An evening at our house

I'm loving practicing...and I want to practice getting those unscripted, life moments, so I took some shots at our house last night.

This is how Shana chose to hang out close to Kevin while he looked at some paperwork...

I found Caleb sneaking a play on my phone...

Shana being bored in her room...

And hiding herself under her stuffed animals...

And then she decided to do what she does best...her art!

 

The corner of her desk exemplifies her...crayons, paints, a floral arrangement, her cup of water for while she works and her new DS which she uses mainly as an MP3 player with external speakers...had I known that was really what she wanted it for, Santa could have saved some trouble and just got her the MP3 player!  Oh, but she does use the camera function...oh, and the PicToChat function...basically everything except the games that is its main purpose!

Going Bonkers...inspired by "A Christmas Story"

We went to Going Bonkers today on our last day of Christmas break from school...and after I got home I realized how much my pictures reminded me of "A Christmas Story."

These two reminded me of the Santa-slide scene.  And, no, I didn't push him down the slide with my boot!

 

And this one reminded me of the "soft glow of electric sex"...but in the case instead of a leg lamp, it's a video game!

The rest don't remind me of the movie...they're just cute!

 

Good thing she wasn't heavy enough to push the trampoline down and squish him!

 

mmmmm....slushie!

Siblings

Every once in a while, I catch my kids playing together so sweetly.

 

"Flying"

 

"Are you OK?"

And then there's the moments that are more common...

 

He's walking away with a smirk on his face thinking "man, she gets herself into messes...not my problem!"

 

"Sibling Rivalry"

Watching Joy

I love to watch Kevin play with the kids...he's such a kid at heart and he and the kids all have pure joy on their faces when playing.

"Ready, set, go"

 

"Stepdad"

 

"Two-on-one"

 

"How to end a day"

 

"I do look cool" - titled by Shana

 

"Little Girl Secrets"

 

"Odd Man Out"

 

"On to the next thing"

My Shana

We had lots of pictures taken today...the kids and I went to Going Bonkers and took some fun shots.  Then after Kevin got home we went up to the elementary school for the boys to run their RC trucks in this unusually warm January weather.  Then after the batteries ran out we just had some good fun on and around the playground.  I'll post other pics (Going Bonkers, Caleb pics, Kevin & the kids pics)...but here's some of Shana.

I couldn't have gotten her to pose for this pics if I'd tried...but by taking a whole lot of them and getting lucky enough to get some when she wasn't posing or paying attention, I got some that show how pretty my Shana is.

Random pics...

Here's our "Buggy" letting me know that it's HER toy...

The kids and I went to the Discovery Center in Topeka today...some fun shots of the kids playing with various things there...

 

The art exhibit lets kids paint on the glass walls.  The orange cast is from the orange window at the west end of the building (it's a rainbow of windows).

 

 

She was playing with the crutches but they were the bigger set there and she was having trouble...but having fun!

 

This next series of pics of Caleb aren't the best photographs technically (not as sharp as I'd like and some funky lighting), but I love them because they prove the genetic connection between my son and my brother...and anyone that knows Chris knows why!

 

So lots of people stick their tongues out when concentrating...but not so many do it to the side in the check and you can't see it very well in this pic because I wasn't at the best angle (and it's not in focus)...but sure enough, that's where Caleb's is!

Playing with Christmas Toys

Santa brought my 8-year-old a RC truck for Christmas...not just any RC truck, one of the fancy schmancy ones that goes 30 mph and is all kinds of crazy fun.  He's had it out a few times in our cul-de-sac but we took it to their school parking lot today for some wide-open fun.

And for me, that meant time to play with MY Christmas toy, my camera!  More time for me to practice different techniques and finding those great shots of kids (this time mine) that tell a story or capture their personalities in a way that I could never pose them to do.

 

I like the selective-focus of this one on the truck with my kiddo grinning in the background a little blurry.  I also like the shadows I ended up with on him and his truck.

still working on those panning shots to get motion in the background with the subject in focus...I still need to work on my technique to keep the subject clear...but to my credit, it's kinda hard to focus on a 30mph moving RC truck that's 10 yards away and the size of a large shoe-box!

 

At the starting line.  Wait, who's is the second truck you ask?

Ummm, that would be my husband's.  He got his own toy to play with a week after Santa delivered Caleb's.  Apparently RC trucks are fun for 34-year-old boys, too!  Caleb's is the one doing the wheely here.

 

And then the wheely turned into air-borne flips!  Love the fast shutter speed and burst-shooting that lets me get these pics instead of missing them like I would have with my point-and-shoot!

Kevin broke his...part of the fun of getting these high-powered machines was the ability to hang out at the RC store and buy replacement parts and learn how to fix them.  I have a feeling that over the years he and Caleb will make many trips to the store for parts!

 

I like the shadow and negative space of the sky in this one.

 

And this is what a 6-year-old sister looks like as she's watching the truck action.  Not as thrilling for her, I think!

 

I rarely get shots of my son like this.  He's notorious for turning away from the camera very quickly as soon as he sees me reach for it.  But the pure joy of playing with his truck allows me to capture his happy face without him worrying about the fact that he's getting his picture taken.  I love it!

 

And one guess at what this look means...it's time to go home because the battery is wearing down.  Oh, man!