Cinco de Mayo

It was a nice evening on Cinco de Mayo and since I still needed some shots for my shutter speed assignment, I decided to break out the camera.

There wasn't a lot of movement with Ella in the hammock but she
certainly looked cute

Silas and the other kids were running around, throwing balls,
playing golf - so I was able to get some "action" shots.

Justin was working (the Baker's room and garage addition officially kicked off today!) and Mason was hitting golf balls with my dad so it was just me, Ella and Si. We invaded the neighbor's and hung out with a margarita or two...

Jodi was kind enough to feed Si some tomato soup (one of his all-time favorites)
which he somehow got sloshed into his hair...

and began dripping down his forehead which he wasn't thrilled about.

Silas is getting to be a big-boy. He has never been able to say "vanilla" - he has always called it "va-ella" and then gets a kick out of it because it has his sister's name in it. Last week he said he can now say "vanilla" the right way. Makes me sad :-(

Shutterbug

On the weekends, I've been devoting a lot of time to my photography class. I have the camera out constantly. I have over 300 pictures of every flower, bird, blade of grass in my yard...practicing aperture, depth, shutter, etc. I've also been getting a lot of the kids as they run around and play.

I think they are getting TOO used to seeing the camera because
they always have that "cheese" look on their face

Miss Boo

I got very bored taking pictures around the house and yard,
so I dragged the family to Darby Creek Nursery's open house last weekend.

This week's assignment is on Shutter Speed...so I need to get me some good water - wind - movement shots. Fun stuff!

Sing it Judy!

We had a "somewhere over the rainbow" evening...

Rain, rain, rain, all day long...and then right before dinner time it cleared up. Silas and Justin went for a walk and Ella and I stayed home (because she was being a brat but it turned out okay). We went outside to do some birdwatching, and then it started raining...and then the sun came out. I told her to go look for a rainbow (really only joking) and she came screaming in THERE'S THE RAINBOW!!

And it was a double rainbow!!

So while we were out birdwatching we saw these fine critters...
she is keeping a bird journal this week for school.
This lad was singing a fine little tune.

I was about to catch this one for dinner, or else put him on a Jenny Craig diet.
Justin informed me he was "just puffed up" - it was a bit chilly out and he was keeping warm (or else very relaxed...) I didn't buy it until I saw a couple of my pictures of the same guy and he was about half the size.

Reminds me of the bird from the kid's book The Best Nest by PD Eastman. I love that book!

My New Class!

Something that I have wanted to do for a LONG time but never made the commitment to is taking a photography class and learning how to use the equipment that I have. I love, love, love taking photos - especially of the kids and various nature scenes.
Yay for me!!!! I finally signed up for a class through www.betterphoto.com.
It's actually more time consuming than I thought it'd be (about 2-3 hours per weekly lesson and then the taking and submission of 4-5 photos for critique).

So I've been putzing a lot with the camera and seeing what I can catch...

our lovely Canadian Cherry tree...

our lovely Silas James swinging....

our lovely Zo-zo....

Silas in the kid recliner with a good book...

We'll see how it goes...hopefully I won't flunk out!