I'm learning....

Our local library offered a free Basic Photography class this past Saturday.  Lucky me.  I learned all sorts of awesome stuff.  And then of course, I had to take my two willing subjects (well, one extremely willing Attention-Seeker and one extremely easy-going Compliant...I've now decided you can use that word as a noun) outside so I could pretend I knew what I was doing.  I played with ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, and I got a few good shots, but I'm definitely still learning.   

 Love.

 Figured out how to blur the background, but it's too bright....

My Compliant getting not so compliant anymore.

Love having an excuse to take lots of pictures of my girls!

Family Visit

 Both girls were super excited (well, and least I think B was excited) to have Aunt K and Uncle S come visit us.  They are so cute.  

 Of course E had to show off.  And don't worry.  I didn't let her wear this outside the house.  :)

 Our little town has an awesome historical downtown with this cool drive-through dairy.  Of course we had to make a stop at the walk-up soft-serve counter.

 I think B is trying to sneak a bit of strawberry ice cream with her little finger.  Go ahead, baby.  You could use the extra calories. :)

It was awesome to see them!!!

Walk-A-Thon

E's preschool does an annual Walk-A-Thon to raise money for preschool scholarships.  So, we of course capitalized on E's cuteness and petitioned Grandmas and Grandpas and our wonderful neighbor for donations.  They were all awesomely supportive and pledged to donate some funds to E for each lap she walked with her class.

Now of course, I couldn't miss this photo opportunity.  How often to do you get to watch a bunch of 3 and 4-year-olds in matching "I ( red heart) Dublin" shirts walk in circles and not trample each other?  It's kind of amazing.  For those of you who donated, here are your promised pictures!

 Ready to go.

 And they're off!!!

 They were supposed to walk, but all the kids took off running.  Most of them ran all 5 laps.

 A break after the first lap!

 They got a sticker after each lap so they knew how much further to go.

 This is E's "boyfriend."  He's a cutie.

 After 3 laps E stopped running and decided a leisurely stroll was much better.  

 Stopping to smell the...well, grass, I guess.

 B was happy hanging out in the Ergo carrier and watching all the kids run by.

 The hat wouldn't stay on.  Makes her look a little squished.  

 I did it!!!!

To quote E at the end, "Mom, I was AWESOME!!!"

We're Baaaaaaccckkk!

After a long hiatus, I've resurrected and redirected the blog.  Now, while I will still occasionally use it for my own random ramblings and insignificant life-commentary, it's main focus will be showing off pictures of my awesome kids to appease various grandmas all over the Western United States. 

Here we go:

So we bought a new camera.  A real one. I worked hard.  I saved.  And I purchased.  And boy, did that purchase hurt until I took this first set of pictures (see above).   But those amazing smiles and beautifully blurred backgrounds took away my pain.

You see, little B is 6-months-old.  Sadness.  And happiness.  But I had yet to get a picture of her smiling because her smiles are brief and our house is dark, and it takes forever for our point-and-shoot to take a picture in the dim light.  And of course, by then, the smile is gone.  So you see, I needed a new camera.  It really truly was a need.  Really.

And now, 2 minutes out of the box, I have beautiful smile pictures of B AND E (and one silly face from E...of course).

Now, Grammy (or Grammi  or Grami or Grammie...or Grammey) and Grandma B, here you are.  Some of my favorites of the 451 I've taken in two weeks of owning this camera.  Because I just had to play around of course.  :)

We love you.

 This is the "awww, MOOOMMMM!!" look I get a lot when I ask her to do something.

 Testing out the awesome shutter speed on the DSLR.  Oh so fun.  Ellie didn't mind being our subject.

So we didn't notice we had a cobweb on the ceiling until Big B (or Daddy...formally known on here as just B) took this awesome picture.  Then we looked at it on the playback screen...and low and behold, there's a cobweb.  Thank you, 18 megapixels!

 So comfy in Mommy's ring sling.

Those cheeks!!!

Enjoy!