My New Camera Toy

Since I can't afford an external flash, I went online and found something that was cheap and worked great. For the life of me, I can't remember what the attachment is called, but I love it. It was about $30. Just look at these before and afters.

This new toy, takes the usual harsh light that is usually known with the on camera flash and bounces it on a ceiling or wall, illuminating a whole room instead of just the subject in front of it.

with my plain camera flash

with my new camera toy

with normal camera flash

with my new camera toy

normal camera flash

camera toy, bouncing the light off my white dishwasher

again, with my new toy

My Girls

 Jalee and Kenna spend the night for a photoshoot and I took pictures of Addison and Charlene of course. They are, in fact, adorable. Addison wanted to do everything that her aunts did, copying everything from their poses to the faces they made. I admit I loved that.

loves these chunky legs and cheeks!

trying on Jalee's glasses

Charlene - Four and a Half Months

does her hair look red to you too?! i love it.

kyle helped me with charlene's blessing outfit pictures. the naughty charly wasn't really in the mood and cried or looked away most of the time, but i managed to get some great ones that i love. she sure is cute!love that her dark brown hair has a beautiful tint of red. i would love to have a dark red-head.not always happy, like i said, but she sure is cute.

Easter 2011

both sides of our family got together for easter. unfortunately, i only got pics of the brown/ stradling dinner. we met at clint and debbie's around three pm with our food. we were missing quite a bit of the married grandchildren, but we all had a great time.

isn't this just the sweetest?

addison stopping for a second to smile for me. she had a blast, running around and playing with the other kids, most of whom she didn't know.all the stradling/brown aunts and uncles talking and having fun.

addison playing with her second cousin sophie. love those cute curls!the older cousins played flag football with carson and todd as referees. the game got quite intense when brian and allison trotter's little zeke - 15 months- took off with the football to the playground. it was so funny. watching the game and talking:

earlier i took some easter pics of the girls. it didn't go as well as i had hoped. charlene cried much of the time, addison picked up and dropped my camera, it was nap time, and it was hot. plus i did this shoot without kyle to suprise him. i did get some cute shots of addison, but she wasn't really in a listening mood. next time: cooler weather, napped kids, kyle, and bribes - lots of them.the sun was a bit bright for my pics, but these are sure cute huh?i couldn't get a shot of charlene looking at me, she was too interested in her bright dress.had this pose worked like i'd had it in my mind, it would've been beautiful. charlene cried the whole time and addison just wanted to throw her down. all well.i love addy's adorable smile in this one. she's such a good sister.

A Little Bit Of Sass

she is changing so much lately. maybe it's part of being two? she puts more words together and talks about new things that kyle and i haven't taught her. she's constantly making us laugh and we both find ourselves running through the house to find the other and share whatever the newest addyism is. we enjoy her so much. kyle and addison have a special bond. kyle acts like more of a friend to her sometimes, asking me if she can come out of bed because she's not tired yet, or can she please be done with dinner - she's just so full and wants a cookie, or how asks me how i can ever say no to that face. he makes me feel like a meanie sometimes. some days i give in.

she is still so skinny and has to hold up her pants when she runs so they don't end up around her ankles. she's so skinny, in fact, that she still wears her 12 months jeans and they are finally getting tight. i'll be glad to retire those pants that looked more like bermuda shorts on her.

love her huge mouth!

we have a hard time when we are away from this squirt and find ourselves passing the time by acting like her or quoting her. then we bust out laughing. try it. it's so much fun.

we gave addy the green light to act crazy and run around for these pictures, so it was hard to reign her in for a few with me, as you can tell. her faces just make me laugh. what is she doing?

her 18 month shorts just slide right off her bum. we'll have to wait a while longer before they really fit her well. otherwise i do love "unerwear" on a cute pair of squishy buns. sometimes she'll come up to kyle and i and let us know we can pinch her buns. so of course we take the opportunity and pinch away, and we are always sure to thank her later for letting us. she is just so nice to share!

she totally needs to be a model. i would just tell her where to stand and she would do her own thing for me as i walked around getting different angles. give it to me baby!

she's so happy!

it's so hard to contain all that cuteness when you're newly two and totally awesome! thanks addy, i'll be sure to book you again.