Our 28th Week ~ 2014

Another fun week has come and gone.  We started out the week with church (as always) and a birthday party at a good friend's house.  The boys had a blast launching water balloons with this sling shot thing they had.  Then Keira started summer gym on Monday.  For 3 weeks she has to attend since she doesn't have room in her schedule for gym once school starts in the fall.  Funny thing happened though ... Keira told me that summer gym was from 9AM-noon Monday through Friday, so I dropped her at 8:55 Monday morning and went on my merry way.  When I picked her up at noon, she told me she was actually supposed to be there at 8:00 and was an hour late!  Her teacher was easy on her though and isn't going to make her make up that hour that she missed.  So the rest of the week, we made sure she got there before 8:00.  :)  It was tough on both of us since we are both night owls and don't like to get up early.  Though I have to admit it is harder on her because she has four hours of gym class where I go exercise for 30-40 minutes and I'm done.  :)

On Monday my new camera body was finally delivered!

I had ordered my new camera on June 30.  With Amazon Prime I get things in two days typically.  So when I checked the tracking on the package on Tuesday and it hadn't changed from the shipped status, I began to wonder.  All day Wednesday we stayed home because I had to sign for the package.  But the man in brown never came.  I was so disappointed.  Tracking still showed the same.  Thursday I got onto a chat with a customer service rep from Amazon only to find out that my camera got lost somewhere between Amazon and UPS.  She placed a new order for me and told me it would arrive on Monday, July 7 because of the holiday.  More disappointment.

The main problem was that I knew I couldn't stay home all day Monday and wait for the UPS man.  Keira had to be dropped off and picked up from summer gym.  So I prayed that the UPS man would come while I was home and he did!  I know that may seem like a silly, petty prayer, but God answered it.  I was able to sign for my package and try out my new baby!

Another funny story, on Thursday the UPS man pulled up our driveway, which puzzled me because I hadn't ordered anything.  He needed me to sign for a package, which he thought was odd also.  When he handed me the package, I knew exactly what it was - the lost camera!  I brought it inside and went immediately to Amazon to contact customer service.  My boys, in the meantime, decided to go ahead and open the box.  Grrr.  Not the camera box, but the shipping box.  After some checking and discussion it was decided that I needed to ship the camera back (well, duh!) and that they would reimburse me the amount I would pay.  So Friday I took the camera to the UPS store and shipped it back.  I just find it funny that it eventually turned up.

Anyway, as I still play along with Fat Mum Slim's Facebook photo a day challenge (remember I am challenging myself this month to include at least one family member in my photos), here are last week's photos ...

{July 6 - View}

This was my view of Alex playing on a caboose - now a tourist information center.  He loves trains so much and was in his glory!

{July 7 - First}

 I am super excited about tthis photo for a couple reasons. The photo is of Alex holding a milkweed leaf containing a teeny, tiny Monarch caterpillar. The first of hopefully many we will raise this summer. We hatched this one from an egg that I found on July 4th. When we got up this morning, it had hatched! The second reason I am so excited is because this is the first photo I took with my new Nikon D610 - my first full-frame DSLR. I was still trying to get it all set up at this point, but so far I love it!

{July 8 - I've never ...}

I've never been a fan of taking selfies.  I always look like such a dork.  :)

{July 9 - Alive}

Our new little Monarch caterpillar is alive and well!  Eating like crazy and cuter than ever!

{July 10 - Sharp}

Sharp(ies) are fun to color with.

{July 11 - Gold}

Gold(en) hour is my favorite time of day to take photos.

{July 12 - Interior}

Alex was excited to see the interior of the mill at McConnells Mill State Park the other day. He was very curious about how everything works. However, he wasn't patient enough to listen to the tour guide who was teaching about the history of the mill.  :)

We also took Honey to the vet for her yearly checkup.  She is doing well.  I had a family photo session Thursday evening.  Will post that session soon.  Friday Keira and Nick both had sleepovers.  Since I couldn't get anyone to take Alex so Doug and I could have a date :), Alex and I snuggled up and watched a movie on Netflix.  Then on Saturday morning, Doug, Alex, and I went for a bike ride.  And Alex took me on a lunch date to Applebee's.  But somehow I ended up paying.  :)

Linking with Tamar.

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 09.29.13

Hello!  Welcome to the last Sunday of September!  Life is flying by at warp speed these days so I'll just get right to the hunt ...

{rule of thirds}

We've been having dew in the mornings now that it is cooling off so much at night.  One morning this week, I was able to get out to have some more fun with my new lens.  

{made me smile}

A friend of mine asked me to take her family photos yesterday morning at their camp by the river.  On the way there the sun was shining and beautiful and I was worried that we should have gotten an earlier start.  But by the time I got down to their campground, it was terribly foggy.  Then I was concerned that the fog would interfere with our session.  Until I noticed a man walking his dogs along the river bank and all I could see were their silhouettes.  Inspiration hit me and this is one of the first photos I took of this lovely family.  A foggy silhouette.  Accentuated a bit in post processing.  It's fun to get artsy sometimes.

{lines}

Alex has been asking to have his pictures taken on train tracks for a while now.  So Friday evening we set out to find some that we could use.  I'm using this for "lines" as in leading lines.  A technique I still have yet to master.

{alone}

My baby girl went to her first homecoming dance last night.  Even though she went alone, she met up with some friends there and had a great time.  (On a side note, I would really love it if someone would please slow time down.  I'm not ready for this next phase of our lives.)  :)

{together}

The boys and I went to a fall festival yesterday afternoon where there was a civil war encampment set up.  Together, Alex and Nick were trying to figure out how to make this cannon work.  Thankfully they didn't figure it out.  

That's it for me today.  Hope you have a wonderful week!  And be sure to visit Ashley for more great Scavenger Hunt finds!

But before you go, be sure to go check out the books I'm giving away.

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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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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 08.19.12

Time again for Scavenger Hunt Sunday.  I'm a little late getting this up.  I usually like to have my photos done and posted on Saturday night.  But we've been doing lots of running this week, trying to squeeze in as much fun as possible before school starts on the 29th.  So I didn't even take two photos until today.  I needed Keira's help with one and we just couldn't seem to find a good time to make it work until today.

Anyway, on to this week's hunt ...

{forest}

One of the fun things we did this week was hike through this forest.  The kids had fun exploring and were wiped out when we got home.

{morning light}

This sunflower looked so pretty in the morning light.

{touch}

My kids aren't afraid to touch most anything ... including this little garter snake.  You can tell by that filthy hand that Nick was having a good time.  :)

{newspaper}

My name just happened to appear in this week's newspaper.  How convenient is that?!  :)  The results from the local farm show photo contest were published.  I got a blue ribbon in the "one person B&W" category for this photo of my niece.  (One of the photos I took today since a friend was bringing the newspaper to church this morning.)

{coffee or tea}

Gotta love a cold glass of iced tea on a hot summer day while sitting by the pool.  (The other photo I took today with Keira's help.  She was my official "ice cube dropper".  :))

That's it for me.  Doug and I are going to head out this afternoon for a bike ride with or without the kids.  Haven't decided yet.  :)

Be sure to head over to Ashley's to see more great Scavenger Hunt photos.  And if you'd like to play along for next week, the items to search for are:

1. School
2. Rule of Thirds
3. Side Profile
4. Small
5. Motion

Have a great week!  We'll be squeezing in some more fun this week, so I probably won't be around much.  But thank you for stopping by!

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Mushrooms & Spider webs, Millipedes & Snakes

You just never know what you're going to find on a nature walk with the kids ...

mushrooms growing from tree trunks ...

cool spider webs ...

millipedes with tickly legs and sea shells ...

and even a garter snake that wasn't quite fast enough.  :)

Throw a few frogs and guppies in there (that didn't get photographed) and you've got yourself a really good day.  If you're a kid.  Or a kid's photographer-type mom.  :)

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Sunday Hunt plus Scripture & a Snapshot

I'm back to participating in Ashley's Scavenger Hunt Sunday after taking a few weeks off!  I really enjoy doing the scavenger hunt and am glad to be back.  So let's get right to the photos, shall we?

{stairs}

The last Saturday in August I took the kids to McConnell's Mill to do some hiking.  The weather was gorgeous and we pretty-much had a great time.  Aside from the times the kids were fighting/bickering/whining.  :)  Keira and Nick both found millipedes while there, which is what they are holding in this photo.  These are the stairs that lead up from the Mill to the parking lot.  And after hiking 3-4 miles of rocky/hilly terrain, the stairs (of which only a small section you can see here) are pretty much torture.  :)

{macro}

I threw on my 10x and 4x macro filters to get this shot of a lonely dandelion I found in my yard.  I had to keep Alex from blowing it away until after the photo shoot.  He wasn't very happy with me.  :)

{clouds}

During my run on Wednesday I noticed these clouds.  They looked like wispy flowery things (that's a technical term - in case you were wondering) so I snapped a photo.  Prairie Storm texture by Vintage West Photo added.

{abstract}

An out-of-focus photo of my black-eyed susans that I used a liquify filter on in PSE.  Scroll down to see the non-liquified version in Scripture and a Snapshot.

{scripture and a snapshot}

I love this Bible verse, although it is most difficult to do on a daily basis.  Thankfully one of God's promises is that "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." ~ Philippians 4:13.

{smile}

Alex showing me his "mustachio" while waiting for the bus on his first day of Kindergarten.

Happy Labor Day weekend!

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Water ... Edited

Welcome back to Shoot & Edit/Good to WOW!  Earlier this week you saw my SOOC shots.  Today I show you my edits.

If you've been around here for any time at all, you already know that I don't like to spend a great deal of time editing.  So I keep things pretty simple most of the time.  That's what I did this week.  Kept things simple.  Besides, since the kids started school yesterday, I have a LOT of homework to do!  Somehow that doesn't seem fair!  :)

Anyway, without further ado ... here are my water photos ...
{mouse over to see SOOC}

Just simple edits.  In ACR I increased the recovery a bit since the original was a bit overexposed.  I also increased the blacks, clarity, and vibrancy.

I decided to add a solid mauvish-colored layer to warm this photo up a bit - turned the opacity down to about 50%.  Mouse over to see the above edited version vs. the warmer version.

{mouse over to see SOOC}

Increased blacks a little, increased clarity and vibrancy.  And cropped.

Since these photos are different sizes, I couldn't do the mouse over thing.  So you'll just have to see them this way.  Here's the SOOC one.

And the edit.  

I really didn't do much with it - increased blacks slightly and increased clarity and vibrancy, as usual.

{mouse over to see SOOC}

Same simple edits on this one.  And I believe I cropped it slightly.

So that's it for me.  Be sure to head over to Ashley's to see more great water edits.  (still can't get that darn button to work)

Next week's theme is Back to School - in case you'd like to play along.

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Water ... SOOC

This week's Shoot & Edit/Good to WOW! theme is Ocean/Pool/Lake/River (aka water!).  :)  We link up our SOOC shots on Monday (yeah, I'm a day late) with Jill, then on Thursday we will link up our edits with Ashley.  Jill always has great advice on how to get the best shots IN camera so not much editing is needed; Ashley is an editing guru and shows us some wonderful ways to take our photos from good to WOW!  So here are a few of my SOOC shots ...

The kids and I went hiking on Friday at McConnell's Mills.  There is a creek that borders the hiking trail we were on and I managed to snap a few photos (like 80) while we were there.  Fortunately for you, I'm only going to post two.  :)  For now anyway.

Keira posed for me by the covered bridge.  The boys wouldn't cooperate.

We stopped along the creek several times on our hike.  The kids were looking for snails or fish or frogs or whatever.  They didn't find any.  :)

Then today to celebrate the last day of summer vacation (for them, not me - my vacation starts tomorrow!)  :) ... we went fishing at a local pond.

We had fun even though Keira was the only one to catch a fish.  And a frog.  :)


These geese always hang around this pond during the summer.  Keira counted 50 geese!

So those are my SOOC water shots.  Stop back on Thursday to see my edits.  And be sure to stop over at Jill's to see more great SOOC shots!

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