cannon ball!

Alright, a few people asked so I'm posting the cannon ball series from yesterday :-)

Matthew's championship game is tonight. It's supposed to be 97 and sunny so it shouldn't get canceled this time.

Edited to add settings:
ISO320
ss 1/3200
f4

Focus is the most difficult part of this. I figured I wouldn't be fast enough to focus on him as he jumped. In his first jump, I focused on him where he started. It was okay but softer than I would have liked. For this one, I focused on the edge of the pool. I knew he'd be in front of that spot but it would be closer than the first attempt. Once I got focus set, I told him to go and started shooting as soon as he jumped up (high speed continuous shooting) and continued until after he hit the water. Hope that helps :-)

150/365 my view

from my lounge chair this afternoon. The kids were so excited that the pool opened this weekend. They've been waiting for months. We happened to arrive at the same time as Emaleigh and Matthew's friends, Hannah and Kenneth, and their parents. It was nice to sit with BJ and talk while the kids and husbands swam. The rest of the neighborhood was there already or arrived after we did. lol

I got Matthew to do a cannon ball for me. I was going to post the whole series but decided to spare y'all and just go with the big splash at the end.

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day!

149/365 my view

from my spot in the shade this afternoon. Matthew on Anthony's shoulders, Taylor on Devonte's. Em staying well out of the way and Joshua right up next to all the action. And a random child in a blue t-shirt. We had a great afternoon hanging out at the lake with awesome friends.

It's not wonderful but it's all I took today. So it'll do :-)

148/365 panning

Matthew was willing to help me out with my first attempt at panning today. But he was a bit disappointed that it didn't turn out as good as the example I showed him online {sorry, Bud, I'm just not that good}. This was harder than I thought it would be. My settings were: iso100, f11, ss 1/30. When I tried a lower shutter speed, everything was blurry. I didn't use a tripod, which might have helped. Any recommendations?

147/365 postponed

Matthew and his team won game 4 of the playoffs last night. It was a close one. Really close. The score ended up at 6-5. They were supposed to play the championship game(s) tonight. But I looked at the weather report for today and decided I better get a back up photo, just in case. Good thing I did because his game was canceled for tonight. It started raining just after 5 and completely soaked the field. So they will play on Tuesday.

146/365 locked

Just a quick shot of the lock on the tennis courts today. Nothing too exciting.

145/365 game 3

Playoff game #3 was last night. Matthew's team, the Rams, played the Gamecocks, who are ranked #1 in their age group. The Rams played hard and did really well but ended up losing 6-11. It's double elimination so they play game 4 tonight. If they win tonight, they'll play for the championship tomorrow night. So, baseball pictures are almost finished. Until fall ball starts ;-)

I had quite a few decent ones but I'm limiting myself....to 6.

Austin

Matthew, safe on first after hitting a single.

And scoring a run.

Austin, safe at 3rd

It was getting dark/cloudy so I had to up the ISO on these, making them more noisy than I would have liked.

144/365

I went with Joshua's class on a field trip today to a local park to learn about animal habitats. We survived the 100+ 2nd graders, 97 degree weather and bad attitudes (teachers, not the kids. And not Joshua's teacher) and had a good time. Josh and I saw this as we were walking home from school this afternoon. No idea what it is.

Now I need a nap.

143/365 jen's flowers, again

My neighbor, Jen, emailed me this morning to tell me that a tree in her yard had blossoms on it, in case I needed a subject for today. {I love it when neighbors turn into friends. <3 } She knows me so well....I always need a subject! lol Anyway, I walked down to her house after lunch and shot a few of the blossoms in the tree but they weren't really working how I wanted them to. But then I noticed this little one in her front yard.

Thanks Jen!

142/365 my baby

Just a quick shot of my baby this afternoon.

I told him on Friday about everyone that's moving to the new school and asked if he wanted to go too. He said yes. Today he asked to drive by and see it. So we did that and he thought it was very cool. He's excited about starting 3rd grade at the new school :-)

141/365

Matthew's first playoff game was this afternoon. It was close the entire game and relatively uneventful. The score was tied 4-4 at the end of the 6th inning (they only go to 6). Matthew ended up scoring their 5th run to win the game. The other team wasn't able to come back and score any in the bottom of the 7th. I wanted to get some action photos but there really wasn't a lot of action to get. Matthew made a great catch in right field but I missed it :-( So here is yet another batting photo. I cropped it a bit differently and I'm not sure I like it. What do y'all think? He hit it, though it doesn't look like it. It went down the 1st base line and ended up being foul.

140/365

Cloud has recently discovered the joy of sitting in an open window. He loves this one in the living room because he can see everything happening out on the street.

I'm making an effort to be more open and personal, so.....
Thank you for all your prayers/thoughts for Joshua yesterday. He was diagnosed with ADHD and ODD in kindergarten. He participated in Developmental Therapy part of the day and was in his regular class the rest of the time, until part way through 1st grade. It (along with medication) helped him a lot but we still thought we were missing something. His psychiatrist, DT teacher and I all thought he might be on the autism spectrum, possibly Asperger's. He was evaluated this past winter and we got a diagnosis of PDD-NOS at the end of March. He started the very next day in a resource room with an absolutely amazing teacher, Ms. D. He's shown quite a bit of improvement with her, both in his behavior and his grades. Meanwhile, it was announced in November or December that his current principal would be going to the new school they are building nearby. We were bummed. Mrs. B has been wonderful in helping us help Joshua and we were sad to lose her. But we figured he'd be okay as long as nothing else changed. Well, Wednesday I found out that Ms. D, Mrs. A (the speech teacher we want for him), Mr. G (the vice principal who has also been wonderful and who Joshua loves and has a lot of contact with) and Ms. M (the school psychologist), along with quite a few of the teachers and staff members from his current school, were all moving to the new school as well. Joshua does not do well with change and we just could not imagine losing all of them. He NEEDS to stay with them. So I emailed someone at the district office yesterday and asked for him to be transferred to the new school. That request was granted and we are very happy. I believe that everything happens for a reason. I also believe that if something isn't in God's plan for us, it won't happen. The speed and ease of everything yesterday confirms for me that Joshua is meant to stay with the people he loves and does so well with, even if that means switching schools to do it. I don't have the words to express how grateful I am to everyone at his current school for everything they've done for and with Joshua. Especially Mrs. B, Mr. G, Ms. D and all of his amazing teachers.

Sorry, I know that was long but if I was going to tell any of it, I had to tell all of it. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

139/365 bright new day

I got up with Em this morning a few minutes after 6, made sure she had what she needed and then plopped down on the couch in the living room. I could see out the door to the deck from my spot on the couch and noticed a little pink in the sky up over my neighbor's house. A minute later I looked again and saw this.

I did almost nothing to this photo-just a little sharpening, slight levels and contrast adjustment. I didn't touch the color at all.


We're dealing with some news at school that's got us scrabbling to make some changes for Joshua. Nothing bad, just unexpected. It's way too much to type out here but for those of you who do, please pray that the right thing for Joshua will be done.
Quick update: Our request was granted :-)

138/365 make a wish

I headed outside again this afternoon with the camera in search of something to shoot. Again, my plan was to go to the park. Clementine was annoyed enough yesterday and was no where to be seen ;-) I shot a few things at the park then noticed this dandelion in my front yard on the way to get the mail. Someday I really will post something from the park.

I'm sure the neighbors think I'm crazy (right Jen??). I was sitting on the ground waiting for the breeze to stop so I could get this. They must really wonder about me sometimes....lol

137/365 clementine

I went out with the camera this afternoon to find something to shoot. My plan was to go to the park but I saw Jen's cat, Clementine, hanging out in our front yard so I decided to bother her instead ;-) Alex was NOT happy to see me giving attention to the cat. Isn't she gorgeous?

She was staring at the dog, who was barking at her over the fence.

136/365

Good morning! Just a little flowery bokeh to hopefully brighten your Monday :-)

{It looks like flickr is oversharpening again :-(}

135/365 more baseball

It was a nice afternoon for some baseball. I wanted to post about 13 photos from today but I'm trying to control myself ;-) This is the official photo for the day. Feel free to skip the rest.

Last minute advice from one of the coaches.

I'm bummed I missed getting the ball in the shot. This was right before he caught it. I can't remember if the runner was safe or not.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

134/365 rained out

Matthew had a baseball game this afternoon and my plan was to make my photo for today something game related. But it started pouring rain on the way to the game. Complete with thunder and lightening. We waited at the park to see if they were going to call the current game and cancel the rest for the day. They did end up cancelling and rescheduling for tomorrow afternoon. So I had to improvise. It's still baseball related, right? ;-)

Shot through the back window of the van. Isn't that rain bokeh pretty? LOL

133/365

I noticed these flowers along the Parkway during my walk yesterday and decided to go back with my camera this afternoon. It looks like I just missed the sprinklers :-)

132/365 superhero conference

{I apologize to those who saw this yesterday and commented on it. Blogger deleted it and it looks like it's not coming back so I'm posting again}

I was cleaning off the kitchen counter this morning and noticed Joshua's kids' meal action figures having a conference. This is how he left them-they weren't moved :-)

Don't let the photo fool you. "Cleaning off the counters" consists of shoving everything that will fit into the dishwasher and stacking everything that won't along the wall, putting all the papers and other junk into one pile and ignoring everything not immediately seen ;-)

131/365 naturey stuff

I stopped by one of my favorite spots this afternoon, looking for some flowers to shoot. I usually go to the Lake House, which has 2 ponds by it {watch for alligators} but decided to go to the Children's Garden today. It's a nice little area with play houses, gardens and another pond. I walked down toward the pond and noticed an open area with long grass and um....weeds? I have no idea what these are.

I love going there. In addition to the Lake House, Children's Garden and multiple ponds, there are big open areas, a big red barn, trails through the woods. They hold the Farmer's Market there on Tuesdays and it's where the carnival was a few weeks ago. And it's less than 5 minutes from my house :-)

Hope y'all are having a great week!

130/365 basball. again.

{I took these last night but was too tired to post them}

Matthew had another game last night. He has one more this week, then 2 make up game next week. Then playoffs. He played 2nd and 3rd base yesterday and did a good job. He had 2 great catches at 3rd to get the batter out but I didn't get either of them on camera. He got walked once and had 2 good hits but one of them got caught.

It was starting to get dark so I had to up the ISO on the next series. The settings are: ISO640, f4, ss 1/1000.

He was safe. The catcher didn't have the ball yet :-)

And just because he's cute.....

129/365 jumping for joy

We are jumping for Joy today. Last summer, my younger sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy, chemo and radiation. Today was her last day of radiation. Hence the jumping for Joy ;-) I wish I could give her a great big hug right now but hopefully I'll be able to soon.

Our grandma had breast cancer 5 or 6 years ago but other than that, we don't have a family history. Especially at such a young age. She was 33 when she was diagnosed. She just turned 34 last month. Too young even for the "early" mammogram if you have a family history.


I'm totally not happy with the jumping photo but it's all I took today and I can't look at it any longer. So I'm posting another one to make up for the awfulness. This is from Matthew's baseball game Friday night.

128/365 matthew and grandpa

I grew up living in the same city as both sets of my grandparents. I saw them a lot-they watched us when my parents went out, we {my sister and I} stayed at their houses over night, helped grandma S in her garden, got ice cream with grandpa N.....

One thing that's difficult about living so far away is that my kids don't get those kinds of experiences with their grandparents very often. We see them maybe 2 times a year, sometimes 3. Despite the distance, Matthew and Joe's dad have a special bond. Matthew loves to go fishing with grandpa. They both like baseball. I love watching them together. Joe's parents are here right now visiting and I was able to catch Matthew and grandpa in the backyard this afternoon throwing the baseball.

Happy Mother's Day!

127/365 take me out to the ball game....

Matthew had another baseball game this afternoon. They played really well but ended up losing 13-17 in double over time. Matthew played center field. He had one amazing catch and did really well backing up 2nd base. He batted 5 times and got 4 hits.

I'm posting a few more than I usually do-sorry. The following series was all shot from 12:54:06pm-12:54:08pm.

I wanted to get Matthew sliding into home but he didn't need to. So I just got the next person who did ;-)

Just trying something different with this one...