Spring Break Continued...

Here's the rest...

This picture cracks me up...if you only knew the things these two could plan...

We went to the YMCA for a fun morning of swimming.

We enjoyed some pizza afterwards

This is my grandma Ellen.  Happy Feet and I got to to visit with her for a little bit one morning.  She's a wonderful woman...everything you would hope your grandma would be.  A few things about my grandma...she raised 6 kids, makes the BEST gravy, and she LOVES watching sports. She's one of a kind. I love her.

What a good week we had.  Thanks to everyone who fed us, housed us and helped me with the kids.  Love you guys! Pin It

Spring Break

I had a wild and crazy spring break last week.  I hauled three kids to Nebraska to visit my family and a dear friend from high school. We had a great time! The first night I stayed with my sister and helped take care of our combined 5 kids (5 and under). We actually got to take a nice long walk together (with only Swoosh) and really visit.  That was nice. 

The next day I drove to Lincoln to visit my friend Natalie.  I hadn't seen her for like two years. Happy Feet and her daughter were just babies during our last visit.  She made us lunch and took us to a little park for a picnic.  The weather was so nice, and it was fun to watch our little ones play together. Not to mention getting to catch up with her a little bit...while actually looking at her.   We waited too long to do that. 

When I left Natalie's I went to my parents home...the home that I grew up in. Mom had been visiting my other sister and brought my nephew back. Here he is...

The kids spent hours playing in the sand, on the playground and running with wild abandon exploring farm life. It was good. 

These little guys are my other nephews (they're brothers)

The kids are really starting to play together and get along.  At one point we went 20 minutes without one squabble.  That's huge.  It's fun to watch the kids build these friendships with their cousins.  I'll post more pictures when I have time. There's lots more to share. 

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St. Patrick's Day Parade

It's spring break week here. It snowed last night, but it is suppose to warm up later in the week.  No menu planning for me, I'm taking off and visiting friends and family in Nebraska. I'm going to make my mom and sister feed my all week long. 

We had a good weekend. We went to a St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday. It was...crazy. I prefer our hometown, easy to find a place to watch, candy throwing parade, but it was still a good outing.  The kids enjoyed it. Here's some pictures from our Saturday. I shot these all in manual mode.

I got a new 50 mm lens for my camera. It has a wide aperture and is going to be good for taking portraits. It has nice bokeh. It can even make my messy bedroom look dazzling!  Have a great week everyone. Pin It

40 Days/40 Bags

Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent.  I'm joining Sarah in her 40 Bags/40 Days of Lent Challenge  The premise behind it is to clean-up, clean-out, and get rid of what you don't need or use on a regular basis, and in doing so, make more room for God.

I got started this morning with the area I dreaded most.  Don't ask me why, but I just did.  My junk drawers. Yes, you read correctly.  Not drawer, drawers.  Here's my before and afters.

 

After- I never thought I had adequate room for my beloved cookbooks. 

Wonder of all wonders...I do now!

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

It feels so good to have this area clean and organized.  I keep going back into my kitchen to sneek a peek. My husbands tools haven't made it back in...yet.

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Photography 101 **Lines & Movement**

This week we learned about shooting in Shutter Priority Mode.  On my Canon Rebel it's the TV setting, which is a semi-automatic mode.  This is a good mode to use when you are shooting moving things (kids, sports, animals).  We practiced shooting a moving target (our instructors daughter).  Our teacher taught us that if we want to be able to focus in on a moving target we need to move with the subject.  Here's an example of a picture I took during class in which I didn't move with the subject.  The entire picture is blurry.

Here's a better example of panning the target...not perfect, but better.

We also talked about lines as a compositional rule in photography.  Lines are the second most powerful compositional element.

There's leading lines, these take your eye out of the frame.  Here's a few online examples:

 Then there's converging lines.  Converging lines give depth to a photo. The lines look like they will touch at some point. Here's some online examples:

Last, we talked about curved lines.  Curved lines are very feminine in nature and they are used to trap the eye.  As with any concept, it can be literal or implied.

Here's some online examples:

Our homework for the week was to use lines in our photo and shoot in Shutter Priority (TV).

Here's what I submitted:

We have a really quiet class and our instructor is always trying to get us to talk, but we won't, so he just goes down his roster and calls on someone.  Of the two pictures I submitted, this is the one he asked the class about.  It didn't go over well. The lady who got called on said she didn't get it.  Our instructor didn't say much other than it should have been cropped differently. Talk about frustrating. I don't think it's beautiful or anything, but I guess I don't completely get why it's wrong. I could have used a little better feedback. Oh well, I'll keep on practicing.  I need lots of practice in shutter priority mode...lots of blur.   

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