reunited

....and it feels so good!

 with Gigi and Abuelo

3 days ~ mostly pics

Thursday ~

Even though Ayla was feeling a bit under the weather, we spent the afternoon with one of my bestest dear friends.  Do you have one of those friends where no matter how long it's been since you've seen each other, you can pick up and know each other thru and thru, as if you had just seen each other yesterday?  Yep, one of those friends!

Friday ~

It was my turn for feeling a bit under the weather.  I gathered and cooked yummy food and later spent the evening in bed watching Desperate Housewives on Netflix.  Seriously.

Saturday ~
We went blueberry picking in the late morning.

We admired the 'junk' on the property.  Beautiful.

We spent a few hours at the Kickapoo Country Fair at Organic Valley Cooperative's headquarters.  (Here's last year's visit to the fair, if you're so inclined.)

 Magic Mama

getting muddy, helping with a wattle and daub structure

 enjoying the sights

 up close with a calf, kid, and bunny

 crow and scarecrow

organic maple cotton candy!

dancing and friend-making in the music tent

 transforming into a butterfly

These last two weeks, while the older girls have been off visiting in Minnesota, have been a really special time for me to spend with Ayla.  I know Camille and Sylvia are having special family-bonding time too.  They call often and tell of all the fun and adventuring that they're getting to share with each set of grandparents.

BUT, after two! whole! weeks!, I can't wait to see their shining faces and love them up again in my own special mama way!!!  So sooooon.

around the yard ~ playing with the camera

I like to take pictures of the ordinary moments of our days.  It makes me happy.  I recently got a DSLR camera (Canon EOS Rebel T3) in addition to my trusty point-and-shoot (Canon PowerShot S90).  The last two days I have been testing it out, trying to learn the basics.

 This is what happened when I first tried to go full manual and play with the settings. 

After that, I tried adjusting various functions individually while playing with the focus and zoom.  I know what I like to see (and how I like to see it) when I look through the lens, but I'm just dipping into some of the possibilities and figuring out the terminology and functions.  I'm still not quite sure what an aperture is, but I'm starting to learn how to interpret what brings me closer to my vision and what brings me farther away.

(These photos are all straight off the camera, unedited.)

by the coop ~

  proud

 being careful

by the backdoor ~

in the back garden ~

 I spy tomatoes

 searching for strawberries

 yummy lettuce

 calendula flower

 nasturtium flower

 runnin' up and down the garden path

 with handfuls of mulch

  garden dance party

by the laundry line ~

 "Wanna sniff the daisy?"

 "How 'bout you, Carly?"

 "Mama?"

That's a good start, I think.