Black and White Wednesday - "Milana's First Apple Picking"

One of the great things about being a parent is all the "firsts".
And even though we're adoptive parents and missed a few of the really big moments like birth and first step and first word, I am very grateful that we get to enjoy so many other firsts.

Last week Milana's little school had a field trip to an apple orchard and I got to tag along.



And watch Miss Wild Thang take in all the sights and smells and tastes.

I tried to capture of few of those moments when she wasn't darting off or tripping over the fallen apples. We did manage to fill our two bags.



It's black and white Wednesday....

....so make sure to visit Lisa's site for all the picture fun.

Milana is changing so fast we can hardly keep up. (And...ummm....somebody tell her mother to cut those bangs, will ya?)

She is such a happy, interested little thing, just dying to grab hold of life (and anything else she can grab) and really take a ride!

And we, of course, are her happy drivers, just trying to keep our balance!

Happy Apple Picking!!!

" High on Happy !! "

A few weeks ago when Dahlia realized she had a ped. day off from school this Friday, she asked me if we could do something special "just the two of us".

Always up for "something special" with my girl, I said "sure, babe, what would you like to do?"

"Mom, can we go to the Museum Art Gallery?"

To which I replied: in my head.

("thank you Lord!!...huh...did I just hear what I heard?")

but audibly

"Ummm.....sure sweetie, why do you want to go to the art gallery?"

Dahlia: "I really want to learn how to be an artist"

Me to self: Ok, I've just died and gone to heaven.

bye-bye!

Linking with Stephanie with this post. Check out her site.



So, that's what we did. Dahlia could hardly sleep all week - waiting for our "girls day downtown" and the only one more excited than she, was

me!!!













I can hardly even put into words how I felt on Friday. I loved everything about our day together and probably will be posting about for awhile (so brace yourselves - fair warned).

I asked Dahlia which was her favorite painting and she immediately picked this one.

"Still Life with Shells and Coral" oil on canvas by Jacques Linard - Paris 1640

Next trip - we'll hit Monet to Picaso.

( I may not sleep til then.)

: )

Black and White Wednesday - "Photo Shoot!"

Last week I had the priviledge of capturing a beautiful Mommy-to-be (her third) with just a few more weeks to go before her due date. Ms N. is a sweet, soft soul whom I've known since we were both on the PTA at the "Little School" for our first girls about 4 years ago. (Our little PTA gang has remained friends and we see each other fairly often.)

So, I'm portfolio building and needed a pregnant gal and asked Ms N. and she was very willing. It was the easiest hour I've ever spent behind the lens. (Ha, she didn't move - not once!) It was noon so I had trouble with a very bright sun and shadows, even through the trees, but this setting just spoke to me.

Ms N. is very zen and this little spot of green had zen written all over it.

Of course, being gorgeous didn't hurt one bit either.

Thank you Ms N. for sitting so pretty for me.

Join Lisa and all the others for some photo fun today.

And have a good one everybody!!

Sunday Snapshot - "Can somebody say....chocolate!"

It was Daddy's birthday last week and we usually go out somewhere yummy for our birthday celebrations but this year Danny asked for only one thing.

An old-fashioned, home-made, gooey, yummy chocolate cake!

That's it....that's all he wanted. (We used to eat cake but almost never do now so this was a real treat.)

And to stay home and eat it. So that's what we did.

And my little helper was almost giddy to get in there and mix the chocolate frosting.

And the requisite taste-test!! Well....yeah!

Can you tell someone has just had a sugar-rush!!! She almost crazed.



A final taste as we heard Daddy coming in the front door.



These girlies sure know how to greet their Daddy.

Happy birthday sweetie!

(oh, and he loooooved the cake!)

=)

Black and White Wednesday - "Our black and white beauty"

Last May, when I posted our finished renovation here, I mentioned I was holding off on showing a little beauty we found.

You see, we had a Yamaha upright piano, purchased with our wedding money a few (ahem) years back. But there really was no room for it anymore on the main floor without crowding things in. (And I'm trying so hard to break that habit.)

So, we decided it would have to go. It simply was too heavy (really, really heavy) to bring upstairs to the loft. It was a fairly easy decision because I knew what we were after. (hehe)

(I didn't anticipate how attached I was to our old piano till I saw it being moved out the door - I kinda, sorta burst into tears.)

But, when I saw our new baby (grand) coming in the door, my mood quickly changed. We had a whole bunch of recording equipment that we weren't using, my old synth. keyboard and 3 of our 4 guitars which were stored under our bed - collecting dust. Sold them all along with our upright and bought....cough....sputter....gasp....

this

Beauty!!!

It's a full recording studio with a full, built-in sound system that can shake the house. And the most gorgeous sounding grand piano with full orchestration capability.





Even though Dahlia hasn't officially started piano lessons, she knows how to turn this on and get all sorts of crazy stuff going. A favorite is - she'll give me a cue like this "ok, Mom...hit it" and I'll shout out "who let the dogs out?" and she'll hit the key that sounds "who...who" - like the dog.
(Get it!)



My Mother, who was really a stage mother in disguise, would have loved this piano and I know she is happy that I continued to play. She'd be thrilled to know Dahlia will be playing too. Dahlia thankfully still has memories of my Mom, playing her piano in her apartment. She remembers it more vividly because she has pictures of her Nan in her little photo album.

(Yet another good reason to capture the moments that count.)

Black and White Wednesday - "Two Chinese Princesses"

And....they're mine!!

How did I get so lucky?

For Lisa's Black and White Wednesday, I thought I'd mess around with some Gaussian Blur in Photoshop. And wow, I had fun. My paint brushes may get a little jealous.

These shots were taken at a recent birthday party and I snapped them quickly (very) with the only background I could find where no one was standing or playing. Dahlia and Milana were surrounded by a chain link fence and the cement of an elevated patio. Not an ideal background so Lisa's workshop instructions came in very handy.

I still have oodles to learn but some of it is slowly sinking in.

Happy Wednesday gentle readers!