Day 18 {natalia's birthday party}

We had a very busy day today. We went to my beautiful niece Natalia's 3rd birthday party. I didn't take as many pictures as usual, but I took a few. Ava didn't have time to come up with new nicknames for the boys today, so I will narrate using additional nicknames from yesterday.

The morning started off as it usually does with me forgetting to put my flash card back in the camera after taking it out the night before. The shot I have been after for three weeks set itself up and my camera wasn't ready to go. We have Ikea baskets in our living room and the boys always have to pull everything out of it. Sometimes they have a hard time reaching into the very bottom and fall into the basket.

Well, Dee Dee (Owen) fell in today going after a bottle and I missed it. I went upstairs right away and got my camera figuring I wouldn't have a chance again. But I no sooner came into the living room and Anysing (Ethan) fell in head first.



Dee Dee (Owen - left) and Anysing (Ethan - right) helping me with my hair.



Playing peek-a-boo with Dee Dee in the car.



Anysing having a nap in the car.



Blowing out the candles...



The balloons...





The drinks (for the adults of course). We had delicious and easy to make Razzmopolitans.



Here is the recipe if you are interested:

Razzmopolitan

1 pkt. CRYSTAL LIGHT Tangerine Grapefruit Low Calorie Drink Mix

5 cups cold water

2 cups low calorie cranberry raspberry drink

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

PLACE drink mix in plastic or glass pitcher. Add cold water; stir until drink mix is dissolved.

ADD cranberry raspberry drink and lime juice. Stir. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

POUR into sugar-rimmed martini glasses.

Substitute

For an adults-only version, omit 1/2 cup water and add 1/2 cup vodka.

Thanks for looking!

A few from the pumpkin patch

We're on the ball this year with the pumpkin patch pictures done already. I took a pile of pictures but am too tired to work on them tonight.

Here are a couple for now.

Owen in his monkey costume...



Ethan in his dragon costume...



You may be wondering why the dragon costume looks familiar. Here is a picture from the fall of '06. A certain other little McDougall wore the same costume:



I remember this day very well. Upon arrival at the pumpkin patch, I discovered my camera case had decided to lock on its own. After ten minutes of trying to force it open with a tire iron we gave up and I had to shoot with my dad's Nikon. *GASP*. A Nikon. Better than nothing I guess. ;)

If you are wondering why I am tired (other than the fact that we have three kids under the age of 2-1/2) - it's because it was a late night last night:





This one goes out to my sister who I would have put money on as the screamer at the beginning of the first clip, but it was shot from a different section than the one we were sitting in. :)



Thanks for looking and thanks for a great time last night, ladies!

(I should add that although these clips are from the show we went to, these are not my clips.)

A few more swing pictures

Here are a few more pictures of Ava on the swing.

Ava had a spectator...





Some fun with panning which is not easy when the subject is moving back and forth instead of just one direction...



I leave you with a clip from one of my favourite shows - Desperate Housewives. I just have to say IT'S ABOUT TIME.

Recent layouts

Here are a couple of layouts I created recently. I won't bore you with the details so if you have any questions about any of my supplies or how I did something, please post a comment or send me an email.

Ava & Nana




12 Months of You



Oh and it's Thursday tomorrow. Grey's Anatomy is a two hour episode which will also launch Addison's new show. What could be better than that?

Pictures that are kind of new

I say that because they are new in the sense that you guys haven't seen them before. Because Ava had the measles this week and because I only see her for a few hours a day now that I am working, I haven't been able to take many pictures lately. I am hoping to take some new ones this weekend and sometime in the near future I hope to do my sister's engagement pictures. I don't usually do pictures of adults, so this will be different for me.

Anyway, here are some pictures to keep you coming back until I start posting some new stuff. These pictures are random shots from the past three months...



I also leave you with some McDreamy eye candy since tomorrow is Thursday...

Rest in peace, Charles.

Unfortunately, Charles the bunny has passed away. It's a shame - he was a good rabbit and he was a real pleasure to work with.

Thursday again...

It's Thursday...

Ava is one

Exactly one year ago today my sister and dad took these photos...





















To celebrate Ava's first birthday, I leave you with a clip from one of my favourite shows...

It's Thursday again...

This is by far my favourite day of the week. I leave you with a new picture and another video of clips from Grey's Anatomy...

This picture was taken during our walk on Tuesday when the temperature hit 20 degrees C. Ava hates wearing sunglasses but doesn't mind them on her head (which is exactly like me - I wear them more as a hair accessory). Or maybe it was the fact that the band made her ears stick out that bothered her. :)

It's Thursday...

you know what that means...

Inspiration

In case you were wondering, a lot of my inspiration comes from watching old movies and listening to music. I listen to music (usually very loud) when I edit pictures and listen to anything from Keith Urban to the Beatles to Boston. I also LOVE old movies from the 1930s - 1950s. How can you not be inspired when the men wore tuxedos all the time and the women wore fabulous hats and dresses? Too bad that look has been replaced with baggy pants and white socks with black dress pants...

I get inspiration overload watching this Keith Urban video. If only Arthur had an aquaduct...



And here is my current favourite - Grace Kelly by Mika. A great song to listen to in the car over and over again. Melissa, Ava and I listened to it at least five times today when we went on a road trip.

The big one

30. It's all fun and games until it happens to you.

To mark the beginning of this chapter, here is a quote from my favourite movie which happens to be about a girl in her thirties:

"At times like this, continuing with one's life seems impossible and eating the entire contents of one's fridge seems inevitable.
I have two choices--
to give up and accept permanent state of spinster hood and eventual eating by dogs...or not.
And this time, I choose not.
I will not be defeated by a bad man and an American stick insect.
Instead, I choose vodka and Chaka Khan."

- Bridget Jones