365 in 2015 - End of Week 53!

It's the final week! I'm so excited to be done with my 365 project. I can honestly say I learned a lot, although I wish I had turned my camera to manual mode far sooner than October. I think I still have a ton of room for improvement - especially since I still can't figure out how to capture pictures in my house in the evening because it's far too dark. Anyway, I'm excited to move on to other things, even though I want to continue learning more - just at my own pace without feeling pressured into a schedule. So here's my final five pictures of the year!

Some crazy dancing ensued while making dinner Monday evening. This was one of those times where my house is so dark, I have trouble capturing things better. I chose this picture because it had (at least part) of my three dancing kiddos. 

A self-portrait in the mirror on the carousel at the zoo. We wanted to go one last time before the end of the year!

We finally got around to cutting down the dead tree in our yard. We weren't sure exactly how it would fall, but we didn't die (as Clayton so elegantly screamed after it fell and missed both us and the house)!

"Mommy I picked you these beautiful yellow flowers!"

While enjoying our neighbor's fireworks, Shelby wasn't so sure she wanted to be holding a Morning Glory!

365 in 2015 - End of Week 40

This week has been an interesting one! My grandma is here visiting from Arizona, so we've been doing a lot more than normal. I also decided to start reading through The Unexpected Everyday and trying my hand at the challenges within it to start using manual mode on my camera. Obviously that's been my goal all along, but I've been scared to try especially with the thought of messing up chances to get pictures I really want. So, it's taken me this long in this 365 project to actually step out and give it a try. I'm pleased to say my camera has remained in manual mode for the majority of this month so far! (I did take it off to get some family pictures with G'ma as I didn't want to try to figure it out with those.) The first four pictures are from the last of September, with the final three being the beginning of my October challenge (keeping up with the book and the 30 days of prompts they give).

I missed Sunday, so this from our trip to the zoo on Monday. I forget what these are called, but they are so pretty!

Bethany and her kids and all mine went down to Zoo Atlanta with mom and G'ma. We had a great time!

On Tuesday it was raining (again) and so we went to see a neat - and free - Lego exhibit at North Point Mall. They had ten large displays plus a few extra smaller ones and a build and play area. This was the Lego model of the White House (a close up of part of it anyway).

Shelby being silly waiting for Clayton to read the Bible with her. 

SS 1/125 | f/5.0 | ISO 3200

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Tip 01: Focal Point

Prompt: Change your focal point to focus solely on your child's feet. 

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Okay.....here goes the beginning of manual mode pictures. For those of you that have been doing this longer and want to offer some advice, I'll gladly take any you can give me! This was taken indoors on a rainy day. I actually did this prompt the same day as prompt two (as you'll be able to tell), trying to redo the one I didn't really like that I took the day before. Both days were rainy, but I waited too late in the evening the first day for it to turn out even remotely well. 

SS 1/125 | f/5.6 | ISO 6400

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Tip 02: Catchlights

Prompt: Capture your child in their favorite dress-up costume or playing pretend.

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While Cheyenne is in her costume, you can't really tell in this picture. And if those are considered catchlights in her eyes, I don't honestly know. Plus I completely blew this out with a far too high ISO (which thankfully Bethany shared with me that a high ISO, while allowing more light, will also produce too much grain). I'm still not sure what caused the funky coloring. The lighting in my house is poor - even more so on a rainy day, but I don't know what exactly I could have changed. 

SS 1/125 | f/16.0 | ISO 6400

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Tip 03: Rule of Thirds

Prompt: Capture the things your child does early in the morning.

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This was one tip I actually already knew about. I know this isn't the best of pictures to show it, but I was trying to follow the prompt too, on yet another rainy day, and I ended up using the flash as well. That must be how my aperture got so high, because I know I didn't set it at that! But then I'm still completely new to all this, so I don't know much about how it all works together. Anyway, I couldn't get the lighting right for Shelby's bottom bunk bed, hence the flash. She was in the process of making her bed and I asked her to get dressed first so I could take a picture. She wanted me to take one like that though - covered up with Pinkie Pie!

Random August Pictures

These are just a few pictures from August that didn't get included in any other post.

Paige and Cheyenne being silly before American Heritage Girls.

Shelby working hard putting her Lego set together.

Shelby was grumpy about having to walk so far into the zoo. We had to park farther away than we ever had before!

Shelby enjoying the carousel. 

Paige and Cheyenne in uniform!

365 in 2015 - End of Week 34

I did better this week taking pictures. I still missed a couple days (I filled them in with extras from the zoo), but I did take more! 

We actually took the time to go watch the giraffes at the zoo this week. We normally skip over their exhibit, but were exited to see four or five of them out at the same time! 

We always enjoy watching the gorillas. I was hoping to catch the baby looking at the camera as well, but he didn't want to cooperate!

The kids got their favorite seat on the train! 

Paige requested cupcakes for her birthday on Thursday. Because I thought it was going to be a crazy day, I made them on Wednesday instead. No one could stand to wait until Thursday to celebrate after they came out of the oven, so we celebrated her 6th birthday a day early!

Our original Thursday plans didn't happen, so Bethany decided to bring her kiddos over to our house to ride bikes and play outside. They had a great time playing together!

Paige just loves the babies! She asked if she could hold Patrick, and just giggled and grinned the whole time! 

Paige concentrating hard while putting together her Lego set that she got for her birthday! 

Zoo Atlanta: August

We once again went to the Zoo Atlanta in August. We all have been enjoying our time seeing the different animals and spending time with whichever one is most active any given time we are there. This month our favorites were the giraffes (which we regularly skipped) and the gorillas!

365 in 2015 - End of Week 24

This week was a busy one! I managed to take pictures every day except Sunday (which is a perpetual problem). I also started back with my kettle bells, after a long break. Hoping to keep up with a routine again!

We went to the zoo on Monday with Bethany. The kids enjoyed having their ride wristbands so they can ride everything as many times as they like! They also played in the splash pad because it was a hot day! 

After the zoo I stopped by Ikea to pick up a couple things. The kids absolutely love the travelator! Paige and Shelby rode down in a cart this time. 

On Tuesday we went to a friend's neighborhood pool. The kids enjoyed going down the slide!

Some new decorations I put up in the house. These are actually cards, but I hung them up since they all have Bible verses on them. They are from Hope Ink! 

Paige tracing Shelby with chalk in the cul-de-sac! 

Shelby and I on the merry-go-round at Lawrenceville Lawn. This thing is so cool, but I got dizzy really quickly! 

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The kids playing Ticket to Ride in my room while I work on pictures.

Park Hopping: Zoo Atlanta (June)

Our second park adventure for June was going to Zoo Atlanta. Our families have memberships to the zoo and so we try to go once a month. This month was our sixth which was a big deal because we have passport to adventure memberships and the kids get prizes for coming monthly. Once you get to six stamps everyone gets a rides wristband for their ride section. Since this was the first time in six months they've gotten to do those things, they were very excited! I took the older kids to figure out zoo's clues first, then we just hung out at the rides and splash pad.

Cheyenne and Keira on the merry-go-round which was our first stop.

Paige and Kyle holding hands on the merry-go-round.

Bethany checking out her pictures.

Then we all headed to the train!

Then we headed to the splash pad! Paige loved standing over the fountain.

Clayton kept trying to chop the water.

Cheyenne loved splashing herself and anyone else with the water!

And loved when the fountains shot up high!

Shelby enjoyed standing on top of the water even when it came back on and splashed around her feet.

After the splash pad, we dried off and headed to the climbing wall. This is a favorite to do at the zoo.

Clayton made it to the top twice!

Shelby was too small to go rock climbing, so she went to the canopy climber instead and had fun climbing up that and going down the big slide!

Cheyenne enjoyed climbing as well, but only wanted to go about halfway up.

This was Paige's first time being big enough to climb. She was excited to try and made it over halfway up the wall!

Sweet little Mercy playing near the fence while everyone else was busy!

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Click here to check out Bethany's post about this trip!