Maiden voyage with my new lens

I had actually received this camera lens for my birthday. However, it wasn't the one I'd requested (ahem, SEVERAL times in fact....but I digress) so I put it away in my closet thinking that someday I'd get around to using it. Maybe. If I ever got over my grudge.

Well, enter Paul and his new hobby...flying model airplanes. He wanted to take his new toy to the park to try it out so we went with to see how it went (AKA see how many crashes it takes before it needs to be repaired) and I thought this would be a great time to try out the new lens because it's a zoom lens. There are no pictures of Paul and his plane because they didn't turn out good but I caught some really cute shots of the kids on the playground.

It's hard for me to post these on the blog because they are so small and don't look as good as they do when the picture is bigger but I haven't had the time to figure out how to make my pictures ginormous on the blog yet. You can however, click on the picture to make them bigger.

PS. I take no responsibility for Lana's outfit. It's a fight I'm not willing to pick. It does however make for a good laugh. I like to call this one the "trendy polygamous".

I love you Lana.

I call this one the "just rolled out of bed" head.

First Day of School

I cannot believe it is already that time of year. Summer has flown by and gone are my days of sleeping past 7am (sigh).

On Tuesday we went to school and met Lana's new teacher Ms. Green and her assistant Ms. Karen. We are really excited about having them both (especially Ms. Green). Lana was so excited about going to school last night, she told me that she was going to wake up with a big happy smile on her face (the complete opposite of last year!) and she did!

The drop off went smoothly, no tears from either of us! But I always have the sad feeling of leaving her behind when I leave. I know she's in good hands but still I worry. That's my job though, right??

Tanner was not happy that he was not going to school. His preschool does not start for another few weeks.

Happy first day of school Lana! Can't wait to hear about your day when you get home!

First Day UPDATE: I am happy to report that the first day of first grade was a complete success! Lana stepped off the bus covered in sweat (another reason why I think we should start school later in the year, say end of September to April) but still happy. She then went on a non-stop 15 minute long play-by-play of her day, which has never happened before. All her previous answers would be (I dunno, I forget... or It was fine). It was FABULOUS! First Grade is turning out to be a complete 180 from last year (I hope it lasts!).

My day was fantastic. Errands were run with no fighting-screaming-whining children, just a bored Tanner. Poor thing kept asking where Lana was and when she was coming home. He finally gave up around 1pm and fell asleep with me on my bed. (yay for naptime!)

We celebrated by taking the kids to Gatti Town tonight, which turned out to be perfect because it was almost completely empty! It might just become our new "First Day of School Tradition".

4th of July

A late post, I know. But better late than never right??



Prepping the sparklers

We had a preview of fireworks the night before where we did the smaller fireworks.



Lana was a little apprehensive about the sparklers and held them very still and as far away from herself as possible. I tried to show her how she could draw shapes and even her name, but it was a no go.





Tanner enjoying the sparklers.


Had to keep a close eye on this boy, not for fear of him burning himself, but of him burning others on the bum. He gets distracted very easily!


I love Tanner's expression in this photo. Wish I had been capturing him from another angle!

Paul did another fabulous fireworks show, however I forgot the camera and didn't get any pictures. But if you saw my photo of all the fireworks on Facebook, you'll know it was a good show!! A big thank you to Shirley and Jared for putting up with us for the entire weekend!