Family Photos

I am by no means a professional photographer; I've had my DSLR camera for about four years now, and I'm still learning about ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and the like. A lot of the pictures I take are trial and error (mostly error), but there are a few times that I've surprised myself.

This year's family pictures are one of those times.

My depression and anxiety tend to get worse during winter/the holidays, so I'm always scrambling to get a good picture of the family, mainly because I forget to schedule a sitting. This year, I decided Thanksgiving Day was a good time to attempt a picture. We weren't due for dinner at my cousin's house until 2:30pm, so there was time.

Our living room has high ceilings and one wall full of windows, which brings in a lot of natural light. Most of the time, we don't have to turn on the lights until night time because it's so well lit during the day. So I had Scott and the boys move the furniture around, and hung up a white bedsheet.

With a few snaps, a lot of setting adjustments, and a whole lot of Photoshop, here's the end result:

Not too bad, right? I was pleasantly surprised at how decent they turned out. I'm also glad that everyone cooperated so nicely, because in the past, photo taking has been the equivalent to pulling teeth.

Ryan and the Great Hair Debacle

Ryan is gone at the moment, enjoying a day date with a group of friends before the Sadie Hawkins Dance tonight, but there was a little hiccup in getting to today. I'm not sure if he inherited his Dad's penchant for wanting good hair all the time or if it's just him being a teenage boy, but Ryan takes pride in his hair. And, I mean wakes-up-at-6am-for-school-so-he-has-time-to-get-his-hair-perfect pride.

No, seriously.

I'm still in bed while he gets up, takes a shower and works on his hair. By the time he's done, I'm usually up, trying to make him breakfast because he doesn't eat if I don't.

But, I digress.

His hair is short on the side, but relatively long on top. Well, it was until yesterday. Oh, and he called it his "fluff." Anyway, in preparation for the dance, I took him to get his hair cut at one of the hair salons (?) near us. In hindsight, that should have been my first clue that things wouldn't turn out well. His "fluff" is important and he won't let just anyone touch it. We had the mom of one of his best friends cut it after a string of disappointments, and she was the only one Ryan would let near his hair.

Unfortunately, she moved last week.

So, Ryan decided to put his trust in one of the local stylists, and off we went. He knew exactly how he wanted his hair cut, and told the stylist when she asked. She repeated his instructions and they came to an agreement, so off Ryan went to the chair.

When he was done, I immediately noticed two things that were wrong: 1) his hair was noticebaly shorter on top and not styled at all in Ryan's preference, and 2) he had The Look on his face.

As a parent, I'm sure other parents know what I'm talking about. That expression your child gets when something hasn't gone their way but they don't want to make a scene. Yeah, Ryan had that look. To his credit, he was still polite to the woman even though I could tell he was not pleased at all at the outcome. So I quickly paid for the cut and ushered him out of there.

He let loose the moment the car door closed.

Apparently, despite repeating his instructions to him several times while he was back there, the stylist proceeded to cut his fluff. Ryan was so shocked that he didn't say anything, and by the time he could, it was too late. I told him that maybe she thought the style he wanted was something entirely different than what he thought it was. He still wasn't happy.

And, sometimes all you can do is just be angry and upset until the situation passes, which is what I let Ryan do once we got home. I mean, there really wasn't anything that could be done, so I left him alone to try and salvage his 'do.

And, I'll be honest, when he came back upstairs after washing and styling his hair, I thought it looked good. But, I'm just the mom, so what do I know, right? It's his hair and HE could tell the difference, so I stopped trying to assure him that it looked good. His friends came to pick him up for their group date moments later after her came upstairs, so we just let the conversation end there.

If his hair is anything like mine (which I think it is), it'll grow quick, and all of this will be forgotten. But, we still have to figure out what to do when the next haircut rolls around.

Oh, boy.

My lil' baker

For the longest time, the only things Vanessa ever showed in an interest in was video games and My Little Pony. She also has dance and piano lessons which she enjoys, but that was all she seemed to do.

Recently, she's been going to Activity Days (a youth group for 8-11 year old girls at our church) with her best friend. They attend the group in my parents neighborhood and the leader teaches the girls all sorts of fun stuff.

This week, she taught them how to make an easy "pie." All it is, is a slice of bread rolled up with pie filling, covered with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and baked until toasty. Vanessa made several for us to try when she got home, and it was so good, we asked her to make some for dessert the next night. She was happy to oblige.

The next Martha Stewart, maybe?

Since then, she's made her pies, trying the different pie fillings, and she's also taken to asking to help me when I bake. So far, she's helped me bake cupcakes, chocolate cake, and pumpkin cookies. And, with the holidays coming up, she's excited to try her hand at pumpkin cheesecake and homemade fudge. I love the sparkle in her eyes and the smile she has when she asks, "Are you baking today, Mom?"

Who can say no to her enthusiasm?

Jeff's Baptism

This happened earlier today.

Jeff turned 8 years old back in September, but he really wanted his big brother Ryan to baptize him, so we had to wait for Ryan's 16th birthday in November. We had the boys' interviews with the bishop on the previous Sunday, then half an hour before the baptism, Ryan was ordained as a Priest. It truly was a blessing to witness, but I did so good at not bursting into tears of happiness...maybe a few sniffles here and there, but nothing major, ha!

Here's another picture of my handsome guy. That smile is so tame compared to when he came up and out of the water. I swear his cheeks were frozen in huge smile that just wouldn't quit!

It was a fantastic day filled with the Spirit, and I am so proud of Jeff and his decision to be baptized. He has such great faith in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and I can see the love he has for them in everything that he does. His testimony grows stronger each day, and he is such a shining example of what a child of God is.

Congratulations, Jeff! We love you so much!

Celebrating

This is what our house looks like at the moment: a mob of teenagers packed in to celebrate Ryan's 16th birthday. I didn't want to intrude, so I had to be a bit quick and sneaky with this pic.

Jeff informed me that there are 30 of them right now (several are down in the basement family room), but Ryan let me know beforehand that more would be coming later (the party started at 4:30pm and will go until about 11pm). I've always thought I had a big house (well, people have always commented on its size whenever they come over), but stick a crowd of teens in here and that opinion soon changes.

Let the fun begin!

UPDATE: At one point, Jeff counted about 55 kids altogether. Yikes! No wonder the house was so messy when we got up the next morning. No damage or anything like that because they were all very polite and friendly kids, just fallen food on the floors and overflowing garbage cans. As they left the party, they all thanked Scott and I for having them over; great kids, I tell ya!

All about Ryan

Today is this handsome kid's birthday! He turns 16 years old today!

As per our family tradition, we took him out to dinner to the restaurant of his choice: Wild Buffalo Wings. The older two have been there before, but Vanessa and Jeff have never been. If you're not familiar with it, it's a sports bar and grill, with lots and lots of tv sets hanging on every wall.

Needless to say, the boys were all in awe.

I tried taking pictures of Ryan, but he was too quick. It reminded me of the time when he was about 16 months old and developed an aversion to taking pictures, lol. Here's one of my attempts:

Everyone else was willing to smile for the camera.

Even Ethan, although he looked a bit surprised when I snapped the photo.

And, this one is always happy to take a picture, although he told me to hurry because he was watching a motor cross event on one of the big screens.

It was nice celebrating with just us and the kids enjoyed the food. We also told some lame jokes, which are always entertaining, and even the birthday boy laughed! Afterwards, we stopped by Baskin Robbins to get an ice cream cake, then headed home to devour it before it melted. It was nice and quiet, exactly what Ryan wanted.

16 Reasons Why I Love Ryan:

1. He tells me he loves me without any prompting.

2. He hugs me goodbye before leaving the house.

3. He's so smart! Honor Roll and AP classes, yo!

4. He can be kind and loving to his siblings when he wants to be.

5. He's polite and has manners.

6. He tries to treat everyone well.

7. His friends look up to him.

8. He's so talented at playing lacrosse.

9. He enjoys lame jokes as much as I do.

10. He admires his dad.

11. He makes me laugh.

12. He's a hard worker.

13. He still watches cartoons and Disney movies with us.

14. He'll hang out with me on occasion.

15. He makes friends easily.

16. Other people are impressed by him overall.