I've been ...

I've been MIA kind of. I'm lucky if I get to blog once a week lately. Bad Skye! I've been so busy. Each weekend, we have been doing fall stuff like apple picking, pumpkin picking, fall festivals, etc.... and my husband's birthday is coming up this weekend! Ohand let's not forget full time job thrown in the mix too. I've also been taking a Photography class for the month of October over at Faith-Simplicity's blog. I highly recommend taking her SLR class if you can. It's very informative and you get critiqued on your photo submissions. I am learning a lot.  I am also attending a monthly *free* photography workshop given by a local photographer. That is turning out nice. Next week, he is bringing in some professional lighting, and we get to take some pictures and learn about lighting. I think I might bring Julianna as my subject.

I also bought Adobe Lightroom - I have used it before but my trial ran out and I never purchased it until now. I love Photoshop but Lightroom adds something else unique to your editing that you can't do in PS. I might be addicted.

We are also coming close to peak season with the leaves changing... so I want to squeeze in some time to go take some photos of our area soon. I love taking pictures of the trees and nature around our lake here in northern NJ.

Julianna is getting so big too! Almost 17 months! She is a full time walker - finally. She is trying to run but her feet get all tangled up, and down she goes - Boom! She is talking up a storm too - I love when she has a full conversation with Pepper (the dog) or with her stuffed animal - but none of the words make sense. So cute!

Julianna is really loving us reading to her lately. She will actually sit with either me or daddy on the sofa and let us read to her. And she doesn't try to rip out the pages or squirm away. She is also pointing out characters in the book. We taught her (for instance) who baby bunny & grandma bunny is in Goodnight Moon. We also taught her "kittens' in the book. We ask her "Where is baby bunny?" And she points to him in the book. So cute! We have another book called The little lamb (my childhood fav!) that she rubs her nose on the picture of the lamb in the book like she's snuggling with it. It melts my heart how cute it is! She snuggles with all her stuffed animals now including her new pillow pet. She is becoming a big-time snuggler {finally}! She is even snuggling with Daddy & me! We loooove that!

Brian and I were debating what to do for Halloween. At 16 months, it's not like Julianna's going to appreciate Halloween and I am not really a big Halloween person. It's a holiday that I really don't care about (boo hiss boo - i know!). But since everyone wanted to know what she is going to dress up as, we caved in and bought her a costume. She is going to be a Giraffe... and we plan on bringing her to a couple friend's houses.... then to Nana's to trick or treat. Which will consist of her being scared of the pumpkins she sees (b/c they are like balloons) and us holding her going from door to door. No way will she walk around in that big Giraffe get up LOL. And Did I mention, Daddy and I will then eat the child's candy once she goes to bed. Haha.

Random pictures....

Picture from my class that I submitted (indoor beauty around the house)

Julianna taking a break in the pumpkin patch  

Stop and smell the flowers

 John Deere tractor on the farm ...

Scarecrows

Julianna with her new pumpkin shirt on - ready for daycare!