I Could Go For ...

a little of this ...

and a little of this ...

and a whole lot of this ...

right about now.

Only 49 more days until Spring!  But who's counting?  :)

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A Winter Walk

After our recent warm weather, which caused all the beautiful snow we had to melt and get really gross and brown outside, we got a half inch or so of snow Tuesday night - Wednesday morning.  I didn't have an opportunity to get out and enjoy the fresh coating until this morning when Honey and I went for a walk though our neighbor's woods.  Once I got done with my strength training (yay for being back to exercising!) and a few minutes of cardio on what my friend, Kiersten, and I have nicknamed the "impaling bike" (our new stationary bike with the incredibly uncomfortable seat that will soon be replaced), Honey and I ventured out to see what we could see.  Well, she ventured out to smell what she could smell as her nose was to the ground the majority of the time we were out.  :)  Dogs are interesting creatures, aren't they?

I decided to put my 85mm lens on because I haven't used it much since getting it in November.  (I have fallen in love with my 50mm that now autofocuses on the new camera.)  It took a little adjusting on my part as I couldn't get as close to my subjects as I can with the 50mm, but I'm liking it.

I challenged myself to find something beautiful amidst all the gray of winter.  And this is what I found ...

This tree looks like it started to bloom.

Honey came up from sniffing every once in a while but still refused to look at me.

This caught my eye but I kept walking past it.  Then I decided to go back and take a picture because it must have caught my eye for some reason.

We actually found something green!

It was not the easiest to get down in where these icicles were, but I found a way.  You can see the water falling behind.

Honey was filthy by the time we got back up to the top of the hill.  We came in the house and she laid on a blanket by the door and didn't move for about 4 hours until Keira came home.  She must have been whooped!

This little pine tree is in our back yard.  Nick brought a seedling home from preschool several years ago (he's now in 4th grade) and the little tree is about 2 1/2 feet tall now.

I'm really hoping we get more snow soon!

 

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Seven

My baby just turned seven.  My baby.  Se-ven.  Wha?!  How in the world did that happen?!

I thought it would be fun to take a look back at how he has grown.  It was some work since I didn't really start shooting digital until 2009, but I managed to find a photo for each year.  The quality isn't great on all of them, I'll warn you, but please look past that and just admire his cuteness.  :)

{zero}

Born on December 5, 2005 at 5:12 a.m. at a midwife center.  (Yeah, 5:12 on 12/5.  That's pretty cool!)  He weighed a hefty 9 pounds 3 ounces.  AND he was two weeks early!  Yowza!  I was really glad he was two weeks early!  :)  He was born with a full head of almost black hair that needed to be cut when he was eight months old.  After it was cut, it was a few shades lighter.

Photo taken by Doug (I think) on a little pocket camera I once owned.

{one}

Look at how sweet!  Those little teeth!  Awww!

Photo by JCPenney Portrait Studios

{two}

He's so darn cute!  And looking so grown up already!

Photo by JCPenney Portrait Studios  (sorry it is so tiny!  apparently that's all the bigger the size they gave me on disc.)

{three}

Still cute!

I had to scan this photo in.  I guess I was still shooting film with my Canon EOS Rebel back then.

{four}

My friend, Laura, took family photos of us and she got this sweet one of Alex.  He didn't want to cooperate much that day, so I'm glad she captured this one.

{five}

He was so excited to open his gifts!  And he's still pretty darn cute.
Shot with my Nikon D40, probably on auto.

{six}

Not sure why I cut the top of his head off in this photo.  :)
Shot with my Nikon D3100 in manual.

{seven}

Taken just yesterday on his 7th birthday.  He was so excited to get a Buzz Lightyear to go with his Sheriff Woody doll.  He wanted to wear his "fancy clothes" to school, hence the sweater vest.  :)
Shot with my Nikon D7000 on manual, 50mm 1.8 lens, and my bounce flash.

I love looking back at how he has grown.  He looks so grown up!  But he'll always be my baby.

Happy birthday, Alex!  I love you to the moon and back!

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Nathan - 16 months

My friend, Jennifer, asked me to take her son's pictures when he turned one.  Well, that was back in June and we had so much crazy stuff happening between the two of us this summer, that we never got around to it until October.  So instead of Nathan's one year photos, here are Nathan's 16-month photos.  :)

This stuffed monkey isn't usually far away from him.

Jen said he didn't really like being in leaves so we only made him "suffer" for a few minutes.

Those eyes just make me melt.

It's hard to believe he ever used to be this little ...


Thanks, Jen, for giving me the privilege of photographing your sweet little boy!

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It's a boy ... and a girl

We're back in the butterfly-raising process!  We successfully raised four Monarchs back in June and now have quite a few that will, hopefully, make it to butterflydom.  Our first two of this batch emerged yesterday and today.

It's a boy!  This handsome guy joined us yesterday afternoon.  Which was nice because then the kids could see him before I set him free.  Thankfully I still had a few flowers for him to enjoy.

It's a girl!  This petite beauty joined us today.  I was expecting her, so I brought the container she was in along with me to my friend Laura's new house this morning where I was going to help clean and get ready to paint.  Well, she didn't want to wait until we got there.  She emerged in the car on the way there.  Only about 5 minutes after I left the house. (It only takes about 10 minutes to get to Laura's new house).  Her wings weren't uniform (one side was smaller than the other) but that didn't stop her from flying away once they were dry.

Currently we have 7 chrysalides, 1 caterpillar in J form, and 7 caterpillars happily munching away.  Four of which I expect to be in chrysalis very soon because they are getting BIG!  The kids are excited that we are raising Monarchs again.  We even got a few friends interested and trying to raise their own.  So far one has succeeded with several others in various stages.  Yay!  I just love Monarchs!

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Photos by Keira

Keira is taking on online photography class this month with Candice Stringham through jessicasprague.com.  It is a photography class for kids that I thought would keep her occupied, entertained, and challenged in something different this last month before school starts.  She is only four days in and is loving the class.  

She is using my old Nikon D40 since we our old point and shoot got broken by the other future photographer of the household.  {ahem}  :)  Of course, that means I need to share my lenses with her, which, so far has worked out okay.

I've had fun looking through her photos each day so I thought I'd share a few with you.  (She took the photos and I edited them, most with minimal editing.)

We went to a local Farm Show (aka fair) on Monday afternoon/evening where she took this.

Tuesday evening we went to a park where the boys played in the creek for a while and Keira and I played photographers.  I took this picture of her in action ...

while she was taking this picture.

She was using my 55-200mm lens.  I love how the flip flops got kicked off so she could concentrate on the task at hand.  :)

Wednesday we went to a local lake where she had lots of fun photographing different things like the sparkly water ...

After she took this one she was so excited.  She said, "Mom, look!  I got bokeh!  Oh, yeah!"

I was impressed by this shot.

And this one.

She's really just learned the basics from the class.  How to hold the camera properly, holding the camera level, the different modes on most cameras, vertical vs. horizontal, filling the frame (close vs. far), focusing, and eliminating distractions.

Oh, and did I mention that she's shooting in manual mode (with a little help from me, of course)?  Oh, yeah!  That's my girl!  Truly, she is probably already way more advanced than what she's learning so far, but since I love Jessica Sprague's classes, and this one was inexpensive and fun, I asked her if she'd like to take it.  Plus, did you know that once you take a class on her site, you can access it forever?!  So if Keira needs a refresher, she can just log in, find the class under My Classes, and read as much or as little as she wants.

Okay, this was not intended to be a commercial for Jessica Sprague, but I do love all the classes I've taken so far.  :)  I have a couple more of her classes to take but haven't taken the time to do yet.  Just one more thing to add to my list once the kids go back to school.  :)  That list is getting pretty long!

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One Simple Flower

Dreams of my gorgeous flowering hillside have been dashed by hospital stays, drought conditions, and my lack of ability to keep up with the weeds (because of the hospital stays and oppressive weather which I do not venture out into unless absolutely necessary).  :)  {sigh}  Perhaps next year.


I did, however, manage to find this beauty on our other hillside where I did not plant any flowers.  I love all the different colors found in one simple flower.

     

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Pittsburgh Penguins Playtime

We never imagined we'd still be at Children's Hospital after 13 days.  We fully expected to go home last Friday.  But due to a few bumps in the road, here we are.  However, one of the perks of still being here is that yesterday a bunch of Pittsburgh Penguin players came to the hospital to play games with the patients.

Alex doesn't watch hockey (although he might now) but that didn't stop him from having a blast with a few of the players ...

blowing bubbles out in the garden ...

playing his own version of chess in the foyer ...

(Liam O'Brien didn't mind.  He didn't know how to play chess either.)  :)

posing for a photo with Simon Despres after a few wicked games of bowling and horseshoes ...

hanging out with Iceburgh, the Penguins' mascot ...

(Grammy happened to come for a visit in the middle of all the fun).

and playing Connect Four with Harrison Ruopp.

These are a few of Alex's favorite players from the day ...

Liam O'Brien, the one in the middle, was especially his favorite.  They did several things together.


Alex got a t-shirt and managed to get several of the players to autograph it for him.  His brother is going to be so jealous when we get home!  :)

As much as we don't want to be in the hospital, this is the best hospital to be in.  Everyone is wonderful and the activities they have for the kids are fabulous.  If you get bored here, it is completely your own fault.  :)


As it looks right now, we will be busting out of here tomorrow.  We are really looking forward to getting home and sleeping in our own beds!

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Need some help with exposure

Firstly, I'd love it if you'd hop over to Sarah's and vote for my photo (second one down).  It was picked in the top 4 for June.  Thank you!  But make sure to come back!  :)
~~~~~~~
Around 4:30 this morning we were awakened with IV machines beeping ... and beeping ... and beeping.  Once Alex's nurse got the machines quieted, it was a little hard for me to get back to sleep.  Especially once I noticed how cool the moon looked in all its fullness.  So I broke out my camera.  Only problem was I had no tripod.  But I did have a little red cooler with a flat top, so I balanced it on the window sill and starting playing.  Alex's nurse was in and out a couple times while I was playing and probably thought I was nuts.

I was trying to get a shot of the full moon over the city of Pittsburgh.  But I was having trouble with exposure.  If I kept the shutter open the correct amount of time to have a well-exposed moon with all the details, you could barely see the city lights.  And if I kept the shutter open long enough to see the city lights, I had an over-exposed moon with no detail.

ISO 100, f/11, 5 second shutter speed

I love the city lights in this photo but the moon is just a white glowing blob.  Not good.

So I took a few photos of just the moon ...

ISO 100, f/11, 1/20s

This turned out pretty well considering I was balancing the cooler on the window sill and the camera lens on the lens cap to raise it up a bit.  

Since I didn't end up with the shot I was after, I made a composite ...

What do you think?

What I need are tips on how to expose something like this so I can get the bright city lights and a well-exposed moon.  Or isn't that possible?  I know people use black foam board and stuff to partially expose parts of their frame, but I don't have anything like that here in our little hospital room.  And I'm not sure my brain would have worked that well at 5 a.m. anyway.  I have my tripod now so I might be able to play more.  Except that I am completely exhausted and would love about 18 hours of uninterrupted sleep.   I know that's not possible in a hospital though.

So I doubt I'll play again while we are here.  Except to photograph the fireworks tomorrow night.  I'm told we will have a pretty good view of the fireworks display.  One of the doctors said we should sell tickets to our room.  :)  I hope Alex feels well enough to enjoy them with me!

                

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