ahhhh, the weekend {and GIVEAWAY!}

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I'm still not sure how to use my camera properly indoors. 
We're buying a new lens for that soon, so hopefully the night time, in door 
pics will no longer look so funky with lighting. 

Either way, these were taken on Saturday night. 
The girls playing so well together is a new'ish development in our home. 
I wondered when they would click and begin to enjoy playtime and its suddenly happened. 
They are typically the first ones out of bed each morning and I love hearing their 
imagination at work right away. They like playing house, church, doctor and travel. 
They love to pretend that they're two friends, going to far away places with 
their suitcases. Kara stuffs hers full of underpants and pacifiers, while Rachel 
typically fills hers full of toys :) 
with Barbies, Kara would rather just brush the hair, while Rachel dresses 
them up and everything. 

Sunday... 
We made a Thanksgiving feast at our house and had some friends/family 
over after church. It was such a fun, relaxing time! 
I made the turkey with stuffing {from scratch} and then our favorite 
sweet potato casserole, grilled asparagus, salad and rolls. 
For dessert we had our family's favorite chocolate fudge pie 
{which I posted here}
::YUM::
this is Owen. 
He's already coming on 6 months old!

he is adorable and drives Jason and me crazy with baby fever. 
we can't get enough of his sweet personality and irresistibly cute face. 

this is his big brother Peyton... 
who just turned 5! 

and his Mama, my good friend, Danielle. 


we have a tradition in my family, where my Uncle goes and kisses 
the top of my Dad's head while he cuts into the turkey. 
So this year, in honor of that silly tradition, 
Jason and I kissed as he first cut into the turkey. 
We just didn't get a picture of it :) 


seriously... can't.get.enough. 


Emily & David joined us for the day. 
We do love having Em live so close... it was especially nice during the holiday. 
After they got back from getting a tree for Em's apartment, 
they came back over and we played some Nertz before the guys played Halo.
Jason & David have a Halo 'date' every Sunday night w/a bunch of other guys :) 

Emma & Rachel 

the girls put on fashion shows and played house the entire time. 
What more do you need when you have a house full of girls?! 

Emma, Heather & Cambria 

the sunset .... 
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! 
Ours isn't over until tomorrow, since Jason has Mondays off. 
We're going to cut our tree down, decorate it and put lights on the house today!
Its been fun pulling out the Christmas scented candles, playing Christmas 
music throughout the house on Pandora and enjoying our once a year, 
Christmas movies again. I think the older the kids get, the more fun the holidays
become. Its fun to have them actually remembering traditions and looking 
forward to very specific things we do. 
Kara, being only 2, is enjoying her first year of really understanding what's 
going on... a few days ago she came to me and said 
"its gonna be Chwistmas! Do we get a tree now?" :) 


In honor of ringing in the month of December, I'm going to be having another 
giveaway here! I'll be announcing the giveaway sometime around December 1st 
so stay tuned!! 

Comments

Sarah Moulton said…
hey steph I am not sure what camera you have but the lense might not fix the "funky" color issue. See if you can fix your white balance. It may do the trick.
November 29, 2010 at 4:19 PM
Stef said…
we have a Nikon 3000 or something like that. Jason Bliss {aka, the camera expert} told us the indoor lens will definitely do the trick. He has one and his indoor, night time pix are crystal clear.

Thanks! I'll try your idea first :)
November 29, 2010 at 7:31 PM
W and J said…
Oh my word! I can't believe how much that little Owen has changed...wasn't he just born when we came to visit?!

Oh, and I'd love to know your bfast recipe from your last post!! ;) I like the idea of having a tradition in the morning too...it's hard to wait until the afternoon for yummy food. :)
November 30, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Stef said…
Yep! That's the baby you guys saw when you were here in June... and I think he was 7 days old. Amazing how fast that first year flies by!
November 30, 2010 at 1:07 PM
Shane said…
It's called color cast. A blue filter is perfect for inside shots because it gets rid of the funky color cast which is that orange tint caused by incandescent lighting. For me and my Nikon, I just play with white balance and ISO levels. Also, you can play with the flash or turning on more lights. I am not sure how a lens would fix this unless it has a filter. But a blue filter is way cheaper than adding a lens. Like $20-30 bux.
December 2, 2010 at 12:23 AM
Jason Bliss said…
To clarify - the yellowish color can be fixed by adjusting your white balance setting (set it to Tungsten light). A blue lens does this too but that cuts light, so probably don't want that indoors. The bigger problem she has with indoor photos however is sharpness, when the kids move her shutter speed isn't fast enough to make them crystal clear. She needs a lens that will let in more light. That is what the new lens with a wider aperture will fix (not the color) ;) I recommend this one: http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-35mm-AF-S-Digital-Cameras/dp/B001S2PPT0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291315146&sr=8-1
December 2, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Shane said…
It's called color cast. A blue filter is perfect for inside shots because it gets rid of the funky color cast which is that orange tint caused by incandescent lighting. For me and my Nikon, I just play with white balance and ISO levels. Also, you can play with the flash or turning on more lights. I am not sure how a lens would fix this unless it has a filter. But a blue filter is way cheaper than adding a lens. Like $20-30 bux.
April 2, 2011 at 6:12 PM
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