The Colors of Happiness

The Colors of Happiness
Originally uploaded by kidzmom2009

Just for fun :) I haven't posted in SO long. Just busy...Life, activities, kids, photos...the usual! :) We are all well and happy!

Village Run

Today was the annual village run-- 1km for children 10 years to 14 years, 5km for 14 years and older and 10 km for adults. Krista was able to participate in the 1 km run and we both had a blast! Krista ended up coming in 5th place for her age category and ran very well. She was slowed down a lot by the crowd, but was happy with her results. Initally she thought she was 4th place and was disppointed only because she was SO close to being on the podium. I had a wonderful day myself taking pictures of the action. I am currently trying to master sports photography. It is MUCH harder than portrait work, but I am always up for the challenge! I got a ton of shots that I loved so for me it was a big win! I am really starting to get a feel for the AI servio focusing system. I was happy to have such a fun race today to practice my skills ;)

They all did great! Coming in 3rd, 4th and 5th!!

 The girls with their "dossards"

Here are the kids in the 1km. It was a madhouse! So hard to take pictures and video at the same time! Krista and her two friends are together still (the Asasics sign is the starting line).

More shots of the kids...

And you can see Krista here below #465:

Here's Krista at the finish line in the cool down lane..

And now for some photos of the 5 and 10 km. I had a blast taking these shots!!!

This is the winner. He ran 5km in about 16 minutes.

Here's our friend Michele!! She ran wonderfully!

Check out these guys!!!

There was also a father rolling his crippled child. Always such a moving experience to witness.

And the winner of the 10 km in about 33 minutes!

The trophies!

I took this one of Krista before the race on the walk to the cultural center.

First Day of School!!

They're off! It is officially the FIRST day of the 2010-2011 school year. Am I excited? YES!!!! It is always wonderful to have vacation time, but I do enjoy the routine and flow of the more 'organized' days. So here they are before school today!

Krista age 11, is in 6th grade this year and gets to change schools! Instead of going to the local middle school  for "College", she has decided to go to a school that offers English as a primary language of education. She will still have French, but her primary language will be in English. This will be a big change for her! She was SO excited this a.m. before leaving. Not only does she enter the "middle school" which is a big change in itself, but she is also changing her language of operation. Even though she is fluent in English, it is not easy switching education languages. She will also go to school with Toomas this year and return when he finishes work. The drive is about 30 minutes so it isn't easy for me to just swing by the school anymore.

Erik is entering 3rd grade this year. He will have the same teach as Krista had 2 years ago..so the path is layed out for him. Luckily Krista's teacher like her a lot, but he'll have big shoes to fill!

Kaitlyn is startting full day pre-school this year. It is her 2nd year of pre-school...and although she LOVES school, she was in tears this a.m. when we got there. The coat hangers are about 12 inches higher on the big kid classroom. She wanted to stay in the "petit" section (1st year pre-school). She is in a class with 30 children...17 are in kindergarten (age 5) and 13 are in their 2nd year of pre-school (age 4). This year will REALLY help Kaitlyn progress in the French langage!!!

Photography, Stolen Photos and Summer

Summer is flying by and I haven't posted much. I'm busy either busy with the kids, busy travelling or just up to my photography. As many of you know, I stopped posting on Flickr due to many of my photos being stolen. I thought I was safe since I hadn't posted in awhile and had removed almost all public photos. Today I randomly did a search and guess what? I found another photo. This is irritating, considering the site is advertising a best selling NY times book and my photo is being used WITHOUT my permission, nor royalty. And the blog is a high profile one, receiving nearly 19,000,000 *yes that is MILLION views. I'm very much considering selling stock photography soon, sinse at least I'd see some money from the photos being used. Anyway, rant over... I'll post the link for your enjoyment.

This is the book:

http://1000awesomethings.com/book/

Here is my photo....Sigh. I think I will write the author today.
Day #554. Staying in your Pj's all day..
http://1000awesomethings.com/2010/03/08/554-staying-in-your-pajamas-all-day/

Does anyone in the US want to do me a HUGE favor and check out to see if my photo was used just on the blog or in the book too? Next time your at Borders or Barnes and Noble? Look under Day #554 for me..If the photo is there I'm going to make him pay!!!!!!!!!

Otherwise we are all happy and fine. I really should get some family trip photos up soon. We all have been having a GREAT summer.

Krista's Braces are OFF!

After one full year...it was time to remove Krista's braces! Last Monday was her final day with braces! She looks beautiful and SO much older and more mature :)

Vanaema and Vanaisa Visit France

A LOT has been going on lately and I promise to update soon. Lots of big happenings and much business to enjoy.

Toomas parents came to visit us for Toomas birthday. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time with their Estonian grandparents :)

Krista's Track and Field Competition

Yesterday was a local track and field competition for Krista. She participated in 4 events and improved on each and every one of her individual performances (although I'm not sure about the relay time since it wasn't listed on the site).





Krista had a huge improvement in long jump and she placed 7th out of about 50 girls. Last competition she jumped 3.10 m and this time she jumped 3.62 meters! This is such a great improvment for her. She was thrilled with her result as this put her in 1st place in her club for the long jump.



Her 2nd best event was a 5th place position (out of about 40 participants) in the shot-put. She had previously thrown 5.16 meters and bumped it up to 5.95 meters! Also a great improvment for her.



She ran in the 1000 meter race and improved on her time by 8 seconds. She went from 4"23 to 4"15! She was happy with her overall performance, but the distance run was very hard for her heel. She said that next competition she would rather run the 50 meter race or 50 meter hurdles.





Finally, she also participated in a relay. Her relay team placed 3rd with all 8 lanes filled. Krista ran 1st position and although it was tough on her foot, I think she did wonderfully! I saw a statistic on the site that there were over 70 girl participants.



The season is coming to a close. There is a select event that is coming up (the department competition), and Krista is waiting to see if she will be selected. She would really love to participate, but we will have to wait and see if she is invited. All in all it has been a fun and learning experience for Krista. I'm so happy to see her enjoying this sport. This morning she was thrilled to see her name mentioned on the Club's website among 5 others of her age group, congratulating them for their scores yeterday. Her friend Clara placed 2nd place in the 50 m sprint out of over 50 girls!



As usual I was in my hayday with pictures. I am just so anxious to get a nice sports zoom lens so I can really dig into quality sports photography. I had to take these with my portrait lens, but I was still happy to have captured their fun and action!

My Soccer Baby

« km solidarité », 19 000 students in the run!

Yay, Krista came home with a medal today!  They have been training for this race at school for the last month...running, running, running! The event was held on the border of France and Germany for all local 5th grade students and several schools in Germany. For every kilometre that is run there is a .20 cent donation to the local hospital (Children's Unit). There were 19,000 total in the run and it was divided between 2 days.. Grades 1-4th ran yesterday in their local stadiums. (Erik ran yesterday--he was 1st in his class btw, running 8 laps around the track in 20 minutes!). ALL 5th graders ran together today (4,000 total). Krista's heat totaled 300 runners and she came in 8th place! The first 10 places received medals. She might be on France 3 news tonight. She did a small interview. Last year I believe they made over 7,000 Euros in dontation money!! Such a great idea to have a race like this...It benefits everyone!

Phi and Mathematics in Photography. Nature by Numbers

I adore photography! Yes, you all know that. The more involved I become, however, the more I reazlize how beautiful and complicated photography can be. I just finished up taking some pictures for submission into this month's dgrin contest. These challenges always stretch my abilities as a photographer. The theme for this round is "Golden Spiral" or "S-Curve".

The human eye is attracted to images that follow these compositions. The golden spiral composition, for example is mathematically based on Phi ratios and is sometimes called a Fibonacci sequence, Golden Mean or Golden Ratio. I will include a link to a BEAUTIFUL video based on these compositional principles. Sometimes these compositional principles are called "God's Fingerprint" as many natural wonders are composed according to these Phi ratios. Beauty is mathematical... and composing a photo in such a way as to capture the composition is key to a beautiful image!!!!! I will include my entry (one that I had a lot of fun making), and I will also attach the 2 others I considered entering. In all, I narrowed it down to two "Golden Spirals" and 1 "S-Curve". The one of Kaitlyn I just couldn't resist :)

Here is the amazing video. It is breathtakingly beautiful and shows the compositional elements in nature (one that a photographer should aspire to capture)


Here is the photo I ultimately submitted (complete with Golden Spiral Overlay)...




My S-Curve option:



2nd Golden Spiral Composition

The Girls

Just another one that I adored from this series!! What a great team they make and I was so happy to have captured their sisterness :)

Sharing Secrets!!

Just a cute one that I wanted to get up of the 2 friends sharing secrets. I'm sure there will be more of this as they grow up together.. Just was such a cute exchange. There are a few more I loved from this series too that I will post....

McNeil Consumer Healthcare Announces Voluntary Recall of Certain OTC Infants’ and Children’s Products

I I received an email notifcation from drugstore.com today that several items I had orderd were being recalled. Infant Tylenol and Infant Motrin. These are some of the most common medications for fever reduction in babies and young children....in the world! I'm disappointed to see this happen and I'm also angry to see the recall take place so LATE in the game. These products are due to expire this month! Most people have already used these medications on their babies and don't even know it. Basically if you have used infant Motrin or infant Tylenol in the last year and a half you have been involved. I personally use these very sparingly and noted that I had several unopened boxes in my medicine cabinet. I also found 2 opened and used bottles (used when Evan was teething... or perhaps last winter when he was running a fever with a cold). I have lost faith in a very trusted medical company. Their track rerecord in the last year has been terrible.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare Announces Voluntary Recall of Certain OTC Infants’ and Children’s Products

Other article
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6401AK20100501

Back in April....

Just going through some photos... One of the kids on Easter morning...minus Evan who was thankfully still sleeping for the Easter hunt action. He did join in on the outdoor hunt later in the day :)

Kaitlyn's 4 Year Report

It is absolutely wonderful and amazing to think that Kaitlyn is FOUR years old. Four is such a wonderful age! I am savoring every moment of this time with her. I think that four years old may be my favorite children's age. I love the newness of a newborn baby, but that certainly doesn't last for long..the fatigue hits and then it is more work than pleasure....somewhere around 6 months it gets fun. So I think 6 months maybe be my 2nd most "fun" age also..until the crawling starts and their getting into everything! Two is hard and tiring for the parents, three is easier and fun, but FOUR... I LOVE IT! I think what I love most about the age is that they are starting to become independent and individuals, but also still very cute and small! It is really the best of both worlds. I love how a four year old talks...there is nothing cuter!!!

Kaitlyn at age four-
Appearance
On Friday we have Kaitlyn's 4 year pediatrian visit. I'm looking forward to seeing her stats..but I can say that she is smaller than Krista was at this age. Her feet are so tiny compared to where Krista was at this age. I pulled out a bag of Krista's old clothes that she wore at age 4, and most of it is too big. Kaitlyn is wearing size for age clothing 4T fits nicely...whereas Krista always seemed to wear a size higher than her age *(ie 5T at age 4).

Kaitlyn has the BLUEST eyes. I think her eyes are the most brilliant of all the children. Everyone has blue in the family but her eyes just glow. She has a very nice complexion..more towards Erik and Toomas' complexion, with a tendancy to be less sensitive in the sun. Krista has a lot of freckles, but Kaitlyn will probabally not have that skintype--although it is still a bit early to tell for sure. Her bangs have FINALLY grown out. We have been trying to get her hair one length for some time now and for about a year it was difficult and messy. I think we have rounded the hump now and she can get the back trimmed to the length of the front. It is much darker than Krista's hair. At this age Krista was very blonde, while Kaitlyn has a much darker color, although still with a lot of red and blonde highlights.

Socialization
Kaitlyn started French pre-school in September and in the last 8 months has made GREAT strides! In the last month she has started speaking more and more in French. I am abolutely astounded at how quickly the language has come for her. By far she has excelled in the communication front vs the older kids. She can use sentences already and has a good amount of words. She has managed to make friends already at school as well....and has been invited to a birthday party and a lunch date at another girl's house. For Erik and Krista the friendships and language skills were developed in the 2nd year of pre-school. I'm really happy to see her integrate so easily.

Language
Kaitlyn has definately had more exposure to French at this age than Krista did at this age (with the older children's activities and outings), but honestly she didn't speak a word of French before September. Toomas speaks exclusively Estonian to the children and I speak exclusively English. Our "dinnertable" language is English so that is by far the stronger of the the 2 languages. I would say that Kaitlyn is sligthly behind her age level for English perhaps...just due to the fact that her brain is already having to process and store words in 3 languages. It seems to me that for a few years the maternal language, although still very good...is slightly under par for the average "native" child for the same age. She still does very well but does make a number of grammatical mistakes.


Interests
Kaitlyn is a very active little girl. She loves riding her bike, swinging on the swingset, running in the yard and playing with the big kids. She is very coordinated and agile. She loves to dance and imitate Krista's gymnastics moves. She talks often about ballet and will most likely start taking ballet classes next year. This year she is involved in baby-gym which she loves. She is always so excited for Friday to roll around so she can go to her baby-gym class. Definately the highlight of the week for her. She loves drawing and playing with her dolls. She loves dressing up and doing her own hair. Recently she has had a passion for taking large shopping bags and filling them with various items around the house. I suppose this is in imitation of a shopping trip, but it sure is a tough job for me to put all of the items away! She goes from room to room putting in a few objects that strike her fancy. When I see one of these 30 pound "treasure bags" I cringe! It is sure cute to see what she decides to put inside though. I try my best to be patient!!! She loves playing with either Krista or Erik and tries her best to play what they want so that she can be included. This usually means she will dress up as a police officer if need be in order to play with Erik... or have her nails painted and hair braided when playing with Krista. Kaitlyn loves music and for her birtday received a kidi-zoom Vtech camera which also is a mp3 player. I've downloaded some of her favorite songs (Barbie princess songs and Alvin and the Chipmunks) and she LOVES it!

Personality
FUNNY! This is the one word for Kaitlyn. She is a CHARACTER!!! Definately has a strong willed personality. She loves to laugh and make others laugh. She is a true individual! Not a follower and definately not passive!!! We love Kaitlyn dearly, but she can be very very strong willed and opinionated at times....perhaps this will be an asset in life! I truly hope so!

Kaitlyn is FOUR!

Happy 4th Birthday to Kaitlyn!!! Here are a few shots from this a.m. before school. The cake is the one we made for school. A M&Ms masterpiece :) I also took a picture of her in her classroom and need to head off to pick the kids up as I type! I'll post an update of the fun later :)

Okay, the brief update...McDonalds for lunch...brownies for dessert and she opened a few presents at lunch. She was one TIRED girl after lunch and is currently taking a deep nap as I type. I need to go wake her up for her baby gym class.

Oh..and one GREAT photo that I love is the one her nursery school teacher took of her and her classmates. I lent her a camera and she snapped a few shots :) More photos tonight!