LightRoom Presets - Go get them!

Things have been super busy around our household! I have lots to update on but it might have to wait another week or two when things slow down a bit. I wanted to take the time to look into some LightRoom presets. A favorite photographer of mine that I stalk follow on Instagram had her presets on sale recently and of course I wanted to break out my wallet! I, however, have never used them before, didn't know how to use them, and wasn't sure if I'd even like them.

Off to Google...

I found this great article that explained how to download presets and what they are. Then I had to go in search of a program to open the zip files. (Am I qualified to be a programmer yet?) Hah!

After I figured out it might be worth a shot, I found this great website with many FREE LightRoom Presets! I downloaded about 6-7 of them and picked a few photos that I liked. This was a great way to test out my skills and even make new presets of my own!

Below were the results:

So for the first photo I used the preset (one click, my friends). In just one click I felt like that photo went from amateur to "woah she might have a fancy camera." Then I brightened the photo, popped the blue color for his eyes a bit, and softened his skin with the luminance setting. No rhyme or reason. I just play around with settings most of the time. Then I felt like my photo went to a whole new level with the extra adjustments.

This second photo I did was an outdoor picture. I wanted to try one of each. I used a different preset and got a dramatic first (one click! squee!) effect. I then brightened, highlighted blues, and added more vignetting as well. I absolutely love the end photo and it didn't take me 10 minutes to go through every setting like it used to. 

Less than 2 minutes, people!

If you haven't used a preset before, I encourage you to try! I absolutely love them! I will probably try to make some of my own from photos I've edited before and these new presets and see how I like them. After that I will certainly look into buying other photographer's presets because I just don't see myself starting a business any time soon so this will strictly be for family and close friends anyways.

 I have read in a few articles that Photoshop does "actions" which are similar, but you cannot edit the picture afterwards. Also, I saw that it sometimes depends if you shoot in RAW vs JPEG but I haven't tested that theory yet. I will since I can shoot both at the same time and compare the different images. 

Here are some more of my images that took me almost no time at all to edit once I set up some individualized presets...

 

 

Children's Museum

 

 We recently purchased a year membership to our local Children's Museum. It's been rated #1 in the country (world?) for as long as I can remember. They had it decorated for Christmas time, but Camden had so much fun in the Playscape.

 

 There was a big music room where kids can play with egg shakers, drums, and other instruments. I grew up with music (flute/piccolo here) and want Camden to be able to do the same. When I was in school music wasn't an elective; it was an expected part of the curriculum. I feel that it still should be although many superintendent's don't agree. Whether it's offered in school or not, he will be participating in lessons either way. :)

 

His favorite part of the museum (besides the food) was the messiest part, the water play area. There was flowing water, scoops, spoons, plastic sharks, etc. He loved it. There were aprons, but they were all really wet and by the time I found a dry one, his clothes were soaked anyways. 

Overall we absolutely had a great time! I love taking him places where we aren't having to constantly watch what he touches or plays with. I like the fact that he can play with anything and everything he can reach.

LOVE IT!

I think it really helps him to be able to test his own limits and is great sensory stimulation. We will definitely be getting our money's worth out of this membership!

A Family Christmas

 Per the usual we had to get a real Christmas Tree (Frasier Fir) and we found a bargain at Home Depot at less than $50 for a 10-foot tree! Camden was so excited to water and decorate it!

 Per our tradition, we also had Brad and Cam put the star on the tree. We had to borrow a large-tree stand that would be sturdy enough to hold a 10' tree.

 As you can see the tree was gorgeous and that includes the random hanger Camden thought would fit well on the tree. Confession: I was too sentimental about the silly hanger and left it through Christmas. ;)

 LOVE

We ended up seeing Santa at his school on their holiday party night. They got to make cookies and see Santa.

 This year he was a little more hesitant to sit on Santa's lap. He did, but after I talked with him a little. Last year it was all I could do to hold him back from being in everyone else's picture. Hah.

We also had a mommy's play date Holiday Party getting all of the kids together. We really miss our Friday play dates and I can't wait until school is done in another 5 months.

 Christmas morning was a BLAST! He loved ripping off the wrapping paper. He had to get every last piece off and tore it off every square inch at a time. It was slow and he is at the age where he wants to open every single toy as he sees it.

Funny how many high-tech and expensive toys he received, but his favorites were a puffy jacket and a $3 cell phone from the dollar section at Target.

Of course Papaw Jones got him a Big Wheel. I mean where do we store all of this?

A family member made a fantastic idea for future presents. Because he gets so many different toys from all four sets of grandparents he has and then even more from us, it was suggested to start a college fund and allow people to donate. Starting on his 3rd birthday and all following holidays, we will be starting a college fund and allowing family to donate and asking for monetary donations with minimal toys. This way we are being responsible and frugal. We can also keep Camden modest in gifts and what he receives.

 

But really, how easy is it to say no to that adorable, perfect little face?!

Not easy. At all.

Fun in the snow? PLUS: snow ice cream recipe

We have had some crazy weather these past few days and thought I'd share some amazing and fun photos I got of the Indiana blizzard. Starting 2014 off right, I guess. State of emergency. Quarantined to the house. Any travel made illegal. 

 

 

Then, temperatures with windchill in the negative 30's and 40's. It was so cold that there was frost on the inside of Brad's truck. 

If anyone wants to know, ice scrapers do not work on the inside of windows.

 

 

 

 

Some of these pictures show just how wet the snow was. My jacket was soaked! It was so wet we used an umbrella to keep the snow off of the camera.

Snow Ice Cream

Later that night I saw a friend who posted that she made ice cream from snow. Who even know that was possible!?

 

Just take a bucket of [clean] snow (around 1 gallon) inside.

Add about 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 1/2-1 cup of milk. (Add the milk in small increments until the consistency you want.)

 

Add sprinkles or other toppings.

 

This was such a fun thing to do with the kiddo. 

Instagram Summary

The past few weeks has been a whirlwind of craziness, stress, changes, home repairs, work insanity, and lots of excitement about the upcoming holidays (not so much about the weather). Here is a look at my iPhone pics and Instagram (Indymamma) photos that I love.

1. Wish list item: Matrix Exquisite hair oil to tame this mess without having to pull it back in a ponytail ALL.THE.TIME.

2. Papaw came to visit (and fix the water heater that was leaking). Camden had TONS of fun with him!

3. Water heater broke out of the blue (or we just realized it) and was leaking underneath the wood laminate floors. We dried them out and replaced but will tile before the end of the year. (Gotta find some money and motivation.) We also unfortunately found existing, old white tile underneath. Who does that?!

4. My baby loves to go to Target!

5. So this Pinterest felt tree idea has taken off and Target has noticed. I made one last year out of leftover felt and bought a giant piece of green for the tree. I still think (read: hope) I spent less than $10. Regardless, it's a great deal.

6. Who knew they had FREE KIDS COOKIE SAMPLES at Target? I mean, I feel like I was depriving my child.

7. The toddler bed transition is going well. Hah. (He actually does really well, but he woke up early and climbed up here but fell asleep.)

8. Wish list item: EOS lip balm. Gotta try it. It's all the rage, apparently. Even my 75-year-old patient the other day had some. If that doesn't make one feel old (and behind the times), nothing will.

9. First snow of the season. Camden and all his school friends were raving about it that day. He loved to play in it, but sadly it was melted by the time he got home.

A ghost says BOOOO

Halloween night this year was "rained out" and postponed due to strong winds and heavy rain. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go trick-or-treating with Camden this year because of that. I worked really hard to be available from clinical and work on Halloween night, but was scheduled to work the next day. Thus my disappointment in the postponed trick-or-treating.

Several local mascots came to visit the kiddo's on Halloween!

On Halloween I had my pediatric clinical and someone coordinated about 8 mascots to come visit the sick kids in the hospital that day. Some students in the past have gotten to meet Peyton Manning (which would also be SO awesome, hint hint).

Around Halloween a local senior community hosts an indoor Halloween trick-or-treating event. The residents can sit in their doorway and the kids run up and down the halls trick-or-treating. They also sit in the dining area and serve cookies, fruit punch, snacks, and more. I am not sure if they had it this year, but last year they had a craft station and arts area where kids could make a drawing, too. 

Camden had a lot of fun. (Even if it did take him the entire hour and a half we were there to trick or treat on his own.) He was a little scared to go near the strangers at first but when he saw they had candy and other goodies he started warming up.

On Halloween night (the postponed version .. bah humbug) Brad took Camden out to trick-or-treat. I think that he did better there because it was in our neighborhood he's familiar with and he knew some other people. He likes doing whatever the big kids are doing.

I guess he caught on quickly and went house-to-house saying "Trick or Treat" and greeting our trick-or-treater's later in the night with a "Happy Ha-ween!"  He absolutely loved dressing up as Mickey Mouse and totally understood the costume idea. He liked all the pretty princesses in sparkly dresses and also saw a spider girl!

Mom and dad like the raiding the candy bucket at the end of the night part. ;)

The rest of the year should be fairly low-key since I'm on call at work for Thanksgiving and Christmas is always at home. I can't wait until I get an entire month off of school in December! We haven't had a break since spring break in March. 

Literally nonstop. 

I'm thinking a mini-vacation is in order. Maybe for spring break? Yes, please!

Tuttle Orchards

With the end of summer (and baseball season), comes fall.

Fall means delicious apples, homemade apple sauce, beautiful fall leaves, pumpkins galore, and lots of yummy not-so-good-for-you treats. :)

We decided to visit Tuttle Orchards last weekend after I learned about them from a friend. They provide everything you need to pick the apples and even have tons of red wagons which the kids end up riding in by the end of the trip.

They even had a huge play area with two mazes, a red tractor, a few play sets, swings, and more. Camden loved that area and when we left kept asking to go back to the "apple trees" over and over again. If I have ever been to an apple orchard, I don't remember but this seems like a great place to go every year!

Camden loved to play with the corn hole set as well!

They had two barns of delicious goodies and treats. We all split an ear of corn and a caramel apple. Brad wanted a cold apple cider (YUCK!) and I wanted a hot one so we each got that. I wanted to try the slushy, but we saved that for next year. They also had a neat little honey bee hive case you could see the bees. Cam really loved that!

 So far, fall at home has been wonderful and our little man is growing up so fast! *tear*

If you are as excited and ready for fall as I am, I highly suggest visiting Tuttle's for apples and in October they open the pumpkin fields! We usually always go to a certain farm for our pumpkins, which we still love, but this place just had much more to offer and is slightly closer. It's so hard to break tradition, but Camden loved this place!

Camden's 2nd Birthday

 

Camden celebrated his second birthday a few weeks ago with so many friends and family! We were so happy to see everyone that made it but missed those who couldn't. The theme was a super hero party. We had super suckers (blow pops and tootsie pops), mask-making, a pool, ladderball, food, and good friends.

 

Of course the morning of his birthday weekend we gave him our presents because we were gone all day Saturday at a wedding. He couldn't wait to ride his bike! (aka "Bicyc")

The floor pillow I made him. Tutorial here.

Brad got Cam a pair of binoculars. (aka "knockers" LOL)

Three gen's of Marcov's. My dad, brother and nephew. <3

Hey, it's his party and he can pick his nose if he wants, right?!

 

This year he was SO into The Incredibles and super heroes which is why we chose this theme. I wonder if next year he will request anything and what fun stuff he will be getting into. :) Not too soon, though.