Trying to learn...

So, one of my goals for the year is to learn a little more about photography. I just really have a fascination with it. It's fun and interesting to me.....anyway, here are a few random pics I took while learning more about the manual settings on my camera.

Unfortunately for Aub and Syd my goal is a little painful for them. I'm always asking them to "pose' for the camera and they usually don't want to cooperate. The best way to get Aubree to be my model is if I let her take some pictures too.

Here's Aub's cute toes. I took this using the Aperture mode with a small F number so it would only focus on a small part of the picture.....her toes.

These were a couple that Aubree got to take. We just used the timer, she pushed the button and ran.

For this one I increased the shutter speed and caught Aubree in mid jump. I took several like this and Aubree thought they were hilarious when I showed them to her.

Just some random pic of Syd so she doesn't feel left out of this blog entry. Did I mention how pumped I am to have the snow gone!!!

Once again Aubree is trying her best to ignore the camera that's in her face as she watches something on TV.

Valentine/President's Day Week-end

It seems that even the little holidays we celebrate end up being a lot of work for me. I put too much pressure on myself to get/make something for everyone. Valentine's Day is no different. I do enjoy it but the week leading up to the holiday is a little stressful.

The girls and I made cute little photo puzzles for Scott and my parents. They really did turn out cute. I don't have a picture to show but after checking out every craft store around we found the needed supplies.

After passing out Valentine's to my cute family I did something I haven't done in 15+ years......played basketball. Truthfully I didn't have that much fun. I made a couple of friends join me (thanks Melise and Renee) or I probably wouldn't have even played but I told them I'd pick them up. I had a few war wounds for at least a week and then I ended up playing again the following week. One of these days I'll learn better.

I then went home and made Valentine Sugar Cookies. They were so tasty Sydney ate too much and ended up throwing up that evening from too much sugar. We even had a neighbor volunteer to watch the girls so Scott and I could go out but Syd put a stop to that when she puked all over. Maybe next year.

On Monday we finally went sledding. This was actually our one and only time to sled this year. We found a small quiet hill at Glassman Park. It was perfect for Aubree and since we were the only ones there we didn't have to worry about being "taken out" at the bottom of the hill from other sledders.

Syd didn't really like the sledding but she hung out at the top of the hill while the rest of us had our fun. She actually went down with Scott a couple of times but she wasn't exactly squealing with delight.

I set the camera on one of the sleds and used the timer so we could take a family picture in the snow. Everyone actually looks like they are having a good time.

Beginning to Wonder

I was beginning to wonder if the snow was ever going to stop....since I'm writing about this a month later I now remember it does eventually melt. February is just a month that seems to last forever with the piles of snow.

I finally learned how to use the snow blower. The last big storm we had 18 inches in one day. We had to go out twice and "push" snow. I learned the term "push" snow in Afton. You have to push the snow somewhere else because it never melts. That's what we were doing in February.

The snow was almost to the bottom branches of you tree in the front yard. It didn't slow Aubree down from having a good time. I usually tried to snow blow while Syd was asleep so I don't have many pictures of her in the snow.

I hope Aubree checked the color of that snow before she began licking away. As a child I remember making my own scrumptious snow treat. I would get snow from the yard and put it in a cup and then pour vanilla extract on top.......delicious to an 8 year old NASTY to a 34 year old.

Hasn't her Daddy brainwashed her well. Check out that hat.

Same Title....New Month...Finally Updating

Once again I'm going to be marathon blogging to try and get caught up on the past month. Where does the time go? I really can't figure out why I have nooooo time these days.

I have to go back through my pictures to even remember what we've been up to these days. Preschool is one of those things. When I taught last month we did finger painting with pudding. Aubree and Sydney really got into making a big mess without me getting on them.

This picture of Syd cracks me up because she is concentrating so hard on making her picture. In reality she was licking her fingers as much as she was painting.

Aubree was pumped to put her hands in and get them all gooed up. If you look closely you can see Aubree is wearing her swim suit under her clothes. It's hard to imagine wanting to wear your swim suit just for the fun of it.....Anyway, that kinda cracks me up.