Bad Bad Blogger me!! Life just got busy and well what do you expect when you got 4 kids and 2 dogs and a husband, lol.

Well, I survived my first official shoot. It was taking portraits of the Camp Johnson Marines. I got some curve balls thrown at me but I think I still manage ok. Here is the group picture of all the new Official Young Marines. Yes, I see it. I didnt notice it till i was editing, top row I have from tallest to shortest. And on the second I have the tallest in the middle, MAJOR Rookie mistake. But I will definitly never look at a group picture the same again, lol.

Lets see, ah yes, I have also starting to make a blanket. I bought these cool things called Knifty Knitters and it was soooo easy. I got this one, its a specialty one they call the rectangle purple long loom, it suppose to be used for scarfs of different widths. I am making a small baby blanket to use with my newborn babies on photoshoots. I bought this cute basket a while back and I have been searching for cool texture blankets to put it and then finally I saw the Knifty Knitter and decided to give it a show. This is what I have done so far.......

I have a little more then this done now but I was too lazy to take a new picture, lol.
Also, today Cameron went to a local Craft and Car show to volunteer, he has to work so many community service hours to be able to eventually gain rank, along with other requirements. We all went and had a great time. But the best part was we were all caught in the rain and we all GOT SOAKED, lol. But I will tell you more about that tomorrow. For now....Goodnight.

My new UGLY chair!!!

Isn't she a beauty. I love love my Ugly chair, lol. I got it for 15 dollars and she is going to get a total make over very soon. Just havent found the perfect fabric yet. Something bold and bring, or bold and sophisticated. It will all depend what strikes my fance, he he!!
I am so tired, I will share more tomorrow. Just wanted to share real quick since I was so shocked to get one and at such a good price.

Hoppity Easter

Today officially starts Spring Break and my children are already driving me nuts, LOL. Lovely. I have a feeling its going to be a loong week, lets hope for some sun so we can go to the park.

Easter was a nice, low stress event here. (As low stress as possible with 4 kids, candy and 2 dogs, LOL) They looked for eggs and their baskets before we could even get up, so unfortunely I got no pictures of it. They got dressed and ran around till they were driving Dad crazy. So, I printed out some Easter activity sheets and coloring pages and that kept them happy for close to hours. I was SHOCKED and very happy.

My lovely husband decided to run Easter this year. He did the baskets and planned the Menu. We had Lasagna, salad and some awesome French Bread. His lasagna turned out SOOOO good, I was impressed. Then later we had strawberry shortcake for dessert, his specialty.

Then they went outside to play till it got dark. While they did this, I got a picture of each one. That is as good as it got, they had no interest in cooperating for anything else including a group picture. But we were just happy Dad was home for this easter. We do miss gettin together with our friends the Prejeans, it was some what wierd to just be us. We miss you guys.

I will try to post pictures of the props I got a few weeks ago within the next couple of days.

Happy Monday....well atleast it was good!!

Happy Monday Everyone!!

Well, today went pretty good. Though poor Nick didnt get home till 6am. He was nice though to stay up and help get the kids up and ready. I sent him to bed when the kids were eating, cause it was easy from there.

I ran a couple of errands and one of them was to Ross and I found this wooden box, that looks like a suitcase of sorts. I was SOOOO excited. I think Nick thinks I am completely nuts sometimes, lol. I promise I will share tomorrow.

Then came home and the girls came home. Nick went off to work and the girls asked to see baby books. So, I got their started scrapbooks out and they loved looking at the pictures. They compared and laughed and kept going, "Look, I was sooo cute!" LOL.
I thought it would make for some good pictures and scrapbook pages, lol.


They aren't the best pictures. I was trying to get them before they lost interest. But they turned out better then I thought.

The one on the left is Natalie and Sydney pointing to a picture of Syd having a her first bath. They were trying to guess who it was. Even though it was in Sydney's book.

They would just keep going from one book to the other. Asking questions and looking at the pictures.





This one is Sydney still looking at all the pictures and pages, long after Natalie was over the novelty.

And as you can see, her froggy is never far from her side. she got this one for Christmas from my sister. Its one of those webkins. They arent overly big about the computer side of it, but they are very attached to them. Sydney's love for frogs started when Nick got her one right before he deployed for a year. She loved that thing and never let it out of her sight. At one time, we lost it and I had to go buy another one. But she kept saying it wasn't the same. But we got the original one back. You can sometimes find Be with the Back-up froggy. Natalie has a black kitty she loves that my sister also got her. Nick got her a Marine Bear from the exchange. She played with it, but never totally attached herself to it, but this cat is always where she is too.

Oh, before I go, I mentioned about news in the photography world! My husband got me the gig of taking the Young Marine Graduates (from boot camp) including Cameron of course. That also includes a group shot of the whole class. I am excited and nervous, cause I dont have any lights and I am suppose to take the pictures around 6pm. Also, the building doesnt have much light, much less good light. So, I am going to get a reflector. On Wed. I am going to check it out more closely when I drop off Cameron and maybe there is a little corner with Fabulous light. So, say a little prayer for me or cross your fingers. Oh this will be in a couple of weeks.

Well that is about it. And Oatmeal just got spilled on the carpet, so its time for me to go see the damage.

Hasta Manana!!

Kids doing Chores...could it really be?

Hello Everyone!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was a bit slow and boring but by the end it ended on a good note..(even though my kids were almost an hour late to bed!!)

The weather was nice this weekend and the kids did alot of playing outside. I also made my 2 week menu for the next two weeks. I am hoping that helps me to cook more regularly. I dont mind cooking per say, I hate the what am I going to make TODAY, that drives me crazy. Nick being on nights doesnt help much either.

So, this last week I gave the kids chores they are responsible for. Its been an intersting week, but for the most part they are doing well. I did learn that money doesn't motivate my kids much. I think food or priviledges may work better, haven't decided on that yet, lol. So, I thought it would be a good idea to DOCUMENT my kids doing their chores. You never know when you might need that kind of thing for evidence, LOL.



As you can see on the left, Cameron has vacuming and he practically BEGGED for this chore. Which is fine with me, cause this house needs to be vacumed ATLEAST once a day. He loves it and asks 500 times when can he vacume. Not sure what Sydney is so puzzled about, lol.


Cameron is also in charge of trash, dishes and the every popular job, dog poop (once a week). (Its ok I had that job when I was his age and I turn out, well close to normal, lol)


Sydney has dusting as one of her chores and she has also been looking forward to it. I forgot to get the little dusters that go on the sticks but she was content with a swifter sheet, for now. She was a bit upset that she couldn't reach the TV. But she found plenty other things to dust.

She also has making sure the dogs have water, and helping Ben collect dirty clothes and shares the duty of Bathroom Detail (just making sure its picked up) with Natalie.


Natalie is the table cleaner. She is quite good at it but she likes to over do it with the spray, lol. So, she gets to use the cleaning wipes or mom sprays the table and she wipes it down.


Mind you this is the child that REFUSES to clean up toys or her room. She hides or all of a sudden falls ill with a belly ache or other ailment of the like. I am loving the hand holding her hair off her face while wiping with the other. I mean, I would be happy to put her hair up and off her face but that is something else she refuses to let me do unless its school cause she knows there is no way out of that. She also is responsible for making sure the dogs of food. Also as i mention before she has bathroom detail. She has one less since Sydney's dusting is not an everyday thing but the table and dog food is.

And you may ask where is Ben when all this cleaning is going on. Well he is assigned one chore, he has to make sure all dirty clothes are in the laundry room. Though everyone is suppose to make sure its taken there, there are times of running late or being forgotten that he is suppose to pick up. Sydney is his mentor on this task since he is still young and learning this whole chore thing.

Well, here is .......

Asking for apple sauce, no no, BEGGING for apple sause though he just had a Corn Dog with ketchup. You can see the evidence on his face.

So, yeah, Ben is still work in progress,lol.

I hope everyone has a good start this week. I have a bit of excitings news on the photography front but that will have to wait till tomorrow, I am falling asleep at I type this.

Hasta Manana!

Catching up....seems like I am always doing that

Well, its been a long week. But I didnt forget. I am off my internship this week and my photography class with Karen Russell is OVER. =( Its been weird. I mean I have assignments to catch up, but being off interning and the havoc in my household has motivated me much, lol. But did do 2 loads of laundry and folded 2 that have been staring at me. Plus, I swept and vacume so I feel like I have been somewhat productive.

Now the kids are doing chores and Ben is taking a very needed nap. So, I am taking this time to blog and get people up to date. Let's see, ahhh yes.

News-

Well, Nick has the shingles and is hating it. He is in a lot of pain, and he finally got on something stronger then motrin. He can only take it at night.

Sydney had dance pictures taken,today. And she was nice enough to be my model for some pictures I wanted to take and see if they came out how my friend Allie and I envisioned. They turned out even better, whohoo.

Natalie and I were suppose to go to school together to take pictures of her classmates for a mother's day project. But we had to rescedule for next week cause Nick was needed on days last minute.

Ben is up to the usual, running around the house and eating me out of the house. Though he loves to have pictures taken by me and then he has to see them right away, lol.

Last but not least Cameron is still raising money for the Young Marines and so far he is doing really well. He is excitd to graduate and "become" a Young Marine in the later part of April.

Well, I have children that are fighting over who is done with chores and who isnt. LOL. Those are my kiddos. Hope you enjoy the pictures....And I will post about the cool find I got at Ross a couple of weeks ago.

Have a good Evening....

Morning Colors

Well, yesterday I got to shoot morning colors. And I got some good shots, and I also got an idea on what I need to work on. Its starting to feel like its clicking and I can see the improvement in my photographs.This is one of my favorite shots.

Sorry this is short, but I am very tired and need to get to bed. Hope everyone is having a great week.

The Character Project

I dont remember where I got this link. But I think its so cool. This is what they had on aperture.org

Character Project is an ongoing artistic initiative
committed to celebrating America's characters—the interesting, dazzling, and
distinctive people, from all walks of life, who make this country extraordinary.
Inspired by USA Network's iconic "Characters Welcome" brand, and with the
support of Aperture Foundation, USA assembled a team of eleven world-class
photographers to capture the character of America. Each artist's vision was as
unique as the people and places they photographed. From Alaska to New York, the
subjects they encountered are a stunning example of our country's diversity. The
musicians and mothers, fishermen and farmers, athletes and artists, at home, at
work, and at play, are a true representation of what it means to live in America
today. Reminding us, once again, that we are all characters. And we're all
welcome.

You can find the video clip and more info and the video here.

Young Marine Recruit Cooper

Just thought I would post a picture of Cameron last week in his "Recruit gear". He doesnt get to wear cami's till he graduates in April. But he is well on his way!! I am so proud of him.

Time....what is time...I never have any!!!

I have been a bit of "Crazy Busy", lol. Startin the internship with the Naval Hospital, Bio-Med Dept. has been such an awesome expierience so far. At the same time, it has be busy and I think I am finally adjusting. I have learned so much in just two weeks. I got to shoot my first function it was for some navy guys getting ready to pcs (permenent change of station). It was the first duty station for both. We scoped out places for a group picture and even got pictures of the dogwoods that are in full bloom.

Then Friday, was gorgeous outside. It was partly cloudy but the sky was blue and the clouds look like marshmellow, lol. I got to learn more about adjusting my settings and how to deal with the different places the sun is during the day. The Photographer, walk me thru a retirement, shwing me where everyone stood and the flow of things. Also shared with me where he usually stood and stuff like that. He is so awesome at explaining stuff, but he is deploying and his last day is Friday. Then I have a week off and his counterpart come back from taking a class, I have heard he is a hoot, I feel like I already know him cause I have heard so much about him. I am confident I will learn alot from him too, I have seen some of his photography and its so good.

Anyway, Friday right before we went back in I got some pictures of the flags infront of the hospital. I love how the first one turn out. The angle and perspective was exactly what I was hoping to capture and love that you can see movement in the picture without and bluring. I was pretty proud. Nothing that is award winning, but I feel like I am learning and getting where i want to be a step at a time.

On the family front, Cameron is loving the Yound Marines. This weekend was his first overnight function and he seem to really enjoy it. He is studying his material non-stop, and practicing his drill movements. I Love the pride he feels, and the excitement of it all. He is doing awesome.

The girls had a field trip to the park to fly kites friday but it got reschedule for this friday. Its going to be lots of fun for them.

Ben is just being him. He is enjoying having Dad home during the day and has been a good sport.

Nick is adjusting to Night crew, which is always hard on him but he is being a good sport about it and being very supportive.

I think that about covers it pretty much, I promis to try to update a little more often then every 10 days or something.

Been a bit busy....as always...lol

Well, its been a bit nutty here. I found out about the possibility of an internship, and I work at getting it and making it work for my family. With God's help it happened, I started Monday. Its with the Naval hospital's Bio-Med Photography Dept. I have already learn alot and I can see how much i will be learning in the next few months. I am so excited and thankful.

My husband, knowing how much it meant to me to get hands-on expierience with photography was able to switch to nights, so that he could stay with our youngest and I could do the internship. I ended up not having to go in today, so I told him to go get a well deserve nap, poor guy this adjustment is always hard on him.

I already rotated laundry, folded a load, changed and dressed Ben. I also picked up the form for Ben's to go to Pre-school, and filled it out and started to get all the paperwork done.

Just playing catch up while i have the chance.

On Saturday, I decided to try to shoot in Aperture Mode, so I recruited Sydney and the picture above is what I got. That is SOOC.

Well, that is about it from here for now. I hope to scrap this weekend and get some pics of the scraproom. I think I am finally getting where I want to be. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday .

Melanie

Do you know what 2 things in common this pics have in common?

The show two of my most favorite things. Photography and scrapbooking!!! This was a couple of days ago when I was going with The Big Picture approach. Sorting and putting my pictures into my picture files. I ended up going from the pioneer spiral albums to 2 inch binders with 3-4x6 picture page protectors. That way i have the options of adding more pictures without have to rearrange it all. I had to do that more then once with the on in the picture. NOT FUN!! And in PhotoFreedom, Stacy's main message is that its not suppose be hard, it suppose to be stressfree once you have your system set up. Then you can concentrate to scrapbooking your most favorite and meaningful memories and enjoy the creative process. And once I am at it, let me tell you, LOVE that book. The system makes TOTAL sense to me and its packed with AWESOME Ideas. Its one of those books that keeps inspiring you. lol!! (these statement is made volutarily and free will with no recompensation of any kind. )

Anyway, then there is my 1st passion of photography. I have am taking Karen Russell's The Photographer's Workshop. Not only can this woman and mom of 4 take some awesome, kick butt, fabulous pictures, but she can teach. I have been trying to get the principles of photography for a while. I have read books, taken a class here and there. But this is the first time I got !! Nothing went over my head. She explains things in different ways to make sure you understand the concept. And her voice has a calming effect on me, I have thought about putting it on for my kids and see if it stops them from acting like zoo animals. Or maybe I will just keep it so when the kids are driving me nuts, I dont fall off the deep end, lol. She is positive and ecouraging. I have learned so much, and my class is awesome too, we learn alot from each other. I am a bit behind because my parents came the second week I was in class. But I should be caught up by the end of this weekend, cause that is my first priority. Well, besides the usual, children, husband and all that stuff, lol.

Anyway, back to the pictures. As you see how dark they started they got lighter. I raised my ISO and kept adjusting my aperture. Its far from perfect, but I got the concept and I wasn't shooting in auto either, big deal for me.

Well, this has turn into a novel, I hope everyone has a great weekend. I hope to be blogging with pictures of my scraproom and my scrapbook page of my newly wed meal I preparred for my husband. There is a funny story that goes with that. Ok, really I am done now.

Things make me happy!!!

Hello everyone!!

Just wanted to share one of the new things in my scraproom. I got this at a thrift kinda of store, for 5 bucks. It was an ugly brown. So, I got some trusty white spray paint and made it pretty. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!

THe top tier had my foam squirlly stamps, the second has my stamp pads and the bottom has my Creative Memories templates. I seem to use them more then I did in the past. And I also know I will use them even more if I can see them. IF you look closely you can also see my new "box" shelves. I use those for the few wooden stamps i have. I will share more of that and the rest of the room in the coming days.

Cute organization makes me HAPPY. (Yes, I know, I AM A Dork but a VERY HAPPY ONE, LOL)

Catching up....getting back to a routine that works

Well, I never came back and blogged. Its just been so busy. And honestly, I never got back to my routine once Nick came home. Life has just been hectic and irratic. But, I told my self starting today I was going to work really hard to get back to the routine I had loved so much. I got so much done and felt productive. I have a feeling that I couldnt get back there because I was beyond exhuasted.

That is because, Friday I got very yucky sick. It felt like the Flu or something. By the time it was almost lunch time, I had thrown up, kept feeling nauseous and every bone, even the ones I wasn't aware I had, had me laying on the couch with agonizing pain. So much so, I had to call Nick to atleast pick up the girls for me. I NEVER EVER really call Nick, when I am sick. Its the U.S. Marine Corp, unless I am giving birth or on my death bed, they are not keen on letting their marines come home and nurse their family. And well, let's be honest, I pride myself in independence and having to call for help and depend on someone, no matter who, is not something I enjoy. Well Nick came home got the girls and stayed so I could get some rest. I wasn't allowed out of bed the rest of the day and was on a very "restful" weekend.

Thanks to that, I got up today ready to get back to my routine. I got up, got the kids up, jump in the shower, got dressed and even blew dried my hair. Even Ben was fully dressed to take the older kids to the bus stop. Came home, had breakfast, threw in a load of laundry, uploaded an assignment for my photography class(The Photographer's Workshop which is taught by the AWESOME Karen Russell...will tell you about it more later.) and am already on my second load of laundry. Oh, and I took pictures of the dogs and Ben too. WHOHOOO!!!

Though Ben keeps trying to break into the Fridge, somethings don't change. Well, I am off to see if I can create some now that my scrap room is finally organized. I totally overhauled it. I started New Years Day and a couple of weeks later, it was workable but I wasn't happy so I kept at it and now I am really excited. I know I will keep changing little things to fine tune it butI think I got the major of it to be productive. I will share my scraproom in the next few days. And all my craziness, hope everyone is well and dont be shy drop me a comment or a email.

HAPPY MONDAY!!!

But all is better now.

I am back and a catch up on the happenings!!

*Sydney showing me her ice skates, lol*

Happy New Year!!

I know I have been so bad about blogging. I have missed it ever so much. So my goal now is to try to blog at least 3 times a week. I think that is doable. Before I pressured myself to do it everyday so when I missed one day it tend to throw myself off and then I didn't even know where to pick it up at.

Well, lets play catch up here for a minute. Nick came home safe and sound just a few days before Halloween. I can't tell you how glad we all are to be back together. We had a few adjustment pains but nothing like what I had prepared for. The kids all ran to him when he got off the bus. He was off most of November. And most of the time after having your husband home for a couple of weeks, you are ready for him to go back to work, get in a routine. But honestly, I was a bit a sad to have him go back to work. It gave us time to catch up and for him to get reacquainted with the kids.
I am till now really trying to find my groove again and getting in a real routine with Nick back home. I am in the mix of reorganizing my scrap room. I started this on New Years Day and then we decided to go on a overnight trip to Wilmington,NC. We only live a little over an hour from there. But we just wanted to get away, we had intended to take a weekend trip or something sometime while Nick was on leave and it just didn't work out. Well, we had a great time. We went to the Aquarium at Carolina Beach. We all enjoyed the aquarium. We got a good look at everything, and everyone was on the best behavior. It was such a treat. We then check into the hotel and decided to take the kids ice skating. My husbands family are HUGE Hockey fans and players. So, its almost a rite of passage to learn how to ice skate. Cameron had been a couple times and wasn't fond of it till lately. It was the first time for Natalie, Sydney and Ben. Well, its in their genes, the girls took to it easily. By the end of the night, the girls were pretty much on the own with ice sleds. Ben ankles aren't quite strong enough, but like his dad he LOVES the ice. They all took turns going out with dad except Cameron who with an ice sled does really well by himself. Ben hated having to wait, but he learned quickly he got to go after Natalie. So he would hurry Natalie to go his turn would come faster, lol. After that we stayed and watch Nick play Pick-up hockey for a little bit and then we went back to the hotel. We got in pj's and relax. Nick got a ride back to the hotel after the game. It was a great time.

Well, Nick is back to work and Cameron, Natalie and Sydney are back to school. We are getting back into our normal schedule. Syd, went back to dance yesterday and Natalie has gymnastics tonight. So, I am finally trying to set myself up to keep my new changes, I hope that sticks better then New Years Resolution, lol.

OK, well I will be back in a bit to expand on that. I think this is long enough!!