26 June 2012

Henry and Bridget

Yes I still take out the camera every time he says he wants to hold her.  It's just so sweet!




23 June 2012

DSLR Day One

So I made the decision this week to get myself a DSLR camera.  Ever since Henry was born I think about it every 6 months or so but the lists of pros and cons that I find on the internet have always convinced me that it's not for me.  A big thing that turned me off was everyone on the internet saying "If you're just going to use it in auto mode you may as well get a good point and shoot instead".  My mum bought herself a DSLR a few months ago and is still working in auto mode and seeing her pictures had me convinced that that was not true.  

Pictures just look better.  No matter how unskilled a photographer you are, the lens is better and pictures will look better.  And even in the auto modes you have more control over the focus.  And you can take pictures so quickly.  And with a toddler being able to quickly get the shot before they run away is almost worth the $700 camera all on its own.  

I think I do want to slowly learn some of the manual settings but I figure it's no big deal if I never get round to it.  I spend a lot of time on photography (taking pictures, sorting through them) and so I feel like I want to get the best pictures possible.  But I also like the idea of learning a new skill in that time.  

I decided on the Canon T3i and went out and bought it this morning.  Here are some of my pictures from day one with my new camera.  (Yes I feel like even a crummy picture of Henry's toys looks good with my new camera!)

















19 June 2012

The garden

The garden is doing well so far this year.  Actually it feels like everything is getting a slow start but I think it feels like that every year. 

 a new addition: hops! 
We are excited about these.  I always plant hot peppers in an effort to get Kevin more interested in the garden but it has never really worked, hops however seem to be doing it. 
peas
















beans
The plants in the greenhouse are doing great!  I only put a few each of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers in there.  I kind of forgot about the greenhouse, thinking I couldn't start using it till I had done the weather proofing to seal all the cracks which of course is not important in this hot weather.  And I haven't bought or made proper shelves for it yet so there's not much room for much more.  This season should help me figure out the best way to do the shelves in there (hadn't really thought about the climbing plants before now).  So I want to read about growing in pots and do all or most of my cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers in there next year and maybe even try eggplants again.  Or I could go crazy and try something fun like cantaloupe!

















I am excited wondering how much food we'll get out of the garden this year but for now we are just getting lettuce.


And we are enjoying hanging out back there too!

18 June 2012

Father's Day 2012

We had a nice Father's Day over here.  Henry was really excited about giving Daddy the painting he had made for him.  It was so fun that he was into making a surprise and giving it to Daddy. 




It turned out to be a rainy day so for a family activity we went to the Lego store.  Henry and Kevin both loved it.  Henry's favourite part was racing cars down the ramp. 
In this picture you can kind of see the T-shirt I made Kevin for Father's Day.  I used freezer paper stencilling to put the silhouettes of his two kids' heads on the T-shirt.


And we spent some time hanging out at home as a family and got to see Kevin's family including his Dad in the evening.  



10 June 2012

Day at the Beach


We had our first day at the beach for 2012 today.  We weren't sure how 4 week old Bridget would like it/how much she would cry so we just went to the beach that's a 10 minute drive from our house in case we didn't want to stay long.  It is a nice enough beach except for the goose poo.  Bridget was mostly happy and we stayed for a good 4 hours.

And Henry loved the beach.  I think his favourite thing was having Daddy make sand castles for him and then wrecking them.  But he also liked to go in the water and he played with some kids at the playground there too.  Yes he plays with other kids now - he's a real boy!




04 June 2012

Best Buds

Henry still loves Baby Bridget!