Spring, etc.

Here is my first flower picture of spring. A couple days after that we had a snowstorm, the day before it was 70 degrees. I would guess that I probably wasn’t the only one that wasn’t prepared. Although, I just might have been the only one in the neighborhood attempting to clear six inches of snow off my windshield with an old brochure. Now I understand why the scraper was invented.

I’m glad that spring is finally here. It was a tough cold/flu season at my house. Marin was evaluated by the ENT and is scheduled for a tonsillectomy next month. Her tonsils are huge and she snores like a long-haul trucker, at least what I imagine they must snore like; since clearly, I’m not an expert on trucker snoring.

Back to Marin and her tonsils though, with her family history of problem tonsils and the airway obstruction, they think it’s best to get them out before she starts with the constant infections that plagued her sisters. Marin has been a pretty healthy child in general. She has had some problems with constipation on a fairly regular basis. Fascinating, I know.

Marin is taking antibiotics right now for the tonsillitis. She has only had antibiotics a couple of times. However, she has had probiotics and glycerin suppositories quite a few times. When I took Marin’s first dose of antibiotics to her we had the following conversation.

Me- “Ok, Marin. Here’s your medicine. You need to take it and it will make you feel better.”

Marin-“What that for? Help me poop?”

And it did. She has pooped and pooped. The wonders of antibiotic therapy.... There is a poopy Webkin in the washer right now as we speak.

Marin's New Portrait

Marin Learns About Kitties..... and Claws

Kid Pics

The only thing I have to say is that I have a question. Does anyone remember when I recently re-baked a cake? I turned the oven on to 400 degrees about ten minutes ago to pre-heat. Then Katie asked me why I was baking the cake again. Maybe I better start hiding baked good in the dishwasher instead.

Kid Pictures

William, the Stylish Kid

My Girls

Current Photos

Blooming Crocus

A Bit About HDR

The photos posted below are recent ones that I took using a technique called high dynamic-range or HDR. For any of you that are interested in photography, to do HDR you need to take a minimum of three different exposures and then merge the images with special software. A process called tonemapping then allows you to more realistically capture the broad exposure range that your eyes see but the camera doesn't. Cool, huh?

HDR Photos

Tag, You're It

Here's a picture I took a couple of weeks ago. I have been experimenting with HDR (high dynamic range) images. Oh, and in case you were wondering, that's DH right there in the middle.

In other news, I was tagged by Sass. I know she thinks it’s unlikely that I’ll participate but I’m going to this time. Because it’s Sass.

The rules:1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a
comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

So I just have to come up with six random things.

1.I always have a long list of thing to do. I usually carry around a little notebook to jot down notes whenever I leave the house. I used to just use ‘Word’ on my phone but I actually prefer a pen and paper. My notes include the really long to-do list, notes on projects, grocery lists, etc. I would hate it if I lost my notebook.

2.I hate being late. Despite the fact that I really try to be on time for appointments, I tend to run 5-10 minutes behind at times. Usually due to things outside of my control like a poop explosion just as I am preparing to leave the house. By poop explosion, I do mean POOP explosion. The baby, not me.

3.I’m tired of cleaning the house. I wish someone else would do it, for God’s sake.

4.I’m not terribly mechanical. You can read about that here and here. I did fix the washer with duct tape once, though. I know. It’s a little ghetto but it works. Now you're probably thinking those donkeys were in my back yard.

5.I just had Jehovah’s Witness’s at the door. No kidding. I almost didn’t answer it but I knew they saw me. They wanted to come in and talk about the bible but I was too busy blogging. Strike me down now.

6.I just started doing concert photography. I’m hoping to do more this year because everyone knows how much I like projects.

I'm tagging 1. J., Bulldog, Bambi, Mia, Stacie, and Karen.

Baby with Purse and Cell Phone

Kids

Baby Peeking into Dollhouse

Slide-show

I set up a slide-show on my new cell phone and I thought it was so cool that I had to post it here as well.

If It Had Princesses THAT Would be Even Better

Claire took this picture of Katie a couple of days ago. I let her use my digital SLR with supervision and she is incredibly good with it. She has always had artistic talent but I am also amazed at her ability with a camera. She can manage a large zoom lens on a camera that isn't exactly light-weight, work the auto-focus at the time that she is composing her shot. Quite a task for a six year-old. It is her artistic eye that I find most amazing. She instinctively knows the rules of good composition and actually takes interesting shots. I am not talking about a kid that is taking a hundred and just gets lucky and has a good one. She might take four or five that are all decent with one outstanding shot.


After taking this picture, she handed the camera back and said, "I want my own digital camera."


Katie is never one to be left out, made it be known that she also wanted one, "I want a digital camera, too! One what's pink, what has flowers on it!"

Claire, Katie and Marin

Katie and Baby Marin

Baby Marin