a girl and her purple balloon

The boys and I headed to a 2nd birthday party for our friend Selah this morning. Nathaniel and Selah's older sister, Emery are in the same preschool class. I feel very lucky to have met this family and am thrilled that Nathaniel and Emery will be at the same school next year. Selah and Emery are blessed with two amazing parents and it was very special to see their family interacting together.
I got permission from Selah's parents to snap as many pictures as I wanted and I didn't hold back. As a beginner photographer I try to get as many opportunities I can get to practice. But this morning had it's challenges. The main room was very dark and I do not like using my flash. It was an experiment as I played with many of the settings on my camera. But thanks to the beautiful sunlight shining into the dining room, I was happy with some of the pictures that I got.
So, back to the birthday girl. Selah is a sweet little girl with the vocabulary of a 3 year old. And one thing that I did not know about her before this morning was that she loves purple. And to be specific, she loves her purple birthday balloon. It was hard not to get a photo with it in the shot. Not that I was trying. I think it was very cute and tells a special story about her 2nd birthday party.
In the middle of the party, I was lucky to capture this sweet moment with Selah, Daddy, a princess and the purple balloon.

And Selah's older sister, Emery. Check out those beautiful eyes!

The only things that distracted Selah from that balloon was cake, presents and her new Little Einstein dolls.
When it was time for cake, Selah needed to work hard to blow out her candles. I didn't count but I'd say I got about 15 shots of her trying to blow out the flame. She finally did it. And she was quite pleased with herself. (If I had the time I would lighten this in Photoshop)
And then it was clean up time.

Thanks for a wonderful morning and Happy Birthday Selah!

And our carbon fast...

Thursday, April 2nd: Turn your central heating thermostat down by at least 1 degree. Bonus: Turn your central heating down to 18 degrees C. Wrap up with a sweater or blanket rather than turning up the heat.