Little Hands

I started taking pictures every week while I work at Dylans school, its a great way for me to practice on different subjects :-) I post them on a shutterfly account I set up for his classmates.

My little sweet mop head!

Auction Sesaon

We co-op and we auction! Both the boys are in different co ops and they both have auctions to raise money. Dylans school was last weekend, I was on the committee, it was a lot and I mean a lot of work!  I shipped the kids off to my parents and had a blast. Getting the venue prepped was so fun, decorations etc. I ran home fast to change cloths and came back to a fun night! Everything turned out great, and we walked away with a few random items, anyone for a bowling or ice skating party?? We have you covered! Andrew also walked away with the beer lovers package, hes really enjoying it so far :-)

We spent hours trying to hang these lanterns! Finally the veue let us drill into the wall, thank goodness!

I was most excited about the candy buffet! So yummy and we took home a ton of candy too.

Such a fun night! Can't wait for the next one!

Photography Class week One

I started my Clickin Moms photography class on Monday. I wasn't able to secure a full participation class, I'm doing the study along (SA). So far its really great, the material is really helpful and things are starting to click. This weeks assignment was to change the camera settings to AWB (all white balance), evaluative metering, all focus, and meter all your pictures to 0. It was a busy busy week with the boys and I found it hard to fit in shooting, but I tried every day to get something in. I submitted my pictures to my SA flickr group today, and i'm excited for the next assignment! I hope I find a little more confidence soon, its nerve racking to post pictures for others to critique!

A few out takes:

I couldn't get either of these in sharp focus, but I still really love them.

Invitation to play

I follow a blog called Play at home mom I get most of my project ideas from this blog, its amazing. They have given me so many ideas that really help get through day and keep the kids happy. One thing they do, is a Invitation to play. Its basically a project the child can choose a way to engage them in something besdies the same old toys. The invitations are so creative and amazing! During the hours of 4-6pm are pretty hard in my house! The boys want to watch TV and whine, and whine and whine, ask for snacks and whine!  While I love turning on the TV, the boys really act up if its on and its way more of a pain then its worth. So I have started trying to set up invitations to play when they get up from nap time. I don't do it every day, but I try to think of a little something to engage them that is new and different. It has made a huge behavioral difference for Logan.
Here are a few of our invitations:

Corn meal with a lot of bowls, cups, etc to scoop and play

Painting on a long piece of butcher paper, with cars and brushes

Chalk train tracks on paper

Photgraphy

My quest for 2013 get to know my camera, be able to pick it up and know what settings are without thinking about it. I have been shooting pictures only in manual, learning as much as I can. Some things are clicking, but im a slow learner, I watch lots of youtube videos. I just signed up for a online class, Shooting 101 through Clickin Moms. I am SO excited!! I hear this class will be awesome and really helpful to reach my goal of getting to know my camera.

A few pictures from the last few weeks:

I had a handful of pictures from our hike today that had this dreamy look. I fwd it to my friend who is into photography and asked How did I get this?? She said something about backlight and then I got lost :-) Love all the pics with this dreamy look to them! Yeah for dumb luck! 

Plexiglass Project

After visiting the Bay Area Discovery museum, Andrew and I were motivated to build a Plexiglass art station. Andrew was so awesome and built it over the three day weekend. He got inspiration from looking at pictures on the net of other art stations, blogs etc.  The boys love it, and have so much fun with it.

Building out the frame

Enjoying the finished product

Play!

We tried out a new spot this morning in downtown Los Altos called Play! The space is incredible, packed with everything. We spent two hours, and Logan proclaimed, " I love it here" LOL Some of the highlights:

 They have a life size pin board, Dylan spent many minutes sticking his face, hands, body in it.

Logan put on a few performances

Reading area, light box, and more magna tiles then they knew what to do with