Light meter, shutter speed, and f/stops - oh my!

My dad gave me a great Digital SLR camera for Christmas. I am so excited to have it and am determined to learn to use it to the best of its abilities. I have already taken some good pictures with it in the auto mode, but I want to do more. So Tracy and I took a basic photography class yesterday. It was really good with lots of information that I am trying to keep straight in my head. Naturally, I am in a hurry to start practicing before I forget what I just learned, so I decided to take some pictures of Emma today after church. She was wearing a precious dress that her Uncle Greg and Aunt Melissa gave her for Christmas. It is still cold here, so I decided to take some inside. I quickly learned that Emma moves too fast for the lighting conditions that I was trying to use. All of the pictures were either too dark - even though my light meter was balanced - or they were blurry. I finally gave up and used the auto feature and got some cute pictures. I will continue to work on my skills - they can only get better. I wonder if you will be able to tell which pictures I took manually and which ones I used the auto feature...
After church we went to lunch with a big group of our friends. Emma drank out of a kiddie cup with a straw like a big girl. This was her first time to drink from a straw and it only took her a few minutes to get the hang of it. It is funny how amazing all these little things are when you see your baby do them for the first time. Everyday she seems to learn something new.

Emma Week by Week - the First Year

It's time to move the week by week picture slide show. I didn't want to take it off the page completely, so I will put it in this post. I am working on a monthly picture slide show to show how much Emma is growing.

Ever left a bathroom with toilet paper on your shoe?

So Grama Thompson taught Emma a new game while we were in Midland. Maybe it isn't fair to say that Grama taught Emma the game, but she definitely encouraged it. I just had to share some precious pictures that we took of her playing this new game this morning... That was a brand new roll.
Doesn't she look like she is having a great time?
Pesky toilet paper didn't want to let go.
At least she helped her daddy clean up after she had her fun.

Thanks Grama! :)