I was walking down my sidewalk this afternoon and spotted this cutie peeking out my neighbor’s door.  Can’t resist a new kitten!

Welcome to my living room.  No toys were cleaned up in anticipation of this post.  In fact, there are a pair of socks lying on the floor visible in this photo (dirty socks).  This is how I roll.

This quaint Melissa & Doug dollhouse was just sold to us by our neighbors & friends Anna & Kate.  Anna is cleaning out some of her toys & her mom Laura offered this dollhouse to us first.  She also told me that Brooke plays with it constantly whenever she visits Anna’s room.  We do have a dollhouse already, 2 in fact, but one is Emma’s and the other is what the girls call a “baby” toy.  It was Emma’s first dollhouse given to her by my mom on her birthday – the Fisher Price Little People series.  Ever since then we’ve been collecting a slew of Little People until it got too unbearable.  They were like a bunch of breeding rabbits, showing up everywhere!  The kids have loved them, but I told them if they want to buy this dollhouse, they needed to sell some of their old toys to make room for the new one.  They agreed.  Some things have sold (enough to clear out some clutter) & they’ve been playing with this doll house non-stop since Laura brought it over.  So, thank you Laura, my dear friend, for thinking of us.  We love its simplicity & the imagination it brings forth.  Emma & Brooke are in dollhouse heaven!

Here’s to recycling your toys!

And to get this shot – in case you care – I put my camera on the dining room floor and put the ISO at 400, the aperture at f/4.0 and the shutter speed at 0.6 sec.  I wanted to see if I could get enough light, no grain, & enough in focus without using my flash.  My makeshift tripod of the dining room floor seemed to work well!

Photos I’ve been looking at:  Homeshade Photography.  Tasha Pool was introduced to me by my friend Heather (her website, not her in person).  I’ve loved looking at all her work, following her numerous hilarious status updates on Facebook, and just enjoying her real, vibrant, & colorful photos.  She’s even shared with me a little bit about how she does petti parties for little girls & mini-sessions for various other holidays.  They are kind of like Tupperware parties with the hostess inviting friends over for little photo sessions of their kids & the hostess receives credits for the more guests she invites. It’s ingenious!  And this girl cranks out the photos – and they are by no means mediocre.  She is fabulous!

Well, that’s my talk for today.  Just wanted to give a little shout out to my wonderful family, friends, and clients who’ve pushed my Ethiopia fundraising all the way up to $500 so far!  (Corinne, Jimmy, Ashley, the Rode’s, Kelly, Aunt Gail)  And the total cost of the trip got reduced to $2,500 so I am on my way!  If you’d like to help me get all the way there, visit my online donation page.  I’ll also be mailing out support letters & prayer cards, so let me know if you want one too.  I covet your prayers!  Thanks so much!

Emma has had a little runny nose today & is claiming to “not feel well.”  She did, however, make it to preschool for the in-house puppet show field trip.  When we got home & ate lunch I declared a “no TV” rest time.  It worked!  She & Brooke broke out some toys they haven’t played with in a bit.

This photo is of them playing with the Lite-Brite.  I fondly remember playing with this toy when I was a child.  And you’ll have to ask my mom if the pieces were as hard to keep up with then as they are to now.  (*On a tangent, the lite-brite pieces have come in handy as roads when we lose pieces to Settlers Of Catan)  I’ve been so pleased with the level of getting along & togetherness they’ve exhibited during this forced “no TV” time.  They’ve been creative, played with lots of different toys, & their imaginations have been running WILD!  I love their creativity!

I was actually kind of bummed today because I had no idea what to shoot & really didn’t feel like going on with my streak of a photo a day.  I just felt like curling up under the covers on the sofa & drifting to sleep while listening to my Augustana station on Pandora.  However, life must go on, even if we don’t feel like it.  And I was inspired by my friend & neighbor Mary’s blog post today on creativity.  She reminded me that I can be creative as much as I want to be.  I just have to want it.  Thanks, Mary.

Photos I’ve been looking at:  As many photos as I can to wrap my head around this whole Haiti thing.  It’s just devastating.  And as sad & tragic as it is, I am making sure I look for the little stories of miracles & hope in the midst of it all.

*ps – in case you’ve been waiting, I AM slowly going through my photos from the Prigel-Castillo wedding so that I can have a blog post shortly.

*pps – my sweet husband it working on my iPhone App for me – I should be revealing it soon

*ppss – I am humbled by your encouragement & donations for my trip to Ethiopia – God’s provision is amazing

If you don’t get the title, don’t worry about it.  It’s because my neighbors have the longest freakin’ name ever, & I was just trying to be witty.  These two lovelies, Anna & Kate, are two of our neighbors that make me never want to leave my little place in our townhouse community.  Each year I anticipate what outfit their mom (and my friend), Laura, will buy them for Christmas.  She has done it again.  And we have not one, but TWO outfits this year!  We decided to try the Annapolis Mall again this year simply because the day we scheduled to shoot it was pouring rain outside…again!  I know God needs to water the earth & all, but it’s getting a little soggy over here!  Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed playing around the mall with Anna & Kate.  My girls absolutely love them & wanted to go copy them & have their own photo shoot just like Anna & Kate!  Needless to say, our Sroka Girls photo shoot didn’t turn out quite as well – what can I say!

Here’s Anna & Kate…

If you don’t remember Madelyn Serene, then click on her name to refresh your memory.  She is the first newborn I ever photographed, and my neighbor.  Well, she’s like 8 months now and so big!  She has such a sweet personality that my girls gravitate towards her every time she’s outside.  Maddie’s mommy & daddy got her a “car” recently and we snapped a few shots of her riding on it.  It’s super cute, pink (of course!), and great for little ones.  Here’s Madelyn riding on her car!

And just for fun, here are two photos to show just how much Maddie has grown up!