Cozy Living

Pumpkin Patch Photo Tips

Aaaahhh...the weather may still be hot, the leaves may still be green, but we know it's fall around here when we begin our annual visits to the pumpkin patch.  This is perhaps my favorite place and time of the entire year to take pictures of my boys.  I look forward to this all year round, and I LOVE the pictures we take there.  Considering that I saw so many moms there this year trying to capture that perfect pumpkin patch picture, I thought I'd throw in my two cents about how to get some good ones.

1. Go right when the pumpkin patch opens, or just before it closes.  The lighting for photos is muted and soft in the early morning and just before sunset, and the patch is usually less crowded, making it easier to get shots without other people's kids in them.  Avoid the weekends.  The middle of the day is the worst time for photos, because it's crowded and the direct sunlight overhead causes crazy face shadows.  Or best of all, go on a cloudy day, when the light is diffused just perfectly!  If you are stuck there at noon, move into some shade (not dappled shade...it makes uneven shadows on the faces)  The photo of Jake above, from last year, was taken as the sun went down...I love the warm glow.  Hasn't he grown up this year?

2. Go more than once!  We take advantage of October by visiting the pumpkin patch two or three times.  That way I can view one of the times as a "photo shoot" more than an outing, knowing that on at least the first outing, my main goal is to take pictures.  I don't feel like I'm missing out on the moment if I know we'll be back again.  If you plan on using these for a Christmas card or a scrapbook, like me, consider dressing the kids in the same clothes each time you go, so that your pictures will all coordinate on your future cards or scrapbook pages. (I realize this sounds totally contrived, but really, they wear the same clothes every now and then anyway, so why not make sure they wear them to the pumpkin patch each time?)

3. Look for different textures in your background...old wood fences, bales of hay, dried cornstalks all contrast nicely with the soft skin tones in your photos.  Just make sure the tree trunk and the cornstalk aren't sticking straight out of your kid's head!  This photo of Tyler from last year has such nice contrast in it (and speaking of boys growing up...can you believe how big he's gotten in a year?!)

4. Take tons of pictures.  I think I downloaded over 400 pictures from this, our first visit to the patch.  I know, I know, but if you keep your camera set to continuous shooting mode, you can get the perfect expressions on your kids before they're gone.  And when you get home, DELETE most of them.  My current folder holds 41 photos from those 400, which is still too many for me, so I'll probably get it down to 25ish in the coming weeks, as I only keep the very best.  If you take a lot of pictures, you're bound to get at least a few fabulous ones.

5. Don't dress your kids in orange or in bold patterns.  My favorite is jeans and a plain, richly colored shirt or flannel.  You don't want your kid to blend into the pumpkins in the picture or their shirt to be the focal point of the photo.

5. Let the kids be silly...don't order them around, don't tell them to smile, just follow them around, snapping pictures as you go.  Every once in a while I'd say to the boys, "Okay, if you'll sit here and take a few pictures, then we'll go in the hay maze again afterwards." Also, stay for a while and let them enjoy themselves.  That's when you'll get the natural smiles.  I got lots of these lame (but funny) pictures...

in order to get to this picture below, my favorite.  They only gave me these natural smiles after the pumpkin they were sitting on fell over...pumpkin-lanche! They thought this was hilarious and we spent probably 10 minutes causing pumpkin-lanches as I took pictures.  Be patient.

6. If all else fails, bribery can work.  Not for my Tyler, who's in the "here's my horrible fake 'cheese' smile" that I do not want in my photos.  But if your kids are older it might work.  Our bribe for Jake was an Icee for everyone to share with our picnic lunch. Which I probably would've bought anyway, but he doesn't have to know that.  

Here's one of my favorites from last year...a friend asked me if I set this up, and the answer is, not particularly...the boys are used to holding hands in public places so I can keep track of them, so that's nothing new, but I did ask them to hold hands as the walked to the hay maze, even though it wasn't crowded, and I just held back and took this from behind them. 

Happy Fall to everyone!  I'm going to the mountains for a retreat for the weekend (aaahhh...silence, peace, quiet, renewal.) See you next week.

A Few of My Favorite Things...day 4

...playing the piano while the boys spin and dance with all their hearts.

We started this activity way back before Tyler was even born, and Jake would flip and spin and roll around on the floor as I played for him.  As we've been reading the Little House on the Prairie series I've been so jealous of their evenings singing with Pa's fiddle, but have lately realized that this is our own version.  I'll begin playing and the boys will yell out, "adagio!" for me to play slower and they'll dance slower, then "allegro" or "presto" and I'll play as fast as I can while they run and dance with everything they've got, until they fall in heaps onto the floor.  When they get a little older and I have some daily moments to myself, I look forward to re-learning some of my old piano pieces.  I love the quiet of the house filled with the warm tones of classical music.

I began piano lessons in second grade, and continued on with them more or less regularly for the next twelve years.  This piano is my grandmother's, and has brought me moments of peace and calm in the midst of wonderful, crazy, and horrible life moments.  When Jake was an infant and couldn't be consoled, I'd sit down with him and play for him, and he would settle in against my chest, leaning back, mesmerized by the music. At the moment, I can really only remember how to play a few favorite pieces, but I do hope that at least one of my boys will show an interest someday in learning to play.  Wouldn't it be fun to play a duet together with my little boy?  For now, they're playing cacophonous duets of their own...

Digging Dinosaurs

I am pleased to report that a new obsession has slowly been claiming territory in our home, now that trains seem to be chugging their way into the sunset...(and by slowly, I mean that trains are being played with more like several times a week, rather than several times a day.)

I must say, I'm ready for the dinosaurs to roll in.  They really are awe-inspiring, aren't they?  And to think that they were really here wandering around and ever so big...it's fascinating to me.  You may have noticed the dinosaur birthday party and dino arranging, so perhaps you knew where we were headed if you have older boys who've been through this.  In any case, I do love an opportunity to teach my boys multi-syllabic words like carnivore, habitat, and brachiosaurus.  

Jake won a contest in our local newspaper, so we all got to go see "Walking with the Dinosaurs: Live" which is exactly what it sounds like: life-sized dinosaurs tromping around the stadium, leaving us all in awe of their size and grandeur.  The music and lighting and the dinosaurs combined for many a dropped jaw, and a few hours of enjoying each others' amazed faces.

How else could a mom respond but with freezer paper stenciled dinosaur shirts?  I'm sure I'm the last person on earth to try freezer paper stencils, and they're really so easy that I plan to do a few more. (helicopter and jet have been ever so fervently requested. uncle rob, the pilot, will be so proud.)  It's also a perfect way to hide stains on old shirts...not that we have any stains around here, ahem.  In case you, like me, missed this fashion design boat, check out this tutorial for directions.  And I'll leave you with a few photos of the process. 

A Few of My Favorite Things...day 2

...the feeling of the heat of the pool deck warming your whole body after a dip in the pool.

(Don't miss the chance to enter Sunday's birthday giveaway...head on back there to enter with a comment.) 

What we found at the top of the stairs...

...and a while back...

..and another night in the top bunk...

I'm so enjoying peeking in on the boys in these little quiet moments.

(by the way, to capture these late night moments I change to TV mode on my SLR camera and set it to a long exposure...not the fractions...and brace the camera against something so it doesn't shake.)

Is This Illegal?

I certainly hope not, because it sure is a lot of fun.  No one report us for child abuse, please.  Oh yes, the disclaimer: No children were harmed in the filming of this event. 

 

 

   

 

Here's wishing you some fun in your day...whether it's just doing something silly, reading a book you love, laughing with a friend, tickling a little one, or even flying through the air to land on a billowy bed.  (Well, you never know who might get a chance to do that today!) 

P.S. Photos taken with a high shutter speed to stop the action (my SLR camera set on TV mode) with a bounce flash off the ceiling...if you don't have an external flash yet for your SLR, get one!  I've purposely kept all my ceilings white in the house so indoor flash pictures look natural, by aiming the flash at the ceiling for this bounce flash look.  (And how often do you shoot with a flash in the house? my husband would ask...good point. Okay, so the ceilings are white because I'm lazy.)  Although I do admit the lighting in these is rather surreal looking, but I think it works with this subject.

Bringing the Outside In, Literally.

If you, like me, live in the suburbs or in some kind of urban area, you know that we have to get our nature where we can. Today, it took the form of two grasshoppers and a tomato hornworm at our house. Please don't laugh at us, you country living people. We who love the earth do so wish that we could share in the joys of your acres of farmland and variety of creatures. Alas, we cannot. We city dwellers have to find our excitement (and creature excitement for our children) in the pests that come uninvited to destroy our measly city gardens. Okay, I just speak for myself here about the measly garden, I guess. But please, bear with me.

We saw this little guy from inside the window and just had to get out to visit with him. After Jake, who is always naked if he can be, got dressed, we all ran outside to see if we were in time to catch him, and yes, we were. He had a friend, too. They had most likely been terrorizing my lettuce, but let's not talk about that. Let's talk about how exciting it is to try to catch a tiny grasshopper in a tiny bug box. My, how they jump! (and make mamas scream!) The boys were sad that his friend got away, and thought he might get lonely. But no, he would have company...

...because there is this beautiful fellow. Oh, he looks so gorgeous and innocent. He is not. He is a tomato hornworm; the second one we have caught decimating our poor tomato plants before they've even had a chance to live. My precious heirloom green zebra tomato plant and my beefsteak tomatoes, I daresay, will not be recovering this year. Any organic/child-friendly pest repellants out there that you'd like to share with me?

Those of you who live in suburbia know what comes next. Do we city folk kill our pests? No, we bring them inside for scientific study. Oh, the things we do for our children. I am desperately hoping we can keep the tomato hornworm alive long enough to see him go into his cocoon. Wouldn't that be the coolest thing for a two and four year old to experience?

So I guess we're all the same then, us city folks and you country birds. We're all looking for a little excitement for our little ones, and we'll get it whatever way we can. I'll try to remember to keep you posted on our outdoor (now indoor) friends.

No-Win Mini Golf

Well, Greg wanted a family evening out since he and I are leaving the wee ones this weekend and he was feeling sad about not hanging out with them any other nights this week.

Hence, miniature golf. What I realized as we played is that I love the fact that our boys do not know that this is supposed to be a competition. They LOVE trying to get their balls in the hole, no matter how many strokes it takes. Jake keeps hitting and hitting until he gets it in, then pumps his arm and cheers for himself. Yes, every time. Tyler hits once, then chases the ball, picks it up and takes it near the hole and sets it down to try to hit it in. No, he doesn't place it IN the hole (and gets upset if it accidentally rolls in) because he knows he's supposed to hit it in. What funny boys.

Greg and I are both extremely competitive. Could this be why Jake cries whenever he loses a game of Sorry!? Our poor boy has a rough road ahead, game-wise. So thank goodness for these sweet two and four year old days, where no one knows it's a competition, and everyone has a ball.

I'm thankful that we've chosen not to emphasize the winning and the losing of most activities we encounter. There will be plenty of time for that later. For now, our boys will cheer for themselves and keep on swinging and enjoy the journey itself, not just the destination.

Tyler.

My little T. 

He is just at that cute cute cute stage, you know?  That stage when everything they do drives you crazy and everything they say makes you die of happiness? "Mommy? Mommy, go thir' flo'r, Mommy, find cars, Mommy?" Yes, I assured him, you can go up and find some cars. "Oh! I nee' hug kiss, Mommy." 

He needs a hug and a kiss goodbye and perhaps even a shooting 'I love you' (sign language for 'I love you' shot towards the one being loved as if you're shooting a spider-man web or a laser gun or something, accompanied by a shooting noise. This created for saying goodbye to Daddy when he leaves for work in the morning and he's already gotten to the car before you had a chance to say 'I love you.')

My little T. Who repeats everything we say, and sometimes even things other people say, much to their amusement. (i.e. Man in Home Depot today who said, 'I love you. Bubbye,' on his cell phone and got to listen to our little T repeat the phrase over and over while we searched for wheelbarrow tire tubes.)

My little T. Who says the most adorable prayers, mentioning everyone we know (some of them doubled up, like 'CorinneLuke' and 'RobAmy.') Who has now begun including the pets of everyone we know, as well. He takes forever to pray but always ends with the most adorable "Aaaaaaaaay-MEN!"  

My little T. Who somehow innately has the most generous spirit and love and concern for others. Who always needs to know where everyone is (not just family anymore, but also our closest friends, their nanny, their pets, our acquaintances.) He is always worried when someone he loves isn't nearby and constantly asks about them.

Tyler, we just can't get enough of you right now.