Back to Normal...

I hope everyone had a really great Christmas and New Year's and is feeling rested and relaxed! I am still tired, and recovering.... It took me DAYS to recover from the craziness of Christmas, and then we went out for New Year's and I am once again still recovering in the sleep department! Sometimes I think going out and staying up late just isn't worth it anymore!!

I got a new lens for my camera from my mother-in-law and WHAT a difference it makes!! A big thank you to my cousin, Janelle, who found time in her busy schedule to email back and forth with me to help me narrow down what I was looking for. I decided on the AF-S Nikkor 35mm 1:1.8 G. You know what that means, right!? Me neither! Basically, it's super fast and great in low-light, which makes it great for moving kids, AND taking pictures indoors. The only thing I had to get used to is that there's no zoom, so I have to move around a lot. I'll do anything to get better pictures with this camera, so it's no big deal!

Never did I realize when I got this camera, that I would need to keep spending money to get new lenses to take great pictures. But it's definitely fun! Not the spending part, but the taking pictures part! Now that I have this lense, I actually despise the lens that came with my camera! Maybe if I get into photography someday it will be good for outdoor picture taking of STILL life... but my kids are anything but still!! I haven't had time to take a ton of pictures, but here's a few I've snapped in the last 2 weeks.

He's RUNNING! And NOT blurry! YAY!!! This was the first picture I took once I put the new lense on... I was ecstatic.

She's moving, too!! But in focus :-)


Focusing on the "Action Links" and blurred the rest... ooooooo, fancy :-)

I have NO pictures of Bailey with the kids EVER. She's always been afraid of cameras and runs the other way to hide whenever she sees a camera. I guess she likes the new lense too!! Brooke loves Bailey, so I took advantage of her abusing the dog to practice some picture taking...

No, Brooke, you can't ride on the dog....

Brendan puts these sound-blocker headphones on when Brooke decides to get out the pots and pans, OR she is in an ear-piercing screaming mood... But I keep reminding Brendan, that HE taught her how to scream. And she REALLY enjoys screaming that ear piercing scream the entire day now!!

Waiting with the towel in her mouth to wipe Bailey's paws. Now that I look at this pic, it's kind of gross considering that towel most likely is just a little dirty from previous paw wipings!!

Climbing in the dishwasher is lots of fun lately...


A rare occasion of sunlight shining in the house in January!

And even though this picture is blurry, I HAD to post it because I have been trying SOOO hard to capture this face. It happens all day long, but I haven't been able to get a picture of it!! She makes this face usually when I tell her not to touch something, or when she meets someone she isn't familiar with... it's so funny, and I am just glad I was able to somewhat capture it! It's her, "Whachyou Talking About, Willis?" face. She really looks MEAN! :-)

I'm glad to back to the normalcy of life, even though it's going to be a LONG winter! I guess I'll just have to fill it up with lots of picture taking. And most of my pictures will be of Brooke, since Brendan tends to run the other way when I bring this camera out... :-)