Tales of Tag, Cousins and Smores

I continue to have fun experimenting with my new camera. There are so many things that I can do with it that I haven't even begun to figure out. I am also working on brushing up on my photo editing skills so that I can do all kinds of things with Photoshop. This is a photo I took of Cate running around in our backyard. I kind of like the way it captured her motion...she's pretty much constantly in motion at this age so it seems very appropriate to me. This is a photo I took of Keaton and Stephen. I took several different shots of them together, close ups and a few further away, so I could play around with them. I think we got a few that came out well.

We had a fun weekend with Cate and Keaton, but I had to come to work on Monday just so I could get some rest. I have no idea where these guys get their energy but I'd like to find out and see if I can get some.

Cate helped Stephen with recycling on Saturday morning. This is one of her favorite jobs at the moment. She helps load everything into the car, then goes to the recycling bins with one of us and helps unload it. She is actually a good helper and I think recycling and taking care of the environment are things she should learn about.

Around lunchtime, Cate had her second dance class. I dropped her off for her 45-minute class, then ran to the post office, the car wash and the gas station. After dance, we went home for lunch then Cate and Keaton had their naps. During naptime, I did several loads of laundry, made some cheesecake bars and a pie. Stephen worked on a few things around the house, then put the ladder up outside so he could work on our skylights which seem to leak at the most inopportune times. By the time he got up on the roof, Cate and Keaton were up so we all went outside. Cate and I played ball and a version of "tag" that mostly involved her chasing me around the yard. After about an hour of that, we fixed dinner, everyone got their baths and Saturday was done.....whew. On Sunday, we went to Olathe to visit Stephen's parents. Stephen brother, Ryan, was visiting with his family. Cate had a great time playing with her cousin Quentin who is just a few months younger. They played croquet in the backyard and made smores. As you can see from the pictures, Cate has a very interesting croquet technique. It reminds me a bit of someone chopping down a tree :) But it works for her. She really loved the smores, as did Quentin. Cate kept asking for another "smarshmallow" and Quentin asked many times for more smores.

We started the day out full of energy....this picture of Keaton pretty much sums up how we wrapped up the weekend.