Easter Egg Hunt (on Mother’s Day)

Taken:  May 8, 2011 (okay camera says May 7, but I know for a FACT that it was on Mother’s Day)

We had my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law over for Mother’s Day lunch.  We also never got around to the Easter Egg Hunt, so we did it that day to have GiGi and ‘Great GreatGramma’ enjoy seeing the kids hunt for eggs.  (By the way, Great Grandma is only one great, but Charlotte has added a second great, so we go with it.   I like to think she’s just saying that’s my really awesome great grandma.)

These were also taken with my 85mm, but on aperture priority.  I figured the kids would be moving really fast (I was right) and I didn’t want to fiddle with my settings as they moved from shade to sun.  What I forgot to do was change my metering mode to matrix, instead of using spot so that my camera would pick a more reasonable setting for the entire scene.  The other thing I need to learn on my camera is own to do exposure lock which would help when using aperture mode.

Easter Photos!

Taken:  May 7, 2011

Here are last years (and the year before is in the same post).  I really, really struggled with these this year.  The kids were uncooperative (of course I was shooting with my 85mm so it required me to be pretty far away from them, which could have been some of the problem), the lighting wasn’t great, and I am really out of practice.  I miss photography being easy for me and wish I could find more time to take photos.

I want to branch out in my editing so I’m trying some different things.  Not sure I love these, or even like the editing style, but they were fun to play with.

They are both running a ton these days and Cooper always wants to put on his ‘racing shoes’ to go run.  Don’t you love his ornery face?!?

And this is so them right now.  Either smiles or being goofy.

I seriously love Charlotte’s reckless abandonment, just throwing her head back and laughing.  And this is the face Cooper makes a lot—half fake smile and half ornery. 

So silly.

I REALLY wish I had been directly in front of them for this.

Easter Baskets!

Taken:  April 23, 2011 (This doesn’t seem right, because we would have done their baskets the morning of Easter.  I need to check the date on my camera I think.)

We usually do books, a big toy, and some candy for their baskets.  Charlotte LOVED the books, while Cooper LOVED their bubble mowers.  They call them lawn motors and ‘mow da lawn like daddy!’.  It’s adorable.  (I covered their underwear with color blocks because the internet can be a crazy place.  Not sure why they decided to strip in the first place.)

Cooper begging to have it opened.

While Charlotte was content reading the books.

Easter Egg Dying

Taken April 24, 2011.

We aren’t religious, but we celebrate Easter more as a celebration of spring and we do all the pagan traditions (easter egg hunts, egg dying, easter baskets).  This year I tried a new process of dying eggs.  I used zip log bags in hopes of avoiding a mess.  Last year and the year before can be seen here and those two methods are have much less mess!  Cooper decided to smash one of the eggs inside the ziplock bag so I had to make a new color.  And this year I was in the middle of doing some home decorating, so I nearly forgot all about Easter—in fact these were taken the day of Easter!  I didn’t ask for help, which spelled disaster for supervision and attempting to take photos at the same time.

They loved smelling the eggs.

Cooper’s 3rd Birthday: Dragon Party

Taken:  April 17, 2011

I am so behind it’s ridiculous!  At any rate, here are some photos from Cooper’s party.  We did a dragon theme (his request) and I think everyone had a great time!  Most of these were taken by a friend using my camera.

Here is his invite.  I designed them in photoshop and had them printed on 5 x 7 photo paper.  I love how they turned out!

All the kids enjoyed playing outside for awhile.

The girls did hoolahoop and Cooper helped Ryan put on her party viking hat.  So cute!

Had a bite to eat.

Decorated shields. 

Or in Cooper’s case, just put the stickers on himself.

Scary dragon masks.

Some chose to stay inside and enjoy the movie.

Cooper loved playing with his older cousin, Lane.

Charlotte is just too cute!

Sparring match with Maile.

We attempted a ribbon pinata because it’s safer, but we glued the trap door with extra strong glue apparently because it didn’t work and we ended up doing a traditional pinata anyhow.

I love this one.  Cooper eyes are closed and it cracks me up.

Cooper gave the dragon head some lovin’. 

I made the dragon cake, which was a lot of work, but I love how he turned out.  I did a practice run a few days before and then took the cake to work.  I started the cake a couple days before, which was great because I ended up having to bake a 2nd cake since the first one was too moist.

I also made viking hat cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and fondant horns.  They were DELICIOUS!  Cooper was so cute trying to blow out his candles while we were still singing to him.

And the little blowing lips I can’t get enough of.

He enjoyed his cake and his presents too!  Thank you to everyone who came over to celebrate with us!