Well, it seems that Christmas is officially over.  How do I know this?  When I went to Target to get an ornament storage  box & was greeted by bathing suits at the top of the escalator it was a pretty solid indication.  Bummer! 

This photo is a small part of the Christmas cards we’ve received this year.  I’ve always wanted to display my cards in some creative way, but having no fireplace mantle, I wasn’t sure what to do.  We had originally bought this red felt snowflake rope stuff to put around our Christmas tree, but Josh bought a ginormous tree & the rope barely made it half way down.   Emma & I decided to drape it along the ceiling with push pins & tie our cards on it.  It’s been great for the girls to be able to check the mail each day & hang up new cards from friends & family.  Thanks so much for sending us your cards this year.  We’ve loved getting a glimpse into your lives!  I am going to keep this snowflake rope up for a few more weeks just to remind us of all of YOU!  (ps – if you didn’t send us one & still want to, get that sucker in the mail, pronto!).

On a camera related note, I’ve been practicing Amy Wenzel‘s advice & moving my focus points to where I want the focus to be instead of focusing on a spot & reframing my view.  It’s super neat!  Just a small trick, but I like trying it out.  I’m not too fast just yet, but I’m working on it.  I need to learn my camera’s buttons by heart first!

Photos I’ve been looking at:  My friends!  I’ve been following my friends & fellow photographer’s 365 projects.  Here’s a few:  Heather Grace Photography, Stacy Richardson Photography, Stevie T Photography.  If you’re out there & starting or continuing a 365 project, or a 52 week project, let me know!  I WANT to see it!  Thanks!  That’s all.

Now for those of you who read the title of this post and thought we might be teaching our children to shoot guns, that would probably be for my brother’s blog, not mine.  Although I was raised around guns in the wild state of Oklahoma, I don’t know how to shoot that kind of device…just a camera, and the occasional water gun.

I decided to take some photos for just the fun and love of it (thanks for the reminder Tasra) and decided my girls were good subjects.

When I was at Target (when am I ever NOT at Target) I saw these really cute Paul Frank rain coats & umbrellas.  Unfortunately they were only toddler size so they just fit Brooke.  Emma, in her short four years, has stretched up to the big girl’s size 5/6!  So we got the raincoat & umbrella for Brooke, but what kind of mother would I be if I left Emma out!  I scoured the Internet for raincoats with matching umbrellas for-ev-er!  Every thing was super cute, but super expensive! (for my taste)  I finally found the Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Mollie & Bollie polka dot lady bug pattern.  It fit Emma perfectly – size & personality!  She loves walking around with her umbrella folded up like a “walking stick,” posing, tapping, and just looking cute.  Brooke isn’t quite as in to the fashion aspect of her ensemble, but it keeps her dry.

As I was taking photos of the girls, they asked to use the camera too.  So, I finally said, “Sure!”  And as you’ll see below, they did a pretty good job.  Enjoy my kids playing “rain” in their wet weather gear…and no, it wasn’t raining.  We were just practicing for a day like today.

Under her umbrella-ella-ella-ella

Brooke took this one of Emma.  Look at that bokeh!  She just needs better framing.

Emma took this one of Brooke!

I took this one!  Aren’t you equally as proud of me too?

Another Emma shot.  I see where she gets her inability to smile correctly…ugh!

Another Emma shot – looking good girl!

And our tree stump + timer took this one.  Not bad either!

Oh, and I purposely left of the “logo” so grandparents can swipe these, like they usually do.  You know who you are Amaw, Grandpa, Gigi, Pop Pop, Papa, & Nanny!

(sorry for those of you who read our Family Blog…these photos repeat)

While there is about 6 or more inches of snow outside right now, we did have one semi-warm day last week.  The girlies and myself took advantage of it and went outside to play with some bubbles.  The last time Emma, my oldest, blew bubbles, she wasn’t very good.  In fact, she got super frustrated so we purched one of those automatic bubble blowers from Target that looked like a hippo.  It has since died, and Emma wanted to try blowing bubbles the real way this year.  She did a pretty good job.  Brooke, on the other hand, didn’t even try to blow and at times seemed afraid of the bubbles.  However, like in everything else, she began to copy her big sister and laugh & chase the bubbles after a while.  Here they are enjoying their day!  Now you can feel sorry for the three of us stuck inside, especially if you are reading from an area that has more spring-like weather!