Click It Up A Notch - August

My favorite photo from August for the Click It Up A Notch photo contest.

Home Sweet Home

We missed this place while we were gone.



Camel

He wasn't a big fan. But this picture makes me laugh.

We're Ba-ack!

After three weeks in the States, we're finally back home and back in our routine.

We got to spend some time with these two.

I'm surprised neither of them "accidentally" fell in.

Festive Feet

Happy Fourth!

Quarterly Top Five

It's amazing how quickly kids grow and change. When I went through my pictures to pick five, I couldn't believe the difference in Brendan just from April. And here they are...my top five favorite pictures from April, May and June for the Click It Up A Notch Quarterly Top Five.

I miss the sweet curls.



Choppy

The water's been kind of choppy this week.

Yagi

Coloring

I like it better than he does.

Xylophone

No words, just photo.

Click It Up A Notch April Photo Challenge

My favorite picture of the month.

Help!

Our house doesn't let in much light. Probably because the houses on our street are about six inches apart. When Brendan plays near our front sliding glass doors I try to get some pictures using natural light. Unless the sun is shining directly in, I have to max out the ISO (1600). They come out so grainy. Is this normal or is it maybe because I'm still using the kit lens? I'd much rather lower the ISO and use the flash. I have no idea what I'm doing. Tips appreciated!

This had the potential to be a really sweet photo. Bummer.



Where Is Brendan?



Easter Bunny

We waited in line to see the Easter Bunny. I had no idea how Brendan would handle it, but I didn't get my hopes up. He didn't scream. However, I set my camera to Portrait so that I could quickly snap a few pictures without having to fiddle with the settings. Big mistake. I probably could have done better if I had shot on manual and used the flash. Never thought I'd say that!

Hopefully the ones they took there turned out better than mine!

Since I'm once again a working woman, I only get a couple hours a day with my boy. So here's another dinner picture.

Dude can tear up a grilled cheese.



We are working on teaching Brendan to eat with utensils.

We obviously have our work cut out for us.

Didn't Take Us Long

I eat junk when my other half isn't around. Sometimes we eat it when he is around, but a lot of the time he discourages it. Well, his plane hadn't even left the ground today before Brendan and I found ourselves at Popeye's.

I tell myself that it's better to go ahead and eat at Popeye's before we go to the commissary. I justify my choice of Popeye's over Subway with the fact that Brendan can tear up their chicken. But really...it's because I love their popcorn shrimp.



Quarterly Top Five (Jan-Mar)

My five favorite pictures that I've taken so far this year.



There's nothing special about this picture, except that it makes me laugh.

Butterfly Garden



Ryukyu Mura

Today Brendan and I went to Ryukyu Mura. I really didn't know what all was there.

But this guy was worth the trip.



You Capture: Body Parts

I was going for eyelashes but he wouldn't cooperate long enough to let me get a really good one.



Kurashiki Dam

You can call his name till you're blue in the face and he refuses to look at the camera.

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Sunset on the Sea Wall



I have no idea what white balance is. But I found the option to change the white balance on my camera so I changed it to see what would happen. This happened.

????

I was so annoyed because it actually looked like it would have been a decent picture.

So I went straight to Picnik and cropped it and adjusted the colors.

I suppose it's still not great, but I actually kinda like it. I wish his eyes were as bright as in the first one, but the more I look at it, the more it grows on me.



Joy of Love: Day 22-25

I've been so lazy, but here's what I have from the past few days.

Day 22:  Portrait

Day 23:  Facebook

He hates Facebook because he says it causes divorce, so I'll use one I posted on my account.

I couldn't sneak into his office like I did the year before, so I bought the supplies and asked the nice ladies who worked with him to decorate it for his 40th birthday. They did a fabulous job and he was so surprised.

Day 24:  Where

We met in our grandparents' neighborhood back home in Virginia. We got married at the courthouse in Fayetteville, NC. We now live in Okinawa, Japan so I can't get to those places to take a picture. So I'll make do with this one, which I obviously did not take.

We met just a couple months before my grandfather, a WWII hero, died. Right after we got married we went to the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville. My hand is resting on a picture of my grandfather's unit just before they flew into Normandy on D-Day. I still miss you, Papaw.

Day 25: When you love them the most

Cheating again...I took this one last week, but I LOVE getting him out of his crib in the mornings.



Joy of Love: Days 19-21

Day 19

When he isn't home...

...I let the toys stay scattered across the floor.

Day 20

When he is home...

...the baby climbing the stairs problem gets fixed.

Day 21

His hands

He licked his first beater last week. The rest of these pictures can be seen on our family blog. It was strawberry cream cheese icing, and he loved it. He got it everywhere. I love his little pudgy hands.



Joy of Love: Day 18

Going Out

We actually did call a sitter and go out Friday night. It was the first time we left Brendan with this sitter and in the confusion of trying to show her and tell her everything, I left the camera at home. So here are two pictures of us from last weekend at the aquarium.