Low key and beautiful. Laid back, yet fun. Where to begin? Last night our niece Emily stayed the night. My girls were so excited! Reilly, Emily, Addie, and I visited Crazy Bounce, and then we headed to the beach to watch the sunset. This was the first time Reilly just stood still and actually watched the sun totally set. It was pretty awesome!

I only took a few pictures. My girls have reached an age where they no longer spend the majority of their time out of the water. Reilly knows how to swim, and Addie is not far behind her, so all they want to do is jump into the lake and swim, swim, swim! I talked them into a few photos right before the sun set.

Addie and Emmy:

Addie, Emmy, and Reilly:

It would be fun to get all of the cousins to spend an evening at the beach together! We will have to plan another beach night soon with everybody!

Tomorrow we plan to head north and visit my dad and then maybe watch the fireworks in my hometown…if it is not raining! Another fun family day!

Happy Fourth of July!

My cute baby! This is just a snap from yesterday. We went and watched the big girls swim. Reilly and Addie swim on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I was sitting, and Jolie cruised over to me while holding the bench and then looked up at me with her big eyes!

I think she might be a little too attached to her pacifiers. I want to work on letting her have them only when she is sleeping. When she does not have a pacifier in her mouth, she is LOUD! Such a vocal little girl! Lots of baby talk! The pacifier keeps her quiet!

Last night we went for a family walk. So different than me going for a walk by myself or me pushing the baby in a stroller! With the other two, they kept stopping to pick flowers the whole time. I am so used to my fast-paced 2+ mile walk! Reilly and Addie also took turns pushing Jolie in her stroller. It was nice just to go for a leisurely stroll and take some random photos of my kids! The lighting was that perfect end-of-the evening lighting. Beauty surrounded us, from the flowers to the woods, to the last bit of light dropping in the sky.

My two youngest…on our street…with our mailbox blurred out in the background. Such a cute snap of these two together! And some cute ones of my little (not-so-little) baby!

Addie and Daddy:

And my favorite one from the evening (below): Addie and Daddy again. I love how he is looking at her, and I love how she is looking directly into the camera…and smiling. This one is at the end of the road where we live.

And…a flower! It was just so pretty, I could not resist! I have my Canon 24-70 mm 2.8 lens on my camera 90% of the time. I wish I would have had my macro lens for this one! I still love it, though!

To be home every day with my kids! Especially this baby who is growing and changing so quickly! Jolie is full of personality, and I just love being with her every single day!

She has been to the beach a couple of times. The first time we went for a short period of time. This last time, we stayed a little bit longer. I remember how it took me the whole summer to get Addie to like the beach as a one year-old. Addie hated the sand; it really freaked her out! Jolie has adapted just fine to the sandy and wet environment! She is such a little explorer! Below are just a few photos from a few nights ago. My only complaint: the lighting! It was overcast and thus lacking the light I needed to “do my job”! BLAH…

Oh, well. I’ll add more later… Reilly helped me out on this first one! She stood behind me, making faces and noises at Jolie to get her to smile (NO “CHEESE!”–that’s the rule!).

Jolie is 9 months old and cruising. Reilly was walking by this time! Addie walked at exactly one year and one day old. Jolie will be walking at 10 months old (my prediction). She loves to stand!

I’ll be back soon!

Photos will be coming soon! I have many to edit, but I just did not feel like editing them tonight! I have been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! This house is getting cleaned like it has never been cleaned before! Every room, every cupboard, every drawer, every closet, every item, every inch! Dusting, scrubbing, painting, steam cleaning (the carpeting), paying somebody to clean the ceramic tiling…

We are getting rid of so much stuff! I despise clutter. Simplifying is what we are trying to do around here. I have thrown out so many things, I have given other things away; now I am organizing the nicer (and bigger) items so I can sell them on Craigslist. All of our big baby items will be sold (except the crib and the jogging stroller). All of my maternity clothes will be sold. Many decorative items will be sold. In the midst of purging, we are also “re-doing” parts of the house and decorating in new ways. I love summer!

Today we enjoyed a family picnic at a local park. The kids loved playing on the playground, especially with other kids, including a couple of their cousins! It was great fun and so relaxing!

Last night, the whole family went to the beach. Yes, I have photos, but they are all (mostly) of the baby. I was in charge of her, while Dave tried to keep track of the other two…who insist on “swimming” out much farther into the lake than we would like them to go! I realized last night that I cannot go to the beach by myself with all 3 kids! Just Jolie by herself or Reilly and Addie without Jolie.

We are definitely making progress on our house. We also started the kids (Reilly and Addie) in daycare last week for one day a week (Wednesday). Jolie will go to Grandma’s (hopefully). We will use that one day a week to clean, organize, decorate, paint, etc. and I will also spend at least 1/2 of every Wednesday working on my design projects. Many storyboards, templates, cards, albums, etc. will be available for other photographers to purchase. Design is my true love, even before photography. I cannot wait to be creative! Plus, all templates will be created using clipping masks and will come with directions for others to use: it is super easy! The designs/templates will save other photographers LOTS of time! I love to create. This is really the perfect job for me.

This week, I have a senior session, a baby session, and a “practice” studio session. I plan on sharing photos from sessions on my Facebook Fan Page: Susan James Photography.

We are trying to make some major changes in our lives before summer comes to a close. More on all of that at a later time. For now, we are starting to really enjoy our summer!

Now that it is summer, I have time to start going through the many photos I have taken these past few months. In a previous post, I shared a few photos of Reilly getting ready for her dance recital on May 1. I never went through the ones of Addie until this week. Below are some of Addie at the hair salon and both girls outside before we left for their dance recitals. I love REAL types of photos–not the pose-y ones offered–with the canvas backdrop and the photographer who tells the kids to say, “Cheese!” Just my preference. I’m so non-traditional…

I also have many more of the girls with their grandma on the night of the recital. We took all of those ones with the point and shoot camera. So much easier! All of the ones below were taken with the Canon 20D–since this was also when my 5D quit working. There was some extra grain with these, but that look works for some photos! I even added some grain to a few of the photos to add to the look and feel of these (more artistic)! Reminds me of brides getting ready before a wedding (some day I will photograph that, too)!

Reilly outside/downtown:

The rest of the photos were taken down the road by our house. We live in the dark, dark woods. That makes for a pretty setting. I’d rather live at the beach, though! Ha, ha!

(Check out Reilly’s tennis shoes in the one above. That’s my girl! Ha, ha! She’ can’t be ALL girl-y! I wouldn’t let the girls wear their ballet shoes outside!) At least not until AFTER the recital!

That’s typical Addie in the one above! It was a GREAT evening! Only 5 families had to attend both dance recitals because they had children in both recitals. Guess what? We were one of those 5 families! It was fine, though. I thought it was fun to watch both recitals. You really get to see how the dancers progress throughout the years. This was Reilly’s second year in dance and Addie’s first year. I think watching the youngest children in the recitals is the most enjoyable part. They are just so cute! Reilly did a wonderful job and participated the whole time. Addie was by far the most enthusiastic one in her dance class! No surprise there! We cannot wait until next year!

What a sweet little girl! Yesterday I was holding on to her hands while she was standing. I let go, and she stood up like a BIG, BIG GIRL for several seconds all by herself! Jolie wants to walk so badly! She is almost 9 months old, which was when Reilly took off… Jolie will not be far behind!

Below are just a few random photos of my baby girl from the past couple of months… Check out her two bottom teeth in this first one. One of her top front teeth popped out in the past few days, too. She has been my slowest child as far as getting teeth goes! 3 and counting…

Downtown:

Just hanging out on our front porch:

This is our first full week of summer! It is the best time of the year! Last night the girls and I stopped at a park. It was so dark there. But with the new camera, I was still able to take some pictures!

Here are just a few: Just playing with the new camera…and the jpg versions for now. CS5 is almost ready for RAW processing…which will allow me to do so much more! Meanwhile, I am just watching the histogram very closely while I shoot, trying to get really good exposure…and taking a custom white balance.

Addie insists on wearing one of her pettiskirts all of the time lately. A pettiskirt with tennis shoes, usually…or no shoes at all! Here are Reilly and Addie, just on-the-run, having fun!

Addie swinging:

And this one: The sun peeking through the 8,000 trees at this park was beautiful as it was setting. Those final minutes of sunlight each evening are incredible!

We’ll be having lots of adventures today! I will be back soon to share more photos! Swim lessons tonight… With the new camera, I am looking forward to taking lots of photos there!

The Mark II is totally amazing! I have only played with it a couple of times in the past few days. Its (low light) capabilities reach far beyond the Canon 5D (which I still LOVE!).

Below is just one photo shot on 6400 ISO in my living room–a.k.a. the dungeon. I have never been able to take photos in my living room without using a flash…until I purchased the Mark II!

The most amazing part: 6400 ISO on the Mark II produces less grain than 1600 on the Canon 5D. With the Canon 20D, 800 ISO showed too much grain (in my opinion). When I was the yearbook teacher, we used the Canon Rebel. Ugghhh… I could never deal with an entry level camera! So spoiled… But I do love natural light! I have also been taking a custom white balance for all of my photos. Yes, I shoot in RAW, but I was getting sick and tired of messing around with the WB after shooting. I am currently using Ed Pierce’s The Target for my custom white balance settings.

Who is dressing this girl these days? Addie herself! She loves dressy, yet funky and mis-matched! And yes, shades are definitely necessary in our living room! And boots!

Here is just one more example: 6400 ISO with a custom white balance. It was DARK at this park. The setting sun was just peeking into this area. This is a jpg image (my CS5 is not totally ready for me to use yet…), straight out of the camera. I did crop it and add a slight vignette around the edges. I left the grain “as is”. It is pretty minor! LOVE THIS CAMERA!

Very little (if any) post processing! Once I get my CS5 ready, I am sure I’ll do lots more with these images. I just wanted to share a couple photos shot on 6400 ISO. I have not tried to reduce the grain in any way. I do not have Noiseware or anything like that. I am just overjoyed over the low light capabilities with this camera! I can do so much more now!

1. I still have 5 more pounds to lose after having this baby. Granted, I have not really tried to lose the weight, so I am lucky I have lost 33 pounds already. I still do not plan on actually trying to lose the weight. I just plan on being more active this summer. And eating healthy, of course.

2. It is hard to make TRUE friends in the adult world. Enough said.

3. I need to make a change…a BIG change in my life. And I will.

4. Bad things…and sad things happen to make us totally appreciate the good things. Sad things can also help us understand others and their situations better, too.

5. I am becoming more open-minded–maybe because I observe too many narrow-minded people in the world, and I do not want to be that way.

6. My interest in education and the role it will play in this rapidly advancing technological world is growing every day. My former beliefs are being challenged.

7. All of a sudden, I have a desire to be domestic…and learn how to cook. Hold that thought. I’ll be back with some recipes and photos later… Seriously!

8. I want to spend more time with friends (and couples) this summer. I will take the initiative and make this happen. Lots of grill-outs on the deck this year.

9. I am way too obsessed with cleanliness.

10. I notice everything around me in a way that I have not noticed previously! That will become apparent as the summer progresses…

11. I am much more mellow than I used to be.

12. There is so much inspiration abounding in this world.

13. I feel much more creative these past few months. I hope to express some of this creativity this summer…now that I have more time.

14. I am developing more of an interest in politics. I have been doing lots of reading, trying to educate myself. And I have been reading books from *both sides*.

15. I learn something (valuable) from every single person I meet.

16. Having Jolie (getting pregnant at age 37) was one of the best things I have ever done in my life! This little girl has impacted me (and changed me) more than anybody else! Such a little person with such a big influence! It was the quickest I had ever gotten pregnant, too. So…there is always hope!

17. Life is hard.

18. So many things people think matter in this world really do not matter.

19. I wish the world was a nicer place.

20. I love my children more every day!

That’s all for now!