In Seattle

I am in Seattle right now and tomorrow I will catch my plane to DC. It is very...quiet. No kids, no husband, no one I know. It is amazing how when you are surrounded by people, being alone feels wierd.So, I went and ate at a restaurant by myself and that was different. It litterally tolk me 8 minutes to eat and I was out of there. I don't think I know how to be alone because I get board and feel that lack of companionship.
I am also currently sick with this awful cough and body aches. Good thing my bed is right here and I am alone because all I want to do is sleep. Tomorrow I hope I wake up, refreshed, and ready to have fun.
Call my husband this week and make sure he is surviving with the 3 kids. Miss you all.

Lighting

Another week of photography assignments is another week of appreciating the art of photography. This week is about lighting and thanks to mother nature, we have had 3 days of glorious natural sunlight.

Theoretically, between 5-8pm is the "golden hour" and now I know why. During this time, the colors are warm.The light makes the colors vibrant (vs washed out or contrasty).

For my indoor lighting shot, I took pictures of my grace doll. This is a doll my Great Grandmother passed onto me. It was on her bed next to her before she passed away.

My girls had never seen the doll and wanted to hold it. All little girls love dolls. These pictures were taken way past bedtime and the kids were restless. Not a good time but I did get a couple really cute pictures. Shadows show texture to pictures, where you can see all the wrinkles in the finger crevices and things that show depth.

Fall Glacier

Sunday evening, the kids and I went on a walk at the Mendenhall Glacier. This evening had the prettiest sunset I have seen in a long time. We tried to walk all the way to the waterfall, but the lack of daylight forced us to turn around.

It's nice that there aren't any tourists. This gave my kids a chance to climb on the rocks and slide down.

1st Announcement

(In June 2010, there will be another)

A Family Update

The first week of October in Juneau has been beautiful. The fall has brought us lots of color and quite a few days of clear skies! It is definitely cooling off outside and we started pulling out our winter gear. We also got out and raked the yard as a family. It was a task that needed to be done and I never knew it could be so enjoyable. I love seeing my kids all work together. Andy came out about 20minutes before we were done. Don't ask me why. The kids didn't even think he should be able to jump into the leaves, but they quickly forgave.

Mattie has been potty training, for like a month and a half. It is not going the best but we are working on it. She now will not go #2. I think punishing her for going in her panties has now caused her to not want to go. Who would have guessed? She is a very stubborn child.

I have discovered how much she loves her Daddy. She loves snuggling with him on the couch and follows him all around. She even sneaks into our bed at night and gets on "Dads side" of the bed. She is definitely spoiled by her dad. So,While raking the yard, they work side by side. It's precious.

Morgan is loving Kindergarten! She comes home from school and gets right to her homework. She has learned to write the word "the" and numerous letters of the alphabet.

She says she has lots of friends. We even have boys chasing her. Yes.It has already started. Listen to this! At the football game...there were 2 boys fighting over her. One boy was following her around. Then,the other boy went and grabbed her hand (like he was rescuing her) and pulled her all the way to the top of the bleachers... Before we left, she gave both boys a hug! (Little player) Can you believe that? Andy was shocked. I don't think he knew what to do. He didn't have his arsenal set up quite yet.

Trey is surprising me. I notice he comes home from school and independently, gets all his homework done. He is reading the first book of the Harry Potter series and likes reading along to books on tape. He reads for about an hour a day! He reads more than I do, I can't complain. It is definately a huge change from 3rd grade. While raking the leaves, Andy and Trey kept wrestling. Trey knew he was going into the leaf pile when it was done. It was just a matter of time... Football season is almost over as this weekend is the playoffs (yea, yeah!) He has improved his game and skills. It's important for him to learn to work as a team. He is a good boy.
I'm proud of him for sticking it out through the whole season.

The Daycare

The weeks assignment is to photograph speed and Depth of field. There are alot of different things you could shoot with speed, but I thought about kids. Friday, I watched 9 daycare kids for a friend. This was my chance to get some good shots of kids running and jumping, and mainly... kids having a good time.


And being themselves

With beautiful natural smiles.

It was great. The kids behaved very well for me. There were 9 children and not a single problem...only from mine,of course.

(sisters naping together)

Trey skateboarding

Running.

After all that running, it was naptime....ahhhh.

Photography: The study of light

I have learned so much about photography. I learned about metering modes and all of a sudden, I see colors and shades.
I am seeing shadows and light.

I am excited about photoshop and all the possibilities.

And I am loving every minute of it. I could become an addict. An addict to photographing my life and the beauty that surrounds it...
Yesturday is the past, tomorrow is the future, and today is a gift, that is why they call it the present.

WEATHER FORECAST: Bundle Up!

The weather gave us a little chill Yesturday.The temperature felt like it had dropped a couple degrees from the day before. As I was walking down the hall, I turned and noticed the temperature gage. I had the temp turned up but it was only reading 60. Then I noticed that it was a little chillier than normal.
Something was wrong.

And then I thought, oh no. We ran out of oil. (let me remind you that it costs like 1500.00 to fill up our oil tank). So, I dropped a ruler down our tank (since it is underground), and luckily, we had enough oil. It was the boiler. Well...I guess that is a wildcard because we are renters and it's not our problem. Finally, It pays off to be a renter.

So, called the landlord and he had someone over here to fix the boiler. Good thing, the night could have been really cold.

The girls decided it was too cold, they wanted to have a hottub party.

Lot's of fun in the hottub. When I was taking pictures, Mattie started singing this song. It went something like this ..."this is my boooobies.this is my buttt."
I don't know where she gets these things. Not from me! I promise you that. I do know she is fascinated by them right now.



I did think about getting in....