December Happenings

December has been full of holiday happenings, but it seems my camera didn't make it out of the bag for  most of them, such is life!  

 The library hosted a morning with Santa activity earlier in the month.  Leah met Santa, but wasn't too interested in him, so I didn't get any pictures.  They also had other activities set up, she made reindeer food to spread on the grass for the reindeer (oatmeal and glitter), ate cookies, make a sticker gingerbread house and read books.

 Leah could listen to someone read stories forever and this lady was happy to read to her. 

 I tried to get a few pictures in front of the Christmas tree like last year, but for some reason I didn't have much luck.  I think I was in too big of a hurry.  I might just try again since our tree is still up.  

 I think this is Leah's favorite ornament on our try, it's of a cat.  Unfortunately it was also our first ornament causality, notice the broken tail.  

 We left out cookies for Santa.  I also forgot to take pictures of what Santa left, but Leah got a train set, stuffed Dumbo, monster bowling, and a few other random things.  She liked leaving the cookies out, but when it came time to "see if Santa came", she didn't want to, I think she thought he was still in our living room, ha!

 We also celebrated Christmas with my family.  We tried for some pictures with the girls in their matching shirts my mom made.  I didn't take the time to set my camera, so unfortunately all my pictures turned out blurry or off color.  

 Three cousins showing off their "Hello Kitty" jewelry. 

We're off to celebrate our 2nd Christmas with Tim's family this weekend.  Maybe I'll do a better job of taking pictures!

Christmas Cookies

I knew I couldn't let the holidays pass without making Christmas cookies with Leah. I debated what kind of cookies to do and whether on not to do cut-out cookies or not. I ultimately opted for the easy way and just did the sugar cookies rolled in sprinkles and plain sugar cookies with frosting. I love a good cut-out cookie, but I find they're just so much work and I don't get a lot of return on my time and effort (perhaps I need to learn to streamline the process). I also opted to use the Betty Crocker bagged sugar cookie mix instead of making my own, a friend recommended it to me last year and I might never go back! (Thanks Tina!) I guess I figured I wasn't really interested to how good the cookies looked and tasted, I was more in it for the experience for Leah (and a few cookies to eat and share).

Technology

Day 15: Technology

I follow several photography blogs/ websites (like this one, or this one, or this one) and one of them recently did a post on using different sources of light for your pictures.  I remembered this in the midst of my cooking dinner and decided to give it a try.  I basically used the same technique from these pictures last year (turn off all the lights, lengthen the shutter speed, and turn up the ISO, in my non-photographer  language).

Thankfully these pictures turned out and I didn't burn dinner win-win!

 Leah doesn't get to play on the iPad too often, so when she does it's a real treat.  I'm thankful it will give me a few minutes to cook dinner uninterrupted. 

 I'm thinking I'm liking this monthly photography challenge, regardless of the fact that I'm not completing it on a daily basis, it's still fun.   

Hands

Day 12: Hands

 This little thing's got hands, and man are they busy!  I often wonder how these little hands can make such a mess and require me to pick up so many things! 

 Just a little something for me to remember these small, busy hands.  I know they won't stay little for long, so I'm trying to document them and their littleness.  

 Playdough is a new favorite around our house.  I made this playdough a couple of months ago and Leah would have nothing to do with it.  Now, she can't get enough and will play for minutes and minutes (normally I'd say hours and hours, but not in toddler terms). 

I'm thankful for these little hands and for playdough for giving me a few minutes to do things in the kitchen.  

Leaves

Day 4 of the November Photo of the Day is Leaves.  While I'm not exactly sticking to the day-by-day thing, I'm still trying to take pictures of something relating to the topic.  I'm finding this is giving me some good practice at taking pictures and giving me something else to focus on other than just taking pictures of Leah.  This is also helping me become a better photographer (if I can call myself that).  I've always told my students, "The only way to be a better reader is to read" and I'm finding "the only way to be a better photographer is to photograph".
So while these pictures weren't taken on November 4th, they follow the topic of leaves.

Did you notice the perfect leaf circle in the upper right corner of this picture?  

I was amazed at that little circle. 

  Last Saturday turned out to be the perfect warm fall day to play in the leaves.  

While I'm hoping we have a few more warm fall days to play outside, I'm also hoping for a cold winter.  After the warm winter we had last year and the HOT summer, I'm ready for some cold weather. (Just remind me of this in January)

I'm so thankful for warm fall days for playing in the leaves with Leah. 

Books

I've been doing terrible with the November Photo a Day Challenge, I'm not sure what I've been doing, but it hasn't been taking pictures.  Day 6's picture was supposed to be of books, so I took the opportunity to take some pictures of Leah reading her books.  She loves to read and I do too, reading to her is one of my favorite times of the day.  I love the way she'll sit on my lap for a book and just look and listen.

 She has several favorite books, this one happens to be "Dumbo" or Dimbo as she calls it.  It's a library book that we've checked out for the second time. 

 Curious George is also always a favorite. 

 Leah has lots of books, but she and I both still enjoy our weekly trips to the library to pick out new books. 

I found a list of 100 books we're trying to make our way through.

There you have it, day #6: Books

Up Next...

Since my 31 posts in 31 days is over, my planning for Leah's birthday party is over, my half marathon training is over and I've had a little bit of time to relax, I'm trying to decided what to do with my free time.  I always work best when I have something to look forward to and something to plan for, with that in mind, I've decided on three things for the month of November.  

1. Read more-  I decided that I should use the time I was spending on running to read more.  Although I like to read, I just don't make time for it, so my goal for November is to make more time to read.  Bossypants by Tina Fey is my first selection.  While I'm not a huge Tina Fey fan, after wandering the aisles of the library with an anxious Leah, this one popped out at me and I took it.  I also remembered seeing it on a couple of recommended book posts (here and here) and thought it can't be too bad.  I'm about 100 pages in and it's hilarious, like laugh out loud funny.  Anyone have any recommendations for my next book?

2.  No Soda- I've labeled November "No Soda November".  I've posted about doing this before back in 2009, but I'm going for it again.  I've also posted about my love for starting new things on Mondays or the 1st of the month, so starting November 1st, I'm officially off soda.  I stopped drinking it last spring for almost two weeks and I noticed a difference in the way I felt, I'm looking forward to that feeling again.  

3. 30 Day Photo Challenge- This one seemed fitting too because the teacher in me loves having something to follow or plan for each day.  The wanna-be photographer in me loved it too because it will give me a reason to take pictures each day.  I might share some of my pictures on here, but I'm more likely to share them on instagram, so if you want to follow along, feel free to follow me on instragram: jodylynnmcc.