The "Hot Pots"

About ten miles from my home town there are some natural hot springs. The locals call them the "Hot Pots." While we were visiting we went out for a dip. It was COLD outside, but the water was PERFECT...warm enough to have steam rising off it. It is out in the middle of a field, so you really have to know where you are going, or you'll never find it. We had it all to ourselves for about an hour and then a few people came and joined us.

It isn't very deep right around the edge, but the rocks are slippery. Nicholas was afraid he was going to slip and fall down into the deep water. It took some major persuasion to get him to stay in with us. He relaxed a bit after a while.

My brother and Nicholas. The beer can wasn't ours...there were cans littered all over from some rowdy party. Jackson dove down to the bottom and cleaned them all out of the water. We hauled them out with us and threw them away. Nicholas and Thomas liked pouring water out of them and filling them back up again. Not the best toy, I know.

Handsome Jackson!

Thomas is was super brave and went ALL the way under the water for the first time ever!!! Good job Thomas!

Uncle Jake giving Thomas a ride around. That rope behind them goes over the deep part. It is fun to sit on the rope and look down into the deep dark hole the water comes out of.

Aunt Kara and Nicholas

Marisa (Jake's girlfriend) came with us, but she didn't have a swimsuit, so she just watched. When Nicholas wanted to get out, they snuggled together and told stories to each other. Nicholas loves her (we all do!).

Thomas under the water!

I have more pictures from Thanksgiving weekend, but I loved these pictures so much I had to post them first. We had a great weekend...my only complaint is that it was too short.

Assignment #4

Assignment #4 was to photograph a "Dream Come True." Monday night after the kids were all in their pajamas, ready for bed, Jackson said, "Let's go to Cold Stone!" We all cheered and jumped in the van. The kids LOVED looking at and choosing from all the different kinds of ice cream and toppings. It was a "Dream Come True" for them I grabbed the camera on the way out the door on a whim. I am glad I did, because it was so fun to capture pictures of this fun night time excursion.

For any photogs out there...it was completely dark outside, so I shot on 1600 ISO, which I had never done before. The photos were fairly noisy, but I ran a free trial edition of Nikon's Noise Reduction software...I am not remembering right now what it is called....and it helped a LOT!

Assignment 3

For my photography class, the assgnment for week three was "Sunflare." It was challenging for me for a few reasons...1) because sunflare is hard 2) because you have to hold really still and be in just the right place to get the flare right and KIDS DON'T HOLD STILL 3) because of the time change Jackson isn't home until the sun is down on work days...this meant I had one day to capture this...actually one hour in one day because the hour before sunset is the best time for flare.

I am SUPER happy that I was pushed to learn and try something new, though. I am happy with the pictures considering the circumstances. Here is what I turned in. Oh...the theme was "Joy."

Coloring

The boys LOVE to color and draw. Thomas's favorite thing to draw is race cars and rockets. For a long time now, that is the ONLY thing he would draw. He would fill up page after page of race cars with different patterns on the sides of them. The past few weeks he has been branching out a little bit. He started drawing monsters with big pointy teeth and lots of arms and legs. Sometimes he will draw a house with a sun above it. It is fun to watch how his drawings progress.

Nicholas does scribbles of many colors. He can also do a pretty good circle, but he prefers to scribble. Actually, he is more interested in making a big sword by hooking the markers together than he is in coloring. Here are a few pictures of our latest coloring session.

Assignment #2

I think I mentioned before that I am taking an online photography class from Sheye Rosemeyer (link to her blog on sidebar). It is a six week course and we have an assignment for each week. This past week we were supposed to take the same subject in the same pose with six different backgrounds/lighting situations. It is a bit challenging to get a 5 year old to do the same pose, but I think he was close enough. This was what I 'turned in.' I am learning a lot from this class and really enjoying it also.

Daddy and his sweet little girl. They have a great connection. Every time he walks in from work she gets so excited and says "Da Da Da Da" while flapping her arms. If he doesn't pick her up right away she starts to cry. She loves him!

Halloween

Jackson's mom is an amazing seamstress. She has made quite a few Halloween costumes for her grandchildren over the past few years. She keeps them in her closet, and when it is Halloween the kids get to go through and choose one that fits them. It is so fun!

Thomas chose the dinosaur this year.

Nicholas chose the lion.

Estella was a bit too small for anything, so I made her a quick orange tutu. I'll post a picture of her soon. It was her first birthday yesterday! I can't believe it. It was as if something clicked inside her that said, "You're one...time to walk" because last night she started taking about 10 steps in a row without falling. It was so fun to watch. We sang to her and she grinned and waved her arms, basking in the attention. She really likes to be the center of attention. We love our Essie Boo!

Legos

Well...these pictures are reverse order than I intended...you would think I would have this figured out by now.

This year we gave Thomas and Nicholas small gifts on their birthdays, and one large present to share inbetween their birthdays (two weeks apart). The large present was a huge set of Legos. They (and I) LOVE them! Thomas especially likes them. he makes all kinds of airplanes, rockets, boats, race cars, and his latest was a huge robot. It is so fun to see his creations. A few days ago while I was taking a nap, he wasn't tired, so he built with Legos until I woke up. These are his creations.