Oh so nice!

The weather here has been great. On sunny days it’s warm but not hot so we have been trying to enjoy as much outdoor fun we can. The girls really don’t do well with the heat  and we know it’ll be here soon so we’ve been taking advantage of the all the parks and playgrounds here on base. We’ve been taking the girls to the park after Lilly gets out of school and it has been oh so nice. Not only do they have playgrounds there but they have gazebos and flowers and an indoor bathroom- which is the biggest plus. The girls never want to miss a second of fun so they often hold off going to the bathroom until the last second, we’ve been working on this issue for months but slowly and surely they’ll master it. 

While we’re there we’ll play on the playgrounds and the gazebos. They started playing “store” in there a few days ago and they love it. One person will be the clerk and the other will order a drink or whatever else their silly little minds come up with. We also play explorer/adventurer. We’ll walk around and look for pretty flowers, or bugs, or anything else interesting. For me, it’s all about taking photos. I’ll photograph them or the flowers or planes. The park is parallel and close to the runway. I haven’t been able to take a picture of the planes because it’s not really busy here but sooner or later I’ll get one. It really is a great time of year here.

And speaking of oh so nice… Our overseas listing came out yesterday. Say a prayer we get one of them. There were a few on their that we would be thrilled to get. There were spots in Germany, England, Japan, and Guam. I’ll be thrilled to know where we are going from here and I know the girls we’ll be too. They remember a lot of our PCS to here and Sadie is thrilled we’ll be staying in a hotel again- aka billeting.

I’ll probably post again later today/tonight. There are a lot of funny things happening in our house once again and we want to share with everyone and have it for memories sake!
♥-krissy

Back Up and Running

Well after the craziness of last week, I am the proud new owner of a Sony Vaio.  As much as I am enjoying have a new computer, I miss the fact that I have to replace a lot of little things like bookmarks, fonts, and textures.  As well as transferring music, pictures, and programs off of my external hard drive. It will take a little bit of time to get all that done and keep a watchful eye on our monstrous toddler.
After all of her destruction last week and this week I am 100% okay with no more children. I honestly don’t think we could handle another one and keep our sanity. And it’s hard enough with these three. They are just too smart for their own good.  It’s a good thing they are so cute and funny :)
One thing that I am really going to miss about Turkey is the spring here. There are so many beautiful flowers and colors and the weather is just beautiful. We have had a lot of rain and thunderstorms this year, but we love it. When it’s sunny, it’s gorgeous and warm. When it rains it washes away all that nasty pollen and we get to enjoy some thunder and lightning. We are extremely fortunate and blessed that the girls are not afraid of thunderstorms. It doesn’t even phase them and we have the USAF to thank for that.  The F-15s are much louder than them and they just got really used to hearing them all the time.
With the weather so nice we have been able to play outside and I have been able to take photos of all the beautiful things here.  It’s been so great and I will be posting more of the things we’ve been doing.

so...

Ruby completely destroyed my computer. She spilled a full cup of coffee onto it and completely fried it. She is completely fine, it just scared her. Hopefully we'll be replacing it soon, especially since Steven hates when I use his computer. We use and organize computers differently so I forget that it's his computer and change things and he has a fit, but I would feel the same way. With the computer fiasco I lost about a week's worth of photos, to include Easter. Once I have a working computer again I'll be back at updating the blog. So until then I'm sorry for the lack of posts.
- Krissy

the weekly funnies

Steven and I truly believe we have the smartest, funniest, and beautiful kiddos in the world. We are now at a point where both Lilly and Sadie say “smart” things. They have no idea that they are sarcastic or too literal in their words.  So I am going to give you a few examples, in “short hand”.  L is Lilly, S is Sadie, D is Daddy and M is Mommy.

L- I know what metamorphosis is.

D- Oh yea? Can you tell me what it is?

L- Um. Um. I having a hard time remembering exactly what it is.

S- The answer is tricky.

Sadie has what we call “Old Lady Syndrome”. She is like the sarcastic old ladies you see in the movies. Like the female Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace or Ouiser from Steel Magnolias. She just says things without thinking about or explaining. Her saying “The answer is tricky.” just came out of left field and no one saw it coming. And that is typically what happens.

We went out to dinner for our anniversary and Steven ordered fajitas. His meal was so big he offered the girls some to try. He made Sadie one with french fries- she’s a weird child- and Lilly one with refried beans and guacamole. Lilly either couldn’t say guacamole or didn’t hear it properly, either way this is what came out:

D- Did you want just beans or would you like some guacamole too?

L- I said I would like some whack-a-mole too please.

Lilly is at the starting age in understand and enjoying jokes. Steven has a lot of these so he happily asked Lilly and Sadie:

D- Do you know why 6 was afraid of 7?

L & S- No, why?

D- Because 7 ate 9. (laughing)

L- Oh. (Not laughing.)

D- Did you get it?

L- Yes, it was a joke.

D- Did you like?

L- No, it wasn’t very funny.

M- (Laughing hysterically at Lilly.)

We’ve been trying to get the girls to clean up as they play so there isn’t a huge mess to clean or the girls complaining that it’s a disaster and they don’t want to have to clean up that much at once. I told Sadie to clean up and stop staring at the TV. After telling her a handful of times I turned off the TV. She turned and growled/groaned, “That was NOT necessary.”

Oh, Sadie-Mae. All that was missing from that comment was for her tell us her hip was hurting, again.

♥krissy

I ♥ Faces- Shadows

This week’s challenge is shadows, and I think this photo is perfectly fitting for it! You can join in the

fun too at I ♥ Faces! 

Dkrissy

DSLR Equipment and Resources

This is for my father-in-law Gene, or who we commonly and lovingly call him Papop :) I was going to email this, but it is really hard for me to send emails from here for some reason. Rather than giving myself a headache and pressing send all day long- I kid you not- I figured why not blog it?
First off lenses. These are the lenses I have:

Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens

This one is my favorite, it’s great for indoor/low light conditions.

Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SLD DG Macro Lens

I usually use this one outside.

Tamron AF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical Lens

This is an everday use lens. I got it to replace the lens that came with the D40. There’s nothing wrong with the 18-55, it just didn’t focus quick enough to keep up with the monsters kiddos.

Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR ED Nikkor Lens

This one came with my D90 and I love it too :)
These are lenses I want:

Sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro Large Aperture Wide Angle Lens

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens

Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens

And I would also love:

Deluxe DSLR Camera Lens Bag

This is the bag I like. I think it would be great for travelling since I’ll be taking the kids back to the states by myself and we’ll be PCSing in a year. I would much rather carry on my camera than leave it in the hands of baggage handlers.
Professor Kobre's Lightscoop, Standard Version
.
This is something I will probably buy in the very near future. I think it will save me from buying an external flash until I really need it and can research all the different options.  The before and afters with us are
amazing :)

I also use these for editing:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

Adobe Lightroom 3

There are also a lot of resources online that will help in learning new skills. These are some of my favorites:
I ♥ Faces
The Coffeshop Blog
The Pioneer Woman Photography
You can also just google whatever you are looking for when these don’t work.
There are also some IPod/IPhone apps that I like:
You can just search the App Store for these- I’ll give you the full name of the apps.
dSLR Toolkit for Dummies
PhotoCaddy
Rockwell D40 Guide

And I am by no means a pro at this. I don’t think I will ever consider myself a pro because there is always more to learn and better your skills. The more you practice the better your skills become, I fully believe that. And with that you’ll probably need an external hard drive to store all of your photos.Along with leaving space on your computer hard drive, it also ensures that if your computer crashes your photos are safe. I’ve learned the hard way, which is why we have less than 5 photos of our wedding day.
I will update this as I find and learn more. If you have any questions, I be more than happy to help :)
b krissy

Where has the last 5 years gone?

On Monday we celebrated Lilly’s 5th Birthday! I can still remember 5 years ago, when Steven’s family visited us in England for Mom’s birthday and Lilly’s impending  birth, like it was yesterday. She went from a 7lb 3oz. bundle of joy to a 35lb ball of fire in what seems like overnight.

 Here she is today-

She is the smartest,  sweetest, strongest 5 year old I know. She is already reading and writing, but sometimes gets really frustrated because she wants to read novels, she doesn’t want to go slow and sound out each word. She can add and subtract, she can ride her bike to school (with Daddy) in 7 minutes, and she now has her own room.  She is simply amazing!

Since her birthday was on a Monday, meaning she had to go to school, we shopped, baked, and decorated while she was at school. She was so excited to get home to see what kind of surprises were waiting for her.
That afternoon we had a LOT of rain, thunder, and lightning. Thank the LORD for the US Air Force  because they could really care less about thunder when they’ve heard fighter jets, bombers, and cargo planes taking off their entire lives. It’s kinda sad when I jump and grab Steven when thunder cracks and the girls don’t even notice the thunder, ha! Needless to say, Steven thoroughly enjoyed my squirms while the kids played.

The first present she opened was some clothes from Sadie. I knew I wanted to take some pictures before we got into anymore presents and cupcakes, so she changed into her new outfit and pictures we took.
Then we went and started watching her favorite movie – Transformers. We got maybe 30 minutes into the movie when she couldn’t contain her excitement anymore, so she opened her presents. She got toys from Ruby, and a gift card from Mommy and Daddy.  All she wanted was a “card” so she could buy something all by herself- so we happily obliged.

So then it was off to the BX, in the rain and thunder. Luckily it was about done when we left. We walked around the whole  store several times. She would pick something and then change her mind, pick something and change her mind, and pick something  and change her mind again. She finally settled on Zhu Zhu hamster, a pretty purple pillow for her bedroom, and a Crayola story coloring thing. When we got home, it was time for dinner. Then cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Lilly! I still can’t believe you’re 5!
♥krissy