Day 12

Today we did a half day Everglades bus tour and airboat ride. It was very educational and FUN! The weather has been incredible here! Sunny and 82 degrees today!

We saw many many alligators and tropical birds as well as raccoons.

The captain of our airboat let each of the kids sit in the captains chair, and at the end of the airboat tour, they each got to hold a 3' long alligator.

It was a great way to celebrate Jackson's birthday! I think he will always remember this wonderful experience!

Day 11

This morning at 5:45 am, we woke Jackson with a big surprise! All 3 kids thought they had school this morning when they went to bed last night. Instead we hopped on a plane to Ft Myers, FL! We are doing an Everglades Extravaganza tomorrow for Jackson's 10th birthday!

Today we spent time by the pool at our condo, and tomorrow the adventure begins!

Day 10

The Compute...

This is Emma's new nickname for my MacBook Pro...not computer, or laptop, just compute!

She loves it.  She is addicted to it.  It is quite annoying to have to kick a 4 year old off of your compute!  :)

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ISO 2000  f/2   SS 1/80

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She sure is cute though!

Happy Happy 10!!!

Edited...

Today my Jackson is 10 years old! So hard to believe I've had the pleasure of being his mom for the past 10 years! Jackson truly is one special boy!

Jackson had donuts for breakfast, again at lunch with his entire class, and then again tonight in lieu of a birthday cake!

Here are two shots of the Birthday Boy just before blowing out the candles.

Happy Birthday Jackson!!!

Day 8

Testing the boundaries of my D90.

Low Light Assignment...too lazy to go in and change watermark for this blog.  :)

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ISO 6400  f/1.8  SS 1/125

Not a fan of the grain on the skin!!!

Day 7

This is Jackson's birthday week.  He turns 10 on Wednesday, and he had an indoor soccer game tonight.

The focus of my photography class this month is Winter and Low Light.  I took this shot in front of a bank of windows at 4:50 p.m. with no lights and no flash.

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I warmed Jackson up a bit with a Florabella action in Photoshop.  He is one of the pastiest people I know.

And here he is in action...this was taken behind plexiglass, and I blurred out the other kids' faces since I do not know them or their parents.

ISO1600  f/2.5  SS 1/500

Day 6

This is Brendan!

He is 11 years old and in the 6th grade.

Today Brendan starts Confirmation in the United Methodist Church!

It is a big day!  The start of his three year journey!

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Day 5

Brendan played in his second basketball game at the YMCA this morning.  He scored a 3 point basket! Yay!!!

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Despite his team being in the lead 20 to 10 in the photo above, they ended up losing by 4 points.  It was a great game!

Day 4

JC and I received a beautiful Phalaenopsis orchid for Christmas from some of our dear friends.  It is absolutely gorgeous, and what may be even more unbelievable is that I have not managed to kill it yet!  :)

So for today's post, I'd like to share three photos that I took this afternoon of our orchid.  In the first two I added a texture to the background.  I also made a watermark for this blog's photos.  I kind of love it! 

I bought the digital camera on Etsy in a set of 5 vintage cameras.

This photo has a Florabella texture (Raw Silk II).

ISO 200  f/2.5  Shutter Speed 1/640

This photo has a Sarah Gardner "Earth" texture on it.

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This one may be my favorite of the three.

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Day 3

This Christmas was all about Nike Basketball Shoes for Brendan and Jackson.  I know Brendan spent many minutes if not hours on my MacBook searching for shoes. 'Tis the age!

Here are two of the pairs of shoes that my mom got the boys for Christmas this year.  They are quite spectacular!

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