Who needs a good belly laugh? I got one for ya, right here...

So, I got a new laptop recently: my old one just couldn't keep up with my fabulousness. No, that's not true. It was heavy and bulky and had awful battery life, but she was a good 'ole gal. Regardless, I got a Macbook. And lo and behold, it has an integrated camera.

We knew this, but this week, we all just really "discovered" the photo booth application. And boy, do I have a couple of hammy kids! (Disregard the mommy photos at the beginning...I needed a new Facebook photo, okay!)

Yes, we all discovered the unbridled joy of PhotoBooth with iSight on my new Mac. Of course, Will seemed to love it the most...or experiment with it the most. Whichever.

Anyway, I am warning you now -- some of these are bwahahaha-ers. They're funny, I mean.

Enjoy.

"It was a strange, cool day," says Will

That it was, for sure.

The first rather odd thing we did today was take a trip down to the Hernando Courthouse Square to see some visiting performers from Cirque du Soleil. They're in Memphis to perform their Saltimbanco traveling show. I would love to have been able to go to it, but Ben's in the lovely, sunny resort town of Cleveland, OH this week, so no Saltimbanco for us.

But I digress. The troupe sent some stilt-walkers to Hernando to promote the show, and they were pretty cool. They clowned around, walked on stilts, tossed around a big balloon that all the kids in the group chased with single-minded intensity, and gave out clown noses.

Will had a blast with the balloon, and Adelaide thought the whole thing was quite curious. Today our sitter/nanny (I'm going to make up a new word for her, like "sanny" or something) was with us, which was GREAT because she stayed with Laila while I chased after Will, and I was able to take photos. It was much more fun that way.

After that, we decided to have a mommy and kids night out. We went to Chick-Fil-A, which is of course FINE dining when you have little people with you, then headed to Books-A-Million where we had dessert. I read Newsweek, Will took in another book, and Adelaide enjoyed the Little Mermaid book she found despite my best efforts to hide it from her view.

(News update: Dora is still very cool, but lemme tell you, she's all about "THE MERMAID!!!" now. So much so, in fact, that having Little Mermaid panties is actually counterproductive to potty training because she simply doesn't want to take them off to potty. *sigh*)

Anyway, we all had dessert, the kids got MORE books (it's my weakness, not a bad one in the scheme of things, I guess -- my mom was ALWAYS giving in to me when I asked for a new book, and I turned out okay...right? RIGHT?) and then we came home. After reading the ENTIRE Mermaid book, Adelaide went to sleep and Will and I geared up for our "date" -- a brand new Mythbusters and, right after it ended, a lunar eclipse.

Mythbusters was great -- it was all about McGyver -- and we loved it. After it was off we rushed outside to get a look at the eclipse.

As we sat out on the back porch, cuddled together in a blanket as the cold wind whipped around us, Will ruminated on the coolness of the eclipse.

"Too bad Adelaide isn't awake to see this," he said.

"Well, she wouldn't really understand anyway," I said. "We can tell her about it when she's older, thought."

"Like when she's 5?"

"Sure honey, when she's 5."

He paused for a moment, then turned to look at me.

"You need to write this date down so we remember," he says.

"Tell you what," I said. "I'll blog about it tonight. That way we can have it on there and find it whenever we want."

"That's a good idea..." he agreed, turning back to the sky and muttering mean things to the clouds that obscured his view of the copper moon.

So here I am, sharing our day with you all, just like I promised Will. And of course, I have the photos from Cirque on the square.

Let's go fly a kite!

Will got a new kite a few days ago, and we decided that instead of cursing the high winds because we can't get anything done outside, we'd take advantage of them and go fly a kite. Will's very proud of his "three-dimensional wingspan attached space shuttle." Anyway, after a crash course (pun intended) on kite aviation, we walked over to some empty lots in our neighborhood and let 'er fly.

I'm also trying out one of the lenses I got from Ben's parents' friends generous Nikon-tastic gift: a manual 50mm f/1.4. I LOVE this lens, and I'm really happy with the amazing speed and the great colors from it. I also used a filter with these, though I can't remember off the top of my head which it is. Anyway, I'm getting better with my manual settings, and I love this lens. So, with that...

Bad blogger! Bad!

I'm sorry everyone. I have not, as you might have assumed, been abducted by aliens, taken a vow of computer celibacy, or simply forgotten how to log into my blogger account. I have just (wait for it...wait for it....)

been busy.

I know, I know -- how long does it really take to jot down a quick, "Hello from planet Alyson" blog every now and then? Yes, chastise me for my absenteeism. Please. I'm waiting. I can take it.

(sound of me expectantly cringing. no, that doesn't make a sound. just go with me on this one, okay?)

Anyway, I could give you the rundown, but really, it would be boring. In fact, if we'd done anything really exciting, I would have blogged it. It's just been work, homeschooling, family time, house upkeep...the boring everyday stuff you really don't want to hear about.

But as a peace offering, I extend this olive branch of photography. It's not much, but I hope it shows my sincere thanks that you even checked back after almost a month to read this. And I promise, I won't be so long away again if I can help it.

Maybe I figured it out!

This has to be a new record for me. Just yesterday I complained of a certain photographic malaise I was feeling. Today, I think I might have the answer...and it's simple.

The camera I always felt like I was best on was my old 3 megapixel, 3x optical zoom Olympus that we bought when Will was a baby. My photos just seemed better for some reason. After I got the 12x optical zoom, 8 megapixel Sony and I just couldn't bond with it, I thought it was just that I just hadn't bought the right camera for me. Then we got the Nikon, and I was having trouble finding my groove with it, as well.

Fortunately, Ben's parents have some generous friends, the Holgates. His parents friends were devastated when Katrina flooded their waterfront Biloxi home. They lost everything but what was in the attic. And when they went through the long-forgotten items stored away on high, Mr. Holgate found his old Nikon camera equipment. It was for manual cameras, but it fits on the new digital bodies. He asked Ben's parents if they might like the equipment, and they said they wouldn't be able to use it, but they were pretty sure they knew someone who would. Yeah, that was me.

So I was blessed with a ton of amazing Nikon equipment: lenses galore, filters out the wazoo, and even really great retro cases. I'm still learning the world of DSLRs, however, and I was a little reticent to really go and give the whole manual thing a shot.

Well, today I was browsing some other mommyblogs, and read on Posie Gets Cozie about her wide-angle lens discovery. So I decided to go and dig out that lens and give it a go.

So yes, long story to get to my point of discovery. But I'm getting to it, I promise! Because the wide-angle lens isn't zoom, I used my body again in my photography. I was squatting, climbing, hovering and laying on the ground the get the shot I wanted. I still have a long way to go with getting used to manual focus, but when I sat down and looked at what I had, a light went on. I had become a lazy photographer.

When I got my fancy-schmancy new cameras, I suddenly was content to park my butt and use my newfound zoom capabilities. But for some reason, that seems to have taken a lot of the soul out of my photos. I needed to be in it, to see the light (literally), to find the angle. Even though you never see me in the photos, I am "in" them in my composition. And I was losing that completely.

So today, a wide-angle lens helped me get my groove back. I'm so excited to realize that I haven't lost my touch -- I'd just forgotten where to look for it.

Anyway, I was playing with the focus a lot, trying to get used to full manual, but the slideshow about shows some of my efforts. I don't know if you guys will be able to see the difference, but I know I can. And I expect that my photo plateau will lead me on to even greater picture-taking experiences in the future. Yay!

Will went on a playdate today, so I decided Little Miss and I would take another shot at some good "two year" photos. Yes, I know that was almost a month ago, but I still haven't gotten any I'm really happy with. These are better.

I am feeling a little sensitive, like my photos are missing that je ne sais quoi I think they used to have. I haven't been putting as much into them since I've been really ramping up my writing career, but I do still love it, and love messing with them when I have time. Maybe it's the post-process time I'm missing. I don't know...but these are okay. They show HER, I think. And isn't that the idea?

Good Times

Knowing we'll be leaving soon, I took the kids outside this evening to enjoy our "backyard" a little longer. Ben grilled, the kids played, and I chased them and took pictures. The first few on the slideshow, actually, are from Adelaide just being silly last week, but those were worth viewing too, I thought.

Indoor Kids (and mommy musings)

Okay, so I realized I hadn't been taking many photos lately. It's interesting -- when I wasn't writing, my camera was always at hand. It kept me sane in some ways, I guess -- I HAD to be creative somehow, and the camera was a stop-gap until I realized there was no reason to quit writing just because you have kids to take care of -- quite the contrary, actually.

Anyway, I've been pretty busy lately, and that is good. I was nervous for a while after I left the editing job at the local parenting publication because I didn't really feel like I knew what I was doing. But I have made some amazing friends who have helped me along the way (Sharon Anne Waldrop and Gina Roberts-Gray, whose bylines you might recognize, have been amazing!) and I'm seeing some very real progress. I don't want to post about the assignments I have right now because they can always get bumped, but I will definitely post when they do run.

But of course, this is titled "Indoor Kids," to match with my previous "Outdoor Kids" post. The kids love being outside, but my creative kids can definitely wreak havoc...I mean, PLAY... inside, as well, especially during March Madness and deadline time! Will loves the new Sumo Lounge we got -- I am going to review it soon for my column that runs in Baton Rouge Parents Magazine, but I'll give you a preview right now -- it's AWESOME! For one thing, both kids can comfortably be on it at once, which is an absolute Godsend for my family since when Adelaide sees Will do something, she MUST do it, as well, which leads to him often reluctantly surrendering his seating preference to avoid shrill-induced hearing loss. But with the huge Sumo Lounge, they completely don't have to -- they just plop down on it together. Anyway, the photo of him at the top is on the big Sumo Lounger, as he is often found.

Adelaide is, of course, into EVERYTHING. You can see the train table behind her -- she loves it, which has induced a bit of a train-lovin' renaissance in Will. (See, the "you have it, I want it" goes both ways here.) Anyway, they both play on it, but his is more construction while hers is, shall we say, deconstruction. For a girl who would wear frilly dresses and patent leather mary janes every day of the week if I'd let her, Adelaide certainly does love crashing cars and trains into each other. Then again, she's surely been watching brother. You can also see her "Pata-pata," as she calls him -- the darn thing plays patty cake every time you touch it's foot. We knew when Will was 1 that he was showing architect/engineer tendencies. Adelaide, if we are again correct, will be a vet. She loves animals, live and pretend, and treats them like baby dolls. Anyway, she's always finding something to do, and I'm hopeful that as she gets older, it will involve more fun playing like this and less hunting for leftover Adelaide snacks on she's left herself, Hansel and Gretel-Style, on floors in nearly every room of the house.

Anyway, that's my musings today on my indoor kids. I had a bit of writer's block before I started this, and now I'm feeling better, so I'm off to do some paying work with my renewed flow of wordiness. :)

Outdoor kids

The kids love being outdoors, which is great in the spring and a killer in the summer...and fall...and late spring, too, really...down here in the deeeeeeeeeeeep south. But Will is apparently a prodigious batter (now to work on his catching skills -- he ducks when he doesn't have the bat in his hands) and Adelaide...well, she's just a little wild at heart, I think. She tries to sneak outside whenever a door is open, so we have to keep a close eye on her. And thank God for the alarm system that beeps whenever a door opens, because we've realized she can reach the door handles no problem now. (Everything stays locked now -- even when Ben's barbecueing, he has to knock to get it or else she will escape!)

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. Ben's parents came down bearing bedding...no, seriously, they brought us a scrumptiously somnulent memory foam king bed that is so cuddly and comfy. It was nice for me and Ben to get some "time off" -- we even went to see the new Bond flick, which was actually pretty good! And we made more progress on the bathroom, thanks to Ben and his dad's hard work (pics later). Anyway, here's a little sampling of our weekend. It was nice, and now we can't wait to hit Dallas later this week...and then to Kentucky for Christmas later in December. Yay!

Halloween photos...finally!

Trunk or Treat and Halloween

Yes, finally, some Halloween photos. Click on the image above to see the album.