The Birthday Bash

We weren't going to have a party but then people start showing up and a party happens anyway :)


Both my younger kids are born in June, only three days apart (+5 years).  We always combine their birthdays and it works out great!


Sydney loves her birthday!  This year we bought her a new bike and gave it to her early.  I did a quick shoot in my studio to try out my new black backdrop, her and I had a blast, and here she is clowning it up!





Her fav present was her new rubbers covered in daisies.  She'll look great out on the field changing pipes :)  And the bonus is they fit me too! lol




I really tried to buy Jevan a mini-quad for his birthday but when I went to Kamloops on Monday, all three of the bike shops were closed.  I settled for Toys R Us and went nuts in there for him.  Here he is with his new sprinkler.  I should post a pic of his remote controlled tarantula but it's freaky looking and very, very ugly!





Lexi and Dallas were out but I didn't get a picture of Lexi wearing a birthday hat :(  But she was full of smiles when she saw her Nana LOL!  Her two bottom teeth are really starting to show and I'm sure she's teething again because look at that drool!

Lexi

Today my oldest daughter Dally had laundry to do and she comes to her favourite laundromat, that would be here.

She had my grandbaby Lexi with her and Lexi is... well... no different than all three of my own children. They were screamers, and not content to sit and play quietly... ever. Oh Dal thought she had it easy when Lexi was born a month premature and she had to wake her to feed her, but boy oh boy things have changed.

Call it colic, irritable baby syndrome, gastric reflux, or whatever... we just call it cranky baby and apparently it runs in our blood... very deep. But those cranky babies turn into wonderful toddlers and eventually pretty mellow children so maybe it's all rolled into the baby stage and it's over and done early :) In my younger days this is what I kept telling myself so I didn't go insane :)

For the most part Lexi is like this...

...and this, tears sitting in her eyes after a screaming fit.

But every once in awhile, when the stars and planets line up perfectly, you get this!

And then you feel better knowing that she is happy some of the time :)

While Dally was here I got her to pose for a portrait picture. I have a few more photos to complete for my final assignment and the course I'm taking will be done. I've also created a watermark for future pictures.

Normally I would run a bit of a Photoshop clean-up on the picture but because I have to submit it I can't :( It pretty much has to be SOOC (straight out of the camera) and very little tweaking can be done.


You don't often see me on the blog but before leaving Dally snapped this picture with her own camera. It's the first picture of Lexi and I together :)

Hummingbirds

If my bird book is right I'm pretty sure this is a Calliope hummingbird.  They took a little longer to get here than the Allen's & Rufous hummingbirds.

The birds are already getting quite numerous as well as brave.  They are starting to ignore anyone who walks on the deck or even the open window where I'm snapping pics.

I love how they twist and turn.

And how their wings reminds me of angels.

Other times they sit so still.

But I do like to catch them in motion.

This one has it's landing gear down and is coming in for a landing :)

Touchdown!

Now how did that little cutie get in here :)  Lexi, my granddaughter, enjoying sweet potato with her brand new front tooth!

Lexi Portraits

If it weren't for Davimack I don't think I would have taken such beautiful shots of my granddaughter Lexi, thank you Davimack! He gives great advice and I will repeat he really needs to write a book on photography, specifically the Canon Rebel camera :)

Dallas and Lexi were out today and even though Lexi slept through the whole photo shoot I think the pictures came out great. I'm getting this camera figured out! :)

This one was way too bright with a pink background so I used an action in PS and turned it vintage.

I stopped at the hardware store and picked up a couple of muslin drop clothes from the paint department. The size is 9'x12' and they are perfect for backdrops, they cost about 30 bucks each, much cheaper than buying professional ones; $200.00+ yikes!. I intend to dye them using this tutorial but haven't had time yet. I have an unfinished house and hammered nails around the top of the wall, then used safety pins all around the outside edge of the drop clothes and hung them on the nails.