Red Wing Park

So a couple weeks ago I had the privilege of taking the Wood Family's photos. The kids had grown sooo much since I last saw them and boy did they keep me on my toes! Here are a few shots from our shoot at Red Wing Park.....

Moving with Children

So for all of my life, moving has been a constant.  Growing up as the daughter of a Marine, frequent moving was the norm rather than the exception. By the time I was six, I had lived in Florida, North Carolina, Japan, and California.  Now that my husband and I are both active duty Coast Guard, you would think moving would have become second nature..... but its not. Its still as frustrating as the first 18 some moves in my life were.  But this some seems more daunting than any other move I've ever made in my life. Why? Because we have CHILDREN and now I'm the grown up. Moving with children brings a whole new set of questions to the table. Such as, "How do you explain to your 3 year old why a stranger is packing his toys in boxes?" and "How do I make sure the movers pack things the way they're suppose to when I'm busy changing a dirty diaper?" And how do you unpack everything without the one year old finding every breakable object?" My parents somehow successfully did it with four young daughters and somehow we made it to our destination in more or less one piece, but I wish I'd paid attention to HOW they did it.

Fortunately were only moving 4 hours down the road, but for other military families, this transit could include hotel rooms and weeks of waiting for household goods to arrive. Sort of makes me count my blessings and realize... things could always be harder so I'd better put on my big girl pants and make the best of it.  Besides this move brings new adventures. This move brings me staying at home as a Coast Guard wife in a sea of Army wives.... 

I've never been "just a wife" I've been an Coast Guard Officer and a wife, but never just a wife. And to make things even more unique my husband is enlisted. Which means this former Active Duty Coast Guard Officer and wife will become a Coast Guard Petty Officer's wife in the world of Army enlisted. It's a new adventure for sure. But one I'm looking forward to. I'm proud and excited to see where my husband's career is going and I look forward to being able to stay home with my kids and pursue other passions I have such as photography and scrapbooking.  I see myself as responsible not only for ensuring my children are loved, educated and happy, but for documenting my children's young lives and this will afford me these opportunities of which I am truly grateful to my husband for providing. 

And since this blog is about my growth as a mom and photographer.... of course I couldn't pass up an opportunity to brag on my kids.  Here are a few shots I took with my 40 mm pancake lens. It's become my new favorite lens and I definitely think I'm seeing improvement in my photography using it. 

Catching up....

It has been a few months since I have posted any pictures to my blog.  Since then I have created a portfolio using Zenfolio. Please check out my work @ http://aprilkillianphotography.zenfolio.com

Oh and I've joined a photography club here in the local area. It has been neat seeing how others "rate" my photos and I have learned a lot from seeing other peoples work. Of course most of the time my shots are of kids and other members shots are of places they've such as oh you know... Egypt, Africa, Austria....etc..etc... While they're trying to figure out how to photo edit out the random tourist that jumped into their shot, I on the other hand spend my time prepping for meetings by photo editing away snot from Liam's nose.

Here are some shots using my latest lens edition.  Mom and Dad bought me a 40mm "pancake" lens for Christmas and as of lately it is my "go to" lens. Here are a few shots of family from Easter this year.... let me know what you think.....