yes we can

i wanted to share this slideshow i created for my dad in honor of his 60th birthday!

potd 365

its a little late, but i've decided to take on this 365/photo a day challenge thing. get me in to taking more pics of all the little things that make up our everyday lives! i'm on the look now for a good album to put the pics in. me and a few friends have also set up a blog to post our pics on (hopefully daily).

http://lovelife365.blogspot.com/

all pics in this post edited in light room with presets from pink ink studios (www.pinkinkstudios.com) LOVE LOVE LOVE them

strike a pose

my child is silly.

(all credits to come)

a few recent of my kya

journal entry

this in an entry in my quote unquote journal (thought i was all
talk about doing that , huh). journaling says:

i know, now. man, sometimes life is just hard.
i mean, no one ever told me that it was going
to be easy. and, its true, when it rains - it really
does pour! it can get almost impossible to see
past the present and in to the possibilities of
the future. life has a way of throwing things
at you - again and again and again. its a
fight to keep your faith under the weight
of it all. its so easy to get sidetracked. it
can be hard to keep the course. dang, it
can be hard to just see the course half the
time. the pull to just give in or give up
often times is so much stronger than
your will to keep fighting. it gets tough.
it really does.
its so reassuring to know that
God’s word says that “weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”. the battle
is more bearable knowing that there will be a light at the end. we have
got to hold on to God’s promises
and assurances and rest in the fact that He knows much more than us. His thoughts are not our thoughts
and sometimes His plans are not what we have planned. He promises not to give us more than we can bear and I trust that if He brings me to it then He’ll also find a way to bring me through it.

a recent maternity

miss brianna

baby jason

just one to share for now!!

baby caden

FEELING GOOD ABOUT THE SKIN I'M IN

i had a really fantastic principal in highschool.
very enthusiastic and encouraging - genuinely
concerned about her students. before every
assembly she would say this chant (and we would
repeat back). while looking through some old
stuff the other day i ran across this.

FEELING GOOD ABOUT THE SKIN I'M IN...

Vanilla, Chocolate, or Peachy blend...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Short ones, Tall ones, Fat ones or Thin...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Knot knee, Slew foot, Pigeon - toed in...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Brown eyes, blue eyes, gray eye hens...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Round face, Square face, Long pointed chin...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Smooth skin , Bumpy skin, Skin on mend...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Little feet , Big feet, Long enough to lend...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Inner sigh, Kinda shy, Smile that wins...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

I love me and that's no sin...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Now hug yourself and tell your friend...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Say it softly again and again...
Feeling good about the skin I'm in;

Say it once more and that's the end!
Feeling good about the skin I'm in.


by Dr. Jean Nichols

my girl

another aam page

i got a story to tell

i got a story to tell. its my story. its all about me!
so me and denys ( http://altagracia05.blogspot.com/)
are doing an all about me album. i've been wanting to do one for a few years now,
cause, hey, i do have a story to tell. a story that i want my kids and grandkids
to be able to look back on. the story of my life. the story of me. so, we got this
thing kicked off, trying to pace ourselves. we are doing a page a week. this is week four.
and i'm just a few pages behind, lol. i know, already! but this is my week to get
caught up. poor denys, i was all on her case for not scrapping and now here she is
wating for me to get done. lol. i cant believe i'm putting up pictures of me.
i like being behind the camera not in front. but , i had to give myself a little reality check -
if its gonna be a book about me , it needs to have at least on pic of me in it. i doubt there weill be
very many pics of me throughout it.

organization and time management

with the addition of a fourth child, man, this time management thing is more important than ever. it seems like i'm just grabbing time here and there whenever its available to try to get work done. many times i feel like i'm spinning my wheels and not being productive at all! i need to make out a schedule for myself and the kids, they say kids like schedules, right? i need to learn to type on handed too - cause i have to do it at least a few times a day. anyone have any tips??

journaling

i've decided to start a journal for myself. realease a little creativity and promote a little therapy. i've always been stuck on words and i dont know where my life would be without photos. this will be a combination of both. it'll be called "quote unquote" - life - in and out of quotes, a photo journal inspired by quotes, scriptures, poetry, lyrics and all things words. i have no clue what will become of this project and i my only plan for it is to me to put my heart in to it. it may be all digital , it may be hybrid, it may be all pics , it may be one word or hundreds . whatever. it will be me. i will do me. i am really needing some sort of outlet for me. my first entry will be "i'm so glad trouble dont last always". i'll keep you posted.

its hot ya'll

a couple of days ago i was talking about holly's stuff she has avaible at her new photgraphers boutique.
you can check it out at www.hollymccaigdesigns.com/boutique
i remember holly from way back when her designs were one of the featured procducts
when i was on the sbb design team. i really like her actions and storyboard (and did you see the cards
she had at christmas time??). well, a few weeks ago, while lurking at her blog i see that not only is she opening a
photographers boutique (basically a store all kinds of "commercial ok" stuff for photographers) but she also
puts a call out for a few "boutique gals" to play with her things. long story short, i didnt have to read that twice!!
lol!! ok, but aside from the fact that i'm now a "boutique gal" , i just tried out this action last week.
its holly's workflow action. and, i think i may be in love (is it ok to be in love over and over and over and over again, cause i just
had these cinnamon raison bagels the other day that i think i'm in love w/ too. ) this action takes you from start to finish w/ your photo.
from adjusting levels, saturation, sharpening - all of it. i'm posting a few examples to give you a little idea. keep in mind these
pics were shot in raw (plus jpeg) so these are the little jpeg that the camera shot. they are a little underexposed which i seem to do.
i opened in ps and used the raw converter/adjuster thingy. i ajusted the wb a bit (a little warm) and lightened just a tad, then brought it in ps and ran holly's action- and this is what you have. the only thing i added (not shown in the pic) before i did a final save was to burn around the edges of the pic a bit.
try it out ya'll!
oh! man, dont you LOVE LOVE LOOVVVEEE those cheeks?? love them! and those eyes! and how her lips poke out! and how serious she looks for six months! and that drool, yes, another thing i'm in love with!!

thats my girl!
pink paper by kim christenson, all other papers by shabby princess
alpha stamp by michelle coleman

a recent layout of my kya. this is a scraplift of lisa's (momy4him) shadow layout, love that! will have to come back and link to it later.
glitter letters by kim hill, alpha beads by ronna penner. red paper by kim christensen and word paper by jen wilson.
gotta share some recent pics of the babies too! i took these for ziven for valentines day. for some reason the color is a bit
washed in the first post of them - and check out that cool frame on the pic of kya w/ her hood up (thats from holly mccaig at her
new photographers boutique - www.hollymcccaigdesigns.com/boutique i'll have a whole other post about about that later! lol
all i can say is , if you havent tried the workflow action - CHECK IT OUT, really!)

mr. aiden

okay i know it is waaaay past christmas, lol. but i couldnt help but post these pics of my nephew aidan. i'm already so behind on posting pics as it is. i really need to get caught up!

when things are fast they are really fast and when they are slow they are really slow!
the holidays were CRAZY. sooooooooo busy! and now that that has come and gone...it is really slow!
we have had a lot of snow and ice here and the kids have been out of school for a week because of it! this has
given me some time to do a little scrapping - and other things to that i like to do, lol. oh, and over the holidays, takia lost not only one tooth but two! she wouldnt let me even touch her to try to pull the first one, but instead let her 11 year old cousin and 10 year old sister hold her down and yank it out! it really was only hanging by a thread and i was worried she would swallow it, otherwise i wouldnt have even worried about it! the second one, she pulled all by herself!! i love when they get to that stage cause i do not like pulling teeth! i can barely remember to "remind" the tooth fairy to stop by! it was so funny, after a few nights of the tooth fairy being too busy , picking up other teeth, to stop by, she ended up stopping by twice in one day. apparently she has fairy workers and they dont communicate with one another very well!!!

this is a little minibook i created for miss ja'kya. i have to say that i am very happy with how it turned out. the photographer in me loves to take pics of my kids but then i'm faced with what to do with all these stinkin pics. if you know me, then you know that i (typically) scrap at a snails pace. these are from my very first shoot of kya when she was only 8 days old. i really liked the pics but had only used a couple of them so far for the birth announcment and thank you cards. i really wanted to find something to do with the rest of them. one night while talking to dawn (miss hunibuni) she showed me t his minibook templates (available at sbb) she was working on. nice . clean. simple. right up my alley and PERFECT for this little project of mine add in these song lyrics and its a done deal. now when i hear this song i always hear lauryn hill singing it but i'm told theres another version sung by a man, i will have to check that out!

who doesnt remember this?? miss mary mack mack mack all dressed in black black black with silver button buttons buttons......those seriously were the days!!

i really am trying to keep somewhat caught up on scrapping ms kya or at least of taking pics of her.
credits: everything by dawn/miss hunibuni @sbb w/ the exception of the stamp which is by katie pertiet @dd

these are from takias (halloween) birthday party. thinking of doing a minbook with these pics as there are SO MANY of them!
template is from dawn's (miss hunibuni) scrap me baby templates.

miss takia being the little diva she is! lol.
glitter word and flower from dawn (miss hunibuni @sbb)

The Ramadan Family

I really just cant say enough about this family! The really are the best! Its a long story that I will tell another day. But, to put it in a nutshell, lets just say. Long shoot, fussy toddler, out of town grandparents and corrupted memory card - lost all the pics from from the first shoot. These are from take two - and really, i could shoot little maysa all day long!

The Ramadan Family

Mikayla

Did you know that I actually have four daughters? and not just the two babies? lol. yes, every now and then i take pics of them too. this is my oldest, mikayla - 10.

The Bryan Family

These guys were WAY too much fun to work with!!

baby aidan

just one pic from a christmas shoot with my nephew. i know. i've been a bad blogger!

a few more from the other night

 

 

 

 

I am just loving this pic! Its from a quick session this evening! I'm lovin the light too,
wont tell you what i used, might get shot! lol! so, i've decided to jump on the bandwagon and
get a blog for my photography business. there will def. be some cross posting but the other blog
will be pretty much just client pics as well as news and info, etc. i still have a lot of customizing to do, but
check me out : www.withunmindphotography.blogspot.com

 

 

two pics of ziven in one day?? i must be on a roll. there wont be anymore of him for at least a year, lol.

 

a quick snap of ziven (my husband for those that dont know, lol). when i showed him this pic he said he didnt even know that i had snapped it, lol. 

i do so little scrapping that i did a page and actually forgot to post it, lol! a little different style for me. still clean and simple ...so here you go! oh and the next page posted will be of a different kid, i do have 3 others , you know! 

 

for all those who are serving...and for all that have served...THANK YOU! 

 

A FEW MORE FROM TAKIA'S BDAY PARTY

 

 

 

 

 

doing the robot. ya'll remember! 

my neice brianna. i hear she was a princess for halloween, but didnt wear her costume to the party. we can call her the "nutty professor" here! 

 

 

the cake! when takia saw it she said "mama that is soooo gross, its perfect!!!" 

 

 

my nephew Jaidyn, notice that big kiss on his cheek. i guess he came to the party dressed as "lover boy"!

 

"pass the pumpkin", played like "hot potato". who ever has the pumpkin when the music stops is out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HALLOWEEN

mikayla as MADEA! thats right people, MADEA!! and it was HILARIOUS! HIL AR I OUS!! she had the attitude and everything (even a little play gun). the kids for the most part picked their own costumes (except for kenzie that is). takia changed her mind at the last minute. whe had talked for MONTHS about wanting to be a 'mama' for halloween, then when her halloween bday party was approaching, she changed her mind and wanted to be a witch. then at her party she recieved a unicorn costume and that was the last we heard of the witch! 

 

takia the unicorn 

 

trick or treating is a lot of work! 

kenzie the little lady bug 

jaidyn (aka jaidy boo) as blues clues

 

 

my baby is SIX!!! we are still recovering from her party this past saturday! it has been talked about for MONTHS in our house! takia had been wanting a halloween bday themed party and a halloween party she got!!! it went over well and she had a great time!!! i will have to post a few more pics in another post.... 

does this even need a description??? lol! lol! 

this is a favorite from a recent shoot i did a few weeks ago. mom and daughter! 

baby ja'kya

i thought that i would post a few recent pics of ms kya. i didnt want some people to think that i really didnt have a baby, lol, because there are rarely any pics of her! she just turned three months and up till now she hasnt done much but sleep and, well, after the first 200 or 300 pics of that there just wasnt much to take pics of! so now she's awake a little more and interested so.... here's a few of miss kya with her fabulous chunky cheeks and all!!

daddy and ms kya

SAY WHAT??

 

blogger beta

has anyone made the switch over to the blogger beta? i did that about a week ago and since then i havent been able to post to my blog! finally found my way back over here but it wont let me post through hello only through the dashboard. i guess i'll take what i can get! for now just a quick post...a new favorite of mine of kids that dont belong to me, lol...hope all is well with everyone!