I Can Take Pictures Again!

Well, at least I think I can. Do you remember the camera crisis from last week? The one where I dropped my camera and messed it up so bad I could no longer take pictures? Well we ordered that Canon PowerShot ELPH and ended up hating it. It was all so irritating to me. I NEED a camera. I need it for blogging purposes, but I hated not having it around to grab when something funny went on with the kids, which happens on a daily basis around here. So Thursday Brian started researching cameras again, and he decided to take the DSLR plunge! We are now the proud owners of a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera!

Even though I have this new camera, I have no idea how to use it. Until we figure it out, it is on full auto mode, so at least I can take pictures. We played with it some over the weekend, but we are definitely going to have to get all of the different settings figured out. I am not 100% happy with the photos I took, but I'm sure once I learn how to use the camera they will be better. Now I just need to find some time.

It was a rainy weekend here in Central Florida. It started raining early Saturday morning, and as I sit here and write this on Sunday night, it is still raining. We had a fun weekend planned, and while the rain didn't totally ruin our weekend, we did change our plans around some.

We headed out Saturday morning to celebrate Camryn's 2nd birthday. Isn't she a cute little birthday girl?

As soon as we arrived at the party, Rylie spotted the face painter. We are very familiar with Ooh La La Face Painting from different local events, and Rylie was ready to get in her chair. Once Payten finished getting her princess face, Rylie requested yet another butterfly. We all just shook our heads, because we knew that was coming. Viva changed the colors up this time, so at least she could have a different butterfly.

Viva did a great job as usual, and I think my favorite this time was Colt's spider. Check out this handsome little dude with his scary spider face!

The kids weren't the only ones getting their faces painted. Some of the dads joined in too. The birthday girl's dad decided to be a panda, and my husband went for the scary monster eye.

Rylie thought it was very cool that Daddy got his face painted, and was happy to pose for a picture with him. Too bad her butterfly had recently flown through a downpour of tears and was a little smeared. Bryce, on the other hand, didn't quite know what to think. I think he was just glad he didn't have to sit in that seat!

Even though the rain forced the cancellation of the bounce house, the kids still had a great time. There was a craft table where they made little foam door hangers, a Pinata (that ended up resulting in meltdowns for a few of the kids who couldn't get to the loot, one of which was mine) and, of course, cake! I had a great time catching up with some friends that I haven't seen in a while. It's a good thing for these birthday parties, so at least we all have excuses to take time out of our crazy lives to get together and catch up!

Once it was time to leave, the kids went around to give hugs. First up was Payten, the birthday girl's sister.

Then Bryce decided that Camryn needed a kiss. Just look at the little ladies' man!

Yep. He'll be breaking hearts one day.

After the party we headed over to IKEA to pick up a TV stand that Brian found for his giant monstrosity of a TV that will be here this week. Yeah, not only did we have a camera crisis, we had a TV crisis too, but I'll save that story for a later date. Can someone please tell me what the fascination with IKEA is? Granted, I have still not been in the store (I decided to stay dry with the kids in the car while Brian ran in), but from the looks of the parking lot, you would have thought they were giving away free money at that place! It's just cheap furniture and cute decorations, right? Or am I missing something?

Once Brian had his TV stand, we headed home to get ready for the evening festivities with my friend Carol and her family. They came up for the weekend so that we could take the girls to Arabian Nights. Rylie and I headed out in the pouring rain to meet them at the show. Unfortunately, it was raining so hard when we got there that I did not want to risk getting the new camera wet, so I left it in the car. The only picture I have is this blurry cell phone shot of Camdyn and Rylie waiting for the show to start...

The show was a lot of fun, and the kids loved it! Even though it started past Rylie's bed time, it held her attention and she really enjoyed watching it. There was one part that scared her some, but the rest of it was great. She loved the genie and the princess, and seemed to follow along with the story pretty well.

If you haven't heard of Arabian Nights, it is a dinner theater here in Orlando. The food is decent and the show is a lot of fun for adults and kids. If you are going to be visiting Orlando and want to get away from the theme park madness for a night, I definitely recommend checking it out. It is pricey, though, so make sure you look around for discounts before you buy tickets.

We were supposed to meet up with Carol and her family again Sunday morning for some fun at Downtown Disney, but since it was still raining, they decided to just pack up and head home. Downtown Disney isn't much fun in the rain. Instead, we did some chores around the house, went to lunch and did a little shopping. I found these great winter coats at The Children's Place that were on sale, and then I got extra discounts on top of that price, so the coats (along with everything else we "needed") ended up being pretty cheap. No, we don't really need winter coats here, but we do go up to Alabama every year after Christmas, and the kids need something a little thicker than what they wear here.

I hope you all had a great weekend, and have a wonderful week ahead! For me, it just needs to stop raining...