We went to the park

We love winters in Central Florida because they are so mild.  And this winter has been an exceptionally mild one indeed.  We usually hit up our favorite park by the river quite a bit, but because of our recent move, the dumplings have spent more time playing in the cul-de-sac than at the park.

So when I told them the other day that we were going to head to our favorite park, they lit up!  As we were driving along the river and the park was in sight, they gleefully exclaimed from the back of the van "We missed you!!!!"  Hilarious.  But true.

I always bring my camera to the park, ever since those photography classes I took last summer.  So snapping a few shots of the dumplings was to be expected.  What I wasn't expecting, however, was the early winter sunset.  I just forgot that it sets so early now.  So this was a total plus.

They chased dragon flies and rolled around on the ground while the heron on the dock posed for me.  Of course, when I wanted to snap them having fun, they were done.

I think we need to get back to the park some more.  Sorry new cul-de-sac.  I do love you, just not at this time of day.  I hear the river calling my name.

 

Morning sunshine

Throughout the day, our new kitchen gets a tremendous amount of natural light streaming in.  That's due in large part to a huge, south facing bay window.  Although this bay window doesn't overlook our front yard, like our old house, I love to sit in front of it at the kitchen table and look out as the sun rises.

This week Madeline spent battling a cold.  On this particular morning, I let her watch some TV while I had my coffee.  

I just love capturing sun flare of any kind.  However,controlled sun flare had been alluding me, until now.  I love that rich blue stream and how it looks like it's falling right on Madeline in these images.

Eventually she turned the tube off and decided to work on a "States" puzzle.

She's finally feeling (mostly) better, though her nose is still runny.  Thankfully she hasn't passed this on to me or Patrick.  Caleb was the one who actually gave her the cold, but he, fortunately, wasn't sick for very long at all.

All of this meant that we were in pretty good shape to help Caleb celebrate his birthday this weekend.  I still can't believe he's 8 years old.  It seems like just the other day we were celebrating his first birthday home with us.  It's hard to believe that first birthday home was 5 years ago.  5 years ago!!! Wow. Anyway, I still have to download the photos I snapped of our celebration.  So you'll have to check back for that.  Until then, I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

For more great photos, visit Stefanie and Rebecca's blogs.

 

Two months of hodge podge-y moving fun

Now that the holidays have come and gone, I can finally get around to sharing some photos I snapped during the slow move to our new house these last two months.  I tried to pull just a few to highlight the long drawn out process.  So I'll start back in early/mid November.  We would pack up a few boxes, just enough that would fit in the back of my mini van swagger wagon.  The dumplings played on the Wii one last time before we boxed it up.

The kids were eager to help, even if it was just moving puzzle boxes.

Since we rarely used our old dining room for eating but rather as my sewing room, Patrick wanted to convert the dining room in our new house to a play room.  I, on the other hand, was on the fence about what to do with that room, though our old dining room saw much more fabric than food, for sure.  Well wouldn't you know that on one of Patrick's first trips down the road to drop stuff off, he spied this air hockey table tossed to the curb.  He called me and said that if it was still laying there after he dropped off his load, he was going to grab it and put it in the dining room.    

So now the dining room is a play room.  This room also holds all the kids lego pieces that you saw them playing with on Christmas morning.  (Photography friends, it has two nice size windows plus a wall of mirrors to help light the space.  Plus, it is open to our well lit living/family room).

As soon as the boxes were emptied, we would head back to the old house and load it up again.  I had wanted to snap a shot of the dumplings in the back of the mini van (aren't they the most precious cargo), and of course, Madeline had to do her obligatory "I'm gonna pose myself by looking at my brother" shot.  She's too funny.

My sister and crew came for Thanksgiving.  So the kids got to work coloring in the pavers.  We actually stayed at the old house because that's where all the big furniture was located.  They were troopers.

As I unpacked boxes, the kids would watch shows on the iPad.  They would drag their anywhere chairs out front and chill.

Finally the first week of December, our friend Shail and his buddy Carlo loaded up the moving truck and hauled all our big stuff over.  They were amazing! And we're ever so thankful.

So one month later, our house still looks like we've just moved in.  No, it doesn't have tons of boxes piled high everywhere.  I'm thankful that we did it piecemeal because we have just a few boxes left that need rummaging through, and those are keeping watch over our guest bedroom.  But we have nothing hung on the walls because they still need painting.  And we're a long way off from having everything in its place.  Thankfully, though, the wall color is neutral.  So I can live with it until we get around to painting.  The only "room" painted so far has been the pantry.  And that's because the painters removed all the anchors from the wall to paint and left us with a completely non-functioning pantry!  We needed to patch all the holes and redo it so that we could actually put our food away! I'm happy to say that our food is no longer accessorizing the kitchen counters.

Although the kids now have a pseudo playroom, it doesn't hold all their toys.  They still have some they keep in their rooms.

Our school area is much more spacious than at our old house.  We're no longer schooling in the smallest guest bedroom.  Instead we are able to use the family room off the kitchen.  I love how bright this room is throughout the day, and I'm in love with its location!  I can fix snacks or lunch while keeping my eye on the kids during the day, and they can continue to work.  

We still need to organize the room so it functions well.  Right now it just has everything moved into the built in already there.  So we can function, just not well; it's a far cry from ideal.  And for my photography friends, I thought I would also let you know that there is a BIG bay window off to the left in these shots (the same window I used to light the dumplings when they had breakfast in the previous post) AND a big triple slider right behind me.  You can actually see that slider in the shot of Caleb a few images up.

Anyway, there you have it!  The reader's digest version of our move and a few intro shots of our new house. Although we've only been here one month, it's safe to say that we love living on a cul-de-sac!  The kids really enjoy playing with the young kids across  the street.  It's just like one big giant asphalt playground.  We've already endured more scrapes and bruises than I think we ever had at the old house all those years! lol.  But it's worth it.  And I'm in love with all the natural light throughout our home....like, in almost all of the rooms...not just one.  So you'll be seeing lots more of our "doing the daily" throughout the interior.  That makes this every day moment snapping mama happy.

Speaking of snapping, I've joined ProjectLife365.  Now, I don't think I'll be taking a photo every day.  But I wanted to push myself by using daily prompts to get my creative juices flowing.  I've been sharing those images on Instagram (username is lifewith2dumplings) .  But I'll be sharing some of those highlights here too.  AND I will also be working my way through an Everyday Photo checklist from Rebecca at Simple As That. I hope that 2013 also finds you looking for the beauty in those ordinary, everyday, "doing the daily" moments!

Evening at the river

We spent a lot of late afternoons/early evenings down at the park by the river this summer, thanks in large part to the photography class I took.  It not only pushed me past my comfort zone, it also pushed me right out of my house!  The dumplings didn't mind a bit, though we still had to make sure we got our swimming in, too.

Evenings by the river are the perfect opportunity to shoot silhouettes. This one was my favorite of the night.

The sunset wasn't as spectular as the night a few weeks back when the kids were grouchy, but it was still lovely.

And it got lovelier as the night went on.

Daddy even managed to sneak into a shot.

I just love, love, love silhouettes.  I love the challenge of removing clutter from an image and capturing the the shape of an object or person.  Silhouettes evoke mystery.  Love that.  And don't think that silhouettes are just for sunrise or sunset.  I'm also enjoying shooting silhouettes during the daytime too, like a few shots I took when we were vacationing in Miami.

I shot all these images with my Nikon D700 using my 50mm 1.4 lens.
My settings for the first shot were f/8 SS 1/250 ISO 250.

For more great photos, visit Stefanie and Rebecca's blogs.

 

Playing "fireman" at the park

Okay, so having to pick my favorite to submit for Sunday Snapshot is just plain hard.  I mean, my kids exude cuteness in every shot I take, which makes it tough to pick a favorite, right?  *wink*  But if I have to choose, it's this one...because I'm in LOVE with sun flare lately.

So while down at the park, Caleb and Madeline love to play "fireman".  

They each have their own firetrucks.  Here's Madeline on one of them.

One side of the playground is the firehouse...

..complete with a slide instead of a pole.

They also have bunkbeds.  Below this tunnel is another one that actually runs perpendicular to it.  

They love to rest in their bunkbeds, which means each kid in their own tunnel.

Well, we happened to be at the park a little later than usual.  So I had this crazy idea to attempt some sun flare shots.  Sometimes I got flare and other times just haze.  It was a bit too early, though, for flare so I found myself getting really low to the ground to take the shots. Black mulch and me on the ground don't go well together.  Yuck.  Next time, I'll try a bit later in the day.

She loves to pose with her hand on her hip, all the time.

Opposite the firehouse and in close proximity to the firetrucks is the Fire Chief's house.  Apparently, he has a sense of humor.

On this particular day, there wasn't to much time for play.  They had a fire to put out and had to hurry.

Thankfully, they arrived at the scene of the fire just in time and put that fire out.  Phew!

Just before heading home for the night, I thought I would beg ask the dumplings for a few more flare shots.  I love this shot even though Madeline blinked because Caleb is pointing to the bocce ball court where they were planning on some timed races...in the Olympic spirit, you know.

They were pretty pooped after fighting fires all afternoon and running sprints.

Oh, these kids just crack me up.  I love their imagination.  I love the fun they have together.  I love that they love being together.  It makes my heart sing.  We have most definitely enjoyed our late summer afternoons at the park by the river.  Madeline's "happy" shirt just about sums it up.  Oh, and I love how exhausted they are at the end of the day.

I shot all these images with my Nikon D700 using my 50mm 1.4 lens.  Settings for the top photo were f/2.8 SS 1/1600 ISO 250.  I edited them in Lightroom 4 using One Willow presets from the Palette Collection.

For more great photos, stop by Stefanie and Rebecca's blogs.