Celebrating Six!

Although Emma-Caroline will not officially turn six until this Thursday, March 3rd, we celebrated her birthday with all of her friends at the dance studio where Emma-Caroline and Sophie take ballet. Miss Lynn of Studio Arts and her able assistants set up a beautiful party that would be any little girl's dream come true! In a fluff of pink and purple, the little ballerina's dressed in beautiful costumes, danced and twirled to their hearts content, delighted in strawberry cupcakes with pink buttercream frosting and oohed and awed over the birthday presents. A plethera of photos were taken, of course, and so without further narration, please enjoy these photos of our little ballerina's  celebration of six.

Computer Problems Make Me Snarl!

Some VIRUS has infected my computer and I am not happy at all about it! My Dad, a computer genius, spent two hours trying to fix the problem which was so sweet of him considering it was late last night and their flight left at 7am to take them back to Virginia. Although all files on my computer are protected by Carbonite, I am a little miffed that I can not get into some of my programs. Publishing photos of Emma-Caroline's birthday party yesterday was in the works for today, but now has to wait until this problem is solved. Therefore, I say, GROWL! SNICKER! SNARL!

We Had a Party!

Today we celebrated Emma-Caroline's upcoming 6th birthday with all of her friends. Since we are enjoying visiting with out-of-town family, I will just tease you with the invitation for today's party. More to come!

Grandparent's Day

 Today was a special day at Bearden Elementary! It was Grandparent's Day and Emma-Caroline was host to her Nana, G-Daddy, and Mimi for the special occasion.

 We arrived at 10:45 am bearing Sonic from across the street. We were given VIP name tags and escorted downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch.

 The tables were decorated with paper flowers and cloths and everyone was given a special treat of chocolate cake after lunch.

 We then ventured upstaies to the library where Emma-Caroline picked out a special book to be dedicated in honor of her grandparents to the school library.

 Everyone got their pictures taken for a special keepsake.

 The day ended with a tour of Emma-Caroline's classroom and meeting her teacher Mrs. Hughes. Emma-Caroline sure is lucky to have her Nana, G-Daddy, Mimi and Grandma Beverly as grandparents who love her dearly.

The Sleeping Beauty

By the dampened glow of sparkling light

Sweet dreams dance wistfully in your head

Guiding you gently as you sleep

Into the world of princesses and fairy tales.

Upon your sweet head sits a glistening crown

Befitting of any small Princess.

Your royal subjects keep nightly watch

As your slumbers turn into

Happily Ever Afters.

The Dawn will break soon

Sweet Princess of mine,

And the enchanting dreams will fade into night.

As the sun's rays gently awaken the world we call real,

Your heart will sing of joys not forgotten.

And The Sleeping Beauty will become the Princess

Of fairy tale dreams come true!

Ruby Slippers

I was going through Emma-Caroline and Sophie's shoes last night and came across these little gems.
 My girls are so different in size that I haven't really been able to pass shoes on to Sophie from Emma-Caroline because they are usually too big for the season at hand, and then too small by the time that season rolls around the following year. These little ruby slippers, however, were worn by both Emma-Caroline and Sophie. I actually treasure these little shoes because both of their little feet were bedazzled by their ruby sparkles, and because both of my girls each loved them with a fierceness. There were times when neither of them would leave the house without having their ruby slippers on. And although we have bought other ruby slippers as feet have grown bigger, these shared first pair are the keepers.

Perhaps silly to keep a pair of worn ruby slippers for the sole purpose of nostalgia, but I love them. I am actually going to use them now for decoration in Sophie's room where the light hits them just right and showers a magical ruby glow onto the wall. They will always hold a place of honor in The Avery House as well as in my heart.


{Linking to Patty at Photo a la {M}ode over at Finding Serendipity.}
Photo Stats: Frame 1: 1/160, f 6, ISO 200
                    Frame 2: 1/80, f 6.3, ISO 200
I had my White Balance set to Cloudy because I was indoors with natural light. I modified the color to the blue side to get the true red of the slippers. I wasn't going for a boca effect, but got that because of how the sunlight was shining on the slippers.

Sweet Shot Tuesday!

 {f 6, 1/20, ISO 250}

{f 6 1/13 ISO 250}

If you missed my blueberry muffin recipe I posted on Saturday, you must check it out. It is definitely worth trying. This is week six of my participation in Darcy's "Sweet Shot Tuesday." I will also be linking to Patty's Photo A la {M}ode over at Finding Serendipity. Last week, I talked about using a high ISO in indoor photography although I have heard that you should keep it as low as possible. Since I am learning, and I am all about challenges, this week I have been shooting all of my shots in very low ISO whether I am outside or not. This week's Sweet Shot was taken indoors and I really think it does look crisper and clearer with lower ISO. That's not to say I will not up my ISO when I need to. I am still not a fan of flash at the moment (I only have the built in camera flash, so you can see why I am not a fan). I also am limited with my lens (although very awesome) to an aperture setting of 3.5 at it's lowest. Can we say prime lens in my future!