Ten on Tuesday - catching up

1. I had no internet yesterday, therefore weekend pictures were further delayed. I apologize, but we will be all caught up by the end of this post - sort of.

2. I am not posting a Flash Friday - it did not work out. Trust me on this one.

3. Sunshine Saturday - I felt I needed to do Daisy some justice since she was filthy in my last posted picture of her. Now she is freshly groomed and getting all the more love because of it! ;o)

4. Simple Sunday - hands down my favorite hair clips of the girls' right now:

They are from Little Lesiw on Etsy and the clips actually stay in Lauren's thick hair!!! Miracle! The shop is supposed to open back up soon, be sure to check them out!

5. Motion Monday: I love my mixer.

6. Portrait Tuesday: My middle girl. She just melts my heart!

7. I could go out and strangle the guy across the street who is running an electric saw in his driveway right now! But, I don't think he will care that my children are supposed to be sleeping right now!!!

8. I am an Aunt again! Yay! Jamie and Brandon had their baby girl Brielle last night, and we hear everyone is doing great! Congratulations J & B!!! Can't wait to meet her in a few weeks!!!

9. Yesterday, when I had no internet... I spent a lot of time looking through names for the new baby. There are few things that I love and hate so much at the same time! I love it because I just think it is SO fun, and I really love all the different types of names out there. But, at the same time I feel like it is a task that comes with an enormous amount of pressure!!! Everyone will judge you for what you name your baby, though they may not tell you what they really think. And this kid has to bear the brunt of this moniker for their entire life. It is no small task, I tell you!

10. The baby who is yet nameless really likes Nutella. A lot!

See you all tomorrow for Wide Angle Wednesday!

Truthful Thursday

I had to go through this -

and this -

not looking at the camera -

and whatever this is - 

to finally get something close to a decent picture:

Which is matter of opinion since that creepy creature is in it!  Zhu Zhu's look cute, but the noises they make are a little too weird for my liking!!!

My point for this truthful post is that though you might think photographers always take great pictures, it takes a LOT of terrible shots to get a decent one.  And we just show you those few good shots.  OK - I might show you a lot of only alright shots, but when you are trying to document the lives of toddlers and preschoolers, you take what you can get!  =)

Ultrasound Wednesday

I decided to forego Wide-Angle Wednesday and instead show you a couple ultrasound shots from the big ultrasound yesterday!

I get to keep the blog name "The Beeler Girls" as we are having Baby Girl #3! She was being difficult, crossing her legs for much of the ultrasound, but we got a few clear shots of the three white lines. We are still in the process of letting it sink in, but are excited to see how this little girl surprises us with her unique personality!!!

Here is one of the few profile shots she gave us:

She mostly stared right at us. It was neat to watch as she moved around a LOT - much more than either of our other girls did during ultrasounds.

Here she is sucking her thumb. Oh Boy.

That just makes me smile. =) The beautiful little person growing inside of me - just waiting to come out and join the rest of the family!!!

Portrait Tuesday

Or Footrait?

Motion Monday

Can you see it? The orange drumstick in her right hand flying through the air?!? I really wish it was more visible!!!

Simple Sunday

This was my simple shot -- I just love the texture!

But I have to show you my rock-star valentine-ettes:

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!!!

Sunny Saturday

Delicious late afternoon light at Justin's Saturday baseball game!  

Again, sorry I am incapable of posting on the day I actually take the pictures.  ugh!

Flash Friday

Flash and B&W together... extra challenging for me.  I had to pull the overall brightness down in this one, but managed not to blow out the details!  She looks so sweet.  

So I will include this one as well.

In the spirit of truthful blogging.

Well, she's definitely our kiddo.  =)

Truthful Thursday

I can't stand doing dishes.  

So my sink often looks like this.

Yet, I am horrified that someone might drop by and see my pile of nasties in the sink.

But - I am showing it to all of you!

How's that for a Truthful Thursday?!?

Wide Angle Wednesday

The desk I promised to photograph months ago... still messy. ;o)

And the mac that I am not sure how I ever lived without.

LOL!

Portrait Tuesday

I feel compelled to share two today. We went for a little walk in the wash behind a local park and I was so glad I brought my camera along! It cheered me up.

Doesn't she look sweet? This little angel couldn't have BIT her little sister on the NOSE this morning, no way! She is much too darling and nice for terror inducing actions like that!

Or not. Some days, it is a good thing they are so cute!

I was grateful that I had control of my emotions when this happened this morning. I just a said, "You have got to be kidding me, Lauren. Go to your room." After a couple minutes of comforting Paige, I went in and Lauren and I had what the Swope family refers to as a "Come to Jesus Talk". ;o) I never imagined I would deal with such an issue when she is almost five years old! She has never done anything like this, and it was over such a petty thing. We had a loooooong talk about why we don't hurt other people and controlling your emotions. Hopefully it will take - because that is not a moment I want to be experiencing again any time soon.

Sheesh!

Motion Monday

I can vividly remember the joy of being able to kick your legs while sitting on something as a child.  Paige loves it too, I catch her in this location multiple times a day...

Truly I was disappointed with these shots - I wanted her face in focus... but my wiggle worm wouldn't allow it.  ;)  Can't fault her too much, I suppose.

Simple Sunday

Are you laughing that I took a picture of a toy?  

But this is part of my photographic goals, because I'm not good at documenting the little things of life.  And when my kids are in High School I will want to be able to remember what they liked to play with and even the messes they make!

Paige is currently obsessed with "Tamp" - this is Lauren's old Tramp dog from when she was around two years old.  Paige carries him everywhere, feeds him, rocks him, and - apparently - teaches him how to play the Barbie piano.  This is how I found Tramp after laying Paige down for her nap.  And after laughing for a few moments, decided this was as good of a subject as any for a simple shot.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Sunny Saturday

Sorry I am late on posting my very first week - the weekends are always going to be hard for the pics to get up on the actual day!

We went and played in the snow in Flagstaff - and the girls just loved it, as usual!  It was one o'clock in the afternoon and bright as could be, so it was an extra outdoor challenge for me.  My favorite shot of the day was this one, where Paige is "getting" Daddy with the snow.  Such a sweet moment - her age is really so fun!!!

Flash Friday

We were gone all day and I momentarily forgot about my picture project! So tonight I popped on that dreaded flash and tried a portrait of our beloved barker, Daisy. For the record, I can not stand flash photography. I love natural light and the look it gives a portrait - and flash is just... hard. Too much or not enough - that is how I always feel. Which is why I added it to the project in the first place, so I could learn. After a couple adjustments...

Hmm. Well, I don't hate it - so that is a step in the right direction. ;o) I can't believe that even my DOG has "don't-take-my-picture" mentality! She was trying to run away the whole time!!!

Daisy is turning eight in just a few days here. That is crazy to me - but we bought her before the thought of children was even on the table! She is really such a great dog - she goes with the flow of our family and is always up for a cuddle. She lets the girls crawl all over her, cover her with blankets, and put dress-up stuff on her! She might irritate me with her occasional bouts of barking - but she is a big part of our day to day family life and we love it!

Truthful Thursday

Yes, I really am that big already. I'll be 18 weeks on Sunday, and that just seems waaaaaaay too early for this kind of a bump.

As an aside, we have our ultrasound appointment set for the 17th! So, we will hopefully be able to tell health and gender after that! =) Then I can start planning... have I ever told you how much I love planning?!?

Wide Angle Wednesday

I was thankful my wide angle was already on my camera when I looked out the window and saw this full rainbow at sunset.  The sky was bright orange to my back, making the houses across the road glow like a fire.  Amazing!!!

Portrait Tuesday

I really loved this shot the second I took it - very much how I think of Paige right now!  My sweet, happy girl.  I'm really enjoying her at this age, other than the disobedience and then running away laughing about it.  ;o)  Artistically, I actually like that only one eye is in focus and that she is not centered in the frame.  I even really liked it with a vintage touch:

Foto February

OK, foto is not a word -- but it just looked better that way!  I am excited to tell you about my new little project for this 28 day month!  I have decided to post a picture-a-day, but on here -- not my OLD frame-a-day site.  I have been wanting something to refresh my creativity, so I am not only doing a picture each day, but every day will be a different challenge:

Motion Monday (which usually necessitates the use of a tripod, which I despise setting up)
Portrait Tuesday (fun and friendly for me!)
Wide-Angle Wednesday (to force me to take off my 50mm lens and learn all that my wide-angle can do)
Truthful Thursday (in the spirit of BOLD blogging, showing things about myself you may not know)
Flash Friday (UGH!  The flash is not my friend... yet.)
Sunshine Saturday (Outdoor pictures only)
Simple Sunday (trying to limit the entire photo to one thing, hopefully something one wouldn't find photo worthy)

So welcome to four weeks of me attempting to learn and grow!  Motion Monday to start us off...

Lauren saw this and exclaimed, "I'm a ghost!!!"  *snerk*