Brian just left for work after a week long vacation. I was spoiled having him at home and now I am slightly depressed that he is back at work. Sigh. So to get my mind off of it I am linking up with Jen for 7 Quick Takes while the kids are playing outside. (They don’t return to school until Monday.)

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After two years of waiting and saving I finally got my new camera! So far I had been using my iphone or my old point and shoot camera but I wanted a big girl camera. With the help of my bro Rob (he’s the one that took my main blog banner photo of the bee and red flowers), I finally narrowed down my choices and picked the Nikon 5100. As soon as I got it out of the box (and charged the battery) I started snapping photos of kids in their pajamas and random things around the house. Of course Brian and the kids thought I was crazy but they’ve learned to live with it by now. Here are the first shots I took using the basic autofocus.

~~ 2 ~~

Because I am such a newbie and have so much to learn, I seriously need to read up on some of the basics of photography. (I only recently found out that raw has nothing to do with how to cook a steak.) I know I can go online and read stuff (I’ve been viewing a few You Tube tutorials) but I want a physical book that I can mark with notes and dog ear pages. Any suggestions? Remember the key word is NEWBIE. I’m thinking a “Photography for Dummies” kind of book.

~~ 3 ~~

Speaking of the You Tube, right now the boys are obsessed with Star Wars and particularly Star Wars Legos videos. These two are their current favorites.

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In the evenings Brian and the boys turn off all the lights in the house and take out their glow in the dark light sabers for grand battles. It is hilarious. Meanwhile, Bella and I have our own bonding time after we put the Jedis to bed. She stays up for an extra ½ hour and we watch a movie together while I straighten her hair or fold clothes etc. I recently introduced her to Anne of Green Gables and she was reluctant to watch something so old but she agreed since it was at least in color. (And not the dreaded black and white, or worse, a British period drama like Downton Abbey. Ah, the folly of youth. ;-)) Well, long story short. She fell in love with Anne of Green Gables and dusted off the book set I gave her last Christmas. We’ve gone through Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel and last night we started the old TV show Road to Avonlea. (Was anyone else in love with Gus?)

I know they are also remaking Anne of Green Gables into a 13 part TV series by Breakthrough Entertainment and it was slated to be made in the summer of 2013 but I haven’t heard any other news since last year.

~~ 5 ~~

Speaking of movies, for Easter Brian requested a copy of the movie Milagro De Marcelino Pan Y Vino (2010). It is a remake of the movie the 1955 Miracle of Marcelino. He really loved that 1955 movie, and in fact, when we were trying to decide on a boy’s name while I was pregnant with Andrew, Marcelino was one of the top names on the list. It didn’t make it as a first name but it made it as a second middle name. (All the kids have two middle names.) So our first son’s full name is Andrew Joseph Marcelino. 🙂 Anyway, back to the movie. Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

Friars of a poor war-ravaged monastery find an infant abandoned on their doorstep. Having nowhere to turn in the wake of the war they decide to raise him in the monastery. The child grows into a rambunctious boy fond of playing jokes on the friars with his best friend Eleuterio. Marcelino yearns for a mother as he observes the deep bond Eleuterio shares with his mother. Marcelino’s curiosity leads him to the attic of the monastery: the one place he was warned never go to. While there he is drawn to a statue with a face so full of love that he is compelled to visit it often. Marcelino is too young to realize that it is a statue of Jesus. Thinking the statue looks hungry he sneaks bread and wine into the attic and offers it to the statue. Because of the faith of the child an unexpected miracle occurs.

Brian started watching it and said it was good so far. This weekend, we’ll watch it together after the kids go to sleep (it’s in Spanish with English subtitles so we have to be able to read in peace. 😉 I’ll let you know what I think. In the meantime, here’s the trailer.

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Don’t forget that next week on Tuesday (4/9/13) is the first RoL Pinterest Party Link-Up. You can share a post where you take one of your Pinterest pins and actually make/ create/ cook/ bake it. Not on Pinterest? No problem! Link up your original idea so we can pin it to our boards. It can be a recipe, a craft, a home school project, a themed party etc. Don’t have time to write a post by Tuesday? Feel free to link up an older post of something you’ve already done. It will be a great way to share some of your old posts that haven’t gotten much traffic lately. I hope to see you there!

Oh, and by the way, on Wednesday I shared the two logos I made.

Logo 1

Logo 2

So far the second one has received the most votes. Leave a comment if you want to let me know which you prefer. 🙂

~~ 7 ~~

The kids are coming inside so I better wrap things up. I’ll leave you with one last photo.

Okay, okay kid. I’ll put the camera away. 😉