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Showing posts with label shoot. edit. submit. with Misty and Kim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shoot. edit. submit. with Misty and Kim. Show all posts

Thursday, April 12, 2012

The "Other" Zoo

While the kids had a super long weekend for Easter break, I knew we would have to get out and do something.  Monday we took a ride up to the "other" zoo, as my kids like to call it.  It was a mostly beautiful day (it rained for about a minute while we were visiting the leopards) and we got to see lots of animals that we don't get to see at the Pittsburgh Zoo.  Here are just a few of the photos I took ...

Flamingo
Chilean Flamingo - This guy was funny.  He kept begging Keira to feed him - putting his head up and opening his beak.

Kookaburra
Kookaburra - He barely moved when I was taking his photo.

Black Leopard
Black Leopard - I love how you can see the spots on her belly.

Lion
Lion - He kept roaring over and over but by the time we got to the window to see what was up, he had stopped.  Except this time.  He roared a little more then went to take a nap.  :)

Peacock
Peacock - Our favorite part of the visit.  He opened his tail feathers to try to impress a peahen and kept strutting his stuff for quite a while.  I recorded him a little and laugh every time I watch it.  Not because of the peacock, but because of Nick's commentary while the peacock was doing his thing.  I'm still trying to decide if I wish to share it with the world so stay tuned.  :)  (Entering this last photo for Shoot. Edit. Submit.)



     

My peacock photo was picked as this week's winner for the Shoot. Edit. Submit. contest!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Week 12 in Pictures

This past week has been nothing short of gorgeous weather wise.  It has felt like summer almost!  Lots of sunshine and temps in the upper 70s and I think we even got into the 80s one day.  What a great way to start spring!  This coming week, however, will snap us back to reality that this is March in Pennsylvania.  We are supposed to have temps in the 40s and 50s and get below freezing a couple nights.  Oh, how I hope everything that is sprouting doesn't die!  I can cover my flowers, but the trees are blooming also.

This last week was overall a good week.  I did lose a set of car/house keys on Thursday and haven't found them yet.  I have a second set, but I'm really hoping the other set turns up soon!  I never (until now) lose my keys, so this is a strange situation for me to be in.

I also got to try out the new dishwasher this week!  Doug finished hooking everything up and asked me to give it a trial run before the counter top gets installed just in case he needs to fix anything.  No need to twist my arm!  I've been anxiously awaiting the dishwasher since we started planning the new kitchen.  I tried it out on Tuesday ... and Wednesday ... and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  :)  Let's just say soon I'll be wondering how I ever managed without one.  What a time saver!

Anyway, let's take a look at what I photographed this week, shall we?

{Sunday}
2012-03-18
As usual, I woke up Sunday morning, opened the blinds to watch the birds enjoying the feeder in the back yard, only to be greeted by this instead ... the top of our feeder, bird seed all over the ground, and the rest of our feeder nowhere in sight.  We suspect the neighborhood black bear decided to have himself a midnight snack.  We did eventually find the rest of the feeder about 20 yards away near another tree.  But obviously it is beyond repair.  Darn bear.
project 52 p52 weekly photo challenge my3boybarians.com

{Monday}
2012-03-19
Just a random photo of the bricks that are left from what used to be our chimney.  When we installed a new furnace and a/c a few years ago, we no longer needed a chimney.  But this small portion of it (filled in with cement so no one gets hurt) remains.  The kids like it because they can step up on it and peek in the living room window.

{Tuesday}
2012-03-20
Happy first day of spring!  As I said, the weather has been tremendous and the earth is coming alive once again.  These blooms are on our maple tree (the same tree that houses the bird feeder that is no more).  Who would have thought all those gorgeous colors were hiding in there?

     Chic Homeschool Mama



{Wednesday}
2012-03-21

I showed another shot of this pie in my Scavenger Hunt, but this is the pie I made for my husband on his birthday ... coconut cream.  His favorite.  He and the boys enjoyed eating it.  Keira and I don't care for coconut, so we passed.  It is all gone now, so it must have been good.  :)


{Thursday}
2012-03-22
I passed this flowering tree on my way back to try to find my keys.  I thought the keys could wait a little while, while I stopped to snap some photos of this gorgeous tree.  And I realize I already did a color bar photo, but I couldn't resist doing it with this photo also.

     


{Friday}
2012-03-23
Yeah, and this one too.  :)  I think you'll be seeing a lot more color bar photos now that spring is here and I have interesting, colorful things to photograph once again.  This shrub is in my neighbor's yard, so I get to admire it every day.

Inspire Me



{Saturday}
2012-03-24

Alex had his last soccer game this morning (indoor soccer - winter league).  Each of the kids got presented with a medal.  His team lost their game (again!) but they had fun.  Alex tells me he wants to play baseball now.  Oh boy!  We'll have to see if we can work that out.


So that was my week.  What was yours like?  I hope you make this next one a great one!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Week 6 in Pictures

Another busy week has come and gone.  We're making great progress on the Great Kitchen Remodel.  The ceiling tiles are up, the drywall is up, mud applied, and primered.  Hopefully today we will get what needs painted done.  We don't need to paint much since most of it is getting covered by cabinets and backsplash.  Doug is hoping to get the floor put down today also.  Once the floor is down, we can call to bump up the delivery date on the cabinets.  Oh, and we ordered appliances this week also.

This week also brought with it a first for me ... I had to wash the dishes in the bathtub.  I never ever thought I'd have to do that.  :)  But it is hard to use the kitchen sink when it is sitting out on your front porch.  :)  I used two dishpans - one to wash and one to rinse.  Or at least put the clean dishes in until I rinsed them with fresh water.  It is so completely strange when one of your children asks you to stop washing dishes and get out of the bathroom because they need to go.  :)  Once the floor is down, Doug will make a temporary set up so we don't have to be without a kitchen sink.  I'm looking forward to that.  Although what I'm really looking forward to is that new dishwasher we ordered!  :)

Surprisingly I did manage to snap a few photos each day.  Here's what I found this week ...

{Sunday}
2012-02-05
Just a weed I came across while outside enjoying the sunshine.

{Monday}
2012-02-06
More sunshine!

{Tuesday}
2012-02-07
Went for a run/walk before dinner.  It was a great way to recharge.
Chic Homeschool Mama


{Wednesday}
2012-02-08
Winter returned.  At least for the day.  Honey and I walked around outside for a bit enjoying the snow.


{Thursday}
2012-02-09
Drink up is the theme for My 3 Boybarians Project 52 this week.  I drink mostly water and since water is pretty boring to photograph by itself, I added a strawberry.  And photographed it by the window in order to get some sunbursts.
project 52 p52 weekly photo challenge my3boybarians.com


{Friday}
2012-02-10
While out shopping for some more things for the kitchen, Doug and I picked up a bouquet of flowers.  Happy Valentine's Day early, I guess.  :)  It has daisies, tiny pink roses, red carnations, pink lilies that I'm waiting to bloom, babies breath, mums, and some other flower that I have no idea what they are.  I just love fresh-cut flowers!




{Saturday}
2012-02-11
Now winter is back!  We got several inches of snow and blustery winds!  It was soooo cooooold!  Even so, the kids insisted on sledding for a bit on our neighbor's hill.  Alex cracked me up carrying his sled on his head.   (My submission for Inspire Me's red theme).

Inspire Me



Hope you have a wonderful, love-filled week!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Last week in pictures

We finally got back to our routine last week.  School is in full swing, Bible study started back up, and Saturday morning soccer started.  We also finally got our first big snow and had our first 2-hour school delay.  Of course, our routine is being interrupted already by a 4-day weekend.  The kids have no school on Monday and Tuesday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and an in-service day.  So much for our routine.  :)  But we'll have fun nonetheless.  
Anyway, here's what last week looked like in pictures ...

Sunday
2012-01-08
I just love Keira's new Bible cover.  Makes me kind of wish I had bought it for me and not her.  :)  (My "something new" for Inspire Me's P365).

Monday
2012-01-09
Alex had his 6-year check up at the doctor's.  He looked so cute in his Dr. Seuss paper gown.  (cell phone photo)

Tuesday
2012-01-10
Such a nice day, so I went to the carwash down the road to spray all the junk off my car.  This hose for the scrub brush caught my eye.





Wednesday
2012-01-11
Nick has been really into Legos lately.  He brought some new-to-him figures home from school today.  Apparently one of his friends at school didn't want them anymore.  This is my "made with love" submission for Project 52 with My 3 Boybarians.  Nick made these Lego figures with love.  :)
project 52 p52 weekly photo challenge my3boybarians.com

Thursday
2012-01-12
A very rainy day ... before the cold and snow moved in.  This is my "chilly" submission for Project 366 Rewind.  The falling temps really made me aware that the snow was coming.

Friday
2012-01-13
After school the kids and I went for a walk though our neighbor's woods to enjoy the beauty of the snow.  It covered everything and was so pretty.  It is amazing the difference a day can make.


Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living


Saturday
2012-01-14
We had lots of birds hanging out in our maple tree and eating from our feeder.  I was so excited to see not one, not two, but four male cardinals and one female cardinal in our tree at one time.
     Inspire Me

Friday, November 25, 2011

Photos of the Day: November 24 & November 25

{November 24}
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.  :)

The family
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}
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).  :)

    Inspire Me Photography

Monday, November 14, 2011

Photo of the Day: November 14

November 14 textured
ISO 800, f/7.1, 1/200s, 18-55mm lens on Nikon D3100 w/10x macro filter
Some days are so busy it is all I can do to get my photo of the day posted.  Today was one of those days.  And looking ahead at this week's calendar, there will not be much down time again.  *sigh*  I'm really longing for simpler days.  It is all good stuff I'm busy with, but I prefer to have some time to just relax and read a book or visit blogs or perhaps watch a movie without feeling guilty about something else I should be doing.  So if I don't visit you or participate in many link ups this week, you'll know why.


Anyway, enough boo hooing.  I took this photo this afternoon while searching outside for something, anything to photograph.  :)  I placed a lone acorn on our picnic table and played around with my macro filter.  Some photos I was really close; some, like this, I zoomed out and left more blank space.  I preferred this shot.  But it needed some texture, so I added two layers of Kim Klassen's Phoebe texture (one with a multiply blend mode and one with a soft light blend mode) and one layer of Aurora (soft light).  Mouse over to see the non-textured version.


And with that, I am going to bed.  Tomorrow is another busy day.
kimklassencafe