Our 37th Week ~ 2014

Had another great week!  We are getting into our routine now that the kids are back to school.  Wednesday night classes have started back up at church and are going well.  Had a couple more photo sessions, spent time with friends, went to open house at the boys' school, and celebrated Keira's birthday.  She's 16 now!  

This week is pretty much the same.  Except the kids have a day off of school on Friday.  I was hoping to go have some fun with them, but both boys are grounded right now.  {sigh}  It is tough being a mean mom.  :)

As always, I am still participating in Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge with Keira being my subject this month.  She is also helping with the photo ideas.  So this is what we came up with last week ...

{September 14: Healthy}

Keira wasn't feeling all that healthy again today ... still fighting a cold ... so she stayed home and worked on her butterfly collage all day. It is due tomorrow, after all. Apparently she works better under pressure. I wouldn't know where she gets that trait from.  :)

{September 15: Remember}

In order to remember what she looked like when she was little, Keira occasionally pulls out her scrapbooks. This is one of my favorite spreads. She was about a year old in these photos.

{September 16: I don't like}

Keira doesn't like emptying the dishwasher. It is one of her chores that she tends to put off. Which ended up being a good thing today because she hadn't emptied it yet until after I got home from a photo shoot tonight and I got to take this picture of her in action.

{September 17: Key}

Keira was serenading me this afternoon with Lindsey Stirling's Master of Tides in the key of G. 

{September 18: Person}

Keira is such a sweet, fun, joyful, and kind-hearted person. I really enjoy being in her company! 

{September 19: Even}

Only two more days! (Two is an even number).  :)

{September 20: Beginning}

We celebrated Keira's 16th birthday today!  This is what Keira's cake looked like at the beginning of her party. It didn't look nearly as pretty by the end.  :)  It tasted pretty darn good though!

So that's it from my neck of the woods!  Hope you have a fabulous week!

Linking with Tamar.

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Our 21st week ~ 2014

The weeks are just flying by these days, aren't they?!  Whew!  I'm still participating in Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge - at least through the end of May.  Not sure if I'll continue in June or not.  I enjoy the push of the prompts, but it might be tough to keep up with the end of school and vacation.  We'll see.

Anyway, last week I had two photo shoots on Sunday afternoon - a last-minute senior shoot followed by a maternity shoot.  They were both fun!  We had a gorgeous day for them!  Keira kept me busy running her to her violin gigs throughout the week.  I took pictures at school of the kids who were missing from the yearbook pictures.  And I ended the week with a family mini session on Saturday morning.  So, yeah, I have lots of editing to get through this week.  No complaints here though.

Here is just a sampling of my week ...

{May 18 - Something I Drew}

Nick is elusive towards the camera most days, but if I ask him to help me with a prompt, he will usually help me out.  I can't really draw, but I can draw a mean mustache and goatee.  :)

{May 19 - Alone}

A lone daisy reaching for the sun.

{May 20 - Waiting}

This is one of my favorites from Sunday's maternity session.  I usually try to make a new photo for the daily prompts, but some days require using an archive photo.  Even a recent archive photo.  :)

{May 21 - Card}

This prompt stumped me until I saw Alex's Toy Story figures and the UNO cards.  My caption - Looks as though Woody has the upper hand over Rex in this card game.  :)

{May 23 - Black & White}

Keira after her school concert.

As always, other pictures I took this week were shared in Sunday's Scavenger Hunt post.

We are counting down the days until school.  We are so ready to be done!  Plus we have a vacation planned and can't wait to spend a week at the beach!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fabulous week!

Linking with Tamar.

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Our 17th Week ~ 2014

Whew!  Last week flew by!  We started out with Easter Sunday church service where Keira played her violin accompanied with Josh on the piano and Sean on the bass guitar.  They sounded great!  My mom, sister, and nephew, who was on leave from the Marines for a week, came to hear her play.  She was so nervous before she went up.  Then afterward she said she wondered why she was so nervous.  Here's the link to the video I made.  (Very non-professional - just a proud mama recording her daughter.  At least it is in focus!)  :)

Sunday after church we had our Easter dinner and then celebrated Nick's 11th birthday.  The weather was soooooo nice that we were outside the majority of the day.  We had a fun egg hunt with Jordan and Christie.  Kyle, my nephew, and Doug threw a football around with the kids for a while.  And we just enjoyed each other's company.

Most of the pictures I am sharing today are from the Photo a Day challenge I am doing this month.

{April 20 - Egg}

My sister gave each of my kids one of these cute little M&M eggs for Easter.  Like they need more sugar after having cupcakes and Dairy Queen ice cream cake for Nick's birthday.  :)

{April 21 - Close}

The lilacs blooms are getting close(r) to opening!

On Monday afternoon my friend, Melissa, came over and showed us some skin care items and did my and Keira's makeup.  Once we were done, Keira thought we needed to do a mini photo session.  This is her favorite shot from that session.  She says she looks "fierce."  )

I also got this sweet one of Nick.  I have figured out that we can't do a full-blown photo session with him.  He prefers if I take his picture in smaller chunks of time.  He seems to cooperate better that way.  :)

{April 22 - Four Things}

Four things ... that are no longer.  YUM!  :)

I was having a good hair day (before going out in the rain anyway), so I decided to take a few selfies.  I needed an updated profile pic for my facebook page.  Selfies are not my favorite thing.  I truly hate taking pictures of myself.  I always feel like such a dork.  Maybe some day I'll share the ones that didn't make the cut.  Or not.  :)

I was trying to hold a branch on our maple tree down low enough to take a picture of some of the blossoms when Nick decided to help me out.  He climbed up, broke one off, and handed it to me.  Not exactly the way I wanted to get a photo of a maple blossom.  :/  I still like how colorful they are though.

{April 24 - A Pop of Color}

One of the buds on our neighbor's bush.  I don't know what kind it is.  I just know I like to photograph it while it is flowering.  :)  And I'm really into negative space in my photos lately.  Could you tell?

{April 25 - Remember}

The photo challenge was created by an Australian woman and I guess April 25 was Anzac Day, which is like America's Memorial Day.  Hence the "remember" prompt.  Many people were posting pictures of war memorial type stuff.  I took this picture of my photo books because I created them so we can look at them and remember the good (and bad) times we have had.

{April 26 - Enjoy the Little Things}

This little violet was growing in our yard.  It made me smile because it reminds me that spring is here!  See why I like negative space?  It leaves room for a quote.

Some things I did last week that were not photographed ... Bible study, boys' dentist appointments, Keira's dentist appointment, Keira's violin lesson followed by worship practice - now that she is playing with one of the worship teams at church on Sunday mornings, a piano recital that one of our Wednesday night church students was performing at and invited me to (she and all the other players did a great job!), and Keira's Strolling Strings performance Saturday evening.  I actually did take pictures of that - just haven't processed them yet.

How was your week?  I look forward to stopping by for a visit!

Linking with Tamar.

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 03.23.14

Hey there!  Happy Spring!  Welcome to another Scavenger Hunt!  This time I'm the sponsor of the list so I had to make sure to play along.  :)  So let's get right to it!

{leading lines}

Leading lines are lines within an image that lead the eyes to another point in the image.  This is one technique that I need more practice with, which is why I suggested it as a prompt.  This is not the photo I originally had in mind for the prompt, but I didn't get a chance to make the other one happen.  It's okay though because we needed a more recent photo of Keira with her violin.  And just a little shout out for my girl - she is now 1st violin/1st chair in her school orchestra!  WOOT!

{relationship}

Alex picked his Bible to read the other evening for homework.  (He reads to me or his dad every night for practice).  I love seeing my kids digging into God's word.  And I pray that he will continue to grow in his relationship with the Lord.

{good morning!}

It is a good morning when the sun is shining.  Even if the only way I can see it now is through the trees.

{together}

Keira and I went to get our eyes examined together this week.  She needs a slight prescription.  As you can see, her glasses are done already.  It will take some getting used to - seeing her with glasses.

{project}

Just a snapshot of part of a page from my 2012 Project Life album.  The album that still isn't completed yet.  {sigh}  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you go visit Ashley for more Scavenger Hunt finds!  And have a great week!

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This girl ...

who just turned 15 eleven days ago ...

and went to her first homecoming dance on Saturday looking years older than her age ...

got these roses from her non-date/friend named Steve ...

and found out that she made 1st violin - 3rd chair in her school orchestra!



I'd say it's been a pretty good couple weeks for her.

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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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Dress Rehearsal

It has been quite the couple of weeks around here.  Some good.  Some not so good.  Sometimes when things get too crazy, I need to escape for just a while.  But when my husband is working so much that I barely see him, much less ask him to watch the boys while Keira and I go take photos (my favorite form of escape), I need to work with what I can.  Mainly my back yard.

So Monday evening Keira put on the dress she is wearing for Thursday night's spring concert and we had a mini photo shoot/dress rehearsal.

She's really been experimenting with all sorts of hair styles since her hair is long again.  This time she did a French braid on each side of her head and then pulled it all up into a bun in the back.  I love how it turned out!

Tonight is the spring concert.  She's getting nervous since she has a small solo part during one of the songs.  And it will be her first performance with the Strolling Strings group.  But I know she'll do great.  And I look forward to a relaxing evening full of wonderful music!

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 05.05.13

Hello!  And welcome to another Scavenger Hunt Sunday!  I had another crazy, busy week and am pleasantly surprised that I was able to find a photo to fit each prompt this week.

{background}

We have these beautiful blossoming trees behind our house.  The other evening after a walk I asked Alex if he would pose in front of them so I could see how they looked as a background.  Surprisingly he agreed.

{spotted or dots}

We had the privilege of welcoming a Black Swallowtail into the world this week.  He'd been in chrysalis since September.  He was magnificent with his white spots and areas of blue and orange.  I shared a post last week on the different stages called Waiting for a Butterfly in case you'd like to check it out.

{weather}

Now that spring has finally arrived, the weather has mostly been gorgeous!  Honey and I enjoyed a walk/run on the bike trail on Wednesday where we came across these beautiful buds.

{motion}

On Friday I chaperoned Alex's field trip to the Children's Museum.  When you looked up in the art room, there were all these streamers hanging from the ceiling so I just had to take a picture.  If you mouse over the photo, you can see the photo before I added twirl and liquify filters in PSE in order to give the illusion of motion.

{sweet}

Alex has decided that he wants to learn to play the violin.  Keira was so sweet to allow him to try playing hers for a few minutes.  When we rent one for him, it will be much smaller than her full-sized one.

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week!

Oh, and in case you are interested, I'm giving away a super cute children's book.  Hop over and enter to win!  Today is the last day to enter!

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