Thankful for so much

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! Visited a lot of family and ate some great food!

I have to say looking at these pictures I have so much to be thankful for. Not for just my little family (which is my world!) but for all the extended family that has become so dear to me. Often I think of how lucky I am to have so much family around me,and for them all to live so close.

As most know I was widowed when I was 24 (Tanner was 2). It was a horrible loss and will always be a part of who I am. It's been 7 1/2 yrs now,which is so incredibly hard to believe. What I'm thankful for the most is that I'm still so close to my late husbands family. They treat as me as one of their own,they never even blinked an eye about not including me even though their "link" to me was gone. I know it's how it's "suppose" to be but so often thats not the case. Many times the widow is somewhat "tossed to the side" by the inlaws and the only time they visit is when they want to see their grandchild or whatever relation your child may be to them. Whats even more incredible is how welcoming they were when I met Paul. They opened their hears and their doors and were more than happy to let him become a part of the family. My heart smiles when I think about it. I'm so incredibly blessed,so blessed I can't even describe in words how it makes me feel. Maybe it's because I'm not close with my mother,that both my fathers are gone and that my family really isn't all that big,I don't know. Truly they ARE my family.

It was funny today in face. One of my late husbands cousin (maybe it's a second cousin,I don't know,I can't remember.lol) was talking about how we knew someone in common and I explained to him who I thought it was and that when I told her I knew him she said "so then we're related?" and I said "well no because it was my husbands family". When I said that he said "Well we've always thought you were(related)" . That made me smile :) They don't see me any differently than any of the rest of the family. I'm treated no different. I'm invited to all the weddings,graduations,baby showers,etc etc. My mother in law considers Emma one of her grandkids. She looks at Emma no differently than she does Tanner and that makes me swell up with happiness. I really and truly don't know what I'd do without his family around me,making me "whole" and having a mother in law who feels like my own "surrogate" mother and thankfully a wonderful grandmother to both Tanner and Emma.

So today we took family pictures. Thanksgiving was held at Todds cousins house (brand new and HUGE..wowsers,what a pretty house!!) anyway they had TONS of windows and I'm still green with envy! LOL I want that many windows..taking pictures in a house like that would be a dream come true!! Anyway I found a decent area with decent light and thought it would make a great place to take some quick family snapshots. They all turned out pretty nice. Course after a few people realized we were taking pictures it became more 'hurried' and I wasn't as happy with them because I was rushing somewhat and people were going here and there and well his family is HUGE and there were a ton of people there (easily 50 people) so it got a little nuts but I tried my best. They weren't always posed correctly so there are some people shadowing others but they were still ok and definitely better than nothing!! I will share some of my favorites :)


Todds Aunt with her three daughters (has a son too but this was an "all girls" picture :)


These are the "older boy" cousins. Not the greatest picture but other people were taking pictures too so the boys were looking this way and that and being goofy on top of it so I got the best I could.lol


This is Todds aunts,his mom and his grandmother
left to right is Becky,Sallie,Nancy (my MIL) and Charlene


got a candid one I thought was so sweet :)


Todds cousin and his wife. They actually live right around the corner from us! They are such wonderful people and their son is such a cutie pie,look at those eyes!


Was was completely pooped out at come about 3pm. So she laid down with Todds uncle (Nancys brother) and took a nap. I swear every single child is so drawn to him,he's just got the "touch" I guess! LOL They took at least an hour nap!


and us..not the best picture.Tanner with his super goofy grin and my husband looking half drunk..but well better than nothing! LOL

It was SO hard getting these pictures. I couldn't put them too far from the window because of the limited light and my 50mm almost didn't have enough room to get some of the people in the pictures. Maybe if I'd set it up differently it would have worked better but oh well! It wasn't a super great set up anyway with the clock and door in the background but oh well,gotta make do with what you have! lol

Ok I'm off to bed,it's been a long day!!

Little missy

wow,haven't posted in awhile! I kept meaning too. I've been obsessed with reading as much as I can about taking pictures,lurking on ILP a LOT and of course getting ready for the holidays,stressing about money and chasing a 15mo old who causes destruction wherever she can! Oh and I've been playing Pogo games too (blushing) ,those games can be so addictive and I haven't played in so long!

I haven't been doing anything of real significance. Just staying with busy the kiddos and Paul,baby showers,birthdays,getting ready for christmas,etc. I feel like I have so much to do in such a short amount of time! I bought 5 frames to hang above my couch as a collage and I even bought a rustic star to add to it. My husband is *suppose* to put wires on the back so I can hang them more easily. Do you think thats done? NO! I want to get them hung up!! grrrr,I may have to resort to figuring it out myself. you know between chasing Emma and picking up messes (eyeroll). Why is it OUR stuff always comes last??

Oh I have been busy cooking! I'm so proud of myself ::::beaming:::::: I'm in a "Once a month" cooking group and we need some new recipes and we have to 'test' them out first so I froze like 8 meals to try,now I need to remember to thaw them out so we know if they will work or not! Hopefully they will and we can add them to our menu! Ugh have so much to do this week! I need to print some pictures off that I took at a friends baby shower,get a recipe figured out to take to Bunco tuesday,clean house for a playgroup HERE Tuesday along with what I will feed them while they are here,thursday is Emmas dr. appt (shots...yeah),I have to figure out a gift for the MOPS Christmas party which is also thursday evening,get the gift around for another momsclub xmas party that is on Saturday along with trying to get a tree up HOPEFULLY next weekend,oh and take the kids to visit Santa next Saturday! Whew! Ok after typing that all out I'm a little bit freaking out thinking I won't get it all done. I just know this week is going to be hectic and stressful :::Sigh:::: oh well,it's what the holidays are all about,right! HA HA

onto little Miss who is a handful and a half lately! Gosh that girl wears me out! She has resorted to trying to bite things when she's mad (yeah,not a good sign huh?) but thankfully she rarely tries to bite us. Well except for Tanner but sometimes I don't blame her to be honest.lol She recently tried to bite a well..didn't work out so well! LOL It's quite funny actually. Her little will come out of nowhere,she spins in a circle,lets out a screech and then proceeds to bite something. Usually it's the carpet,a book,her chair..lol We keep trying to get her to say words but she just won't! Honestly I'm starting to worry a little,not a lot,but a little. She understands 90% of what we say to her and I keep reading thats the most important so I won't worry too much for now. Anyway it's a frustarting stage where she can't talk but yet she knows what she wants. Doesn't always make for an easy day! Plus she gets into EVERYTHING. Every single time I turn around it's something else. Our desk drawer (pens and scotch tape getting flung everywhere),goes into our computer room and tears into papers,messing with the mouse on the computer,etc,grabbing anything she can off the counters ,throwing something she shouldn't be,getting into cabinets she shouldn't be,etc etc the list is endless.lol She put a cup into the toilet earlier today,thankfully we caught her before she flushed it!

Anyway a couple recent snaps of her... I'm worn out typing all that.lol


I had been putting groceries away and she proceeded to get the strawberries out of the fridge I'd just put in there,sit down ,opened them and started munching away! lol


Her "hairdo" from today..lovely isn't it? She just HAD to have all these clips in her hair..let me tell you,it was quite a site. Thankfully she let me take them all out before heading out for Thanksgiving Dinner with the family! LOL

Our night out

Paul and I got a night out this past weekend,that is a rarity anymore! We went to see Mark Chesnutt who was playing at a casino north of us. We went with some good friends of ours and had a GREAT time! Man it's been too long since I've been out and it's been even longer that I'd been to a concert! lol Paul and I are both HUGE Mark Chesnutt fans..he's one of the 'old style' country artists..you know the ones who still use a steel guitar ;) Oh and we were front row,even better!!

We gambled a little before the show..won nothing. We ate after the show,buffett style and got STUFFED! Anyway we had good food,good entertainment and good conversation with some wonderful friends..so glad we went! Oh and my husband made the plans all by HIMSELF! Shocker huh? LOL

Anyway I took only about 3 pictures..not like he danced around the stage,pretty much stood there but I did get this one. No flash but man I had that ISO cranked and my SS down as low as I could go without getting major camera shake LOL Turned out good I thought!



Oh and so funny when we got back to grandmas to pick up the kiddos (10:30) Emma was still wound tight! She gets so silly around bedtime,just trying to keep herself awake..sooo she didn't get to bed until 11..oh well!

Blue skies and blue eyes

The ONLY time I can get a picture of Emma sitting still is when she's eating (and sometimes not even then!). At lunchtime the other day I pulled her highchair over by the window for some natural light to try and get some pictures. This one was my favorite!




Later that day I snapped this one of the sky..I did NOTHING to this picture. I only resized it,promise! Isn't it crazy how blue those clouds are? Funny the things you notice when you get serious about taking pictures..everyday things catch your eye :)

Catching up

Haven't written in several days. Emma has kept us (me!) busy. The girl is nonstop,wish I had even half of her energy! She cracks us up and does something new everyday,usually it's her trying to be goofy or onry.lol

She now LOVES the spraybottle. We were being silly one evening and misting her hair with water,she was loving it..giggling and running around. So I gave her a hairdo after we got her hair wet..what a nut!



Thankfully she still likes her naps! One day she'd been whiny earlier than normal. I was bad mom (slap my wrist now!) and sit her down in the chair with binky and blankie and played doodlebops. Within minutes I'd realized it had gotten awfully quiet......




We had a couple nice days of weather last week so we joined some friends at the park and took advantage. Man was it sunny,took a little effort on my part to get these pictures exposed so they aren't OVERexposed..man bright sun is no fun to try to take pictures in! She had a great time though..as you can tell!




We celebrated my grandmothers 87th birthday with a dinner at her house this past Sunday. My grandpa was 93 this past summer (and yes still lives at home and is of sound mind..please let me have inherited those genes!!) and I get a picture of he and Emma any chance I can. So sweet and I know these pictures will be cherished in the years to come :)

On a Mission

Since our weather has been gorgeous lately I thought I'd take advantage. I took the kids to the lake by Topeka yesterday evening to try and get a christmas card photo. I think I know which one I'm going to pick,it turned out so well! (all except the overexposed lake in the background) lol oh well..maybe once I can get a speedlight that will change,that is a ways off yet..

I took over 300,deleted about half of those and out of those I will share my favorite 24,so bear with me! LOL I think the exposure and lighting is finally starting to "click" with me,plus it helps I stopped using my zoom. It just isn't the quality lens that my 50mm is. I captured some wonderful moments between Tanner and Emma. Ones that totally define their relationship,I'm so happy I got those. I got some GREAT photos of Tanner..the exposure and lighting is spot on,first time I can actually say I'm 100% happy with a picture! LOL I was in such a rut there for awhile. Feeling like the pictures just weren't turning out how I wanted them too and I was getting frustrated and stopped taking very many for awhile..now I feel like I'm slowly getting out of that rut and feeling better about my improvements. Now if I could just get a REALLY nice zoom (like the 18-200) I'd be happy but I can't spend that kind of money right now,wahhhh. Oh well!

Of course there were quite a few people at the lake. This part of the lake has TONS of flowers and bushes and littl creeks. It's beautiful so wedding partys,seniors,families,etc are all there getting their pictures taken. It's sometimes hard to find a good spot that someone isn't already using.

I will stop rambling..here they are!!


thats Tanner down on that bench. I don't care that I can see cars and people on the other side of the lake there but I like the whole scene with the bench,shrub and huge old tree overhanging it all..it could be a gorgeous photo with the right background! LOL






This is one of my favorite pictures. There is just something so innocent and childlike in it,plus it just totally captures how Emma is with her Tanner. Wherever he goes,she wants to go and she's always trailing behind him. I love it :)




Bokeh!!

loooove this one. Totally captures how much he loves her and how much she trusts him :)


Not the best comp but I liked all the green grass :)


this is one of my favorites of Tanner last night..see ,I'm finally getting exposure! lol I think before I was too afraid of making my pictures too 'light' so I walked on the safe side..now I've realized I can make them light without overexposing them..it's like a lightbulb went off!






This was one of the pics I thought about using but I don't like how Tanner is sitting and looks crooked so it throws the whole photo off..otherwise I like it! lol









My favorite picture of him by far!! He's two big teeth are showing a little otherwise I'm in love with this one :)




other than the crooked ground (gosh I'm finding somethign wrong them all huh? LOL) I like this one a lot..it just captures something so fun and the lighting on the other side of him is so pretty!



This was Tanners idea for a picture lol


I snapped this one as we were headed to our vehicle. Isn't this area so pretty??



Now for the one I will use for our christmas cards!


Is it not perfect??? LOVE this one! I won't say anything negative about it even if I'm thinking it ;) LOL

Today is suppose to be another gorgeous day but with more wind so I'm glad I went last night!

Halloween!

Halloween day this yr. was BEAUTIFUL! REally in my 32yrs I can't think of a nicer halloween than what we had this yr,gosh if only it was this way every year! We had a great time going to a trunk or treat in our local town than afterwards we hung out at my friends moms house right in town until it got dark enough to go T or T'ing. We never even needed jackets all evening,thats unheard of! Emma started getting restless towards the end and wanted to get out and walk (in the dark,yeah right lol) so we headed back to friends moms house where we chilled for a few minutes and Tanner helped hand out candy. He said he wants to do that next year because it was more fun than Trick or Treating! You know he's getting older when he says things like that! wahhhh.

Here are the pictures I got of them that night,we had some time to kill before going out so I took advantage and got some photographs. A couple I overexposed,I am so mad at myself ,but I had to hurry. Emma was in no mood to sit still so I did what I could in a short amount of time.

Oh first I took these at our house before we left for the halloween parade at the grade school. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get any of her after we left so I snapped some before heading out.lol




She wouldn't leave her darn antannae on!



I love this one of her watching the parade go by :)

Now for the overexposed ones I took and of course they were the ones of them together..oh well,they aren't too bad,I guess I'm just overly critical of myself.lol





The rest turned out better once I realized what I'd done!






This one turned out good :) Wish she would have sit down in green grass but hey at least she's looking at the camera!




He thinks he's soooooooo cool.lol



I'll throw in a couple fall leaf pictures while I"m at it ..took these while walking through town.





Hope everyone had a wonderful halloween!!