The runners up!!

Ok so I'm bored and going through the photos in my 365 folder and figure there are some that should still be shared for the sake of sharing.

 

 

 

Outtakes and such...

So I thought I would share a few of the outtakes from today.  This is just to show how much Ava likes to be in the shot.  In fact to keep her out of it I had to put on yo gabba gabba and give her a cereal bar.  All that and I still had to work super quick because as soon as she realized what I was doing she was right back in the frame. 

and my favorite is this one which to me pretty much says that there is a new queen bee in this town.

Then I just had to share this photo from yesterdays shoot.  I must have overlooked it but I just love the color of the sky and how tiny she looks out in the big yard. 

Day Fifteen

Seeing yourself...

Let me just start by saying that I LOATH self portraits.  My comfort zone is behind the lens and not in front of it.  There are many reasons not to take self portraits and mine are that I don't like being the subject, they require too much set up, I don't have a remote so that extends the set up, and did I mention that I don't like being the subject. 

I have decided that as a part of this project I am requiring myself to take at least one self portrait each month.  I could never ever make myself do it weekly because that is just an unnecessary form of torture.  I instead think monthly is fair enough as well as deciding to be creative with them.  This time I decided to lay on the wood floor so that I could get my reflection as well.  Since I don't like self portraits I figure coming up with creative ways to take them may make me more comfortable and teach me how to expand my comfort zone.

Here is the shot that I went with.  I choose it because it had the best focus.  Getting the focus right on a self portrait is not an easy task since you can't be behind and in front of the camera at the same time.

Now I much prefer my self portraits or any portraits for that matter to be in black and white.  It is a combination of two things.  First is that black and white hides many flaws and second is that I started my photography experience out as a student of black and white photography.  So to make myself happy I am posting the photo in black and white as well.

 
That's better...I feel much better about myself now. 

I will share one last photo today.  The focus was WAY off and the sun was too harsh.  I choose a bad time of day for this location but I still love the photo.  Ava LOVES books more than any toy she has.  She will bring you book after book for you to read to her.  She hands you the book and then opens her arms to be picked up.  This book is her favorite book...she even kisses the bunnies as you read.

Day Fourteen

White socks no more...

Today I thought it would be a good idea to let Ava run around outside for a little while before lunch.  I was thinking that she would expend some energy and take a good nap.  She is cutting teeth again so she hasn't been sleeping very well.

Ava has only been walking for a few months and since she started walking it has either been raining or snowing so she hadn't had the opportunity to walk outside yet.  Today was actually a nice day considering how it has been.  So I got Ava dressed and bundled to go out and grabbed my camera as we were heading out the door.  Here is a little breakdown of the things I learned today.

• Ava does not like to walk when she is in a new or uncomfortable setting.  (I knew this but did not think it applied to the yard)  So that meant that she instead wanted to crawl on the muddy ground.  I was only prepared for muddy shoes which leads me to..
• Designate play clothes that I don't mind being ruined because they WILL get ruined.  
• Have a change of clothes ready for when you come in and strip the child of the muddy clothes so the child can be changed right away.  Otherwise you will have to chase a diaper clad child through the house insisting she get dressed.  Why would the child care that it's cold and she needs to wear clothes.
  
• Shoes...ugh the shoes.  Buy a pair of tennis shoes with laces that your child can not get off by herself because if she can get them off she will take them off.  Your child does not care that her white socks will never be white again.
• Also know that your child will immediately go from crawling to running when you try to put her shoe back on.
• Dogs poop...more specifically they poop everywhere.  So scope out area prior to putting child down to play and you can avoid those close calls. 
• Lastly, your child will scream and cry when you take her back in because she does not care that she is muddy and soaked and will no doubt catch a cold if she continues to play outside.  

So with all of that said I bring you to the photos of the day.  I only have photos of Ava crawling because when she is on her feet she is fast.  She would run to the big muddy area to sit in it (no idea why) or she would run to the rocks to try to eat them (again no idea why).

The first picture is her sitting to take it all in.

and I leave you with this...her poor sock.

Bleach is my friend...

Day Thirteen

Fresh from the oven...

I felt the need to bake today.  Not really sure what was behind that yearning desire to bake.  Maybe it was the fact that I knew it's always nice to come home to fresh baked treats so I thought it might be appreciated.

I had a large container of oats left from the last time I made monster cookies so I thought oatmeal raisin would be good.  Here is the finished product...

and here is Ava enjoying a warm cookie...

I think she approved.

I am also excited to announce that I have been chosen for two awards.  The first was from my friend Chelsea for the seven random things I listed in a prior post.

and this one is from my friend Mel and my list of 10 things that make me happy is below.

1. My beautiful daughter Ava

2. My boyfriend Aaron

3. Photography

4. All of the Mommas from MMT

5. Chocolate

6. A good book

7. A long bath

8. Christmas

9. Trying out new recipes

10. A good Movie

I don't think I have 10 blogs to gift this too since many of the ones who follow me have already done it so I will list only a few.

Jesi

Tamara

Gretchen

Amanda M

Melissa

I heart this face!!

So there will be an extra blog post today.  I follow a blog called I heart Faces. http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

I am new to this whole blogging deal so I had yet to enter a contest.  This week the contest is for the "Best Face Photo".  I choose this picture of Ava because I just love the look on her face.  At the time she wanted to get down off the steps and I kept putting her back and pleading with her to stay seated for just a few more seconds.  I can't even count how many times I have uttered, "just one more shot I promise".  Well this is her game face...I caught it...it is that look of ready or not and her and I both knew that was the last shot of the day because she was about to take off.

I hope to enter more of the contests on the iheartphotography blog.  There are a ton of wonderful photos entered.  Click the link above to check them out.

Day Twelve

So today I was tired of dealing with the crappy indoor lighting and decided to go out and take some pictures of the woods behind the house.  I walked around in the woods for a few minutes taking some random pictures and when I came back in and looked at them all I had to laugh.  The one that caught my eye was one of the two that I snapped before going back into the woods.  Looks like I could have saved myself about 15 minutes in the cold but oh well.

I liked this picture because it shows the cold of the snow on the ground, or at least what is left of it, combined with the heat of the suns rays that is melting the snow away.  I wish I had been able to feel some of that heat when I was out there.

and for fun here it is in Black and White although I prefer the blue skies.