Me and Mine September & October

This month is quickly coming to a close and it's been a while since i posted a me and mine image.  For anyone else, I'd totally scrap them...but ... for a mama that's hardly ever in front of the lens.  these are treasures...keepers...

september  - all of us in the mirror at my niece's birthday party.  there is a split where they pieced the mirror together that creates an odd illusion...oh well!  this image shows the girls shy side.  they aren't nearly as confident or bold in public as they are at home!

and this month...my out of focus image with my babies...love the real moment  though!  nala is experiencing allergy issues and nia has taken to my phone since nala always has the ipad. 

thankful to jamie franklin | san francisco bay area  photographer for keeping me on task with this.  go check out her and hers for her take this month! 

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MacKenzie spent her fall break with a friend but while we were waiting for her this evening...I took the girls out to help me study the light a bit.  I need to figure out what time to schedule sessions for young ones with the time change.  It was gorgeous outside and the light  turned yummy around 5:30...It seems to change daily but I hope to watch it carefully this week.

I  got some interesting rainbow flare in a couple of shots of Nala...

My girlies...this blog has been lonely for their updates...

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I've been missing in action and have some catching up to do.  I've been in a funk...but am hopefully back on track...

One for this week...in color and b/w... my Nala.

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We traveled to Oklahoma City to Cydney's birthday party this weekend. It was loads of fun! I can't believe she is 5 already. When I look at these shots, I realize that the girls' legs are still a bit bowed. I thought they'd grown out of it a bit more...guess not.

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We stopped at the park this evening and as soon as I pulled in Nala said "slide?".  I said "No...".  Then Nia said "Pictures?"... I said "Yes"...

They learn so fast...ha! I still got minimal cooperation...but I'll take what I can get...dirty faces and all.

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This week I have my Me and Mine Shot.  I'm so thankful for my friend Jayme for keeping me accountable to do this.

This is me and Nala.  Just loving on eachother...because yes her pulling my hair does constitute loving...




Excited to see Jayme Franklin | SF Bay Area Natural Light Photographer  Me and Mine Post.  Go check it out!

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School started for MacKenzie this week.  5th grade...time just really really flies...

Here is a shot of her the morning of the 1st day of school...snuggled in bed...

And here is one of the many reasons she is so excited about 5th grade...finally...band...here with her shiny new saxophone.

Praying for a wonderful school year...that might slow down a bit...

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This week we left the girlies at home and headed to St. Louis to meet up with Mia, Rhonda, and Myles.  Loved road tripping with my girl.  I've got to plan more one on one stuff with just her.  Love the girlies to death, but I confess sometimes I miss my me and Mack time.  MUST DO THIS MORE OFTEN.  So glad we made this happen. 

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Here's the deal...I'm pretty lucky.

I'm lucky she was willing to let me practice on her in 100 plus degree weather so that I would be prepared to shoot this the next day.

I'm lucky that although when it come to my girls...lifestyle is the photographic approach I embrace...she gave me these still moments that force me to look into her soul and see that she is becoming a young lady right before my eyes.  I'm reminded to cling to the here and now...today...make the most of the time we have.   Life is going by far too fast.

I'm lucky that she's on this photography journey with me.  I'm loving watching her develop her eye.

Yes, indeed, I'm pretty lucky.

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Proof that photography is so much about good light...but who cares when it's

Me and Mine



She's mine...all mine...and I love her. 


Linking up this week with my friend Jayme Franklin |  SF Bay Area Natural Light Photographer.  Check out her Me and Mine to see her and hers!!!  She is a master of light so try not to judge me to harshly after viewing her post :) 

When I got home this evening, I had an email invite from her to link up my me and mine post with hers this week.   So while this month was last minute, I hope that  this will motivate me to stay on this personal project a bit better than I have.  Hopefully next month I can be a bit more creative or in the very least...find some better light; but, I'm pretty sure that a year from now when I look back I won't be looking for the gorgeous light, but instead I'll be pleased to have found a moment to jump in front of  the lens smushed next to the girlies that I love.

Have a great week!

ETA:

I posted this Sunday night and today (Monday morning) the twins woke up and saw the camera set up on the tripod and begged and begged to get in on the action...but one shot wasn't enough...we all got in...seriously as we were...me in my bonnet (yep, I wear that at night) and my toothbrush (ahem...that's not a prop), MacK with her one roller for the front part of her hair that doesn't curl as naturally anymore, and the girls...well you see...

I think that it's kinda funny that I can't ever get them to pose or smile for the camera unless I set up a tripod...those girls!

yep...me and mine.

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There is something quite beautiful about the light just outside the window...

But it doesn't compare to the beauty just on the inside of this one...

(Nia in her cousin's "attitude" glasses from Claires)

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Nothing special...just

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So I'm a bit off on this project...but definitely wanted to document our their yesterday.  My husband took them, but I rushed from work to get a sneak peek towards the end...

baby ballerinas...

Look how good he did picking out cute tutus for the girls...

And if you're a reader (viewer) here but not of my family blog...pretty please go vote for me in the paper mama challenge -- Toliver Family #18.  It's a shot of my friend's daughter!  Pls and Thank You!

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This weekend we made the trip to OKC for my niece's first ballet recital.  It was an awesome performance.    The absolute best in all honesty.  Versus your traditional single class performance pieces, it was a full Beauty and the Beast presentation.  The girls did so well.  I was a bit nervous since they'd been in the car for two hours prior to the show.  Nia loved the show.  Nala didn't like the scenes that were dark and claimed that she didn't like it, but she rarely looked away :)  She is a bit like me and a bit sensitive to certain visuals.  When Cydney's class came out, we gave a few "whoot whoots"...lol.   I'm so glad we made the trip. 

Unfortunately for this momtog, they didn't allow cameras during the performance, so I could only get snaps afterwards.

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I love that the girls love playing together but are really just fine playing on their own too. 
These tot tower blocks are FANTASTIC.  Lots of stories to tell from them, great for identifying numbers, shapes, animals, etc., and also great for building and sorting.  We LOVE them.

e.t.a. Blocks are available at Land of Nod.

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I took the girlies to the zoo today and got them signed up for the library's summer reading program.  They were super excited to go.  The whole way there they talked about seeing the elephants.  Once there, Nala  was afraid of everything.  She wanted to stay in her stroller and refused to get close to the exhibits.  Nia had a great time.  I clearly forgot what a pain our traditional double stroller was.  My arms got a great workout.  Never again...it was so inappropriate for a zoo trip!  I missed my little stroller, but it was nice to be able to attach my camera bag :)

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These pics highlight two things the girls love...Ring around the Rosie and Coloring...

More importantly (j/k) they got their first pairs of flip flops this weekend.  In my house, this is worth documenting.  I LOVE flip flops and was excited to find these with the straps on the back at Babies R Us.  (For yourselves mommies, JCREW flip flops are the way to go!)

E.T.A. -  For those that commented/emailed - the camera shirt is from Babies R US...super cheap (<$10.00)

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The girls don't always get along perfectly (they are all strong willed and want to be the boss!) ...but I sure love when they do.   The best Mother's Day present...these three...enjoying eachothers company...dancing and grooving to their own beats.  

The girls got me lots of handmade items.  I have several handprints ;), a lavendar project, color sheets, foot bath salts, cards, bookmarks, and a canvas. 
Another fantastic Mother's Day Gift was finding out that I won a fantastic prize on Clickinmoms for the bottom picture in this post!  Woohoo!  So glad we stopped to take a pic that evening to soak in that gorgeous light.

Happy Mother's Day!

Never mind our messy garage...my limb chops (no time to change lenses - I can't take my eyes off of the little ones long enough for that)...and the ill put together collage...this is just easier than uploading individual pics ;)

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MacKenzie wrapped her gymnastics season this weekend.  She had her second best meet of the season, but didn't qualify for the state banquet.  She was very disappointed and  actually shed some tears.  That is really unlike her.  In fact, we get on to her for not caring enough sometimes.  There was only one girl on her team that qualified this year.  I think it may have been harder for MacK because she did qualify last year so she actually knows what she'll be missing out on...I felt bad, but the truth is...that's life.  You win some...you lose some...and...there is always next year :) 

Below that I have the second installment of Me and Mine.  You can see the first here.  The girls and I played around a bit with the timer.  Yes, I know...I said, I was going to do this once a month...let's change that to once a quarter :)  The girls again loved seeing me run back and forth to set the timer and really wanted to help.  Maybe one day we'll actually fix ourselves up for a me and mine...not today though...settling for no make up and crazy hair instead. :)

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It's Easter today and it's all raindrops around here.  Disappointing, but it didn't keep us away from church.  We went to two egg hunts yesterday and to an Easter Service at Church on the Move last night and to Sanctuary this morning.  The girls have had a great time collecting eggs and carrying their baskets.  We are so blessed.  I just love my silly bunnies!  And this mommy is mostly thankful for the sacrifice and resurrection.  Happy Easter!

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I'm incredibly behind on this project.  I've taken cell phone pics, but haven't pulled out the DSLR much over the last few weeks...will try to do go back and fill in the gaps...

Here is Nia from today though!  Showing off her two ponytails and just being a busy bee.

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Nia and Nala turned two today.  We celebrated with a party at the Little Gym in Tulsa. 

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MacKenzie had her Kumon awards this week.  She received an award for Advanced Student Honor Roll.  She is more than 3 years advanced based on her grade level in Kumon Math.  She also received an award for her commitment.  MacKenzie has been a Kumon student for seven years.  Time flies!  I can't believe it's been that long.  I really wish we could enroll her in the Reading Program as well...but with two extra bodies in the family...we had to make a choice...

We are very proud of her accomplishments with the Kumon Program and HIGHLY recommend it for mamas who want to give their kids an extra push.

Pics captured are horrible...I was having issues with my camera...operator error I 'm sure...

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The time has changed and suddenly this is what it looks like at bedtime for the girls (7 p.m. cst).  It's no longer dark.  So...they've been resistant just a bit to going down... and because I'm such a cool mom and I'm off tomorrow...today, I took them out and let them stay up late (bed at 7:45 p.m).

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This week we took the girls to Sesame Street Live.  I thought it was a good year because they actually know who Elmo is now and I THOUGHT they'd be too young to ask for a ton of stuff but would enjoy the fun.  Well they did enjoy the fun but Nala did request a $10 balloon.  No Way Jose!  The girls had a lot of fun though.  MacKenzie says she just enjoyed Cookie Monster's up beat dance only...not sure I believe her...

I took pics mostly on my cell phone because I'm pretty sure they frown upon dslrs.  Here are few though...

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I'm a wee bit behind on this project. I think i have pictures and just need to upload them and will try to go back tonight and update week 8 (just added week 9).  It's been a crazy last couple of weeks.  I'm behind on everything.

So this week...bribery.  I had to bribe MacKenzie with orange leaf yogurt in order to get the shot I wanted outside in the mid-day sun.  And then I blew a bit of her shoulder...such is life!

If you look closely you can see MacKenzie has a stye on her eye (see the shot where she is looking down).  This thing has been recurring over the last year.  I'm not sure how to get rid of it for good.  She says it doesn't bother her though...

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MacKenzie has a gymnastics meet at the end of the week.  She got her highest all around score of her season, but with really strong competition  didn't rank very strongly.  She had a great time though as always.  She got to see a lot of girls that used to be on her team that have switched gyms.  It was a little reunion.  I love  that the girls all get along so well.  It doesn't feel competitive at all.

I tried a zoom lens this week.  I still stink at this, but did a little bit better on shots this time.  I haven't bothered to edit these.  No use.  I had to shoot at ISO 3200 to get  enough light and several are still underexposed.

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Life has returned to normal around here.  The snow is melting and the weather has been absolutely delightful.  You never know what you are going to get in Oklahoma!  Here are some shots of the girlies this week. 

Oh and big thanks for all who voted for MacKenzie's picture over on Momtog.com.  She is now featured in the rotating banner.  So many cute faces.   I LOVE her new site revamp.  Check it out here.

Finally, if you follow Oklahoma's own Pioneer Woman, you might have recognized two of my three girls on her site.  The theme is LOVE and I entered one of my favorite pics from January.  Check it out Group 3.  I'm thinking it was a total fluke that I would have been featured both times, but in either case, I was/am honored.  LOVE LOVE LOVE the Pioneer Woman.

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We've had a ton of snow over the last week plus.  Record breaking, in fact.  I've NEVER seen so much snow.  I've had to work from home and the kids have been out of school.  WE ALL have cabin fever at this point and could really use some fresh air.  We've failed to get dressed, comb hair, etc.  The girls have done a lot of playing.  Below is the result of Nia getting into her daddy's Mens lotion & grooving on a separate day and Nala getting into her sissy's room for a little "dress-up" diva style.

Here is a pic of the snow piled at our door - it was nuts - nearly 4 ft tall!  Also, pictured is me forcing Mack to let me practice dramatic lighting techniques.  She's so over this...I need a new model :)

So excited to have found out yesterday that my favorite picture of Mackenzie was chosen as a finalist on Momtog' blog.    Check it out here.  I'd love if you voted for #12!!

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Refrigerator Magnets, Polka Dots, Stripes, and Chub.  What a combo!

Is it seriously February already??

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This weekend MacKenzie's gymnastics team had their one and only Tulsa meet. Thankfully Nana watched the babies and we were to go and just watch in peace! The girls are NOT ready for gymnastics meets. Going to a gymnastics meet and trying to get decent pics is a difficult feat. The lighting is awful and I don't have a quality low light zoom lens. But the memories are here nonetheless.

MacKenzie tied for 3rd all around and her team got 3rd place.

so maybe next week, i'll get some shots of the other two... :)