It pays to have talented friends

Version II (I loved them both!)
Okay, I realize I am biased because I took the pictures and my good friend, Dana, designed the announcement but I think these are sooo cute!! I was way more than tickled when I got them in the mail. I have known for some time now that Dana is very talented but when she showed me some of the announcements and invitations she designed I was impressed, to say the least! She has always had an interest in photography. She felt like this was a good way for her to use her creativity to make a beautiful product with photographs and generate some extra income. She is a stay-at-home mom with two gorgeous girls and I say "you go, girl!". I am fully supportive of stay-at-home moms who want to find a way to work and be at home with their children. She is committed to providing beautiful, quality, custom announcements for much more reasonable prices that you can find on the internet. Please check out her website if you are interested in photo announcements. She has designs for birth announcements (you'll see little Luke here), graduation announcements, birthday announcements (all ages), christmas cards, and the list is growing. They are all adorable and she has more in the works. Her site is currently "under construction" (she is in the process of moving to a new state - I know how that is!) but I will be sure to let everyone know when it is up and running!

http://www.everythingpictured.blogspot.com/

The big fat lip

I'm sure that everyone in my family will laugh when they see this picture and say "That's Julie!". I caught a lot of flack growing up for sticking out my lip and pouting. Apparently I did this a lot. I can't say that I'm surprised - especially since Anna's face should be frozen this way as well. Must run in the family.
My little Luke is so sweet and sensitive. I'm not sure what happened but he must have gotten scared. He was probably tired of me taking his picture! He just happened to stick out his lip when I snapped the picture because I didn't even realize it until I looked at them on the computer. Of course, then I held him a little and we played and things were "all better" ;)

Go figure

I admit that I am not very good at putting my kids to sleep. I love to hold them and have them near me. They're little for such a short time! I've been trying to be better with Luke. Some days are better than others. I'll always be a sucker!
While Jaden was sleeping I took the opportunity to play with Luke and have some floor time on his little exerciser. The day we bought this we also bought something special for Anna and Jaden too. Despite our best efforts to think ahead and curb toy fights those two will not leave Luke's toy alone. Most days he's got only one (of four) little dangly things to look at/bat at/kick - if he's lucky. They take them all off and toss them around the room. This poor little guy doesn't stand a chance right now! I'm sure he'll be more than able to fend for himself one day (especially if he keeps up at the rate he is growing).
Anyway, I had gotten up to do something while Luke was content playing. When I came back he was sound asleep! I couldn't believe my eyes - I wish it were always that easy. He looks so sweet when he's sleeping :)

Anna and Luke

The other one wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a picture. I'm going to have to work on learning how to use the "action mode" on my camera if I have any hope of catching Jaden in a picture that doesn't capture him as a blur!
I got a new camera the other day and have been playing around learning how to use it. I think Anna is already getting tired of me using her as my test model. I still need to order a different lens and a speedlight. It will be much easier for me to get good shots with those. Right now I've got to have my camera pretty close to them to get the kind of pictures I like. And, I don't like to use the flash but I don't have good light inside in most rooms so it's easy to get blurry pictures. The speedlight will allow me to use the flash but have more natural looking pictures because you can divert the light upwards and use a diffuser. I'm having so much fun learning how to take better pictures. I'm definitely an amateur with tons to learn but I love taking pictures of these little guys. I hope I'll have some nice ones for them to share with their kids when they're all grown up one day.