Smith Family Farms

My friend Sarah, and I took a little trip with our girls up to Smith Family Farms.
They have a huge fruit and vegetable stand with an assortment of fresh
unique vegetables. I picked up two types of persimmons, a pimento, some apples,
 heirloom tomatoes, and an avocado.
All the while we got some adorable pictures of the girls.
 None of which the girls were looking into the camera at the same time.. story of my life.

Pictured is Piper Jane 5 months, and mostly sitting up. I propped her up for this picture.. and a few seconds later she tipped over and landed on her head. I didn't get many smiles after that.

Ahhh and here is Miss Chloe. Not in the mood to take any pictures..
So I get only candid shots of her doin' her thing.

Yep thats a lot of pictures of C.. but hey.. It is my blog after all!

I asked Chloe to practice her ballet moves here..
She loves ballet. She has been in ballet for a few months now,
 and finally they had a day that the parents were invited to come into class and watch.
 It was interesting.. there was a moment when Chloe was that kid..
You know.. the one licking the wall, while the prima ballerinas gracefully danced around the room... That's my girl!! Haha

Haha this is the ONE shot I got of her looking. Silly Chlo

I think it's going to be impossible to get a great shot of these two together,

 and actually looking at the camera. Oh well I'll still try. Sweet sisters

My learning process

If you were to ask me what my hobbies/interests were five years ago, I would have given you something generic like I like Chick flicks, and good food .
Well I have come a long way since then, and have found what I truly love to do. One of which is photography. I have always had an addiction to makeovers. To me photography is like a makeover. Learning to take the situation, and make it more esthetic.
  This is not to say that I am any good at photographing anything. But I want to learn. I want to be. Only thing is I take forever to learn things. It's like it doesn't compute sometimes. What would take someone else one week seems to take me three. Kinda like my husband's cleaning.. what takes me 20 minutes takes him 2 hrs lol..I digress..
This past week I took some family photos for a friend. I had been studying my manual, spending hours on the computer self teaching how to this that and the other.. and I was really excited. The shoot went well, the family was great to work with, and then got home to look at the pictures, and they were all blurry! I was so disappointed What had I done? I have spent every free minute I have trying to figure that out. Two steps forward one step back.
Anyway I have to be positive and think of how far I have come in the past 3 years, and just to make myself feel just a little bit better I have a picture to prove it to myself. This is 5 month old Chloe November, 2010.

and this is Piper @ around 5 months in November. Same location 3 yrs apart..

There is improvement, but I have an incredibly long way to go. 

I saw on a blog where someone was doing a challenge to learn and push themselves further 

by taking one picture a day for 365 days. I don't know if I can commit to an entire year, but I can do one

month. So starting a few days ago on the 25th of November to December 25th I will take one picture a day to hopefully grow. Maybe by Christmas I will have learned a lot, and hopefully get great Christmas shots of the girls!

Berkeley Pier

A few Sundays ago we took a drive to Berkeley Pier.

We picked the coldest windiest day to head out there.

It was so windy that the water kept splashing up on us, and adding to the chill.

Miss Chloe was really excited to be on the pier. She kept looking for "sea dolphins"

She thought this angel was pretty cool.

 

 We were all freezing, and Piper was bundled up so tight she couldn't move, so we let the girl know we were planning on heading back to the car...this is the turn of events in picture form..

I like the stickers she stuck to her legs on the car ride there ha ha

It starts with the Sad face...

Then it gets really heartbreaking.. 

That's right girl.. wipe those fake tears away

Daddy can get you happy no matter what you are sad about

Pretty quick recovery I'd say!

I asked Chloe girl if she wanted to come back another day and try over, and this is what I got..

tiny

While being overwhelmed with the many many photos that need to be edited, I came across these cute little picts from a few weeks back. I couldn't help it I had to post them. She is/was so tiny and soon she will be big, and I need to remember her little.

 Oh and don't mind the bent ear in all of these shots. I didn't notice until it was too late.. ouch.

This sweet girl is my world. I feel so lucky to have my little girls.

Piper Month 5

• When you get sad you now cry Uh Ya Ya Ya
• You are starting to sit up
• You sleep through the night as of 2.5 weeks ago. (I feed you at 10:30 you wake at 6:30 for the day)
• You are Very smart.
• You are a hair puller.

• You started eating rice cereal, oatmeal, and applesauce last week.
• Your appetite has grown. Your usual 3.5 ounces has turned to 5 ounces.
• You weigh 13lbs.
• You didn't even cry when you got two shots at the doctors.

• When you see people eating you mimic them.
• You like to splash as soon as you are put into the bath.
• You grab everything you can reach.

• You still don't like to be put down for long.
• You Wiggle when you smile.
• No teeth yet.. Yay!
• 
•  You reach your arms out when someone reaches to hold you.
• You suck on your hand and fingers a lot.
• You are hard to hold on the hip, because of how stiff you like to keep your legs.

You are the sweetest most lovable babe in the world. I feel so lucky to get to know you,and spend so much time with you. I just adore your personality.

Curious

This little girl is a thinker.
 It's so fun to be able to catch her idiosyncrasies in a picture.
I love the way she studies an object to the point of becoming cross eyed...
and then it happens.. That object must enter her mouth.

We have officially hit the phase when everything goes into the mouth..

Why is it that babies feel and learn things through their mouths?

Now I will need to watch her like a hawk!  

I love to see her learn and grow

And at the same time I get so sad that she is growing up so fast.

I want her to stay little forever, to cuddle her, nurse her,

kiss all over her face and squeeze her.

I'm loving the fall colors. The leafs are so pretty. I hope to get some family pictures taken soon.

It will be the first family of four pictures that we have! 

Love my little 5 month old baby so much!

Halloween 2013

Chloe was a few things this year. first she was a Pikachu. then a dragon, then a princess,and finally a care bear. She had so much fun at all of the parties, and trick or treating. Here are a few pictures of her at one of the patches we took her to.

Whats with this girl, and chickens? She loves to follow them around and try to pet them.

Grandma " Grams" Piper and Chloe checking out their animal area.
Pretend you don't see crack :)

None of these pictures turned out so good. The sun was blazing bright and the pictures took at hit.

Piper has the cutest little lizard tongue. I'm glad I captured one of her little things she does.

Piper was a flower, a lion, a pumpkin, and a lady bug

I didn't happen to get Chloe's costumes on my camera, just on my phone. I'll have to upload them later..

Happy Halloween!