Put a sock in it.

This is my sock. (Actually, it's my mom's sock, but it's on my foot...) I show you the sock because it's MUCH cuter than what's underneath the sock, which is a black and blue version of my foot. Yes, the stairs and I had it out this morning, and they won. I was bringing Clara down for breakfast in bed with mommy & somehow I slipped, turning my foot underneath me. I slid down a few steps - got a nice nasty carpet burn & some immediate bruising on my leg/foot, but thankfully Clara was fine. I'm not sure of the status of the foot yet. It's still pretty painful & I haven't been walking on it. The swelling is down, so hopefully, it's just badly bruised and not broken. I'm waiting to see how it goes. Fortunately, Mom was able to come up & help me out today with the girls, as Mallory and Kevin had a date to go see Swan Lake (Houston Ballet) this afternoon. I would have felt horrible if they had to miss it because of my clutziness!!

Rejoice!

The adoption process of our dear friends' son was completed yesterday in court. Here are a couple of shots from their family session I took today.

Our little slugger

Mallory had her inaugural softball game tonight. Although she was hoping for another rain-out, once she got dressed and actually on the field, her spirits seemed lifted and she was more excited about the game. She actually hit the ball, got on base twice, and scored 2 runs! We were proud. The first game actually had to go into an extra inning, because the two teams were tied. We ended up losing 14-18, but I thought for their first effort they did pretty good.

I had to laugh, though. Her fielding reminded me of the Little Golden Book story "Tootle" I used to love as a child. You know the one... about the train who didn't want to stay on the track, but instead ran into the fields to play in the buttercups? Here's my favorite shot of the evening:

And I must take a moment to talk about my photos. Ugg. I haven't been so disatisfied and disappointed about the quality of my work in a long time. The low light/zoom lens/action shot mix was NOT a good one for me. I had many blurry pictures. And how are you supposed to get any good shots through the fence? I can see I have a lot of learning to do in this new genre of photographs. One thing's for sure. With the way her schedule is set up, I'll have PLENTY of time to practice. =)

Picture Perfect

Or maybe not... Here's a shot from today of my poorly failed attempt at getting a photograph of all three of the girls together. I didn't get a single frame-worthy shot, but this one cracked me up. Yes, it appears Lila's trying to eat Clara. Not exactly Hallmark material. It probably didn't help that I was suffering for a migrane at the time and wasn't in the most patient of moods. Oh well. There's always tomorrow! Think anyone would notice if they wore matching clothes two days in a row?

The Photographer's Child

Clara's 6 month shoot

Just a few pictures of Clara I liked from today.

Ever the serious child... this was the closest thing I got to a smile. And believe me I was acting my goofiest...

Wildlife at the Odom House

We found this huge snail outside our front door in the entryway this morning. The girls thought it was cool, but Mallory was disappointed because it wasn't moving...

Night

Taken from an upstairs window looking out past the back yard. Those are apartments across the lake (retention pond). The roof is our garage & the palm tree is in our neighbor's back yard.

Camera Model Canon EOS 20
DShooting Date/Time 2/21/2006 8:17:17 PM
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 6
Av( Aperture Value ) 3.5
ISO Speed 400
No Flash

Leaned on wall next to window & window ledge for support.

If at first you don't succeed...

Jumping back in the saddle so to speak... I lit the fire again tonight. Properly this time. Although now I'm not sure if the vent is open, because the house smelled strongly of gas within 30 minutes, so we turned it off. Pretty sure that's not normal. I'll have to get my handy-man father to look at it before we light it again. So, although it was nice and warm & cozy it may be the last one we have for a while. It's not like we have many cold nights here on the gulf coast anyway...

Learning the hard way

This appears to be a normal, serene fireplace, no? Well, appearances can be deceiving! After church Kevin took the girls out to go pick up food. On a LONG trip in the car to get food to give me a few minutes of peace. Clara had a very cranky day (I believe we're cutting our first tooth), but was finally asleep.

I get cold.

Laura's bright idea ~ start a fire in our cool "fake" fireplace. So, I turn the gas on while I try to light my match (mistake number one). Match doesn't light, but breaks in half, so I have to get another match. That one works, so I stick the match in the fireplace.

WOAH!!!

A massive burst of rolling flames lunges at me. I think I screamed. I'm not sure if I kicked the wall, or if the burst of energy shook it, but the large (2 ft x 3 ft) framed poster that I had sitting on the mantle waiting to hang (mistake number two) proceeded to fall off the mantle, and on top of me & the tile flooring directly in front of the fireplace. It shattered into a bazillion peices. I cleaned up tiny shards of glass for at least 45 minutes to an hour. A piece even knicked my new rockin' coffee table. Total bummer.

Come to find out, you should never turn on the gas BEFORE lighting the match. You should have your lit match already in the fireplace when you turn the gas on. Guess I should have researched that a little better.

And by the way, I'm fine. I thought I scorched my foot, but it appears fine this morning, and I got a cut on my finger that bled for a while, but it's only a bit sore. It was pretty scarey. I'm just thankful that I wasn't as seriously hurt as I could have been & that the kids weren't around to see me make my huge faux pas.

Me & My Girls

My natural born leader.

My spirited genius.

My angel baby.

New Props

This morning I made a run to the Walgreens down the block to get some necessities - namely milk, cheerios and a box of Valentine candy on clearance. I saw these flowers in a bin (2 for $5) and thought they would make cute photo props, so I picked a few up. Of course, the girls immediately spied them when I got home, and in an instant, my oldest was a flower peddler, selling flowers to anyone around the house that would buy them. As is common when I get a new prop, suddenly she's ready for a photo shoot! I had to take these during her rest time so that she didn't know I had the camera out.

ISO=400, Shutter Speed 1/30, Aperture 5.6, Natural light from window, adjusted levels in PSE with the "set black point" dropper.

Lila's smile

Someone pointed out to me recently that Lila's mouth doesn't turn upwards when she smiles. I can't believe she's 21 months old and I never noticed it before - but it's true! I guess I never noticed because her whole face just radiates when she smiles. It's so precious and contagious!

This is a picture I took yesterday. She dumped this bin of blocks over and was using it as a "stage." Leave it to my little entertainer to find a way to perform!

Outtakes

So, my Valentine's project was to make a collage for dh. I got these great wooden wall letters on clearance at Pottery Barn Kids (thanks Catherine!), and took pictures of each of the girls. Mallory even took a picture of me so we had the whole "XOXO" thing going on. Here were a few of the outtakes.

And, btw, the Valentine was a hit. Mallory was so excited about having a secret from Daddy, and actually did a pretty good job about keeping it. I think he knew it was picture-related, but of course that's a pretty good guess around these parts anyway.

The older girls were pretty amiable for the pictures. Clara didn't want anything to do with them. In the end I was happy to get one where she wasn't screaming. I actually did take some random pics on V-day of the girls, but I haven't downloaded them from the camera yet.