Rainy Weekend

We had a quiet weekend with a lot of rain Saturday.  Woke up Sunday morning to find my car looking like this:

The whole yard was covered with all those stringy tree things.

The only other note of interest today was this:

Benny got this crystal-growing kit for Christmas, and we set it up several weeks ago.  Even though the instructions said it would take six to eight weeks for crystals to begin to grow, Benny checked it every single day. For a while.  Then he grew discouraged and decided it was "never going to work."

But lo and behold, there are crystals growing.  Not just on the rock but along the bottom as well, see?

He's a happy guy.

And More

Still nothing remarkable to blog about.  We've been doing TONS of soccer, which is great.

And a bit more of this, which is also great:

Does that not look like it was done in a studio with professional lighting?  Marty made this picture with a backrop propped against the chain link fence of the ballfield.  Behind this girl's head is an entire game going on, complete with screaming parents and blinding sun and harsh shadows, litter, sports bags, and the like.  He had the assistant coach holding a reflector and that was it for equipment.  That's what know-how can do for a photographer, I can see that now....knowing WHERE to put the backdrop and WHERE to put the reflector so there are no shadows and harsh light, etc, ....well, I'm impressed.

Also we are doing this:

And my most favorite part of any team shoot:  The "fun" picture.  This is the picture we take last...after the posed formal portrait of the entire team all together, all smiling and no one blinking or making faces to see if they can get away with it or holding two fingers up behind their team mate's heads.  After the team portrait, we invite them to jump up in the air at the count of three and YELL.

Kids love it!!!

And the cute thing is, they don't outgrow it. I recently shot some twelve year-old boys, you know, the age where they are too cool to care about anything?  Well, when I said, "one more shot guys, it's time for the Fun Picture," they all perked up like toddlers.

Of course, the older they get, the more complicated and detailed the fun pictures get:

But it's still FUN.

Gotta love spring, soccer, and baseball!

Lately

I haven't blogged in a week because lately we are busy doing non-bloggable things.  We've been doing a ton of this:

Games and practices. Practices and games.

And we've been doing a ton of this:

Baseball and soccer team and individual portraits.

The kids are pretty darn cute.

And happy.

Along with tons of portrait sessions come days of sorting orders, paperwork, making photo buttons and trading cards and pretend magazine covers with adorable children on them.

Mix that in with the usual piles of laundry, getting dinner on the table each night, homework, housework, and grocery shopping, and you get the picture.  Non-bloggable, but real life.

More pics soon!

Races

We took the boys to their first full-fledged dirt track race this weekend.  Its's something Marty has wanted to do with them for a long time.

The boys were into it.  We saw fast cars and lots of dirt flyin'.

One driver we knew let the boys climb into his car.

Benny thought that was pretty cool.

We had 'seats' right in the pits.

Headphones were a must.  As were close conversations and hand movements.

A collosal wreck happening right behind us, caught on film.

The wheels come off the ground when they go fast!

And of course, we had to wrap up the night with a visit to the little red booth. 

A successful outing to the track, and we plan to go again!

Easter Pictures

Another Easter has come and gone.  We spent it with Mom and Dad, and had a really nice day.

Mom always decorates their house so beautifully for the holidays.

We had good food.....

Time to visit and talk.....

And of course, hunting for eggs.

And more hunting for eggs.

And more.

And tons of candy. 

Happy Easter!

Stone Mt

First day of spring break, and we celebrated by going to Stone Mountain with Gram!  And of course the first order of business at Stone Mountain is to ride to the top!

In one of the two cable cars. One is red, and one is blue.  Benny and Sam's favorite colors!

The boys had a great time up there, enjoying the view and comparing the map to the sites before them.

A bit hazy but still a nice view.

We enjoyed the 4-D movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth.  (4D means they squirt water at you, buzz the seats, and brush snakelike things against your legs while you watch the 3D film!)

The boys love "the ball barn" which is filled with foam balls and three floors full of machines, contraptions, and "guns" that you put the balls into and watch them disappear, shoot, fly, float, and otherwise do remarkable things.  The ball barn involves a whole lot of running up and down stairs, and crawling around gathering up sacks of foam balls.  Great fun.

There are more photos but I can't get them to upload. We had a good day and a great start to spring break.  Love that Stone Mountain!

Going To The Game

Last weekend Marty and I went to a basketball game in the city.  Though we are not basketball fans, it seemed like a fun thing to go do. And it was!  This blurry picture shows spring has arrived at Olympic Park, which we noticed was packed with people as we drove by---looked like a concert or something getting ready to start.

And right next to the park is the CNN building....

Lots of motorcycle police on hand for crowd control.......

Lots of people walking around.......

And we made it to Philips Arena!

Inside, it's all about the Hawks and the Thrashers (our hockey team.)

I even met a celebrity spokes-cow!

We had some nosebleed seats that were actually quite perfect for us.  It wasn't crowded, we had a good view, and we were comfortable.  See the flames?  Each time a player was announced they got a flame burst.

And for the first part of the game, we were virtually alone!

The game was fun, the crowds and entertainment were great, and we had a wonderful time!

Nightly Drawing

The boys have a collection of Pokeman cards.  They recently got some binders to put all their cards into.

Sam decorated his binder himself.

In addition to trading cards with each other and kids on the bus, and re-organizing their Pokeman cards, and drawing their Pokeman cards, the boys have created a new nigtly routine.  They do a random raffle drawing of the "Pokeman Card of the Day."

The winning card gets taped on the face of a Rubik's Cube on a stack of things on a shelf, so it is quite prominently displayed.  Each day a new card is drawn.  They love it.  I find it a creative thing to do...who'd have thought Pokeman cards could aspire to such heights?  And, it's just one more of the little list of things they like to do before bed.

Goodnight, Pokeman!

Croquet

Tonight was a very warm night.  Sam went off to soccer practice with Marty.  Benny and I broke out the new croquet set.

We didn't have a clue how to "officially" play.  So we just made stuff up.

Benny and I took turns laying out the wickets in a crazy course, and making up strange rules, and of course, using the mallets upside down like canes.  The deer came and watched us, then shot away.

It was a nice way to spend an hour.  And look at Benny.  He's really good at it!