Picture Perfect ... Almost!

Happy Halloween from our little turkey and Fairy Princess Peacock! I took most of our Halloween pictures yesterday so we weren't so rushed today.  They came out fairly well considering the kids were outside. D and S went out trick or treating with me for a bit while B handed out candy.  Then we came back and I passed out candy with S while B took D out.  Everyone throughly enjoyed the evening and stayed in good moods.  The haul of candy was impressive!

I had to take a field trip for my photography class this week.  The purpose was to go someplace you've wanted to go and not be afraid to take pictures while there.  I thought about all of the places (within 30 miles) I wanted to go ... parks, zoos, museums ... and decided these weren't feasible with kids right now.  Then I remembered D had her field trip to the pumpkin patch and realized this would be the perfect place to do my assignment.  So I packed up the kids (and my mom) with the camera and we headed off.  I took 120 pictures while we were there.  Most of them even came out well!  I didn't feel silly bending down or getting in strange positions to get my shots.  I felt free and happy to catch the kids playing.  I knew I would share the pictures with B and he'd feel like he was there. For editing we learned about the differences in editing for portraits of people and landscapes.  I didn't get any good closeup shots of the kids to do the portrait edits.  That&

After 2 rained out days, D finally made to the pumpkin patch with her preschool today.  She loved seeing all of the pumpkins in the market and had the toughest time choosing 2 for home.  The best part was when she saw a white one and commented that it was picked too early because it wasn't orange yet.  She was mystified by the fact it was supposed to be white.  After careful observation, touching, and picking up she was able to choose 2 pumpkins for carving at home.  She and S each got a small pumpkin also. The cutest pumpkins in the patch ... I'd definitely choose these two! D had to observe and carefully examine her pumpkin before choosing. Our 2 independent kids who insisted they could lift the pumpkins themselves!

Week 17 - Rain Luckily we had A LOT of rain the week of this topic.  So much rain we couldn't go outside for a week and D's field trip was cancelled. Week 18 - Opposites I had trouble coming up with an idea for this week.  I told B what it was and he immediately said I should compose the following picture with the kids ... Loud and quiet ... all though in reality there's very little quiet!

For my photo taking and class this week the focus was on emotions we are feeling.  At first I had trouble deciding what emotion to think of but ultimately decided on overwhelmed.  There are many things (and not all negative) that overwhelm me each week ... Love for my family All of the things I need to get done Making sure everyone is happy and cared for Carving out time to do something I want to do After deciding on the emotion I had to choose how to show overwhelmed in photos.  This turned out to be even more difficult than picking the emotion.  I spent a lot of the week just looking around and trying to find overwhelmed in a way to photograph.  Overwhelmed by D's sparkle and zest for life Overwhelmed by things to do that are close and clear, while others are further away and blurry Overwhelmed by things in chaos but always with beautiful little people around Overwhelmed with LOVE After taking the photos I learned to color tint them. We achieved th

B gave the kids some OLD McDonalds toys he had gotten as a child from Happy Meals.  They are plastic transformer type toys that look like food then you open them and they are robots.  Every so often the kids pull them out and play with them for a few seconds.  Yesterday they did this ... except the few seconds turned into 30 minutes.  I got on the floor with them and ordered my dinner.  D would bring me my food and I would pretend to start eating.  But just as I'd take the first bite I'd open the robot and squeal in fright.  Both kids rolled on the floor laughing each time this happened.

D has a new purple sparkly top she LOVES!!  It's purple and has sequins all over the front ... what 4 year old girl wouldn't love it?!?!  On Friday she discovered if she stood in the sunlight the sequins sent sparkles all over the wall.  She and S were fascinated by this discovery and had fun trying to catch the reflections.

It's been a couple of ROUGH weeks around our house!  It's rained, the kids have been grumpy, our routine has been changed (mostly for the better) with B home from the government furlough.  To say I've had a little bit of time to myself would be wrong ... I've had no time!  To top it off the house and everything in it (including people) is a mess. Luckily the focus of my photo editing class through the week was finding beauty in the mess.  We had a guest poster / teacher Darrah Parker .  She's all about taking photos of real life at home and embracing what messes are in our lives.  Our assignment was to take pictures of the mess using 6 different composition ideas.   1.  Rule of thirds - divide the frame into thirds and put your subject in one of the thirds Fairy Princes D (as she likes to be called) in the mess of her room 2.  Adjust your lens or camera to get closer / farther away The kids' hands as they played together in the sand table 3.  Ad

D's preschool has a Fall Family Day at a nearby state park on Columbus Day.  Today was that day!  The weather was sunny (finally) and it was a great chance for the kids (and us) to get out and run around.   D did a couple of organized art activities ... Then she ran and ran and ran some more.  She climbed, she slid, she played with friends.  All in all she just had an amazing time outside after a week stuck inside! S also had a blast running around.  He discovered he could climb up the stairs by himself and slide down one of the many slides.  And like at any good playground he had swings!