He's an Elf on the Shelf and he came to us last year to keep a watchful eye on the kids for Santa in the month of December. His presence combined with the advent houses, below, have made for exciting mornings this month. Gus sits and monitors Aston and Mei throughout the day and at night he flies to the North Pole to discuss the happenings at the Lees with Santa only to return the next morning to a new spot in our house...and we've extended the Elf on the Shelf story to include a gift in the advent houses from Gus (as we did last year)...usually a cookie or a gummy bear for each...but sometimes books, matchbox cars, undies, hot wheels...etc:) Stell love the little doors on the houses...keeps her occupied for whole MINUTES. She loves Gus too and is usually the first to find him in the morning.
So my good friend Trish posted about this "bokeh fun" she had a few weeks back...so the day I read about it I had to try it. I had seen the effect before but didn't know how it was obtained in the least...so check out the photo below of Stell with the "bokehed" hearts in the back from Christmas tree lights and even in her eyes...
This is how it was achieved...grey construction paper (supposed to be black but made do) with a heart cut out of the center and lots of scotch tape...of course there is a commercial product for this but neither Trish or I own this piece of equipment...obviously...
I went a little nuts with it ...
But kids were workin' the camera that night so I capitalized... Taekwondo moves took center stage for a while...
ps...to get the best heart effect you need to shoot in manual focus (well at least that's what expert Trish and I found:)) so many of my shots were unusable because my tots were faster that my manual focussing abilities!
My kids are the worst droolers...I know not one other kid like this...
Here's the start of our 2010 Gingerbread house (as if there was a 2009...there was not)
It was probably the most fun project that I have done with the 2 of them EVER...Mei was all about the candy...
one for YOU...
6 for ME...
Mama Anne told me to use the hot glue gun...but I didn't get it together enough to go buy one...this house is weeks old now and the roof has just about reached the floor...its a little bit of a sad mess...something to improve on in 2011:)
Next up Christmas cookies...not from scratch of course...from a sugar cookie mix...both kids helped the whole way through...another fun holiday event...
and of course the decorating...mei took the same approach here: one sprinkle for the cookie and 6 or 8 for me...they gave the cookies to their teachers...well...only the ones that were done before fingers went in the mouth!
I love this...this is the 2010 playgroup with Santa shot. Half of these kids were scared of Santa last year! The little ones, including Mei, were too freaked out this year to get close enough to get in the frame of the photo... Aston was never afraid of him and now I feel like he's in the minority? Anyway...we are set and ready for you Santa! Even have some leftover cookie dough in the fridge to make you a fresh batch!
Tomorrow we are off to Sarasota FL to have a pre-Christmas celebration at Pop's house (first flight with 2 kids!). Aunt Megan, Fiance Newman, Gram, Aunt Chrissy, Uncle Adam, AJ, Nita and Owen are all flying in too! Yikes Pop you ready for us?
9 comments:
Love all the hearts! Love the fun pre Christmas festivities. Can't believe you still have time to blog before the big trip tomorrow! Can't wait for the Christmas Sing at Sharon Presby tomorrow - I'm sure Asty will be singing his heart out (unlike last year)???
Love,BB
Love how crafty you are amongst all the hustle and bustle of Christmas! Even make-shifting your own filter - wow! Your kids are such great material (even with the drooling) and my favorite is the simplicity of the "preparing of the gingerbread house". It captures this stillness/peacefulness that I'm pretty sure existed only momentarily amongst the excitement/fray of building. Good luck on your trip. Sounds like a great way to continue the merriment!
these are the coolest things i've ever seen. i can't quite figure out what you did here per your picture? will google. love the g house one with mei and hearts in back and love the karate moves ones. all very fun stuff. gus pic is funny and cool perspective on the houses!
ok get it now http://tzywen.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=744
coolness
love that first pic of gus. so cool. love your little houses. gives such a christmasy feel. bokeh fun! :-) super cool. always wanted to try it but just never got around to doing it. that pic of aston doing karate moves is awesome!
love all the holiday fun!! love the 1st gingerbread house (w/ aston's hands). love the pic looking down at the houses -- love that tradition that you guys have. the bokeh is amazing -- and it cracks me up b/c i have no idea what i would even do with that piece that you made. the entire concept escapes me. haha you nailed it though in these pictures!! could you draw the outline of a car or crown or whatever i guess? very cool, my friend. merry, merry christmas!!! hate that i missed you today to give you a 'safe travels' hug (aston look adorb, by the way). see you after the holidays! xo
you rocked the bokeh! love the heart twinkle in stellyn's eyes. love the gingerbread pics, too, especially aston's hands (great lights bokeh there, too). man you guys have been busy checking off all of the holiday must-do's.
Love the heart idea - such a cool idea! Man, Stelly is looking so big these days! Have an awesome Christmas today/tomorrow, and I'm wishing for some white stuff to play in! Ho, Ho, Ho!
finally getting around to writing a comment on this amazing post...the bokeh technique is amazing...love th black and white picture of Aston performing a tae quon do (SP!) position!
Love the close up photos of Stellyn...love to see her teeth!!
love,Gram
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