Playing with PS Elements

Tonight is my last class of Intro to Photoshop. :(
Here's a little "snippet" of what we worked on last week. Isolating spots of color. The first shot is the original and the second I have isolated color in a spot on a B&W image. If only I had more time to practice.......

Original image

Now a B&W image but I left the train in color


Same story here....

The rain has stopped!

It stopped. It has been raining for weeks. Driving me literally insane. I feel like the kids and I have been locked indoors for years! :)
On the rare occasion that the rain has taken a break it has, of course been on a day which I am at work. And what happens on my off days? RAIN!
On Wednesday the clouds parted and the sun came out and we got to get back to the zoo. Yea!!
The kids were NOT angels that day. A little whiney but I was so very happy to be outside I didn't even care when Iz had a little "fit" when I denied her a toy in the gift shop. Poor little girl. :(

I do believe this is the best shot of the day. Thank you Isabel!

They saw this at the same time. Both ran. Fighting began. See her "monkey face"

Jackson got the first turn because Iz was behaving badly. ;)

OK. She's happy. Jackson moved out of her way.

A little "time out" with a bag of chips

Last day of 2yr old "school"

My babies are growing up. It's exciting to watch them change every day, to grow, to be convinced that they are the very smartest kids in the world, to know that they are the most beautiful. But so very sad that they will never be my babies again. I am seriously tearing up right now just thinking about it. I think that is part of why I take such an insane amount of pictures. There are very few events (even small ones) not captured on "film". There are no words to express the love I have for them. I want to remember every single moment.
Friday was their last day of their 2yr old Mother's Day Out. I picked them up and was armed with my camera. I love to spend time with the kids at school. It's fascinating to me to see how they interact with their friends and teachers. This summer the class they will be attending is the Pre-3 class for transitioning 2 yr olds. I was very concerned about how they (especially Jackson) would handle such a change. New teachers and a new classroom. Ugh. He is most definitely the more sensitive of my 2. So when I found out that their current teachers were going to be teaching this class I was THRILLED! So while they will be going to a different room with some new faces, they will have the teachers which they love. I am beyond happy!
These are the shots from the day-

Mommy & her "babies"

Playing with one of their classmates baby sister. They love babies!

She is already "sneaking away" with boys! :)

Hello State Park!

Last Wednesday some people from work had a little gathering at the State Park. The kids woke up from their nap a little earlier than normal so we decided to hurry to catch a little daylight. We eventually made it but instead of the drive taking 15-20 minutes it took like 45min thanks to the horrible freakin' traffic. If I could have gotten off the interstate to turn around I soooo would have. Glad I didn't but I do hate to sit in traffic. Jackson asked every 30 seconds why I wasn't moving. "Go Mommy!". It was borderline painful.
We did end up having a good time, though. Jackson played in the dirt. Literally. He tried to cover his scooter in dirt. Why? I'm told because "he's a boy." Isabel played with new friend, Katie. Katie was 5 and Iz LOVES big kids.

I think this is my favorite shot of the day. It was really, really dark so I had to lighten a little but I love it.

Can you see all the dirt and snot staining his beautiful little face?

I was trying to shoot a sillouette of the girls but as you can see, it didn't work out. BUT, I like it anyway.

A couple more tries on the sillouette. I'm trying.