Ballerina III

This Wednesday, Sophie began her 2nd year of ballet. She loves putting on her leotard and tutu. She floats in like a butterfly swaying her arms and twirling as she goes. Sophie loves being a frilly little ballerina. I am posting the final set of photos from the ballet photo shoot after the girls' Spring recital at the Tennessee Theater.

Ballerina II

Emma-Caroline and Sophie both enjoy taking ballet lessons. I can't believe Emma-Caroline is entering into her 4th year of ballet and Sophie is entering her 2nd year. I had always said when Emma-Caroline started with ballet that we would continue until they said they no longer wanted to do it. Neither has said that. It is a wonderful thing that they have something that they both enjoy doing. And one day they may perform together on the same stage. Here are more photos from their portrait ballet session.

Ballerina

Ballet began again today as well as tap for Emma-Caroline. This year, the girls will be taking lessons on two different days. Emma-Caroline was excited to see all of her friends from ballet again and to begin taking tap lesson. I am posting her ballet portrait from this past Spring's ballet recital. She enjoyed being able to perform at the Tennessee Theater and becoming a little snowflake.

Last Summer Hurrah!

This past weekend, we were invited to one of Emma-Caroline's sweet little friend's 6th birthday party. Even though we start school back the 2nd week of August, we all know that according to Mother Nature, summer is still in full swing. Lucy's birthday happens to fall during the perfect time of the year to have a water slide party and that is exactly what she had in her own back yard! The girls and boys had a ball having one last summer hurrah in honor of Lucy's 6th birthday. I enjoyed taking photos and sampling a bit of delicious birthday cake. It certainly was a wonderful day to celebrate a birthday and the end of summer.

 Two little beauties!

 Look at this back yard! It is perfect for this kind of a party! Beautiful!

 Ballerina pals for the past 3 years. It's hard to believe that these girls have been friends for half their lives! We are blessed!

 The birthday girl!

 Four generations! Aren't they all stunning!

 This cake from Daisy Cakes was dee-lish! I wanted two helpings but resisted on account of my waist line.

I love this photo! She was having the best time!

My sweet girl!

I wonder what she wished for!

Must have been something good!

How cute is this cake!

And how cute is she! Another of our ballet friends!

A One Act Play

OK so last year when I purchased my Nikon D90 camera, one of the reasons I wanted it was to have the ability to take video with my digital SLR. Fast forward one year and I have not made even one video with the D90. Rewind one week prior to today, when my poor little Tamron lens got busted and we will be at the beginning of my thought processes. So there I was, with my lens all busted knowing I had to turn it in for a time to have it repaired and also knowing the limitations of my prime lens and thinking, "What am I gonna do!" (like this is a horrible dilemma or something). I do not own a kit lens, so the prime lens was it. Now I am not complaining about my prime lens. It is great and makes wonderful photos, but it definitely does have limitations (remember this for later). The Tamron gives me a full range of wide angle, macro, zoom etc. which is the reason it is my favorite lens. It's my take-everywhere lens and it is awesome, (have I mentioned how awesome my Tamron lens is?) Anyway, with just my prime, I have a more limited capacity, but that is OK. So I felt a little stuck on a fence contemplating the lack of close up shots from long distances that I would be able to achieve and all when the girls bounded down the stairs this morning wanting to present a play they had made up. As I happily agreed to be the audience for their play, it occurred to me, "I should video this! And I should use my D90!" So. I hastily switched to video mode and started to shoot my first D90 movie. I quickly remembered how limited my prime lens is as the girls were very out of focus in the background, but super clear when they got up close in the video. In essence you will see in live action just what a prime lens is great for. You get those crystal clear up close portrait images with the nice blurred effect of the background when you are taking still photographs with the prime lens. For the video mode, the prime is definitely not the way to go. But again, I am limited for a time. For today, I am glad to have discovered the video mode and look forward to shooting more home movies in the future when I have my Tamron back. So remember as you are watching the one act play below, it is blurred  in parts because I am using my prime lens. I still like it though and see it as the spark to a new learning adventure with my camera for my 365 project. Oh, and check out my favorite line from the play as quoted by Sophie, the Panda, "That drag'n was tryin' to chase ya!" How East TN is that!

Tennis for Two

As the school year has started back up, I have resisted the urgency to put Emma-Caroline and Sophie in 1009 activities that fill up the entire week and leave them with no real "kid" time. It's a hard thing to do. With the new school year, the girls are also continuing with ballet and tap, which they love. Emma-Caroline has become a member of our church choir, so there will be those practices. She is also a Girl Scout so there will be those meetings. We also have another church activity that the girls participate in on Tuesday afternoon, and they wanted to do soccer, and art lessons, and tennis, and ice skating lessons, and, and, and . . . . Whoa, now here we go again!  I want my girls to have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities, but I want them to do those thing because they want to do them not because we want them to do them. The other hard part is that they may want to do everything, and we need to create the balance for them because they are too young to actually do so now. And let's face it, sometimes as an adult, we have a hard time balancing all of our own activities. In any of these activities, above all, we want the girls to enjoy what they are doing, to learn something from what they are doing, to not feel stressed, and ultimately to be happy with who they are in each of the activities they participate in. So we picked one other thing, tennis, for the girls to participate in on Tuesday. And that's it. It's enough. If they like tennis, they will continue. This is Emma-Caroline's second set of real lessons and she seems to like it and to be getting the hang of it. For Sophie, we are simply just letting her hit the ball along with big sister, and if she learns something, then it's icing on the cake. Ultimately, the girls are enjoying their tennis lessons and that is all that really matters.

Hard Knocks!

Well, it has happened. The thing any photographer fears most. The thing that almost renders your heart to stop when it all transpires in fast slow motion. NOOOOOOOOOO! It just couldn't be! But it happened. I was doing a documentary photo shoot last Friday evening for our church's Family Camp Night. I headed across the grassy knoll (and yes it is referred to as that) to the fire pit when I hit a hidden sink hole. My ankle went in and I instantly went flying into the parking lot. That would have been enough to ruin my evening with my skirt over my head and a blooded kneecap, but the woe of all woes was my camera hitting the asphalt, popping the lens cap off and BUSTING MY TAMRON 18-270mm LENS! (Imagine a hand to the head in full swoon Scarlett O'Hara style as I say) Oh woe is me! My favorite lens! Why couldn't it have been one of my other lenes that is more easily replaceable than my Tamron lens. In reality, although I am not happy that my lens received a few hard knocks I am hopeful that it will be able to be repaired with new casing and perhaps recalibration (it shakes horribly now and the image is blurred after each shot). And as my friend Jennifer put into perspective with her three month old baby girl in arms, at least I wasn't holding a baby when I fell. No kidding! Until my lens is hopefully repaired, I am making use of my prime lens and just rolling with the punches. ;-)

Kindergarten School Photos

I meant to take photos of Emma-Caroline's school photos from her kindergarten year to post on the blog, but never got around to it. I feel like photos that we receive that are not digital need to be made digital for posterity's sake, or better put, as a form of insurance that the photos will last forever in a digital realm of the blog world and cyber space. Emma-Caroline had two sets of photos her kindergarten year, both of which I thought turned out nicely even with the cheesy head tilt and propped arm on the fake barn door. I am certain I would lose my job as a school photographer after the very first session I shot just for not geting the cheesy head tilt, hand on the chin or propped leg on fake barn door quotas. So for posterity, here are our girl's beautiful kindergarten school photos, cheese and all!

 Fall 2010

Spring 2011

Safeguarded

I recently visited Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. It is the seminary that offers the best program for me to pursue as I advance into a career in children's ministry. While I was there, I was intrigued and awe-struck by the burned out chapel that has stood on these grounds since the seminary was founded. I was told that a fire destroyed the chapel in October of 2010 and while it burned almost the entirety of the building structure, the sacristy was unharmed as well as the prayer books that were housed in the pews. Isn't that amazing!!! It is symbolic of how we are safeguarded in God's word and even through the most trying we will always be protected.

The Whisper

It begins as a whisper, "Come to me! I have something new and wonderful planned for you!" You push it aside thinking aloud in your head, "I need to get more sleep, I'm starting to hear voices." But the whisper grows stronger. You hear it in your thoughts. You hear it in the breeze. You hear it in the voices of those around you. Somehow, in all of these whisperings, they all say the same thing. The whisper turns into a burning, a longing, a thirst. You have to answer it. You have to! It's become a part of you now and you must heed His call. You've held your breath, afraid to let it go, afraid that if you do, you will be swept away on your exhale into a world you don't recognize. But you let fear give way to hope, and trust, and you slowly breathe out. You let go, you answer the call, you allow your world to be painted anew with all the vibrant colors of the rainbow. And you see that it is wonderful and beautiful.. You are relieved and awed to a point of pure joy. For a moment, you stand alone thinking to yourself, "Why was I so hesitant, so fearful of all of this?" As the breeze kisses your cheek, you take that first step into the new. You hear the whisper again, "I have been waiting for you!" And you know you are not hearing voices. You know it is real. And you feel loved.

Sharing with Finding Serendipity. ISO 200, f 6.3, 1/50

Making a Splash!

Enough said!

Saturday Afternoon Pass Time

Howie got a new set of cards and decided to teach the girls a few card games. No, he hasn't taught them how to play blackjack or poker, more like "Go Fish" and "War." They have had the best time playing with each other for hours. I have joined in too on a few games of "Go Fish." It's nice to have a family pass time that doesn't cost anything and can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of age.

Family Fun Camp Night

It's been a little hectic this week here at our house. Those of you who have kiddos back in school feel my sentiments. When school starts back up, it's like the revving up of a turbo plane engine. There's the pain-staking groan as the engine slowly starts to turn, wincing from lack of use for a period of time. With each revolution, the engine grows stronger in it's purpose until it is whirring at full speed, ready and willing to do it's job! And just like the engine, so school begins. The moaning and groaning of getting out of bed at an hour way before the sun comes up, the slowness of getting back into a routine, the excitement and willingness to be doing something familiar but new as school becomes a part of who we are again. It's face paced, systematic, predictable. And we like it! To celebrate the first week of school, our church hosted a Family Fun Camp Night. The girls enjoyed crafts and games and roasting marshmallows with friends. It was nice being with friends and sharing back-to-school stories together. It's going to be a great school year!

In Full Swing!

We are back in full school mode swing around here at the Avery House. Emma-Caroline is loving first grade and jumps out of bed every morning ready to go. Sophie loves her Pre-K class and is especially happy that her BFF Luci is also in her class. Life is good! As a parent, you can't ask for more than an awesome school, wonderful teachers, and super enthusiasm from your children to be at school!We are very blessed. Although it seems that we are running at a full sprint (especially this first week of school) I am happy to be back in full swing!

A Back-to-School Flashback

I realized when I was looking through my photo archives from the beginning of school last year that I had never published these from our visit with G-Daddy, Mimi and Aunt Katie while they were her visiting in 2010. Here's a little Back-to-School flashback from 2010.

I Love This Shot!

I've been going through my photo archieves lately and came across this one from last year around this time. I just love it!

Back to School!

Today Emma-Caroline and Sophie had their first day of First grade and Pre-K! We feel very blessed that both of the girls have wonderful teachers. They were both ready to go to school and didn't miss a beat in jumping right back into the routine of school. I can't believe Emma-Caroline is already in first grade and that Sophie is in her last year at sacred Heart Preschool. They will both have a fantastic year and will learn a lot and have a lot of fun!

 Ready to leave for school!

 It's always nice to start the school year off with good friends!

 Emma-Caroline knew exactly whee to go!

 She knew exactly where to hang her backpack too!

 Ms. Ellison loves Arthur!

 We feel so blessed that Ms. Ellison is Emma-Caroline's first grade teacher!

 Arthur is ready for first grade too!

 Already ready to work!

 Sophie was all ready for school too!

 We also feel blessed that Sophie has Miss Nancy this year as her teacher!

Not even looking up when I said good-bye.