a little bit of me.

{HHI}

"I saw 7 jellyfish & 4 dolphin!!!"

...Is what Evan had to tell his class about our weekend in Hilton Head, and I kinda love that.

...I couldn't have asked for a better mother's day.  HHI is officially my #happyplace

:)

{The Phone Photography Project - A New Class!}

I am so so SO excited to tell you about THIS today...

The Phone Photography Project is the newest online class from Big Picture Classes.  We all know that I LOVE my iPhone for pics (as documented by my Friday Phone Favorites!) - & I was so incredibly honored to be asked to be a contributing teacher to this class - which is really more like a series of workshops, with ALL the topics and various points of view that will be included.

The class focuses on one of my favorite times of year - SUMMER - and making the most out of your camera phone photos.

Summer at our house is lazy mornings, beach days, splash park slides, and family time.  Which ends up being the time of year that I'm most likely NOT to have my "big-girl" camera (aka SLR) with me, and instead will end up using my iPhone 4S as my camera to document the kids and our adventures.

I love that this class allowed me to share MY OWN strategies and techniques with you for getting the most from your camera phone pics - and ALSO that it will allow me to learn from everyone else!!!

Take a peek at this video Big Picture put out to get a glimpse at what's in store - and a list of all of the AMAZING THIRTY-TWO (yes 32!!!) contributing teachers at the end...

((...and if that's not enough))

Here's the "official" class description...

The Phone Photography Project
32 days of Android + iPhone photo challenges, daily inspiration, and app reviews

Need summer photo ideas or help improving your iPhone photography? Spend this July taking amazing photos with your iPhone or Android camera in The Phone Photography Project.

In this month-long workshop, you'll learn to take better photos with the camera you always have with you as you document your summer adventures—with help from 32 incredible instructors. On top of daily smartphone photography challenges, you'll also enjoy:

• dozens of tips and tricks from the pros for taking better photos with your mobile-phone camera
  
• a handbook of 60+ photography app reviews for iPhone and Android, so you know which are worth your time and money*
  
• dozens of project ideas for getting photos off your device and into your world
  
• interaction with 32 experienced iPhoneographers and Androidographers, and hundreds of fellow students in a private classroom and on Instagram
  
• giveaways, contests, discounts, bonus downloads, and fun fun fun!

***The introductory price is $39 (and will go up to $49 quickly) - so if you want to join in, be sure to register asap.  :))

Hope you see you all in class!

{No Better Time...}

than bathtime for a photoshoot i say. :)

So glad i pulled my camera out at bathtime two weeks ago to snap these.

...because things change WAY too quickly.

Since taking these, N's little forehead met it's match with the corner of the coffee table & the DAY AFTER I snapped this E lost his first tooth and we said goodbye to his baby smile.

(no stinky feet in this house!)... Happy Monday Everyone!

Grab your camera sometime today and capture a moment of your EVERYDAY that you normally might not.  You won't regret it.  ;)

{Cupcake Dress Give-A-Way}

Contest currently closed >> WINNER INFO.......

Announced in post above!

***********

I've got such a fun give-a-way for my blog readers today...

We all know I have a weakness for pretty fabrics.  And while my quilting time has dwindled in the past few years, I still love the chance to play with pairing fabrics & prints...  So when one of my best friends - Katie (and also the owner of Cupcake Clothing Company!) - asked me to help her design a new limited edition dress...  I couldn't resist!!!

Cupcake Clothing Company's handmade dresses have so much attention to detail and design - from the layered ruffles & cute buttons to the coordinated rick-rack or trim on each - It was such a blast to share in Katie's creative process as she works on and designs a dress.

This was the result of our collaboration!

I'm a LOT in love.  :)  It's every color that I adore and just looks like summertime at the beach!

And can I tell you cute the name she gave it is --- "Evalyn Noah".  :))  the girlie version of my boys name's combined.  Perfect!

>> That's Katie's little girl in the pics, and when we went out to photograph this dress, I brought Mr. Noahpants along...  He's already officially signed up to be Miss AC's boyfriend in about 13 more years...!

************

So now for the give-a-way part... (YAY!).  Katie will make one of these gorgeous limited edition "Evalyn Noah" dresses for your little girl (or a little girl in your life that you love!) in a size range of 18m, 2T, 3T, 4T, 5 or 6 (please allow 3-4 weeks production time).

To win - simply head on over to Cupcake's Facebook Page and hit the "LIKE" button.  Then pop back over here and leave me a comment that you did!

For extra chances to win, you can:

*Follow them on twitter OR instagram (username: katietartt)... leave me a seperate comment to this post for each of those as well!

*Share the photo of the dress on Cupcake Clothing Company's facebook fan page with your facebook friends & then add another comment here (and another entry!).

I'll announce a winner on the blog here next Friday!  good luck :))

:)

{April Revisited}

Seriously where did the 2nd half of April go to?  I didn't quite believe it when i visited the blog to grab a link for someone on something and realized my last post was April 15.

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to...

*these are all a mix of iphone pics, point n shoot pics, and "Big" camera pics!  ;)

We got away mid-month to Tybee Island for a little wine festival, withouthekids(!!!).  We lived it up while we were there, stopping at what turned out to be a FAB local recomendation for lunch (we felt like official foodies), and then touring Savannah the next day...

We had our first real beach day (or afternoon i should say) of the season.  Bring on summer and endless days of this - the boys & I can't think of a better way to spend our time off!

We spent the day at Animal Kingdom (first for all of us!), rode Noah's new fave the Dino ride, & then met mickey (after being REALLY rained on) -- Mickey's keeping his distance after Noah had a freaked-out reaction to being so close to him.  ;)

We lost our first tooth...

We had our forehead (N) glued back together (last friday) after a coffee-table collision...

We splished and splashed lots...

:)

{snapped last week}

I'm quite sure that 20 years from now, these types of photos will be some of my very, VERY faves.

& I'll feel as blessed then as I do now that so much of our time was spent together, and at home. 

:)

ps - i think i need a new hashtag for noah along the lines of #inaboxAGAIN ;))

{There's Easter in the Air}

Easter has officially started at our house, with preschool and Kindy parties happening this past week...  & I wanted to share a bit of it here.  :)

This year I updated a little Easter treat that I first made (and blogged!) a couple of years ago...

Updated "Cracker Carrots":

...this was never my original idea, I just saw someone else do it (through pinterest i'm sure) with goldfish (which I first used two years ago) and then updated to Noah's beloved Cheddar Bunnies this year (THEY ARE SO GOOD! #getinmybelly)...

These little guys are so simple to make and beyond cute.

I bought the cone shaped cello bags at Hobby Lobby this year.  These bags would easily work just as well - or these!

You can put as much or as little as you like in them - and then tie with any type of green ribbon, trim, twine, or rick-rack that you have.

*******

I also assembled some last minute decor for Ev's class party with leftover decorative Queen & Co paper straws and PEEPS!!!  :)

Mason Jars (taken from my stash/mantle) + jelly beans as filler to hold + peeps stuck on straws (tip: trim a few straws down for varying height!) = instant Easter decor.  EASY PEASY.  (that's as much as i can handle these days!)

*******

And now that the parties have wrapped, along with Evan's third year sporting the same - yet updated yearly! - Easter hat for the school Easter parade...

...we are officially on Spring Break.  and i love that.

here's to hopefully at least one sunny & warm beach day next week and a break from the chilly weather!

{spring teeball}

documenting...

...the start of a new season of teeball...

...and lots of evenings to be spent at the field...

...and a little boy who's come SO far since this time last year.  We are so proud of him.  :)

(...If you look close you can see the ball from his first hit of the evening in the upper left corner of this pic -- he was 3/3 with no tee needed!)

I've decided that the start of teeball games means that it's officially spring.

:)

all photos taken with my canon 5D Mark ii and canon 50mm1.2L

{Currently}

LOVING: Winter walks on the beach.  We've stopped off three times in the past week, and I'm not going to lie - that's one of the biggest bonuses of living where we do.

snapped from my phone:

HEARING: Noah ask "What was dat?!" at least 3 times a day.  ENT surgery has literally opened up his ears and it's kinda amazing.  My favorite was about a day or two post surgery when he must have heard the "whooooosh" from my phone sending a text for the very first time and looked at me like "what the heck?!".  :)

READING: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover - and LOVING it.  She's an amazing author.

PROOFING: The past two weeks worth of snapshots, so that I can catch-up on my project life!

LAUGHING ABOUT: Pics i just uploaded from my camera of these glasses that always seem to pop up at least a few times a week on one of the boys - they know that they crack me up and i love that.  ;)

WATCHING: Bachelor.  (what else?!)  and also my very very VERY favorite this season... Nashville!

EATING: too many girl scout cookies!  :(

& OBSESSING OVER: these water-color crayons, as recommended to me by Lisa T. for coloring in stamped images >> I have a 12 pack on the way to me and can.not.wait to break them in!

happy monday everyone.  :)

{eleven}

If you've been following along with my little blog here for a few years - you will know that we love celebrating our poodle's birthday... (ten, my favorite pic @ six, five, seven) etc etc...

...and so THIS was eleven.

The "party" consisted of hats, balloons, and what else but toby's fave...

...his own little Krystal Burger - minus the bun. 

He got a big walk on the beach afterwards to work off the calories!

:)