Fountain

Here is a picture of a fountain in Austin that I took Saturday night. Unfortunately we got there too late and barely had time to set up to take this picture.

Whew!

I had a fantastic weekend meeting some great people. I got to meet a great DTC/bloggy friend (Marla) for the first time. It was wonderful to finally meet her. I got to meet another blogger (Kim) and her friend (Bagel -- her name on Kim's blog)as well as another adoptive mom (Jody) and another fellow learner (Lizabeth). Learning from Debbie was great! I just hope I am able to retain all the information given to me! Princess in Training and Prince Charming were amazing! Those kids sure know how to work the camera! Jody's husband brought their 3 kids (Zachary, Cooper and Gracie) and were equally photogenic! We went on location to a park for some afternoon photos and a restaurant for the sunset. The restaurant chosen for the sunset photos was absolutely perfect!

2 Firecrackers and Lovebugs to meet FINALLY!

In 24 hours from now, I will be arriving in Dallas/Ft Worth meeting this fabulous lady! It is a day I have been looking forward to for a month and a half now! She and I will be meeting after "talking" online for almost 6 years. I can't wait to meet her and the fabulous 4 J's. We are looking forward to taking the photo workshop Saturday and Sunday given by this great photographer. We both got new cameras last summer and are eagerly wanting to learn how to use them better. See you tomorrow my friend!

A new pic...

I am really trying to get out of Auto mode on my camera. Some are good and some are not. I am also trying an editing program out although I have no idea what I'm doing!
Taken at the FCC CNY:

A pic taken tonight:

Pictures from yesterday

I wanted to add some pictures from yesterday. The first three were taken in Manual and the last in Auto. The first looks a little blurry. Can't wait to take the photo workshop in 17 days so I can take pictures like her! She took fabulous pictures before the workshop but they are even better now!

Can't believe it has been 5 years....

I can't believe it has been 5 years since our lovely Olivia joined our family. Technically it was 5 years ago yesterday that we actually got her but since we got our babies at 9:30 pm and had to do the adoption part the next morning our family celebrates the adoption day as Family Day. Today she went to school after being out ALL week plus Monday of this week due to the snow and ice. After school, we took her (and Sophia of course) to Build A Bear. She picked a pink bear with hearts on it. For dinner, she chose to go to Olive Garden and for dessert we had ice cream. Yes it is freezing outside (-5 with the wind chill) and snowing again but I sucked it up and we had ice cream. Olivia was such a peanut then and she still is. I can remember calling her peanut so much in China that I had to stop for fear that she would think that was her name. LOL I don't know how she stays so little because the girl can eat. A friend says that Olivia is on the Adkins diet as most of what she eats is meats!

She is such a joy (most days) and smart. She loves gymnastics, school and her family. She is reading now and learning math and money in school. Funny tidbit about money - she can tell you the person on each dollar bill that is currently in circulation. It all started just after we got home with Sophia so she was not quite 3 yet and we went to the store with my mom. She was with my mom and wanted to hold the money while mom checked out using the self checkers. Well, ever the inquisitive child, she asked who that was on the bill so mom told her it was Andrew Jackson and that he was on the $20 bill. Many months after that if she saw a $20 bill she would pipe up and say Andrew Jackson. So we have since taught her all the people on the bills. She loves that she can identify money in this way.
***Yes I have photos from today but it is late and I have to download them still. I did get a chance to get out of Auto on the camera and I hope the pics turn out as good as I think they did!