Day 66

I didn’t get around to taking any pictures tonight after work.  Instead, I went for a walk/run and then spent the evening helping GothGirl with homework and doing some other tasks.  Here’s a shot from last Friday.  It was Furlough Friday for me, so I let the kids ride the bus home from school since I was going to be there. 

I happened to be out in the far side of the yard taking some photos when the bus arrived.  GothGirl got off and started walking up to the house.  I could see LilCrockett making his way towards the front of the bus, but I guess the driver didn’t see him (and forgot that he was supposed to get off too) because she started to pull away.  She got as far as the driveway to our detached garage when she stopped.  LilCrockett finally got off and looked like he wasn’t worried at all.  Crisis averted (and I’m glad I didn’t have to follow the bus to the next stop to get him!). 

Once they were both off, I made them pose for a photo.  I turned the photo to black and white using The Pioneer Woman B&W Beauty action because both kids had on clothes with a lot of contrasting color and print, which was distracting.  By decreasing the opacity of the action, it brought back some select color giving it a muted, aged look, which I love.

Day 65

Though this first picture is not stellar or artistic by any stretch of the imagination, it’s beautiful to me.  I woke up this morning to find that my husband and the kids were sorting socks.  This is a first as I’m lucky if I can get anyone besides GothGirl to help, and her help is usually only on rare occasions.  Last night I wrote out chore lists for everyone and this task was on my list.  How sweet to wake up and find that all of them were working together to knock out one of my chores.  Especially when it’s one of the chores I dread the most.  How many different kinds of white socks can one family have?  Anyway, I thought this act of love warranted a photo!

  

The end of the day was capped by another act of love too.  I never get tired of seeing Crockett reading to our kids.  GothGirl is too old to be read to anymore, so it’s LilCrockett’s turn.  The lighting wasn’t the best for a photo, but it’s still beautiful to me.

Day 64

It’s Saturday, so that means basketball.  GothGirl had a volleyball game as well; but it was at the same time, so Crockett took her.  Meanwhile, I took LilCrockett to his game.  Though he shoots quite a bit, he only made one basket.  So many of his shots hit the rim and bounce off.  He needs to learn to slow down a bit and take better aim rather than just throw it towards the basket.  He does good during practice, but during a game the action is more intense and he feels like he has to shoot it fast or someone will steal the ball away. 

While he was playing, I focused on trying to get some better shots.  This time, I adjusted my ISO higher and there was less blur.  I had expected more grain (which is why I had avoided my highest ISO setting), but it’s not too terrible.  Grain is definitely better than blur.

Here’s LilCrockett guarding his man.

And then attempting another shot at making a basket.

Day 63

While this is not the most stellar picture, I just had to share as it documents a near-daily occurrence at our house now that the weather is getting nicer.  The kids are able to play outside during recess and at Aftercare, so that means more time on the playground.  Can anyone guess what substrate is used on our playground by looking at this picture:

 

If you guessed pea gravel, then you are correct; though many of the pieces are larger than a pea!  LilCrockett comes home with his shoes full of it.  He does not take after me.  I am like the Princess and the Pea.  I can feel the littlest piece of grit in my shoes, in my bed sheets, etc. and it drives me absolutely crazy.  Yet, he’ll walk around for hours with a bunch of gravel in his shoes.  And this photo was taken on a light day….usually he has a lot more in his shoes than this!  Here’s a close-up.

 

Another great thing about the nicer weather is that my flowers are starting to pop up.  I love seeing the green stems emerge from the dull, brown earth!  Can’t wait to see my grass green up too.

And last but not least, another benefit of the nicer weather…..kids playing outside.  GothGirl and the neighbor girls were hitting the volleyball and soccer ball around for several hours after school today.  Not only does it help them become better players; but they enhance their friendship, get some exercise, and have fun at the same time.

Day 62

I got home from work tonight and immediately started cleaning the garage.  It was really a mess from winter with lots of dirt & debris on the floor and some clutter around the edges because it was too cold to really get out and clean it the last few months.  By the time I got done, it was time to take LilCrockett to basketball practice.  Since I’m still trying to figure out how to take better indoor action shots, I took my camera along.  Because it was practice and not a game, I knew the action would be a little slower.  It was to some degree and I felt like my photos were a little better.  Here are a few from the night.

The coach was trying to teach the kids something in this picture.  Notice how all the other kids are standing and listening nicely, while LilCrockett got a wild hair up his wazoo and decided he needed to jump up in the air!  That’s my boy!

At least he’s focusing on the coach a little better in this shot….

And here he is trying to get around his teammate to shoot a basket.  Note that his jersey is flipped to the silver side in this shot as they were having a mini scrimmage.

Day 61

The weather was fairly nice after work today, so Seth and I went next door to the neighbors’ house so he could shoot some hoops.  Of course I couldn’t resist taking my camera along.  I’m having some issues with focus and blur, which is exacerbated with an active sport like basketball; so most of the photos didn’t come out very crisp.  Here’s the best shot of the night.  Excuse the graininess.

Day 60

I managed to snap a few fun pictures at the kids’ pool party on Sunday and thought I’d share them with you here.  The quality of the photos isn’t outstanding (I was struggling with the low light there), but they make me smile.

Here’s one of the guests’ dad (& GothGirl’s godfather) diving into the pool.  Cool that I caught him mid-air.  He looks like he’s hovering or something.  I give him a big ‘10’ for effort!

At the end of the party, we had all the kids pose on the diving board for a group picture.  Some of the kids had already left, so not all are pictured.  After taking several ‘serious’ shots, we had them do a fun one.  Like I said, it makes me smile!