Playing Outside

This past week was my first week of Christmas vacation. I've LOVED every single minute of it. Eli's school didn't get out until Thursday, so I have been a stay-at-home mom for a few days and it's been great! I got to take Eli to school, pick him up, run errands, clean the house (ha-ha, like that happened), and even managed to work in two trips to the coffee shop for a cafe´ latte and some reading time there. (I'm currently re-reading The Hunger Games trilogy. I figured I needed to since the movie comes out in March. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those books, by the way.) I also got to go to Eli's school to do an art activity with his class, attend his Christmas party, and his Christmas play. I would have gone regardless, but it was nice not having to take off work or work around any other schedule. 

Monday after I picked Eli up from school, he and I spent some time playing outside on his new swing set he got from all the grandparents for his birthday. It was such a nice day, so I decided to try out my big lens on my new camera. Josh gave me a Canon Rebel T2i for Christmas this year (YAY!!!!) so I've had lots of fun playing with it. When Josh graduated college, his dad gave him a Canon Rebel (the kind that took actual 35 mm film). For a long time, we were really into photography. We purchased a camera bag, filters, and several different lenses for the camera. Then two years later when I graduated college, digital cameras were just making an appearance and I got a Sony digital camera. I've had a digital camera ever since, and we haven't even thought about the other camera. When Josh ordered my new camera, he made sure to go with Canon again, so all our old lenses would work on the new one. I got out the telephoto zoom lens (75-300 mm) on Monday and had lots of fun taking pictures with it. 

I made sure to get some pictures of Maggie with it, too. It's hard to believe that she's going to be 10 years old in March. Her little face has gotten to be so white, but she's still such a happy dog. Eli loves her and she is great with him. Eli, Maggie, and I had lots of fun playing and enjoying the beautiful weather. It's hard to believe it's December and the weather is still this nice!

Before we went inside, I climbed to the top of Eli's swing-set and took some pictures of the fields surrounding our house. The trees lining the fields were so pretty! I can't wait to see these fields in the spring and the summer. It's going to be a beautiful sight!