Weekly Summary ~ 4/5/15 - 4/18/15

My apologies for not posting last week.  It was a week of deadlines and blogging just wasn't high on the priority list.  So that means you get two week's worth of photos today.  Oops!  :)

Continuing with the month of opposites in the 365 Photo group on Facebook ...

{April 5:  Black}

After celebrating Easter all day with my family, I realized I hadn't taken a picture for today's prompt. So I used my fall back - a silhouette of our neighbor's tree at dusk.

{April 6:  White}

The tulips I bought from a friend recently are two-toned white and pink. They are so pretty!

{April 7:  Ahead}

Spring is always such an exciting time. So much potential lies ahead. It is like the slate has been wiped clean and we can start anew. I love spring.

This photo got chosen as one of the Top Shots for the day!  WOOT!

{April 8:  Behind}

My first blooming daffodil looks much better from the front than from behind.  :)

{April 9:  Brave}

I have several necklaces that I wear from time to time. This was today's choice, which ended up being the right one. Not only for this prompt but because we had a tornado warning in our area this evening. And now that it is still thunderstorming, I keep telling my dog that she can be brave too. I don't think she's convinced though. :)  Guess I know what tomorrow's photo will be.  :)

{April 10:  Scared}

Honey was so scared during last night's thunderstorms. She couldn't seem to get close enough to me. At one point she decided it was safer to lay under my desk at my feet. The storms continued through the night and finally subsided this morning. She's feeling much better today. Although she still followed me around all day.  :)

{April 11:  Many}

Honey and I went for a walk on the bike trail this morning. We saw many of these "weeds" along the way. It was a great morning for a walk!

{April 12:  Few}

Imagine my surprise when I discovered a few of my Johnny Jump Ups survived our bitterly cold winter and are growing in our flower bed.

{April 13:  Hot}

Today was an absolutely glorious day! The temperature got up to about 77 degrees F and the sun shone most of the day. The kids and I spent most of the afternoon out in the sun, which felt pretty hot, but oh so good. No complaints here after the record-breaking low temperatures we had this winter. I hope we have many more days like this!

{April 14:  Cold}

Snakes are cold-blooded animals. This particular one was caught by NIck while we were out on a nature walk back in the fall.

Sorry for the archive pic today but it has been a busy one!

This photo got chosen as one of the Top Shots for the day!  WOOT!

{April 15:  Tame}

Our sweet golden, Honey, is very tame. Not much gets her worked up. Except maybe chasing an occasional squirrel.  :)

{April 16:  Wild}

I found these cute little flowers growing on our hillside yesterday. I don't know if they are wild flowers or if we planted the seeds to grow them. Either way, they are a welcome sight.

This photo got picked as one of the Top Shots for the day! WOOT!

{April 17:  Curly}

Found this little curly cue plant while walking around the yard today. I have no idea what it is, but I was happy to see it.

{April 18:  Straight}

My church's steeple points straight up to the sky.

Linking with Tamar:

A quick rundown of our weeks: (feel free to skip this part)  :)
On Easter Sunday I hosted everyone at our house.  We celebrated Easter and Nick's birthday on the same day since everyone was here - instead of asking them to come in two weekends in a row.  The weather was pretty nice and everyone had a good time.
Monday I attended a community meeting at our school regarding the proposed consolidation.  It ended up being a big pep rally about consolidating.  I didn't really learn anything new.  I did get to put a face with a few names though.
PTO meeting on Thursday - making plans to end our school year with a bang, which might be the last one ever at our building.  :(
After PTO the boys has Bible Quizzing practice.  I was supposed to help but ended up not having to so I had a couple hours of peace and quiet at home.  Keira was at worship practice.  Doug was home but he was working on the bathroom.
On Saturday Doug put the tub and shower walls in the bathroom.  We ended up missing the last symphony concert of the season because we couldn't get showered beforehand.  Not a big deal, but I was kind of bummed.  We were finally able to shower late that evening.  It is nice having the new tub/shower in!
Also on Saturday Alex and I were outside enjoying the nice weather when an ambulance and several first responders went to our neighbors' house behind us.  We prayed immediately for the situation but didn't hear anything until the next day when Charlotte called.  Turns out our neighbor, Ken, passed away.  He'd been having renal failure for a while and was doing dialysis.  He laid down for a nap Saturday afternoon and never woke up.  :(   My heart breaks for his wife, Charlotte.
Sunday after church the kids and I walked back to visit Charlotte and offer our condolences.  She gave me a big hug and cried and cried.  They didn't have any children but they do have family nearby - nieces and nephews and cousins - so she is not alone.
Monday was Nick's 12th birthday.  We went to Arby's for dinner, ran a few errands, and then went to Dairy Queen so the kids could get ice cream.  I was tempted to get something but resisted the urge.  Yay me!  :)
Tuesday, April 14, I visited Community Women, the Bible study that I have been attending for a couple years.  I took a break this semester and was missing the ladies.  Tuesday was a work day so I told them I would come.  It was great seeing everyone.  Even though I had to leave a little early to go to Ken's funeral.
The funeral was a nice service.  Very private.  Only family and close friends were there.  Charlotte was surprised to see me, but I had told her I would be there.  She invited me up to her house afterwards where they would be having "coffee and donuts".  I don't drink coffee or eat donuts but I went anyway.  :)  They ended up having pizza, donuts, and pie.  Honey came with me and stayed outside the door the whole time.  After about an hour she barked to let me know it was time to go home.  :)  It was nice meeting Charlotte's family.  
I forgot to mention that the Monday after Easter was the last time I ate sugary desserts.  I ate too many between Sunday and Monday and decided it was time to take a break.  So going to Charlotte's where there were donuts and pie was a bit of a challenge, but I stayed strong.
Charlotte introduces me as her neighbor who raises Monarch butterflies.  It makes me chuckle.  She wants me to teach her about Monarchs this summer.  That makes me happy.  She has about 22 acres - lots of room to grow milkweed.  :)
On Wednesday we got hoagies for dinner.  A friend was having a fundraiser for her girl scout troop.  They were really good hoagies!  And I love not having to cook dinner.
I also had the privilege of speaking to a Daisy troop and a Boy Scout troop about Monarchs that evening.  A friend invited me to come.  The kids were adorable.  So attentive and well behaved.  Mostly.  They love asking questions and telling their stories.  Hopefully a few of them will catch the "bug" (no pun intended) and start raising their own butterflies.
Thursday was a repeat of last week.  The boys had quizzing practice and Keira had worship practice.  Except this time Doug wasn't home.  He was helping with a plant shut down all week, which means long days.  Hopefully they got everything fixed that needed to be fixed.
On Friday morning I met my friend Nikki on the community trail and we walked for about an hour.  She had asked me to have breakfast or lunch with her and I suggested that we walk instead of eat.  It turned out to be a great idea.  I hope we do it more.
I had my 6-month dental cleaning at 1:15.  Walking in the door of my dentist's office I got my happy buzz.  When I reach my 10,000 steps on my FitBit, I call it my happy buzz.  :)  I think that is the earliest I have ever reached my goal for the day since I have been wearing this thing.
Keira stayed after school to help set up for an art show so we picked her up at 5:30.  We ran to Sam's to pick up some ice cream treats for her to take to a sleep over and some dinner rolls to have with supper.  I had made chicken noodle soup and promised Charlotte I would bring her some.  She was coming down with something - probably from all the stress she had just encountered with Ken's illness/death.  We took the soup and rolls up to her and she was so grateful.  She wanted to hug me but decided not to so she didn't give me her germs.  :)   Alex and I dropped Keira off and then went to a local elementary school to check out their magnolia tree.  It was just beginning to bloom.  You'll have to wait until next week to see some photos from it.  I used one as my photo of the day on Sunday.  Unless you follow my facebook page, Kimberly Vensel Photography.  Then you can see it sooner.  :)
Saturday morning the boys had their Bible Quizzing Invitational.  Alex earned a Bronze award and Nick a silver.  Nick qualified to go to Regionals in Boston in June.   Quizzing days are long days.  I have a hard time sitting there doing nothing for hours and hours, so this time I took my sneakers and walked around the cul de sac for about 45 minutes in the morning.  It was actually getting hot being out in the sun.  No complaints here!  I ran to Panera to get a salad for lunch (didn't want to eat a hamburger or hot dog there) and came back and ate lunch with the kids.  Then I hung out with the younger kids while they did their memory verses and went outside to the playground.  I ended up getting sunburned on my arms and neck.  It was such a nice day!
We were supposed to go to the art show that Keira helped set up for but she was tired from her sleep over (you know they don't sleep much at sleep overs) and ended up sleeping through most of it.  So we missed it.  Alex wanted to go without her but that kind of defeated the purpose.  She had photos in the show and I wanted to go see them WITH her.  Oh well.  We popped popcorn and watched a movie.

Okay, if you made it through all of that, I'm impressed!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll try not to miss another week.  It is hard to remember everything when I go that long between posts!

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 07.27.14

Hello!  It's time for another Scavenger Hunt Sunday!  We had a beautiful week here.  Lots of sunshine and comfortable temps.  And finished the week out with a thunderstorm or two Saturday night.  Just about perfect.

I didn't play along with the hunt last week, but I managed to get all the prompts this week.  Kind of.  Almost.  Well, you'll see.  :)

{eyes}

Nick can't open his eyes under water without his goggles, which he forgot to take.  I love this picture anyway.  :)  (Taken with a Fuji FinePix XP60 waterproof camera - because someone will probably ask).  :)

{upside down}

When a Monarch caterpillar is getting ready to form its chrysalis, it hangs upside down in a J form for about a day.  We currently have 19 in chrysalis as I type this.  We also have 22 caterpillars and 2 eggs.  I love raising Monarchs!

{from behind}

I crept up behind this butterfly in order to get this shot.  And this is the only one he let me get before flying off.

{sunshine}

Alex and I took our dog, Honey, for a walk on the bike trail.  When I saw the way the sunshine was hitting on this particular spot, I asked him if he would cooperate for a few photos.  As you can see, he did.  :)

{cup}

Cup, frog, whatever.  :)

That's it from me.  Be sure to visit Ashley for more great Scavenger Hunt finds!

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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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Our 15th Week ~ 2014

Our 15th week was interesting {ahem}.  The weather has been getting nicer and nicer so on Sunday after church, we loaded up the bikes and went for a ride on the trail.  Except for Nick who stayed home because he wasn't feeling great.  And his bike "sucks" (from leaving it out in the weather).  Nick ended up missing school Monday and Tuesday because he was sick.  He doesn't have the mumps, which we already knew (if you will remember from last week, one side of his face was swollen so they tested him), but he did end up with a cold and a sore throat and cough.

Alex was complaining that his ear was hurting on Monday morning - not inside like an earache, but outside.  I checked it over and didn't see anything so off to school he went.  He didn't have a fever or anything, so I figured he wanted to stay home because his brother was staying home.  He went to the nurse a couple times.  She called me and we talked about the situation.  She checked his ear and didn't see anything either.  Monday night, shortly after he went to bed, he came back down and told me he had some dirt in his ear that he couldn't get out.  Upon closer inspection I discovered that it was actually a tick.  Tucked down in the corner.  (see the below picture)  It wasn't engorged or anything, so I figured he got it Sunday on the bike trail.

(Photo courtesy of bigstockphoto - I added the arrow)

He freaked out a little and then cried great big crocodile tears while I removed it, which wasn't an easy feat considering where it was located.  Even though I tried to distract him by letting him play on the Kindle while I did it.  :)  His ear was still red and swollen Tuesday morning so I called the doctor to see what they thought I should do.  The nurse suggested I have him checked just as a precaution, so I took him in that afternoon.  The test for Lyme's can't be done until 10-14 days after a bite, so he got put on an antibiotic to help with the infection/swelling.  He wasn't crazy about having to take medicine until he tasted the pink stuff.  Apparently it tastes pretty good because he reminds me when it is time to take his medicine.  :)  Within about 36 hours the swelling and redness went away and he is feeling fine now.  He would like to get the blood work over with though and asks me every day when we are going to get it done.  Even with all those needles poking him while we are in the hospital for his appendicitis in 2012, he is still nervous about it.

Anyway, things pretty much got back to normal by the end of the week.  I got to run outside a couple times thanks to the gorgeous weather we had.  Had lunch with a friend on Friday.  Slept in Saturday morning - the first time in a long time!  Went to the symphony with Doug Saturday night.  The last concert of the season.  And it was fabulous!  The special guest was a 14 year old violinist who was incredible!  I really wanted Keira to go with us, but she opted to go to a youth group activity.  My in-laws came in to hang out with the boys.  I didn't realize how long it had been since we last saw them.  

I am still participating in Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge for April.  I am really enjoying it.  It gives me a reason to pick up my camera every day.  And challenges me to get creative, which is something I need right now.  Here are a few pictures from my week that didn't already get posted in Sunday's Scavenger Hunt ...

I took my camera and macro lens with me on our bike ride on Sunday.  Just in case I saw any flowers along the trail.  As you can tell, I did.  Though this is probably actually a weed.  Still, tiny yellow flowers among all the brown was a welcomed sight!

Tuesday's prompt was hobby.  I had Keira help me with taking this picture because I was too lazy to set up the tripod.  Plus I did a lot of running with taking Alex to the doctor and then trying to find where his prescription was and was running out of time.  (They called it into the wrong place but we eventually found it.)  Keira actually made this scarf for my mom but didn't know how to finish it off, so I did it for her.  Go Black and Gold!

Wednesday's prompt was dark.  I ended up using a different picture for that because I didn't like the background of this one.  We will need to try this again sometime.

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you may have already seen this one.  Friday's prompt was 3 of a kind.  I had this idea in my head and Keira was nice enough to help me make it work.  I took three pictures of her, each in a different position, then made them into one.  Don't ask me how I did it because it took a lot of playing around in Photoshop and I'm not sure I remember exactly how.  :)  It isn't perfect but I still like how it turned out.  Cool and creepy at the same time.

So that was my week in a nutshell.  I hope you had a great one!  We had 80 degree weather yesterday and are supposed to get snow tomorrow.  Ugh.  But it won't stick around because it is supposed to get warm again by Thursday.  Hoping the clouds clear out so I can see the "blood moon" lunar eclipse that we are supposed to have happen tonight.  I guess I will have three more chances between now and September 2015 though.  I love stuff like that!

Linking with Tamar.

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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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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 03.31.13

Happy Resurrection Sunday!  He is risen!  

After Sunday morning church service, we have a quiet day planned at home.  We will be getting together with family in a couple weeks for Nick's 10th birthday, so everyone chose to have their Easter celebrations quietly at home.  As much as I like hosting holidays at our house, I'm okay with the break.  A quiet day to celebrate the sacrifice our Lord and Savior made for every one of us can't be a bad thing.

Today's Scavenger Hunt items are: Water, Empty, Fresh, Weathered, and Ordinary.

{water}

Alex pointed out this little waterfall along the bike trail.  Saturday morning we got out and enjoyed the spring weather, since it is finally here!  At least for now.

{empty}

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.  ~ Matthew 28:6

Part of the resurrection story from one of the kids' Bible storybooks.

{fresh}

Since spring has been elusive, I bought some fresh-cut tulips to have a little taste of spring indoors.

{weathered}

A weathered tree along the bike trail.

{ordinary}

Ordinary:  commonly encountered; usual.  
Yeah, that would be Keira and her Kindle.  :)

One last thing before I scoot, I'm giving away a copy of the book, What I Wish I Knew at 18.  You might want to go check it out.

Happy last day of March!  Really?!?!

Have a super duper week!

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 09.09.12

First of all, happy birthday to my father-in-law!  We love you, Pap!  Hope you had a wonderful day!

I almost didn't make this week's hunt.  Things have been incredibly busy around here!  I've been helping Laura paint her walls in her new house, I had to take my car to the garage for inspection and a minor repair (which we thought was going to be a bigger repair - praise God it wasn't!), I had several meetings, and our church had their Fall Kickoff this weekend.  And looking ahead to this week, it will be just as busy.  There's some fun stuff thrown in this week too, but still busy.

Anyway, the Scavenger Hunt items this week are: Monochromatic, Starts with the letter ..., Upside down, Hair, and Soft.  And here are my interpretations ...

{monochromatic}

While my car was in the garage, I took advantage of the park that is right along the river.  First I did some interval running, then walked back to the garage to get my camera to see what I could capture.  These hibiscus were HUGE!  And I love the mostly reddish-pink color!

{starts with the letter ...}

We had a busy butterfly week!  We had four emerge from their chrysalis (two females and two males) and we found a recently-emerged male while out gathering milkweed leaves for our hungry caterpillars.  Alex was hanging with the found butterfly while Liza and Jason, Laura's kids, got to enjoy two of the newly emerged ones.  I took the containers to their house since I knew the butterflies would emerge while I was there for the day and I don't like leaving them that long.  (Collage courtesy of Rebecca from Simple as That - I think.)  :)

{upside down}

Monarch caterpillars hang upside down in a J form before shedding their skin for the final time and forming their chrysalis.

{hair}

This photo is from last week.  An outtake from our little back-to-school photo shoot.  Keira's hair kept blowing in her face while attempting this shot.

{soft}

Doug and I went for a ride on the bike trail on Labor Day.  While he was putting the bikes back on the bike rack, I was exploring.  I came across this cat who was feeding her baby kittens.  I assume she was soft.  She wouldn't let me get close enough to find out - she was growling and hissing at me.  So I just snapped a couple pictures and left her be.

So that's it for me.  Next week's items are sponsored by ... ME!  WOOT!  I forgot all about sending this list to Ashley.  Thankfully she keeps pretty good track of this stuff.  :)  Here's what to hunt down this week ...

1) Kiss

2) Askew

3) Fragrant

4) Simple

5) Plant  

I hope you'll play along!  Have a wonderful week!

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