Workshop and photo shoots

It was an exciting weekend for me.  First, let me say how nervous I was to teach a workshop.  I have taught photography many, many times.  The class was always in a setting where I had complete control over the materials and the cameras.  I taught a workshop at an over 55 housing community that was so beautiful.  You could get lost in the village.  I had 23 people in my class and they brought their own cameras.  This is always tricky since each camera has the settings in different places.  Although, each camera has just about the same settings, most people do not know how to use their cameras and I would say a good 50% of them never read the manuals.  It was a fun class and a challenge.  All in all, I got really great reviews (they had to fill out an evaluation) and I am considering doing it again teaching them how to use their cameras.  This one was mainly how to store your images and where you can print them.  I also gave a little instruction on how to take a "good" photo...something a bit more dynamic.

Following the workshop I headed home to meet up with my family, have some lunch and then head back out to take some photos of baby Patrick.  He was so adorable and smiles so easily.  It was nice to have some quiet time with my friend too while I shot a few photos of him.

After the shoot I headed to my sisters house where my family was patiently waiting for me.  We spent the remainder of the night there and had dinner.  My nieces and nephews where there making it an intimate gathering of 10.  (if you know my family, you know this is a small number)  We had a lot of laughs and my family really spoils my kids with attention.  My nieces and nephews all play with both of them...the boys even play barbies with Ava...it is so funny and fun to watch.  Ava really cracks them up and they are all much older..(the youngest a senior in high school).  The kids are at such great ages (my nephews and nieces) because they still like to play and pretend to be little again without having it be a bother.

Sunday we had a quiet day and it was wonderful.  We did the mundane...had some breakfast, went grocery shopping, had a fire and some home made soup.  These days are very few for us because our weekends are always filled with places to run to or work that has to get done.

Here are some photos of baby Patrick...I could just kiss those cheeks!!!