Equitation

We are going to sign them up for horseback riding lessons.  They love riding!

Backyard

Some flowers...

Some trees...

...and one crazy boy who figured out a way to make his slide a lot faster and a lot more fun!

Never a boring life!

G: I want a dog and a pool.  If I had to pick one thing I would pick a pool!

A couple of hours later: "Buy a pool or buy a house with a pool!  It's YOUR choice!"

Annika: Mama doesn't know how to do anything.  Daddy knows how to do everything.  The only thing mama knows how to do is to talk to friends in Russian.

Annika also likes to ask deep questions:

"So, a rock came down and broke all the dinosaurs....  Can a rock come down and break all the people?"

She is learning to ask questions like that from G.  He asks some hard questions.

Like: "What is at the end of space?  Why can't we just go there and look?"

He also wants to understand how it is possible that people didn't always exsit.  He asks: "Where were people when the dinosaurs lived on Earth? Did they just have their eyes closed and saw black?"

I think it is a hard concept to understand.  I talked to him about our earliest ancestors, tiny mammals that lived alongside dinosaurs, but he is just way too young to understand it all.  I mean, I can hardly understand it myself.

The topics that both kids are very interested in right now are: spiders, ants, metamorphosis, storms/weather (especially tornadoes) and dinosaurs.

Getting my edumacation! Learn me a book.

Today I attended "An Introduction to Digital SLRs" at "Camera Eye Workshops" (http://www.cameraeyeworkshops.com/).
It was a 4 hour workshop and, let me tell you, I got my money's worth!  The instructor, Chris Sanchez (https://www.facebook.com/chrissanchezphoto) was beyond great.  He explained everything very well to a small group of people with nice cameras that didn't know how to use them.
The class started with a little history of photography (such as who took the very first photograph) and how cameras work. Then he explained ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture, White Balance, Manual and Auto Zoom, etc, etc.
At first I felt so lost and I had the feeling that I would never be able to remember it all.  But, 2 hours into the class, I just GOT IT!  I GOT IT!
From now on, I will shoot in Manual, Raw Medium.  I can't see myself using the Auto setting anymore.
I am sure I will make mistakes at first, but I am excited to finally understand my camera and what it is doing!
We practiced taking a lot of pictures and were able to see what happens when we shoot with different settings.
Chris would tell us to put our camera in a specific setting, then take a picture that would come out horrible (over exposed, too dark, too blurry), then he would tell us to correct the settings ourselves and take a good picture.  He would then look at our photos and comment on them.
We did it several times, and the hands-on practice helped a ton!
In the end, for about 30 minutes, he talked about editing our photos in Photoshop, which was also super helpful.
Here are some examples (all shot in manual mode, all unedited):

Overexposed

Better!  (Perfect, if I say so myself.)

Chris gave us specific settings and told us to take a picture of him.  This is what happened.

He then told us to correct our settings ourselves.

First try: better, but still overexposed.

I got it on my second try.

Taking pictures in a shadow.  Too dark.

Got it!

Learning to take non-blurry pictures of a moving object in a shadowy area.  Pretty good!

Getting comments from Chris.

My picture that I took at the end of class.  Manual mode.

Overall, I learned a lot, and I highly recommend this class to anyone who lives in the Boston area!

https://www.facebook.com/cameraeyeworkshops

"Popcorn"

Joseph recently got a large trampoline for the kids and, so far, it has been one of the best purchases!  The kids have a blast!  They jump and they run and they play with toys there.
While trampolines and bouncy houses can be dangerous, we feel that all sports are dangerous.  Trampolining is a competitive Olympic sport, so we are just supporting our future Olympians!
Trampolining can also be a great exercise and a wonderful therapeutic activity that provides sensory input.  G receives occupational therapy once a week at the local public school and they use trampoline during some of the sessions.
G and Annika love playing "popcorn".  They do "popcorn" at their gymnastics and always have a ton of fun.
The kids must sit still on the trampoline and not move.  The adult jumps one or two times and the kids fly up!  It's a BLAST off!

These photos were taken with slow shutter speed, so they are blurry-ish.  I didn't know how to change shutter speed at that time, since the camera was brand new.

Doll girl

Annika's language is pretty amazing.  She speaks as well as G does.  Her speech therapist said she is very advanced in her receptive and expressive language.  I don't remember G talking like this when he was 3.5 years old.  She is definitely all girl who loves to talk.

When she grows up, she wants to be a performer at "Disney On Ice" or a princess.

Her favorite color is yellow.

Annika looking in the mirror:  I'm sad it doesn't look good.  

Me: What doesn't look good?  

Annika: I!

Me: Why not?
Annika: I need a tutu.

Annika: I tried your quiche and I don't like it.

Me: But, that makes me feel sad.  I made it just for you!  I put Dutch cheese and eggs and ham and broccoli in it!

Annika: Ham?  Maybe you should put some coconut in it instead.

Me: Annika, you are my cupcake!  I want to eat you up.

Annika: But, cupcakes are not healthy!

Me: Okay, then you are my carrot.

Annika: Yeah, a carrot.  But, I don't want to go inside your tummy, because it would make me turn into a little baby and I would have to come out of you again!

Conversation

Lots of my friends just had babies or are pregnant, so the kids are very interested in babies.

G: Mama, how does a little tiny baby gets inside your belly?
Me: Ummmm.... It just grows in my belly!
G: But, how does it get IN there?
Me: Ahem... So, daddy gives me a seed and I put it inside my belly and, instead of a flower, a baby grows!  Isn't it amazing???
G: But... how does a seed gets INSIDE your belly?
Annika (who was listening to the whole conversation): Do you SWALLOW the seed???
Me: So..... Ahem... Who wants CANDY????
G and A: MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!