This and That

My days have been filled with shooting, editing, and butterfly rearing lately.  God has really blessed me in those areas which has left little time for blogging.  But I thought I'd pop in for a moment to share a few pics.  Okay, maybe more than a few.  :)

August consisted of:

A lot of this ...

And this ...

And this ...

And lots of this ...

And let's not forget my lovely assistant on several occasions ...

But August wasn't ALL work.  We did squeeze some family fun in too.

We spent a day at Idlewild.  Nick is missing from this pic because he refuses to ride the Loggin' Toboggin.  :)

We visited our local farm show and the kids rode some more.

The kids and I visited a new-to-us state park.  We hiked and swam and explored.  It was a great day!

Keira and I finally donated our hair.  We each got 10 inches chopped off!

The kids went back to school on August 27.  I will share their back-to-school photos another time.  You're welcome.  :)

Then September came.  Which brought with it this beautiful baby girl ...



And these lovely teens ...


And most recently, this polite young man ...


I have four more sessions scheduled this month.  On top of planning a 16th birthday party, helping with children's ministries, and PTO.  And let's not forget homework with the kids, the never-ending piles of laundry, keeping the house somewhat presentable, trying to spend at least 5 minutes here and there with my sweet husband, and making dinner most nights.  Why is it my kids think they need to eat supper every. single. day?!  

I think maybe I'll sleep next year.  :)

Despite all that, we are trying to squeeze in at least a little fun this month.

Alex was excited to be old enough for the Young Eagles plane rides this year.  He looks so small in that plane!


The kids have next Friday off of school, so we are hoping for nice weather so we can do some more hiking/exploring at a nearby park.

We also had more of this ...

Let me know if you see her (or any of the others I have tagged - TLA 175 - 183 so far).


My last caterpillar got into its J form yesterday ...

And went into chrysalis today - shortly after this handsome male emerged from his chrysalis.


I'm sad to see this year end, but it has been a remarkable year!  If the last four make it to adulthood, I will have raised 156 Monarchs this year!  WOW!  156 miracles happened right here in my office over the past 3 months!  Praise God!  Planning for an even better year next year, God willing!

Lastly, Keira is taking a photography/graphics art class this year as an elective (which makes this mama very happy) and needed to create a collage.  She chose to do a butterfly collage.


Isn't it spectacular?!  All of the photos are mine except for the white dots around the edges.  Apparently I don't have any photos of white butterflies.  :)  The only requirement for the project was that she included at least one photo of herself.

The template was cut out using the Silhouette machine - each wing section is about 10 inches.  She cut each photo out and placed it all on a black foam board.  Once it was all stuck down, she cut around it with an exacto knife.  Needless to say her teacher was impressed.  :)

Well, I need to get back to editing.  I hope to blog more about each session and my Monarch journey this summer soon.  Hope you are having a great day!

Linking with Kim today ...

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 08.10.14

I realize it is actually Monday (my time) when I am posting this.  Things have been a bit busy around here.  Good, but busy.  I won't bore you with all the details because I will be sharing photos of all the busyness soon, so let's get right to the Scavenger Hunt photos.

{bathroom selfie}

I realize this isn't a "bathroom" selfie.  And technically my daughter took the photo, but this is all I have.  We went to Idlewild on Tuesday and took my husband's waterproof camera along so I didn't have to lug my DSLR.  We had fun taking "ride selfies".  This was taken on the Loggin' Toboggan.  Nick hates this ride so he sat out.  :)

{hop, skip, or jump}

One of my reasons for busyness ... This lovely family got married on Thursday evening at a local lake.  I had the honor of capturing their memories.  We had some fun taking family photos after the ceremony.  The three teens on the left belong to the bride and the two teens on the right belong to the groom.  Now they are one, big, happy family!

{creative angle}

I photographed a 50th anniversary party on Friday evening for a wonderful couple.  They are becoming like family to me and I've only been around them twice.  :)  They are just so sweet and kind.  I couldn't resist photographing their cake in the mirror that was on the wall nearby.  The cake topper is the one that was on their original wedding cake 50 years ago.  How cool is that?!

{box or package}

Another from the anniversary party.  The couple's daughter-in-law made up these beautiful favor boxes for everyone to take home.  They were filled with minty chocolate chips and candy-coated almonds.  Mmmmmm.  :)

{unfocused}

My best friend sent me an email with this quote in it, so I added it to an out-of-focus photo I took of my one hydrangea bloom.  I plan to print it as an 8x10 (or maybe bigger) and give it to her.  (Sure hope she doesn't see this before I do!)  :)

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 06.22.14

Hello!  This week's Scavenger Hunt is brought to you from home.  All the pictures, however, are from our vacation since that is where I took all my pics last week.  We are glad to be home, but I look forward to going to the beach/ocean again soon!

{unplugged}

The kids' first experience with the ocean proved to them that they can have fun being unplugged from their electronics.  (I thought this photo could also be used for unleashed).  :)

{unassuming}

If you have been around the blogosphere for a while, you have probably heard of Melissa Bliss Photography.  I have been a fan for a while so was super excited to get to meet her in person while on vacation.  We asked her come take family photos of us on the beach.  After looking up the definition of unassuming (modest; lacking in arrogance; pleasant or polite), she definitely fits this prompt.  She was such a delight!  Keira took this photo of us after our photo session.  (Look at all my freckles!  Yikes!)  I can't wait to share our photos with you!

{unleashed}

Keira was eventually unleashed from her captivity.  :)  
This display was at the Virginia Zoo and, despite the heat, we couldn't pass up the photo op.

{unapproachable}

The crabs on the beach were pretty unapproachable.  They would scurry into their holes as we got near them.  However, the kids were quick enough a few times to catch some.  We always let them go though.

{unaware}

Doug was unaware that Alex was mimicking his every move one morning while walking on the beach collecting shells.  It was fun to watch.

So that was just a taste of our week.  I'll be sharing more vacation pics as I get them processed.  I took a gazillion photos!  Some with my DSLR, some with Doug's waterproof pocket camera.  (The first and last two in this post were taken with his little Fuji.  It does a pretty good job.)  Be sure to head over to visit our host, Ashley, to see more great Scavenger Hunt finds!

Have a great week!

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Our 22nd Week ~ 2014

Another week bites the dust! 5 1/2 more days of school left!  And 11 days until we leave for vacation!  WOOT!

I'm still chugging along with the photo a day challenge from Fat Mum Slim.  Though it seems I used several archived photos this week.  Oh well, that's the beauty of the challenge ... archived photos are permitted, especially when things get busy.  :)

{May 27 - Meal}

Nick could make a meal out of watermelon if I would allow him.  We have been enjoying the watermelon lately.  The ones we have bought have been so sweet and juicy!  But I wonder how they will keep growing watermelons if they keep growing seedless ones.  Won't they eventually run out of seeds?  These are the things that clog up my brain.  :)

{May 29 - Negative Space}
  
(Okay, it seems as though my "negative space" photo is taking this literally and not showing up.  If you can't see it, I apologize.  I have tried multiple times.  :/ )
I asked Alex to help me with this prompt since Nick was just in the meal photo, but he was being a little grumpy, so Nick filled in.  He cracks me up.  I have lots of negative space photos I could have used as that is one of my favorite photography "rules", but I had this idea in my head and decided to give it a try.  Especially since this was a week of using archived photos for prompts.  :)  I needed to at least try for a new photo.

On Monday the kids had off school and Doug off work, so we started our day with a Memorial Day parade.

After the parade, we ran home and ate lunch real quick, packed up the fishing gear and went fishing at a local park.  Well Doug, Nick, and Keira fished.  Alex played at the playground and I took pictures.  This family of geese was in the pond.  Look at those itty bitty babies!

When Nick and I went for our walk last week, we saw this deer run past us.  She stopped and we actually got pretty close to her before she ran off.  Nick was disappointed that he had already put his camera away and didn't get a chance to "shoot" her.  I told him he should never put his camera away until he knows he's done shooting.  :)

And this is what we did on Saturday ... shoveled and raked 22.6 tons of gravel.  We worked for about 1.5 hours in the early afternoon, took a break because of the hot sun, then got back to it after dinner and actually finished spreading it in the driveway around 9 p.m.  I am still sore.  Our neighbor offered to let Doug use his tractor but we turned him down.  We agreed that our kids needed to learn the value of hard work.  Earning money to spend on vacation.  They complained but they still helped.  Some more than others.  :)

If, for some reason, you are interested in seeing all my photos from the May's prompts, here's the link to my Facebook album that contains them all.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'm linking up with Tamar for her weekly link up.

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 03.16.14

Hello!  Welcome to another Scavenger Hunt Sunday!  We had lots of beautiful sunshine this week.  I even got outside on Tuesday to do some running (actual exercise running - not errand running).  :)  It felt so good to get out and enjoy the warmer weather.  However, Wednesday we had rain which then changed to snow and ice.  Ah, winter in Pennsylvania.  You gotta love getting two different seasons in the same week.  :)

Anyway, you are here for the hunt, so I'll get to it ... 

{doorway}

Keira agreed to help me with this prompt, so after doing some shopping, we sought out an interesting doorway downtown.  We found these on a church.

{candid}

This candid shot of Doug and Alex cracks me up.  They were looking at Alex's eye spy book together.  Doug is hiding from the camera, as usual.  :)

{open}

I already mentioned that we have had lots of sunshine lately.  Soon it will be warm enough to open the windows and let the fresh air in.  Yay!

{look up}

After taking Keira's picture in the church's doorway, I only had to look up to see this steeple.  

{stuffed}

Alex helped me try a new gluten-free cookie recipe on Saturday.  Once he stuffed a couple in his face :) he gave me a big thumbs up.  They are yummy!

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to stop over and say hello to our gracious host, Ashley!

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