Teaching Photography

My friend Sarah has a 14-year-old niece who is interested in learning about photography, so I jumped at the opportunity to help. I took a couple of photography courses in high school (back when we had film and dark rooms) and have been honing my skills every since. I was definitely excited to pass on my knowledge!

First thing's first, it's always fun to jazz up your camera with a personalized camera strap, so Sarah got her niece to pick out some fabric and I used my sewing skills (as well as my strap as a guide) to create this (reversible!) beauty:

B's camera strap

The next thing I did was create this simplified camera (I call it a "light box") to help visualize the three main functions of a DSLR camera: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

Shutter speeds -- fast or slow

Aperture -- wide or narrow

ISO -- high or low sensitivity

Some notes

B came over yesterday for our first "photography session". After showing her the light box and going over her camera functions, we went out and had some fun! The nearby pond was a great place for taking pictures.

We also got some shots of moving objects: kids! The girls were happy to pose and play for B's pictures.

The first session was a success, and now it's just a matter of practice, practice, practice! Can't wait to see her skills develop over time.

Frozen Birthday Planning

It's time to start planning Emily's Frozen-themed birthday party (coming up in 2.5 weeks!). I made save-the-dates for Emily's classmates in June, and now I need to think about decorations, activities, and food. Pinterest has a lot of inspiration -- it's just a matter of choosing the ones I want/can do. Here are some of my favourites so far:

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Fake snow in summer -- looks fun!

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Who doesn't like bubbles?

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A Frozen rock collection! (Craft for the kids)

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Crafts and cutouts

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Movie-watching Station

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I don't plan on playing the movie at her party, but I do believe that the mini movie Frozen Fever will be available, so that would make a perfect 10-minute activity!

And here are some Frozen-themed food options... My favourite is the "melted Olaf" snack.

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Snowflake cupcake toppers -- looks like something I can do

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I'm still trying to decide what to do for loot bags, but I do like these little snowflake clips to tie it all together:

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Thank you Pinterest/the internet! What an endless source of inspiration.

July Birthdays

A great part about having a large extended family is that there are birthday celebrations nearly every month! This month we celebrated cousin Roger turning 10 and Auntie Kirtie turning 26. The party was at our cousins' house yesterday -- food, play, presents, cake!

Happy Birthday Roger and Kirtie!

♥

Family Visit

Uncle Mike and cousin Kuka are visiting from the Czech Republic this week, so we headed over to Nanny and Papa's house for dinner and catching up. Uncle Brett came all the way from San Francisco too to see his brother and family.

Cousins meeting for the first time

On Emily's must-read list

The girls always find such interesting toys at Nanny and Papa's house (mostly old boys' toys from the 1980's). Hooray for Transformers, Ninja Turtles, He-Man, cars, trucks, and various gizmos with moving parts!

Kuka enjoying the sticker book we got for him

Time for backyard golf!

... and dessert!

Ice cream bars for Jessi & Mommy, crackers for Emily!

Today we hosted the visitors for a late-morning brunch. The highlight was revisiting an old favourite: Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo:

Enjoy the rest of your visit, Mike, Kuka, and Brett!