Evie went on her very first sleepover last week. She has stayed overnight with Grandma a couple of times, but Zach has always been with her. This time she went all by herself. Granted, she was spending the night at my brother’s house, but it was still a pretty big deal. It was her first overnight with a girlfriend. From the sounds of things, she got spoiled rotten and had a really great time with her cousin Caitlin. I was even a little jealous because she got to go to the zoo while I was stuck at work.
Thursday night was my nephew Ryan’s preschool graduation. I got handed the task of taking photos of the kids as they walked across the stage (which I didn’t mind at all). For some reason I decided to take the plunge and shot the entire thing in manual mode. I’ve played around with manual before, but never felt confident enough to use it when I was shooting anything important. I finally felt like I was ready, shot a bunch of test shots before hand, and just did it. I did end up with some bad shots, but I also ended up with some really good shots, so it was a win in my books. My biggest problem was trying to focus and keep focused when the kids were moving so fast across the stage.
The best part of the graduation though, was watching my sister. Since she’s my sister, I don’t always think of her as being someone’s teacher, but she is without a doubt the best preschool teacher I’ve ever seen. Her love for the kids she teaches shines through in everything she does. She had a bit of a hard time getting through the ceremony (especially when it was Ryan’s turn to walk across the stage) but I think that just shows how much she cares about those kids. This is what she was meant to do and it shows.
On Saturday, my mom and I got up bright and early to walk in the Hillcrest Walk for the Homeless. It was my first 5K of the year and I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t thrilled to wake up to rain, but I didn’t let it dampen my spirits! The walk went great, aside from the big blister on my toe. I personally ended up with $215 of pledges and was thrilled with that considering I had less than a week to ask for donations. I want to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who gave. I know money is tight for a lot of people right now, and that just makes me even more appreciative. I was just recently introduced to the Hillcrest program and it is something I definitely want to support in the future.
And now here are some random pics I took of my kids while doing my test shots on graduation night.
