Week 33 in Pictures

We squeezed in quite a bit of fun last week.  Bike rides, a movie, catching crayfish and playing at a playground, hiking in a local state park, and hanging out with friends ... just to name a few.  Despite all that, my youngest said he didn't have any fun at all.  So because of that, I left the kids at home on Friday and went alone to a local animal park to see some new baby leopards that were born at the beginning of July.  A friend met me there and we had a good time chatting and stalking the leopards.  Saturday Doug and I went out to dinner.  We haven't had a dinner date in many months and we can't have lunch dates anymore since he's working steady daylight now, so that was a nice change.  Having a daughter old enough to babysit the boys is proving to be quite valuable.  :)

We have a few more fun things planned for the kids this week - the last full week before school starts.  The kids don't know a couple places we plan to go so you'll have to wait until next week to find out too.  :)

In the meantime let's look at what last week looked like ...

{Sunday}

These flowers are growing along the bike trail.

{Monday}

I realized that in all this time we've been raising Monarchs, I had never taken a photo of an egg.  So here it is - with all my macro filters on my lens (1, 2, 4, and 10x magnification).  This one is almost ready to hatch.  See how it is dark on the end?  That's how you know.  It hatched around 10:00 p.m.

{Tuesday}

This is one of the hummingbirds that has been visiting my feeder this summer.  The yellow jackets started coming around though and scared the hummies away.  :(

{Wednesday}

The kids and I went hiking at a local state park where Keira asked me to take some pictures of her.  We'll have to go up with nicer clothes on some time and intentionally take portraits.  (Processed with Pioneer Woman's Soft Faded action).

{Thursday}

I took this photo for Sunday's Scavenger Hunt ... one of my sunflowers glowing in the morning light.

{Friday}

Like I wrote, after all the fun stuff we did this week, Alex told me Thursday evening that he "didn't have any fun at all this week".  So in honor of that, I spent a few hours out all by myself.  I met a friend at Living Treasures so we could stalk the leopards and see the two new babies that were recently born.  However, it was raining and the babies never came out.  :(  This is their dad looking ready to pounce.

{Saturday}

We finally got to have a camp fire and s'mores with the kids.

Submitting this last one for Shoot. Edit. Submit.
   

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Week 30 in Pictures

We're home!!!!  Alex (and I) got released from the hospital on Wednesday.  We had to wait until Doug got off work to come get us, so we still spent the better part of the day at the hospital, but most of it, Alex wasn't hooked up to anything.  So we had lots of fun playing.  He was actually a little disappointed when Doug showed up because the hospital was hosting a fun Luau starting at 6:00 and Doug got there at 5:40.  Alex wanted to stay for the party, but we were anxious to get home.


He got his PICC line out in the morning, which was traumatic, as expected.  Although the IV nurse was really great.  She let Alex do most of the work which made it easier on him.  He felt more in control.  Removing all the adhesive is what freaks him out the most.  But she let him do almost all of it.  And then he didn't even feel the line being taken out.

We are so glad to be home.  Alex is doing great.  Eating and playing and fighting with his brother and sister.  Just like we never left.  :)   We're trying to get back to normal now.  I'm still trying to get caught up on sleep.  I told the kids to give me a week to sleep in in the mornings and then I should be okay.  We'll see.  :)  I managed to sneak in a chiropractic adjustment on Friday.  Man, did I need that after sleeping on a couch all that time.

Anyway, I am excited to be home and have the opportunity to photograph non-hospital stuff.  Here's what last week looked like ...

{Sunday}

Alex and I really enjoyed spending time in the hospital's healing garden.  We went there quite frequently ... when he felt up to it.

{Monday}

Alex was allowed to have clear liquids today!   He was so excited to have apple juice and a popsicle.  I tortured him by making him wait for the popsicle while I photographed it.  :)  Not the greatest photo but I was quite limited in my set up capabilities.

{Tuesday}

Jello for breakfast (and lunch)!  Must be more fun to eat it with your fingers.  He was watching TV and doing his best to ignore me taking his picture.  :)  Poor guy's cheek is all broken out where the adhesive was holding the NG tube in.  The other side didn't do that the first time we were in the hospital, so I don't know why it happened this time.  It is clearing up now though.

{Wednesday}

Shiloh, one of the therapy dogs that visits the hospital, stopped to see us before we went home.  He's such a handsome dog!

{Thursday}

Lots of flowers blooming at home including these liatris and sunflowers.

{Friday}

After so much hot, dry weather, we have been getting quite a bit of rain lately.  At dinnertime we noticed a rainbow in the sky and decided to try to find the end of it - leaving dinner sitting on the table.  While we didn't find the end, we did find this nice clearing where I could photograph the double rainbow without the usual trees in the way.

{Saturday}

I finally got to spend some time enjoying the hummingbirds that visit my feeder.

     


My favorite photo from July ...

If you recall, we got to watch the fireworks from our hospital room window ... one of the bright spots from our stay there.

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Week 25 in Pictures

By the time you read this, I'll be in the midst of our church's Vacation Bible School, which runs all this week.  This past week was filled with last-minute preparations so I don't think I managed to get any of the prompts from Project 366 Rewind, Be Inspired, or P52.  And I don't know that I'll get any this week either, although I'll try to make more of an effort.  

One of my jobs at VBS is to photograph the kids in the different areas and create a slideshow for Friday, so by the time I get home each day, I may not feel like picking up my camera.  So next week's recap may be all VBS photos.  You've been warned.  :)

We did finally get the back splash in the kitchen installed this weekend, so I'll try to get my before/after kitchen post finished up.  I can't wait to show you the transformation!

But before I even think about doing that, I'll show you last week's photos ...

{Sunday}

It seems that my attempt to get another great shot of all three kids together will have to wait for another day.  :)  I was hoping to get a good one to give Doug for Father's Day.  Nick wasn't really cooperating.

{Monday}

I was excited to finally capture a photo of a butterfly that I didn't raise and hold captive.  :)

{Tuesday}

While visiting my in-laws, this hummingbird stopped in at their feeder for a sip.

{Wednesday}

How cool that on the first day of summer our first Monarch butterfly emerged from her chrysalis.

{Thursday}

I took this photo for the Scavenger Hunt "glazed" prompt.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get all the prompts and didn't participate.  Hopefully I'll get to play along this week.  I already have one of the prompts done, so I'm off to a good start.

{Friday}

Monarch butterfly #2, a petite little female, joined us today.  Her brother/sister should be along any day now.

{Saturday}

Doug finally had time to install the back splash in the kitchen.  Yay!  He wasn't done with it when I took this photo - still working on the grout.  It didn't go quite as smoothly as the instructions said it would but it is up now and looks great!


Last, here is my favorite photo from June ...

I just love this photo of my niece, Christy.  She's such a sweetie and hard to capture as she moves quickly as most two-year-olds do.  :)


If you feel inclined, please pray for our VBS this week.  That the kids that attend would really learn about Jesus and how much He loves them.  Hope you have a great week!

     

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Wild & Wonderful Wednesday #15

Hello!  Welcome to another Wild & Wonderful Wednesday!


Before I get to my Wild & Wonderful post, I wanted to make those of you who don't use Blogger and will be losing the Google Friend Connect feature soon aware of this FREE option available to you that I just found out about tonight when I stopped over to get my linky code.  Check it out at http://www.linkyfollowers.com/.


Now back to our regularly scheduled programming ... :)

We are still busy with the Great Kitchen Remodel and I haven't had much time to be too creative with my camera, so I dug into the archives for this week's photo.

This was taken in July 2011.  At the time I had probably planned to trash this photo.  But looking back at it now, I kind of like the silhouette of the hummingbird at my feeder.  I shot this at ISO 3200, shutter speed 1/4000s, f/8.0 ... just in case you wondered.  :)


Oh, how this makes me long for spring/summer and more interesting things to photograph.  Flowers, birds, bees, butterflies, dragonflies.  Anything other than brown and dead.  :)  I think I need to take a day and go to the zoo or something.  I need a change of scenery!


Of course, once the kitchen is done, you'll be seeing plenty of pictures of it.  :)  Right now it is pretty gross and ugly ... having no floor, walls, and only part of the ceiling put up.  But we are making progress and that is what is important.

Now it is your turn!  Link up your Wild & Wonderful photos below.  

Just a few things first ...

1.  Grab my button for your post and link up below (or at least use a text link) so others can find out about Wild & Wonderful Wednesday.  Thank you!

2.  Link up your post URL (or Flickr photo URL), not your blog URL.

3.  Photos must be yours please.

4.  Try to visit and comment on a few other linker uppers. 

5.  You have until Saturday at midnight to link up!

<center><a href="http://kimberlysperspective.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfwwyaMEvjZkk1W2QvexI3Mq6nMxsLltPDHIZ9MGgTqe6vRUdZBrqjZkUU5MSlwqcNCqKkln6_IfbLazBDkdcnTctpPuYXZ1vFqN06YX7wkpoTJiIkvHB0dH7VlNb3nMGT-3GxFBHjrk0Q/s1600/Wild-and-wonderful-wednesda.jpg"/></a></center>Also linking up with these lovely ladies ...

             

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Week 31 Summary

I sort of feel like I'm running out of steam on my Project 365.  Running out of ideas for photos.  Anyone else feel this way?  Anyway, here's what we have this week ...

31 - Nick found this little tiny toad.

1 - My hibiscus flowers are blooming.

2 - So are my sunflowers.  I mentioned to my husband today that instead of planting corn, etc. in the garden next year, we should just plant a bunch of sunflowers.  They are much prettier, don't you think?  :)

3 - Our 6th Monarch butterfly emerged today ... a female.  That makes 3 males and 3 females so far.  Hoping to find some more caterpillars soon!

4 - We enjoy watching the hummingbirds that frequent our feeder.

5 - Alex checking out the hibiscus.  He said they tickled his nose.  :)

6 - Fire through a hole in the side of our burn barrel.

  

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Photo of the Day: August 4

ISO 800, f/11, 1/200s, 55-200mm lens

We have all been enjoying watching the hummingbirds eat from our feeder.  I'm so glad we bought it!  They are funny to watch in the evenings, because this guy thinks he owns the feeder and always chases the other two away.  But they are pretty persistent and keep coming back.  They are more fun to watch than TV!  :)

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