Gettin ready for Christmas

We had a great thanksgiving with friends and then the day after we did our traditional deck the halls to get ready for Christmas.  No black Friday sales for me, I'd rather spend the day with a tree and some tinsel.  With my little elves, we got the place decked out in no time.

One elf was a little unhappy he couldn't reach the tree top

And of course, we had to make some sugar cookies.  Adam decided he was the 'master chef' cookie decorator.  So our cookies were well adorned with candies.

A bunch of misc adventures

Now that I look back through our Nov photos, I realize we've kept plenty busy!

Early in the month we went to a carnival with rides.  It was really expensive (they all are I guess), but it was fun on the rides.  

We also had a school family fun night at the bounce house.  Adam enjoyed the boxing and jousting rings that they had there.

At the last cub scout meeting, Adam earned his bobcat badge (the one you get after you learn all the cub scout promises, pledges, salutes, etc.).  It was a cute ceremony where they got their faces painted with each color respresenting different virtues.  

And then we finally made it back to the beach this weekend and had a nice relaxing morning at the beach.  I even got to swim with a sea turtle in the lagoon, the first time I've seen one at this beach.

Aloha!  And I'll try to keep the blog a little more udpated!

Photo Class

I've been taking an online photography class this month so I've been busy reading and looking at photos for class instead of blogging.  It is a good class on using a DSLR.  I've read most of the material before, but it is helpful having an instructor giving you the tips and hints as well as feedback on photos.  The class I am taking is by Katrina Kennedy at Get It Scrapped called 'Your life through the lens'.  

So here are some of the photos that I have posted for class.  I'll post some updates of what we've been up to as a family too!

Photos of moving subject

Using a shallow depth of field (blurred background)

Photos with negative space (blank space)

Backlighting

We're halfway through the class and I've been able to move to using Manual mode on my DSLR quite a bit.  So its been very useful in getting to know my camera better.  Can't wait to see what is in the last 3 weeks of class...

My tropical harvest

I cut the first bunch off our banana tree the other day and put it in a bag to ripen it.  Here is our bounty.  They are quite tasty too!  The next batch is ripening in the background and I've got a few more on the tree waiting to be cut.  Mmmm!  Now if my papayas would get busy and grow....

  

      Apple Banana

Happy Halloween!

Scouts - Camp Pupukea

The cub scouts had a big festival day on Saturday.  The boys had a good time, just a few pics of the fun.  Adam really enjoyed the 'eating a doughnut from a string' game :)

More Halloween Goodies

A while back I had bought a set of window decal paints (http://www.amazon.com/Paint-Peel-Window-Art-Kit/dp/B0017KYP7Q).  We've had a good time making some Halloween window decorations (and other things too).  You paint an outline in black, let it dry and then fill in with the colored paints.  When it dries, you peel and stick on the window.  Pretty cool!  I plan to make some Thanksgiving and Christmas decals too.  I used a picture from a coloring book to make the witches hat.  

Cole made a very colorful cupcake window decal.  

I also decided to get a little crafty with the desserts that I made for the MOMS Club Halloween party.  I made some nutter butter ghosts (Nutter Butter cookies dipped in almond bark - yum!) and some 'Wormy Burgers' (Nilla wafers, frosting, and gummy worms).  The kids loved them at the party, of course.  I also put together goodie bags for the little trick-or-treaters at the party.

I like Halloween, it is so much fun for the kids dressing up and they get so excited to go around and get candy.  OK, so I'm not so crazy about the pounds of sugar we end up with afterwards, but overall it is a fun time.  It's a good reason to get dressed up, have fun and eat some candy.  

Here are a couple pics from the Halloween party that Cole went to.  Adam gets to dress up for school on Friday instead of wear his school uniform.  So he's going to be a fireman for school (I didn't think his Darth Vader costume would fit with their non-scary, friendly costume theme...).  And we already had a fireman jacket and hat, so a fireman it is!  

The kids are counting down to C-day (candy day)

Cub Scouts

We went to Adam's first pack meeting since he was officially signed up in cub scouts.  He has already earned his first award.  He has been working so hard on his cub scout handbook memorizing all the things he is supposed to know.  

So of course like a good mom I had to take pictures of him getting his first award.

Here he is with his new tiger cub immediate recognition award (the white plaquard on his shirt).  So as he finishes more achievements he'll get beads to hang on this.  He was very excited to get it.  To bad I couldn't get a better picture!  :)

I'm sure this will only be the first of many!

Pre-Halloween pics

I enjoyed playing some more with the camera to see what kind of pics I could get of the kids while they were playing with the Halloween decorations that we were putting up this week.

I was pretty happy I was able to get some decent pics.  They turned out pretty cute!

We went pumpkin picking this week too, the perfect photo op!  I love fall in the mainland and I especially love fall photos - the colors are so gorgeous.  But since we don't have fall colors here, pumpkins are the next best thing.  Here are a couple cute shots of Cole out picking pumpkins.  (Adam was not happy he had to be in school while Cole went to the pumpkin patch!)

He smiled so nicely for me when I asked him to sit with the pumpkins!

"Here's a good one mom!"

Photo fun

Last month I finally got myself a DSLR camera, after more than a year of reading up on photography and just learning what I could.  I kept trying to do the techniques that I was reading up on in photography but was bumping up against the limitations of my point-and-shoot (although it was a nice prosumer one with a lot of user control).  
So I got a Canon T1i with the kit lens and also got a 50mm f1.4 lens.  I tell you, I didn't realize what a difference a DSLR would make but it does!  I LOVE the 50mm lens.  I can get photos with that lens that I would never have been able to capture with my old camera.  The kit lens is great too because the wide angle is wider than my old camera.  
This photo of Cole looking into the telescope was taken at nearly dark, he was looking at the moon.  I never would have gotten anything with my old camera.  You can see him clear as day in this pic on the DSLR.  

Also, I love the dreamy backgrounds (brokeh) that I can get with the 50mm lens.

I've been having a lot of fun just seeing what I can do with it.

Also, I LOVE shooting in RAW.  It makes adjusting the photos in Lightroom so much better.


Did I mention that I LOVE this new camera?