POTD: Day 7 .... Karate

Here is today's photo. Jackson is ready to go to his first Karate class as a yellow belt! He was very excited (as shown by his face) and wanted Steven to come to class with him to watch. Steven was in a good mood, had finished his homework -so he said yes. Jack was super excited that he was coming with us. Now that he is in the 2nd level class, he has the option to do 2 classes back to back -so instead of 1/2 hour he goes for an entire hour of class. 1st half is practice, 2nd half is new stuff. He really enjoyed the format of the 2nd class as all the participants do the drills together, and it is much faster paced.

Since this picture is head on, I will also address the issue of his haircut in this blog (I had some questions). When we went to have their haircut the weekend before Christmas, the guy chopped Jack's. I asked (on his behalf) for the hair to be slightly trimmed, as the front was in his eyes. The guy cut almost 2 inches off the front!!!! Jackson was devestated as he loved his hair. This picture is with 2.5 weeks of growth and he isn't as upset anymore, but still waaaaay shorter than we asked for! The guy had even said to me "so you want it just above his eyebrows?" and I said yes. So the place is trying to make up for it with 2 free haircuts -but I gotta talk him into going there again -which I don't think will be easy... Luckily his hair grows pretty quickly and he is getting good with product to part the front so it doesn't always look like this!

POTD: Day 6 ..Hard 90

Steven attends Hard 90 baseball academy workouts to get ready for the upcoming baseball season. He is currently thinking of joining their tournament team and we should know by the end of the week if it all works out. These workouts are 2.5 hours long and thankfully right now they are held indoors. He enjoys the workouts -well except the conditioning exercise part.

I snapped this photo (in manual) with my 18-55/f4.2 lens while he was waiting for his turn in the batting cages. He just happened to hear the flash pop up and turned to look at me, I intended the picture to be a candid side view. I like this one though. He is focused and ready to bat.

The indoor arena is nice, but the lighting isn't the best for taking pictures. None of the others I took there came out too well --the green netting surrounding the playing area's wouldn't blur out.

Anyway... it is the first time I have stayed for the whole session -which was quite long, but interesting to see what they do the whole time.

POTD: Day 5 ...Books.....

I love books. I think I always have. I read all kinds of books: romance, mystery, educational, inspirational, popular, non-fiction. I joined a book club several years ago and we read a different book each month. While the conversations on the books have gotten shorter, my reason for joining is still there... I am forced to read books I wouldn't pick up otherwise and stretch myself into reading and thinking about them.

Since I love books, my family finds they make excellent gifts. I am always quite excited by gifts of books. Today's picture is of the books I received in December. I am currently reading: Eat, Pray, Love, Nikon d40x and Photoshop Elements concurrently. I am learning so much from all 3 -but I couldn't choose. I could not pick one to read and leave the others lying there.

So I alternate between them. I do the exercises in the d40x book, then use the next lesson in photoshop elements (which I also got for Christmas) then relax for a chapter or 2 of Eat, Pray, Love.

I have to end this now so I can continue my reading..... Have a happy day!

This is the view from my front porch today. My new camera isn't waterproof, so this is as close as I could get to the storm. It was raining hard when I took this photo. The wind howled and the rain poured, slamming into our house all night. As we drove to the dentist to have Jackson's tooth wiggled out today... we saw lot's of storm damage... tree's splintered or knocked down by the force of the wind, roofs missing shingle, tops of tree's blown into the road. It was raining hard the whole way there and we drove slow.

I guess living in California has me a bit spoiled. I don't brave snow or really cold temperatures. We do get hot days in the summer, but with limited humidity. Our average temperature is right about 67 degrees. I like it that way. When it gets cold (in the 40's) we freeze, in the 100's we roast.. but those days are few and far between.

So while I love looking a photo's of snow and rain, I don't like to participate in it. Days like today make me a bit melancholy... I want to make a fire and read a book curled up under a pile of blankets. I don't want to do anything else.

I made sure to get my blog picture early in the day -so it would be done. Have a great weekend everybody!

POTD: Day 3 ... The Wii

The Wii is a video game console that works with your body motion. To bowl, you swing your arm just like you would, to box, 2 hands.... very active. We were lucky and got it when it first came out last year before Christmas. It is an active game ... in the photo, Steven in playing table tennis. His friend is waiting for his turn next, this is a one player game. Sometimes we play bowling or skee ball and all 4 of us are standing there in a row -waiting for our turn.

River has to be very careful when the Wii is on... he has walked right into someone's swing more than once. He usually sits on his beanbag (right next to the tv) when he see's people with wimotes in their hands.

POTD: Day 2

Today I took a few pictures of Steven.. playing brainquest and his new Rubik's cube. None of the ones I took in manual came out --they were all blurry and shadowed. So when I am done with this post I am getting a cup of tea and sitting down to re-read my manual and then will move on to the Field Guide and Understanding Exposure books Jon got me for my birthday.....

Anyway -I was really happy with this picture -which I didn't edit at all, but it was shot in automatic with no flash.


This picture is so representative of my kid -focused and persistant. He did solve the white side today... and is now working on some other color. Even as a young child (1 year) he would sit and work on/out puzzles for long periods of time. The frustration and anger over the process escapes him, he enjoys the challenge and has the patience. It is a trait that I admire about him, very much.

Jackson and Sarah....

3-5-05 Photo taken for Steven's 3rd grade totem pole.

12-31-03 Getting ready for New Years Eve sleepover at Grandma & Papa's!

7-3-03 on the plane to Hawaii.....

POTD.. Photo of the day Challenge

I have been challenged by the girls on the photography board I frequent to take and post a photo every day this month! I am up to the challenge {I think}.

So I accepted the challenge kind of late today, 01-01-08 at 10:15 p.m. But I was able to get this shot of Jackson using the light in the hallway and no flash. I love to watch him sleep... he looks like he is thinking of something, focused on it somehow. He doesn't move much when he sleeps, waking up in the same spot in the morning most of the time. We are currently in the coldest month or two of the year and so he is bundled under the fuzzy, down blanket. But come February, he'll be splayed out with no blanket on his body, just touching his face.

Which is funny, since he has done that since he was a baby. He had a quilt Grandma made for him that he named (at 2) Sarah. He took it everywhere and always slept with it -the corner cuddled up to his face. He still does that now, even though Sarah is worn and ratty, barely held together really. He mentioned tonight he needs to find her. With the state of his room after the past weeks vacation, I am sure she is in there somewhere, to be found when we set everything to rights tomorrow.

ETA: I spent the last 30 minutes looking, but I found some photo's of younger Jackson with Sarah. I just had to put them up to share as well.