A Sunny Day...

A little lunch before we start playing!

She loooved to swing!  Brother even helped push her a little.  :)

They played together a lot! M loved to climb around!

Shadows

Tis the season of shadows... sort of.  Of course we're all aware that February 2nd was Groundhog Day and that every year we all wait in a sense of anticipation apathy to hear if Phil is going to see his shadow.   However, the wonder of it does become a bit more exciting with a three year old.  Ace learned about it in school and because of these lessons on Phil, his shadow, and learning how to make shadows in school - the excitement continued at home and thanks to the beautiful and unusual February sunshine the fun has been extended.

Someone who is mostly unaware of shadows is little Mae.   We lived this past summer in a very sunny area, but she was still very young and since we really haven't seen warmth and sunshine since the end of October... it's understandable for her to forget her shadow.  :)



So these past few days where there has been sun - we've been taking the opportunities to walk outside barefoot, to touch our shadows, to make shadow puppets in the sunlight that peeks in through the windows, and go to the park!   It's been a wonderful glimpse and we look forward to more in spring - which according to  Punxsutawney Phil is in 6 more weeks. So pay attention NW you wouldn't want to prove the large rodent turned seasoned prognosticator wrong!

The Piñata Playdate!

About three weeks ago, Mae had her first birthday party and at the same time is when the snow began to fall that remained for about a week around here in the NW.   It was pretty epic, both party and snow... but there was a lonely little owl piñata that sat unused.   It was decided a playdate would be scheduled for the party guests so that the excitement could still be had.  As it worked out delaying the piñata fun was a good idea, because two extra friends were able to be in attendance that would have missed the party regardless of the snow! V strung up the piñata, decided the order and away we went! 

There were enough strings to be pulled that everyone was able to go twice - in fact even after all the strings were pulled all the loot had to be shaken out.  You see the loot that was in the piñata wasn't candy (that tends to have some weight)  but more crowd friendly items for the 3 and under crowd.  AKA non-choking hazards!   It was filled with party themed rubber ducks, plastic slinkies, star shaped sunglasses and mini Frisbees.   All were great hits and just enough loot for the little ones to care about. 

There was a decent enough frenzy when it was time to collect the loot that it was amusing, especially as some of the younger ones (my daughter and the twins) were enjoying putting other items like fridge magnets, etc..into their loot bags.  :)    Lots of fun was had with all the items in the piñata - and a few that weren't.

Ace decided after some time had passed, while everyone was busy playing with their loot that he'd go survey the piñata and take inventory to see if there was anything left in the piñata - and he scored himself an extra pair of sunglasses.  :)

It was a great afternoon filled with lots of kiddos playing together, running around the house, and for a moment all being seemingly healthy!    Seven kids all able to be in the same room together - hooray!  Although both of mine today now have icky coughs, so I apologize if the other five are developing them too and we were the carrier monkeys - I suppose it's nearly impossible to avoid, but hooray for symptom free piñata playdate!

We joked it looks like Mae is thanking everyone for coming.  :)

Solitude

As I said in Shutterbug Resolved I am going to try and better enhance my skills as a photographer.  That means not only bettering my understanding of photography and my camera, but also finding new photographic challenges.   Over at Sweet Violet there is a photography challenge entitled 'Poetic Winter' and the theme for this week is 'solitude' - how fitting... (that's all I have to say about that.)   Here is my entry.

 

Favorite Photo of January

It certainly is hard to choose one favorite photo of January - I took kept 566 pictures from this month and officially I still have one day left, so odds are pretty good that number isn't static.     However, on the 13th of January, God gave us the most beautiful sunset!   This is SOOC, no editing or enhancing.   I love all the textures the sky had that day! 

Stop by Click it Up a Notch to see other favorite shots of January!

Oh So Silly!

Ace has been very good with me in allowing me to try out new and different settings, angles, and lighting with my photography.  He's often a willing participant and is good to tell me "I'm all done taking pictures, mom."  when he really is ALL done.    How he keeps himself entertained while I'm busy capturing varies, but one of his favorite is to make faces... this one I've only see him make once, but the moment I snapped it I burst out laughing.  It's certainly not pretty, but it is oh so silly!

50mm, 1/90s, ISO 400, f/2.0

To see more 'Oh So Silly' enteries stop by iheartfaces.

Shutterbug Resolved....

I read some where that 45% of New Year Resolutions fail by the end of January... so this year I decided to give myself some momentum into the new year. Recover from the holidays, get myself into a new pace of regular life before then heaping a new challenge onto my plate.  I think if more people did this - perhaps those grandiose endeavours, ideas, and goals might have a better success rate. Start in February!  After all the year is still pretty darn new and we're only really getting out of the holiday haze anyway.   I digress...

I've been thinking about what I want to focus and challenge myself on this year - I wanted to do something that wasn't just focused solely on me, but something that my family could also be involved with - yet still focused and presented me with the challenge.    It didn't seem too difficult to decide what that challenge, goal, endeavor would be for me: photography.   Last year I acquired some of my main tools of the trade in order to become a 'contender' in the art of photography.    I've always had the passion for a great shot, last year I got the tools for a beautiful crisp shot, and now this year I want to enhance my knowledge (and implementation) to achieve those shots.   This is my goal, my passion, my resolution for 2012.

I've always been a shutterbug.  I recall my first camera - it was a sleek long skinny blue rectangle that held the small film cases, I had the 5 bulb pop flashes that affixed to the top... ha! I even found one for sale on eBay when I went looking just now.  In high school I would expend excessive amounts of film goofing off with friends. I remember the anticipation of being able to rush to the store to see what had developed.   I used film all through college, it was only half way through college that I got my first digital camera.    How did I ever live so long without it?  My world of megapixels has only grown since then - my cameras went from big, to smaller and smaller, back to relatively big.  :)  Last year I embarked further into more equipment beyond just the point and shoot into the SLR world and further into the world of development and enhancement on the computer with PSE and Lightroom.     I am excited to challenge myself to learn more, take more photos (I can hear my husband groaning now!) and really try to capture life in the best light possible - and with sharp focus to boot! ;-)

So this year you'll see a lot more photography themed posts, more photo challenges participated in, and perhaps even though we're 4 weeks into this year, I might just catch up and participate in a Project 52 series.   We shall see.  But for 2012 I hereby resolve to sharpen my shutterbug skills.