Atlas

Monday, May 14, 2012

A New Country and A Photo Adventure

As I promised last week. We have moved on to another country. I put our globe on the table and showed the kids where we were turning our focus this month, we had some discussion about the location; that it is in Africa and that unlike Morocco and Egypt which we have learned about in the past, our new country is waaayyyy down near the bottom of the globe. Then to see if they were paying attention, I spun the globe and asked them to find it. They both found it very quickly. I was so proud. Have you guessed yet, what our new country is?  




Did you guess Botswana? If you did then you win the prize! Ok, there's not really a prize, but you can go ahead and pat yourself on the back for figuring it out. 


If you've been reading my blog for a while now, then you know that the first thing that we do at the start of each new adventure is recreate the national flag. 


The next thing I'm going to share with you is the great big adventure that I get to have every time I take pictures of kids for this blog. It always starts out with me saying something like, "Hey let me just take your picture real quick." Which is followed by at least one fake smile and/or one fidgeter for the "real quick" photo. So, then I have to take another photo. 


Sometimes we take 20 photos just to get one good one. I think it goes without saying that I need a new camera and I can assure you that it is on the list, but even a new camera can't make my kids smile more genuinely or stop acting as if their feet were spring loaded. So, I decided that it would be fun to share some of the "not good for the blog" photos, along with what I might have been saying to them at the moment (or what I might have wanted to be saying). 


"We need to take one more." 
"Oh. That was almost right, but could you just stop wiggling please?" 
"Eliana, please stop giving me the stare down of death." 
"Really kids, this is NOT the worst kind of torture any human has ever had to endure. I promise." 
"Great photo, but did someone lick my lens? It's a bit blurry."
In an effort to not let the moment get too brutal with the same pose over and over while trying to get just one good one, I decided to move them to the table for the photo. 


"Ummm. You guys ARE happy aren't you???"  
New plan: If they don't want to smile. I don't want to make them do it. "Ok guys, hide behind the flag." 
"Wait, Eliana, are you smiling?"
"You are smiling!"
"Oh, you are SO busted! And wait a minute, Aiden, your eyes look a little happy for someone who doesn't want to smile." 
 And the winner is.......
I'm pretty sure the discussion is something like, "Why are you smiling? We aren't supposed to smile."

So, there it is, the national flag of Botswana, along with kids who I am pretty sure are having fun, even if they don't want me to take photos. 


How about you guys, do you have to take a kazillion photos just to get one good one of your littles? Do also have a new camera on your wish list? 



7 comments:

  1. I love your kids' pictures. They really are soo cute! The flag of Botswana looks so easy that even I could make it.

    P.S. I want one of them there fancy smartphones that takes pictures and uploads it to the internet instantly!

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    1. Katy, I was SO thrilled when I saw the flag, it was a super easy one. We have tackled some tough ones (like, Mexico and Egypt), so when we get a simple one, I am usually pretty relieved. At the beginning of the year, when we pulled the countries out of the hat to see which ones we would learn about this year, I was disappointed that Cambodia didn't make the list, but then I saw the flag and decided that some higher power was looking out for me ;)

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  2. Watch out for Saudi Arabia's flag - you'll have to brush up on your Arabic. And Mozambique's is, well, "unique." Perhaps a bit too much explanation for small children...

    Thanks, as always, for sharing your adventures. The photo shoot looks like fun!

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    1. Since neither of those are on the list this year, I can breathe easy for now, though I have to admit that I don't know all of the flags for the upcoming countries off hand, so we could end up with some big challenges this year still. Fingers crossed that they are not too hard to recreate with construction paper :)

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  3. Too funny! My son is probably sick of pictures, but he's not old enough to tell me. :) I have been wanting a nice camera for years, but I've resorted to using my sister's since she left it when she moved. Lucky me. BTW, what a great way to dive into a new country!

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    1. OOH! Lucky you! On both accounts. Soon enough, your son will be telling you that you love your camera more than him and that you promised to only take one, not one hundred. At least, you'll have a good camera to hide behind. ;)

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  4. those two are lookin' good.

    Thom

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