iPhone photography

I've been really busy lately with my photography side business.  I'm madly trying to save for a new camera body.  But, at the same time I'm realizing that gear doesn't really matter.  Photography catches a quick glimpse of something and can tell a story, so what if that story is a bit imperfect.

Most of the pictures I have of my son have been taken on my iphone.  I don't always have time to run back to the computer room, grab my camera, switch out my lenses and attempt to capture something I want to remember.  I might be lying in bed watching Wall-E with him and have my phone on the nightstand and I want to capture something.  Or, eating dinner he is making a crazy face.  So, yeah, the pictures might be grainy and imperfect, but I am still happy to have them.

I'm going to be looking into good apps and exploring more on iphone photography and sharing it here over the next few weeks.  

But here are two imperfect pictures I took using an iphone that I am nonetheless glad I have.  They have been edited, but only on free iphone software, nothing else.

And, since it's my own child, these images are still beautiful to me.  I'm excited to explore some more iphoneography soon!

-Meghan

Hhappy Hhalloween Hhenry!

Here is the simple project I talked about last week. Ok, ok I know that it is not quite Halloween themed, but it is a little bit related. A while back Meghan mentioned that Henry sometimes refused to wear his underwear (he is potty training). She suggested that maybe she should make him some h underwear because he always wants to wear his h shirt. So I beat her to it.



The project was easy. I bought a package of boys underwear from target. I was amazed how hard it was to find little kids underwear that do not already have designs or cartoon characters on them.



Next, I printed out some large h's from my computer. I pinned them to an old t-shirt and cut them out. Then I pinned them to the back of the underwear and sewed them on using a zigzag stitch.



My personal favorite are the black skull pair with the orange letters. Very halloweeney.





You could do this with pretty much any letter, although some would be a little bit tougher to sew on than others.





-Laura

More iheartfaces

I am getting really addicted to iheartfaces.com

This week is "Pink Week" for breast cancer month.

I hate the stupid memes on facebook about cryptic things that sound sexual but are for "awareness."  Seriously?  That is ridiculous.

But, photos of cute kids in pink?  I'm all about it!

Here's my entry this week!

Relatedly, did I mention that the Down Syndrome network is awesome?  I did?  I'm going to do it again!  I have another photo shoot with a family who has twins where one has Ds in a few weeks.  Totally fun.

-Meghan

Colors of Autumn

So, I decided to go outside and capture three shots:

One looking up (couldn't help but want to do a long exposure and spin around with this one!):

One looking down:

And one looking out:

I think I got a lot of colors of the season.  Another fun thing to share later this week is that our playhouse is getting close to being done for the season and H loves it.  Totally adores it.  He plays in it all the time and really likes the old school plastic kitchen I picked up at Goodwill.

-Meghan

Halloween Costumes-Ghost!

Henry wants to be a "Ghote" for Halloween.  Not the kind that says "maaaa" but the kind that says "OOOoooOOOoooooo."

He is super excited about Halloween and understands the concept.  Maybe too well.  I am working on his costume and he wouldn't try it on.  I asked when he would wear it and he told me "to get a trick or treat."

So, I had to bribe him with M&Ms to get him to put the body of the ghost costume on.

Here are some pictures of him trying it on.  It's not done yet, hopefully the voile headpiece that he loves will be pretty easy to assemble.  Right now it consists of running around with transparent fabric over his head.

Halloween Costume

This week we are featuring some Halloween related projects. This is Mary's Halloween costume in progress.

My sister and I planned to work together to make this costume for my niece. However, when she came over to work on it I did not end up doing much except supplying some materials and chatting her ear off. So I cannot take much credit for this one.

When my sister was about two my mom made her a red crayon costume. We thought that it would be cute (and easy) to make Mary a crayon costume this year. We chose Orange because I had a bunch of felt left over from the felt house. You can see the picture of my sister in the early 80's in her costume in the corner of the picture above.

- Laura

Happy birthday to me!

I am very excited because I have been dropping hints to my husband for months now that I wanted an iPad for my birthday. After giving me a decoy gift a few days ago, which had me thoroughly disappointed that he did not get the hint, he surprised me with an iPad last night! I am super excited about how much more convenient it is going to be to write blog posts compared to my really old and really slow computer.

I also got a free cookie today at lunch because one of my coworkers mentioned at a restaurant that today was my birthday. So all in all it has been a pretty good day!

I have a simple and fun project coming up later this week so check back soon!

I heart faces-Orchard

It's orchard week at i heart faces.

I love going to our local orchard, and to be honest I wish less people went there because it used to be so peaceful and then everyone realized it's so fun!  Which I guess is good, but I like the solitude.  I need to find a time to go when it isn't so crowded so I can get pictures of my own little boy at the orchard.

Here is a photo of one of the little guys I have been able to take photos of through my new photography business!

-meghan

Autumn

Somehow October came up on me really quickly this year!  Weren't we just starting school?

I forget every year what days are the ones when the trees change colors.  Is it October?  November?  Do we snow in November this year?  All of this change is really hard to process sometimes.

But there is so much anticipation with fall.  Waiting to see the leaves turn, choosing a Halloween costume, sewing the costume...

And that leads me to:
My Son Wants to be a Ghost.

How can he be a ghost without looking like a klansman?  Seriously, I think ghost costumes are adorable on little kids, but I also have seen some that forgo the face and put on a white hood.  And that just seems to be a little ambiguious.  Last year his cow costume was mistaken for a rhino, dinosaur, goat, dog (really!? with horns?!).  I want this costume to say "I AM A GHOST!"
I'm thinking a poncho with some gauze?  And maybe a white skullcap?

If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them.

Oh No!! Not the Gutter Garden!

I live in a condo complex that has three buildings, each with 35 units.  Our board recently changed management companies.  I thought that this would be a good thing because our old company was really bad about responding to residents' issues.  

I guess in the long run it is still a good change, but as you can see this company is way more thorough when it comes to enforcing the rules and dealing with residents' issues.  I recently got this letter in the mail: 

I called the company, and we are not allowed to have anything hanging from the balcony railings, or even on the balcony unless it is patio furniture or has been pre-approved by the board.  The balconies  are considered common areas, and residents are not allowed to make any changes or alterations to common areas.  Apparently the complex is more appealing if everything looks uniform.  I guess that I will need to find a different solution for my gardening needs this spring. 

More Whole Wheat

One whole wheat switch that I have been resisting is pasta.  In the past whole wheat pasta has always been too bland and heavy for me.  Just not the right texture.  

Anyway, I had been resisting the change, but I recently bought some organic 100% whole wheat pasta that claimed to be light tasting.  It actually was much better than I remember the whole wheat pastas of the past being!  But just in case I was planning on trying to add flavor to the dish in other ways.  I also like to try to maximize my vegetable intake at most meals.

My husband does not like as many veggies as me, so I cooked the veggies separately and added them to the sauce at the end.  I put browned ground beef and sauteed mushrooms into all of the sauce.  Then I also added sauteed yellow squash, onion, and red pepper to my sauce.  I topped it off with some Parmesan cheese and some fresh organic basil from my herb garden, and it turned out to be a delicious dinner!

- Laura