It's the most wonderful time of the year.....took a little journey out tonight to enjoy some Christmas music and holiday lights!
An eventful Saturday....started the day with dance, gymnastics, haircuts, Trolls, whew...we are tired, but never too tired for a back-walkover party! All anniversaries are so important, but this one is monumental ....we are officially married 8 years which is now longer than we dated by 1 year! Scott is so excited for our anniversary tomorrow he made me pull out the wedding video while we sip on wine, what a romantic....can you believe it? OK completely teasing, but if it wasn't for him we would never have our video! The story is we were a bit delayed in getting our video....4 years to be exact....so why not pull out on our 8th year anniversary along with some of our favorite pictures to remember our special day...can't wait to celebrate our happy ever after tomorrow! Want to remember this moment in time, so happy the two of us made time to check out new spots around town including some sweet photographs in celebration of her 6th birthday! I love how we can see her personality shine in each and every shot....silly, shy, strong, sweet, thoughtful, full of excitement and so loving. We can't wait to see what special surprises this year holds for you! xoxo
Life is not slowing down and I am doing my best to balance everything…..whether it be my advertising career, creative freelancing, keep up with responsibilities, friend time - just about anything and everything...but most importantly enjoying each moment with my children as they are growing up way too fast! While I originally started my blog as a way to share freelance work, I found great joy in creating a peek inside our world, for myself and my family…..the.byrdak5.blog is our scrapbook, our way to remember special moments in time.
Truth be told, I am more productive when I’m busy. That describes current life perfectly as I have several work trips planned in additional to fall photo sessions happening on the weekends. But the great news is that I’m inspired, while capturing beautiful memories for everyone, it reminds me to take my camera with me for my own family and enjoy the moments as they are happening. This past weekend we spontaneously took a quick drive to our 2 favorite parks following by ice cream dessert. The pictures captured speak to each of my children’s personalities, how they interact with each other and what they enjoy to do! { It’s our special trip, and we are enjoying the moment } The Halloween magic is strong in our house this week....the kids get so excited to dress up as their favorite characters and enjoy seeing all of the other costumes during the festivities. While I wish I could still coordinate outfits, I do love how they all have such unique interests and each picked one that reflects their personality perfectly. We started the boys outfit with a white sweatshirt and sweatpants, after a trip to Joanne's with several yards of colorful felt, it was cutting and heat bonding time to bring Marshall from Paw Patrol and Buzz Lightyear to life. Kyleigh was originally planning a chocolate chip cookie shopkin, but a last minute switch to batgirl turned out to be a really cute outfit that we created out of a black leotard. With halloween in 1 day, we have been so lucky to already get good use out of the costumes between dance and school parties. The real fun is the trick-or-treating part and can't wait for some beautiful weather this year! While I usually have every intention of creating a tutorial on my progress, I typically keep cranking along that I forget to take a step back to photograph. This time, I did take a few, doesn't give the entire process, but a quick sneak into some of the details. This is the first time I have used my silhouette for anything other than paper and I absolutely loved it! Also, would love to learn how to sew one of these days, but the heat bond I used was amazing, so glad I did not even attempt a glue gun.
All in all the kids are in LOVE with the costumes and so am I.....Happy Halloween everyone!!! It's that time of year again, we pack up our bags and head to the lake for some beautiful weather, company and leave full with lots of memories...and apples! Love this tradition that we have kept going for 15 years and counting. Each year I ask the kids what was their favorite part and the answers are always so cute (apples, pumpkins, boat ride, shopping)....my answer is always a given, capturing candid pictures and looking back at them from years past to see how much the kids have grown { and how incredibly young the parents stay, ha } a close second is the wine tasting! Our yearly group picture, we need to find all 15! Thank you so much Tim and Heather for hosting us at your lake house always so much fun to spend this time together as a family....until next year!
I'm going to try something new this post....a behind the scenes editing before and after! Something great to keep in mind if you have a cute prop or clothing that doesn't exactly match the look and feel you are going for, there is a way to tweak the color in photoshop to make it look more consistent.
In one of the examples below, for a 1st birthday shoot Hadley's mommy and daddy brought an adorable red wagon. To help match the cute light pink bow and bloomers I adjusted the wagon to match the color scheme....you don't realize what a difference it makes until you do a side by side set up.
Another example is from yesterday right before picture day.....the yellow boots were not part of the plan, but with the rain pouring down we had no choice. For fun, we turned them pink to match the dress and love the final output!
Some colors are too light or too dark to adjust and not look funny, but it's great for bright accents. Looking forward to the upcoming photoshoots I have this weekend and keep this in mind as you are planning out your color scheme!
Don't worry Caleb, I promise summer will be here again before we know it! This summer was sure filled with lots of fun in the sun....we tried to enjoy the beautiful weather outside each and every day. While we are sad to see it come to a close.... could not let the season slip by without some pictures of our fun filled pool day this past weekend. Thank you so much to my parents for having us over....crossing my fingers next year the boys will know how to swim as good as Kyleigh does now...winter swim lessons here we come!
The morning of Kyleigh's birthday, I asked her if she felt any different, and she said...."I think I am taller". How cute is that?!?
In order to celebrate her birthday, we took a mid-day break in the week, Scott and I both took the day off to spend time as much time as possible with Kyleigh on her special day. It started with all 5 of us at the bus stop seeing her off to school. From there, we took the boys went to pick out the perfect cake and then off to party city for balloons. By the time we were complete it was time to pick her up from school {thanks to the kindergarten 1/2 days}! The boys were so excited to give Kyleigh her cards, balloon's and cake that was the first thing we did when she walked in the door. From there we went out to lunch at her favorite Panera and then Kyleigh decided she wanted to go painting again, followed by a bike ride and a home cooked dinner. I hope this year was one to remember and can't wait to see what the #6 holds for you!
After purchasing my second {and final - for now} new lens I could not wait to test it out....and what better way than on my own family. I am definitely not a big sky kinda girl, but really I did want to try it out with my new wide angle lens. I pulled some outfits out of our own closet, coordinated the best I was able and took a walk with the hubby and kiddos to the lake in our neighborhood this weekend to try it out.
With the camera set on the tripod in the perfect position, we set the timer to take 50 shots in a row to give Scott time to run up the hill and join us all. And we literally just spend time playing around with the kiddos in hopes for some pictures we will always remember. My favorite is how Christian had a Star Wars figure in his hand for all of the pictures and Caleb a noticeable handfuls of grass - the real deal here....we had so much fun and ended the day with a trip to our local ice cream store! .....and that's a wrap.....
Such excitement leading up to the first day of school, and the good news is most of the tears were on my part {which is not surprising}. But definitely a happy cry, I can't get over how much they have grown up! Just pulled an old picture out from when the boys started going to school with Kyleigh, and she was in the Junior pre-school class - the same one the boys just started last week....all 3 of them look so little. It's amazing to see how much they have grown and excited for the year ahead!
Cheers to pre-school and kindergarten!
What better way to enjoy a summer night than to take a walk to our local carnival to let the kids experience the color wonder. They loved taking everything in, the music, lights, people and rides....but most of all the ice cream and popcorn.
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