Today’s photoshoot, down near Alewife and Magnolia park.Using my zoom lens from wide angle to major zoom!

Sunday we drove down to Rhode Island to have a visit with our friends and the Providence Children’s Museum. Using our nice shiny new Boston museum membership we enjoyed a free trip (except for the gas) and a new place for the kids to play while the grown ups catch up. Very different from the parties of yesteryear but we had fun and kept the kids busy and tired with new activities. Here’s a few photos from our fun! Josie liked the over-sized light-bright best. Celia loved the water tables and had to be dragged away kicking and screaming for lunch, she’s going to be happy in the summer with the water table.

The light was different all over the museum, so it gave me a real run for my money adjusting settings to try to get usable pictures.

Shortly after this picture was taken Xander turned the pipe and sent the water direction out of the table onto the floor (right near the drain thankfully).

Josie said “I’m going to move back into this house when I’m a grown up. I’m going to buy it. I’m going to be a mommy and have a boy and a girl. The girl will come first. I’ll have to go to a wedding and find a daddy.”

She has big plans.

“I have to get my bones really hard before I do yoga. We’re going to do a really hard yoga workout.”

I now spend too much time chasing my children (and other people’s) around the park and everywhere with my camera trying to get better at exposure and white balance. I feel like I’m getting the technical bits down ok mostly (even if I want a full frame camera so I can do better in low light), but my composition is often more a matter of luck at times other than finding light to shine in the right direction. Of course that luck also has a lot to do with the fact that my subjects move around constantly, almost never listen to direction and don’t much care what I’m trying to do. When I get adults to photograph though I hardly ever know what to do with them, so I should study up on that.

You might also notice it is February and they are wearing spring coats. It is incredibly unseasonably warm this year which has been really nice for avoiding being stuck in the house. We try to get out every time it is nice, much to the dismay of anyone who wants my house to be clean and dinner to be fancy.

My parents have this great window in their living room which is huge and doesn’t get much direct sun. I like to use it for some nice little portraits.

Here’s the face Celia keeps making a lot lately. Maybe it’s teething or maybe it’s just a new trick, but we see it a lot.

Here’s Josie and Ethan, after running up ahead of us under the light at Maria’s. I’m always looking for that light!

My mom had her knee replaced last Thursday and yesterday we visited my parents at home where my mom is recovering. So far so good, although it’s still bleeding more than she’d like. The girls struggle a bit with her not being mobile and active, but at least she can still read lots and lots of stories.

We were playing at Josies friend Ella’s house and she did not want to go home. No shirt because they’d been playing dress up and she had to put her own clothes back on. I took a ton of photos of her friends too to practice.

I’m going to work on at least a monthly family portrait. Since I’m so often not in the pictures and all… terrible light so black and white with funky processing!