I'm truly enjoying this photography class I'm taking, with Lisa... I just wish I had more time to dedicate to it - but unfortunately life at the moment is as busy as it's ever been. This week we were understanding different types of photography. I definitely love the 'caught in the moment' category. Most of my favourite shots are those that are captured when Lilah isn't 'posing'. More recently, she ignores me and my camera... which I kinda like! It means I capture more natural shots of her.
Last night as Lilah was playing with her toys in the bath. As a side note, I love how she plays with her toys these days, I love sitting close by, pretending not to be interested, but secretly I'm listening to all her little musings and role play. I can't help but smile, it is completely adorable! I just LOVE the stage she is at right now... although, I think I've said that about every stage so far!
Anyway, back on track... as she was playing, I snuck upstairs with my camera and captured this picture of her in the bath - I was half way up the stairs and this was taken through the stair rails with my 85mm. She had just noticed I was there about the millisecond I snapped this picture. I simply adore her little 'one eye' peeking above the bath!
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You can read all about Stefanie and her beautiful family,
and check out more Sunday Snapshots at Ni Hao Ya'll.
You know it's Friday around our house when my daughter is doing this...
Friday, my friends, is wash day! And whether they need it or not, the sheets all come off the beds! As soon as Lilah sees those sheets disappearing into the washing machine, she knows she has a good two hours of jumping on the bed! You know, it's also a good way to tire your daughter out for a nice quiet put-her-to-bed-early Friday evening!!
I caught these pictures of my girl, doing what she does best. I love to see the pure joy on her face when she's bouncing, it's beautiful and innocent. And seeing that, makes me just as happy as she is!
Lilah celebrated her 5th birthday at 4Cats Art Studio, yesterday.
I know what you're thinking - Wow, it's been almost 4 weeks since her ACTUAL birthday! I know I know, however, when Lilah decided on this art studio and I called (2 months ahead of her birthday), this studio was booked solid until today - that's how popular it is - and now that we've been there, I know why! Basically it's every child's dream... well, every child that loves art and paint and getting messy... which I imagine is a fair percentage of children out there!
I booked a "Splatter Paint" Party. First, each of the children make their own individual canvases - to take home. Then they moved on to the large canvas... I think it's a size 6ft x 3ft canavas, and I can even get it stretched and ready to hang... if I feel the desire. I just might too, because it turned out lovely. The children chose 4 colours of paint. First they used brushes to splatter the paint all over the canvas. Then they got jars of paint and syringes to squirt all over the canvas! And finally they got balloons, filled with paint, that they squeezed with their hands until they burst, which of course made the paint splatter all over the canvas... and themselves.
I won't even talk about the amount of paint that ended up all over them - the pictures speak for themselves! Every childs dream? Oh yes!
There were high fives all around with those beautiful paint filled hands and then it was time to wash their hands and have snacks and cake. Our Baba Boy pulled some silly stunts when the children were having their snacks. He was blowing up the balloons, not tying them in a knot and letting them go - he had the children in fits of giggles! Speaking of the children, (Lilah's friends), there were a few from school and a few from Kindercare, and we drove away from the party feeling so proud of our girl for choosing such beautiful friends to invite (some we didn't even know that well). They were all so calm, shy, sweet... really really lovely children. She's very blessed to have these beautiful friends.
It was a fantastic day... Lilah was beyond excited to have all her friends around her. And needless to say, her first stop after it was all over... the bath!!
A couple of weeks ago, Lilah arrived home proclaiming with much awe that her friend could blow up a balloon!
Her question to me was whether she could do the same?
So of course I had to go poking around in the basement to come up with a balloon... which happened to be from a packet of leftovers from her 2nd birthday! She blew and blew and blew until she could blow no more. If nothing else, Lilah is as determined as a child will ever be. Thankfully her determination energy is channelled in a good way - otherwise this parenting gig would be much harder than she's made it for us! Anyway, her determination has paid off - she is now a qualified balloon blower and can be found at any given moment, blowing up her yellow "#2" balloon.
Today she asked me if it was possible that I could buy her some new balloons with #5 on them. I'm pretty sure we can work something out, especially since she's turning 5 in just TWO days!
I have to laugh at some of the crazy faces she pulls when blowing up that balloon!
[ the flickr set is here ]
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You can read all about Stefanie and her beautiful family,
and check out more Sunday Snapshots at Ni Hao Ya'll.
Have you ever heard of melty beads?
Let's just say they are entertaining, REALLY entertaining... if you have a little crafty girl in your house, melty beads are the way to go! We ordered this book from the school book club two weeks ago and it arrived this past week. Lilah was SO excited and has spent many hours (since the day it arrived home in her backpack) pegging beads on the little board by tracing the patterns in the book and making some very fun things; like a fire engine and a duck and tulips and a dragonfly and a dog - the possibiities are endless! On the other hand, I've been spending many hours (slight exaggeration!) ironing her beads! Yes, everytime she makes something, I have to iron the beads so they melt and stick together. Actually, the ironing is easy peasy and best of all, I get to see Lilah's happy face when the finished product has been melted together!
Lilah is really big into creativity and crafts - she loves to create and draw and glue and colour and write and tape.
I generally only blog about the things Lilah and I do together or what we do as a family, but Baba and Lilah have lots of 'dates' too. I just don't blog about them, because Baba doesn't take pictures, and posts without pictures (in my estimation) are rather boring! Ha! Anyway, Baba gave Lilah a choice of things they could do together yesterday and she chose a trip to the local farm in the city here. Her reasoning for wanting to go to the farm was because last time she got to do fun crafts there! Indeed, she got to do some fun crafts this time too - she arrived home with a sheep made from her handprint and real sheeps wool!! And a cow she coloured. She also learned all about eggs, met some friends and of course she got to visit the farm animals. By all accounts, it sounded like they had a wonderful time together and enjoyed their 'Daddy Daughter Day'.
Here's a few more pictures of our crafty girl enjoying her melty beads and the final product - a green dog named Fred!
[ the flickr set is here ]
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You can read all about Stefanie and her beautiful family,
and check out more Sunday Snapshots at Ni Hao Ya'll.
Lilah and I headed out to Rockcliffe Park yesterday to snap a few shots of the daffodils. As soon as I mentioned taking pictures of the daffodils, she said: "I want to take some pictures too!" - and off she ran to find her Tinkerbell camera.
She is quite the little photographer.
The first shot below that I captured of her, photographing the daffodils with her little Tinkerbell camera, is probably one of my all time favourites. She is definitely going to need a macro lens for those very close up shots she takes!
I processed all the photos, other than the first one, using the The Pioneer Woman's 'sunshine' action.
The man whispered, "God, speak to me!" And a chickadee sang.
But, the man did not hear.
So the man yelled, "God, speak to me!" And the thunder rolled across the sky.
But, the man did not listen.
The man looked around and said, "God let me see you!" And a star shined brightly.
But, the man did not notice.
The man said, "God show me a miracle!" And a life was born.
But, the man did not know.
So the man cried out in despair, "Touch me God, and let me know you are here!"
Whereupon, God reached down and touched the man.
But, the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.
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Don't miss out on a blessing, because it isn't packaged the way that you expected.
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