Friday night we took the boys to the township fireman’s carnival at the park by our house and we had a GREAT time! We almost forgot about it until my mom reminded us. She was working as a volunteer at one of the stands for her work.

Here are some pictures from the night. Owen had a BLAST. He just loves rides. He was so excited to see the Ferris Wheel. As he reminded us, it was just like the one from this Thomas TrackMaster set. After we got our tickets we made a bee line for the ferris wheel. He couldn’t wait to get on. From the top you could see the ‘Burg’s skyline and he told Mike…”Look, it’s the big city where mama works!” Too funny!

Owen loves roller coasters and was thrilled to ride this dragon one, but when on the ride he’d yell “HELP” as he passed us. We couldn’t help but laugh. Yes, we’re horrible parents for laughing at our child in distress, but like I said, we couldn’t help it. BUT, when he got off he told us how great it was. I guess that makes our laughing OK, right? He also made sure when the car ride ended to raise his hands in the air to tell everyone he won the race. =)

Benny got to ride his first ride too. He was all smiles. We loved seeing him enjoy it so much.

This was the perfect precursor to our trip to Knobels this weekend. I can’t wait to get Benny on more rides and see Owen enjoy it as much as last year. Question is… will the Whip still be his favorite and will Benny love it just as much?

Our niece Abby (Mike’s brother’s daughter) was out East visiting Grammy & Peepaw Thomas while her mommy and daddy were away on business. We hadn’t seen her since Christmas, so the three came down for a visit on Friday afternoon.

Owen is no longer the red head in our family. Abby now takes the crown. Her hair is as red as it comes and it suites her well. She’s a darling mini version of her Mommy.

Abby & Ben are only 4 days apart in age and are almost the same size. They weigh the same but Ben’s got about an inch or more on her in height. It was neat to see them play together.

We had a nice afternoon at the park and playing in the back yard. Luckily we’ll get to see her again, along with Bill & Sara, in about a month at the Thomas family picnic in July. Too bad they live so far away.

After Abby, Grammy & PeePaw left, we headed to the local carnival (they couldn’t go b/c it was getting late and they had a 3hr drive). It was a BLAST! I’ll post pictures from that later this week.

I haven’t had a “photo shoot” with the boys since the end of January, beginning of February. I decided to dust off the ol’ 40D today to try and take some pics.

Well, we were at my mom’s and the boys wanted nothing to do with being outside. They wanted to be inside with the trains. I was lucky enough to get a few. Nothing too spectacular, but for the 3 minutes I was outside it was better than nothing and it got me back in the swing of things. A few of my settings were off, but hey… this is how you learn.

I now know NOT to use my mom’s backyard for photo shoots and will try again sometime this week at the park by our house. I’m really hoping I might get one of the two of them together, but I’m not too optimistic since I only have one decent photo of the duo in the 16 month’s Ben’s been in our world.

Even though they aren’t perfect, enjoy the cuteness.

All Benny wanted to do was run, so I had a HARD time getting shots of him. I forgot how tough this age is to photograph.

Mike was twirling him around I just snapped quick. It’s soft and blurry, but I love it.

Well, I’m not actually posting this on Friday, but it’s close enough (about 3 hours) and most will read it on Friday anyway!

I just had to post these pictures to make you laugh. We found Owen’s old Elmo sunglasses and put them on Benny. He walked into the bathroom and hopped up on the stool so he could see himself in the mirror. He thought he was so cool! Then he proceeded to try and brush his teeth with O’s toothbrush. OPPS!

Please excuse his dirty, crusty self. It was just after playing outside and eating dinner and well, boys get gross. He went into the bath just after this.

Oh and guess what Mr. B started to do today… WALK DOWN the stairs. Not on his toosh or his belly, but he walked down them all like a BIG BOY! Man is his growing up fast!

Ahhhhh…. when did life get so busy? Yes, I’m still here, enjoying my splendid family and it’s because of them (and the house) that I haven’t picked up my camera much lately or logged on the computer more than to check e-mail and facebook once a day, if that. I’ve been living a lot more off-line and away from being behind the camera lately. I still pick it up my beloved 40D, but it’s been used more as a point and shoot than the artistic tool it should be used for. I’ve even put my business on the back burner. I’m just having so much fun playing with my boys and spending time with my family that the camera and computer (the 2 C’s) have been blown off. Part of me misses it, but the other part of me realizes that I spend way too much time with the 2 C’s. Since I’ve unplugged I’ve gotten so much done around the house, got in precious amounts of cuddle time with O & Benny, and even (gasp!) went on a date with my husband!!

But, I need to learn to fall in love with my camera again because I don’t have many good recent pictures of the boys. I realized this when I bought new frames and didn’t have anything to put in them. 2 months ago I bought a new backdrop stand and seamless paper and I haven’t even opened the box. I think it’s time I jump back on the wagon and try this weekend. I need to put some more time into this hobby of mine to really learn what I should know and not just “fake it till I make it” (which I do more than I should). Granted, I have no plans of going pro, but I want to be able to take good pictures of my boys and capture memories in beautiful images that can be treasured for years to come. I was doing so good there for a while, then I totally let the ball drop. It’s time to break out Understanding Exposure again, get back on my photography message board (I haven’t posted a picture on there in months), and get my learn on. I really really enjoy photography and now that the weather is nice and there is a lot of light, there is no excuse to not dust off my passion and see where it takes me.

Let’s just hope (triple cross your fingers for me) that I will have two willing subjects to practice on. The black box hasn’t been in their face too much over the past several weeks so maybe they will cooperate just once for their mommy.