January 5 - New Year of Gymnastics

The beginning of the year also marks the beginning of a very busy season for my family - gymnastics season! All three of my girls are in gymnastics and the older two are on competitive teams. Our first meet was this weekend in Minneapolis and both girls had a lot of fun and did well. They had fun - I nearly had a nervous breakdown. I cannot believe how stressed out I get. It made me thing about re-evaluating my new year "goals/resolutions" to include something about keeping it all in perspective!

I find gymnastics photography to be incredibly challenging. Poorly lit gyms with a lot of movement and no flashes allowed. Makes for a lot of blurry, grainy pictures! The first is just an action shot of Meg. The second is probably compositionally a disaster, but it touched me as a Mom. She seems so small in comparison to the equipment and I just want to go and give her a hug as she waits for the judges to tell her to start. Definitely a photo I'll use for scrapbooking to journal about what the experience is like for me.

Searching for Light

I'm definitely off theme today!

It's dark when we are home in the morning and pretty much dark by the time we get home at night. I might have to learn how to use a speedlite to keep up with the POTD!! Tried taking pictures of Kate and me using tripod and timer, but they were pretty scarey looking. So, I'll settle today with a 6 year old doing a goofy smile. Also adding a few photos from Meg's 9th birthday this weekend (mostly because I feel guilty that I haven't put in a photo of her yet). I'm not happy with the close-up of Meg. Again -lighting issues. Oh well!

Jammin' in the New Year

We are one of those crazy families that got into the Wii craze this holiday season. So, our New Year has involved a lot of Guitar Hero, and Wii sports (Tennis is the big hit). Tried the boxing on Sunday and could not stand fully upright on Monday morning. I didn't realize there were that many muscles in my back!

POTD is Abby jammin' away on Guitar Hero. I think I'm pretty good (on the Easy level) until I see her on the Medium. Then I just feel old and slow. I really like the look of concentration on her face! These were taken in our basement with no flash (and the lighting is bad). Bumped the ISO up to 800. Shot in Av mode, 1/20 sec exposure, 2.8-3.2f with 50mm lens (should have changed lens as I couldn't get back far enough).

Stripes Overload!

It may be "Hats Off" to 2008, but it's definitely "Hats ON" in North Dakota!! With a high of 6 degrees (and that's before wind chill), it's really hard to remember why we choose to live here! :) And we definitely throw fashion sense out the window when it comes to being warm (as you can tell by the very contrasting stripe patterns and colors going on with Kate).

Back to school today as well. I had some very tired kids this morning!

My Resolution

I have been following various Photo-A-Day Blogs for about a year. I have been so inspired by so many wonderful women! I have also been so impressed with their photography skills and their ability to capture everyday moments through their camera lens.

So, I have decided to jump on board and have made a resolution for 2008 to start this blog. I will post daily and will try to follow the prompts from Two Peas as much as possible.

Here's Day One. Abby was up early reading with her new "Third Eye" which she received for Christmas. Her comment (in her very 12-year-old tone) was "at least I can't get in trouble for reading in the dark anymore!". Happy New Year everyone!