The Digital Photography Book

Yes, it is a simple title, and it is a simple book written by Scott Kelby. That’s why I like it so much! This book is great if you have a digital camera that you can set manually, but especially an SLR since he mentions a lot about filters and different lens options. Each page gives you a simple explanation for how to take a certain kind of shot. He’s got things like flower close-ups, bridal photos, landscapes, and sports. One thing that I didn’t give enough credit to that he kept bringing up was using a tri-pod to keep the camera steady. He even suggests using the auto timer on extreme close ups so that there is not vibration from your finger pushing the button.

I haven’t used a whole lot of what I’ve read yet because most of my pictures are snapshots of the kids lately. But I have also signed up for a community class on lighting, and hope to get some more practice soon. The two keys to photography seem to be a sharp focus, and great lighting. Well, and I guess composition too. If you like photography, want some pointers, but don’t want to mess with a lot of info about apertures and f-stops, this is the book for you.

OOPS!

Not to steal Mark and Melanie’s thunder, but their announcement prompted us to tell you now. We have known for a while, but since we thought we were finished with pregnancies, we waited to spread the word. We are also having another baby! It’s a bit crazy, we were really sure we were done with all of this, but I guess it’s meant to be. Yikes!!!

Gotcha??!!

Ok, so Banna, Heidi and Heather called our bluff. April Fools!

We saw Melanie’s post late last night and were totally fooled. We did the math and talked about how close together the two babies would be, etc. Then this morning I woke up to Hunter and Emma plotting some April Fools pranks, and thought, “Hey, wait a minute! I bet that Mark and Melanie are pulling a joke.” As soon as Rob woke up I revealed my suspicions to him. We said, hey, why don’t we play along? So we got the kids that were awake in on it too, and staged the photo. And yes, it is a digital thermometer. I didn’t think the photo would be so closely scrutinized. (And you’re right, I am not the tink touching kind, but, because I am a mother, I have touched it all before.) Because there has been a “procedure,” it is nearly impossible for me to get pregnant again, so I don’t have pregnancy tests lying around the house!

So if we got you, sorry! But you have to admit, that is the perfect picture.

Slideshow Test

I thought I would try out this slideshow thing. It’s really cool! This is Hannah and Sabrina playing on the playground at the school after the jog a thon ended. Hannah loves to play there whenever she can. Sabrina will too, I’m sure, once she masters climbing up the slide. I have a feeling she’ll be taking her first steps any day now, so it won’t be long!

Jog A Thon ’07

This morning was the Jog-A-Thon fundraiser at the elementary school. Hunter and Emma did such a great job running! It reminded me that they need to do it more often on their own. They went to their classrooms to take roll, and 15 minutes later the whole school came out to the back field. There were two tracks, one for the upper grades, and one for the lower. Everybody ran for 45 minutes, and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun as some volunteer parents counted their laps. I took a ton of photos, but only posted the best ones. There are some fun pictures with great action in the gallery!

Our Southern California Family

On St Patrick’s Day we had a little luncheon with our family here in southern California. Jeanette and Dan came down, and Chris, Tracy and Adriene came up. As it happens we are exactly in between the two of them and so it worked out great. Everyone contributed something to our picnic style lunch, and we ate and chatted for a while as the kids all played. After we ate we walked several blocks to the Lake nearby. There is a playground there and we fed the ducks too. Jeanette was wondering why we brought so much bread, almost 1/3 of the loaf, until she saw how quickly the kids threw it all out to the ducks! Adriene was just eating the bread as a treat for herself because she doesn’t get white bread very often. It was so fun to have our little cousin Adriene here to play! She is such a cutie, and is talking so well now. We can hardly wait until Easter when all of the cousins on my side will be together again. That hasn’t happened for a long time, I think since Matt came home from the Philippines!