Playing in puddles.

We had a good rainstorm this afternoon.  The girls decided to play in a few puddles when Jordan got home.

We scrubbed the siding and washed windows today.

Practice.

I took about 50 shots indoors at night without camera flash or external flash and surprisingly a few of them came out clearly.  This one is right out of the camera - no Photoshop.  The girls were having fun with Guitar Hero tonight.

More close-up food.

Before school.

Since last school year we've been taking a photo of Jordan's outfit everyday.  She doesn't want to repeat an outfit (or clothing combination).  This morning Maddie decided to jump into and run through the pictures so I decided to make her take a nice one.

Homework.

for my photography class - food (or up-close) photos.  I now love my 50mm lens because I can set my aperture to 2.8 and get this incredible bokeh.

Lookin' good!

She got her hair cut today.

Shutter speed.

While the kids played wiffle ball in the front yard, I tried to master setting the shutter speed on my camera and getting a good shot.  I like this one of our neightbor with Maddie in the background because he's in focus and nothing else is.

Choreographed movement.

Jordan and Molly practicing for their choreographed movement assessment.  They came up with a crazy-fun dance to some crazy-fun music (Sleepyhead by Passion Pit).

Buds on the trees.

Okay, its' really another photo of the sky, but there are buds on the tree, too.

At.school.

Jordan had to present her Personal Project to an IB committee this evening so Maddie and I wandered around campus taking pictures.

My favorite assignment.

Up-close photos.  Jilly was the unfortunate victim of my homework today.

Yes, another sky.

The sky has been quite beautiful lately.

Jordan.

Ready for a great Valentine's Day.

Making Valentines.

Top picture is Maddie working on valentine owls shown here.  Both girls gave the owl goody bags to their teachers.  Lower picture shows just one of the lovely hand-drawn, hand-painted/colored hearts Jordan gave to friends.

More Sky.

Beautiful sky.

Sunset

We missed the shot of the huge setting sun just beyond the trees in the center of the photo.  This is still a nice one.

Happy Half-Birthday.

I snuck in and decorated Maddie's locker for her half-birthday to surprise her.  We didn't even mention anything about a half-birthday.  Needless to say she was shocked and elated.  She's said, "my locker was the best decorated of any this year".  Since her birthday falls early in August, she never has celebrated a birthday at school.  She is usually lumped in with all of the other summer birthday kids, which unfortunate for all of them.

Maddie the artist.

She is as proud as she can be of her color wheel displayed outside the six grade hall.

Gnarly tree.

The only picture on the card today.

Street Tennis

Out the window.

I shot this from the window of my car.  I was hunting for some good photos for my photography class homework assignment.

Patina.

The patina on this mailbox along with the U.S. flag is what made me stop to take a photograph.  I wanted to snap a few more because I wasn't happy with the composition of this one, but the homeowner came down the driveway so I hopped in the car and continued down the road.

The three of us on the third.

Afternoon in the Park.

She has trouble taking a good picture - her eyes are closed in most.  This one turned out nice and I didn't have to re-shoot because of closed eyes.

No Loud Music.

This sign is in an older neighborhood near where we do some of our thrift shopping.