Scroll down to find out how you can VOTE and help a local family win the PepsiCo Grant to further research for Rett Syndrome.

Taking pictures can be so much fun but the real challenge comes when you take the photos off your camera.

Our daughters just got cameras for their graduation gifts and it has been fun to watch them photographing everything in their path. I think they have taken a picture of every flower in our house. They are also starting to realize that it is not easy to get the perfect photo and why I am always asking them to pose for "just one more picture". I have come to realize that we are fortunate in the digital age that our kids can take as many pictures as they like and we only need to pay to print the ones that actually turn out. Remember the days of paying ten dollars and getting back a whole role of film and finding out only a few photos were worth keeping?

Summer is a great time to get caught up on organizing photos and making albums.

Many of us with children over the age of 10 have additional challenges because we also have negatives & prints from a film camera to deal with. I have boxes and cartons of print pictures of our oldest children with a mix of digital photos on the computer. I keep planning to scan the old pictures into our computer and organize them --- ah, now there's the summer project!

For me one of the most stressful times, and the times I feel the frustration of not having our photos organized, is when one of the kids needs a specific picture of themselves for school. This last school year I spent many late nights going through boxes of photos, finding the right shot that represented my child at the right age, scanning it into the computer and then emailing it to our school for the yearbook and slide show. I now appreciate how much easier it is with our 6 year old as she is an 'all digital' child and we have been really good about saving pictures to the computer and putting them in folders.

DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING has become more popular in recent years and there are several websites that help users create professional looking albums.  It seems that the sites continue to improve and give users more and more options that allow us to customize books to our liking.  Personally, I have used Shutterfly with good results, but there are other sites such as Snapfish, Kodak and Costco which also offer online scrapbooking.   

BACK UP YOUR PHOTOS... One of the most important things you can do with your digital photo library is to make sure you BACK IT UP!  We have all had friends who have lost photos when a hard drive crashes and these precious memories are something you don't want to lose!  It is a good idea to back your images up in several places: Save a copy to a CD/DVD  -   Save a copy to a flash drive  -  Upload photos to an online photo site such as Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc.

Be sure to visit our local PHOTOGRAPHY RESOURCES and check out the great article below about capturing a natural smile from your kids. 

Meet our MVP Dad Chris Kolendrianos, local father of two... "My biggest inspiration in my daughter Sorel. She is the most amazing little angel in the world. She can't talk, walk or use her hands, yet she can move mountains with her eyes and smile."  View full profile >

Sorel has Rett Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. Because of the disorder, she is not able to talk, walk, crawl or have any purposeful hand use. However, Chris and his wife Megan remain hopeful. They are involved with the International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF) and work toward promoting the IRSF Research to Reality Campaign.

YOU CAN HELP! The IRSF Research to Reality Campaign will receive $250,000 through the Pepsi Refresh Project if it receives enough votes in June. Each person can vote once per day every day in June. CLICK HERE TO VOTE. The top 2 ideas who receive the most votes at the end of the month receive the grant! Read the Noozhawk article about the PepsiCo Grant contest >

Do you know of a mom or dad making a difference in our community? It need not be YOUR mom or dad; just a Santa Barbara mom or dad that impresses you.  Please tell us, so we can give them the opportunity to be featured on our site! > 

YOU will be entered to win two tickets to the advance screening of Eclipse on Tuesday, June 29 at 8pm at the Arlington Theatre. This advance showing is a fundraiser for Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara. If you don't win tickets, you can buy them yourself... $25 for general admission, $100 for VIP (includes preparty at 7pm and first seating). Submit your mom or dad comments here >

Happy Scrapbooking! Click for activities and ideas if you are trying to beat the "June Gloom" in Santa Barbara this week.

Click here to see all photography resources >>
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Use the PARENT PLANNER to click on events and resources you are interested in and click PRINT MY PLANNER to print or email your list.

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Emily Hart Roberts Photo Tip #12: Conquering the "Say Cheese" Smile

People often ask me, "How do I avoid that goofy 'camera smile' on my kids faces when I take pictures of them?  Well, it's tough.  Kids have had some pretty hard core training in that field from the moment they were born.  Every time Auntie Bettie or Uncle Joe gets the camera out, they tell them to "Say Cheese"!  The funny thing is, you don't see that goofy smile any other time during their day, except of course when they are begging you for a sleepover on a school night!

You want to see the smile your child gives to YOU, not the camera.  That's hard to do since you have a camera stuck to your face where your eyes and mouth usually are, so its not like they are smiling at YOU, as much as "FOR" you.  One trick I like to use is to put the camera at chest or neck level and pre-focus or pre-zoom it to the appropriate distance they are from you.  Then I am free to engage them in a conversation, and they will smile at ME since I am smiling at THEM.  I click away while I am talking to them, and sometimes I get the greatest surprises. 

Emily Hart Roberts is a local SB photographer whose passion is photographing children.

Dos Pueblos, Santa Barbara, and San Marcos high schools make Newsweek's list of America's Best High Schools for 2010

According to Newsweek Magazine, "Each year, NEWSWEEK picks the best high schools in the country based on how hard school staffs work to challenge students with advanced-placement college-level courses and tests. Just over 1,600 schools-only 6 percent of all the public schools in the U.S.-made the list. This year's rankings have some fantastic new interactive features. We've teamed up with a data company called Factual to create individual profile pages for each school where students and faculty can comment and contribute."

• Dos Pueblos High School ranked 614 on the Newsweek list.
• Santa Barbara High School ranked 1390 on the Newsweek list.
•  San Marcos High School ranked 1617 on the Newsweek list.

This year, the top five four-year colleges and universities most often attended by our graduates: UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, UC Los Angeles, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, UC Santa Cruz.

The top two-year college most often attended by our graduates: Santa Barbara City College.

Click here to read the Newsweek article >