Under the Pear Tree

Blogger friends,

I entered Enzo into a photo contest with Parents magazine for a chance to be on the cover.  The voting is just this week, so please take a few seconds to click on the link below and vote for Enzo!  You can vote every day this week through Sunday.

I hope you will vote for him.

http://www.parents.com/photos/parents-cover-contest-2013/2013-04-29/xd3r

Thanks!!

Here is the picture I submitted:

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Those eyes....

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Texas' state flower is the bluebonnet, and a treasured picture for everyone each year.

During this time, you will often find families parked on the side of major highways taking pictures in the bluebonnets. 

We are very lucky to have a neighbor that has bluebonnets every year.  It is so nice to walk and take as many pictures you like.  Worked out good, since I took some Saturday and wasn't happy so tried again Sunday.

Also, I will make note of lessons I learned from Saturday to Sunday.

1. Sunlight can be your biggest enemy with pictures.  The best time to shoot is before 10am (or before the sun is fully up in the sky) and after 6.  I found 6-6:30pm to be the perfect for me.
2. Many of the families on the side of the road are taking pictures in the middle of the day.  The main thing that you get with those pictures is squinty eyes.
3. A cloudy day is a perfect day for outdoor picture, keep that in mind.
4. In my pictures the sun was setting to the right of us and at 6pm it drops behind some trees. 

1. I am not the best photographer, I really don't know much about my camera and mainly shoot on automatic.  I found that I had trouble on Saturday getting the lens to focus on Enzo, not the flowers.
2. Whether the flowers were in front or behind, my camera seemed to want to focus on them.  Strange.
3. I had to be patient and make sure he was in focus before snapping away.
4. I found it best to start out really close to him, then step back.

1. I think the less distraction in the background, the better.
2. Notice Moxie photo-bombing this one?

1. Get creative with your shots.  Zoom in close, focus on other things, etc.

1. Don't spend too much time combing hair and wiping faces.
2. The drool on Enzo's chin provides a snapshot in time.  This was him, eating the flowers, and I will not forget it :)

1. With such a short window, shoot fast.
2. I don't think you need to spend too much time anyway.  Takes the fun out of it.
3. I spent about 15 mins max.
4. Here you can see how it is getting darker.

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Thought I would share a pic from the other night of me and Enzo, and go ahead and dump some more pics taken lately on my phone.

For those that follow me on instagram, sorry for the repetition :)

So, we now have a crawler in our house! He wants to crawl everywhere, anywhere and all the time.
Even in the tub:
He is exploring constantly and I really have to keep my eye on him.  Here are a few "I caught you" shots:

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We love bath time over at our house!

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I showed a preview yesterday of our Easter weekend from my iPhone.  Here is a better view from my camera of how we spent Sunday.

After church we took a few pictures before getting comfy.

The ladies with Enzo (me, Matt's mom, Matt's grandmother and my brother-in-law's girlfriend)
The men...(Matt's brother and father)
I never got a good picture of Enzo dressed up smiling that I liked.  Once we were done with the group pictures, it was just me trying to get him to smile.  He wouldn't even look at the camera.  Such a busy body!
Matt's brother is a restaurant manager in Manhattan, so he is always our bartender and always makes a special drink for the occasion.  Sunday's special drink was Prosecco with Plum Puree (I am sure he had a clever name for it, but it has slipped my mind).

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I hope you all had a very blessed Easter.

I need to upload my Easter pics from my camera and provide a better blog post, so for now, here are just a few pics from my iPhone.

Matt's family from NY came down.  It was so great for Enzo to spend time with his Nonna and Pops and Uncle Phil.
After pedicures on Thursday, we walked around an outside mall.  It was a bit windy, but the temperature was great.
Then we came home and relaxed, Enzo took a nap.  There is probably nothing sweeter than a sleeping babe.  I can't get enough!
Good Friday was our girl, Moxie's third birthday :)
Had Tex-Mex for lunch, something that the New Yorkers don't get a lot of.
Learned that Enzo loves limes as well as lemons :)
Fuzzy pic, but me and my little guy heading out for dinner.
Friday night's dinner was at the request of Matt's brother.  He was craving some crawfish!  It was his girlfriend's first time.  Here is the silly crew.
Saturday, we slept in a little bit.  I love Saturday morning naps!
We sported our "My uncle is RAD" shirt for Uncle Phil.
We drove and walked around Downtown Dallas to show Phil and his girlfriend where JFK was shot and some other key places.
Enzo loved his Easter basket goodies, especially the bubbles and grass :)

I will do another post about Sunday once I load my pictures off my camera.

So come back later!

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