The Boy

Today, I was struck by how beautiful he is. Just looking at him makes me happy.

Even when he challenges me. Even when he tests me.

He causes my heart to swell with love, happiness...and pride.

After thirteen years of marriage, I was SO overjoyed to be pregnant. I had hoped, even prayed, for a boy! (Thought that might be eaiser than a girl...eight year later we've proved that to be fact ;-) At the time, I didn't have a clue about how he would change me, or what he would teach me.

And now, it is so hard to believe that he's nine and that he wants to grow longer hair and wear skinny jeans. That he wants to be a rock star and that he likes girls. But, he still always treats his sister with kindness, he still thinks his dad can do anything, and (most importantly) he still wants to live next door to his mama when he grows up!



See...the blog's not "just about Sister"!

Hoppy Easter

The kids and I went to go paint pottery with our friends on Thursday. It always sounds like such a good idea. The stuff always looks so cute on the shelves and I always end up thinking that I can be creative and make something I'll want to display. Unfortunately, it doesn't usually turn out that way.

My friend, Lo, has painted plates with her kids for every occasion. They are adorable and I've wanted to copy them for years. Since she has her Easter stuff on display at her house, I asked her to snap a few pictures before we met at the mall so I could copy some of her ideas. With her pictures, experience and assistance...we tackled the project. (Not an easy task with 5 kids between us!)

Painting the little chick's foot

The finished product. WB's foot is the rabbit, Little Sister's feet are the little chicks, and my thumbs are the Easter eggs. (I get no credit, totally Lo's idea.)


I won't win any awards, but I am pleased with how it turned out. I learned some trick for next time so I hope to improve. Now, to get started on 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's day. We had a great time, and we are headed back next weekend (minus kids) so that I can paint some eggs!

I See Red Dots!!!

I had intended to post a cute little story about WB and his ever-expanding vocabulary, but alas, that will have to wait another day.

I have an announcement:

I see red dots.

I see red dots and I know how to use them!!! Oh...people, this is big! You know, I want to be a photographer. I spend my spare time reading about photography, lusting after lenses and just plain trying to figure out how to take a better picture with my little "starter" camera. (Canon xsi) Well, by golly...I've turned a corner. The corner that takes you from blurry manual photos to FOCUS!! (With a little more practice, that is!) I'm so excited, I could just spit.

You know I stalk photography blogs. And, I've learned A LOT about photography and A LOT about photographers. I stalk the "great ones". The ones that just take great photos, and the ones that take great photos and create awesome art work, and the ones that do both and want to share their knowledge and passion. It is that last group...the ones that are secure enough in themselves to give...that inspire me. Sometimes people are a little sensitive about folks learning their business. Whatever...like I'll ever be "competition"...I'm a Midwestern housewife that just wants to capture of my family and friends. (Besides, if you think I'm givin' up the defined retirement benefit of my municipal gig before I hit 25 years, your nuts!)

At any rate, today thanks to folks like this, (and this, and this, and this), I GOT IT! They don't know me...but they teach me and I am SUPER grateful! And today....today I learned...I finally clued-in on how to move the red dots and lock focus! This little trick wasn't in my manual. The manual version was too hard for me to master quickly. And chasing Little Sister required a focusing solution that was fast. Moving the red focusing dots that you see in your viewfinder when you press your shutter button on your dslr means that you can make the focus concentrate on different areas of the picture. The top left corner, the bottom right corner, or on the most interesting place in the frame. This frees you up to "compose" a photograph.

And while I am thanking people, special thanks to my fellow AP (adoptive parent) Erin for her emails filled with info and encouragement. Just wait till her precious comes home and we get these two together to shoot!!

At any rate...

tonight...in the back yard...FULLY MANUAL and in FOCUS...my precious.....



Notice how the focus is on the eyebrow and falls off from there. (It is supposed to be the eye...but it is progress!)



OK, this one I REALLY love. No, not because she is crying! Because I shot through the trampoline netting. You can't even tell! By moving my red dot to focus on her face, it missed the net all together. Light bulb moment!)



Finally, a smile from the princess (and documentation of teeth grinding, an under bite and a future need for braces. But, ain't she cute?!! :). A great example of the 50mm lens. Of course, I only have a 1.8 (the poor man's version) but this was taken "wide open" at 1.8. (That is why the background is all blurry.) 50mm, 1.8, 1/250, iso 100.

What a great day! So much to learn...so far to go...but it is starting to click!

Finding My In-Betweens

I don't know what happened...well, maybe I do...but, maybe that's not the point.

About 15 years ago, I lost track of some folks that had been a foundation for me before JB and I got married. They weren't high school friends, they weren't college friends, they were my "in-betweens". We were brought together through chance and circumstance. I had dropped out of college (for the 1st time..lol) and started working in a customer service job my brother found for me at the city paper. It was there that I met Tim. We had an instant connection. We laughed until we cried...which wasn't an easy task since it was 6:00 am on Sunday morning and people were screaming at us because their paperboy missed them. At any rate, my work friendship with Tim blossomed to include his friends, a couple of whom joined us at the paper and contributed to the funniest time of my life.

Tim, Ward, Shaun and Jennifer had been friends for years. Childhood friends that survived high school and college, boyfriends and girlfriends, and several "in betweens." They were different as night and day. Each one unique, each one original. A group that you would look at and wonder, "how, exactly, are they friends?" But, once you met them, you knew their connection was something special.

I loved these folks...and I lost them. There was no argument, no big fight, nothing, just life changing and people drifting. Over the years, I've thought of them often, missed them terribly, and wondered where they were. I knew "they" were still together...and if I could just find one...

And then came Facebook....

I found Tim in Australia and the others spread across Texas. As luck would have it, we are gathering in Tulsa for a special event next month. (CAN.NOT.WAIT!) Just being back in touch with them has brought back a piece of ME...a piece that I missed terribly!

Today, Shaun drove up from Dallas and went to the zoo with me and WB. It was a great day! Here are my favorite pictures of the day. (WB took one of Shaun and I, but it is too blurry to post so we'll get one next time!)

Two O'clock and All's Well!

I'm a night owl. Love the evening. Love the quite stillness of the house. Love sitting up in bed with my laptop...admiring photographs, making friends, discovering the wealth of resources available on the internet, finding bargains (even though I can't spend this month!) and dreaming of new lenses. I just love the night. I'm generally ready to drift off to sleep a little after 11:00. But, not recently. Recently, I can't sleep...at all...until at least 2:00.

And...

It doesn't make me happy...

I'm tired...

I need sleep...

Desperately...

The time change has me reeling. I glance at the clock constantly. Every hour, on the hour, as though I am waiting on the night watchman to proclaim, "Two O'clock and All's Well!"

Maybe tomorrow I'll exercise, or take a PM medicine, or have a little drink. Maybe tomorrow...because somethings gotta give.

Twelve O'clock and Leigh's Tired!

Family Challenges - Month Two

As I mentioned last month, we are undertaking a number of family challenges this year. In February, we challenged ourselves to not eat out at restaurants. Our motives were two-fold. One, we are trying to be more conscious of how we spend our money. Two, we are looking to restore balance in areas of our lives which seem one-sided. In this challenge, we were able to work on both of these things. For the month, all of our food was purchased at the grocery store and prepared at home. The first week was really hard, but after we got into the swing of things, it did get easier. (I will say that one month without a Sonic drink is an amazing feat!)

And now, for the results: $750. That's right, even with the increase in groceries, we saved $750. (I suppose that is a true reflection of how out-of-balance we were in this area! LOL.) JB and I both were eating out at lunch everyday, so that did account for approximately $300!!

We aren't interested in continuing this for an entire year, but it did put things in perspective. Like coming off a crash diet, we are slowly reintroducing restaurants into our lives, but consciously.

And now for the March challenge: No purchases, other than food, medicine and toilet paper. We can go out to eat, but we can't buy any non-food items for the month: No toys, music, books, clothes, household items, make-up, nothing... And man, it is SO much harder than last month!!! I'll have to keep you posted on this one.

My pictures today are Little Sister with her new toy. (Purchased last month). She loves this crazy magnate, music box, animal barn thing! She is so much more into refridgerator magnates than her brother ever was...





Thanks for the comments! Have a good week!

Where do we go now?

I am simplifying things a bit. (Can you tell?) I am really feeling the need to begin blogging more, and to that end, am thinking about the future of this blog. While my babies are still the primary focus of everything I do, I am getting more into the "whole photography thing" and want to begin to explore that world.

Since most of my adoption friends have moved on, I am feeling the need to move on too. However, for now, I am still attached to "Babbling Booth" and feel like it will still serve me until I (hopefully) have a need for a blog related to having a photography business. Babbling Booth is just me...it just is...

These days, most of my internet time is spent reconnecting with old friends on facebook and reading and trying to learn photography and photoshop. (To say that it is overwhelming for me is an understatement!) But...I am determined to figure it out, even if it just means taking awesome pictures of my family. (How did people ever learn before the digital age??? LOL?)

So, a bit of my direction has changed. Loyal readers (Yes, there still are a few!) will continue to be delighted and amazed by occasional stories of WB and Little Sister. Hopefully, there will be the added benefit of more pictures. I'm not interested in trying to set the photography world on fire, (I'm pretty much locked into my full-time job for the next ten years so there is no chance I can dedicate the time it would take to do that...as if the talent were there, LOL) and I don't have a ton of time, I just want to learn to take better pictures and share anything I learn along the way.

I am trying to get the courage to pull the camera out in more public settings and take pictures confidently. I (nervously) took a few shots of my nephews this weekend. My focus was off, my exposure is off and my white balance was off so they looked a little blue sometimes, but I just loved it...and I really learned a lot just from TRYING! Here are a couple of those shots...

This is the red-head...Big Red to his Papa...P-Park to his favorite Aunt Leigh. This photo makes me want to ask, "Whatcha thinkin' P-Park?"



This is O-Bo. His eyes look crazy blue in these photos (and they are) and I didn't mess with them at all. He does seem to have a slight blue cast, but his shirt is brown with light blue stripes. I did use a little color pop action (which is an automated process in Photoshop) on the next two pictures.




I tried to figure out how to do a sepia tone of this shot of the boys. Even though much of the detail in their faces if blown-out, I still like the photo.



Feel free to leave me a comment on my new direction, photos, or anything in general. I appreciate the feedback. I'll be redoing my blog header this weekend...any ideas?

8 Year Old Boys

We had a great visit with my little sister and her family this weekend. It is so hard to believe that her boys are now EIGHT!

In my effort to work on my photography skills (or lack there of), I took a couple of shots of O-bo and P-park. Man, is it ever hard to get two 8 year olds in a photo! With a cat, a dog and DoriGrace scrambling to disturb things, we didn't get many that were suitable for framing; however, here is one of my favorites.



Happy Birthday boys, your Aunt Leigh (and your cousin DoriGrace) just can't get enough of you!