I'm digging the navy stripes. What a handsome little buddy!
Cooking Crew
We practice mixing and measuring the fridge magnet letters.
We watch mom and occasionally mix something, which we love!
We make cute sounds and smile.
Nevada
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Going through old photographs reminds me of all of the beauty in the world. About a decade ago, my dad took Theresa and I on a trip to Nevada for a work conference in Las Vegas.
We spent much of our free time traveling outside the city, hiking, and visiting many of the must-sees (Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon, etc.).
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| Old West Show. |
Though the casinos were truly impressive, I have good photos only of the outdoor trips we took.
My favorite was to Mount Charleston.
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| A lookout on Mt. Charleston. |
I have never seen earth that looks like Nevada before or since. This stretch of desert is uniquely beautiful. Rich and I hope to visit with the boys. (Perhaps a father/son teenage camping trip.)
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| Notice the red rocks begin in the middle right. |
We burned thousands of calories, which were more than replenished at our hotel.
This was a great father/daughter trip. Theresa was recently engaged.
I was gearing up for my fall semester abroad. What good memories!
The Quest for a Good Family Photo
Saturday, November 9, 2013
This family photo quest is keeping me humble. I like to think that I have an eye for a good background (color, natural frame, etc.), but so many other things go into taking excellent photos.
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| Why did this photo turn out with a natural red tint? |
We took some friends' family photos a few nights ago.
I arrived early to test the lighting, angles, focus, and frame.
It's really challenging to have Isaac's face in focus (in large part because he's always moving).
Sometimes we can get a reasonably-focused shot with him with the self-timer. (He likes to watch the flashing light.) The actual focus, however, is somewhere to the left of us in the above photo. I was aiming for the leaf in the photo below. It was a much more cooperative subject.
Isaac had to copy everything I did.
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| Gotta love the cheese stick on the sidewalk. |
Here we were taking a picture of his leaf.
These were taken in the evening. So, as I was shooting the photos became grainier.
Eventually, the flash kicked in. (Poor Andre!)
Richie was out of town for work when I took our friends' photos. So we had to take our own family photos this weekend. I was elated to find several beautiful maples still in peak color Friday afternoon.
The idea for our photos was to "frame" our family in gold, complimented by blue clothes. I tried to pick a tree that would provide natural shade to help keep the white balance right. The highlights in the distance messed with things a bit.
I think I need to start using the manual settings on my camera . . . and maybe read more Internet articles. I also want to take a class at some point. Overall, the photos aren't bad, but they still don't look professional. :( A few things went well this morning: The kids were cooperative! We made it easily to our destination. No one got sick of taking photos.
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| Of course, I forgot to remove my sunglasses in the first shot. |
I can't figure out why we're so light and the leaves are so bright here. This is about 9:25am -- 3 hours after sunrise. It was slightly later than I wanted, but as early as was feasible this morning.
Isaac loved playing in the leaves and finding sticks. He was so glad that his dad was finally back in town. He buried him in the leaves and asked Rich to bury him.
He had Rich chase him. (He really likes being chased.)
Richie got some mom/Andre photos. I like the ones where Andre's smiling. He smiles at people all the time, but it's hard to capture the interaction in a photograph.
Rich does have a knack for angles and interesting poses. I like how he captured Andre's expression here, with the leaves in the background, and faded me out.
So, here were are. If you've found any useful photography tips, please send them our way.
"Grappa Grappa Gramma"
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
What a full weekend we enjoyed with Grandpa and Grandma A! Isaac informed us that Grandpa would be bringing him a balloon. Sure enough, when he arrived, he had a Spider Man balloon just for Isaac. They are something of kindred spirits.
On Saturday morning, we went to the Krispy Kreme bakery and watched them make the original glazed doughnuts. Isaac enjoyed the process very much. Especially the part where he got to eat them.
Andre was a little less thrilled.
This time, we tried the zero wind kite in a local park. There were periods of no wind and periods of a slight wind. The kite took off several times. Isaac enjoyed chasing Grandpa around and shouting "Kite!"
We tried a local gem, King Street Blues, for lunch. They offer great music and paraphernalia, and are kid-friendly. One can only be so kid-friendly at nap time, though, so we turned our order into a carry-out. Meanwhile, Grandma occupied Isaac with drawings. I have to mention that I have never seen him hold still like this to watch someone draw!
Grandpa held Andre. They are both the seconds of two boys at this point. Andre did a lot of smiling for Grandpa and Grandma while they were here.
Speaking of smiling, these are our "we get a date night!!" smiles. Thank you so much, Grandpa and Grandma, for watching our little rascals while we went out! We had a lovely time all around.
Birthday Madness
It's hard to believe I've known Rich for almost a decade.
(We met the summer before his 29th birthday.)
Many events (relationships, seminary, jobs) changed who we were before we dated.
Being parents has changed us even more.
Even the earliest weeks of our marriage (only 3 years!) seem like an eternity ago. I remember cooking all day for Rich's first birthday as my husband (yes, partly because I was inept in the kitchen and wanted to prove to him that he made the right choice of wife.). On his second birthday with me, we were in our new home with Isaac. Apparently, I was still buying flowers and lighting candles. Rich discovered a great pork tenderloin recipe on the back of an Uncle Ben's wild rice box. It was a winner. On his third birthday, I was pregnant with Andre. My mom was in town for cousin Thomas' birth. So, she made a fancy meal for Rich. You can tell that I was overwhelmed (first trimester) based on the quality of those photos. This year, I've realized that he likes few things better than spaghetti and meatballs and his Mom's apple pie. (How can it be that easy?!)
The apple pie was pretty amazing. It was the fastest apple pie recipe I've used. (Test Kitchen says to mix butter and Crisco for a perfect crust, but this one uses only Crisco. Rich cannot tell the difference. On the list of things that make the biggest difference, ice cold water is at the top.) Yum!
Yesterday was a special day for Rich: lots of calls, mail, gifts, texts, and other greetings!
We enjoyed a nice weekend with Rich's parents. Our home is now filled with local Detroit gems like Dragonmead beer, Sanders ice cream sauce, and Better Made potato chips. It's so nice to have tastes of the Midwest around here! The coconut cake was also from a Detroit bakery.
Isaac is on a personal mission to blow out all of the lit candles of the world.
Here's Sammy Haggar's latest cd. Rich met him and saw him in concert at a National's baseball game recently. More on that later. And more photos from the grandparents' visit coming soon!
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