Day #365- WAHOO and THANK YOU :)

A little year in review....one photo from each month :)
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THANK YOU to all my fellow bloggers/photographers for joining me in this journey- it's been a great project- lots of fun, and best of all....I captured some momenets I normally would have missed! And to my other non-photographer blog stalkers :) I thank you too! Part of what made me keep at it was knowing people were looking! :)

This project for me was mostly just a way to try new things, capture moments I might not normally, but also to hone my skills even further just by pure practice. It has definately been a great thing for me both professionally, as well as personally.

A few people have asked if I'll be doing the 365 Project again next year.... and no I will not. BUT I will keep posting- my personal goal is 2x week. Anyone up for a project 100? :) I hope that keeps me capturing snapshots of our lives, without it seeming too much.....or forcing myself to take photos just for the sake of getting something to blog (i.e. flowers, plants, ornaments...lol)

Some others have asked what I intend to do with all of this...and I have to say that thanks to a very cool service that will turn your blog into a book for you (Blurb books) I'll be creating one (or possible might need to do Vol 1 + 2 just because of size) purely to keep as a keepsake of the project.

Anyhoo- Happy New Year!

Amy

Day #364- Shred some snow :)

Can I just tell you how much I love this photo?! :)

And......ONLY ONE MORE DAY and I've finished Project 365! :D

Day #363- Boardin' Girl

The kids finally got to break in their snowboards today- SO much fun! All their skateboarding skills really helped- they were zooming down in no time :)

Day #362- Sledding with The Cousins

This afternoon we had a sledding date w/ the kids 3 girl cousins. Who as you can see are much more photogenic than my own kids :) They are 8.5, 6 and 5. We all had a blast....although I think it'll take a week for my tailbone to recover- that hill was fast and bumpy! I feel old.... :) The boys had SO much fun- Boy #1 crashed wickedly about 4 times (once into a tree!) but recovered quickly...Boy #2 was like the Energizer bunny...zooming down the hill only to run back up and do it again. He was amazing! The Girl went a few times but preferred to just sit at the top and eat the snow because "it's too fast and bumpy and hurts my head and my butt" :)
Cousin #2 (in green) felt the same as The Girl- so they held down the fort. The hubster and my BIL were making me laugh with their "ooo my back" comments after some rough runs down the hill :) The 3 of us definately did not feel like spring chickens when we left there- but it sure was fun!

Day #361- Snowballs

Day #360- Sledding

Day #359- Christmas Day

Day #358- How We Spent Xmas Eve...

When we decided to buy these for the boys for Xmas- we knew it would either be a fun idea- or a really bad idea.... so far- they've been having a blast with them.

Day #357- Christmas Dishes

I ****LOVE**** my Christmas dishes. Every piece has a different scene on them....I just love them!

Day #356- Ornaments

Every year I let the kids pick a new ornament for our tree.....these are their choices this year :D

Day #355- Sweet Baby Boy

I could not have ASKED for a better newborn!!! What an angel he was- totally tolerant of my endless prodding and repositioning :) Of course it could also be that he just loved being naked, or that he knew Auntie Amy wouldn't leave untill he cooperated :)

Day #354- SANTA!

Today we finally made our visit to the mall Santa! I *think* it's the same man as last year- but I'll need to look at photos to be sure....he's very lovely. I love our local mall because even though they have the whole photo set-up, you are under no obligation to buy them, or have them take your kids pictures, and can take your own (just a few but still how nice is that!) And the Santa is just as nice to you if you buy photos or not! The staff are obviously NOT commission based :) lol

Day #353- Our Holiday Card

Since 99% of them have been mailed and received- I figure I can share it now! :)
This year I did, and mailed, two versions of our holiday card- this one, and a tri-fold card. I won't share the tri-fold here because of certain info on them- so you all get to see the smaller version :) I'm only explaining so my friends/family don't ask "Why is that different than the one we got?" I wasn't sure if I'd like the tri-folds, so I did 1/2 our order regular folded. I did end up LOVING the tri-fold- so now I know! :)
So the first photo is the cover, and the other is the inside spread :)

My loyal blog stalkers will recognize most of the photos :)


And as for the front photo- it's a miracle photo....as I had the kids out there for a group photo, and Foster ON HIS OWN, walked up, sat in front of them and looked right at me. I seriously couldn't have TRIED to get him to do that. He apparantly decided he wanted in on the photo.....or was jonesing for a scooby-snack :) REgardless- I was soooooo stinking excited!!

Happy Holidays! :)

Day #352- Speedlite Fun!

Now that it's winter and we're stuck inside w/shorter daylight hours- it's time to break out the speedlte! :)
Today I played with the idea of being able to freeze action using the flash- it's really interesting (to me) Basically you can use a really slow shutterspeed- because the flash freezes the motion- so you don't get blur. Like these for example were shot at 1/15 of a SS- which is insanely slow and normally would NEVER be clear. I bounced the light up and behind me (basically off the TV) and it worked really slick!

Day #351- Clifford & Lenny / The Girl's Dance Recital

The Girl with her two favorite stuffed animals...the boys have the flu today, so they're home from school. The Girl is enjoying being the only one with energy to play. We've had tea parties, made cookies, watched movies...fun fun! She had the flu on Friday and because of it missed going to see the Nutcracker ballet....it crushed her- and broke my heart too- she was so excited :(
Thankfully she's a kid that gets over things pretty quickly and just decided she'd have to try to see it next year!
So- I added some pics from her recital last Tues- she makes me laugh- she LOVES dance class (it's ballet and tap)
The last photo makes me laugh because of our friends A&J in the background :D

Day #350- Return of the Spaceship Light

The boys lost the privilege of their spaceship light because they keep screwing around at bedtime...but it's now been returned because they SWEAR they won't screw around anymore at bedtime. :) So we'll see how they do! :D

Day #349- I was wrong...

Remember how I said I was done w/holiday photoshoots? I was wrong! One more snuck in this morning- thankfully for a last minute shoot it was easy-peasy as the kids are so adorable and also photogenic! :) Here's one of the 4 kiddies :)

Day #348- Wreath

Day #347- Nativity

Hubby use to have a nice Nativity scene- but the kids liked to play with it and one by one shattered most of the pieces. SO last year we decided to get one they could play with. Thank you Playmobil! I love it- and the kids love to re-enact the story :)

Day #346- Hubby's Favorite Ornament

My mom gave it to use shortly after we were married- it makes him laugh.

Day #345- Singing Snowpeople

The Girl is obsessed with this....it sings "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and they dance.
Every time she walks by it she makes it sing.
Which is a lot.

:)