actually think he’s The Cutest Thing Ever. (Yeah, I said it. Your cuties can be the cutest ever, too. It’s a shared title.)  In fact, so shared that I’m offering the full-sized PNG file for the little badge on the above photo for your use…who knows, maybe you like to scrapbook or add even more personality to your photos!  Right click on the link and select “Download Linked File” to get the big version for your own personal, not commercial, use.

Head on over to Tracey’s to see all the other Cutest Things Ever for Best Shot Monday. You won’t regret it!

Tags: Best Shot Monday, freebie, photography, scrapbook, scrapbook elements

I almost forgot! The theme of the week at The Land of K.A., and I have aged, well, an aged door on a junky old shed behind the house. J likes looking in, but doesn’t exactly want to actually go inside, as you can see. Other than that, we haven’t been to his grandparent’s farm for a few weeks, so there weren’t any really great options for getting good aged shots. Well, there’s that reason and the fact that I’m just plain lazy :)

If you have Adobe Lightroom, here’s a special treat: I’m including a preset for the photo above. Right click on the link, select “Save Link As…”, download, install and enjoy!

Dark Aged

Tags: aged, lightroom, photo, photography, preset, theme thursday

Tags: balloons, birthday, photography, toddler

I’m SO excited for this week.  It always starts out great with Best Shot Monday, but not only did I get all my backed-up grading done this weekend, but I’ve there’s also all this great stuff going on in blogland.  Please, read on!

First, I want to remind you of my little contest going on this week.  If you want to take part, make sure you get your post up by this Friday at 8 p.m CST.  Oh, and remember to link back to me–it will get a few more people involved and help spread the sunshine even further!   And speaking of the contest–would you all try to help me test the poll to the left?  It’s a test run of the plugin so that I know that it’ll be working when the poll phase of the contest is up.

Second, I remember that a few of you were interested in participating in Karen’s postcard swap last August when I mentioned that I was getting mine ready.  Well, she’s doing it again.  Postcard Swap 2008:  The Love Edition is in the planning stages, so get your heinie over to Chookooloonks and sign up by Wednesday, January 16.

Finally, I’m taking part in a Pay It Forward exchange that Starfish turned me on to.  (Starfish, by the way, is the one of the nicest bloggers I know–J frequently sports the coolest hat she knitted to keep his then-bald little head covered.)   If you’d like to take part, be one of the first three to comment mentioning that you’re signing up for the PIF exchange.  You’ll have to agree to the this pledge:

I, [insert your name here] will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange, and who make the same pledge on their own blogs.

Did you say it aloud?  Come on, put your hand over your heart and say it like you mean it!

I’m not quite sure exactly what your gift will be, but right now I’m leaning toward a set of notecards (so, technically not handmade, but originals).  Oh, and you won’t get stuck with something with my son anywhere on it.  I swear!

And C, I’m getting to you later this week, I swear!  Note to self:  work on avoiding repetition.

Tags: Best Shot Monday, card swap, Contest, photo, photography, PIF

Can I propose a change in our yearly New Year’s tradition? I’d like to tweak things a bit. Really, every year I’ve bothered with proclaiming my resolutions in an attempt to move toward actualization, I found myself ashamed to show my face from about January 5 until at least March, when everyone else had finally fallen off the resolution wagon.

No resolution is ever going to make me lose weight, stress less or be a better person. I just don’t have the willpower.

I’d like to think of what I’m doing as more of an enhancement to my life–something that’s going to be attainable AND enriches my life in someway. Even better, it should touch others, as well. So, in an effort to make some meaningful changes in my life that just might benefit me for more than five days, here are my New Year’s Resolutions Enhancements:

1. Take a photo a day. I’d like to take my photography to a new level, so I’m going to participate in Project 365 on Flickr and in this blog.
2. Finish J’s lifebook, volume 1. I’ve started it. In my not-so-humble opinion, it looks hot so far, but I need to finish it, which can be a problem for people like. When it’s done, I think I’ll have it printed at Mpix on their pearl paper. Mmm.
3. Figure out HDR.
4. Start booking up full weeks with Bohtieque work.

Oh, and I’d like to moisturize more, but that just doesn’t seem worthy of the list, you know?

Anyone want to join me with a list of enhancements?

Tags: enhancements, HDR, Lifebook, new years, photography, project 365, Resolutions