Photos by Charlie

Charlie's developed a bit of a phone addiction. I've made the unfortunate choice to allow him to play with my phone on occasion and now he can't stop.  He's constantly asking for it. It's actually a bit of a problem. 

Lately he's gotten into playing with the camera and taking pictures. I'm constantly deleting photos by the dozens. But every once in a while I'll keep one. Here's a few lately that I've kept. 

If you ever want to be convicted of your resting bitchy face, let your toddler take pictures of you. Yikes! The one above was after being convicted of how my face looked as I'm changing diapers. It's usually not good. Since those first changing table pictures I've made a habit of trying to be happier and fun when changing diapers. 

Poor Charlie and Bryan see this view probably too often. Side note: great book. 

Bryan and I both loved this one. Maybe we have a budding photographer on our hands? 

Project 365: 2015

2015 was the fifth year I have done a project 365 photo project. Wow. I can't even believe that myself.

This year was predictably mostly Charlie photos. One reason I keep doing this project is because I love seeing the every day photos. The ones that may not make the yearly photo book but that still capture our every day lives. This can be seen pretty starkly in my first and nearly last photos.

Working on getting Charlie's room all ready and taking a break from the holiday and family craziness. 

Last night, our 11 month old playing with his favorite Christmas gift, the xylophone. 

They aren't great photographs from a photography stance, but they capture moments that would otherwise be forgotten. And that's priceless. 

It's been a huge year of change and it will be so fun to flip through this year's finished book. (I turn each year's project into a photobook through Blurb.) 

At this point I'm not sure if I'm going to do it again in 2016. Part of me is used to it so its not that big of a hassle, but on the other hand, do I really want to do another year? Probably yes. 

LuniTECTS Art Show

This past Friday night in conjunction with South Main Trolley Tour our local AIA office hosted a LuniTECTs members art show. We submitted photos taken at our events and they blew up and printed some of their favorites.







I had one that was included in the show. Above, top left hand corner.

It was a fun event and a great excuse to get the members together. After 5 years we've kind of gotten attached to one another. This event also encouraged me to think about taking different pictures at our future events.

Family Photos

For months I've been stressing over photographs. Having a baby means needing newborn pictures and sending birth announcements. And what about maternity photos? Did I want those? Not really, but should I still take them anyways? And don't get me started on newborn photo trends. Barf.

I reached out to an acquaintance who is a professional photographer. I really love her style and asked if she could take some newborn shots or could she recommend a photographer who would take them and had a similar style. I was so excited when she said that they could do a lifestyle photo session at our house. I might have squealed with delight. Okay, I did. I squealed.

Savannah and her husband, Philip, came over for a few hours one Monday morning while Charlie was six weeks old. They captured our sweet morning routine, complete with a pie breakfast.


I'm so pleased with these photos. I will forever treasure them and this sweet, but tiring, time of life.

40 weeks

Yesterday was Charlie's due date. We are officially past the 40 week mark. I don't think I've shared many or any of these monthly pictures yet, so I thought since I have the time, I'd go ahead and share this project. 

Many bloggers and mothers take weekly or monthly pictures to track their progress of their bumps. Heck, I've seen some super creative daily videos too. So when I found out I was pregnant I started thinking about how I'd like to capture this time. Another blogger I follow took pictures in the baby's room from the start as a way to track not only the bump but also the space. I thought this was a great idea and decided to do the same. So here goes: 

The day I found out. 

All photos were taken with my iPhone and edited with the A Beautiful Mess app.  I plan to do something similar for Charlie, assuming he is ever born, in the brown rocking chair once a month. I'll probably use the Beautiful Mess baby add on package to signify the month. I like this look better than the stickers and I certainly don't have any Photoshop prowess to go ala Young House Love. 

Round here...

So far I'm doing well on using my DSLR for photos a day. This has resulted in lots of pictures that don't make it into the Project 365 folder. I thought I'd share a few pictures from the last week.


Bobo plays my tambourine.




Grizz strips at the Grizz vs. Spurs game.


It was an amazing game!


This cat got high.

Project 365 note to self

2012 marks the second year that I've done project 365. I've done pretty well on not forgetting. So far this year I've missed two days. I think last year there was three or so.

This year I thought about doing a theme, but that quickly went away. Last night I was updating the photobook I make for the project. The quality difference between my cell phone and dslr is kind of ridiculous. See?

August 13th: cell phone photo


August 14th: taken with the Nikon

So for 2013 I'd like to attempt to take all 365 photos with my dslr. It will be tricky since it's not as easy to tote around, but I think it will help me develop photography skills and be a bit more creative.

So I'm posting this as a written record to remember look back and laugh at myself.

Redeemer Crawfish Boil

Our church hosted a crawfish boil last weekend. I hope it becomes an annual event, as it was quite fun.

I pulled out my camera after I had eaten more than my fair share of crawfish and my fingers were numb. But here are a few pictures.


Matt, Bryan, and John still eating away.


As a crawfish novice, Bryan was slightly freaked out by the mudbugs.






A brief rain shower. Bryan brought the cooler and purse over to cover.

My friend, Kathy Cox, gave me a quick tutorial on how to use my camera. These are some of her shots from my camera.










Thanks, Kathy! She takes professional pictures of children if you or someone you know has small children.

Also, thanks Redeemer, for hosting an awesome event!