I'm a wee tiger!

A tiger says "ROAR!"


Watch me hunt my prey!


Mama?  Are you watching?


Ooh, this camera lens looks tasty...


GREAT BIG SCARY ROAR!


Wait, come back, mama!  Didn't mean to scare you!  Don't wanna be a wee tiger any more -- wanna be your little boy!


(And just because David immediately thought of the famous "death of a loyalist soldier" photo when he saw this one...)



Halloween costumes are FUN!

Photography get-together at Terhune Orchards!

So one of my kind of embarrassing secrets is that I spend a ton of time on an online photography forum... It's a wonderfully vibrant community of women interested in photography, with a huge range of skill levels (from total newbies to pros), and it's the single biggest reason for any growth in my photography skills over the last year.  Plus, I've made a ton of wonderful friends through it!

As it turns out, there are a number of members who live in the NJ/NY/PA area.  So we decided to meet up for lunch and an afternoon of fall photography fun down at Terhune Orchards -- located a very convenient 15 minutes away from me.  :)  Which also helped ease David's mind -- just in case one of these women turned out to actually be a creepy 50-year-old man, David was close enough to be able to come rescue me.  ;)

It was SO fun meeting up with these women, and spending a few hours leisurely photographing things to our hearts' content.  Don't get me wrong -- I love photographing my family and PEF events, and everyone is very patient and understanding of my desire to get the shot.  But there's something different about being able to go on a photography walk and not feel bad about holding up your group, or sprawling like a fool on the ground, or really taking the time to experiment with different settings.  Plus, the four girls I met up with were super fun to just hang out with!


Amanda, Chris and Audrey chimping 

My first attempt at using the 85mm as a faux macro 

Candy apples!  And panning! 

Barbara and Audry 

Chris and Amanda 

Amanda got the cutest shot of this little guy 

Such beautiful autumnal colors! 

Crazy chicken scrabbling wildly about amongst the flowers 

And one more pretty flower shot

Amanda, Audry Barbara, and Chris, thank you so much for coming all the way out to central Jersey for a get-together!  Hope we can do it again sometime soon!

A playdate with Anna J!

We joke a lot about little Anna being Joshua's future wife -- complete with Lady Catherine de Bourgh quotes ("It was the favorite wish of his mother as well as hers!").  :)  But in all seriousness, we do hope Joshua and Anna will grow up to be friends.  And it's so sweet to see them starting to interact with each other!

Lucy and Anna came over to play the other day, and we had so much fun watching the babies together.  Anna is about four months younger than Joshua, so she kind of sat back and watched intently as Joshua ran roughshod all around her... We're working on teaching him how to be a more gentlemanly host.  :)  For instance, here, it looks like he's lovingly stroking her hair, but he's actually leaning on her head, and trying to figure out how to use it to torque his body around, so he can walk off the edge of the bed.


Oh, Joshua...
And that brings me obliquely to another developmental milestone -- Joshua is regularly (and constantly) pulling himself up to stand these days!


Yeah, I'm standing.  It's no big deal.
We had so much fun playing with little Anna, head-leaning-body-torquing incidents notwithstanding.  :)  And from what I've seen on her dad's Facebook page [link should work if you're friends with him], it looks like Anna is training to be able to push back against Joshua's friendly rough-housing...  Can't wait to see how these two grow and play together!

Miriam and Andrew!

Get ready for another big blog dump over the next day or two...  :)  We've had a very busy few weeks, and I'm finally getting around to blogging about it all!

A week and a half ago, on 10/10/10, two very dear friends from our small group got married!  Miriam (whose bridal shower I went to a few months back) and Andrew had an absolutely beautiful day for an outdoor wedding -- perfect fall temperatures, beautiful autumnal skies, and bright golden sunshine.  The ceremony took place outside of the Nassau Inn, and though Mir and Andrew were worried about it taking place at the same time as the Princeton Public Library's centennial celebration, the little plaza where the ceremony took place was private and secluded enough to create an intimate, romantic feel.  And wow, was there romance galore in this ceremony!  :)

It was also the first Messianic Jewish wedding I had ever attended.  Pastor Matt officiated, but they also had a family friend serve as a co-officiant, leading in Hebrew prayers and blessings.  The ceremony was designed to show the interplay between the old and new covenants, and it was a beautiful demonstration of God's love and grace.  The New Testament reading was Philippians 2:1-11, one of the strongest gospel calls I'd ever heard at a wedding.

And, of course, I took tons of photos.  :)  The pros hired for the wedding were none other than Deb Cull and her husband Matt!  Deb was a classmate of mine, who now lives down in Florida -- it was so good to see her again!  (And we actually got to spend a fair amount of time with Deb and Matt that weekend, because we hired them to do a family session for us!  Can't wait to see those photos!)  So I know my photos aren't anywhere near as amazing as theirs must be, but I still had fun playing around -- taking care, of course, not to get in the way of Deb and Matt as they worked their magic.  ;)

(Apologies for the HUGE photo dump -- it was just such a beautiful wedding!)


Friends!  Danny and Anna; John and Angel 

Andrew and his parents 


Beautiful bridesmaids 

Miriam and her parents; Andrew as he waited for his bride 

I loved Mir's dress!  And such sweet hand-holding.  :) 

Exchange of rings 

The first kiss! 

Breaking the glass, and honoring the parents 

Mr. and Mrs. Black!! 

First dance 

Fun times at the baby table 

David taking Joshua out onto the wild and crazy dance floor  :) 

Hanging out in the lobby, where Joshua could crawl and stand to his heart's content 

Playing peekaboo over the couch arm! 

Whoa -- it's a bear!! 

Awwwww...  :)

Andrew and Miriam, many congratulations again!!  We love you, and are so excited to be standing alongside you as you begin your married life together!