Cute Kids!

I know I said something about some basketball pictures and some capitol building pictures – well that’s not happening anymore. I’m too far behind. So instead I’m moving right into the “photo shoot” with the kids.

I didn’t get anyone ready for pictures. They wore what they happened to have on – in Emma’s case her pajamas. And no one got their hair combed. And in Ben’s case – no hands washed either.

I did put down this blanket to use as a backdrop. And since I have no idea what I’m doing, I think it actually turned out pretty well.

I can’t get enough of that toothless smile!

I can’t get enough of this one either!

The bigger kids did great sitting still for the pictures, and I think they even had fun doing it.

Spencer wanted his picture taken, but only on his own time, and in his own way.

I would have loved to have all four kids together in a picture. But for obvious reasons, that was not going to happen.

And after all the big kids, it was baby time! Sydney was a very sweet model.

Somewhere along the way I switched to portrait mode. Before that I was trying to do the settings on the camera myself. At this point the auto modes are what I prefer. Someday my brain will work a little quicker again and I can figure out the manual settings. :)

Even Zoe tried to get in on the action.

A Snowy Day

A little while ago we had a beautiful wet snow fall. The camera was still fairly new, so I was excited to try it out and experiment a little.

We had a beautiful sunrise that morning. I enjoyed the pink colors in the trees.

This picture and next one are of our neighbors yard. I wondered if they saw me with my telephoto lens pointed at their house. :)

I really had fun with the telephoto lens. And I love the way the wet snow sits on the branches of the trees and bushes.

This picture and the next were me being excited about bokeh (I learned that word from the The Pioneer Woman). This is the walkway leading up to our house.

And this is just the light in our front yard. So, not so exciting to see our across-the-cul-de-sac neighbor’s house and 5th wheel, but the idea that we have a camera that can do this – wow!

This picture is focused on our fence, with our neighbor’s white fence in the background.

And here’s the same view focused on the white fence. I absolutely love this “peeking” through view. I’d like to practice with this more.

Another peeking through picture.

Another bokeh picture.

And Tiger enjoying the snow.

So I really have had such a good time taking pictures! I think I love the camera! I have some more posts highlighting the camera coming up – basketball, the capitol building, and a photo shoot of the kids! I think they’re starting to get used to the camera being around more. :)

A new “toy”

I’m calling it a “toy” because the kids are definitely not allowed to touch it. But Adam and I are having such a good time learning how to use our new camera. Adam has been wanting a nice camera for a while now (many years). (FYI, nice (to me) = removable lenses). I’ve always liked the idea of a nice camera, but with a young family I never felt like I would have the time to learn how to use it properly. Well, the time has come. After extensive research (by Adam), and talking to some people who have nice cameras, we ended up getting the Canon t2i. There was a nice deal at Costco which included the camera body, two kit lenses and a bag.

So I’m planning on doing more posts that have to do with photography. We’ll see how well I do at that. So Adam had taken the camera to work a few times to take pictures, but usually it is at home with me during the day. This is an early morning shot of the capitol building.

This is the view from Adam’s window at work without any zoom.

And here is the same view with the telephoto lens! I know, those of you who have nice cameras are not impressed with this, but I am! This is all new to me, and I am amazed at how far we can see with this lens.

This was our first attempt with indoor pictures. This is Emma with her cousin Rachel. I thought they were so cute! The lighting was terrible here, so I’m pleased with how well the pictures turned out anyway.

And here’s Sydney. That is Emma’s finger in the picture, she’s trying to make Sydney smile. Well we still have a TON to learn, but we are really enjoying it. The quality of our pictures is SO much better. So I have a couple more posts I’m getting ready about the camera/photography. Maybe I’ll get them posted soon.

A quick trip to the park

A little while ago on a Saturday we all went to the park together. It was pretty cold.

Spencer thought he needed double ear warmth. Consequently I had frozen ears most of the time. But he looked really cute!

We’re fortunate to have a park within walking distance of our house. Emma prefers not to ride her scooter on the rough part of the path. So I decided to help her out a little. Have you ever ridden one of those razor scooters? I highly recommend it. :)

This is the boys’ favorite climbing tree. It’s a good thing they are better climbers than their mom. Hey Chris, remember looking for frogs in that pond? Too fun!

It’s birthday time!

We’ve had a couple birthdays around here! At the end of January Spencer turned 4! Spencer is a fun, active, sweet, big boy. He tries hard to do what he should. He really loves his new sister Sydney and takes really good care of her. He didn’t request a certain kind of cake (except that it be chocolate), so this is what he got. If you can’t tell those are supposed to be Lego squares.

Ben’s birthday was a couple of weeks later at the beginning of February. He turned 7 years old! Ben is a good, sweet, smart boy. He really loves the outdoors and animals. He’s also really into science lately and wanting to do science experiments.

Ben decided he would like to have a solar system cake this year. I really have a good time trying to make different cakes for the kids. Some of them turn out better than others. I thought this one was cute. (Obviously my tray was too small to put the planets in their correct order, but you get the idea.)

Toothless

I think a kid who is missing his two front teeth is one of the cutest things ever! But Ben just happens to have the cutest smile of all! (Well equally cute with Emma when she had no teeth.) Something about that gummy grin melts my heart every time.

There is also a small bit of sadness for me that comes with losing those front teeth though. Once the new teeth grow in it seems like the child's whole look starts changing. Making them look so much more grown up. Officially passing into the big kid world. I know it’s the plan, and really I’m happy about them growing up, but it still makes me a little teary if I think about it too much. So for now I enjoy the toothlessness for as long as I can. :)

Feeding the baby

Now that Sydney is only on formula, the kids love to be able to feed her. And she’ll take food from anyone willing to give it to her. She is a healthy, hungry, growing baby.

Unfortunately for them they don’t actually get the chance very often – because I really love feeding her myself! Does that make me a bad mommy, or a good mommy? I’m still not sure. I admit that one of the parts of nursing I really like is that I’m the one who nourishes the baby – the only one. (Well maybe I don’t always love it so much in the middle of the night when I’m beyond exhausted and the baby wants to nurse every hour). But in general that is something that I secretly (almost selfishly) enjoy.

But regardless of who feeds her, she is doing really well on formula. Super really well. She is now the happiest baby on the block. And that makes for the happiest mommy. Which in turn makes for a happy family.