Out takes

It seems every time we try to take a family photo, I get way more outtakes than I do usable pictures. But the outtakes are always some of my favorite.

Josiah was in this picture but it was just his bottom, 

and Titus couldn't keep his tongue in his mouth.

Check out those expressions!

Josiah looking away

And another questionable expression

This was one of my favorite outtakes;

My silly boy!

Which one do you like best?

Original

 Black & White

Gloss

 

Hint of Color

 

Now that we're slacking off for the summer, (ie we're finished homeschooling for the year.) I hope to devote a little time to taking and editing pictures. Here is a photo of Eden that I love! The look in her eyes, and the sweet mischievous smile; You know she was plotting or imagining something amazing! Which one do you like best?

Sunshine

I found these pictures I took a few months ago. I had forgotten how sweet this afternoon was until I looked through these again. I love the sunshine in these photos. It was golden and warm. Such a sweet afternoon.

An update :)

I looked back at my last post and realized it’s been over a month since I blogged.Thankfully the world still turned and life continued with this lapse in my Internet input. :) As busy as we’ve been, it’s no surprise that I haven’t had time to blog. It seems this will be one of my hobbies that might become a little neglected in the next few months.

On the bright side, we have been able to travel a lot lately. I’ve made three trips across the state in the past month. It was wonderful to see our family. We had Spring break with Larry’s family, Mothers Day with my Mom and family, a mini Homecoming at Southeastern, and I was able to attend the NC Home School Conference in Winston- Salem. Now do you see why I haven’t had time to blog? : )

Larry started his Doctorate program. I’m so proud of him! He made an A- on his first big paper and presentation. Life will be a lot harder on him as he tries to maintain his full time ministry, being a full time student again, and being a full time husband and father.  Knowing God has called him to this and has prepared the way for us to be able to accomplish this task, helps us draw strength when the pressure has gotten difficult.  

Larry has enjoyed the program and his “cohorts” That’s what they call the men in this program. He will take classes with all of them for the next two years. They will build a camaraderie similar to what Larry experiences while attending the Citadel. I still think “cohorts” has a mischievous ring to it. Kindda like naughty boys with sling shots and bare feet. But have no fear, these are all godly men, and they all wear shoes.  

My plan to start a photography business is still in the hopeful stage. There is A LOT that goes into starting a business. It’s not like one day you say, hey I’m going to be a photographer and poof, and you’re a photographer. Well maybe you can, but if you want to start a business AND get paid for it AND have some money left after Uncle Sam takes his cut, you’ve got to start it right.

So I’ve spent a lot of time watching YouTube tutorials, learning editing skills, reading photography articles, planning to revamp my blog, started the branding process, finding out about getting registered as a LLC. Heck, just trying to figure out what to name my business has been tough. BUT I am still preserving. Realizing the business start will take a lot more time to get it up and running has been a little bit of a downer. But I still have hope. I also have a new camera and lens that softens the sting a little.

The other biggie in our life is our decision to home school our children. Like I said, I was able to attend the NC Home School Conference in Winston-Salem. It was amazing! It was such a blessing to be able to attend. And I was also able to visit with two of my mentors while visiting in Wake Forest, both of whom are Home Schooling veterans.

Larry and I have been interested in home schooling since Eden was born. Now that she is turning 5 and will be starting Kindergarten in the fall our conversations became much more focused. We began asking ourselves: Can we do this? Should we do this? How do we do this? Between the visit with my mentors and the conference we’re convinced we want to Home School our children. We have the answers to our questions: Yes we can, yes we should, and with a pencil written plan and a prayer.

We’re ready to join the other 45,000 home schooling families in North Carolina. I have a blog post running around my head with our ideas about home schooling. I hope to post it soon. Maybe it won’t take a month.

Save the Date

One of our dear friends, Jason, is getting married. For those of you who know us, you know Jason and I love to argue like brother and sister. I always tease him that God put me in his life because Jason needed a sister. He's one of 5 boys. (I know you're all blessing his Momma's heart right now.) We fight a lot, but we know we love one another too. He has always been there for us when we've had hard times and is a great Uncle to our children.

So last year when he told us he was interested in a lovely lady he had reconnected with on Facebook, we were excited. I've always know Jason would make a great husband one day. That day will be here soon. October 20th, Miss Allison Rose will find out if I'm right or not. And I must say, He does have great taste in ladies. Allison is wonderful. She's on the quite side, but can hold her own with him :) They are going to make a wonderful couple and I pray they have a fantastic marriage.

They asked if I would take some Save the Date pictures for them. I was thrilled to be asked. Since they meet at Barton College they wanted them taken there.Larry and I packed the kids up for an afternoon photo session and dinner with friends. I owe a huge Thank you to Larry for keeping the boys busy so I could run around campus taking pictures. And I had the most wonderful assistant. Eden followed me, watching and learning. She carried my camera bag with one hand and her baby doll in the other. She acted so grown-up. Taking her responsibility seriously. She is such a great girl :)

Here are a few of my favorites:

Friendship

Eden is gettng to the age where she loves having friends to play with. The other day we joined Kelly's family and Eden was able to play with Lydia. It made me smile to see Eden grab Lydia's hand as they ran off to play. The best news is that Kelly's family is about to move even closer to us, so days like these can happen more often.

A little eye candy to drool over :)

Here's a little more eye candy of my sweet Titus along with a little drool :)

Dancing with the Sun

This is one of the neatest pictures I've ever taken. I'm still trying to learn how to take pictures into the sun. So I asked Eden to dance for me and started clicking away. I love how it looks like she's holding hands with the sun, touching it, dancing with it. It's gloroius!

3rd times the Charm

Our sweet Titus is growing so fast! He continues to amaze me with his good nature and easy smile. His laughter brings joy to our whole house. Eden and Josiah are able to enjoy him a little more now that he's big enough to handle some of their attention. We have worked hard at teaching SOFT  TOUCHES!

Titus made an excellent travel companion to Florida, but I'm afraid our time there got him off his schedule. Traveling combined with a time change, a cold and a growth spurt have lead to him getting up multiple times a night to eat. I feel a crash course in Baby Wise in our near future. But for now. We're trying to enjoy our middle of the night time together knowing that this sweet age doesn't last long. 

Daddy's Hands

There is something amazing in the way a newborn looks in their Daddy's hands. As I think about the role that Larry plays in our children's lives I couldn't imagine raising them without him. He is their protector, provider, and role model. He's the example Eden will have in her head when she thinks about the kind of man she wants to marry. He's the one who will teach our sons how to be men. Larry is the spiritual leader in our home and will be the one most responsible for their knowing and loving the Lord. 

Yes, Daddy's hands hold a lot of responsibility, but in these pictures they hold our future.

Survival Mode

We're in survival mode here at the Gilbreath house. Motherhood comes with many advantages, forgetfulness is one of them. I forgot how hard these newborn days could be. Don't get me wrong, We love Titus and are so happy he is here. We simply forgot how the sleepless nights affect the following days.

Titus is a blessing! He loves to cuddle and sleeps best when being held or snuggled up next to me. He still has his days and nights mixed up and is most awake at about 3:00 in the morning. Nursing has been a challenge for us, but we seem to be figuring it out. He's dropped weight and the pediatricians are concerned because he hasn't gained back to his birth weight yet. He's not losing any more and he's peeing and pooping well, so we're not overly concerned. Motherhood also has you keenly aware of your child's bathroom habits :)

Larry and I are hanging in there. Larry is still recovering from Pneumonia, but is feeling better. This third C-section has been difficult. I'm healing slower than I would like. The doctors are trying to figure out if I have developed an infection from the C-section or if there was just a lot of trauma during the procedure. I am so very thankful to my awesome Mother in Law who has stayed with us to help. My mom is coming back up tomorrow. They are both such blessings! I am so very thankful for their loving help. We have also been blessed by our awesome church family. They take such great care of us. This is a season in which I realize that we could not do this alone and am so thankful for our family, friends and church family.

Titus and I have been struggling to find time and energy to take some pictures. He likes to eat and poop during the sessions and because his days and nights are still backwards he likes to sleep during the daylight. He's not real crazy about posing yet, but we'll continue to work on it. Here are a few of my favorites from today.

Eden loves being with me to help with Titus and she wanted to pose too.

It's hard to believe how grown she looks.

Big Yawn, let's go take a nap!

Which one is your favorite?

Every now and then, I go back into my editing program and try to fiddle with it to learn more. I would love to have the time to take a class to learn the program. I know it has the capacity to do so much more than what I piddle around with. I have found the wonderful world of actions and here are a few of my favorites. Let me know, which one is your favorite?

 This is the original

 Vintage

 B&W beauty

 Dreamscape

Old West

Pictures from the past

I don't know if it's pregnancy, missing family or just reflecting on how quickly time seems to be flying by with my own children, but I've been thinking back and reflecting on my own childhood. Looking through old photos has been a nice way to bring back memories. I thought I would post a few of the pictures I've been looking through over the few day.

Some of these pictures have aged through the years. And some of these were saved after Hurricane Dennis swept them away. We went through the wet albums and layed the pictures out to dry out. I thought about editing them, but decided against it because it was part of our families story and the age, spots and wrinkles are all part of life and makes these captured memories even more special. 

 1977

This is my Granny and Grandaddy Kinsey. My cousin Kelly is on the right, I'm on the left. We're three months apart in age, our little girls are three months apart,and she is due three months before me with both of our third babies. There is just something about us and threes!

I've thought about my grandparents so often lately. They have been married for 65 years. My Grandfather is struggling with Alzheimer’s disease and has been for years. My granny just came up to celebrate Josiah's second birthday. I am so proud of her for traveling the distance to come be with us. It was a huge undertaking on her part and it is was blessing to be able to spend time with her. It was awesome to watch her with my children.

I think that Car is still sitting in Granny's Back yard :)

When I look at this picture, I see Josiah's face looking back at me and Eden's love for baby dolls :)

This picture just makes me laugh! Momma used to cut our hair and apparently she gave us the same hair cut with the same bowl, only she gave me shorter bangs than Shannon! :)

Shannon, when Eden saw this picture she asked who it was with Shay. I knew she wouldn't recognize me, heck I barely recognize me! But I thought it was neat she saw your son in you :)