Trying Out "The Beast" with my "Panera Bread Baby"!

So... because my Levi loves me, I got a new camera for my birthday!

It is just not any camera... it is A BEAST of a camera.

I love it! The only draw back is it is not subtle! That is why I call it "the beast"! It is a digital SLR with the lenses and everything and I am in love with it! But it is big and heavy (I can not hold my point and shoot without it feeling like it is going to break in my hands now). The problem is I am still trying to learn to use it and to learn which settings are best. So I found a lovely assistant (Callie), and took my model out to the Janes River beach at my grandma's house when I was in Williamsburg and shot some pictures of her! She was cold and not in a "smiley" mood (she had just woken up), but she did a good job for me! Some are good, some are not so good, but I am learning and it is a lot of fun! I love taking pictures!

In the morning after her bath! I bought her a new sweater and I thought she looked spiffy! It had been warm the day before but it was too cold that day to take pics without a jacket!

Getting a piece of tortilla chip out of her teeth with her tongue!
I don't know why she always drops to the ground in this pose when I take her picture, but oh well, I just go with it!
Ready to go! I just have to peel that apple away from her first!

She is very willing to share! Here she is offering me a bite!

Enjoying the sunset! I think I also had a hard time getting her to smile at the camera because she was always distracted by the vibrant setting sun!

I thought I found the cutest, most perfect place to take her picture. But as you can see... she did not think so!

See, she is on a stump of an old oak tree! I thought it was whimsical, she thought it was scary!

But she makes the cutest sad faces!

I like her face and the lighting! The lighting would have been better but we were a little late! There were a lot of people to see before we stepped out to the beach!

Her face looks so peaceful!

This picture almost looks like I cut and pasted her picture into a stock background!

Sometimes I like the flashless look!

There! Finally! A smile!!!

The only way the photographer ever get in pictures! Callie climbed on my back so I turned the camera around and snapped a picture! She is my little spider monkey! She loves to get on my back and hold on tight!

I love the rickety tree on the beach! In the summer a bald eagle perches there and fishes!

Whimsically looking out to the river!

I wish she was looking at the camera, but I like the colors of this picture!

I like how the sun lights up the curls! Walking into the sunset!

I love the picture... but note the hands! Pink Pink Pink! They were Cold Cold Cold! Time to go inside before they get too cold!

Singing a song! She loves to sing!

Yep, there is that apple again! They are really good apples!I better get her inside before those hands freeze off!

After the photo shoot, I took my model out to eat! We went to Panera Bread! A very special place for us! I even ordered the same thing I ordered on that day... oh, the memories!

She was being such a goof at Panera Bread! She kept making the face in this picture and saying "UNBUCKLE" in a forced raspy voice! She was being so funny!

She had a messy face from the Chocolate Chip cookie we ate while waiting for our order! They messed up on the order so we ate a cookie while we waited. Then she would not touch the sandwich!

Up to no good! Where are you going?
Under the table of course! She kept going under the table and being really silly! Her face says it all!
Now why did I choose to eat at Panera Bread exactly?! Well, it is symbolic of a huge moment in our lives! And going there with Callie was extra special! This last picture of Callie is taken exactly where I sat when I found out about my Callie! Someone was sitting there when we went in, but they left by the time we were leaving, so I made sure I snagged a picture!

It will be 2 years ago the first week in January that a little lunch outing to Panera Bread changed our lives and brought Callie into it! That is where I first found out about her, that she existed! I always seemed to know about her, I knew a baby would come my way that was not born from my belly... I just did not know when! She would come into this world 2 months later! She has been a pure joy and I could not imagine life without her! She is our little Curly-Cal! Such a happy, sweet, cuddly girl! And she loves her brothers and sisters and I could not imagine our family without her! She and Jovie are a terrible twosome... it was supposed to be that way! We are truly blessed by her every day!