More practicing with the camera

I've still been practicing with the camera, although I've also started playing with watercolor painting a bit as a hobby to have a little time to myself. I'm definitely not well-developed in either area, but I'm making progress with both. I've tried to capture lots of different activities we've been doing during this whole COVID-19 experience, so here are some of the more exciting ones:

I take the kids on a walk several times a week. Usually the older ones just want to stay home and play in the backyard, but they come with us sometimes. Just Leif and Natalie came on this walk.

I like to make cookies almost every Sunday and Asher helped me this day:

Spaghetti face:

Austin has been doing more woodworking and the kids love to help him. Here is making one of the marker holders he made- one for my watercolor markers and one for the kids' school markers.

The kids have been exploring our large collection of board games and have decided that they love Apples to Apples. They like to do everything on the trampoline, so thought playing a game would be fun.

Where's Natalie? This girl loves to play peek-a-boo

And here's captain underpants. He's still trying to get the hang of this potty training business, but likes to get in underwear when everyone else strips down to wrestle or roll around in blankets.

Blueberry Pancakes and a Dance Party

 Two nights out of three as we are getting ready for bed (or after I've already put him to bed and he's gotten out) Trevor says to me "Guess what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow", to which I know to respond "Blueberry Pancakes?!" and he replies "YEP!"
I only make blueberry pancakes once, maybe twice, a week, but he is always enthusiastic to have them. We've been eating them a lot more often lately, so I thought I should document them- especially since it gives me more opportunity to mess around with the camera.

 Natalie loves blueberry pancakes and was especially excited to try to feed herself since I was occupied with the camera and trying to make sure the pancakes didn't burn.

 Tensions were running a little high this morning (possibly related to everyone being stuck at home all the time, possibly just because that happens sometimes) so to lighten the mood, Austin started blasting 80's music on the speaker. He knows that's a good way to get me to have more fun and I made the younger kids dance with me (Asher and Leif more or less refused as they were busy building a fort). It took awhile, but eventually Heidi warmed up, put on her best dancing dress, and came to spin around with me. We did lots of crazy dancing and singing (I did anyway with Natalie clinging on to me) and I got some fun pictures of Heidi spinning around. (she just loves to model for the camera!)

 I finally got Natalie just to play on the floor so I could take pictures

Photography practice

I played around some more with the camera today- I find that none of my other kids are as willing and eager a model as Heidi is, so I get better pictures of them when they are doing things they normally do

 

Austin has been finding more time for his woodworking hobby and offered to make me a holder for our schoolroom markers. He's also working on a jewelry box for me, but he's hand carving the top and still trying to figure out how he'll put together the rest of it, so it will probably be awhile before that's finished. He's also making spoons with the kids :) Maybe I'll try to document that with my slowly improving photography skills in the future