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 07.21.13

It's Scavenger Hunt time again!  And since I'm the one sponsoring this week's list, I figured I had better be sure to participate!  Thanks, Ashley, for using my suggestions!  Even if they were a little hard!  :)

{camouflaged}

Nick wholeheartedly agreed to help me with this prompt.  I painted his face, he put on his new camo hat and his old camo pajamas, and hid in the trees for me.  Then we had even more fun washing the paint off with the hose.  :)

{nutty}

The kids were being especially nutty when I tried to get a photo of all three of them together in our friend's pool.  {sigh}  Although I do really like this picture, it is not what I originally had in mind.

{alike}

Alex and Nick are more alike than they sometimes care to admit.  They had a blast together while we explored a local park.  Chasing each other and playing their battle games.

{identical}

We've been seeing lots of hummingbird moths lately.  While these three are not identical, they are pretty cool!

{jaunt}

The boys and I took a jaunt to a local park yesterday and did lots of exploring.  We came across this kinda spooky forest area.  I think it would look dreamy in the winter all covered with snow.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a super fabulous week!

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 05.26.13

Hello!  It is time for another Scavenger Hunt.  In all honesty, I didn't take many photos this week.  I attended two funerals and was busy with other things, so my camera got neglected.  Until Friday when I photographed a newborn.  However, despite my camera neglect, only one of my photos this week is from the archives.


{vacation}

Not exactly a vacation, but the kids and I went to a local lake for a few hours last Sunday.  They liked seeing the sailboats out on the water.

{food(s)}

Just a snapshot of the jelly jar pies we made for the Staff Appreciation Luncheon we hosted at our school earlier this month.  They were a big hit.

{sound}

We got to enjoy the sound of Keira's spring concert Thursday evening.  And a miraculous thing happened ... I left my camera in the car and didn't take a single photo!  I never get good shots in the school auditorium anyway.  It was really nice to just sit there and listen to the music.  Keira had a small solo part in one of the songs and did great!

{texture}

I bought this furry fabric for just this reason ... to photograph this sweet little girl (and hopefully more babies).  She's eight days old in this photo.  Isn't she precious?!

{anything}

And since I could choose to show anything, I chose to show another one of the baby.

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to visit Ashley for more great Scavenger Hunt finds!

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Photos by Keira

Keira is taking on online photography class this month with Candice Stringham through jessicasprague.com.  It is a photography class for kids that I thought would keep her occupied, entertained, and challenged in something different this last month before school starts.  She is only four days in and is loving the class.  

She is using my old Nikon D40 since we our old point and shoot got broken by the other future photographer of the household.  {ahem}  :)  Of course, that means I need to share my lenses with her, which, so far has worked out okay.

I've had fun looking through her photos each day so I thought I'd share a few with you.  (She took the photos and I edited them, most with minimal editing.)

We went to a local Farm Show (aka fair) on Monday afternoon/evening where she took this.

Tuesday evening we went to a park where the boys played in the creek for a while and Keira and I played photographers.  I took this picture of her in action ...

while she was taking this picture.

She was using my 55-200mm lens.  I love how the flip flops got kicked off so she could concentrate on the task at hand.  :)

Wednesday we went to a local lake where she had lots of fun photographing different things like the sparkly water ...

After she took this one she was so excited.  She said, "Mom, look!  I got bokeh!  Oh, yeah!"

I was impressed by this shot.

And this one.

She's really just learned the basics from the class.  How to hold the camera properly, holding the camera level, the different modes on most cameras, vertical vs. horizontal, filling the frame (close vs. far), focusing, and eliminating distractions.

Oh, and did I mention that she's shooting in manual mode (with a little help from me, of course)?  Oh, yeah!  That's my girl!  Truly, she is probably already way more advanced than what she's learning so far, but since I love Jessica Sprague's classes, and this one was inexpensive and fun, I asked her if she'd like to take it.  Plus, did you know that once you take a class on her site, you can access it forever?!  So if Keira needs a refresher, she can just log in, find the class under My Classes, and read as much or as little as she wants.

Okay, this was not intended to be a commercial for Jessica Sprague, but I do love all the classes I've taken so far.  :)  I have a couple more of her classes to take but haven't taken the time to do yet.  Just one more thing to add to my list once the kids go back to school.  :)  That list is getting pretty long!

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Week 31 in Pictures

Whew!  We made it through a whole week without anyone getting sick ... without having to leave the house unless we wanted to.  :)  And we even managed to throw some fun stuff in too.

We have Alex's follow up appointment at Children's Hospital on Tuesday.  Then hopefully he'll be cleared to resume normal activities.  He's been asking to ride his bike a lot since we've been home.  We might just have to hit the bike trail Tuesday evening.  :)

We also have some fun stuff planned for this week as long as the weather cooperates.  We are really looking forward to spending some time together as a family.  Our local farm show is this week.  We go every year and always have a good time.  I entered some photos into their photo contest again this year.  I'll post them later in the week.

Anyway, let's look at last week's photos, shall we?

{Sunday}

My brother's cow had her calf so we went out to see her.  She's just one week old in this photo.  She was feeding and her mama gave her a big lick on her face right before I took this photo.  Isn't she adorable?  I love her little tongue sticking out!

{Monday}

I planted some other bulbs this year so now we have purple and yellow gladiolus flowers along with the red ones we already had.  I love the deep purple of these!

{Tuesday}

I finally got a photo of a bird nest with an egg in it!

{Wednesday}

Another beautiful butterfly I came across this week.  And, of course, I had the wrong lens on so I couldn't get real close like I wanted to.  :)  The color palette consists of colors I managed to find in the butterfly's wings.

{Thursday}

The kids and I went to a local lake with some friends from church.  While there I got to teach one of the teenage girls how to shoot in manual.  We walked around looking for something interesting to photograph and came across these hibiscus growing along the lake.

{Friday}

We have lots of sunflowers blooming right now.  Some are about 10 feet tall!

{Saturday}

Okay, so I have lots of butterflies and flower photos this week.  :)  This Tiger Swallowtail was loving my liatris flowers.  I sat outside and enjoyed watching it flutter around for about 10 minutes.  It stayed longer but I was getting too hot.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fabulous week!

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 08.05.12

Time for another Scavenger Hunt!  I wasn't sure I'd make this one, but I scrounged up some photos, even if they are a stretch.  I claim poetic license all the way!  :)

This week's items are Going back in time, Something just for me, Best part of my day, Night & day, and Look up.  And here are my interpretations ...
{going back in time} I went back two years ago and found this photo from August 5, 2010.  Our first Monarch butterfly.  The one that started it all.  That summer we ended up successfully raising 34 Monarch butterflies!  Looking at this photo also reminds me of how much I've learned about photography and editing in the past two years.  Sheesh!
{something just for me} At the lake the other day I was teaching a teenager from our church how to shoot in manual.  (She has the same camera I do.)  We were walking around looking for something other than scantily-clad people (who really shouldn't be) to photograph when this beauty happened by.  I believe God brought him our way just for me.  :)
{best part of my day} While we had fun at the lake, probably the best part of my day was showing Alyssa how to shoot in manual.  I love teaching people how to turn that dial from Auto or P to M.  We probably both have this same photo on our cameras.  I'm still waiting for her to turn in her homework.  :)
{night & day} Or in this case day & night.  :)
{look up} Some of our sunflowers are nearly 10 feet tall!  You really have to look up to see them!
Thanks for stopping by!  I really hope to have time to visit blogs this week, but with PTO meetings, doctor visits, and school shopping, plus some fun stuff thrown in there, I may not make it by until later in the week.
Be sure to head over to Ashley's for more great Scavenger Hunt photos and to find out what to look for this week.  Make it a great week!

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Week 23 in Pictures

Well, school is officially out for summer vacation.  We don't quite get 104 days like Phineas and Ferb do, but we'll make the best of what we do get.  In fact, you should prepare yourself for lot of pool pictures since we got a pool yesterday and had the fire department come fill it up with water today.  The boys couldn't wait to get in the pool and jumped in while the tanker truck was still here filling it.  They didn't seem to care that the water was freezing cold.  :)  The fireman got a kick out of them.

We're also keeping busy raising our Monarch caterpillars.  Unfortunately we lost five to parasites.  (Well, four we know had parasites; one we're not sure how it died.)  So out of the ten we had, we are down to five.  One is successfully in chrysalis as of Saturday, one just got in to J form, and the other three are just doing their normal thing.  I'm really hoping we get to see them all become butterflies.

We also received our Monarch Waystation seed kit from www.monarchwatch.org.  Doug is going to till up a nice section of the yard for me to plant the seeds.  I don't know how much will grow this year, but most of the seeds are perennials so they should grow again year after year.  I'm excited to have some milkweed on our property instead of always having to search elsewhere for caterpillars.

Anyway, let's take a look at last week's photos ...

{Sunday}

I had been so busy with other things that our lawn was feeling (and looking!) neglected.  Thankfully now that Doug is on a normal Mon-Fri daylight schedule, he has time in the afternoons to do stuff around the house.  So he took care of the lawn this week.  
My "other's perspective" photo for Project 366 Rewind ... because this is how bunnies, chipmunks, and squirrels see my lawn.  Buckeyes and all.  :)

{Monday}

Keira received a High Honor Award at her school's seventh grade award ceremony.  High Awards are given to students with a 4.2 or higher GPA.  Way to go, Keira!

{Tuesday}

Alex's last day of afternoon Kindergarten.

{Wednesday}

To celebrate the start of summer vacation, the kids and I went out to lunch then spent a couple hours at our local petting zoo.  This young camel really wanted the carrot I was teasing him with in order to take this photo.  I gave it to him eventually.  :)

{Thursday}

A hot day spent playing on the slip-n-slide.  We probably won't be playing with it much more now that we have a pool.

{Friday}

The whole family went fishing after supper.  I think Doug was the only one who caught something - one small fish - which didn't make Nick very happy.  I was enjoying watching the boats more than fishing.  Because, let's face it, fishing is boring when you aren't catching anything.  :)
My "water" submission for Project 52.

{Saturday}

The kids brought this strange-looking caterpillar to me to identify.  We think it is a gold moth caterpillar.
My "small" submission for Be Inspired.

Hey, I actually managed to get each theme this week!  Yay me!  :)
Hope you have a wonderful week!  Make lots of memories and take lots of pictures!

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