You're never too young to have an opinion...

Tried for a posed shot.  Hannah is trying (cheesy) and Abigail is suspicious...

 

Prior to this, I had taken a few pics of Abigail and a little boy about her age.  They were so picture perfect in their little hats, but I won't post that because the little boy's father mentioned trying to keep photos of his children off the internet.  At any rate, Abigail was very unhappy because she caught sight of his sippy cup and she was thirsty.  We forgot to bring anything with us.  Oops.... I love how stoic Hannah is to Abigail's fit. 

But Jenny save the day with her keys.  Abigail cracks me up.  She is one VERY opinionated child!  BTW...all of these playground pics were taken with my 18-200mm lens.  It's a DX and really isn't intended for use on the FX camera, because it crops the image.   I was glad to see that it does work though in a pinch.  Still my least favorite lens though.  I just can't seem to get a good sharp shot with it. 

Sunflowers at sundown...

 

Even if I was disappointed in my shots, I'm so grateful we had a chance to visit the field.  I've never seen anything like it.  What a beautiful thing to behold!  

If you can't beat 'em, shoot 'em...

As we were standing waiting for an open shot, I couldn't resist grabbing a shot of this girl.  I have no idea who she was...but how adorable!  And no...she was not the one that was out there for an hour.  lol

Sunflower girl...

Taking a break from playground pics to post Week 25 of the 52 week project. Theme was "bright and happy".  I was so excited to learn about this sunflower field up near Jenny and Nathan's, so we took a break from packing to go see.  I was disappointed in most of my pics...but loved this one.  There were a TON of people there... most of whom were standing IN the field...which meant there was no way to take a clear wide angle shot.  All blooms were facing east, so shooting into the sun was my only option.  While I love some good backlight, that was also the direction ALL the people were standing.  One woman and her friend were in the same spot for the whole hour we were there, shooting pics of each other.  Really annoying.  I heard on the news a few days later that the owners of the field were completely frustrated that people were trampling their crop.  I would like to say that we stayed on the edge of the field solely out of respect to the owners, but it was really because we had flip flops on and were afraid of critters.  lol.  I had hopes of going back to take some wide angle shots at sunrise.  Doubtful anyone but photogs will be there then, but with the busyness of the move it's not likely to happen.  :)

Looks are deceiving...

because she does not look 3 years old in this pic!  All of a sudden, she looks much older.  Acting older too.  I called to talk to Jenny today and when I asked to talk to Hannah she said "no...I'm busy cleaning up now."  First time EVER that she didn't have time to talk to Grammy.  Still a little sad about that.  Cue music to "Cats in the Cradle."  lol

She flies through the air with the greatest of ease...

Fun times at Jenny's park...and a few shots taken laying down in the gravel beneath the swings.  But I think Abigail might need a bigger hat.  lol

Camera test..

Straight out of the camera, except for slight adjust in contrast...macro, hand held on a windy day with ISO at 1250.  Not bad.  I love this camera!

Two out of three...

...will look at me.  And the little one...not so much.  :)

First swim of the season..

I love the progression from not so sure, to confident and happy.  She did VERY well! 

Whee....

Abigail LOVES the swing...so much that she cries when she has to get out.  lol

Love her new hairdo...and the tongue!

Golden girl...

in golden light...with remnants of dinner on her face.  :)

Play ball...

My action photography is right about on the same level as Hannah's athleticism.  lol.  However...I do at least keep my eyes open.
 

Yep, still closed...

 

Yay...eyes open and look what that means...

YAY!!!!!

 Ready, set...

GO!!!!!!!!!

Officially the end of the shots I took with my D5000...from here on out it should mostly be the D600.  STILL have not had time to sit down and read the manual...but I know how to adjust my settings for the exposure triad...so at least I can shoot. 

Panning experiment...

Best of about 100 shots and still really not very good.  Panning is HARD.  But I still kinda like it.  I love how mellow Hannah and Abigail get in the swing. 

Happy Feet...

 Posting out of order again.  This is Week 24 of the 52 week project.  Theme was "Little or small".  I am obsessed with the little details that evoke such strong memories for me (so much that I have to remind myself to take a wide angle shot once in a while).  I loved 10 wrinkly little piggies in the swimming pool.  Jenny's comment was "it's weird".  I reckon  "art" is in the eye of the beholder.  Ha Ha!

Hannah has done great in the pool so far.  On our first swim she was as comfortable by the end as she was last fall for our last swim of the season. Have high hopes that we can get her comfortable and maybe even swimming by summer's end.  We'll see.

Sprinkler play!

We had a blast a couple of weeks ago with some spontaneous sprinkler play. Hannah loved it!  Abigail was surprisingly cautious.  You  may notice that even in 6 shots from different angles, she never moved her feet from that one spot.  Yep...it was like she had grown roots.  And she was shivering too. I think it just a little too cool that day...which was WEIRD for May 24th!  Still, fun times and we'll definitely do it again!

Sunshine on her shoulder...

I used this for week 23 of the 52 week project.  The theme was "shadows", which frankly did not inspire me.  It had been a very busy week with lots of shooting, but no time to give any thought to the theme.  I shot this on the first day I was experimenting with the rental camera and when I downloaded it, I just loved the feel of it.  Something about the light and the expression on her face just grabbed me.  It felt like it was screaming for a caption, then I remembered the quote by Helen Keller.  So, there you have it...week 23.  ALMOST halfway through.  BTW...I did buy the new camera.  Picked it up yesterday.  Battery is charged, but I am making myself complete some work before I allow myself to set it up and start playing with it.  You have no idea what a feat of restraint that is.  lol.  Also, it will be a while before too many shots with the new camera show up on the blog. I have plenty more to process that were shot earlier with my D5000.  Still a good camera...and I will keep it for now as a back up. I expect Kara will use it sometimes for her travels and it will be fun to teach her a little when we go to the Arboretum, etc. together. 

Ready for her headshots...

Top photo is definitely her "cheesy" smile.  But the bottom one was completely spontaneous.  Not only the smile, but the pose.  It was just one of those moments of joy when she threw her arms up over her head and I got REALLY lucky and caught it.  Cutie pie!

Ham for the cam...

At least on THIS day anyway.  lol.  Sometimes if I ask Hannah to pose, the answer is "No, thank you."  At least she's polite about it!  :)  I can sometimes coax if I remind her that Grammy needs photos to put in her 4 year book and I won't have any if she doesn't cooperate.  Sometimes, she'll even ask me to take a picture of something for her 4 year book (so sweet).  I honestly don't remember what happened on this day, but I love how it turned out. Little cutie!

  

This is about the closest Abigail has ever come to posing for me.   The yellow daisy helped.  She loved it so much that Jenny let her carry it home in the car.  And when they got home, all that was left was the stem.  Ooops!  She is alive and well, so I'm happy to report that African daisies are not poisonous.  :)

Out pweeez....

 A loves to watch the kitty and wants to go out...

 I took similar pics of H at this age, but never got one with the nose pressed up against the glass.  LOVE!

It's more fun with passengers...

She had a great time!

In training...

Yay for a G-Pa who helps and guides while you learn to do new things!

 

 Hard work going uphill, but still fun!

 Much easier going downhill....and REALLY fun!

The pied piper.  lol

Not the greatest quality images, but fun fun memories!  So thankful we live close enough to share these experiences!

Sister love...

Precious!

Reenacting Easter...

 

I know I've been complaining about being so far behind in processing.  This makes it look like I'm REALLY behind, but we actually only took these a couple of weeks ago.  I didn't see the girls on Easter Sunday and every Grammy Day since Easter has been cold or rainy.  We finally had a nice day, so we dressed them up for a few shots.  So cute.  I lucked out and didn't need to make a new Easter dress for either of them.  Abigail wore Hannah's first Easter dress and Hannah's dress from last year still fit her.  Yay!  Especially love that last pic.  That is SO Abigail...wanting to get down off that bench!