pictures by kestrel

All of these pictures were taken by Kestrel on her own camera. The first two she took the other day. The last two she took last month. I thought they were all pretty cute. The pictures of her she took using the self timer. As you can see she loves taking pictures of (and with) Harrison.

feeling pretty festive

We decorated the tree yesterday. It went really fast once we got started. The kids helped put on most of the ornaments. They had them on the tree faster than I could unwrap them from the storage box. The start on top is a 3-D star Kestrel made for a shcool project last year.

Kestrel's having a lot of fun with her new digital camera. She's taking a lot of pictures and videos and learning how to edit them on the computer. She's been into using the self timer. Here are two self-timer pictures Kestrel took yesterday:

5th night of Chanukah

In front of the newly-decorated tree. Isn't she getting pretty good?

**As I write this Paul is on his way back from a road trip to bring home our new surprise! Check back here soon for more details and pictures...

kestrel's family

Kestrel started school last week. 2nd grade! Her first homework is to put together an album page with pictures of her family and friends. They are putting them together in a class album. She's been taking pictures of Cooper, Huxley, Sparkle Toe (her hermit crab), and tonight she took this picture of all of us (minus herself). I think its a great picture! I only wish Kestrel were in it.

Speaking of school, Kestrel is loving it so far this year (the three and a half days she's been there). She has Mrs. Ellis for a teacher, and and thinks she is sooo nice. Her good friend Amy is also in her class, and she told me that she and Amy decided that each year is better than the last.

celebrating the 4th with friends

Later in the afternoon we had some friends over to celebrate. Everyone had fun, especially the kids who got a little wild! After eating, drinking and getting wet (from the rain, sprinkler and water balloons) we headed over to Kylla's house to watch fireworks.

An angry mob is demanding more water balloons!

Thanks to Paul for doing all the delicious cooking - and to everyone else for bringing their wonderful creations and goodies. And thank you Amy for taking all the pictures. I handed over my camera and she snapped pictures all afternoon.

buds

My friend Trish took this picture of Cooper and Ethan a couple of weeks ago at Soccer. Cooper's been having a great time at soccer, but he does have a little trouble keeping the sillies at bay durring practice.

giving credit

Notice the new header? The photos and the entire header image were done by my friend and very talented photographer, Joanna Strauss. Also, my profile picture is from a shot that my friend Amy Drane (also great with a camera) took at a "moms night out" last spring.

So how do you like the new look? I went with a white background because I was thinking it might be a little easier on the eyes (that and I know my mom tends to print out the entire page, and I don't want her to waste all her ink). :)

photo shoot

My friend Joanna took these pictures just over a week ago (as well as the two pictures at the top and bottom of this blog). She is starting up as a photographer and wanted a family she could practice on. Aren't they great? She had this big red chair she put out on our front lawn. After some shots in front of the house we took the chair to a cornfield. They loved playing around with the chair and the corn!