Day 20

Today was filled with many photo opportunities, especially since I wanted to play with the new lense and Gary Fong diffuser that I have now. Unfortunately for my blog and project 365 I can't post many of them. They involve our daycare kids at my home and my neighbours. Lets just say we had a really great time with all 11 kids we had (I know you are thinking wow...well actually that is a small group, as we were supposed to have 19 between us!!) PD days are SO much fun!!!

My group of kids (totally 7 kids) spent most of the day over at Sue's house. She has so much more room for the kids to run around and they can be as loud as they want (well within reason). At my home its hard this week as Eric is on Nights and needs to sleep during the day.

I managed to get an awesome picture today and I love it.

This is Sue's adorable, sweet, awesome dog Pudge! He is so good with the kids and loves to play with everyone. He is our Dog Raven's Playmate, they go wild together :)

Anyway he was laying on the floor playing with his frisbie when Alexander got him to look up and I was right there to snap this photo!!!

Day 19

Bekah did it!! She finished her first session of gymnastics! She passed three (3) levels and was awarded three (3) medals. These are some shots that worked out (the gym is very dark and hard to shoot in) of her in her class today. I love the ones where I froze her in the air...

While I was outside with the camera, Snickers decided to play fetch with a huge stick. I threw it for her and captured her bounding into the snow to get it.

After doing much researching and talking to friends etc I decided that I would like to get a new lense for myself. I went to get a 17-70mm F2.8 -4.5 macro and ended up with an 18-50mm F2.8 and a Gary Fong diffuser! I have to say I am very very impressed with this lense and the "globe" The colours of the pictures turned out so much nicer, more crisp and the detail was amazing. These ones of the clementines were me playing in very low light with my SB600 and globe on and the lighting was flash was amazing! I can't wait to play more :)

Day18

After taking the kids to school today and doing some paperwork stuff with my caseworker, I headed over to my mother's house. I knew that she had an issue with her eye and was prepared for the "disgusting" look of it. This is what it looks like

After taking mum to the eye doctors and finding out she will be okay and its not something to be worried about we headed home to move some things around in her basement. Her new washing machine is coming tomorrow, so the old one needed to be disconnected.

I had Alexander with me and I taught him how to use the snowblower at gramma's house. This way he can go over and do it for gramma if I am unable to! He looked so grown up today helping out his mum and gramma!

I snapped this shot after letting the dogs in from outside. My mum's backyard is so picturesque!! I loved this little solar lamp covered in snow with the snow falling all around it. We got so much snow today!!!!This is another shot of my sister's cat Abe. He was lounging on my mum's bed watching me as I took pictures. I finally got a nice shot of him without Red eyes!

Day 17

Started out very very early for me...I was up at 4 am ( I was afraid I would sleep past my alarm) to wait for a daycare child to arrive.

This is the time it was when I had him settled on the couch with a blanket and tree house on.

The rest of the day was basically pictureless as I ran around town with 3 daycare children, my neighbour Sue with her hand wrapped up from surgery on Monday and my mother. We were on a mission...find a new top loading washing machine!

While out on our mission I found a great deal on new pots and pans! They are so pretty and clean looking and fit right in with my lifestyle. Non stick, eco Friendly, Oven friendly and dishwasher safe!!!! what more can I ask for! oh right and they came in a plastic tub on wheels, sweet more storage bins :)

Day 16

I didn't get my camera out today until it was way to dark to do much of anything. I have 3 photos for today though.

The first one is a Bear Bravo that Quinlan got at school. A Bear Bravo is given to a child who does something above and beyond what they are asked to do. Quinn received this one because he saw that paper was in the garbage can instead of in the recycling bin and he proceded to correct the situation :) Way to go Quinn!!!

At bedtime I was able to set the Camera up on Bekah's dresser and take some remote pictures of our bed time story time. The kids each grabbed a library book of theirs and we snuggled in for the stories. Bekah's book was OINK! and Quinn's was The Rooster's Gift! Both were great stories :)Tomorrow I am getting up at 5 am for a child that needs care so I am off to bed very early tonight (well early for me)

Day15

Today was a lazy stay in our Jammies and comfy clothes kind of day. Bekah and I decided to make banana cake with peanutbutter icing (thank you Trevor for the recipes !! )

Here are our ingredients

Bekah adding some more flour...

Making the peanutbutter icing!! Madison had gotten involved by this point :) ... ... the finished product. Nothing fancy, we just slopped the icing on there, but man oh man it tasted so GOOD!Then my sister decided to bring her cat Abe over for a visit with our cat Max. Raven normally chases Max around the house. This cat was different somehow and she was very cautious around him. Crawling on her belly to get close and whinning at him. He smacked her face once and she yelped!Max and Abe remembering each other....

Abe licking his chops as Max's paw is in the ready to smack position!

Heather was able to come again for a visit, it was great to see her again and so soon after Christmas. It was a sad reason she had to come again from Thunderbay, her grandfather had passed away. We really enjoyed our visit with Heather and even got in a couple rounds of Rockband 2 with her. Just like old times.

The girls are already asking when they can see her again. They miss you so much Heather, as do Eric and I :)

So that is the end of our lazy Sunday Day!

Day14 (2 weeks in)

Eric was emptying the grocery bags and sorting out what was in them. I was putting the fridge things in the fridge (go figure!!! ) I turned around to see this food tower in the middle of my kitchen floor. I had to take a picture of Eric's little building spree! Talented isn't he ???? LOL After some lots of whinning, the adults decided to take the kids skating at the local man made rink a block from home. Shannon and Emma came for a visit with skates in hand. Sue, Wyatt, Angus, Eric, Myself, Shannon, Alexander, Madison, Quinlan, Emma and Bekah all walked up the street to the rink! It was so COLD but the kids were determined to skate!

This shot is very blurry as there was much action going on in it, but I had to post it!!! Quinn was starting to fall (see his leg in the air?) as Wyatt came zooming across the rink and crashed into the side board. I thought it was a great action shot of the two of them!!!


This is Wyatt going over the boards (a different time then the picture posted above)

Quinn deciding he's had enough of skating and would rather roll around in the snow while wearing his skates! Crazy child of mine
While it took Emma a bit to warm up to the idea, she eventually got into the whole skating thing and was off on her own. This picture is her listening to Shannon.

Bekah was a crazy ice skating monster! This child has no fear. I placed her on the ice and off she went! She was amazing! Shannon has more pictures of her as my camera was in my bag for a while, as I helped get Emma going on the ice for Shannon. I will post more of Bekah on her own.

This shot is of my girls skating hand in hand ( a rare occurance!) with their matching coats. Aren't they Cute?!?!?!?

After our afternoon skating adventure we took the kids to the mall, grabbed some dinner and went to the movie Marley and Me. I have to say that movie gets so many emotions going it isn't funny. I laughed (lots) and cried (even more)

It was an excellent day filled with family and friends. I can't wait to have more!

Day 13

Today was a great day both for photography and life in general. Just before the kids went skating with school, I got the call them I was to come and pick up mum from the hospital. I told her I would be down as soon as the kids were done with skating :)
These are Quinn's brand new skates (thanks D'bis) all tied up and ready to use. I love the contrasts in this picture. I am toying with the idea of turning it black and white. This is Quinn on the ice! He was having a jolly old time out there. Thank goodness for the skating helper he was given.

Madison's class went at the same time as Quinn's but they were on another ice pad at the same arena. I went over to take a few pictures of her. Unfortunately her rink was a lot darker then Quinn's and my pictures turned out blurry and dark. I am only posting this one, its better then the rest.

Wyatt decided to take a break in the penalty box...he looked so cute peaking over the edge!!!

Wyatt just motored around the rink! GO Wyatt!!!

Christopher was standing on his own two feet! Good job Christopher!!

Day 12

Today wasn't a very busy day in the way of the camera, but I managed to snap some shots from my iphone as well as my camera. Please excuse the quality of the shots taken on my iphone its a really simple camera.
After we dropped the kids off at school we took Bekah to her gymnastics class here!
This is Bekah on the balance beam :) Her gymsuit is so bright. Hard to believe Madison wore it when she was 2 and Bekah is almost 5 and it fits her!
Bekah walking on the balance beam. The lighting in the gym is very poor. I couldnt' get too close with the camera and flash. Next week is her last week and we are allowed in the gym for photos.

After we picked the kids up from school we had a mishap and Raven was let out. She walked very calmly down the drive to Sue's house where she anxiously waited for Pudge to be let out. These 2 dogs are the best of friends. They tear around the yard so fast, you have to brace your knees or they will take you out. This is their famous move dog over dog... ( Pudge is black and white in case you can't see him )

Day 11

Again not a very productive day, but I did manage to get a few shots of this screech owl who we think has taken up residence in a tree on our property. I snapped these very quickly as I didn't want to scare it away. Who knows we may end up with babies in the spring :)