We started training for the Pear Blossom a couple weeks back. (Taz and Ninja T. are running the 10 mile race, The Roadrunner is doing the 3 mile race and Little Lightening Legs is running the Mayor's Mile.)
And we decided that nicknames make us run faster.
The kids have to refer to me as Coach when we're on the track. In fact, referring to me as 'mom' or 'K.K.' during training is grounds for push-ups.
I like doling out push-ups.
In fact, The Roadrunner had to do a few push-ups for making that face (above) when I told my team to give me 50 jumping jacks.
Much better you cute, little Roadrunner.
Sometimes I even make them do push-ups for no reason.
I can do that because I'm the coach.
Ski jumps.
They kind of like those ones.
We do all sorts of races too.
We've even been using a stop-watch to track our progress.
All serious coaches use a stop-watch.
Sometimes I kick the soccer ball and make them chase it.
Little Lightening Legs always gets a four-second lead (because four is my favorite number and because her legs might be made of lightening...but they're still short).
It's a rigorous training schedule.
And whenever they look like they're having too much fun, I make them do more push-ups.
Occasionally, I just let them stand around and look cute.
They're really good at that.
Cute and fast...that's my crew.
And if you're reading this Josh Downs...I mowed your lawn and got your truck cleaned and bought you some fresh coffee beans. Now you need to do your part. Come home.
I shared some exciting news with Annie about Josh Downs and his homecoming last night which sent her into a sqealing, jumping, singing frenzy.
About 15 minutes later, she was standing in front of my desk with her head hung low and tears streaming down her eyes.
When I asked what was wrong, she said that it had just been too long since she had seen her daddy.
I just sat and held her for awhile, realizing that I had been doing the exact same thing for weeks now; butterflies and excitement one minute, followed by tears the next because it just feels like it's been too long.
Coley came in to see what all the estrogen was about and then he picked Annie up out of my arms and carried her away.
A few minutes later, I walked down the hallway and found him reading to her...
And then it was her turn to read to him.
Eventually, an 11 year old grows tired of being read to by a 6 year old though.
And telling that 11 year old that he has to sit through rest of the book to encourage the 6 year old doesn't help.
He's just like his mom...the love runs deep...but the patience wears thin.
Later in the evening, Josh called and I said, "I don't know what's up with Annie and I, but one minute we're happy and excited and the next minute we're in tears?" to which he replied, "I know what's up...you're girls."
And if you're reading this Josh Downs...Thanks for loving your girls just the way we are.
She must have found her daddy's shirt sitting on the nightstand and thought it smelled as good as I think it smells and decided to sleep with it. (Josh wore that shirt and then mailed it to me from Afghanistan per my odd/unusual request.)
And if you're reading this Josh Downs...Thanks for being a fine-smelling man.
I stopped to pick up six balloons for the newly six year old and talked her into an impromtu shoot...
And that's all she wrote for the birthday pics.
Oh, and I finally got all my Nikon gear back from the service department this afternoon. (I shot all of Annie's birthday pictures with a borrowed Canon 5D and the fabulous, but inexpensive Canon 85mm f1.8.)
Oh, and someone asked where I got Annie's tights - got them at Old Navy back at Christmastime.
Oh, and again, all the regular seats in the next Photographers' Workshop are sold out but you can still snag an auditing seat here or you can read more about the workshop here.
And if you're reading this Josh Downs...Everyone is awaiting your homecoming - even the waitor at our new favorite Mexican restuarant keeps asking how many days until you'll be home. (I know that a lot of you blog readers have inquired too and I really appreciate it. The only reason I haven't mentioned the exact date/number of days is for security reasons - you know, just in case the al-Qauda has me on their Google-Reader.)
I was waking up Cole when I heard her little footsteps coming down the hall. She had a huge smile on her face and promtly crawled into my lap while Coley and I sang Happy Birthday.
And then she followed me downstairs, in anticipation of her birthday muffin.
And just as she blew out her candle, Josh Downs called. (Perhaps that's what she wished for.)
She decided she didn't want to have a party until her daddy gets home, but I still promised her one present on her birthday. (The night before her birthday, she told me she wanted a Lego vet set...and lucky me, that's exactly what I had gotten for her.)
Cole snagged that one. (Thanks Coley.)
Annie opted to spend her birthday at home with me instead of going to school (an option the kids always have on their birthday) so after dropping Coley off at school, we started building the vet clinic.
Later as we were doing our hair, we heard a knock at the door and noticed the silhouette of flowers through the window as we went to answer the door.
Annie immediately said, "Mom, I think Daddy sent you flowers!" to which I replied, "No, I think Daddy sent flowers to his birthday girl."
The first flowers Annie has ever received.
And she talked about them all day.
And then we went to Target where Annie had a $10 birthday budget.
And when she spotted Jessie (from The Toy Story) on the bottom shelf (with a $40 price tag I might add) she immediately sprung, arms wide-open towards the box and said in a voice that one might hear on The Jersey Shore, "Heeeeeeeey girl...I've been needing you my whole life!"
And then she immediately broke into her pleading puppy-dog face.
I'm immune to the pleading puppy-dog face though so she settled for a $10 Barbie Mermaid Tale instead.
And then we headed to The Roadhouse, per Annie's request (because she loves their rolls and honey butter) where she sat and shelled a bazillion peanuts for me to eat (She hates peanuts, but loves to shell them.) while we waited for our lunch.
We always have the kids opt between water, milk or iced tea - but birthday girls get stawberry lemonaide.
And after lunch, the waitor came by with a surprise.
Next on Annie's birthday wish-list was a trip to the park.
On our way there, we ran into my dad.
He really loves having his picture taken.
And then we picked up Coley from school and made our way to the park.
That was her bazillionth birthday call. (That one was from her Grandma Jo.)
Happy Birthday Yans.
And all the regular seats in the next Photographers' Workshop are sold out, but you can still snag an auditing seat if you want one. (Just scroll down to the post below for all the details.)
And if you're reading this Josh Downs...It feels like time has come to a stand-still. Come home already.
Registration for the next Photographers' Workshop begins this morning (Wednesday, February 15th, 2012) at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. (This class runs from April 2nd - June 10th.)
Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. I have no way of knowing how today's registration will go but past classes have always filled up fast so you'll want to type quickly. (To make the process quicker, just fill out the 'General Information' section, knowing that you can fill out the remaining information at a later time, after your registration is complete.)
The workshop runs for 10 weeks, includes 45 lesson (a total of 450+ pages of information and images) and 9 assignments. There is a class forum (an image from the Q&A Board is shown below) where you can interact with your classmates, post all of your questions, upload your assignments and post images for fun and/or critique. (This forum is my full time job so you'll have access to me 40+ hours a week during the entire course.)
I allow a limited number of 'regular students' ($395) and 'auditing students' ($245). Auditing students can participate in class exactly like a regular student, asking questions, posting comments, uploading photos, etc. The only difference between auditing students and regular students is that I do not provide evaluations for assignments or photo critiques posted by auditing students.
Some students choose to audit because the regular seats usually fill up quickly and other students choose to audit because their schedule is busy and they want the flexibility of working at their own pace, knowing that they can choose to schedule a telephone or Skype consult ($95 per hour) with me in the future to ask questions and receive feedback on their images.
If you'd like to receive updates on future classes via email, you can get on the wait list here. (There's currently 1268 people on the waiting list but don't let that scare you!)
If you have any additional questions, check out the information here. If you don't find the answer to your question there, feel free to leave your question in the comments section and I'll update this post with the answer to your question marked in red so you don't miss my response.
And you can weed through the comments on this post from Feb. 2011 (Sorry, I was doing a giveaway so there's 800+ comments) to hear what some past students have to say about the class.
Hope I didn't miss anything and looking forward to having some of you in my next class! (Oh, and if you email me on registration day, please be patient with my response because registration day is crazy for me!)
The kids and I spent Saturday morning down at the Hedrick Middle School track, doing a little training for the Pear Blossom. (All of my kids are planning to run one of the Pear Blossom races - but I'll save that story for another day.)
And then we refueled ourselves at Donut Country.
Then we ran errands, hung out at the park and went to the movies before dropping Courtney Lee back by her mom's house.
I had a headache all day, so when we got home, I told Cole and Annie that I was going to lay down for a bit and asked them to play (quietly) upstairs.
About an hour later, I woke up to the sound of giggling and when I walked upstairs to see what was going on, I found them in their swimsuits, taking a bubble bath...
I just started laughing and then, still half-asleep, tried to remember if/where I had a camera. (My Nikon gear is still in the shop and I already returned the Canon 7D I rented.)
I was just about to go looking for my iPhone when I remembered that a friend of mine had loaned me her Canon 5D - I just hadn't taken it out of the camera bag yet.
I hadn't shot with a Canon 5D in at least five years, but as luck would have it, it felt much like riding a bike.
And the next morning while I was taking my own bath, I heard Cole whisper to Annie, "Trust me, if we do all this stuff for mom, she'll let us do whatever we want for the rest of the day."
Turns out they had cleaned the entire downstairs. They even did the dishes.
And that's reason enough for this mom to allow her children to rot their brains with a five-hour television marathon.
And don't forget that registration will open up for The Photographers' Workshop at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time tomorrow (Wednesday, February 15th.)
And if you're reading this Josh Downs...I'd wish you a Happy Valentine's Day, but you know I couldn't care less about Valentine's Day. February 13th is where it's at.
I've got this video of her reading that I am dying to share with Josh Downs, but I'm too much of a technological-moron to figure out how to get it off of my iPhone, onto my computer and into some sort of format that I can post here on my blog. (Seriously, how is it that I a operate a camera, but I can't even figure out my iPhone?)
So I guess I'll just share these instead...
And if you're reading this Josh Downs...I've got this mental picture in my head of you and Annie all snuggled up in together and her reading to you for the first time ever. It's going to be so good.
I'm not really into posting a whole lot of business-related stuff here on my blog because quite honestly, it bores me, but I sent out this email to all the students in my past classes and on my waiting list and wanted to pass it along here too:
I always run a workshop during the summer because I know it works out well with my student's schedules, but that means my kids are always at some sort of summer programs so the only real quality time I get with them during the summer is on the weekends and I just don't want to do that this summer. I've always had jobs that wouldln't permit me to take the summer off with my kids, but I need to remember that I'm my own boss now and my kids are growing up fast and I really want to take advantage of this opportunity - so I'm going to go for it.
So I'm moving the next registration for The Photographers' Workshop to Wednesday, February 15th at 9 a.m. Pacific Time, for my next workshop beginning April 2, 2012, but I will not be offering a summer workshop.
If you would like to take the class, you've got two options:
1. Register as a regular student/$395
2. Register as an auditing student/$245 (You can ask questios and upload photos, the ONLY difference is that I do not provide evaluations for auditing students. However, this is an ideal option for students with busy schedules who need to work at their own pace. And you can always schedule a telephone consult with me if you'd like to have your images evaluated.)
And remember too that Erin Cobb will be available in the class forum for one week to help students with her Clean Color editing process so it's a great opportunity to work with her and to learn to fine-tune her editing process. (You'll love her!)
- Select 'photography classes' and then 'register for a class.'
- Add the class to your shopping cart as either a regular student or as an auditor and then complete the check-out process. (Please remember that your seat in class cannot be held unless payment is complete.)
- After you've registered, you will receive a confirmation email and a Welcome Letter with more details.
At this point in time, I'm only teaching the workshop three times per year and I limit the number of students, so registration is always on a first-come, first-served basis. I have no idea how this particular registration will go, but in the past, classes have filled up quickly, so type fast!
And for anyone who is wondering, it's a nine-week online photography workshop designed for beginners to intermediates with 45 lessons, nine assignments and a Q&A Board where you can ask all your questions.
And it's tons of fun if I do say so myself.
And....
I'm getting ready to box up the Canon 7D that I rented so I can send it back to BorrowLenses.com. (I rented it to use while my Nikon gear is getting serviced.)
It's a great camera. It's solid, it's got a great focusing system, it's got a high maximum ISO and my favorite thing about it is the little 'Q' button on the back because when you press it, your LCD displays a screen with just about every setting you might want to adjust in one convenient location - all you have to do is highlight a specific option and you can change it right there. It's the coolest thing ever. So smart.
I did't make time to shoot as much as I had hoped to, but I think I got some good shots with it. I really struggled with focus, but quite honestly, two weeks just isn't enough time to adjust to a camera and given a few months with it, I think I would have been able to get the whole focus thing ironed out. I also feel like maybe the lens I rented (the Canon 50mm f1.2) was a soft copy. I tried doing some calibration of the lens and though it helped a bit, I still felt like the lens was a bit soft.
So on a Siskel & Ebert scale, I'd give the Canon 7D two thumbs up.
I've been recommending it to my Canon students for awhile now based off of reviews, but I'm glad to have shot with one so I can recommend it even more confidently.
I've received a bazillion emails (No...I never exaggerate.) from people who are wondering which photo lab I'm using since ScrapbookPictures went out of business. Right now, I'm not sure who I'm going to use. My plan is to do some research and to get some test prints dones and once I make a decision, I'll be sure to pass it along.
And...
This video cracks me up.
And...
So does this one.
And...
Aren't you impressed with my ability to embed videos?
And...
No, I'm not planning on upgrading to the new Nikon D800. It shoots slower than the Nikon D700 (which I already own) and it doesn't appear that the focusing system or the maximum ISO is any different than the D700 either, so I (much to my husband's delight) I'll be saving my money.
And...
If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section and I'll add my answers right here in red.
1. Courtney Lee calls me K.K. - it's just a nickname she made up a few years back and it stuck. And it puts a smile on my face every time I hear it. (I'm Courtney's step-mom.)
2. The chair in this post is one that I ordered from Thomasville a few years back. It's called an Anton chair and I had them put a teal microfiber fabric on it. I think the color was #55.
3. In the past, I have only sent my cameras in to Nikon to get their sensors cleaned on a yearly basis and if that ended up being the only service they provided, it cost about $50 per camera and usually just takes a few days. This time though, I asked them to calibrate the focus on each of my lenses with each of my cameras and was sent an estimate for over $2000 in repairs and fees.
They said that my Nikon D700 would cost about $400 to fix, which totally made sense to me since the camera flew off the top of my car while driving 30 mph. But they also said that both of my zoom lenses needed serious repairs to the tune of $500 each which fried me, because I take really good care of my lenses. They also wanted $220 per lens to clean and calibrate the focus on them. Yes, $220 per lens.
And of course, NONE of this was covered under warranty.
And I'm not proud of this, but my response included several cuss words and a request to talk to the manager.
After talking to the manager several times, he reduced the price on several of the repairs and was somehow, miraculously able to get my warranty to cover a few things that it didn't originally cover.
It's been two weeks since I shipped my gear off though (and I have since, had to return the Canon that I rented) and just today, we were finally able to come to an agreement on the cost so they could begin repairs.
So, no...I feel bad saying this (because I love Nikon so much) but I have not been happy with their service department and will be hesitant to send my gear in again for anything other than sensor cleaning.
4. No, I haven't scrapbooked in a very long time. (For the first time ever, I have the scrapbook room of my dreams, but I don't scrapbook...perhaps that should tell me something about chasing material dreams.) I think I'll scrapbook again someday. I just think it will be in a different season of my life.
5. I don't think that Nikons have better focusing systems than Canons straight across the board. When I switched to Nikon, it was because I wanted a full frame camera for under $3000 and Nikon simply offered a better camera in that category. In general though, you'll find that the focusing system in both Nikons and Canons will vary, depending upon the camera model. Higher end Nikons oftentimes have more autofocus points than equivalent Canons, but 'more' autofocus points doesn't necessarily equate to a 'better' focusing system. In fact, my D700 has 51 autofocus points and that's way too many autofocus points for me to toggle between so I actually set my camera so it shows fewer autofocus points - so for me, 51 autofocus points is overkill. I'm actually more interested in how many cross-sensor autofocus points a camera has since cross-sensor autofocus points are the most sensitive type of autofocus point. For example, the Canon 7D has 19 autofocus points and ALL of them are cross-sensors, while the Nikon D7000 has 35 autofocus points, but only 9 of them are cross-sensors. Personally, I'd rather have 19 autofocus points than 35, if all 19 are cross-sensors. So I don't really buy into the notion that one camera brand is better than another. I think Canon and Nikon are big contenders in the photography world and I think they'll just continue to outdo one another with each new release.
And...
A post just isn't a post without a few pictures...
That's my 'My-husband-is-snoring-and-I-can't-sleep bed' that is located in my office.
It's also doubles as a jungle-gym, a bed for kids with nightmares, a toybox and an area of general congregation.
Coley was making a puppet for Annie.
And Annie was...being Annie...inside-out pajamas and all.
And if you're reading this Josh Downs...We should try that whole Skype thing again as I am confident it will be better this time. I love you.
