Camera Woes

March is quietly slipping away.  I don't really know where it went.  Avery will be six months old at the end of the month and I really can't believe it.  I was having trouble with my camera and have been researching cameras and bugging at least three people about the pros and cons of different cameras.  And I finally decided on one.  I was super excited until I kept getting unfocused shots-in "auto" setting.  I knew the camera and lens were new to us but I didn't think I was that bad that I couldn't even get a clear picture.  So for about every forty shots like this:

We would get one kind of right.  But not consistent enough to feel comfortable about it.   Here are a a few good ones.

My friend Kelly is a photographer and she played around with my camera at a baby shower the other day.   She could put my camera on "manual" and get some great shots.   But I

 

 

Then she took my camera to see if it was my lens or the camera causing some troubles.  The lens was fine...and she felt that the camera might be alright but it seemed like way too much fussing with it to me.  So I am sending it back.  Tomorrow.  I did start to fiddle with some settings the other day and took these:

 

And the last couple from right after I received the camera.  A little fuzzy to me but still cute nonetheless.

 

I don't trust that the auto setting is fully working right on this camera and I need that as a back-up while I learn to shoot more in manual settings.  I am very excited about what the prime lens can do though!  

Getting the Itch....

...to move.   OK, not really but am feeling the need for some sort of change since this is the first time in 9 YEARS that we are not moving!  There is always such excitement (and stress) moving to a new place but it is kind of nice knowing we don't have to move our whole household right now.  Especially with a baby!  We left Japan in 2003 which is the longest we have lived anywhere (as a married couple), then we spent 18 months in Idaho, three months in Nevada, two years in Panama City, FL and two years in Fort Walton Beach, FL.  And we have been in our current city now for two years and about two months.  So that explains why I am wanting to deep clean our whole house, paint, re-arrange furniture and re-hang some pictures.  This is the plan I have in my brain but right now I am lucky to keep up with the dishes in a day.  Extra bonus if I cook!  Or get a load of laundry done.  Or a blog post!  But I am OK with that.  If our kiddos are cared for, healthy and happy then I am committing to not having to have a perfectly clean and organized house to sacrifice time with these guys...

Some of the going-ons during the last few weeks...here are the chicken and duck feet drawn by Jack and Wyatt respectively.

Happy to see daddy.

Out of approximately 60 attempts at a Valentine's picture of all three of these kiddos, this is the best picture I could get.

Happy to see Wyatt:

Avery is really using her hands and grabbing anything that crosses her path.

The boys played with play-doh for a couple of the hours the other day with Avery watching in the background.  I love her position here.

Sweet smiles.

Snow removal helpers:

Such little men!  Ready to play in the snow.  Below are two of my new favorite pics of the boys.

 The ohsosweet sleepy eye-rub:

 Already pulling herself up when she is in a reclined position:

 Oh stop!

 Stop the cuteness!

 Okay.

 Don't stop.

Wyatt making us laugh.  He was walking around with my boppy saying "look at my canoe!"

And having a fun glo-stick bath night in the big tub.

...complete with goggles.

These two play hard.  And they crash hard.  Good night!

Catching Up

After I just posted that I cannot find pictures on the computer;  I just found some!  Not all of the pictures are showing but here are the ones I could access.

Wyatt loves to grab Avery and roll around with her and snuggle and she thinks it is so funny.  I will post more as I find them.

Back up to Valentine's Day.  Another idea from pinterest.  I couldn't resist using it since they are the only boys in their preschool class right now.

And a pretty random picture of the boys after they decorated Avery in their Valentine's mail and stuffed animals.

 And back-up again to Portland.  Here are some iPhone pictures of Aunt JJ with the crew at lunch (just after purchasing swimming goggles obviously).

 And the boys have been surprising me with how much they want to color and draw and practice writing lately.