Thursday, September 24, 2009

New Lens!!

Ted and I decided that we would treat ourselves this week. Ted got a new TiVo (which is really for both of us) and I got a new lens!! They call it the nifty fifty (50mm). I think just about every photographer has it in their bag because it's so inexpensive and it's got an f/stop of 1.8! Already, I don't know how I ever survived without it.

I whipped it right out of the box, through it on my camera, and went out to shoot. Here's a few of Eliot and one of my parent's neighbor's cat, Ansel.




Sunday, September 20, 2009

One From The Aquarium

I have been dying to take Eliot to the aquarium since he just loves animals. Every time that we go to Petco, he just LOVES looking at all the fish. Anyway, it was sort of a last minute decision (as it usually tends to be with us), but we (my mom, sister, Ted, Eliot & I) went and really had a nice time.

Sadly, I didn't get any photos of Eliot and his first trip to the aquarium :( The lighting was horrible and he Ted didn't really want to keep him in one place long enough to pose (plus with all the other people there, it was tough to get a good posing spot). However, I did manage to capture this little fishy and if I may say so myself, I think it's quite an impressive shot, given the dim lighting conditions (paired with the fact that the little guy is behind tank glass)!


Saturday, September 19, 2009

Eliot's First Haircut

I just recently started to notice that Eliot's hair was getting a little bit shaggy. It didn't really bother me until the back started to look more like rat tail (UGH! Remember those "trendy" things!) So we took Eliot for his very first haircut at SnipIts in Burlington today. Eliot was so great! He didn't cry or anything. The nice hairdresser just gave him a few animal crackers and he was good to go! We told her to take a little off the back and the sides, but to leave most of the length and to leave the top. She did a great job, but I already miss those "wings" that curled out on the sides of his head :(

I want to add that from a photography stand point, these photos are awful! Their noisy (from the high ISO, from the lack of light inside the salon), and there are color casts galore! That being said, I love them for what they are: awesome memories of my sweet baby boy :)

Waiting for his first haircut with Daddy



All done! He even got a prize (stickers!) They have a little card that they hand the kids when they walk in, and when they are done, they get to stick the card into a slot and when they do, it vacuums up some of their hair that had been cut and spits out a prize- it's so cute! What's cuter is that Eliot then tried to put his prize back in through the card slot so that it would do it again and spit out another prize!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Some From Today

Nothing too special, but here are a few photos from today while we were at my parents house. Enjoy!


Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Eliot's First Birthday!

Today was Eliot's first birthday. We had our normal morning routine and nap and then headed over to my in-laws where all of Eliot's cousins were gathered to have a nice birthday lunch (grilled cheeses cooked by Carolyn)! Then we did lots of outside playing. Eliot went down the slide, played with a couple of trucks, played in the outdoor playhouse with Lilla, helped Maddie mow the lawn with the toy lawn mower, smelled Gramma's new flowers, and just ran around the nice, big yard. I just cannot wait until we can have our own yard for Eliot to play in; he enjoys being outdoors so much.




We left there around 2:00 and came home for an afternoon nap...which never happened. He REFUSED to nap! Ted was scheduled to arrive home around 5:00 so Eliot and I decided to take a bath and get nice and clean before Eliot's special birthday dinner. After Ted got home, Eliot opened his gifts from us (a toy piano, some books, and a great, big fire engine)! He loved everything so much- especially the fire truck! Then we headed out to Friendly's where Eliot dined on fine mac & cheese and soft serve ice cream.



After dinner, we did a quick visit to my parents house where Ted had gotten Eliot a nice fruit arrangement delivered from Edible Arrangements. Eliot will enjoy feasting on his fruit for the rest of the week :)

It was really a great day for Eliot. Happy Birthday, love. Mommy loves you so much!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Burlington's 12th Annual Truck Day

I discovered that this weekend was Burlington's annual truck day and of course, with Eliot's love of trucks, we just couldn't pass that up! We are so glad that we were able to make it down there because Eliot was in his GLORY! He was pointing all over the place! There were so many cool trucks to see. He could have easily spent the entire day there. Didn't really get any GREAT photos, but here are a couple of Ted and Eliot enjoying the trucks!



Edited to add that I know this photo isn't "great" or even "good" with all the blown highlights, but I wanted to put it up because I just adore the face that Eliot is making and seeing paired with Ted's face just makes the photo :)

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Eliot's First Birthday (Party)!

Today we had Eliot's first birthday. I can't believe how quickly that year just flew by! I miss my baby!! On the other hand, though, I love my toddler. He really is just the coolest kid and I feel so blessed to be his mother. OK, enough of the sappy stuff.

Eliot had such a great time at his party. At first, he was a little apprehensive, but within a half hour, he warmed up to everyone and truly started to become the life of the party. When it came time to open gifts, he had fun pulling out everything from the gift bags and climbing on top of all the big boxes. He got some really great gifts! I think I am more excited about them than he is!

Then it came time for cake. I made Eliot a frog cake (to go with our frog/swamp theme). The big cake was a pond. Then I made a smaller, vegan cake in the shape of a lily pad (vegan for Eliot since he is allergic to eggs). Then, I made a bullfrog (out of fondant frosting) to sit atop the lily pad. I was/am so proud of my little bullfrog! We sat Eliot down in his high chair (sans clothes) and gave him his own lily pad cake. At first, he wasn't sure quite what to make of it. He dabbed his fingers in the green frosting a little. Then, he decided he wanted to share it with Daddy. Before long, he just decided to go for it. Frosting ended up everywhere! He was adorable eating it though and I am so glad that he had so much fun. After the cake, we took a quick trip to the tub where both my sister-in-laws and mother-in-law cleaned him up!





We had his party at my in-laws' house in Reading. Unfortunately, it rained all day (sometimes poured), so we had an indoor party. I say unfortunately because as far as photography is concerned, outdoor, natural light photos are usually much better (or at least this is true in my very amateur case). I had a really tough time with my photos today. I had to have my camera set to a high ISO to make up for the lack of light, which in turn, leads to very noisy (grainy) photos. BOO! Also, I was having some white balance issues. I had my camera set to auto WB, which I know isn't the best option, but I still haven't mastered custom WB and there were multiple light sources (outside light from the windows, tungsten lamp light, etc.). That being said, these are DEFINITELY far from my best photos, but I just had to share a few from the day (since it really was such an important day)!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Lilla Mae

I just wanted to share a few shots that I took of my 16 month old niece, Lilla this week. Eliot and I joined Lilla and my sister-in-law, Carolyn at the Stone Zoo and a fabulous time was had by all! No animal pictures this time, but lots of beauties of Lilla! She's a natural in front of the camera :)


Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Smolak Farms

Ted and I have been wanting to take Eliot to a farm or petting zoo or something of the sort for a while now so I got on YAHOO! and searched away. I found a farm in North Andover with a familar name (perhaps I had gone there on a field trip when I was young?). Anyhow, we managed to get up there late this afternoon for just a little while and we were so glad we did! There really weren't too many animals, but Eliot didn't care! Eliot loves his animals!

Ted & Eliot petting a goat

Ted & Eliot petting another goat



This was taken just moments before Eliot starting crying hysterically because the cow licked him

The only thing that Eliot *might* have liked more than the animals were all the big trucks!

This is just one of the reasons that I love Photo Shop. I liked this photo, but it bothered me that it wasn't straight. It's definitely still far from a perfect shot (Ted's shirt is all blown out for one thing), but it's definitely much better :)

original tractor shot