Lotsa Pictures of Evan :)

I have been busy posting about the photography challenges I have been working on, but I've missed posting some really cute pictures of our boy! So here are some of my favorites from the last few weeks.

Challenge 2 Completed and a Fun Weekend Retreat

The challenge is to learn when I should use a fast shutter speed. For this challenge I put a glass in the kitchen sink to obstruct the water flowing from the faucet. I set my shutter speed to 1/80th of a second and turned on the water to take the first picture. As you can tell in the picture on the left, a slow shutter speed does not visually stop the flow of water. For the next picture I wanted to set my shutter really high (around 1/1000 of a second). By doing this I was able to stop the water in motion. I am really happy with how the pictures came out!

Next week the challenge is all about light... can't wait!

Dan and I had a wonderful weekend. We spend the weekend at my parents condo in Indian Shores and it was just what we needed.


It was so relaxing and I loved having some one-on-one time with my hubby. Evan had a great weekend too... he was at my parents getting spoiled rotten!

12 Weeks to Better Photos: Challenge 1

The first lesson in the 12 Weeks to Better Photos is about aperture. The weekly challenge is to see how much of your photo you want to be in focus and to practice using the aperture priority setting.

1. In this photo I used the lowest setting my camera will go, f/5.6. Very little outside the focus point is in focus. (you can tell by looking at how the rocks and grass are blurry)


2. In this photo I used a f/8. This is my favorite. I like the background blur that separates the subject from the background elements.


3. In this photo I moved my aperture setting to the highest setting it will go, f/32. Pretty much everything is in focus. (It is easiest to see the difference between photo 2 and 3)


My next challenge will be about ISO and Shutter Speed. Yay!

Great Start to 2011

We celebrated Evan's 2nd birthday last weekend at Gymboree. What an amazing day! I loved celebrating my son's birthday with so many of our family and friends. Evan is a very loved little boy! A friend of mine is photographer and took some pictures at the birthday party. I can't wait to see them. I will post some of them soon!

Celebrating the little things...

We are so excited that Evan is starting to work on some of his fine motor skills. He started to put his pacifier in his mouth this week! Dan and I are so proud of our little guy. Check out the video we took to show Aunt Rachel. We miss her like crazy now that she is back in Jax!




Evan has also learned to move around in his walker at my parents. He was going forward, backwards, and even turning corners!! Go Evan Go :)



Dan and I took Evan to his very first concert today! We went to see Jack Hartmann. Dan insists Evan's first concert was the Ludacris concert we went to while I was pregnant... umm I think I will stick with Jack Hartmann for the baby book ;) Jack Hartmann sings children's songs. Evan was introduced to his music by his early interventionist. He was so cute at the concert. He loved watching Jack Hartmann sing and watching the kids dance around. His favorite songs were Alligator Chomp and 5 Little Fish.

Dan and Evan enjoying the show.

Jack Hartmann being silly during his hip hop song!

On a separate note... I am looking forward to starting 12 Weeks to Better Photos (http://sites.google.com/site/biowbiow002/twopeas_12week) I have been wanting to do this for some time. Being able to capture photographs of my son is such a passion of mine. I like to think of how grateful I will be when I am older to have these pictures of my boy. I want to remember every sweet stage he goes through. Taking pictures of toddlers is quite a challenge! Evan does not sit still and patiently wait for me to get the perfect lighting and camera settings. I currently take a lot of pictures, but I want to increase the quality of these pictures and make them better. So I am not going to put if off any longer. I am going to start these 12 weeks lessons. Every week I will post the weekly assignment on my blog to hopefully keep myself accountable. Anyone who wants to join me let me know!

So I will end with this cute picture of Evan I took while he was busy watching his Baby Signing Time DVD :)

Birthday Boy

Happy birthday to my little man! I can't believe Evan is two years old. This year has flown by. It has been filled with so many anticipated milestones. He went from a little cute blob to a moving and grooving toddler right before my very eyes.

It amazes me to see his little personality coming out more and more. He is cautious and skeptical of all new things. Once he acquire a new skill, he will practice it over and over again until he perfects it. Evan is calm and happy going most of the time. He loves being around people and can’t get enough hugs and kisses. Evan will let pretty much anyone hold him, but he saves his best smiles and snuggles for Mom and Dad! Our boy also has a bit of a wild side and fearlessly loves to be tossed up in the air. I would bet he is going to love roller coasters when he gets older! Wrestling with his Dad has become a nightly ritual that we look forward too. Evan chases Dan around and then pounces on him! He thinks it is hilarious. I love his laugh, it is so contagious. Evan blesses our lives every day!

I can't wait to see all the amazing things he is going to do this year!

Home for the Holiday

We woke up on Christmas Eve to a sick baby. Unfortunately, Evan has another cold. We still had an amazingly wonderful Christmas though... it is so exciting to have started some new Christmas traditions with our little family!

I woke up on Christmas Eve morning and made hot, gooey cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then Evan and I got started making Reindeer food to sprinkle on our front yard. To make the reindeer food we poured some oatmeal in a baggie and add some glitter. Then we attached a note that said "Make a wish and close your eyes tight, then sprinkle on your yard at night. As Santa's reindeer fly and roam, this food will guide them to your home. For your gift to the reindeer and Rudolph, your wish may be real, your dreams may come true!"


After Evan's afternoon nap we started on baked homemade cookies for Santa. Santa made a special request for chocolate chip cookies this year :)

We put out the cookies and a cold glass of milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolf.


No Chimney! No Fireplace! No Problem! Santa's magic key is hung on our front door.


Before we put Evan to bed, we sat by our beautifully light up Christmas tree and Dan read us "The Night Before Christmas" as Evan fell asleep.


Children make the holidays so magical!

On Christmas morning Evan woke up at 7:30 am and we headed out to check to see if Santa had come...


He did!!!

Evan loved all his presents. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends.

An Almost 2 Year Old and an Early Christmas

It's here, it's here! Evan's video, is here! I love the way it came out. I made a video through One True Media's website of pictures and video clips of Evan from 12 - 24 months. It took many hours of uploading pictures, picking out the perfect music to go along with those pictures, and editing lots of video clips. Dan requested to not see the video until it was complete. Well last tonight we watched it together and he was so blown away and excited about how it turned out! I can't wait to play the video for our friends and family at Evan's 2nd birthday party. It brought me to tears seeing how much Evan has done over the last year. I can't believe my baby is almost two! This year has gone by so fast.

Evan has been under the weather these last couple weeks. He has a sinus infection and croop. We have been staying at home a lot lately to give Evan a chance to get better. One thing Evan loves to do when he is sick is take baths.


It was really cold most of the week, but on Friday it was in the 70's and beautiful outside. So we spent some much needed time outside and played on Evan's new swing set. It was nice to get out of the house for a little bit! I put him next to the rope ladder and he knew just what to do! He wanted so badly to get up there :)


My parents and sister are heading up to Philly in a few days, so we celebrated our Christmas with them over the weekend. My dad cranked up the Christmas music and my mom made us all hot choloclate with little marshmellows. Then we all sat around the Christmas tree and exchanged gifts. In my family believing in Santa is a must! Or you will not get any presents ;) All gifts under the tree are addresses "From: Santa." I love Christmas time!!


Let me end this post by saying thank you to my wonderful husband, our outside decorations look beautiful! We are the only people I know who have a Christmas elephant :)

Swing Set, Lotsa Cookies, and Family

Evan got a very special present from his grandparents this year for Christmas... a new swing set! It arrived a few weeks ago, but when Dan went to open the huge box he immediately noticed we were sent the wrong item. It was a girly pink and purple play house- not what we ordered! So we called the company about the mix up and after jumping through many hoops they finally arranged to get us our clubhouse swing set that we ordered. Well, it finally arrived this week!

Evan loves the swinging motion. It is not only fun for him, but really good for him too. I try to take him to the park as much as possible. Studies have shown that swinging can be used to help kids regulate their bodies. It also helps them focus and increases a child's body awareness. But Evan doesn't care about any of that... to him swinging is just plain 'ol fun!

Even though Christmas is still a few weeks away away we decided to put it together early for him. We just couldn't wait, so Dan assembled it this weekend. He is so good at these sorts of things and he actually likes doing it.


This weekend, I got some long overdue girl time with my ladies from playgroup. My friend Robynne had us all over for a Cookie Swap. We each made 2 dozen cookies and brought them to share. Now I have a whole bunch of different Christmas cookies to snack on!


I saved the best for last, Rachel and her boyfriend Jess are here! They came into town on Friday and I could not be happier. I have missed my sister so much while she has been at law school. Now I get her home until January! Even though Evan does not see his Aunt Rachel very much it amazes me what a special bond they have.

Here is just a cute picture of Evan :) Check out his eyes in this picture. I love how green they look!

Weekend Fun

We started off our weekend with a breakfast with Santa. Our church has a pancake breakfast with Santa every year to raise money for a local charity. The pancakes were delicious! Evan even enjoyed a few bites. However, Evan was not a fan of Santa this year and started fussing and trying his darnedest to get away from him! So Santa asked me if I could sit on his lap and then have Evan sit on my lap. haha Can't wait to see how the picture turned out!

We had some free time so we headed to the park to enjoy the beautiful cool weather. Evan had a blast...


... and he thought his shadow was pretty cool too :)

We ended the weekend with Jose coming over for some football, BBQ and an impromptu photo shoot in front of our Christmas tree. Thanks Jose for the help and tips with photoshop editing!

Traditions

We are not able to make the trip up to see my family in Philly this year. Evan got really sick last year and took a while to get better. The cold weather was just too much for our Florida baby, so Dan and I decided to stay home this year. I love my traditions up in Philly and will miss my family a ton, but I am determined to make this year a great Christmas for my family.

Here are some of our traditons, some new and old...

Enchanted Tree Lighting Ceremony
Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving we go to Hyde Park for their Enchanted Tree Lighting Ceremony to kick off the holiday season. We meet our friends there and drink hot chocolate and wait excitedly for Jolly Old St. Nicholas to come an light up the 30-foot Christmas Tree. Yay! It is officially Christmas time!

Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree
We got our tree at Home Depot over the weekend. We spent a cozy night at home decorating our tree. Every year since Dan and I started dating we decorate our tree with Chirstmas music playing in the background and with a mug of hot chocolate! Evan is so fasinated with the tree!

Christmas Pajamas
I bought Evan's Christmas pajamas! I can't wait to see my little boy go to bed on Christmas Eve wearing his new pair of Christmas plaid coat pajamas.

Santa's Post Office
At every Macy's across the county there is a mailbox to collect letters to Santa Clause. We brought Evan's stamped letter to Macy's addressed to Santa at the North Pole, and drop it into Santa's special mailbox. For each letter recieved there will be a $1 donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, up to $1,000,000. I am excited to make this one of our new family traditions!

More to come...