I Love Fall

My camera and I have been separated way too much lately.


So yesterday after we got home from the soccer field and had lunch....


I grabbed my "old friend" and took a little stroll.


Fall is hands down my most favorite season.


The colors are so rich and it is the time of year that the air starts to feel a little crisp.


I loved being out there in a lightweight sweater, jeans, and my favorite boots taking in all the beauty that surrounded me and noticing how everything is starting to change.


I came home with two big pots of these gorgeous mums and today we are going to head back out there, but this time with the kids in tow. We need to hit the pumpkin patch....because you can't have mums on the front porch without a few pumpkins.

The girls are looking forward to our day in the field and so am I.
Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday!
~Happy Fall Y'all~

Favorite Photo Friday - "The New School"

Reags has been in her new school for four weeks and although we had a really rocky start, I am so happy to say that she absolutely loves it there. The first week was difficult. Not only was it a new environment for her, it was a major adjustment for her to go without her sister by her side. We had tears each morning for the first two weeks and it was tough for us to walk out the door, but all that has changed.


This morning she walked in with a big smile on her face as happy as could be.
She knows the routine now and adores her new teachers and friends.


Pat and I are also thrilled with the daily email reports of what they are learning. Some days they will send us photos of what they did throughout the day and occasionally a video will come through as well.


It puts a smile on our faces to see our littlest one blossoming and adjusting so well.
She is happy when we drop her off and happy when we pick her up. You can't ask for much more than that:)

I have been pretty absent around here and have had little time to post and catch up with everyone. Now that we are all settled into the school year, I am hoping that will change. There is so much I want to post about but there just does not seem to be enough hours in the day. I keep telling myself I will catch up on the weekends and then they come and go and the madness starts all over again on Monday!!
I don't think I am not alone here.... please tell me I am not and that you also feel like you can never catch up?

Have to run off to work now and I am counting the hours until 5pm!!
~Happy Weekend Everyone~

<a href="http://thelongroadtochina.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="the long road" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8440/7748164760_cb87fd57a6_o.jpg" /></a>

Favorite Photo Friday - "Yellow Isn't Pretty"

After only one soccer clinic and one team practice, Sarah took the field last Saturday for her very first soccer game. She woke up super excited and ready to play and then I brought out the new uniform that was handed to us earlier that week.....

She looked at me and said, "Yellow Isn't Pretty Mommy"

Well, I would have to agree with her that this would not have been my first choice for a uniform color, but we did not have any options, her team was all going to be sporting yellow and black.

I felt bad.... I sort of set her up for this disappointment when I took her shopping for all pink gear. When Nick played for this organization, they did not really have these fancy uniforms at such a young age. Times have obviously changed and I was shocked when they handed every team member a brand spankin' new ball and an Adidas uniform complete with the soccer socks.
So now we wear pink to practice and yellow to games:)


Her game was at 9am in an open field and although the lighting conditions were not ideal, I did my best to capture our girl in action.


For any of you that have or have had little ones play soccer, it can be quite comical at times.


There were moments when they would just be chatting or running down the field holding hands oblivious to the ball and other times where they were all clumped up trying to get kick it at the same time. After the first quarter, they began to find their groove and from behind the camera, I watched Sarah get a little aggressive and I sensed a slight competitive edge coming out in her.


Our team won the game and Sarah scored 3 goals!
We were very proud of our girl!!

When she woke up Sunday morning she said, "Is today a soccer day?"
She could not wait to get out on that field again because she had so much fun.

We will be out there tomorrow and every Saturday from now until Thanksgiving!! Not sure I will be taking the camera along that often, but I did promise her I would take it to practice one night so that we could get pictures of her in the pretty pink soccer gear:)

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend.
TGIF!!!

After two weeks of school, we are finally getting into the swing of the new routine and schedule!

<a href="http://thelongroadtochina.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="the long road" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8440/7748164760_cb87fd57a6_o.jpg" /></a>

Sunday Snapshot - "Teacher"

She spent the entire week as a student, but yesterday she transformed herself into a teacher.


We had a little fun shooting a "Back to School" session and this was a role that Miss Sarah was happy to play.


Even though apples are probably her least favorite fruit, she agreed that every teacher needed an apple, or two, or three:)


I had planned to bring the apples, globe, and the glasses...


but she insisted that a teacher needed a notepad and a freshly sharpened number 2 pencil, so the prop list grew.


I have to admit, the notepad and pencil worked really well and she looked very teacher like. I love how she sits with her legs crossed so prim and proper. I don't ask her to sit that way, that is just how she sits most comfortably with those long lean legs of hers.


After the novelty of the note pad and pencil wore off, we tried a few other things like balancing an apple on her head.
We lost a few apples in the process, and this is about as close to balancing as we could get!!

Then she begged me to let her act silly for the camera. I agreed and this is what I got as her best silly face.....


Oh my heavens! Have you ever seen anything so funny?
Pat and I could not stop laughing when we saw this photo of her!!
I am sure there are many teachers out there that feel the way she looks in this photo after a long day of school.

And that is how the shoot ended, because there was no bringing them back after this.....it was a true free for all at this point:) I only posted the photos of Sarah today and I will do a second post this week to share our other teacher, "Miss Reagan".
Hope you all have a fabulous Sunday!

I am off to "2 Hip Chics LLC"..... we are officially opening the doors to the boutique this morning and we are very excited!!!

Will post photos and an update soon....and if you are local, you might want to swing by and see the shop!

Camera: Canon 5d Markiii
Lens: 50mm f1.2
The settings for the top photo were:
f 2.0
SS 1/500
ISO 100

I recently drove by an old victorian home that totally inspired me. It appears that a new business is moving in and they are renovating the building as I have seen construction crews there during the week, so I waited until the weekend and took the girls over so we could use the steps and the porch as a backdrop for this photo shoot. I am in love with the old brick and something tells me that it won't be that way for long..... I believe they are getting ready to paint it:(

This series was processed with Matte Film and a touch of Alabaster and Antique Pink from the new Florabella Colorplay Action Set. I then added just a touch of texture to them as well.



Make sure you swing by Stef's blog to see more Sunday Snapshots.

Favorite Photo Friday - "Candy Makes Us Crazy"

Our very last day on the Cape I promised the girls we would visit the Old Fashioned General Store so they could pick out some penny candy. We went last year and the girls were both in heaven(what child wouldn't be) so it was at the top of their list of places they wanted to go before we headed back home.


The store is filled with all kinds of "good stuff"...candies, toys, and stuffed animals just to name a few. I let them each pick out one thing and then we filled a small basket with different penny candy.


Dum-Dum Lollipops seemed to be the popular choice, which surprised me considering what the options were.


The store is rather small and very crowded inside, so once we got out front to the two benches, the girls sat down and opened their first piece of candy. You can see the stash behind Reags in the brown paper bag:)


The sugar kicked in pretty quickly.....and all kinds of craziness broke out!


They sat on that bench for a good while hugging, giggling, and swinging their feet.
While they were licking their lollipops, I got to enjoy a different kind of "sweetness":)

I am pretty sure that a trip to the General Store and some candy eating on the "Republican" bench will be an annual tradition for these two. It sure was fun and I loved to look back and see how much they changed from last year.
Click HERE to see the photos we took on the same bench last summer.

I could not be more thrilled that today is FRIDAY!!!
It has been a very long week and I am not going to lie, it has been tough to get everyone up and out the door each morning and then get myself to work. I have been feeling a little frazzled, so I am looking forward to the weekend. Sarah has her first soccer game tomorrow morning and we are all anxious to watch her take the field. We attended practice this week and oh my goodness, these kids are a scream. You better believe I will have the camera out.

~Happy Weekend Everyone~

<a href="http://thelongroadtochina.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="the long road" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8440/7748164760_cb87fd57a6_o.jpg" /></a>

Sarah's 1st Day of Kindergarten

We had a bit of a restless night in anticipation of the big day. Sarah woke up twice.... I think she was really anxious, but when the alarm went off early this am, she was all smiles and ready to get dressed to go meet her new classmates.


It was a beautiful morning with just a slight chill in the air, Sarah continued to smile as we walked through the parking lot, but once we reached the sidewalk and we told her it was time to go in, she got a little hesitant.


Our school will not allow the parents to take them to the classroom. We have to part ways curbside where the staff teams each Kindergarten student up with an 8th Grader who will walk them into their teacher. As soon as Sarah set eyes on the big girl with the braids, the smile reappeared and off she went without shedding a tear. We were SO PROUD OF HER!


Even though it is all day Kindergarten, the first week they are breaking them in with half days.
At noon she came out of the school as happy as could be......
(don't you just love the missing tooth smile)


She was just beaming and could not wait to tell me about her day!


First and foremost on her list was to tell me how comfy her new glittery shoes were...and that she didn't even get blisters...LOL!!!


Next she told me that her name tag had been falling off all morning, but she had to keep it on so other people would know who she was.

After those two very important facts, she said that they colored, ate snacks, and went outside to play.
It was an all around TERRIFIC FIRST DAY!

Right now, she is passed out on the couch, totally exhausted.
Time to wake her up or we could have another sleepless night:)

Sunday Snapshot -"One Last Walk On The Beach"

With the last of the three kids heading out for their first day of school tomorrow, I figured it was now or never.......


I have not had much time to even begin to sort through my photos from Cape Cod, but made myself sit here this morning to at least finish up some of my favs from our sunset beach session.


As I worked on them, it totally took me back to that evening.


I could almost feel the joy that was radiating from their sweet little faces.


My original intent was to get some posed close up type of portraits.


But that idea quickly got tossed aside.


It became a lifestyle type of shoot and I threw caution to the wind and told them they could go ahead and walk into the water.


Reags wasted no time getting wet and just about completely submerged herself into the water.


Their skirts were dripping wet and full of sand.


Reags'skirt began to fall down because it was so waterlogged and heavy.


Even though they were quite sandy, they had so much fun that night in the water..... they could not believe I let them go all the way in and they are still talking about it:)

And just in case you are wondering.... the pettiskirts cleaned up beautifully!!! After a wash on the delicate cycle and hanging outside to air dry, they are good as new! If you are looking for one of these fun full skirts go visit Sophia Jane Boutique where she offers them in every color under the sun!

I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday.
We are off to our first Soccer clinic for Sarah and then we will be getting everything ready for her first day of Kindergarten!

Camera: Canon 5d Markiii
Lens: 70-200 f2.8
The settings for the top photo were:
Focal Length 70mm
f 3.5
SS 1/2000
ISO 160

I used the new Florabella Colorplay action set to process these.
Perfect Color with a touch of Ocean Air and Peach.
If you have not checked out Florabella's new action set, you must, they are incredible!



Make sure you swing by Stef's blog to see more Sunday Snapshots.