Scavenger Hunt Sunday 09.23.12

Time for another Scavenger Hunt.  Seems that all I have time to post these days are the hunt and my weekly summary.  I'm hoping that changes soon.  Because that means that I won't be as busy as I have been.  My calendar for October has quite a few blank days on it and I'm hoping they stay that way.  Hey, I can always dream, right?  Anyway, on to the hunt.

This week's items are Cracked, Fallen, Ordinary color, Bokeh, and Fence.

{cracked}

This is not the photo I had envisioned for this prompt, but time didn't permit the other one.  So ... the kids and I found some cracked nuts on a walk through the woods.

{fallen}

I placed this newly emerged beauty on my dahlia flower.  I had cut them off and put them in a vase because they had fallen over from being so huge and heavy.

{ordinary color}

Or in this case ... NO ordinary color.  This sunset was gorgeous!

{bokeh}

This is probably a weed but it produced some very pretty bokeh.  Four out of my five photos have bokeh in them this week.  I love me some bokeh.  :) 

{fence}

My neighbor's barbed wire fence.

So that's it for me.  Be sure to head over to Ashley's to see more great Scavenger Hunt photos and to find out what to hunt down this week.

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Color Me Weekly + Wordless Wednesday

I always enjoy participating in Rosie's Color Me Weekly.  It is fun to pull colors from your photo.  Sometimes I find myself pleasantly surprised.  This week I have to share more than just one photo.  Keep scrolling and you'll see why.

This photo was the original one I thought I'd share.  I just love all the different colors in and around our sunflowers.  (Just a note - capturing bees in mid-flight is HARD!  I took lots and lots of pictures and still didn't get what I wanted.)

But then this one happened ...

and I just couldn't decide.  I mean, how often do I get such a defined rainbow in my sun flare?!  Not exactly ROY G. BIV but close enough.

Then I had a few other random photos I wanted to share.  So often I share my photo of the day, which I sometimes have to pick between a few, and the others never get shown.  Here are a few that didn't make the cut this past week ...

I got to help this pretty lady out of some wet grass/weeds.  I was checking milkweed for Monarch caterpillars and she was nearby - perhaps laying some eggs?  I get excited when I can capture a photo of a Monarch butterfly that I didn't raise.  I guess because it is more challenging when they could fly away at any moment as opposed to the ones whose wings are still wet.  :)

Often I try to capture a good photo of our dog, Honey.  But she refuses to look at the camera when it is in front of my face.  Perhaps since she can't see my face?  Anyway, she was looking at something just beyond me and was almost looking at me this time.  Not a spectacular photo, but she's such a pretty dog, don't you think?

I told you before that Keira is taking an online photography class for kids this month.  This is how we see her much of the time now.  We were practicing bird's eye view vs. worm's eye view this particular day.  She's really enjoying the class and I am actually starting to appear in a photo every once in a while.  :)

      

We have one more week before school starts on August 29.  So expect to see some back to school photos soon.  :)

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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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The Beauty of a Butterfly

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly,

 but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."  ~ Maya Angelou

Raising Monarchs is such a wonderful experience.  I look forward to it every year.  

So far this year we've only successfully raised four butterflies, but I hope to raise a few more before the season is over.

But even if we don't get to raise more, we will be forever grateful to have helped bring the four gorgeous creatures that we did into the world.

       

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Week 28 in Pictures

Well, the good news is we got to come home from the hospital on Friday.  The bad news is we are back again.  :(  I didn't get to finish my blog posts about our great hospital adventure, but let me just quickly summarize the past few days.

Alex was doing great on Thursday and Friday so we got to go home.  All tubes, IVs, and PICC lines were removed and we were so excited to be leaving Hotel de Children's Hospital.  Everything was swell until Saturday evening when he started vomiting.  He vomited 4 times between 7 pm Saturday and 11 am Sunday, so I called the hospital and they wanted to see him.  So we drove back down, had X-rays, an IV, another NG tube, an a CT scan.  He was admitted Sunday night around 8:00 and here we are.

The word is that he has an abscess in his belly.  Tomorrow we are supposed to go to IR (surgery) to get another PICC line and possibly have the abscess drained.  He will be started back on TPN (nutrition) and he's also getting more IV antibiotics.

Boo.

Not sure how long we will be here this time, but we are definitely hoping it won't be as long as last time.  We do not want to spend the whole month of July in the hospital.  Minus those 45 hours we got to spend at home over the weekend.

Anyway, having said all that, most of last week's photos were taken at the hospital again.  And it looks like this week's photos will be also.  :(

{Sunday}

Daddy and Alex had fun looking at an Eye Spy book.  Alex is really good at Eye Spy.  (The tube in Alex's nose is the NG tube - used to drain fluids from his stomach).

{Monday}

Alex loves to watch the marble machine that is in the hospital clinic's waiting room.  We were there several times during our stay just to see the train and the marble machine.  And I'm sure we'll visit it again now that we're back.  (When we would go walking, I would tie his NG tube inside his gown's tie in the back.  That way no one had to hold it and it wasn't pulling on him.  The nurses thought that was the neatest idea.)

{Tuesday}

Doug brought our last chrysalis to the hospital so I wouldn't miss when this handsome fellow decided to join us.  This was the magical day.  We set him free in the hospital's healing garden.

{Wednesday}

Some Pittsburgh Penguins players came to the hospital to play games with the kids.  Grammy and Alex wanted their picture taken with Iceburgh, the Penguins' mascot.  Fun times!  Except for the whole being-stuck-in-the-hospital part.  :)

{Thursday}

Alex and I did some spin art in the playroom.  It looked prettier while it was spinning.  :)

{Friday}

The day we came home!  Honey was so excited to see us, she nearly knocked me over.  Once I got her calmed down, I decided she needed to be my POTD.

{Saturday}

Nick and I went for a walk down to our neighbor's pond.  There were plenty of dragonflies buzzing around.  This one was nice enough to sit still for me.  :)

     
If you are doing a Project 365 this year, be sure to stop over at Inspire Me Photography and link up.  Tracey will be featuring a photo each week from someone who has linked up.  She has themes for each week, but you are not required to stick to them.  Otherwise I would have been booted out a long time ago!  :)  Oh, and you will LOVE her photography!  She's awesome!

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Week 26 in Photos (minus 1)

Hello there!  We're still hanging out at Children's Hospital while Alex is on the mend from his appendectomy.  He's still pretty sore, but we were able to get him up and walking around this morning.  In fact, we visited the play room down the hall.  He really enjoyed that but it seems to have wiped him out for the rest of the day.  We're hoping he'll feel up to going again tomorrow because the man in charge of the play room promised Alex he could feed the fish they have in a big tank.  Alex is excited about that.

Everyone is so incredibly nice here.  They really go out of their way to make us feel welcome and comfortable.  Even the ladies who take my food orders over the phone are wonderful.  I'll probably gain 5 pounds while we are here from lack of activity and having my meals delivered.  Hopefully that will change tomorrow and Alex will feel like walking more.  I finally got to leave the room for a few minutes today while my mom stayed with Alex and even went out in this nice garden they have right outside the play room.  I saw a huge bumble bee that had buried himself inside a butterfly bush blossom.  (Say that three times fast!)  :)  He dug himself out and flew away, but hopefully he'll be there again tomorrow when I am prepared with my camera in hand.  :)

This post of last week's photos is minus one because, although I did manage to get a phone photo of Alex while we were in the ER on Saturday, the photo is still in my phone and right now I have no way of getting it off.  I can't seem to access my email from the hospital so I can't email it to myself, and the cord that connects my phone to my laptop is at home.  Doug will bring it to me tomorrow.  So Saturday's photo will be included in next week's recap.

Last week was pretty much all Vacation Bible School.  Every morning, Monday through Friday, from 9am til noon, we were at VBS.  Some days we were there later helping with clean up or prep for the next day.  Then most afternoon/evenings were busy with more VBS stuff, like putting together a slideshow of some of the photos I took.  It was crazy busy and exhausting, but fun and rewarding too!


And one more thing, before we get to the photos ... my photo of my niece was chosen among the four finalists for June.  Would you please take a moment to go vote for me?  I'd really appreciate it!

Finally, here's what last week looked like ...

{Sunday}

If you saw yesterday's Scavenger Hunt post, you already saw this photo with a verse on it.  A pretty sunset taken behind our church.

{Monday}

Our church's Vacation Bible School started today.  Alex really enjoyed the craft time.  They got to primer their project today and then paint the next few days.  I thoroughly enjoyed my jobs this year.  I was photographer, points keeper, money counter, and registration person.  Some days were incredibly busy, like Thursday when I had to finish up editing and putting together a slideshow for Friday morning, but it was great fun.

{Tuesday}

This handsome little boy belongs to a friend of mine.  This was his first year participating in a VBS.  He loved it!

{Wednesday}

This beautiful lady joined the world today.  She actually emerged from her chrysalis while at VBS.  I took the container with me since I knew she'd be arriving today.  The kids thought it was really cool when I was walking around with a butterfly hanging from my finger.  We brought her home and let her hang out on our flowers until her wings dried and she flew away.  That's three down with one more to go.  I'm hoping we can find more caterpillars once we get home!

{Thursday}

I am totally cheating on this one as this photo was taken earlier in the week.  Thursday was consumed with photo editing and creating a slideshow.  I was up until almost midnight finishing it up.

{Friday}

All week our VBS Explorers discovered keys to help them open this treasure chest, but they weren't able to open it without all the keys.  Once opened, the kids learned what Jesus would do.  Love.

I apologize for not getting any photos of the themes for Project 366 Rewind (playtime) or Be Inspired (beach).  It just wasn't happening last week.  Although some play time at the beach sounds pretty good to me right now!  :)

    

Have a wonderful week!

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 07.01.12

Time for another Scavenger Hunt.  This ones comes to you from a hospital room.  My youngest son had his appendix removed this afternoon and we are spending some time at our local children's hospital while he gets better.  More details on that coming soon.  Instead, let's get to the hunt.  I need the distraction.  :)


Sarah is hosting the hunt this week since Ashley just had her baby girl.  Congratulations to Ashley!   Be sure to stop by and congratulate her.  And stop over and say hello to Sarah and link up if you haven't already!

{sunset}

Our church's Vacation Bible School was last week and sometime during the week, the lady in charge asked me if I could do something pretty with our main Bible verse for the week.  We made magnets out of this to send home with the kids.  This sunset photo was taken at the church so I thought it was appropriate to use.  I had a completely different picture in my brain that would be have been great, however I am not in possession of such a photo.  Yet.  :)

   

{sweet}

Our grapes are probably not sweet yet, but by the end of the summer, if the birds haven't eaten them all, they will be.


{hanging around}

We had our third Monarch butterfly emerge from her chrysalis this week.  So we have released three females so far and still have one more in chrysalis.  The butterflies like to hang around for a while after they emerge to allow their wings to dry.  I like to take advantage of this time and get as many photos as possible of the butterflies while I can.  :)


{funny face}

This is the son of a friend of mine.  I hope she doesn't mind me using this photo because this is only one of two funny faces I got this week.  My mind was on VBS, not the hunt.  Anyway, this is C.  He insisted on having me take a silly photo of him after his "serious" one.  I didn't mind at all.  He cracks me up with his funny faces.


{space}

I took this photo for a couple reasons.  One - to show the difference between a newly formed chrysalis (left) and one where the butterfly is ready to emerge (right).  And two - because I chuckled at how little space the second caterpillar left between herself and her sister.


So that's it for me.  If you'd like to play along for next week, these are the things to hunt for ...

1. Patriotic (Paper Heart Camera Theme)
2. View from Above
3. Mosaic
4. Something Tiny
5. Vibrant

I hope I can get all the prompts as I will be hanging out at the hospital for another five days or so.  I guess as long as the hospital people don't mind me wandering around with my camera, I'll be golden.  :)  Here's hoping we can see the fireworks from our window!


Have a great week!

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