a sister bond

Believe it or not, I took these photos back in November. Last year!

I've been a terrible blogger lately. And you'll maybe notice that I've been trying to catch up lately. Sorry for filling your feed with posts as far back as June... yikes! I'm so not proud of that. I may or may not have made a new years resolution to try and keep on track! Ha! But I must say, I feel pretty good to finally be caught up now. For me, these blogs are all about the girls, I want them to enjoy reading about their little lives in the years to come... they are what keeps me motivated!

Anyway, these photos were taken on the day of our first snow storm... November 27th. We were just heading out to swimming lessons and I decided to run back inside and grab my camera for a few impromptu photos - with the hope that I could get at least one to work for our Christmas Card.

I'm so glad I made that decision. I love these girls, the giggles they share and especially the love they have for each other. It chokes me up and I thank God for them daily, that they are part of my life and part of each others lives too. Just yesterday, Phebe was having a little nap on the couch and Lilah kept checking on her every 10 minutes or so, to see if she was awake yet. She said to me: "It's so boring without Phebe!" And I smiled to myself and thought, that's love.

[ the flickr set is here ]

new years day

~ today is the first blank page of a 365 page book ~

Last year had its fair share of challenges, struggles, adventures, but most of all, joy and love.
Thank you Lord, for a blessed year.

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Here's a monthly review of Lilah's year in pictures!

[ the flickr set is here ]

2013 in pictures ~ december

presents
christmas cracker queen
santa visit
magna-tiles
cozy sisters
forever lilah day portrait
lego lover
toboggan hill pile-up

2013 in pictures ~ november

first snow storm
bow boots
bed jumpers
maberly conference
screen time
jumping for joy
movie night
snowsuit sisters

2013 in pictures ~ october

millers pumpkin patch
skating lessons
silhouette sisters
fall has arrived
black cats
aviation museum
piano practice
mackenzie king estate

2013 in pictures ~ september

caterpillar infatuation
holding hands
little pumpkin
grade one
kilmarnock apple orchard
new snowsuit
painting pumpkins
typical sisters

2013 in pictures ~ august

botanical gardens, montreal
perth fair
sisters in love
new bike
follow my footsteps
camping @ seedsowers
catch that fish
happiness is at the fair

2013 in pictures ~ july

splashing at sandbanks
ice-cream lover
sister ready for a bike ride
picton ferry
the farmer
mmm... maple taffy
mont tremblant
euro bungee

2013 in pictures ~ june

kindergarten graduation
father's day
cute4ever
splash pad
sister feeding sister
soccer medal
love her
puddles

2013 in pictures ~ may

her sixth happy birthday party
photo booth
pa's girls
hanging at wakefield
yoyo skills
sisters reunited
mother's day
hand-in-hand at pink lake

2013 in pictures ~ april

she mastered two wheels!
referral anniversary - five years ago
pixie hats, handknit by nono
owner of the 'rainbow flower shop'
koala bear sisters
spring arrived, at last
watching movies
smile!

2013 in pictures ~ march

pretty in purple
princesses and fairies
aye aye captain
pretty easter dresses
reading
youtube bedtimes songs
new glasses
heading to a birthday party

2013 in pictures ~ february

the colours of the caribbean
cayo coco, cuba
valentine sucker flowers
a grin, with her mouth full
stripey legs
chinese new year
chevron beauty
jumping with abandon

2013 in pictures - january

new apron
walking home from school
snow day
cell phone
toboganning
stuffed animal sillies
snowball maker
jumping on the bed

homework!

Lilah got her first school homework assignment from her teacher on Friday, and that assignment was to collect a big bag of colourful Fall leaves to bring into school!

So today, after Lilah's nap, we grabbed her last-years-halloween-candy-bucket and went searching for colourful leaves. Thankfully it wasn't too difficult a task, however with Lilah checking every one of them with a microscope to make sure it passed the "It's SO Beautiful" test, it took a bit longer than it probably should have!

Not to worry though, I kinda needed Lilah to take it slow today as I had a bit of homework to do myself! I bought a new camera (and lens) yesterday, it's the Canon 5D Mark ll along with an 85mm F1.8 lens. It's certainly a huge learning curve and I need lots of practice, but so far I'm loving the camera. Hopefully during this beautiful Fall weather I'll get a bit more practice fitted in - it's definitely my favourite time of the year for taking pictures!

One of the things I'm noticing already is that I don't seem to need to edit my photos as much, or at all really, with this camera. It's making my job a whole lot easier!

[ more pictures here ]

a new camera lens

Lilah got a new pair of frames at the dollar store today and I got a new lens for my camera - obviously not from the dollar store! My sweet hubby gave me a gift card at Christmas for a local photography store and I finally made up my mind what I wanted to buy.

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 ll.

I was told this is a great indoor lens and I've only had it a few hours, but it is definitely proving to be exactly that - I'm very pleased with the results and I haven't even got right started yet! I love how sharp it is on the focal point, yet how soft and dreamy the rest of the image is. As with any lens, I have so much to learn yet. I'm very excited to try it out in the sunlight - I can imagine the bokeh lover in me is going to be ecstatic! Between tonight and tomorrow we are supposed to get another 15-20cms of snow, so I'm looking forward to putting it to the test outdoors!

I shot a few pictures of Lilah wearing her new frames today. She is cuteness personified.

[ the flickr set is here ]

my camera and editing software

**updated : question answered below**

I get questions about what camera and editing software I use for my photos. I hope this helps...

I shoot with a Canon EOS Rebel Xsi. Nice basic run-of-the-mill digital slr camera that you can even pick up in Costco. In fact, I got a flyer last week and it was in there, along with a $100 discount! I have two lens, one came as part of my camera kit, it's an 18-55mm and I bought another lens which is the 55-250mm. I love both lens, but to be honest, I use the 18-55mm the most. If I were to do it all over again I would just have bought the 18-200mm lens, then I wouldn't have to swap and change so much. Maybe sometime!

I use a few editing programs. My nearest and dearest is my Photoshop CS3. Now dear knows, I cannot do a thing in there myself yet, seriously, even though I've had the software for a while, I just can't seem to get the time to learn what to do. BUT, editing is made easy by women who do know what to do and they have created these things called 'actions', and even better, they're free! So yes, actions are my new best friend!

My favourite actions come from The Pioneer Woman. I love her website, her stories, her recipes and her photography, I'm a huge fan. I also really like Coffee Shop actions, Rita has a great variety and you can pick and choose what you like. They're so much fun.

I've created a set of photos here, on flickr. I used mostly the same rose photo I captured today and edited it using different actions. Each of the photos have been named according to the action I've used. I've also added some photos below, if you hover your mouse over each one, the action name will pop up.

Let me know if you have any questions!

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Question from Caren: 'how do I get an aged postcard look as seen in this post?'

I previously mentioned I use a few editing programs, however I only mentioned one of them, Photoshop. Another of my favourite editing software programs is PhotoScape. PhotoScape is a FREE software program you can download from the internet. All my frames, text, round edges and multi-photo combination grids/pages are done using this software program. It is brilliant and it is, in fact, a very easy program to use. I use it way more than Photoshop.

So to get the aged look, I use PhotoScape. In this program you choose the photo you want to edit and then click on 'filter' then click on 'antique photo' and there are seven options. They are all unique and lovely, and it really just depends on your photo as to which suits best. I have added all seven below using my rose picture as an example again. If you hover your mouse over the photos, you will see that I have also numbered them according to the antique filter I used.

Thanks Caren, I'm glad you asked that question!

[ all pictures here ]