Taking a page from...

Tara Whitney's book!

Love Ms. Whitney's photography and was inspired by her, as always, while surfing her blog the other day. And so, while I should have been packing, I grabbed my camera (with my new lens! :) ) and snapped away at my little monkey who was playing on my bed. Here's one of my favourites of the day:

Thanks for looking!

Home from a fun weekend!

We headed up to Erin this weekend to celebrate Gary's dad's 65th birthday! We had a nice family lunch, then came home to celebrate with several family friends. And it's just not a party if the boys don't break out the guitars and amps! Try to ignore Aili's "deer-in-headlights" look... :)



Connor disappeared almost as soon as we arrived home, heading out to play with Levi, the little boy who lives next door. I only managed to snap this photo of him, at lunch! Otherwise, he was MIA for most of the afternoon, coming home only for food and water! :)

Gary and I were so excited that his buddies from high school, Philip and Harold, made it out to hang with us! Such great guys - love those boys! And Harold brought his beautiful wife, Alysa, and their gorgeous kids!! (Man, you two make some cute babies!!) Here they are:

Eveie is 3 1/2 years old and Toby is almost six months. I have warned Alysa that I may have to use these photos for some scrapbooking submissions - they are too cute not to scrap!

And Philip is Aili's godfather... and I didn't get ONE photo of the two of them together!! Argh!! Luckily, he is going to try to make it out to her birthday party in a few weeks so I'll be sure to snap a few then!

It was HOT, but there was a nice breeze every once in a while! Aili and Eveie had a blast, playing in the sprinkler! And the water was COLD!!! I'm surprised their lips didn't turn blue!

The next door neighbours, Lana and Tim, were gracious enough to let our kids bound about on their trampoline! Connor loved it, as was expected but what surprised me was how quickly Aili picked it up! I guess kids and jumping (especially this little miss!) go hand in hand!

On our way out on Sunday, the kids went for one last romp on the trampoline. I love how Aili's curls are bouncing about in this photo!

And Gary's parents decided that, for the kids' birthdays this year, they would buy them a trampoline!! Yay! They will be so excited! We will pick one out soon so that they can enjoy it for the rest of the summer. Now to decide where to put it...?

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Gary picked up my new lens from the post office today!!!! I have been asking for a 50mm 1.8 lens for eons!

I was so excited that I didn't even wait for him to make it into the kitchen! Connor and I ripped open the package and I popped it right onto my camera (which was conveniently waiting on the island since last night... :) )

Oh, I'm in love! It takes some getting used to, as it has a fixed lens... which means if I want to zoom in and out, I have to move my body! And being a very fast lens (f/1.8), the depth of field is very short, as you can see in this photo:

Connor's nose is in focus but his eyes and teeth are not! By the way, don't you just love the big gap? :) And now his front right tooth is wiggly! I told him that he'd better be careful or he'll have a big gaping hole soon, if he keeps at it! And I reminded him that next time, he should be careful of what he wishes for...! He's been hoping to lose his teeth for a few years now!

Anyhow, here's another while I was playing before dinner:

Don't you just love this one?!? Calvin Klein, here she comes!

(FYI - she peed on the floor just after this shot was taken... :) )

Gary took this one after dinner, as Aili and I were making faces at each other:

We're heading out of town this weekend to Gary's parents' place so I'll have lots of time to practice (I hope!). Lord knows I need it!!

Thanks for looking!

2 down, 18 to go!

Connor lost another tooth tonight!!

Actually, it had a little help from Dad... I noticed yesterday that Connor's lower central incisor was coming in behind the loose tooth, and it looked like it was WAY back from the other! That spurred me into action (as dollar signs swam in my head from braces and orthodontic visits!) and I called Dr. Coscarella to have him yank it. Well, they weren't going to see us until next week, but I convinced them to take him first thing in the morning! ;)

However, when we got home, Connor wanted Dad to try to pull it... So with a tissue in hand, and little wiggling, alot of twisting and PRESTO! Out it came! Of course, my camera bag was downstairs so I haven't got a photo... yet! :) Soon to follow!

Now to find some change for the Tooth Fairy!

Block Party in the Court!!

Tonight, we headed around the block to a neighbour's house for a block party potluck! It was great fun! We have lived in this neighbourhood since January 2004 and have only met a handful of the neighbours! It was nice to put names to faces (the nametags helped us to remember!) and to have the kids meet. Unfortunately, there weren't too many kids that were Connor's age, but Aili's found a playmate, just down the road! Amber turned 2 in March and her parents are great people! We came home to put Aili down for the night (at 9:45pm!) but Gary went back and took Connor with him (he was DYING to sit around the campfire and roast marshmallows!! It's all about the food with that kid!! :)) I'm just about to turn in myself, which may shock many of you who know me well... it's only 10:50pm here!! I'm usually up for at least a couple of hours longer! :)

And on that note, off to bed I go! I need to crash! Zzzzzzzzzzz....

T.G.I.F.!!!

Anyone else thankful that it's Friday? And not only for Jessica Sprague's Photoshop Fridays! ;)

I've had a crazy, busy week! Connor had his soccer playoffs this week. Unfortunately, they didn't advance - he was so disappointed! Mostly because of his love for the game, but partly because he wouldn't see Jacob anymore! Jacob is on his team (great player too - his dad's the coach! :)) Tuesday, his coach dropped off his team photo and Jacob asked if Connor could come by for a play date! He perked up considerably after that! Kids are so fickle! LOL!

Aili's new caregiver, Mlle Lisa, started at Franco-Sol last week. She's quite perky and enthusiastic - I liked her immediately. She noticed that Aili doesn't like to be dirty, and that she's aware of her bodily functions (for lack of a better description!). She said if we wanted to bring her in panties, she would start potty training!!

What a great idea! Or so we thought...

Suffice it to say that we had one CRANKY little girl Monday night!! I think she was just exhausted from the pressures of the day. The next morning when I asked if she was ready to go and see Lisa, she replied with a resounding, "NO! 'Rella!!" (her Pull-Ups have Cinderella on them!) I spoke to her caregiver and we decided to wait, since Aili was starting to associate negative feelings of potty training with Lisa. Especially since Lisa had just started at Franco-Sol!

So we have had success off and on - she likes to wear her "pretty panties" all day, but also loves to run to the potty every four minutes to sit down! The complete opposite of Connor, who fought me tooth and nail! How two people can create two ENTIRELY opposite children is beyond me!

I've also been busy, trying to proof the photos from a shoot that was two weeks ago!! I kept running out of disk space! How can that be?!??! I have a 40GB hard drive! I was able to get a small chunk of it done today during Aili's nap, but she woke early, so it'll be a late night for me, since the client is heading back to TX tomorrow, I think!

I haven't been on Scraptivity much this week, and I'm missing my online sisters! :( I have to pop on there tomorrow though and post the winners of the June contests. Yippee!! We're also having a month-long birthday celebration for our 2 year anniversary - we've got some rockin' challenges and contests planned. Congratulations on Wendy for such success in a short time frame.

So here's to Friday - the start of a beautiful weekend!

Happy Birthday, Little Miss K!!

Well, happy birthday PARTY, anyways!

Today, we headed over to spend the day, celebrating Kayleigh's special day with her family and friends. It was such a great, albeit VERY HOT day (I think I heard someone say 94 degrees?!). It was so great to hang with the whole family - they're such great people! And Dawn's grandma, Nettie, makes the best raisin bread I've ever had!! I'm going to be after Dawn to email me that recipe!!

Dawn & John arranged to have a "toddler-friendly" clown come by! We had our doubts, but when Dotsy arrived, the kids were so excited!! Well, almost all of them... Aili was more interested in playing with the babies and the strollers! Dotsy did some magic tricks (which even impressed some adults! Okay, maybe just me...), made some wicked kewl balloon animals and then painted faces! She did wonderful work - Kayleigh had a butterfly and flower (and a bunny face, and another butterfly... LOL!) Aili had a butterfly and flower painted on her arms and of course, Connor had a soccer ball painted on his face!

Dawn and I marvelled at Dotsy's cool job! How exactly do you get qualifications to become a clown?!?

We had yummy food, sang Happy Birthday (three times!) and pigged out on DQ cake!

Liam helped his baby sister open her presents (as is the right of an older brother!) Aren't they adorable?! D & J, you make CUTE kids!!

The only flaw in our near perfect day was the nasty tumble that Aili took. She was climbing onto a chair at the table and went to lean on the table to push up onto her knees and slipped! Whacked her mouth right on the edge of the table and split her lip. Ouch! We iced it and within minutes (as soon as the pasta was brought out, in fact!) the tears stopped!

The kids LOVE to hang out together. I feel so blessed that we have such wonderful friends and I hope that our children will grow up to have the same stong bonds of friendship. Connor was so upset when it was time to leave, because he was having so much fun!

I captured this adorable photo of Aili and Kayleigh together:



These two will be thick as thieves, and probably in as much trouble, by the time they're 15!! :)

So Happy Belated Birthday, K!! Much love and happiness to you always, sweetie!!

Move over, Beckham...

Here comes Sykes!

On Wednesday, we *finally* got back the photos from Connor's soccer... Doesn't he look so handsome? He was very proud when showing me.

"Mom, do I look like a professional?"

"Of course you do, Connor! Look at that pose! Why do you ask, sweetie?"

"Oh... 'cuz that's what the photographer said."

I chuckled, thinking of my own photography and what I say, trying to get children to co-operate.

"Well, I think you look great, but um, didn't he say that to all the kids?"

"Nope. Just me."

LOL. This kid just makes me laugh.

He's been forever asking to watch the soccer videos on You Tube, over and over again. His favourites are Best Soccer Moves and anything with Ronaldinho Gaucho in it. He watches them intently, two (or seven!) times, then races to get his cleats on, and runs out the door, soccer ball clutched tightly!

I'm so glad that he's finally found a sport that he is passionate about!

Do you care? Probably not!

My bio and layout for the Scraptivity website has been up for a while... I just haven't had a chance to post it here. And maybe, just maybe I wondered if anyone really cared...? LOL!

Thanks to my wonderful husband who came up with this idea for me! Well, the photo anyways... He's actually the one that I turn to when I'm stuck - he has a wonderful eye for composition, a throwback from when he was a professional videographer!

He was, however, too busy to take a photo of me, so I set up my backdrop in front of my big bay windows, grabbed a big mirror, my tripod and a stool and set to work. Only five photos and I got this one. Photoshop is truly my friend! *wink*

My Bio and LO:

Journaling reads:

It could be a newborn baby sleeping. Or a screaming toddler, in the middle of a tantrum.

A field of wildflowers on a mountainside. Or a breath-taking sunset on a tropical beach.

That’s the well from which I draw my inspiration. The little nuances that I glean from this wide, wonderful world of amazing things to discover and share.

My photos are a glimpse into my world, as I see it.

Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

This is my life, through the lens.

All supplies from the June '06 kit, except transparencies and ribbon bits on small tag.

TFL!!

The Elusive Pigtails...

are no longer elusive!!!

YAY!!

I'm happy to report that I can (BARELY) get two little pigtails on either side of Aili's head, in that riot of curls that I call hair! The problem is that now, she looks so grown up!!!



I can't believe that in exactly a month, my little baby will be turning two...

(sob!)

TLF!

Wanna sneak peek...

from my Friday photo shoot session? This family (four siblings and their families) were just all so gorgeous and fun! In less than 2 hours, I managed to take 200 photos!! The trouble comes in trying to choose only 50 proofs!!

Here's a glimpse of why I'm going to have trouble... :)



Little Miss M, who kept me running, was still as adorable as can be!



As you can see, taking photos was the last thing these boys wanted to do! :)



Pretty Miss M, as lovely as can be... but she comes by it honestly....



Here she is with Mom! A former pharmacist at my store, she moved to Texas several years ago and I miss her at the Lake!

Thanks for looking!

A few more "wild" animals!

I forgot to post these adorable pics of the kids, taken at African Lion Safari.

The fierce tigress licks her lips as she watches her prey...



while the ferocious cheetah growls...



I know I may be biased - but aren't they just so gosh darn cute?!?! :)

Read on to hear about our trip...

Lions and Tigers and...

Ostrichs, oh my!



LOL! I was delighted to see this hilarious photo as I scanned through the 300+ photos from African Lion Safari last Tuesday. Don't you think that it would make a PERFECT card?

We had a great time! Our hotel was very nice and the kids couldn't wait to jump into the indoor pool! We set up my camera on timer and *tried* to get a family photo... tried, being the operative word!!



And of course, we had to get the prerequisite goofy shot!



We went out to Kesley's for dinner on Monday night and when we got back to the hotel, headed straight for the pool! Both kids LOVE the water! Connor, being his typical extroverted self, met a couple of kids from Michigan and played with them for the most part.

We woke up on Tuesday to gloomy skies! Luckily, by check out time, the sun was trying to peek through the clouds so we headed on our way. We took the tour bus as soon as we got there, giggling at the monkeys' antics, watching in awe as the lioness chomped on a huge bone, and catching a glimpse of the elephants bathing.



We stopped for lunch and then headed to the Birds of Prey Flying Demonstration. We had plans to hit the Elephant RoundUp after that, but Aili was tired and Connor had energy to burn!

So we headed to the Misumu Bay Wet Play area - WOW! Aili had fallen asleep on the way to the water park, so I sat with her and took photos of Connor. Have I mentioned that he loves the water!?!?



Aili awoke just as we were leaving the water park. They had a fantastic toddler area, with little wading pools and fountains - she would have loved it! Next time!

We didn't get home until 10pm and the kids were exhausted (as were we!) But what fun!!

Thanks for reading!

A whole week's gone by!

And I've been a baaaad blogger! But since it's 2:15 am and I should be in bed, I will leave you with this precious photo, until tomorrow:

You know what they say... You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your nose. Apparently, no one told my daughter that!! This is definitely going to come out on the night of her first date!

This is it...

my LAST year in my thirties! I'd better make the most of it!

I woke up late today, and was greeted with a Happy Birthday song from Connor and a big hug from Aili. Breakfast was Crispix with milk (half of which Aili ate) and a big bowl of blueberries! (Gary offered to make me breakfast but I'm not really a big breakfast person).

The kids gave me their gift. They bought me a portable-sized Daytimer! I haven't had one in a few years, since I went electronic, but I keep forgetting to charge my iPAQ and then I'm stuck without access to my phone numbers and calendar! I'm a material girl - I need to TOUCH pieces of paper!!! :) It's a beautiful tan leather and measures only 5"x9"!!

Then Gary gave me his gift. Well, he didn't actually HAND it to me, but he did tell me that it was on order!! I got...............are you ready? An AF 50/1.9 D lens for my camera!! Woo Hoo! So very excited about that! I wonder if it will be in before my photo shoot on Friday?!?

Connor and I went out in the afternoon to buy him some new running shoes and when we returned home, Aili was still napping (it was 5:oopm!!). Her schedule has been off with late nights and waking later than usual. So I had a quick cat nap too! When we awoke, we went to my other sister's house for a BBQ! Two nights of no cooking - awesome! After eating, Connor wanted to jump in the pool. Well, not to be outdone, Aili had to go in too! Of course we had no swimsuits, as it had been raining all day! So they jumped in with their undies/shirts on! Teresa braved the cold with Aili, as we had not brought our suits either! Both were more than unhappy when we had to DRAG them out at 9:00pm!! Way past their bedtimes!

Unfortunately, not a lot of great photos tonight, but this one turned out cute:



Thanks for reading!

Happy Canada Day!!

Well, technically, I'm an hour late, so Happy Belated Birthday, Canada!

We had a great day today. Once we realized that we would be in town for my birthday, Gary called up my family and organized an impromptu birthday party at my sister's pool. We all swam, bbq'd and generally enjoyed each other's company, as we always do.

I took out my zoom lens and went to work! Got some great shots today. Here's a few:

Connor, getting a lift from Dad:



Aili and her adorable inner tube/tshirt! This is a Godsend around the pool! Especially for a little Miss Diva who LOVES the water!



My beautiful niece, Sarah - takes after her aunt, you know... ;) LOL!



My crazy nephew, Cory - I'm sure he gets that from the "other" side of the family... ;)



Aili (and her shoe fetish) in all their glory...



This sums up what we all felt like at the end of a hard day's play:



One photo opportunity that I missed - Connor learned how to dive today! Unfortunately, I was the one teaching and no one else thought to get the camera! :( It cost me $3.00, though... that boy drives a hard bargain! LOL! Money can be a highly motivating factor with him, I have found... I may just need to take out a second mortgage though - his negotiating skills are impressive! :)

Thanks for reading!

WooHoo!!

The July Kit has just been posted on Scraptivity and my layout is featured on the cover of the newsletter!!! Woo Hoo!! Aili's a cover girl again!!



Thanks to Gary for taking all of these awesome shots of Aili and I that have been WAY overused by me in my scrapping endeavours!! This photo was a bit blurry so I applied a soft focus on it in Photoshop.

Thanks for reading!