New Camera Stress

We received our first digital camera as a gift about 6 years ago when Jake was a baby, and have used the same one ever since...and it has served us well. It does exactly what I need it to do, point and click. As you can imagine, however, digital cameras have come a very long way in 6 years and, admittedly, our old, faithful camera is a bit behind the times. Jay has been saying for quite some time that we need to upgrade. I have been hesitant to do so, however, for a couple of reasons. One, we really don't have the extra spending cash. Two, our camera is still fully functional and since we don't have the extra cash, I didn't want to waste it on that. BUT...the ONE thing about our camera that drives me insane, and that I could finally no longer live with, is that it takes FOREVER between shots. I'm sure that 6 years ago, everybody's camera probably took that long between shots. Now though, everybody around me is snapping 20 shots in the time that it takes for my camera to be ready to take 2. Quick snapping is, of course, a huge bonus when trying to take pictures of kids. If you wait even a second too long, the moment has passed.

So, for that one reason alone, I decided that I was ready to break down and get a new camera. I did a little research and found an inexpensive point and shoot digitial camera that's supposed to take good pictures, and ordered it. It arrived yesterday and I was so excited to try it out. It came with the "Quick Start" guide in the box, which I thought was all there was to it at first, and that was perfect for me. But, little did I know, the full 165 page guide had to be downloaded...and we just bought a "basic" point and shoot camera! Let me just say that I wish there was no 165 page guide. I wish that the Quick Start guide was all there was to it because then I would not have to feel so overwhelmed by all of its features.Truly, I wish I didn't even know everything that it could do. It stresses me out that it has all these great features that are just going to go to waste. I know me, and I know that the only thing I will ever do is put it in Auto mode, zoom in or out, and point and click.

Jay and I decided to spend the evening last night "playing" with our new camera. And for him, it is playing. He has this ridiculous, amazing ability to figure out how ANYTHING works, and then to be able to use it appropriately, taking advantage of its many features, immediately. He's no photographer, and yet he was figuring out the different modes, the ISO speed, the shutter speed (is that the same thing?), and on and on and on. He kept showing me how different things worked and ended up staying up long past me playing with it. This morning he was telling me about even more cool features that he had figured out...features that I will never use!

I don't know what it is about this stuff  but I just don't have any interest in messing with the different modes to try to get the most perfect shot. I'm lucky if I remember to just pull the camera out and snap a picture. That's kind of how I am with all of technology. I want to use things for their most basic functions and nothing more. I couldn't live without my cell phone, but will use it for nothing more than to talk on. I will never be pulling out my phone to schedule an appointment, look up directions, and e-mail someone a photo. It irritates me to death that I can't upgrade my phone without having to add a data plan to our package. I don't want a data plan, I just want a phone that's not an antique! I would never survive without my computer and the internet and e-mail, but I use my computer for nothing else, other than the occasional Word document. I like my paper calendar that sits on my desk and I don't need to have access to my e-mail everywhere I go. I'm sure I would find these other advances convenient, if I just took the time to fugure them out...but I have no desire to do so.

So, now I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by this new camera and wondering if I should have just stuck with my 6 year old camera that was meeting my needs just fine. I am excited though, to be able to take a shot and then take another one a second later. That's probably the most I will ever get out of this new camera!

So, here's the first picture taken with the new camera. It actually looked nothing like this when I snapped the picture. But, it was the one picture on the camera while Jay was playing with it, and he has done all kinds of fancy things with it. Enjoy, because there will be no "fanciness" in the future!

(actually posted by Kinzi)

Our Homeschool

Just thought I'd let you in on what our homeschool looks like these days. I've put some effort into trying to make it comfortable and functional, and here's where it's at right now...

The Reading Nook

We have yet to use these inviting, comfy pillows for their intended use in another reading / listening center. But, at least they fill an empty spot right there and make it look like I have organized stations around the room! That is a time line hanging above it. (I ordered it through Rod and Staff if you're interested.)

We got this world map from Amazon for really cheap and it is turning out to be a great purchase. It is covered with all kinds of picture symbols and it came with a book that tells a little about each of the symbols. The kids have turned it into a game of trying to find the symbols from the book on the map. They've been doing it all the time.



My sister will probably be a little surprised when she sees our school table, considering the fact that it belongs to her and is her very nice (maybe antique?) pine table. They couldn't fit it into the U-haul when they moved to Tennessee, and were forced to leave it behind. So, it now sits in our homeschool room. (I'm sure she takes comfort, however, in the fact that they took up precious space in the U-haul with all the cushions for the set of patio furniture that they then weren't able to fit and also had to leave behind! :)) Sorry, Kels.

 

 And, finally, our jail, in order to confine, learning through play activity center, in order to engage our littlest homeschooler!

(actually posted by Kinzi)

The Completed Egypt Salt Dough Maps

Anyone who knows me knows that doing crafty things with the kids is not my strong suit. When it comes to school projects, I would much prefer to skip right over shoebox dioramas, styrofoam solar systems, and salt dough anything. And, to be honest, when I was in school, I probably wouldn't have cared one bit if I had never done any of those things. I would much rather have had my nose in a book than wasting my time trying to find little miniature things to put in a shoebox. But, I know that there are others, like my crafty sister, who love that sort of thing. Shoebox dioramas were probably the highlight of her entire school experience. And, I also know that many children can really learn and retain information well from these hands-on sorts of projects. So, I am putting aside my preferences to try to do some of these "fun" projects with the kids.

Our Egypt map is our first project of the year and I think they turned out pretty well. To be honest, I doubt if the kids will forget where the Nile River is or what the landscape of Egypt is like now that they have created it and painted it themselves. (Will that information ever benefit them? Probably not. But, at least they have increased their knowledge.) And, to be fair, I found it interesting as well. I had never really considered before why everybody always fled to Egypt when I would read about a famine in the Bible, but I now understand that huge amounts of food could be grown there and stored up due to the fertile land surrounding the Nile River, even though the rest of Egypt is desert. So, I will now always remember that as well.

Anyway, here are the projects from start to finish...

Jake's Finished Map

Addi's Finished Map

(actually posted by Kinzi)

My Little Fireball Pumpkin

My little Fireball Pumpkin and two of his biggest fans!

Jake had his second soccer game on Saturday, and it was awesome! His team voted on the team name, Fireball Pumpkins, which is a bit of a mouthful to shout when you're cheering them on. Although he doesn't seem to have much of a competitive spirit while he's out there, he does still really want to win (just for the sake of being able to say that they won, I think). But, unfortunately, his team has lost both games. That doesn't seem to squelch his enthusiasm though.

I am having so much fun watching him, simply because he is having so much fun. He absolutely loves being and feeling like a part of a team, and he loves running around on the soccer field. (I chose my words carefully there. I don't know that I can actually say that he is loving playing the game of soccer, because I'm not sure that is what he's doing out there!) He exudes pure joy as he runs around and does whatever he does. I LOVE IT! One of the things that I love seeing the most is not only how much fun he's having, but how well he treats the other kids, not only on his team but the other team as well. He simply loves to be with and play with other kids. He truly does not know a stranger (much to my chagrin, sometimes) and can frequently be seen laughing and conversing with them on the soccer field, oblivious to where the ball might be. It makes no difference to him which team they're on, as long as he's got somebody to talk to! And, it was really cute to watch him cheer on his teammates when it was his turn to sit out a quarter.

He played goalie for a quarter this past game and it was hilarious. I wish that I could upload a video (I am nowhere near that technologically advanced) of him in the goal, running back and forth, just waiting for that ball to dare try to get by him (I believe two or three did manage to somehow sneak by). He was crouched down, shimmying back and forth in the goal even while everybody was on the complete opposite end of the field and going the other direction. I'm telling you, it doesn't matter what kind of a mood we may be in when we get to the field, watching him in that goal would put anybody in a good mood. As I picture it, in fact, I am sitting here laughing out loud.

Goalie Jake

It appears that he might have more in the way of football skills than soccer skills as he tends to just plow through people and not have much awareness of where the ball actually is. Although, he is making improvements. He spent far less time falling down on the field the second time around. We only counted 8 falls the second game, down from 35 in the first. So, we're making progress. Truthfully though, although I know that he will continue to improve, I will be a little bit sad when he is no longer running around aimlessly, laughing with a kid from the opposite team, and shimmying back and forth in the goal when the ball is on the opposite side of the field.

Charge!

I only include this picture because of the boy in the yellow. Jake informed us after the game that he hopes he never has to play against him again, because he was way too fast! 

Our ever-faithful neighbor helping out with Aubrey. They were all there again to cheer Jake on!

Jake, of course, had to occasionally say hi to us from the field!


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Sydney has been at both games cheering for Jake. 

 


And they even have the same number! (I know that this picture is on here twice, but I can't seem to delete it for some reason.)



Check out that form!

(actually posted by Kinzi)

Random Pictures

Since I am so horrible about sharing pictures of the kids with anybody, I am just going to post some random ones from our summer. There is nothing particularly cute or wonderful about these pictures, but something is better than nothing, right? (You may have noticed and wondered why I post such terrible pictures. The reason for this is because if I was picky about which pictures to post, I wouldn't post any at all. I take too few to be able to afford to be picky. I can say with sincerity, that my children really are adorable and are not always in their pajamas with their hair a complete disaster. But, the pictures that I so sparingly and randomly take seem to tell a different story, so you'll have to take my word for it.)



Visiting Cousins in Tennessee...




We spent a good portion of our time at the community pool in my sister's neighborhood. It had an awesome waterslide that the kids probably went down 1000 times.




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I realize that the ability to rotate a picture to the right is the most basic of digital photography skills. However, in this case, I have been unable to do so!



Sitting on the back porch, listening to the bugs, surrounded by God's beautiful creation...I could have stayed forever.



When We Returned From Tennessee...

The day after we returned home from Tennessee, we brought home another addition to the family. We have no idea how long she'll be with us, and it hasn't been easy, but I am enjoying having a baby in the house again, and we are so thankful that we can love on her for as long as she's here. I already cannot imagine what life will be like without her.

Introducing...Aubrey!





More Random Summer Pictures...

As usual, we've spent a lot of time at the beach, lake, and beach club this summer. Unfortunately, as I've mentioned, I rarely have my camera with me to capture any of these occasions. So, here are a few not-great pictures. I really will get them rotated at some point, I promise!

Jake's new favorite pastime is boogie boarding. He likes body surfing too, and really, anything that allows him to play in the water.

Addi, on the other hand, ever since being pummeled by a wave this summer, stays as far away from the ocean water as possible. She prefers the predictable waters of the lake.





I don't know if Aubrey had spent any time at the beach previously or not, but she loves it! She especially enjoys eating the sand, but then again, there's really not much that she does not enjoy eating.

Still to come...soccer pictures (Jake literally counted down the days until his first soccer season started) and, yes, those very anticipated photos of completed salt dough maps! Jake already had his first soccer game, which I will tell you about (spoiler alert: we got up to 35 when counting the number of times that he fell while on the soccer field), but I don't have pictures yet. I did actually do the good mom thing and bring my camera to his first soccer game. However, our sweet little Aubrey decided that the soccer game was not where she wanted to be and made certain to let everybody know it. Our amazing neighbor, who came to watch Jake play in his first game, offered to push her around in the stroller to try to calm her down so that I could watch Jake. Well, I left my camera sitting on the tray of the stroller and, therefore, could not capture that first game. Never fear, I will be there with camera in hand on Saturday. If Aubrey decides she is going to scream through this game, well I don't actually have a solution for that yet. But, I will get some pictures, regardless!

(actually posted by Kinzi)