365 in 2015 - End of Week 45

While I have been (relatively) keeping up with my 365 posts, I'm dreadfully behind with my other posts! It's so daunting to think about catching up at this point, that I'm not sure I ever will. Anyway, hopefully one day I'll get around to those as well. For the month of November though, I thought I'd go with the traditional idea of things I'm thankful for. 

Bible Study: The new month started a new little Bible study that gets delivered to my email every day. This month we are studying Romans 8 and it's so encouraging to know that there is now NO condemnation to those who are in Christ! 

Sewing: My sister pulled me back into sewing during the father/son campout, when she helped me put together the back for this quilt that has sat in my closet for the last five years or so. It really renewed an excitement for the hobby and I look forward to working on more projects too!

Dress-up: I love how much they love to dress up and play together. For Halloween they wanted to all be Avengers, but I didn't want to purchase four new costumes (at new prices). After Halloween though, we stumbled on a very large sale at Walmart and all their costume were $3.75! I went ahead and got these and the kids have enjoyed playing together often.

Church: I'm so incredibly thankful for our church and the faithful preaching we hear there every week! It's been a joy to belong to such a family as this! 

God's beautiful creation: We stopped at this little lake on the way home from our ladies retreat. The reflection on the water was just crisp and clear, so we just had to stop!

Sweet notes: This was hanging on the wall in the living room when I got home from the retreat. My sweet Chey wanted to leave a little note for me when I returned! 

Jon: I'm thankful for this kind and loving man that God brought into my life. He's a great husband and father and seeks the Lord's help in being what God called him to be! (This picture is actually from October, but one I haven't posted yet and one of the best pictures I have of Jon.)

365 in 2015 - End of Week 44

I'm a couple weeks behind again! It's been so hard to keep up, and this is a hard time of year when everything is so busy. These are from the last week of October and are the completion to my challenge of The Unexpected Everyday. I truly do feel like I learned a good bit about manual mode. I'm still fuzzy on a couple areas, but I hope to be able to read more about them soon! 

Most pictures are:

SS 1/60 | f/5.6 | ISO 800 or 1600

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Tip 25: Telling a Story

Prompt: Head to your child's favorite place to eat and photograph it.

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Well, I did do the "tell a story" tip, but I didn't follow the prompt. Instead I decided to take pictures on our Sunday afternoon trip to Autumn Leaves to see Jon's mom (or Mimi as she's known to the kids). We try to go every Sunday before the evening service to visit her at the memory care center. The residents enjoy seeing the kids, even if they aren't always thrilled to be there (Clayton especially as evidenced in one of the photos above). Watching Mimi change so much has been such a hard and challenging part of life. I'm not sure what God has planned through this challenge, but it can certainly only be for our good! 

SS 1/50 | f/5.0 | ISO 800

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Tip 26: Split Lighting

Prompt: Encourage your child to stare into your lens.

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This prompt was definitely meant to be a little more serious, but after a few pictures, Clayton got quite goofy. I liked this one best!

SS 1/250 | f/5.6 | ISO 3200

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Tip 27: Self Portrait

Prompt: Get in the picture with your kids.

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I had a hard time getting a self portrait picture to work well. I tried several times, and this was the closest I got to getting something decent. I still didn't get the exposure right on this one, but I like it anyway.

SS 1/125 | f/5.6 | ISO 3200

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Tip 28: Raise Your ISO

Prompt: Capture your child's first in any type of lighting.

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I raised my ISO for this, and I still didn't get it right. Pictures in the evening or at night in my dark house are still impossible for my to capture correctly. But I loved this of Paige holding baby Patrick! 

SS 1/4 | f/16.0 | ISO 6400

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Tip 29: Narrow Aperture

Prompt: Photograph your child's room with or without them in it.

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Clayton's room at night. It's once again a dark place I have a hard time capturing.

SS 1/60 | f/5.6 | ISO 800

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Tip 30: Negative Space

Prompt: Capture the hands of your child with a parent or grandparent.

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I didn't follow this tip on the 30th, but decided to pull the hand picture I had taken earlier this week with Jon and his mom. I thought it was a good one!

The challenge was only thirty days, and I didn't really get any pictures on Halloween, so this is from earlier in the week. I thought the girls were too funny with their fake teeth!

365 in 2015 - End of Week 9

It is the end of February, so that means the end of my photography challenge. I only really tried to follow it the first two weeks, then I just made it work with what I took (not really the point - I know). I don't think the challenge helped me learn or try anything new, so I don't think I'll try another one yet. But I am hoping to take a photography class soon (probably an online one since I would never have time to go to a real one - without kids).

Day 22: Sweet

Paige curled up with Clayton Sunday evening right before bed. I love these sweet little moments when it really shows how much they love each other! 

Day 23: Animal

We went to Zoo Atlanta on Monday to make sure we got our stamp for February (and it was the only day this week we could manage to go). Most of the animals weren't out because we went in the morning when it was colder than they (or us) really liked. The lions were out though and we had fun watching the three brothers play together for a little bit. They currently have the lions separated into three groups and let one group out on different days. Monday it was the three brothers (the three boy cubs that have recently been weaned). The mama and girl cub or the daddy lion (only) come out on other days. 

Day 24: Black & White

I just loved this picture of Paige laughing and the way Shelby is looking at her! 

Day 25: Costume Fun

What better way to photograph what little snow we had than in costume? 

Day 26: Reflection

Thursday was actually the one day I didn't take any pictures, so this is from Friday. I spotted a neat little area I wanted to explore off New Hope Road, so we stopped to check it out. The kids did really well staying out of the mud and water from all the rain (since they didn't wear their rain boots)! I didn't get as clear an image as I would have liked in this puddle (I wanted to see her face too!), but I still really liked this one! 

Day 27: Stairs

These stairs are actually what I had spotted and wanted to find when we stopped to explore. It was a stairway leading to nowhere that appeared to be the remains of a house that had been torn down. The kids wanted to stay and explore much longer than we did! 

Day 28: Food (cookies)

We had a lot going on today, but I did manage to make a batch of my favorite cookies for pot luck lunch tomorrow at church.