Thanksgiving {part two}

In the last photography class I took, we learned how to take photos in different lighting situations.  One of things that we learned to do is to take silhouette photos.  I hated my homework for that week (it’s not that easy to run across the perfect silhouette to shoot just any day of the week), but I was so glad that I’d be able to take a silhouette the next time the situation presented itself.  I was pretty excited when my sister-in-law, her husband, and two sons were playing football on the beach with the sun was strategically placed right behind them!!  Here are a few of the silhouette photos I took of them. . . .

I still have probably one more set of beach photos to post. . . .  In the meantime, I’m just trying to catch up on laundry and work – as always!

Thanksgiving {part one}

I’m very pleased to report that we had no balcony incidents this year over Thanksgiving (or anything remotely similar)!  Whew.  We went down to Pensacola again to spend time with my husband’s family, and we stayed in a condo again, that had a balcony.  I, however, did not step out on any balcony.  I doubt I will ever be able to step on a balcony again. 

Seriously. 

I’m still not over what happened last year.

Regardless, we were able to get out on the beach on Thanksgiving day and take some photos!  I have so many photos to share, but I’ll start with these and try to do another blog post with more photos soon. . . .

We even got a photo of Gary’s parents with all of their grandchildren!

Two of the six grandchildren were quite cooperative. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Yee Hao, Bumblebee Cowboy!

The other day, Piper was walking around saying “yee hao” and sort of waving.  I thought she was talking about Ni Hao Kailan and waving.  At some point, I realized that she was saying “yee haw” like a cowboy, but with a weird accent, and moving her hand in a roping motion.  It was hilarious.  And if that wasn’t hilarious enough, then she was riding around on her bumblebee wheely bug yelling, “Yee Hao!!  I’m a bumblebee cowboy!!” 

Absolutely hilarious.  Every time I think about it, I laugh.  I can’t help it.

On another note, my dear blog commenters convinced me that perhaps I’m not entirely crazy about my kids height, weight, and head circumference stats, so I pulled out the tape measure tonight.  Here are Penelope’s correct stats:

Length:  31 inches (50th-75th percentile)
Head Circumference:  18.25 inches (50th-75th percentile)

That sounds just about right to me.  And yes, I feel much better.  I can stop obsessing . . . for now.

While I had the tape measure out, I measured the big kids’ height, who all just had a very visible growth spurt.  I was really shocked at the results because they really did have a big growth spurt, inches and percentile-wise:

Piper:  37.5 inches (25th-50th percentile)
Henry:  39 inches (>50th percentile)
Rosemary:  36.25 inches (10th percentile)

Rosemary is really moving up her growth curve – well, actually, they all are.  I’m so proud!!

Fifteen Month Check-Up

Last Thursday Penelope turned 15 months old and had her 15 month check-up!  All went well, and Penelope handled her shots pretty well.  I was really surprised that as soon as the nurse walked in the room with the tray of shots that Penelope started saying “no” and wrapped her arms and legs around me.  The big kids still don’t have a clue what is coming when the nurse walks in the room with the trays of shots, so I was not expecting that reaction.  I’ll be ready for it next time.  Penelope’s “stats” are as follows:

Weight:  21 pounds 2 ounces (25th percentile)
Length:  32.5 inches (>95th percentile)
Head Circumference:  17.5 inches

I put the word “stats” in quotation marks because the only stat above that I think is accurate is the weight.  See, Penelope started screaming right after she was weighed.  We had to physically hold her down for her length check and we had to really restrain her to get her head circumference.  The length just cannot be right – she’s been on the taller side this whole time, but that seems almost too tall. 

When I was watching the nurse measure Penelope’s head circumference, I knew it was wrong.  The measurement looked over 18 inches to me (and I’m also quite certain that 17.5 inches is wrong because her head circumference was 18 inches at her last appointment at one year!).  So, while I was at the appointment, I knew the measurements were wrong and considered asking for a re-measure, but I didn’t because I told myself that I was going to try to stop obsessing over the numbers and just concentrate on the fact that Penelope is healthy and developing appropriately. 

Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering what her real stats are.  I’m still fighting with myself to just let it go instead of taking my own precise measurements, but I’ve stressed and worried over the size and percentiles for my kids for so long that I have to somehow manage to let it go. . . .  Somehow.  That’s what other parents do, right?!!  Especially those parents that didn’t have three preemies, right?!!  Maybe I can stop thinking about it so much now that this post is over.

To end, here is a photo of my sweet Penelope playing in her pajamas yesterday morning. . . .

The Photography Class is Over!

My photography class is over.  I enjoyed it a lot, and perhaps the most I’ve enjoyed a class to date.  As always, it wasn’t painless.  I need photography classes to keep me learning and to challenge me, but I really take them seriously (perhaps too seriously?) and they wear me out.  I’m ready to recover a little bit!  I’ve celebrated the class being over by not taking any photos since Saturday night, when I turned in my homework.

But, I’ll still post my last week’s homework.  My first photo was one to show emotion and/or interaction, with a conversion to black and white.  I chose this photo of Rosemary, peaking, when she was supposed to be standing in the corner. . . .

The second part of my assignment was to take a lifestyle photo essay of several photos that tell a story.  Here is my essay:

The last part of my assignment was to take a high ISO indoor photo, and here is the one I took:

I think that I’m most happy about how much I’ve learned about Lightroom 3, and how much I like it.  To me, it’s really much more intuitive as Photoshop Elements.  It also really speeds me up.  I used to spend a lot of time watermarking and getting my photos ready to post on the blog, and with Lightroom 3 that process is much, much shorter.  I’m considering taking another class early next year just on Lightroom.  We’ll just have to see if I’ve recovered and am ready to take another class then! 

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging activities . . . whatever that may be. . . .  Thanks for hanging in here with me while I was not a very regular blogger!

The Rest of October

I’m in the last week of my photography class.  Hopefully in a week or two I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled blogs!  So, to celebrate November, here are the photos from October that I haven’t posted!

First up are some photos from Halloween.  I took these after work and tried to take them without a flash, so I shot at 8000 ISO.  I’m thinking I should have just put on the flash. . . . 

We had a really great time going trick-or-treating.  The kids did a great job of saying “Trick-or-Treat” and “Thank you” and “Happy Halloween!”  We ended up with WAY too much candy, but I think that’s just what happens on Halloween!

And from even earlier, here are the rest of the photos from the pumpkin patch:

And why wouldn’t Piper pick a GREEN pumpkin and demand a wipe to clean it off while still in the pumpkin field?!!

Seems perfectly normal to me.