Today was the most relaxed I’ve felt in months–months. I suppose if you live in a warmer climate, you might not understand that this feeling is something to be cherished, but today when I was out weeding one of my overgrown flower beds I felt the warmth of the sun penetrate into my muscles, relaxing me in a way that it probably just as good as an awesome massage. After months of cold, rainy weekends (or weekends full of paperwork and books), we finally had a perfect set of days to get yardwork done, visit with family and plant the garden.

J watched T wash the cars and then played in the mud puddles left over from last night’s thunderstorms. I had time to make one of T’s favorite recent recipes for lunch, and J took a long enough nap for me to get a nap in AND finish weeding the biggest of the flower beds, and the one that needed the most attention after last summer’s baby-related neglect.

I just can’t wait for summer, but this weekend gave me enough of a break that I know I can handle two more weeks. I hope your weekend was just a pleasant!

I love the way my niece’s fine hair is in focus on this shot, and I love the baby-round shape of her cheeks…and those beautiful eyelashes. You know, sometimes I feel guilty for not taking as many shots of J when we’re out with family.

Sunday afternoon was like most of our get-togethers. I was busy trying to get some nice shots while the kids were playing outside in very different places. They’re still young enough to not really play together much. J and his older cousin, E, did dance together a bit, and there were a few other moments that were photographable, but I was busy socializing and didn’t have the camera near (and I’m not upset about it at all–I can’t miss out on life just because I’m the family photographer).

Later, when they went outside and I got out the camera, they went in three different directions and J was doing what he does best. Testing boundaries, far away from the rest of the group. I made myself busy getting shots of the girls and keeping an eye on him, but letting him explore.

I don’t know. I should probably make sure I spend an equal amount of time on each of them, but since I have opportunities at home with J, I’ve been concentrating on the others when we’re all together. I hope he doesn’t look back on the huge photo archive I’ll have by the time he’s 18 and wonder why there are so few shots of him when they’re all at Grandpa and Grandma’s. It’s not that I think he’s any less cute…but I’m worried he’ll think so.

I actually think he’s The Cutest Thing Ever. (Yeah, I said it. Your cuties can be the cutest ever, too. It’s a shared title.)  In fact, so shared that I’m offering the full-sized PNG file for the little badge on the above photo for your use…who knows, maybe you like to scrapbook or add even more personality to your photos!  Right click on the link and select “Download Linked File” to get the big version for your own personal, not commercial, use.

Head on over to Tracey’s to see all the other Cutest Things Ever for Best Shot Monday. You won’t regret it!

I almost forgot! The theme of the week at The Land of K.A., and I have aged, well, an aged door on a junky old shed behind the house. J likes looking in, but doesn’t exactly want to actually go inside, as you can see. Other than that, we haven’t been to his grandparent’s farm for a few weeks, so there weren’t any really great options for getting good aged shots. Well, there’s that reason and the fact that I’m just plain lazy :)

If you have Adobe Lightroom, here’s a special treat: I’m including a preset for the photo above. Right click on the link, select “Save Link As…”, download, install and enjoy!

Dark Aged

See the other Best Shot Monday posts at Tracey’s!

I thought I’d have a great photo op on Saturday when I took J to his grandparent’s house to see a 6-day-old calf, but I thought wrong.  I’ve obviously done a poor job toughening him up because when we walked into the barn and he heard the mama cow mooing, he immediately went stiff as a board and started screaming.  Red, his cousin, also started screaming.  So, instead of getting some adorable pictures of him hugging a slightly dirty calf, I abandoned the camera on a bale of straw and cuddle the little man until he calmed down a little.

Instead, I’ve got a shot of J checking out his dirty hand, not pointing at me like a gun.  Really.  I swear.  My dad hasn’t gotten him THAT corrupted–of course, if he were a little older, I wouldn’t have put it past him.  Grandpa helped train his three-year-old granddaughter to mention that the large fiberglass orange moose she passes on the way to Grandpa’s house has balls.  Yeah, you heard right.  She now says, “The orange moose has balls, Grandma!”

The orange mouse is NOT anatomically correct.  I do not know where they get this stuff.  It does kind of make a person giggle though, doesn’t it ;)

I love today’s best shot. He’s sitting in his highchair next to the north-facing patio door and I love how the light highlights his perfectly-shaped lips. And those eyelashes. Wow. Perfection. I’ve got a few more up at Flicker, like this or this or this or this .  I love, love, love Sundays with light.

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We were SUPPOSED to head to Minneapolis this weekend for the quarterly visit to J’s elder grandparents, but for what seems the like the billionth time since we postponed our Christmas visit due to snow we canceled, yet again.

J’s coughing and sniffly and, gasp, spent all but about four hours sleeping yesterday. He was up and running today, though, so all seems to be better, aside from the hack that’s worsened during crib time. I’m thanking whoever invented the humidifier right now since it’s moistened up the air enough after a few hours that he’s finally stopped coughing and actually fallen asleep.

I am a terrible mom, though, as I encouraged him to cough a little extra when T got on the phone to tell his mom we weren’t going to be dropping by. I certainly didn’t want her thinking we were avoiding them ;)

Last week, Michelle wrote:

“I have a quick question:  how do you get your son to ignore you and let you take pictures?  My daughter is just a bit younger than your son and for months she has not let me photograph her.  She must see the camera and look at the pictures of the “baby” on the screen on the back.  It is so disheartening to see her engrossed in her play, but as soon as the camera comes out (I try to sneak the best I can) that’s the end of it.  I do have a number of pictures of her reaching for the camera but that gets old . . . Do you have this problem and if so, how did you solve it?”

I was tempted to write back and tell her that J is a golden child who would never do such a thing, but that’s such a load of poop that I couldn’t do it.

Of course I have that problem.  Don’t most of us? I can’t think of a child who’s capable of reaching for the camera up to about the age of 2 who hasn’t grabbed for my camera.

I didn’t have any great advice other than the number one rule:

1. Keep the children occupied with something so fantastic, so special that the camera becomes absolutely boring.  See the picture on the left?  J is fascinated with a star I have hanging on the wall next to my bed, so a great place to take shots of him engrossed in something other than the camera is on the bed under that star.

   In addition, if he’s playing hard with his cousins or T, he really doesn’t pay me or the camera much mind, so those are great times for good shots, too.

   BUT then, I thought of a few more things that might be helpful.

2. Don’t ever show a child the picture on the back of the camera.  The cooler they think your most important of tools is, the more they’ll want to possess said tool.   This rule changes when the child grows to be a teen, by the way.  If you want a 14-year-old to get interested in something, hide it carefully and pretend it’s a secret.
3. Keep the camera out A LOT.  J really doesn’t grab for the camera as much as he used to, and that’s probably because it’s a bit like an old toy.  J is pretty used to it–in fact, I think he’s too used to it.  He’s been freezing whatever he’s doing and smiling big whenever I grab the camera lately, like he’s been trained by someone who actually says things like, “Say cheese!”  I don’t, and I really don’t want those kinds of pictures, but I guess it’s the stage he’s going through.

Does anyone else have any ideas for Michelle?

A few people asked yesterday what this blathering about a lens hood was all about. First, I’m no expert. Second, I don’t know that it’s an option if you’re every point and shoot, but I did check and they can be found for at least a few of them.

So, here goes my explanation: sometimes light can play funny tricks if it hits the surface of your lens just right. Without a lens hood, you run the risk of getting flare (which actually can look pretty cool if sometimes) or this “fog,” which since it can rarely be called cool, is what I usually get.

Here’s an example:

If you click on the photo, you’ll see that in addition to cutting of half of T’s head, there’s also a fog at the top of the shot.  There’s a window above and the glare from that window was hitting the surface of my lens and causing this light spot, or area of poor contrast.

If I’d had a lens hood on, the fog would have been avoided.  Lens hoods also protect the lens a bit if you drop it–the lens surface would be held up from the…I don’t know…gravel driveway…as the lens made impact with it.  Of course, my camera would probably be scratched to bits, but at least my glass wouldn’t be scratched!