Delivery!! Christmas Card for you :)

I usually am so on top of the Christmas Card game but this year it was a no go.

Well at least for a card that you'd receive all bright and cheery in your mail box. 

BUT...

I really didn't want you to think that I have forgotten...or even failed to try - it came more down to the technical difficulties of trying to take our own family picture and then finding a photo that everyone was happy with. (Some sympathizers out there??)

Anyway to make our long christmas photo story short - I just collected a couple photos from some of my favourite trips this year and made you a digital card.

Please feel loved and appreciated :)

Thought I'd add my parents card too! lol at least its a better photo of my family!!

A Christmas Lighting Rant...

Ok I know, this may be an odd thing to rant about.  Rant might not even be the right word...I am not angry or frustrated but I am a little saddened..


WHY??


Well I just can't stand the LED christmas lights that are ever where.  Don't get me wrong - I love the power savings and world cataclysm avoidance they represent...I just cannot get over how anemic and understated they are.


Like really understated...the other day I drove past a place that used the blue and purple LED and I would almost venture to say they produce anti-light.  The dark vibrant colour emits so little light they are hard to focus on but because its not normal to the landscape your eye is almost inexplicably drawn back to it.  It really is like some sort of Christmas Light Black Hole of Anti Light.....You get sucked in wether you want to or not.
This does not bring me Christmas joy and make me want to celebrate....It makes me want to rub my eyes and go unplug the darn things.


Remember when Christmas lights not only illuminated the snow along the eves but the entire face of a house!  How cheery and warm and welcoming was that!  These poor little LED's if they get a true Canadian size dump of snow on them become faint orbs of colour again creating the CLBH of AL. I just find it a little disheartening. I love colour - I love light.....Christmas lights are supposed to bring those two things together, without giving me a headache.


Although I have to admit two things....I see hope for the LED's because someone has taught the manufacturers about the concept of colour temperature and they are now offering 'white' or clear lights that are not blue in tone but rather a nice warm cream....A big step in the right direction if you ask me.


And the second I have to admit rather abashedly - We have anemic Christmas Lights creating Black Holes of Anti Light on our house right now.

My Day in Terms of Food....

yup...the title was correct...I am talking about my day in terms of food....It really was a good day but...well, you'll see...

Breakfast:
So this morning for breakfast I had cornflakes...this particular variety of corn flakes was eaten from a bowl that walked around the house with me and despite my best efforts became so soggy that I doubt the term 'flake' could be applied anymore.

Snack:
Umm even though I forgot this particularly important event - my children didn't but since we were in the car driving to Vernon I just got to hear the pitiful yowls of children who surely must have been starving.

Lunch:
Thank Goodness for Tim Hortons.  I went and picked up a turkey bacon club EXTRA Long sandwich and a 10 pack of tim bits.  We then went and met up with Ed for lunch.  Half a sandwich for Ed and a quarter to each child.  I have never professed to be great at numbers...this sandwich scenario being case in point.  So I settled on eating half a box of tim bits.

Snack:
May I point out that snack in my kids mind is 10 min after lunch. (!?!)  Luckily we were on our way to the mall so we landed at the food court.  My oversight at lunch had been noticed and duly beaten to death.  The kids were thirsty and frankly so was I ( tim bits and the lb of sugar they represent will do that to you!) We grabbed some juice and headed out to enjoy the mall.  Only the enjoyment lasted about 10 steps as Eliana dropped her juice and my own juice was was the sacrificial price demanded for a quick return to peace.

.....4pm: Tic tacs and an ice tea are pacifying the troops


.....5pm: The troops revolt and there are many tears over broken dreams of having milk the moment they want it.

.....5:45pm: I walked through the door, crying kids in tow and made a b-line strait to the fridge where I pounced upon the mcain frozen cake thing in the freezer and ate about 3 pieces (thats the polite way to say I cut a whole row) and shoved it in my mouth.  The kids watching this feeding frenzy swarmed around to get their piece of the pie - I mean cake.

....6:00pm: Supper was cooking (macaroni and hamburger) and I literally set off every smoke detector in the house. leaving the element on Hi really isn't a time saving tactic.  Once enough pillow waving and fans on released our ear drums from the scream of a false alarm I finished super. And the kids ate...and I oh crap got distracted and started blogging.

So yes, I am going to go eat now.

Kids Christmas Lists...

On Thursday I was busy taking pictures of a whole bunch of kids with the man of the season - Santa.  Pop on over to my Twisted Lily blog to get the low down on the event.
Anyway I have to say that most of the evening I had a permanent smile etched on my face and it wasn't JUST because the kids were too cute for words.

It was the words that were coming out of their mouths in response to one question in particular, "What do you want for Christmas?"

Here are a couple of my favourite responses:

"I want kung foo lessons and a ticket to china" - oh and I asked his mother and YES he watched karate kid.

Little brother - " I want this truck with doors that open".....2 min later after describing every little detail it was Big Brothers turn - " umm I think I just want a fire extinguisher and maybe a couple of fire hoses"
Dad must be a firefighter!!

Eliana gets hung up on musical instruments at christmas time....last year she asked for a drum and this year so far it has been a piano and a flute....can you see me rolling my eyes!!!
I just got rid of the drum from last christmas and the recorder that Ed got me for mothers day (yup sometimes I think he is trying to drive me off the deep end)
I think Santa will be fresh out of flutes this year.....and pianos will be in miniature plastic form...lol

I heart Faces - Silhouettes

So all week long I was waiting for the sun....rise or set I wasn't picky I wanted to get that beautiful colourful shot and practice my silhouettes!  Needless to say the sun didn't come out which inspired this silhouette that is directly inspired from Cat in the Hat...

"The sun did not shine 

It was too wet to play

So we stayed in the house

All that cold, cold wet day."

My Days....

These days just don't seem long enough!  I have found myself delightfully busy with photography work and the daily rig-a-ma-roll of being a parent.
I wish for more time to sort things out in my head and to organize it all but I think that is a matter of me cracking down on my random nature and learning some better time management skills.


I don't know if I say this enough but my kids are awesome. My husband is awesome.  My family is such a blessing in my life. 


I am loving my work...I love that it is always something new...I love that I get to learn a new trick or angle or whatever pretty much every time I pick up my camera.  There is something so wonderfully satisfying about capturing beautiful people and beautiful places.


I will be hopefully posting a lot on my Twisted Lily Photography site this week...there is a lot in the works and to share so be sure to check in!


Speaking of sharing these are a couple of the little guys that I took pictures of last week at their Jui Jitsu club.  To check out a few more of these cute pics click here

 

Sitting At The Dinner Table....

So sitting at my parents dinner table the other night Eliana was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up
" I want to be a mommy" was her matter of fact reply.
My sister then asked her, "what do mommys do?" (May I interject here....what sort of question is that!!!??)
And Elianas response was once again strait to the point "they cut"
?????
We were confused as to what she meant but after some more questioning it became clear that she was talking about making supper....ie 'cutting up food'
Then my smarty pants of a sister once again probed eliana, "what do daddy's do then eliana?"

I love my daughter and her response reminded of me of one of the reasons why....

When she said "daddys watch."