Happy Birthday Lens to Me!

Rather than launch into a recital of the last week's events -- what with the in-laws, the cooking and the general insanity of having 11 people in my home only, oh say, 2 of which I'm terribly familiar with -- I thought I'd share my new Birthday lens with you! 
All of these pics are SOOC and are my first experiments with my 50mm 1.4G lens . . . fun, fun, fun! I tinkered and fiddled and even took the lens on our annual trip to the Zoo Lights. 
I have to admit that I thought it'd be a breeze to slip the new lens on and start snapping lovely indoor/low light shots. But I discovered there's a learning curve to finding the correct focus and accounting for the shallow DOF. Working on it . . . and then there's the art of being more discerning in selecting which lens to use for a given image. 
I enjoy setting a lovely table for holiday dinners. Why we wait for an occasion to pull out our pretty china and flatware, I don't know. It's a waste, really. I know its not time for resolutions just yet but I'd like to resolve to celebrate more often with friends and family. Perhaps a few new holidays will have to be established. Hmm. Going to have to give that some thought. 
I will regal you all with stories and photos from Thanksgiving. For now, suffice it to say that it went well, there's much to be thankful for and once the vege-turkey found its way into the fridge, we pulled out the Christmas decorations. In fact, as I type, the kiddos are watching a Disney Christmas sing-along DVD. Such happy music! Cheers. 

Family portraits, sort of

Yesterday after church and before lunch -- why is it that parents seem to feel that this sliver of time when everybody is hungry and can smell food in the other room is ideal for family pictures? Maybe it's just my family! This was especially true of holidays. It never failed that while in route home from church, my mother would announce that we were not to change when we got home because she wanted to get a few pictures. It's finally happened. I've turned into my mother though I think I earn bonus points for allowing them to change into jeans first! 
You may be wondering why I threw the kids on the bed to take pictures. Light, dear folks, light. There hasn't been much of it around these days what with the clouds and rain. We were having a brief reprieve so I threw open our bedroom blinds and pulled back the duvet for a brighter back/foreground. Plus, I got to play with my remote shutter release for the first time. How fun is that! My plan is to keep experimenting until a photo turns out worthy of Christmas cards. 
Oh, these sweet children with their beautiful eyes.  So a word on indoor photography. Just one really. HELP! This is a whole new learning challenge for me. The lighting, slow shutter speeds, changing the ISO and resultant noise. I think its time for another photography class. Perhaps I'll put it on my Christmas list:) 
Today represents the single day of respite before the full-court press that is the holiday season. We're tackling all manner of household chores in hopes that come Wednesday, it still looks decent around here. We'll finally get to move the kitchen table back into the house. Pictures to come . . . 

Morning Frost

We woke to frost yesterday morning. My first honest-to-god thought was that I should bundle up and go on a walk with my camera. What has happened to me?! My second thought and the one that temporarily won out was that a cup of coffee and a little computer time sounded cozy . . . and then I wandered in the backyard, dragging the hem of my pajama bottoms in the damp grass, snapping a few pictures. The first is of the bowed head of one of the sunflowers. Not much to look at now except for the beautiful crown of crystalized frost. 
This leaf was suspended by the remains of the spectacular web I photographed several days ago. I did check to ensure the resident spider was not home before leaning into the maple tree to take the picture! 
We have our canoe tucked up against the side fence in the backyard -- along with a couple of stunning maple trees. I love the contrast in colors. 
It's hard to believe that we are closing in on Thanksgiving. In fact, as I type this, my son is asking how many more weeks we have until Christmas! Yikes. I'm feeling very proud of my endeavors in the craft department and am nearly done with the photo gifts . . . except for a rather large project hubby and I are taking on for his family. We are taking boxes of old family slides and putting them on CD's, etc. It'll be great when (if?) it gets done! I'm pondering other home-made gifts for the kidlets in my life. More to come on that -- perhaps. I may sell out and join the masses for Black Friday. It'd be the first time ever. Any survival advice?
And then, there's the table and chairs we are still in the midst of refinishing. Today's goal is to finish the sanding and then consult about what our staining choices are. I had really hoped that we'd have it done for Thanksgiving but that is beginning to seem unrealistic. Certainly doesn't help that I'm typing away rather than making my way to the garage, sandpaper in hand. 

Holiday Whirl

If my last blog was a wee bit long in coming, this one is inexcusable. However, I know you'll pardon my slackness since certainly you've been caught up in the chaos that commences with Halloween and barrels on through the New Year festivities. Is it just me, or does it seem as if there is a shorter period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year? I thought I was being surprisingly proactive by beginning my holiday shopping before T-day and lo and behold, I still feel as if it's possible to be dredging the malls for last minute buys. YUCK! Don't get me started on the sheer hell that it is, at least to me, to be shopping in the last week or so before Christmas. I seriously considered postponing Christmas, or at least the gift opening part of it, until a couple of days AFTER the 25th. Just think of the bargains? But I digress. In brief, let me hit the highlights thus far for holiday season . . . . 

Halloween -- I believe I mentioned in my last entry, a birthday costume party. A long night of frantic and not so skillful sewing produced a cute cowboy uniform for Big D. Hannah wore a recycled chicken costume. They were ADORABLE. Being the graceful and adept family that we are, we were the only ones to be swarmed (maybe not "swarmed" but certainly attacked!) by hornets while out in the field watching the horse . . . Yep, I took two stings for the team but we successfully prevented the kiddos from being stung. On Halloween itself, we had all sorts of unplanned events, including a trip to the pediatrician, so the kids hit a couple of our neighbors' houses and we called it good. 

Thanksgiving -- The big meal was at our home and besides my spouse and offspring, my parents in law were in attendance. It went well -- everything was cooked through, tasted good and seemed enjoyed. AND I don't think I was a complete terror of stress and irritability. Though it's possible that I contained it so well that it was manifested in hives that evening. There could be a totally less psycho explanation:) 

Christmas (the beginnings of) -- Our ritual is to break out the Christmas carols and decor immediately upon stashing the Thanksgiving leftovers. True to form, we had the tree up and the lights on the house by Friday night. On Saturday we took the kids to the Zoo Lights, another tradition, complete with a train ride. And Sunday found the kids building and decorating their first Ginger Bread house with the grandparents. 

Being "crafty" -- as in making stuff -- is also a Christmas ritual for me. I long to be like some of the talented women whose blogs I follow! For example, I love the photos and inspired ideas on Meg's page. Makes me drool! In her entry today, she mentioned wanted to make felt garland so of course I googled that curious idea and found wonderful ideas. The debate is now whether I make my little heart happy cutting and sewing felt circle even though I'm unlikely to get much done before packing up and heading south for Christmas or do I save the idea for next year? I did do a little crafting . . . I made some stockings for the mantle. I really liked these from Pottery Barn Kids, but come on, who can buy these things? So I did my own thing and I'm liking the results -- just need to add some pom-poms to the blue and green stockings. 

On a related note, did I mention my birthday fell during Thanksgiving week? Yes, it did and I was pleasantly surprised to find that all year I had mistakenly believed myself to be 33 years old when in actuality, I just turned 33! I got a whole extra year, people! I mention this because my husband bought me Photoshop Elements for Mac. A whole new level of craftiness is about to commence. I'll post my first attempts at scrapbook pages for your humor:)