Kids in Motion

I needed some way to capture the energy and movement of my little people so I took the challenge at photography class to pan the camera and move with their motion to create a real image of their energy. See what you think . .

Megan and Tyler race to the finish!

Tyler is going for the gold!

Race to the finish!

Trent jumping on the trampoline. In this shot I tried to freeze his motion and caught him while in midair.

Evel Knievel

Tyler has become Mr Evel Knievel bike man! He can't stop riding and riding and riding.

Fu Manchu

In searching for a new image and look Greg is trying some options. Please take your vote . . .

How about the Lonesome Truck Driver?Or the Angry Park Ranger?
Or the Criminal on the Loose?

Beware and vote (in the comments) section if you dare!

A new generation . . .

Monday our family enjoyed an unseasonably, warm winter day at Moonlight Beach. The girls caught the waves on their boogie boards and Tyler constructed sand castles while Trent chased the birds. The shoreline was amazingly picturesque bathed in glowing sun relfecting off the rolling waves. ( I should have brought my camera! Darn it. . . maybe I'm not truly ready to find my inner photographer) As I sat gazing and thinking of my poor brother freezing in Iowa and confined to his home, I thought, "perhaps the California sunshine tax is worth it after all!" You'll have to decide . . .

Now to the real part of my post, (apologies for the bragging) after all the fun in the sun Trent was unwinding and watching "Barney, Let's Go to the Zoo." Personally, I can't sit through Barney or Elmo or Wiggles, but Trent loves them so I busied myself until the end when I knew I would be needed again. As the ending credits began to run, I sat down beside him for a snuggle. The very last credit noted their thanks to the Fort Worth Zoo when Trent piped in, "dot com!" At his ripe young age of two he is already noting the phrase, "dot com." I forget how observant these little people are and how telling that little phrase "dot com" is of our computer-dominated-information-search-engine-driven age. Hmmmmm. . . makes you think doesn't it?

Piggy Puff

Aunt Barbara taught us her secret updo . . . the piggy puff! It's a festive hairdo for Sundays and special occasions. Here is my attempt on Kaylee.

Oh no . . .

Trent saunters into me carrying one of Megan's pink winter snowboots with fluffly white lining(a hand-me-down from our neighbor). He wants help putting on the boot so I help him and he clambers away lopsided and searches out the second boot, brings it to me, so I put it on too.

Greg walks in and comments, " those are pink! You aren't going to let him wear THOSE are you?"

"Sure," I reply, "it doesn't matter to him."

Trent tromps happily away in these adorable boots when I hear him stop suddenly, and reply, "OH NO! They ARE pink!"

Favorite shot of the day

So I started a photography class which was far more inspiring than I had anticipated. I was worried I wouldn't be able to follow anything, but the professor is a wonderful and easy-to-understand-hands-on teacher. Finally, I understand aperture and shutter speed and their relationship to each other as well as the light of a picture, the blur and the depth of field. Our family ventured out to Poway Lake to play in the beautiful sun and I took along my camera to do my homework and discover how these factors interact. I took a lot of pictures at all different shutter speeds to see how it effected the exposure. Honestly, going manual was tons of fun! My teacher claims that "auto is average " and there is no reason to take average pictures, especially with the information available on digital cameras. This picture was taken at a large aperture (5.6) to capture the movement of Megan's hair and a fast shutter speed (1/3200) to capture the depth of the deep blue of the sky. This same picture in auto would not have caught her movement of created the warmth of colors. I am loving this opportunity to fail and take lots of lousy dark pictures or totally overexposed pictures and then figure out why!

Megan swinging

Pictures are hiding in the shadows . . .

Winter at Poway Lake

Me playing with light and aperature and shutter speed at Poway Lake Park . . . there is so much to learn! Still a fun shot. Can you believe this WINTER weather?

Sisters

Sisters . . . there were never such devoted sisters! They are such sweet friends. Did I mention that I LOVE polka dots? These girls are very patient with their mother's fettish (even their bows have polka dot ribbons)!

Kaylee' First Pioneer Dress

Kaylee is modeling the dress that Grandma Langford and I helped her sew Christmas day.

It's REALLY OFFICIAL!

We received Greg's Bachelor of Science in the mail over the break and celebrated that reality in all-boy fashion. We ate at Seau's restaurant with a 40- foot tv screen blaring football and a view of every possible sports game on all the surrounding sets. After our fill of that we enjoyed some boxing and car racing and truck driving and gaming at Dave and Buster's. Look out I have a mean left hook!

I am truly proud of Greg!

He promised I could have a turn so I have already signed up for a photography class which starts this week!

I see the light!

This week we had a unique experience with Trent at Children's Hospital. He developed a limp for no apparent reason, though wasn't showing any signs of pain, just a little slower than usual. So after three days we took him to his doctor who did bloodwork which indicated inflammation. The doctor referred us to Children's hospital and an orthopedic specialist ( I think that what's its called). We weren't too worried about him but our doctor convinced us to go so Greg and I went on Friday. After two hours of waiting and chasing and trying every trick known to humankind to entertain Trent we were ushered . . . finally . . . to yet another waiting room. After which we waited and were ushered into a room . . . to wait some more.

After nearly 3hours a nurse practitioner or equivalent came to look at Trent and watch him walk and so on. He left us for some time . . . who knows I lost track . . . and then the nurse and the real doctor entered. The doctor was a tall, slender, dark and dignified Russian man with an air of strictly business.

The doctor began talking and I was straining to make out his words through his heavy accent. I picked Trent up and tried to put him on my lap in an effort keep him quiet. He stood on my lap and refused to sit. The doctor continued mumbling an indiscernible mumbo jumbo diagnosis when the room suddenly went . . . pitch black. Awkward silence. Then flick . . . light . . . then dark . . . then light . . . then dark. On and off and on and off went the light switch under Trent's control. This was his happiest moment! The doctor, though highly irritated continued on, while the rest of us chuckled. I guess we really saw the light at that moment and realized it was just time to go home!

(Just in case you're worried Trent is totally fine. He merely had a cold that went to his joints and caused some inflammation and thus the limp.)

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

I have been reading lately and found the book POSITIVE DISCIPLINE- which has transformed my parenting. I have always wanted to use more kindness and encouragement and foster independence in my children. I love the premise of this book which is basically that its ridiculous to think that making a child feel worse through shame, blame, pain or humiliation (all forms of punishment) will improve behavior. Instead, the author suggest kindness and firmness, encouragement, training, family meetings, problem solving and making sure the message of love gets through.

This is my New Year's Resolution- to use these positive methods and allow my children to make mistakes and learn from them. Our goal is improvement, not perfection.

We had our first family meeting tonight and discussed our needs, planned for family fun, created a morning routine, and incorporated a night where one child chooses the menu and helps prepare it. I am excited for the New Year and the possibilities of learning, joy and fun that it holds for our family.