Project 365

One hour until the new year! That means that I'm starting Project 365. One picture a day, all year long, to document our lives. I'll be posting them here and on this cool website called Shutercal.com. Wish me luck!

Sage and Pop Pop

My dad teaching Sage how to crack crab. This was part of our Christmas dinner. Sage loved watching and helping, but when it came time to eat it, she spit it in the sink. We're huge crab lovers, so I guess she'll have to learn to love it later.

Strangers

Today we were driving through the mall parking lot and there was this man walking along the creek. He had a bandana on his head and some sunglasses, with long un-kempt hair. I told Sage "look, there is a stranger". She said "mom, that isn't a stranger...he's a pirate". So much for the stranger theory.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Princess And The Frog (I Mean Dog)

Sage and Riley the other night in front of the tree. It was the best I could do indoors at night with no flash, but I love it. This is the first time Sage played dress up. I'm thinking about taking her to the movies for the first time tomorrow to see The Princess and the Frog.

A Girl And Her Dogs

I rarely allow the dogs up on the couch, but Sage really wanted to relax with them yesterday morning. I'm glad I let them up there, because look at how cute they are! These are the only pictures I have of Sage with all of her dogs.

Meeting Santa

She really wanted to sit on Santa's lap. This was the first year we did this and it was a HIT! She told him she wanted a blue bunny for Christmas. A blue bunny? Dora the Explorer had a blue bunny on her recent Christmas special. Tham damn Dora. Now I have to track down a blue bunny.

On another note, I'm going to attempt a "picture a day" challenge for 2010. It will be a daily picture documenting our lives. I will post them on my blog for my 1 reader (yes Kendell, that is you) to see. I bought a great scrapbooking project kit to use for all these pictures. Anyone want to join me? Kendell????

My Little Reindeer

The best thing about Riley is that he lets us do anything with him.

Decking The Halls

We've been doing lots of decorating at our house. It has been tons of fun. Sage is loving the hoidays and it is magical to see her experience it.

Christmas tree hunting today at a local tree farm.

It has been so cold here. We were bundled up tightly at the tree farm. I really wanted a Blue Spruce type tree, but Sage insisted that the blue color meant the tree was dead. We ended up with a very green tree.

I love the rare pictures I get of us together.

Three Little Piggys

Welcome Isaac and Eli. These are the sons of my best friend Kendell. They are simply amazing. We already have Sage married off to one of them (she gets a choice....it just has to be one of the Young kids)!
This was a really fun picture to take. Silly Feet!

Autumn

We have been taking so many outdoor photos, that Sage is pretty much done with it now. I need to find some other subjects for the rest of my photography class, because she is no longer a willing participant. I really don't blame her.

We did have lots of fun with the leaves in our front yard.

My photography class is wrapping up in a couple of weeks, and I think I'm going to move onto photo editing. I would really like to learn Adobe Photoshop, so I think I'm going to make the plunge.

Halloween & Leaves

We haven't had a family picture taken since last Halloween. How pathetic is that? So, we set the timer on my camera (not my good camera) and were able to get a few semi-decent shots. I finally discovered how to use the timer on my good camera, so we need to try again.

Hiding in the leaves. I have a ton of great autumn pictures that I took in our yard that I will post soon...here is preview.

Sage was a pink monster for Halloween. These were taken the weekend before Halloween on our way to a party. I haven't uploaded the "real" Halloween night photos yet, but I will soon.

On our way to the Halloween party, Sage said her fist cuss word "Oh Shit". I quickly told her that she was not allowed to say that, which was, of course, followed by a quick succession of "oh shit's". I told her that we couldn't go to the party becuase she was being naughty and saying naughty words. She replied..."okay mom, I'll keep my words in my mouth". She hasn't said "shit" since.

October was a crazy busy month for us. We worked a ton, were sick alot, and had lots of fun parties to go to. I'm hoping things quiet down a bit before the big holidays hit. I asked Sage what she wanted from Santa. She said "a ladder, a red bow, and a sister for Addie (Addie is her dolll)". She quickly followed it by also saying " I want everthing for Christmas". Good thing, since I've already bought her a little of everything. Not a ladder or red bow though.

Pumpkin Patch

We visited one of our local pumpkin patches a couple of weekends ago. It was so fun watching Sage experience everything there for the first time. Out in the pumpkin field, she would brush off each pumpkin and then sit on it to see if she liked it.

Throwing hay in the sunflower maze

Picking sunflower seeds with Dad.



Exploring the sunflower maze

She got her face painted for the first time and LOVED it. She worked so hard to sit still while the girl was doing it. Bath time that night was very sad when we had to say goodbye to it.

Mom and Sage

Introducing.....Ruby

Ruby is a sweet little gray kitten that showed up in our garage on Saturday. I've knocked on doors, put an ad on Craigslist, and called Animal Control with no luck in finding her owners. She is absolutley adorable and LOVES Sage. Sage carries her everywhere and plays with her constantly. She wraps her in blankets for "naps" and the kitten just purrs away. Sage named her "Ruby" after her favorite show called "Max and Ruby". Honestly, I had to encourage her to name her Ruby as her first choice was "Shrek". We have been known to say that we will NEVER have another cat. Well, here's the perfect instance of "never say never". At this point, even if her owners are found, we will have to go to the shelter and get Sage another cat. Sage is totally smitten (and so are we). Not so smitten with the litter box though...it's been awhile since we've done that. We are comitted to keeping her indoors though since we live on such a busy road. The dogs are beside themselves, but today went a little smoother. Ruby is not afraid of the dogs at all and actually stands up to them. Lucy has a scratch on her nose from getting too close! Off to the vet next week for spaying, shots, and a checkup.

More More More!!!

I'm addicted to taking Sage out for little photo shoots. We did these the other day, in the same field as the old truck bed. I wanted to try and get some better lighting. I think these turned out better.

The first is of Sage looking at a family of deer that were in the field. Do you see them in the background? They were NOT happy we were there. The 2 mama deers were a bit territorial.

This is Sage asking for a 2 minute break from picture taking. Poor little thing.....NOT!!!

This is probably one of my all time favorite pictures of her. I had just told her that I had a lollipop in my pocket for her since she was so good for me.

We went to the pumpkin patch/Harvest Festival today. I'll post pics of that soon.

Exploring

Today we went "exploring", which is really just driving around our neighboorhood looking for cool places to take pictures. Found this old truck behind someone's house in a field. I wasn't overly happy with any of the photos today, but practice makes perfect right? It seems like the exposure is not right in any of them.....Still trying to figure this all out.

We walked up a little hill in our neighboorhood that takes us to a trail that follows along behind some of the houses. Those of you that know me well, know that I have an irrational fear of mountain lions. I was literally in the middle of an adrenaline rush the entire 10 minutes we were up there. I kept hearing things and was certain we were being stalked by a mountain lion. We will never go up there alone again...too scary for me.

Sage came down with a fever this afternoon, so we rested the afternoon away. Hopefully she's feeling better tomorrow.

Photography Class

I'm 2 weeks into the photography class that I am taking. I am LOVING it, but it is a lot of work (& I haven't taken a class of any sort in a really LONG time). I am learning so much, which I love. The pictures here are of a little photo shoot I did with Sage last week. Notice, once again, the sucker. It is the ONLY thing that makes her cooperative.