growing up.

This morning Everett picked out his own clothes and put them on himself for the first time. Who cares if they didn't match. He did have a bit of trouble with the shirt being on inside out. details.

Then at breakfast he proceeded to bring up The Weather Channel's app and inform us what the weather was going to be today (THUNDERSTORMS!)

I found this all very amusing.

Everett with Mom

P3040022, originally uploaded by kmwinter.

Isaac's new bed

Isaac's new bed, a set on Flickr.

We finally got Isaac a real bed. He kind of forced our hand. He kept wanting to hang out on Everett's bed and threw fits when we tried to take him to his room to sleep.

So now he has his own. He's happy about it.

Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012, a set on Flickr.

Made the round trip through northern Indiana over christmas. Here are some photos.

the new camera is awesome.

Elfin, originally uploaded by kmwinter.

that is all.

more

9th Ammiversary

PB010016, originally uploaded by kmwinter.

new camera again

We bought our first SLRish camera 3 years ago.  I was a complete newb to photography. I ended up taking most of the family photos and found that I really enjoyed photography.  It's the right mix of creativity and geeky.

I'm still not very good at it. but I enjoy it.

I've gone through something of a 1/3rd life crisis recently. One aspect of it is the realization that I have very few hobbies anymore.

Growing up I had interests that I dove deep into. I was into band. i was in to running track. I was good at these things. Unfortunately, these aren't things that I could take with me into adulthood.

I was always into computers but now that computers are my day job I have a hard time getting excited to sit down and write more code in my free time.

I am fortunate that I picked up cycling in college. But my excitement for that comes and goes. It's also not family or winter conducive (last-name based pun trap avoided successfully).

So photography has developed into something of a hobby for me. It's something that allows me some creative output outside of my profession. It also has a very long learning curve. There's always more to learn and skills to develop.

So the three year old G1 was/is a good camera. However there has been much progress made to correct the major shortcomings of its system. And I was having to spend alot of time in post processing to get the photos looking how I'd like them. I started getting an itch for a new camera to make things easier.

Since I had several very good micro four thirds lenses I wanted to stay with that format. I was also looking for something smaller and more portable. I tend to be an opportunistic picture taker (you have to be with kids. and not much equipment.) and i'd like to be able to carry the camera around as much as possible. I wasn't keen on giving up the view finder and swivel screen on the G1.

the Olympus E-M5 checked off all the boxes. It's also regarded as having the best image quality and low-light performance for the system. Unfortunately it all comes at a high price.

I talked abby into getting a discounted referb. It arrived Monday so I've had a few days to shoot with it. Unfortunately not in time for a trip to the children's museum or to an IU basketball scrimmage. But in time for Halloween.

What I struggle with now is finding interesting subjects to capture. Taking pictures of kids is great and all, but I need something new. I need to get out more. I'm hoping to use this as an excuse.

Jordie

PA310081, originally uploaded by kmwinter.

For the weeks leading up to Halloween everett insisted on dressing up as a ghost. So we bought him a ghost costume.

I took him to the "Haunted Hall of Hoops" in Bloomington the sunday preceeding Halloween. It was a basketball scrimmage but kids were invited to come in costume. Knowing that there would be photos and such I didn't want him to have a sheet over his head in all of them. So I convinced him to go as an IU basketball player.

So fast forward to Halloween day. The kids were supposed to wear their costumes to school that day. He had the ghost costume on for no more than 30 seconds before he decided that he didn't want to be a ghost for halloween. He wanted to be a basketball player. #1 Jordan Hulls, to be specific.

His jersey was dirty from Sunday so we had to send him to school as a ghost. Abby dropped him off so I wasn't there, but apparently he was bawling when Abby left. I don't think he wore the ghost costume at all during school.

So for trick'n treating Everett was a basketball player again.

more photos here

personality

P1190415, originally uploaded by kmwinter.

Abby ran

P1190353, originally uploaded by kmwinter.

Abby ran her first half marathon Saturday. She did really well. We're proud of her.