Day 351

"Little Miss. Aylah"

I had the pleasure of photographing Aylah this morning. Our appointment was originally for Saturday morning, but given the bad weather we had over the weekend, we postponed it until today. Aylah is three months old and cute as a button! I had so much fun dressing her up, and was tickled "p...ink" when I saw the tutu, bracelets and hats her Mom brought.

Here is one of my favourites of Aylah! Such a cutie!!

Day 349 and 350

Day 349 - "Pretty Cool"

I was supposed to have a session yesterday morning, but the roads were horrible and our yard was full of snow so it was postponed. We had a busy day with hockey - both boys had a game. Last night we went to the Oakville Rink and took in the Arron Asham's Chance to Play Charity game. My boys were ...so pumped to see Arron play and were even more excited that they got to meet him after the game. Even though they have plenty of autographed Arron Asham memorabilia, Dylan still insisted his hockey hero autograph his hand!

I took a bunch of pictures for the game organizers, but the picture I chose for my Project 365 is Arron signing Dylan's hand! Pretty cool, eh Dyl?!

For More information on Arron's charity, please visit www.chance2play.com

Day 350 - "Game On"

Once again, a session I had today was cancelled. Two sessions in one weekend - ah the joys of Manitoba weather! It did give me the opportunity to attend Dylan's hockey game so that was a bonus!
...
We had a great game against MacGregor today. It was so cold in the rink though, I don't know how those little guys stayed out and played like they did. I would have liked to have taken more pictures, but my fingers were frozen!

Well done Oakville! Way to play!

Day 350....a few shots of the game!

The Ladybug Walk!

Here are just a few of the many pictures I took today at the Ladybug Walk in Oakville. I have included pictures of some of the kids whose parents I'm friends with as I was pretty sure they wouldn't mind me showing off their cute kids!! For more information this great cause, please visit www.ladybugfoundation.ca

Day 348

"The Ladybug Foundation"

Today the K-3 classes at Oakville School walked "a mile in their shoes" in support of the The Ladybug Foundation inc. Each child made a ladybug jar and collected spare change from friends and family and donated it to the Ladybug Foundation. Today, they went for a mile long walk around O...akville in support of this cause. Several of the Seniors in the Community made each child a red scarf with a ladybug sewn on it that they all wore proudly! The walk ended with hot chocolate and cookies courtesy of the Senior Centre in Oakville.

Well done Oakville School ~ hats off to the teachers, students and seniors who were involved in this great fundraiser. I went along and captured a pile of pictures for the school to have.

Here are just a few of the many! I wish I could showcase more as I captured some beautiful close-ups of each child on the walk, but I don't have permission from the parents to do so.

Day 348

Day 347

"Makin' Cookies"

I spent the majority of my day working yesterday as I had a session in the morning and basically hunkered down and edited for the remainder of the day and evening.  I must admit, Jack was just a tad neglected so when he asked me this morning if I would bake cookies.....how could I say no! 

Mmmmm....mmmmm ~ Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe
1 Cup Margarine, softened
1 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup of Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Tsp of Vanilla
2 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Cup White or Chocolate Chips
1 Cups Rolled Outs

Cream margarine, and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Blend into a cream mixture. Stir in oats and chocolate. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or golden brown.

Day 346

"Sweetness"

There were so many pictures to choose from for my Picture of the Day, Gabrielle and Max were so easy to photograph! I could tell that their Mom takes lots of pictures as they were so patient with me and given their ages, they lasted a lot longer than most three & four year olds! I chose this pictur...e out of all of the options for my Project 365 because I loved how sweet it looked. I told them to just look at each other and she Gaby reached up to Max's face. Simply adorable.

Day 346....Gaby & Max.....so great to meet you two and thank you for being so good!

Moments....

The session today was supposed to be just for Gabrielle and Max, but I couldn't resist taking a few "just for fun" pictures of them with their Mom and their Grandma. I'm glad I did as moments like these with Moms and their kids are rare because more often than not it's the Mom always behind the camera. Here are a couple of my favourites.

Gabrielle & Max

Meet Gabrielle & Max! These two adorable little ones came to my home this morning to have their picture taken. I met their Mom this past Spring when she and her three sisters had their pictures taken for my "Sister Special". I was so pleased when she emailed to set up a session with her two children. They are just t...he sweetest little kids and so good too! Thanks Amy ~ great to see you again! And thank you Gabrielle & Max - you two are wonderful. Here are just a few of the many images we captured. I had trouble picking which ones to put up as sneak peaks as there are so many adorable pictures to choose from!

PS - And Happy Birthday Amy!!

Day 245

"Jack Got his Chompers Back"

Busy, crazy, insane day today! Up and down the highway more times than I could count, but in the end Jackson got his dentures put back in! Yay - he has his cute toothy grin back.

Teeth or no teeth - he's still adorable to me....Day 245

Day 344

Day 344

"Namaste"

So, I have been reading everyone's Facebook pages about working out, personal trainers, boot camp and so on and have to say I admire you all for having the discipline to exercise like you do. It is not for me though. I lack the coordination for any type of cardio or aerobics (yes, I was once asked to leave a step aerobics class - I kid you not - I looked like a frog in a blender and was mixing everyone up so they asked me to leave - MORTIFIED!)

I luckily don't have any weight issues that I need to overcome but let's face it, I'm getting older and I need to start taking better care of myself. Last year I started doing Yoga and I absolutely loved it. My sister-in-law is a certified Yoga Instructor and I have seen first-hand how it has changed her life. I don't have the luxury of attending her classes (but if you live in the Parkland area - you should go) so I bought myself some Yoga DVD's and got into the routine last year of doing them with Jackson every morning. Somehow, life happened and I stopped doing them, put the yoga mat away and stacked the DVDs with the other hundreds of unwatchd DVDs I have floating around my home. Last night Jackson brought up the yoga mat and asked if we could start doing it again. Perfect timing, I so need to start doing this again.

So, Jack and I put on our "yoga clothes" (yes, this is a great excuse also to buy more lulu lemon clothes), set up the mat and put on the DVD this morning. He lasts for about ten minutes, then gets bored and just goes off and plays, which is good because I can't help laugh at him while he's doing all these poses and from what I've heard, yoga is all about breathing and it's hard to breathe when you're laughing your head off!

Anyhow, this picture is for you Aunty Buffy - Jack demostrating one of the poses he says he learned from you!

Namaste!

To Blog or Not to Blog......

I find myself wondering sometimes if my blogging and constant pictures of my kids are boring to some of you? I question whether I put too much out there about my life, especially where my Project 365 is concerned. When I blog, whether it be to do with my project or my photography, I try not to get into personal issues like what angers me, my personal views on religion, politics, the photography industry (and trust me I have plenty that angers me in this area!) and instead try to focus on my day-to-day life as a Mom, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a friend. I try to keep my blogs upbeat and funny, with a twist of sarcasm. To me, writing has always been therapeutic. I don't really do it for others, I do it for myself. I certainly don't do it to "drum up business" as that's not the way I want to run my career. So I guess the question is - why do I do it?

Since starting my Project 365 I am amazed by how many people follow it and often send me an email telling me how they related to that certain picture or something I wrote. When I first started the project I figured it would be for me, about my day to day life and a great way to practice photography. It has become so much more than that. I have received countless emails from Moms just like me either trying to get into the photography business, or simply because they can relate to what I write about motherhood, family and everything those two important subjects mean to me.

I am a little more than three weeks from being done my Project 365 and I have had several people ask if I'm going to continue with it. I haven't decided yet. I enjoy it and find it very challenging and also a great way to improve on my work, but I'm just not sure I should do it all over again.

So, to those of you who follow my blogs - thank you! To those of you who think it's boring or uninteresting - don't follow it! I guess it's as simple as that. I will continue to blog and post my work as I see fit. There are certain pictures of my personal life that you will never see, but for the most part I am proud of my beautiful children and family and I will "show them off" as much as I can!

PS - I am fully aware that this picture below is blurry, but I love it just the same! ;)

Danny Boy

Just a few fun shots of Danny playing in the snow!