I {heart} faces - Best Face of 2013

Just for fun, and because I love this picture of Keira, I'm entering it into the I Heart Faces Best Face of 2013 contest.

On a very snowy day in December (my birthday if I recall correctly), we had some fun taking pictures in the snow.

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Week 19 in Pictures

Hello there!  I took an unexpected and unintentional week away from blogging.  I hadn't planned to take time off, it just sort of happened that way.  I was able to get several things accomplished which makes me feel good.  I hate it when things start to pile up around here.

We had lots of activity going on here last week also.  Our kitchen counter top was installed, Doug got new tires on my van, our dining room set came in so we picked it up, and Doug sold his truck.  And that all happened just on Friday!  

Last week I also attended a Tea and a Mother/Daughter luncheon.  I helped a friend with a crafty project, which put me in the mood to dig out my scrapbook stuff and do some scrapping (didn't actually happen though).  Alex went on his first field trip without me (my name didn't get picked in the drawing) and had a really good time.  And I had a photo shoot postponed twice - once because of weather and once because the little boy wasn't feeling well.  :(  We are rescheduled for this week, so here's hoping!

This week will also be pretty busy as we are preparing for our ladies' luncheon coming up this Saturday.  It is going to be fun!  I'm so looking forward to it!  Anyway, on to last week's pictures ...

{Sunday}

I had bought these hydrangeas a few days before and just got around to photographing them.

{Monday}

Rainy day.  So I took advantage and photographed some rain drops.  I love that you can see my purple Lupine flowers in the reflection.  Oh, and we saw a double rainbow today, but I didn't have my camera with me to capture it.  Darn!  I knew I should have grabbed it before we left the house.  :)

{Tuesday}

Alex had been wiggling and wiggling a bottom tooth all morning and it looked really ready to come out.  But he wanted to wait until he was at school to pull it out because the kids get this sweet little treasure box from the nurse when they lose a tooth at school.  Gotta love it when they know what they want and make it happen.  :)

{Wednesday}

Two double rainbows in one week!  Amazing!  The outer one is very faint, but it is definitely there.  And I was glad to have my camera on me this time.

{Thursday}

The reflector set I ordered came today so Keira helped me try it out.  I really need practice with indoor portraits.

{Friday}

As I said, Friday was a crazy, busy day.  The kids didn't have school, which I didn't realize when I scheduled the counter top installation.  It was all good though.  They stayed out of the way of the counter top guys.  And shortly after Doug sold his truck, the store where we ordered our dining room table and chairs from called to tell us they were in.  Thankfully we were able to get one more use out of the truck and go pick the set up.

{Saturday}

Keira and I spent the morning/early afternoon at my mother-in-law's Mother-Daughter banquet.  Then Doug and the boys wanted to go fishing in the evening since Doug got his license today.  I didn't get my license yet, so all I did was take pictures.  Doug caught all the fish, much to Nick's dismay.  Oh, and three Great Blue Herons flew over our heads before I had my camera out and ready.  :(

     

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Week 9 in Pictures

Another week under my belt.  Some days I wonder what I was thinking deciding to do a THIRD year of Project 365.  I'm hoping that once spring arrives and the flowers start blooming, my inspiration will return.

A quick kitchen update ... the appliances were delivered on Friday morning.  They are currently sitting in boxes in my kitchen as we are still waiting for the cabinets to come in.  They should be in soon.  I hope!  :)

Now on to last week's photos ...

{Sunday}

My first attempt at photographing a starry sky.  I really didn't know what I was doing.  I just focused to infinity and hoped for the best since I couldn't really see anything through the viewfinder.  I managed to get the moon in this shot ... and the streak through the middle is a jet passing through.  And I think that is the Little Dipper in the top left corner.

{Monday}

My friend, Laura, and I went to the zoo (sans any kids) to stalk the gorillas in the hopes that we'd catch a glimpse of the new baby.  You can see we were successful.  Isn't he adorable?!  And his mama, Moka, is such a good mother.  So loving and gentle.  A sweet soul. We're so glad we went!

{Tuesday}

This was one of those days I was lacking inspiration.  Maybe because I had taken over 500 pictures at the zoo the day before.  :)  Anyway, this is Honey eating some Kale.  She's a very strange dog sometimes.

{Wednesday}

Nick's class hosted a Dr. Seuss Reading Cafe at school.  The kids each had their jobs.  Nick's job was a waiter.  He took my order (ie. asked me which book I'd like read) and then proceeded to fetch the book and read it to me.  He also helped himself to my drink and snacks, which was okay because I wasn't going to have them anyway.  :)

{Thursday}

Several local stores are selling these primrose flowers for a dollar.  I couldn't resist buying these pretty purple and yellow ones for some much-needed inspiration.  And I thought this would make a good photo for the color palette so I can finally participate in Rosie's Color Me Weekly link up.

     

{Friday}

The appliances got delivered early enough that Alex and I had time to head up to our church so I could run and he could ride his bike before school.  After I was done exercising and before we left for home he asked me to take his picture up in this tree.  Since he's typically running away from the camera these days, I gladly obliged.

{Saturday}

I have to admit, I'm cheating on this one.  It was taken on Friday as well.  But the only pictures I took on Saturday were of Alex at soccer and the lighting in the gym where he plays is horrendous.  Anyway, Keira and I were able to have a little girl time before her dentist appointment, so of course, we went to a local park to take pictures.  What else would we do?  :)

So that was my week.  I also started reading another good novel called A Constant Heart.  In case you didn't know, I'm giving away a copy of The Guardian Duke.  It is a really great book that I recently read in two days because I just couldn't put it down.  If you'd like to find out more about it and have a chance to win a copy for yourself, just click here.

Be sure to stop back on Wednesday to link up with Wild & Wonderful Wednesday.
Have a fabulous week!  

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Scavenger Hunt and Shoot & Edit - A Little Late

So I'm a few days late posting my Scavenger Hunt photos.  But better late than never, right?  :)  

{portrait}

I'm sure you've all seen the hanging Christmas lights trick for a pretty portrait background, right?  Well, it didn't quite work with my lens and set up.  You could still clearly see the strands, so I draped a white sheet over them and voila!  Still not perfect, but much better than what I started with.  :)


{nostalgic}

A former co-worker still makes me an ornament each year.  He is incredibly talented in woodworking.  This one reminds me of what things must have been like many years ago.


{time}

My baby, Alex, turned six yesterday.  It seems like I just brought him home from the Midwife Center!  Where did the time go?!?!  (On a side note, boy my dining room walls need a fresh coat of paint!)  :)


{full of light}

We had a gorgeous frosty morning recently.  The boys were up and asking for breakfast, but I had to make them wait so I could go outside and lay on the ground to get some frosty photos with the sun making everything sparkle.  :)


{motion}

Some jugglers at our town's Light Up Night.


Next week's Hunt items are: 

1. Less is More
2. Holiday Lights (Exploring with a Camera Prompt - click HERE for details)
3. Ornaments (Michelle's suggestion: 25 Days of Christmas)
4. Cup of Cheer (Michelle's suggestion: 25 Days of Christmas)
5. Nativity (Michelle's suggestion: 25 Days of Christmas)

While I'm trying to get caught up, I thought I'd include my SOOC shots for Shoot & Edit/Good to WOW! instead of bombarding you with a gazillion different posts.  :)  This week's theme is Holiday/Christmas.

I'm sure this is not an original idea ... our Christmas tree out of focus.  My kids always tell me I take blurry pictures when they see pics like this.  :)



We have colored lights on the outside of the house.  My husband surprised me one day and put them up while I was out.  He's so sweet.  These are strung on our deck.  The kids love having lights on the outside of the house.  This year we might even string some lights on the inside ... just need to figure out how to put them up.  :)

To see more great Holiday/Christmas SOOC shots, head over to Jill's.


Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to stop in again on Wednesday for Wild & Wonderful Wednesday!

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Photos of the Day: November 24 & November 25

{November 24}

ISO 800, f/6.3, 1/100s, 55-200mm lens

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Ours was delightful.  
How ironic that on Thanksgiving morning, right after putting our turkey in the cooker, we saw these two turkeys in our neighbor's yard.  :)

I talked the family into getting a picture taken on Thanksgiving morning.  It was pretty cold out so they didn't allow me too many retakes.  This mediocre photo was the best I was able to capture.  Hopefully we'll get another opportunity soon.

{November 25}

ISO 400, f/22, 1/250s, 18-105mm lens

The kids and I went for an afternoon walk on the bike trail to enjoy the beautiful day and work off some of yesterday's meal (not to mention today's leftovers).  :)

    

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Wild & Wonderful Wednesday #1

Welcome to my first ever Wild & Wonderful Wednesday photo link up!  I am excited that you are here!  And I can't wait to see all the wonderful photos you link up this week!


To play along all you need to do is link up your wild and/or wonderful photo(s) from the past week or so.  Wild could be some beautiful flowers, a gorgeous landscape, an adorable critter, or even your wild and crazy kid(s)!  And wonderful could be anything you think is wonderful.  As you can imagine, I'm pretty flexible.  I just want you to show off your incredible photos!

But first, here are a few of my wild and wonderful photos ...


of my wild and crazy Nicholas!  :)

I was looking through photos the other night and noticed that I am lacking in pictures of Nicholas.  Well, good pictures.  Ones where he's not making some goofy face or looking away from the camera.  You know, the normal photos I tend to get of him.  :)

So we set out last evening to remedy that situation.

We had a good time, as you can see.  And got some more goofy faces.  :)



But I think we also got some really good pictures.

And we are both pretty pleased with the photos we got.

I can't decide if I like this one better in color or B&W.  What do you think?

So that's it for me.  Now it is your turn.  Just a few details first ...
1. Grab my button and link up below.
2.  Link up your post URL, not your blog URL.
3.  Try to visit and comment on a few other posts.  We know how much everyone loves comments!
4. Please bear with me while I work out any kinks since this is the first week!  Thanks!  :)


Happy Wednesday!

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Also linking up with:

          

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Photo of the Day: September 26

ISO 400, f/8, 1/40s, 18-105mm lens on Nikon D40

Keira and I have been trying to find a good day/time to take her photos for her recent birthday.  But we seem to either have somewhere to be at the golden hour or there is no golden hour because of the rain.  We tried this evening but quickly lost our light to the clouds rolling in bringing us thunderstorms.  So we're hoping we get another opportunity soon.  I like this photo of Keira because of the genuine smile - she was laughing at her brother instead of faking a smile - although the focus seems a bit soft (probably due to the slow shutter speed).  I'm forcing myself to take portraits since this is definitely an area where I need improvement, so you'll be seeing more soon.  Constructive criticism is welcomed.

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