Aaron at One: Sleeping

It's hard to capture this.  Mostly because I don't want to wake him up with my camera noise, but also because he usually sleeps in a very dark room, even for naps.  But the other day he missed a nap and then we had to go out.  By the time we got to our destination, he was, of course, asleep.  I had my camera with me and took advantage of the situation.

Happy #floralfriday

A few weeks ago I got talked into joining G+ for photo sharing.  And I am really glad I did.  It's so fun to look at everyone's photography.  Some of the people who participate are AMAZING.  I also like that there are ongoing photo prompts that even an amateur like me can participate in.  All in good fun.  At the moment I'm only really active in 3 things:  the food photography community, #macromonday, and #floralfriday.   I'm so happy to have photoshop up and running so I can make finishing touches on my photos before I share them.

My real favorite is Friday because everyone posts their flower pictures.  I love looking through all of them because it's fun and seeing all the beautiful flowers makes me happy!  And also I love getting ideas for new ways to shoot flowers.

So in the spirit of Floral Friday, here are a few of my favorites...

Happy #floralfriday!

9 Year Anniversary

Matt and I have been married for 9 years today.  NINE years.  That's a long time, and I feel like it puts us in a new phase of our relationship... not sure what it's called, I wouldn't say we're an "old married couple"  I think we need many more years before we can take that label (I'm looking forward to it), but we are definitely in some new part of our lives.  Maybe it should just be called the Parents-of-Little-Ones phase.  It is probably hardest and also most rewarding part of our relationship yet.  Since this momentous occasion occurred on a Wednesday, we didn't do much to celebrate today.  In fact, we aren't really occasion-celebraters, but an anniversary is a good way to guilt out a babysitter, so we are taking advantage of that and going out on Friday :)  I think we'll have dinner and see a movie.  I remember at the beginning of our marriage when that was just a regular thing... now it's a special event.  Something we haven't done since.... well, since the night before Aaron was born actually (we saw Avengers).

But since it was our anniversary we made a special effort to spend some time together.  Matt had a softball game with work today, so I brought the kids down.  Dylan loved it (of course), Aaron lasted a good while, but then I decided to take him home before the games were over so he could go to bed.  I tried to get a few shots of Matt while he played, it's was tough because I was also watching the kids and there was a chain link fence around the entire softball field (and we were the only spectators, so I was trying not to be too distracting).  Here we go...

Dylan at Five: Baseball with Grandpa

Dylan is in love with baseball.  He asks to play multiple times a day.  It's by far his favorite thing to do right now.  We recently took the kids to the in-laws so Matt and I could go out for a mini-date (Chipotle and Sweet Frog, woohoo) and Dylan brought his bat and wiffle ball so he could play baseball with Grandpa.

Aaron and Vovo cheer them on.

Running Worries: Failure?

I'm all signed up for the Leesburg 20k on August 18th. And  now I'm starting to worry that I will fail.

I did my long slow run today.  7.7 miles... slow miles... really slow.  And at the end, I was TIRED and SPENT and DONE... and I had a blister on my foot (still trying to find the right socks). And all I thought as I finished was "how on earth will I be able to run nearly 5 more miles????"  I just don't know.  I mean, I have about 10 more weeks to train, but right now, it just seems sooooo hard.  I should probably specify that I don't really have any doubts that I can finish the 20k.  I'm sure I can (so long as I avoid injury), even if I have to stop running, I know I could walk however far to the end.  But I'd like to actually finish in a "real" time.  Not a fast time, I have no aspirations for that, but I just want to finish before they turn the clock off.  That's the part I'm worried about.  Plus I really, really want to run the whole thing.  I have a feeling that if I don't manage that much I will be severely disappointed with myself.  And at this point in the training process, I am really questioning whether or not my goal is attainable.

But I'll keep working on it.  I keep reminding myself that I'm on track with my training, just because I couldn't fathom running 12.4  miles today doesn't mean I won't be able to do it in August.  I think I was just thrown today because I ran at a slower pace than I expected.  Bah.

Following in Mom's Footsteps?

It's pretty obvious that Dylan is in full on Dad-is-my-idol mode.  Everything Matt does is beyond awesome and gets repeated and repeated and repeated.  Me on the other hand... well, I'm just not very cool.  It's fine.  I love that Dylan and his dad have such a great relationship, and Matt loves sharing all of his interests and skills with Dylan.  But sometimes I want to be thought of as cool.

So I was really happy the other day to find Aaron happily plucking away at the piano.  I'm sure that it's more of the novelty of the sounds he was getting than the fact that he's going to become a classical pianist... but he loved it, and for now I'll take what I can get.

Facing my Photography Fears: Cranking the ISO

I'm working on getting better photos when I'm inside.  Usually I'm struggling with 3 major problems:  1- low light.  We get some patches of nice light, but it's still pretty low compared to being outside.  2- too much yellow on the main level (especially the walls).  It's being repainted.  Soon... I've signed a contract.  I cannot wait.  The yellowness of the wall color makes me crazy.  Everything seems jaundice.    3- The kids never sit still.  Ummmmm... nothing I can do about that.

So I am mostly trying to find a solution to the low light issue.  Usually I try not to turn my ISO up too high because I'm afraid of the noise.  Which is ridiculous.  And I read another blog (Click It Up A Notch) recently where she encouraged higher ISOs to ensure a proper exposure.  So today, I went for it.  I didn't go as high as possible, but I did go way higher than usual.  So here's what I got.  There is noise, but there is also much better exposure, AND I was able to use a WAY faster shutter speed than I am used to, which helps a lot with problem 3.  I'm thinking I can probably even tone down the ISO a little bit, but at least I don't have to be afraid anymore.  

These are completely RAW and this is also an example of a photo op FAIL.  Dylan was such a good sport, but Aaron had no interest in sitting still.

f/3.5, SS 1/400, ISO 5000 (yes that's a 5 with three zeros)

Next fear to conquer... setting my own White Balance.  Eek!

Slacker Day

I should be running right now.  I really really should.  I missed a whole week of running, and I'm concerned about being behind on my training because I did sign up for the 20k.  But I'm just SO tired today.  I can't muster up the motivation at all.  Plus I feel like I could go and run, but then I'd be entirely useless for the rest of the day, and I can't afford that.  So I'm taking the morning off.  If I feel super guilty at the end of the day, I'll run after the kids go to sleep.  Or not... I'm due for my long run this weekend anyway.  We'll see how that goes.

So instead I'm having a quiet lazy morning while Aaron naps.  Usually this is the time that I try to do every single thing I have to do for the whole day.  But I just can't seem to manage any more than sitting here on the computer reading up on photography tips and helping Dylan play some ipad games.  I think every once and a while we need this.  Especially since I have to go grocery shopping once Aaron does wake up.  That is in itself an exhausting mental and physical workout.  And Dylan keeps telling me he doesn't want to go grocery shopping in the rain, me neither really, but we are out of or nearly out of all our essentials, so there's just no choice.

Also, I think I have finally narrowed down my choice for a new lens. But it's expensive... soooo not sure that it's going to happen anytime soon, but maybe one day... It's more of a wide angle zoom lens, with a nice aperture, to replace the crappy kit lens so I can take some really nice shots with more in the frame.  Christmas maybe???  For now I'll make do with what I've got. (which means continue to use my 50mm 99% of the time)

Sneak Peek: Everyday Moments

Way back in the fall, I decided to undertake a photography project.  The idea was to help me learn more about photography, my camera, and have a creative outlet.  I nearly finished when we had some major computer issues causing me to put the finishing details on hold, but now I'm ready to go back and complete it.  It's a little hard to even look at some of the pictures now because I've learned so much more since the Fall, but that's where I was at the time.  And even better, it's how our family was at the time.


I attempted to capture candid/photo essay style moments of our family.  So it's a series of pictures with the four of us just doing what we do on a normal basis.  I tried not to stage anything and I only used available light (sometimes that meant natural light, sometimes lamp light), though obviously I used a tripod and remote or timer occasionally so I could be in the pictures too, which means I had to think things out and plan ahead, so it's not TOTALLy candid, but as close as I could get considering I was both the photographer and subject matter.  I edited them in black and white for a couple reasons, the main being that it simplified things for me (color was a little too overwhelming).  Yes, there are technical shortcomings, but I still love it.  I'm planning on making a nice photo book with all 46 images, but I wanted to share a couple of my favorites here.

Maybe I'll do another round this fall and see how much our family has changed in a year :)

Morning coffee.

Lazy morning with dad.

Time to get dressed.

Lawn pride.

Our family, our home.

How we spend our days.

 Baseball season is here to stay.

 Playing at the park.

One part piano teacher, two parts mom.

Mom descending a staircase.

Matt being Matt.

Sweet baby toes.

Goodnight, Dylan.