Sitting on the bench

I LOVE to  open our front door to let the light pour in through our screen door in the afternoons.  However, every time I do I have to keep my eye on Landen.  He's an escape artist and knows exactly how to unlock and open that door.  When we first discovered this, I kept a tight reign and would either skip opening the door (which is a bummer because it lets in so much warmth in the afternoons) or only open it when he was asleep for his afternoon nap.

But as time has passed since this discovery, I've let go of my reigns a little because I began to notice that every time he went out side he never wandered far.  Matter of fact, almost every time that boy goes out,  he makes his way (a little unsteadily) down the stairs and climbs up onto the bench to sit.  And he just sits!  He's still as he watches the cars pass by and shouts out every time he sees a bird overhead.
On this rainy and drizzly morning, it was a perfect spot to sit out of the rain and watch it fall.  And so I let him.

As he made his way out, I decided to grab my camera and sneakily (is that a word?) snap some shots. I wasn't sneaky enough and he caught me, but thankfully he was willing to oblige my picture snapping and sat in his usual spot for me. 

(Sorry about the weird watermark.  I was trying to play with it the other day and couldn't figure it out, but of course, after I made my collage, they showed up - and were all cut off!)

Braeden soon realized what he was doing and began begging to take some pictures of his own.  I like to encourage his creativity, but I'm still a little possesive and careful with our new camera, so we ran inside - all the while Landen sat in his spot on the bench - to find our old point and shoot camera.  It was found and Braeden and I each had our photo sessions with Landen.

It was a sweet little time outside as the rain was falling.  We had fun "capturing" Landen.   It was so pleasant and good to get some fresh air.  And see the little bit of green grass in the corner of the last picture?   Spring is getting nearer in our neck of the woods!

And last, since getting our new camera, it's been fun experimenting with taking pictures and then playing with them on the computer afterward, so here are two of my experiments with the color from our session this morning.

Oh, and yesterday was Palm Sunday, which means only a week until Easter!  It's possibly one of my favorite holidays!  I've been planning and am excited to do some fun and meaningful Easter activities this week with my kiddos!  What kinds of things do you do with your kids to celebrate and prepare for Easter? 


Happy Monday!  :)