Back to the Zoo

This morning we went to the zoo. The zoo is under construction, so we were a little limited in what we were able to see during the time we had at the zoo. First, we went through the petting zoo area. . . .




The goats particularly liked Rosemary. Rosemary was not a huge fan of the goats.



Then we headed through the Alabama Wilds. . . .








Then we took the kids to the play area and let them run around for a while.









We had a great time getting out and playing. I can't wait for Spring to be here for good.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My friends Cathy and Amanda are beginning photographers, too. It's great to have others in the same place -- and to hear about lessons they learn and tips they discover. For the last few months, I've been very disappointed with my indoor pictures. They are better, but still just not quite right. So last week my interest was piqued when Cathy e-mailed Amanda and me about a lens that she was going to get for her Canon. According to Cathy, it is supposed to be a low-light lens that is great for portraits, etc. and is very reasonable priced. She said that Nikon probably had a similar lens. Immediately I thought that this would be a great way to improve my indoor pics. Luckily, Amanda acts as Gary's spy and notified Gary of a potential gift opportunity (DISCLAIMER: Gary denies that anyone is his spy, so I'm just making an educated guess about the whole spy thing). So, for Valentine's Day, I got a new lens -- a Nikon 35mm/f1.8. I opened it right up and started taking pictures.

The first thing I'm learning is that I'm going to have to be very careful when focusing -- when the lens is opened up it has a very shallow depth of field, which means that I have to be very sure that I'm focusing properly (which is not so easy with moving kids). But, I am very, very pleased that I was able to take these pics inside without a flash, and just opening up the shutters on ONE window (more so for catchlight than for light):





Henry is not wearing a shirt because like a true male he has learned that his sleeve is also napkin. He had just helped his Daddy finish up a bowl of oatmeal, and managed to end up with a sleeve covered with oatmeal, so the shirt came off. I do have one picture of Henry in a shirt though, when Henry figured out that the lens was not his Valentine's Day present, probably because I wouldn't let him play with it:



But everyone was happy when the babies got to open up their Valentine's Day cards from Auntie Ann. They were all very excited about them!!







I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!!

Snow Day!!

Today we had snow!!! Unfortunately, especially in our area of town, it never got too much below freezing, so we didn't have full snow coverage. Had it been below freezing, I can't imagine how much snow we would have had. Nothing compared to what folks in the Northeast are seeing now, but certainly a lot for this part of the country. Gary's office and my office both closed at noon due to likely bad travel conditions, so as soon as the babies got up from their naps, we bundled them up and went outside to play in the snow. The kids had a great time, and so did we.

Rosemary has Eggs for Breakfast

When the kids were about 8 months old, we read that it was safe to start feeding them egg yolks (not egg whites, which is the cause of most egg allergies). Eggs are not only nutritious, but have a lot of calories packed into the egg yolk (and we are always trying to get calories and fat into our kids) So, early on for breakfast we fed the babies hard-boiled egg yolks, and later on we fed them cheesy scrambled egg yolks. Once they turned one, they had any sort of eggs they could imagine, usually with cheese. Now that I think about it, there has probably not been a morning since the kids were 8 months old that they haven't had eggs.

Well, yesterday morning I was cooking breakfast, which was pancakes, homefries (not a usual breakfast food for us), and country ham (a breakfast treat from Papa). I decided all that was more than enough for breakfast and I would just skip the eggs. I know I wouldn't want eggs every single morning for breakfast, and I thought the babies would enjoy the change. I didn't think much about it after that.

I brought the babies down for breakfast, got them situated, and gave them their food. Everyone happily dug in, including Rosemary. Then, she started fussing at me. I remembered I forgot everyone's milk, so I got up, fixed the milk sippies, and gave everyone their milk sippy then sat down to eat my own breakfast. Rosemary still refused to drink her milk and stopped eating, and just fussed at me. I ignored her and kept eating. But she kept fussing.

This is NOT like Rosemary. If it were Piper, I would have just taken away her breakfast and put her in the playroom. But this was SweetLittleRosemary and she was not just being fussy, she was clearly trying to tell me that I had forgotten something very important. I thought about it a while, and finally realized that it must be the eggs. So, I asked Rosemary, "Is this about eggs? Do you want eggs for breakfast?"

She stopped fussing and looked at me expectantly.

And then I got up and fixed everyone scrambled eggs.

Rosemary didn't fuss another time. She also didn't eat or drink anything.

She didn't even fuss when I sat the eggs down on the table and told everyone that they would have to cool before they could eat them, but she did keep her eyes on the eggs.

After the eggs were cool enough, I gave them to everyone. Piper and Henry were happy to see the eggs, and starting eating them right away. I put them in front of Rosemary and she gave me the sweetest smile you've ever seen, then ate her eggs and drank her milk.

Lesson learned. Rosemary has eggs for breakfast.