Backyards and Butterflys

Our new camera is both fiendish and forgiving. On the one hand, there is nothing automatic about it; so when I crank the ISO up to 1600 to shoot at night it stays at 1600 until someone notices and turns it back down to 200. On the other hand, while shooting at 1600 during the day with most cameras would turn your photo into a Seurat painting; this camera produces some surprisingly cool pictures. You can still see the pixels when you zoom in all the way, but for the most part the blacks and colors came out really rich and saturated.

Anyways, the top pic is one of my favorite Lukas pictures ever. Thanks, Iria and Nikon!

And oh yeah, I’m supposed to mention that the kids chased around butterfly fairies named “Brownie”, “Orangie” and “Sparkles” the grandma. It sure must be fun being a kid, but not so much fun being a butterfly around a kid.

Pencil art

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late, we have had no internet connection at our house for over a week.

Before we start sorting through all of th recent photos, here are some pencil sketches that Katharine has drawn over the past week or so. She still likes crayons, but I think that the pencil enables her to create much more detailed art. I always make sure that I leave a few sharpened pencils in the studio for her every morning when I leave :)

Self Portrait

Alladin and Genie doodles

Family portrait (done during church service)

Happy Birthday, Keira!

Today is Keira's official birthday, and I was saving these pictures that Iria took last week just for this occasion.

Sunday Afternoon

I'm not sure how much longer our internet connection will stay up (I have already lost it once tonight), so here are some semi-in-focus random pictures from Sunday afternoon before everyone left for a choir rehearsal and concert.

Lennon and Keira's Birthday Bash

Our internet has been down for most of the week, but the camera keeps snapping- especially as we celebrate Lennon and Keira's birthdays.

Lennon Noah Doescher - turned 2 on September 19.

Loves: Scooby Doo ("Doo Doo"), vanilla soy milk, books, peeing on the carpet after his bath, and hugs and tickles.

Keira Victoria Doescher - turns 1 on September 22.

Loves: Eating food, remote controls, throwing food on the floor, iphones, smearing a plate full of food all over her head, and being held and cuddled.

Iria made the banner (as well as organized the party), and the kids made the wall art.

We had the party at our church, which is a great facility for such an event. One room was for art and just running around.

The food was also in here.

There was a sitting area outside for mobile phone breaks..

There was a recreation room inside with a lot of fun activities.

Lukas napped on the floor for about an hour after smacking his eye into the corner of the ping pong table while running full speed.

Nolan goes to school here during the week, so he was very familiar with the layout. Here he is motioning "Trust me, I know where I'm going"... but he still had to wait for his Dad to come back first.

Keira's birthday hat,

and Lennon and Keira's birthday candles.

Keira was in fine form, having already smeared about half a scoop of ice cream into her hair before the other kids had finished.

Here you can see Lukas's eye wound, but the nap and ice cream would manage to perk him up again.

Outside was a playground, and we finally saw a bit of sun after almost a full week of rain.

Liam is really into tucking in his shirt and hiking his pants up at the moment, much to the amusement of everyone around him.

Lukas all better.

As usual; the Murphys, Martels and Doeschers closed out another party.

We finally gave out the last of the gift backpacks and everybody headed home (after a quick sneak peek to see what they got).

Fun times!