Playing

On Sunday afternoon, we spent the afternoon at Ish's parents' house.   The weather was perfect, so instead of hanging out inside, we passed the time outside soaking up some springtime sunshine.  As the kids played and the grown-ups chatted, I decided to continue playing with my camera. 

I would like to note that Atticus climbed the climbing wall on his own, something I had no clue he could do.  Shortly after I snapped a few photos he requested to get down.  You may notice that I don't have many pictures of my nephews, they spent a lot of time playing chasing games, and the few times I tried to capture their antics the photos came out as blurs. 

The Garden in Manual

After 4 years of owning my DSLR camera and mostly shooting in auto with the occasional foray into aperture priority mode, I finally decided to just go ahead and put all my reading and video tutorial watching to use and shoot in manual.  I took a few pictures [in manual] of a magic performance that Ish was doing on Saturday, and was reasonably pleased with the result.  It was this little confidence boost that encouraged me to spend a huge portion of Sunday documenting the day in photos and really experimenting with all my camera has to offer.

Sunday after Mass, Ish needed to do some work in the garden.  The kids happily joined him outside and alternated between playing and helping.  I, however, just took out my camera and played.  I am blessed that my kids generally don't mind being shadowed and photographed as they go about their day.  I am really pleased with many of the photos, and was surprised that I understood more than I thought about my camera.

On a totally different note, my apple trees have leaves!  We planted three apple trees this fall, and I had been referring to them as my apple sticks--they were so bare and dead looking.  I have been so pleased to see them actually showing signs of life. 

Barefoot in the Spring

Spring has finally made its way to Delaware!  On Wednesday, Little Ish asked if he could play outside barefoot since it was so warm out.  I gave the go ahead and the rest of us decide to follow suit and leave our shoes inside.  Admittedly, my shoeless adventure ended quickly as I got a splinter as soon as I stepped outside.  The kids, however, enjoyed soaking up the warmth from the sun baked driveway.

Lily eventually opted for shoes so she wouldn't run over her toes when she was using the rocket car.  This well loved ride on toy caught Atticus's eye  and Lily switched back and forth between sweetly trying to teach Atticus how to ride it and wanting to just enjoy her turn riding it.  Atticus was mostly content to chase Lily around and to occasionally take a turn pushing the buttons on the front of the car.

Little Ish decided to blow bubbles much to Atticus's delight (bubble is one of Atticus's clearest words).  He spent a lot of time figuring out which direction to face so that the wind wouldn't spray bubble solution back in his face. 

It has been really uplifting to finally be outside without having to get everyone into extra layers.  It has also made our afternoons fly by.