Life in Motion

Often times when photographing little ones you will get a lot of blur.  Especially when inside because sometimes in order to expose the image you have to set your aperture wide open and your shutter speed low.  The lower the shutter speed the greater the chances are for blur.  On this particular evening Ava decided to put on a show for us in my old dance recital outfits.  The living room has no lamps and being the evening the natural light was almost all gone.  As annoying as I tend to find blur I actually liked the look it gave these photos.  Since it is motion blur and Ava was "in motion" it seemed to work well.

Ava loves to dance for us and typically she will grab my phone and pull up the angry birds game and dance to the theme song.  However this time she asked Aunt Katie to put music on her phone so she could dance.  Here she is dancing to a little Katy Perry and Shakira.

 My favorite photo...you can see just how into her dancing she was.

 Can you tell she watches Angelina Ballerina :)

 She slipped on the marble during an overzealous dance move

 but she was fine and the show must go on

 She changed into my rockin robin costume but thought it was more appropriate for Aunt Katie to help her fly like a bird than dance.

 Checking out her wings...which use to be straight and not so crinkled.  I'm still amazed the feather is still on the tush.  It's only held on by a small piece of velcro.

I need to dig out pictures of me in these costumes but our pictures are buried away under the steps behind the Christmas decorations.  I'll have to see if I can locate one that isn't back there.  So if anyone has one in their office or wallet (Mom or Dad) I would like to borrow it and scan it please and thank you :)


On another note our vacation is approaching fast and I am stuck between excitement and giddiness of the fun that awaits (not to mention that our vacation cabin has a hot tub, sauna, and mountain views) but also the anxiety that comes with being the one that has to pack and load the car.  Typically I wouldn't worry about possibly forgetting anything but we are going far into the mountains where only small country stores exist.  The kind that are only open till seven and closed on Sundays.  They also happen to be the only gas stations (where you pay first...can you imagine our confusion last year), butcher shop, bait shop, and hardware stores all crammed into small buildings.  It's the kind of place where everyone knows your name and when they don't they stare at you as if you forgot to put clothes on when you left your house that morning.  So this means that I have to carefully pack using lists so that I can cross things off as they are loaded into suitcases.  I must also meal plan and purchase as much as I can before we go.  We will be arriving on a Sunday so nothing will be open but I plan to go out Monday morning for eggs, milk, etc.  All other food items will be packed and loaded into the car before we leave Maryland.  Last year about a half hour from home I was suddenly struck with panic because I forgot my memory card for my camera.  Luckily Aaron stopped before we got off the highway so I could run into a Target and get a new card.  Little did I know at that time that the Target was the last of civilization (at least modern civilization) that I would be seeing for the next four days.

Last year we were culture shocked by the total lack of cell phone signals and internet.  Two days into our trip we drove to the resort at the top of the mountain and were able to get signals.  This year we are staying right below the resort so we will have access to cable, internet, and phone signals.  Don't get me wrong it was nice to get a break from being so "wired" but I would like to be able to look up places to go and phone numbers we need.  We are also going for a whole week this year so I'm hoping to sneak in a blog post at some point :)

For months I have been compiling a bag of travel toys/activities for Ava.  I have been working on my lists this week and beginning next week I will start to pack up everything that can be packed early.  Mostly Ava's toys and clothes since she has enough to spare.  I will pack mine and Aaron's clothes the day before and will load up the car with everything the night before minus the perishable food items, computer, and my makeup.

I will be posting a special post next week with the contents of Ava's travel bag which will hopefully provide enough entertainment to keep her content during the five hours there and five hours back.  Being mostly on mountain roads we really won't have many options for stopping so we will probably stop to eat before we hit the mountain roads and allow Ava some time out of the car.

Now I'm off to work on my lists...wish me luck.

I do it please

Ava is all about taking photographs lately.  She loves the camera and much like her Momma she loves being behind the camera.  We got her a snazzy kids camera but it's tucked away in the closet waiting to make it's appearance when we go on vacation.  She does have a little yellow plastic pretend camera that she carries with her everywhere.  Whenever I get my camera out she will ask where her's is and say get it for me please.  Then she will begin taking "pictures" of EVERYTHING.  All things big and small are picture worthy in Ava's world.  Mommy's jammies, Ava's jammies, Mommy's coffee, the couch, the tv, my camera, the lizard on the front porch, her cheese stick, Me, Daddy, Grandma, the table, the dog, and well you can see how this goes.  I look forward to being able to actually see what she sees when we give her a real camera.

However yesterday we compromised and she used my camera.  When she uses my camera it has to be on a flat surface and she can hit the self timer and shutter buttons.  Sometimes an arm or finger will get in front of the lens when it is focusing and blur the image but it's still so fun.  She gets so excited and screams "I do it please"  "let Ava try" and the heart melting "thank you Mommy".

She doesn't have much patience for Mommy messing with getting settings just right and Mommy hates the evil Auto setting so the settings were off just a bit.  I played in photoshop and added some fun textures and really like the look of them.  Oh, my little budding photographer.  Who knows maybe if she combines Daddy's love for bikes and Mommy's love for the camera she'll one day get a job taking pictures for RacerX or Transworld...how awesome would that be.

Aaron had to have an endoscopy done to try to figure out his stomach issues and I was the "responsible party" so Ava's Grammy came and watched her while we were gone.  We returned to a passed out Ava sprawled out on the couch.  She rarely takes naps but I didn't miss the opportunity to photograph her goofy self waking up.

 Don't mind the chocolate pudding all over her hands.  Lately that's been a daily look for her.

 She joined me on the floor

 and quickly found her camera

It wasn't long before she wanted to take more pictures with Mommy.

 She even convinced Daddy to get in them.  Although it's hard to say no to "Take a picture with my please Daddy".  I really wish this one hadn't turned out blurry.  We will be trying that again in a few weeks with say mountains in the background :)  I just noticed how odd raggedy Andy's arm looks sticking out from behind my head. 

 Ava almost missed this one...she got distracted by Angelina Ballerina on her way back to our laps.

What a good Daddy to appease his baby girl even though he was still dopey from the sedation.  Finally with Ava's help I can be in more photos.  She is my little runner...we pose and she runs and hits the button and jumps back into our laps.  She loves it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and stops to take a few moments and just enjoy the day.  Take a deep breath and on the exhale just let go of it all and really look at the world around you.  It's not half bad when you just let go.

Pool+Bubbles=Fun

I got out the bubble gun the other day when Ava was in the pool and she thought it was so cool.  She actually said "So cool, Mommy" and squealed with delight.

 then she took it and turned it on me. 

 The bubble gun did end up in the pool a few times when she tried to blow and pop bubbles at the same time. 

The fourth 2011

We stayed home for most of the day except for a quick trip to Lowes.  We got some legal fireworks (nothing special) but only got through two before Ava decided she wasn't a fan.  So no firework pictures...sorry :(

All dressed and looking cute and the first thing she wanted to do was ride Daddy's bike.

 Cooling down with an Italian Ice after her bike ride

 A festive red tongue....how appropriate

 Time for the pool

 Here are two videos of her marching and splashing.  She even got Granddad.

Then after dry clothes were put back on it was time to go play again.

 A quiet fourth at home playing in the yard.  Hope everyone else enjoyed theirs as much as we did ours.

 Ya'll come back now ya here.