My Surprise

I mentioned on my LONG post about getting rid of Eleanor's binky that Grant gave me a surprise that night. So I came home with a present for Eleanor to open (her new Spot), and I had a present waiting for me to open. Grant surprised me with an early anniversary present and got me a digital SLR camera. He also included that he would help with the kids so I could go to a photography class at Chemeketa (taught by his cousin's husband). It turned out that the schedule of the class doesn't work with nursing a baby and getting to bed at a decent hour, so I'll have to wait for the timing to be better to get very skilled at using it. You may have noticed an increase in the quality of the photos on my Eleanor/Phaedra posts. If not, here's the difference:

Taken with old camera.

Taken with the new camera. I love it! Even with just the auto function, it takes great pictures. Just imagine what I can do when I really learn to use it!

Grant and I had talked about getting a newer/nicer camera, and we even went to look at cameras. I just didn't expect us to upgrade so soon. When I came home to presents wrapped on the table (a camera and accessories to go with it), I had no clue what Grant could have possibly been up to at the moment. What a wonderful surprise!

With all the excitement over the new camera, Eleanor, wanting to be included, kept asking to take a picture with it. I have often let her take pictures with my old camera, but I wasn't about to hand over the new one. So, she kind-of inherited my old one. She was quite pleased with the compromise. We still call it Mommy's old camera. I'm not ready to call it just hers since it's my only way of recording video right now. Here is some of her work as a budding photographer:

Self portrait.

Mommy. She's pretty good at getting people inside the box. It's so cute how she tells me to smile. Sometimes, she'll give me directions about whether or not to open my lips while smiling, providing her own examples of how I'm supposed to do it.

Eleanor likes to take "the little camera" everywhere we go, even to Daddy's work. This is Robin, someone we make sure to visit almost every time we go see Daddy. She used to be in the same building as Grant, but in more recent years, she is in a different building. On this particular visit with Daddy, we got done having lunch together, and Eleanor asked, "Can we go to Robinson's house?"

Story about those frogs: There used to be a little electric water fountain on top of that file cabinet that Eleanor loved. She eagerly looked up there to find nothing except for these frogs that have been hanging around the office without anyone who fully appreciated them. So, the frogs went home with a little girl who would appreciate them and a Mommy who wouldn't. Unfortunately, during the course of travel, the top froggy lost an arm. I didn't try to break it, but maybe I could have been a bit more careful. Oops.

Grant's boss and his friend, as seen from Eleanor's level.

If anyone has photography (as a hobby) tips or good tricks for using a dslr, I'm all ears!