Jolly's antics continue

People often call me creative, but they are very wrong.  I am not creative.  But I can copy and tweak like nobody's business!!  I suppose that is where the engineering part of me comes into play.  Generating that initial idea will keep me paralyzed.  But if someone else can just get me started, I can take the idea and run... making it better than it already was, or I can just copy it as is.  That has been my approach to the Elf on the Shelf this year.

[You can purchase your own Elf on the Shelf here:  blue eyes, a girl elf!, brown eyes and brown skin]

(photographers out there, I totally realize my reds are CRAZY out of gamut.  My camera hates red.  All of my elf images are batch processed due to lack of TIME.  I've made peace with it.  Just realize that "I" do realize it.  Don't judge me. : )  )

Day 9:  Jolly needed a bedtime snack.

Day 10:  Jolly stepped in reindeer poop and needed a shower!

Day 11:  Jolly was held hostage by the My Little Ponies and the Squinkies.
(I morphed this concept from two ideas I saw on Pinterest.  This one where the elf is teaching the Littlest Pet Shops, and this one where the toys have tied up the elf.   I searched this house OVER looking for all her "Little Pet Shops" as she calls them and could NOT find them.  I finally gave up.  I found them around 6pm the day of this one... in Shawn's truck in her Hello Kitty metal lunch box.  grrrr.  I used more of the white fabric I used for the aviator scarf to make the blindfold, and I used some pinkish yarn I already had for the tying up.  Notice how the tiny white kitty has the yarn?  It's the details, folks, the little details!).

Day 12:  Jolly went scuba diving and played with all of the ocean creatures, JUST like Little Buddy does!!!  He left a trail from the toy bins all the way to the bathtub.

Day 13:  Jolly zip lines with a candy cane from the stockings to the tree.  (I totally realized about the time I finished shooting these images that I have him going the wrong direction.... gravity and all.  Thankfully the kids aren't there yet. : ) )

Day 14:  Jolly makes smores with the Calico Critters dollhouse fireplace.
(this is another one of my favorites and gets more photos.  It took FOREVER to set up!!!)

Day 15:  Jolly went ice fishing with the fishing game we have and blue jello.
(And I soooooooo forgot to take photos before the sun went down!!! I waited all day for the sun to reach the back side of the house, and then BAM! I forgot! Oops... Let's just say I am less than skilled with my flash...)

Day 16:  Jolly went hot air ballooning using a paper lantern from the Little Lady's room.
(I made it using pink shimmery ribbon and a pink solo cup, with a rubber band).
As soon as the Little Lady noticed this, she asked him to take Jolly out.  She wanted that Lantern BACK in her room, NOW.

Do you see the mistletoe??? That's the mistletoe he hung in on the day I forgot to take a photo...

I have added a photo to the I Heart Faces Elf on The Shelf  Photo Challenge.
I shot these with my
D90
Sigma 30mm f1.4

A right Jolly old elf

I have added a photo to the I Heart Faces Elf on The Shelf  Photo Challenge.This Christmas season has just flown me by!!!  I had so much I intended to do and it just hasn't gotten done!  I cannot believe that Christmas is seven days away today!  But Jolly, our Elf on the Shelf, has had a blast at our house this year.  Little Buddy is newly 5 and the Little Lady is 3 and a half.  They will remember to find him sometime after they've been awake an hour or two... no rush.  They find him and "hrmph.  there he is."  That's the extent of it.

Can you say "Disappointed Mommy?"

I suppose the humor and creativity of all of this is just going over their heads.  However, one day early on, Jolly didn't leave a note.  Little Buddy noticed and asked why not.  So Jolly leaves notes every day, now.  I do wonder if this is like so many other things with my kids -- that their 'normal' is this huge 'special' in my book; they don't know that not every child has what they have, gets to do what they do, lives how they live.  At any rate, "I" sure have had a ton of fun doing this this year!  Here are Jolly's antics so far.

[You can purchase your own Elf on the Shelf here:  blue eyes, a girl elf!, brown eyes and brown skin]

(I confess that nearly every single idea I've used has been stolen or modified from ideas I've seen on Pinterest!  Oh, how I love Pinterest!!!  Here is my Elf Ideas board.)

Remember that on Dec 1, he parachuted down the fireplace.

Day 2:  He used a mitten for a sleeping bag.

Day 3:  He toilet papered our tree, since we hadn't decorated it yet.

Day 4:  He made hot chocolate.

Day 5:  He caught the cold our kids had and needed a sick day.

Day 6:  He fed the dog using the front loader/bull dozer/whatever piece of equipment that is.

Day 7:  He hung in the mistletoe that hangs in our playroom... but I forgot to get a shot of it...  Oops.  So, you'll have to use your imagination.  But all in all, this was a boring day.

Day 8:  He flew LB's airplane that hangs from his ceiling back to the North Pole!
(this was one of my favorites, so more pictures.  I made him aviator goggles using some black fabric and two washers!  the white aviator scarf was the selvedge edge of some white fabric.)

Later days to follow!

I have added a photo to the I Heart Faces Elf on The Shelf  Photo Challenge.
I shot these with my
D90
Sigma 30mm f1.4

10 on 10 | December Edition

(if you read this, and you liked it, please click the facebook 'like' at the bottom of the post, so I know you did!)

Dude!!!  I almost forgot to post this time!  I knew I'd planned to work on processing the images this weekend that I shot on December 3rd... but I spent the afternoon otherwise and here it was 1015pm and I was about to head upstairs to read when I realized, YIKES, my post should be UP in 2 hours!!!  So..... without further ado.

Remember my 10 on 10 project? Where a group of 10 photographers have circled together to post 10 images over the course of a day in their lives, on the 10th day of each month.  Next on the circle is Chesney Maxwell. Don't forget to check out her 10 on 10 post here.  After I post each month's, I go straight to the calendar that lives on our fridge and I pick the day I'll shoot the next month's edition.  This project is very important to me, and I don't want time to get away and either rush me or make me miss a month altogether.  Just a friendly tip. : )


For the December edition of the 10 on 10, I wanted to capture a weekend day this time, to include Shawn.  This was also the day that we decorated our Christmas tree!

And let's just make something clear.  I have a problem with indecision.  I am incredibly emotionally attached to nearly every image I shoot and I can't bear not to choose them, let alone choose very favorites.  I am one who is prone to exaggeration... but I'm not exaggerating here.  I knew it would take me way longer to narrow down my images than it would be to just process all of them and include them.  So again, a great big huge WAY over post.  But here was my day.  It was a great one.  You'll forgive my overpost, right?

7am-ish:  If you are a Little Lady who has an internal clock that wakes up at 6am no matter what, and if you are a Little Lady who begs for chocolate chips and candy first thing every single morning no matter what, and if you are  Little Lady who has had (completely ridiculous and inexplicable) issues with liking her daddy so that your daddy is going to extraordinary lengths to create bonding moments with you.... then you get to override mommy and make cookies first thing on Saturday morning.   Every good little kitchen helper washes her hands before she begins.

I have an external flash (this one), but I have absolutely NO CLUE how to use it artistically.  That is on the "when I get all the items on my huge-mongous todo list completed, I'll take some time to learn this" list.  For that matter, the pen tablet (this one) I bought in JULY is also on that list!  I really, really need to get to those...

Shawn has discovered that it is best to roll out a huge sheet of cookie.... bake it... and then once it comes out of the oven and is still warm, to use the cookie cutters.  I love to bake and create cookies, but the land of cookie cutters and rolled dough is new to me.  This way, at least, the cookies still resemble the shapes of the cutters, instead of expanding to amorphous blobs.  But the Little Lady is incredibly impatient about the cutters and wants to use them now!

We ventured to our favorite local Christmas tree lot to buy our tree Friday night.  While we waited for the cookie sheet to bake, she of course had to check out the tree.  And she gazed out the window and I was struck by the way the light was hitting her.  I knew when I shot this I'd do it in black and white.  (And she's totally picking her nose in the photo on the right.  Lovely!)

Finally time to use the cookie cutters.  She LOVES this, especially the sprinkles part.  I love how she is holding daddy's hand. And dude, I love my Silpat.  

8am-ish:  Cartoon chillin' time.  Again that early morning light streaming through the window onto the playroom cough just captivated me.  Aren't her Hanna Andersson pajamas toooooo cute?  (I'm a HA pj snob)

Little Buddy finally wakes up.  He discovers that our Elf, Jolly, was displeased to find we'd bought our tree but left it undecorated.  For, you see, trees need decoration.  So Jolly tp'd the tree to remedy the situation.  The humor was completely lost on my kids.  Sigh.  Little Buddy must be growing because he has been SOOOOO hungry lately, and requires breakfast immediately these days.  So Saturday breakfast with Daddy.  Nutritious, Delicious cookies.  

10am-ish.  More couch and tv chillin' time.  

No cartoons for Little Buddy.  It's Dinosaur documentaries on Netflix watch instantly for him.  This one is one of his favorites.  Never would have imagined I'd learn alllllll about the Mosasaurus, Tylosaurus, Dunkleosteus, Elasmosaurus, Plesiosaurus, and Liopleurodon....  Yes, we own every one of those.

And thanks to some friends and a Bunn coffee maker that is 7 years old and leaking, we have discovered the joys of a French Press.  I ordered this model and we are sooooooo loving it.  We adored the coffee we had in Europe in our trip in 2005 and have yearned for it since.  A french press creates the body and flavor of that coffee.  You seriously do not know how ecstatic this makes us.  Shawn was planning to go to a friend's house to watch a game and needed a late afternoon jolt of caffeine.   (forgive the time inconsistency here.  oops)

2pm-ish.  Oh the joys that come from an early afternoon game of chase and peekaboo.  Her real smiles are so infectious.

almost 4pm-ish.  It was so uncharacteristically warm this day.  Little Buddy loves to run the zipline rope back and forth.  

And Little Buddy loves dirt.  Anything else stuck on his hands must be washed off.  But dirt?  Dirt is just fine.  He got this backhoe thing for this birthday and is loving moving earth with it.  

I almost burst from sweetness.  Little Lady asked to be pushed and Little Buddy announced HE would do it and began.  They were loving it!  I love their relationship.... when they get along.

I included the one on the right because this project isn't about perfection.  I wish I'd gotten it in focus.  But that's the joyful face I love so much.  

She loves chalk.  I asked her to draw a heart for me for the Picture the Holidays project. She said no.  But she drew a balloon, and I asked if I could put a heart inside it.  

She disappeared upstairs while I took LB outside.  She reappeared having dressed herself in this.  I love it.  

It was way overdue to Rain-X the vehicles.  Have I mentioned just how much I adore Rain-X?  I do.  Mega big time.  She has really been into helping me with housework lately, and wanted to help me clean the van windows before I started the Rain-X.  (FYI - My opinion is that you need the straight Rain-X fluid.  The combo window cleaner and Rain-X doesn't work nearly as well)

He never, ever, ever let's me shoot pictures where he's LOOKING at me.  This was technically a posed smile, but dude!  He did great!  I love this picture!  And then, I had to shoot how he was letting the snot run down his face.  Just continuing to play like this.  I. do. not. get. that.  It would drive me crazy!!!

5pm-ish.  still working on the Rain-X.

5:30pm-ish.  Sunset.  Little Buddy got a real bicycle for his 4th birthday, over a year ago.  We adjusted the Tricycle for Little Lady, so it is way too short for him.  But still, this is what he prefers to ride.  It truly is an awesome Tricycle.  

He was starting to stall, sensing I was going to send him inside again.  He grabbed the chalk to draw a course for the trike.  It was a beautiful sunset.  

6:30pm-ish.  Time to decorate the tree!!!  She was sooooooooo cute in her Santa hat.  This picture isn't perfect by any means, but this was the best I got with natural light.  She would NOT stay still for anything.   But I actually really like it.  

And, we hit the external flash woes again.  I do need to learn how to use it.  And here is her "smile for the camera" smile.  Oh dear.  

7:30pm-ish.  Almost bedtime.  Snuggles with Daddy and some LeapPad time.  

Late-ish.  I was trying to take the tree shot, when Little Buddy came up and wanted to add more to the tree.  He walked in front of the camera while I had a super long shutter.  I loved the ghost effect, so I tried some more shots.  I helped him with the ornament in this one.  You can see the faintest of me in my Santa hat behind him.  And then on the right was my final official starburst tree shot.  

If you possibly  made it that far, thanks for being part of my day!  Next on the circle is Chesney Maxwell.  Check out her 10 on 10 post here.

I shot these with my
D90
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Nikon 50mm 1.4D
Sigma 30mm f1.4