Weekly Summary ~ 6/21/15 - 6/27/15

Vacation Bible School week!  Fun. Long. Exhausting. But oh so worth it!

{June 21: Performance}

Alex's performance in yesterday's kickball game wasn't stellar, but he still had fun. Until he decided that jumping on the trampoline would be more interesting.  :)

{June 22: Loud}

Nick definitely lives life out loud. He can have fun in just about any situation. He can also get himself in trouble in almost every situation.  :)

{June 23: Tickled Pink}

I was tickled pink to see these two Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies loving on my milkweed blossoms this afternoon. They aren't Monarchs, but I'll take what I can get right now.   :)

{June 24: Photographer}

One from the archives. During Vacation Bible School week my time is not my own. Plus I hate taking selfies. That is probably why I became a photographer ... so I could spend time photographing other people.  :)  This particular photo is my profile pic on my Facebook photography page, Kimberly Vensel Photography.

{June 25: Stands Out in a Crowd}

This gorgeous lady, who surprised us with her arrival, most definitely stands out in a crowd. Say hello to Frances, formerly known as Rambo.  :)  We came home from Vacation Bible School to find this beauty had emerged from her chrysalis. Then we walked up to show her to our recently-widowed neighbor and asked her if she would help us rename her since Rambo isn't a good girl name. Her sister's name was Frances, so we blessed her day by allowing her to name our first Black Swallowtail butterfly.  (Posted this in the group on Friday due to being so busy with VBS stuff on Thursday).

{June 26: Tick Tock}

The window of time to capture a gorgeous sunset is limited. Although sometimes when you slow down, sit, and enjoy watching the sun setting, God treats you to an even more beautiful sky.

{June 27: The Big Day}

The big day for this incredible couple is in just under a month. I have the honor of photographing their wedding in July. I can't wait!
This photo was chosen as one of the Top Shots of the day!  WOOT!


I posted in time to link with Tamar!  :)



Sunday we celebrated Father's Day.  Doug cooked dinner, as he often does on the weekends.  I offered but he said he didn't mind.  That way he can cook what he wants (corn and sweet potatoes).  :)
Monday VBS started.  Need I say more?  :)
We actually had a great week at VBS.  Everyone who helped was right where they were meant to be.  Everything meshed together nicely.  We had an average of 40 kids each day.
Also on Monday my sister-in-law sent me a cell phone picture of a Monarch butterfly she saw while out walking.  Yay!  It was about 10 miles from my house.  I have yet to see one with my own eyes.  Soon, I hope!  If this stupid rain would ever go away for more than a day at a time.
On Thursday after VBS Nick left for Boston.  He qualified to go to the Regional Bible Quizzing event.  It was kind of tough letting him go alone but I knew he was in good hands.  They got to the college in Quincy around 2 a.m.
I was up until almost 2 a.m. finishing up the slideshow for Friday's VBS.  I always take pictures all week and make up a slideshow to show the kids on Friday.  They love seeing their pictures up on the big screen.
The last day of VBS we always host a picnic in the fellowship hall for the kids and their parents.  Everyone had a great time.  We had been raising money all week to help dig water wells in Burkina Faso, Africa.  On Friday at the end of VBS, Jenn announced that we had raised $3,000!   But then during the picnic she announced that someone had put in an additional $1,000 taking us up to $4,000 raised!  It costs around $6,000 to dig a water well so the villagers can have clean drinking water.  We plan to continue to raise money until next year when missionaries from Burkina Faso come to visit our church.  I can't wait to present them with the amount we raise!
Keira had made chocolate chip cookies for the picnic.  They were a huge hit!  Several people asked for the recipe and there were NONE left at the end.  
When we got home from VBS, we had a wonderful surprise.  Our first Black Swallowtail butterfly had eclosed!  She is pictured above as the June 25 photo.  I didn't get to post my photo on Thursday because of VBS busyness.  Some days are like that.  :)
On Saturday we got up early (instead of sleeping in like I usually do after VBS week) and Doug drove Alex and me to Ohio to get some Monarch eggs and baby caterpillars.  A very generous woman that I met on one of the Monarch butterfly groups on Facebook offered them to me.  And since she was just over 3 hours away, we made the drive out.  It rained and poured and rained some more, which made me very thankful that Doug was driving.  :)  Sarah, the butterfly lady, was so gracious.  She took us to lunch at a local diner called The Nutcracker.  We loved the place!  They had nutcrackers all over the place and an old jukebox where you can play 3 songs for a quarter.  And very cool retro decorations.  We didn't let her pay for lunch though.  After her generosity with the Monarchs, I couldn't let that happen.  :)  Buying her lunch was the least we could do.
On the way home we stopped at Cabela's.  I bought a tent for butterfly rearing.  Got the idea from Sarah.  I am hoping to breed some Monarchs this year and have eggs and cats to share with others.  Wish me luck!  We made it back home around 7:00, exhausted but excited to be back in the Monarch raising swing of things!
On Saturday I also got word that Nick was awarded a Silver medal at Bible Quizzing Regionals.  So proud of him!

Here's hoping for another great week!

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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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Weekly Summary ~ 3/1/15 - 3/7/15

Posting a day later than planned due to lack of internet access.  We apparently had a bad wire leading up to the house and it got replaced yesterday.  No more losing internet and phone service!  WOOT!

It appears that winter might be over in these parts.  I realize we could still get a random snowfall here and there but the past few days have been really nice.  The sun has been shining and the temps around 50 degrees.  Today is a rainy day but it is still warmish.  The snow is melting and the robins are back in town!

Anyway, this is probably my last month participating in Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge.  At the end of this month I will have completed a full year with that group.  And since I joined another photo a day group, it is hard participating in both.  So here are my photos from last week ...

{March 1:  Starts with R}

Roses. These two roses are real, dipped in a preserving/hardening agent and then dipped in gold. Both gifts from my dear husband. When I look at them, I am reminded how much he loves me.

{March 2:  Part of me}

Part of me really wanted to stay inside all day where it is warm. But another part of me really wanted to go outside and see how pretty everything was covered in a fresh coating of snow. You can see which part won.

{March 3:  Open}

My vintage camera is much more interesting to look at when it is open.

{March 4:  Geometric}

We have thousands of these in our house. Not all this shape, but still. 

{March 5: Out the window}

I had a completely different picture in mind for today's prompt and then this happened when I was dropping my daughter off for worship practice at church this evening. We haven't had many gorgeous sunsets lately so I had to stop and shoot this out the window of my car with my phone.

{March 6:  Remedy}

The remedy for this cabin fever - daffodils and sunshine. The daffodils are from the market. With about 8 inches of snow still on the ground, it will be a while before we have flowers sprouting.

{March 7:  Sweet}

Keira asked if she could help set this prompt up, so here you go. Ice cream with chocolate syrup. She enjoyed every single bite.  :)

Linking with Tamar:

A quick rundown of last week:
Monday the kids had another 2-hour delay, which really should have been a cancellation since the roads were pretty bad even with the delay.  Wednesday and Friday brought with them cancellations.  Wednesday because of snow and Friday because of the below zero temps we woke up to.  Friday was supposed to be a half day so a delay wasn't going to work.  As of right now, the kids will be in school until June 12.  :(
Spring seems to have arrived here in Pennsylvania!  We have had a couple pretty nice days after all of last week's mess.  Looks like the kids will have their first full five-day week of school since the week of December 15.
Alex had soccer on Saturday, as usual.  His team lost again.  There is one boy who is a good player but he has "anger issues" as Alex puts it.  Anyway, Alex was playing goalie and the other team scored against them.  This boy went over to him and called him an idiot for allowing them to score.  This mama bear wanted to go get in that boy's face, but I didn't.  I let it go and told Alex to do the same when he brought it up later.  The funny thing is - this boy has never played goalie as far as I know.  Frustrating.  We only have 3 weeks left in the season and Alex is having fun, which is really all that matters.
Saturday night we went to the symphony.  It was Broadway night.  What a great show!  Keira was able to volunteer for the National Junior Honor Society (passing out programs and showing people to their seats) so Doug's parents came in to stay with the boys.  When she was done, she was able to come sit with us and watch the show.
That's about it.  Not much excitement here.   :)

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Weekly Summary ~ 2/15/15 - 2/21/15

Another week under our belts.  One more week closer to spring.  Thanks to our lovely Pennsylvania weather, the kids had school cancelled on Monday, Thursday, and Friday last week.  We had record-breaking low temperatures.  Their Easter break is now gone with a couple days tacked on at the end of the year.  And winter isn't over yet.  :/

We had a bit of a warm up on the weekend along with about 6 more inches of snow on Saturday.  But back down to high temps in the single digits today.  Brrrrr!  Global warming sounds really good right now.  :)

Anyway, I'm still chugging along with Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge.  And I think I mentioned last week that I started another Project 365 challenge.  I'm allowing myself to use archived photos when I'm stumped or just not feeling it.  When I finish up my year with FMS PAD, I will make more of an effort to take a fresh photo every day.  After all, that's what these challenges are about.

Of course, now that I said that, the first photo of this week is an archived photo.  :)

{February 15: Spot}

This Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar has spots that look like eyes in order to scare off predators.  We had the pleasure of finding one a few years ago and keeping him in chrysalis form over the winter.  I hope to attract more of these lovelies to our butterfly garden this year.

{February 16:  From where I stand}

It may look pretty outside, but from where I stand it is too stinkin' cold to go out! We are in the middle of "it is so cold it makes my face hurt" temperatures right now. Only 31 days until spring!

{February 17:  Routine}

Exercise is definitely part of my daily routine. For now while it is too cold and slippery to exercise outside, I will continue to do my workouts indoors. Today was strength training. Tomorrow will be intervals.

{February 18:  Bedside}

Today's view from my bedside. Snow, snow, and more snow.

{February 19:  Fresh}

Fresh blackberries anyone?

{February 20:  This is so me!}

Butterflies and sunshine. We had the sunshine today but I had to improvise with the butterflies since it is very much winter here right now.  :) This is a wind chime I bought recently. I can't wait until the weather warms up and I can hang it outside.

(This photo got chosen among the FAB photos for the day!  WOOT!)

{February 21:  Matching}

We bought this matching tea set several years ago for our now-teenage daughter. Sadly it has been stored away for a while. She's a bit old for tea parties. But perhaps my youngest will want to have one with me. He's not too cool (yet) to hang out with his mama.  :)

Linking with Tamar:

Like I said, the kids had school cancelled Monday, Thursday, AND Friday.  
Keira had a violin lesson on Monday.  The boys and I dropped her off and ran a quick errand.  Their doors were frozen shut (motorized sliding van doors) so when we got back to her teacher's house, I asked if I could have some warm water to pour on my doors so we could open them.  When we had run our errand, the boys forgot they couldn't open their doors but they tried anyway.  Well, the doors were closed, but the sensor kept indicating that they were open, so the car was beeping over and over and over again on the way back to Stephanie's.  Ugh.  So incredibly annoying.  Warm water does the trick.  Even if only for a moment.  :)
Wednesday I went up to help set up our store at church.  But then we ended up cancelling Wednesday night kids' classes.  At least it is already set up for this week.  Hope we don't have to cancel again!  Oh spring, you can't come soon enough!  :)
Thursday and Friday were full of movie watching and laziness.  Although Alex and I did run up to the mall.  My Rite Aid register rewards were expiring and I didn't want to lose $8.00.  We also stopped at JCPenney to look for a new purse for me.  Didn't find one.  Alex wanted me to buy him a pretzel.  And a book.  And a toy.  And, and, and ...  Next time I think I will go alone.   :)  (He didn't get any of those things, by the way).
Saturday morning we woke up to snowy roads so we decided it wasn't worth it to go to Alex's soccer game.  When our road looks bad (a main road), it is best to just stay put.  We ended up getting about 6 inches of snow.  However it was a little warmer.  I think we almost hit the freezing mark.  After all those below zero temps, it felt like a heat wave!  :)

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Weekly Summary ~ 2/1/15 - 2/7/15

It's February!!!!  I'm so excited!  Only 38 more days until spring!

Last week I decided to take on a second photo challenge.  There is a group on Facebook called 365 Photo that posts challenges also.  The FMS PAD group that I am involved in is getting pretty big and this group is much smaller.  I will continue with the FMS group until at least the end of March to get in my full year with them and then I'll reevaluate.  I'm not sure I'll be able to handle two prompts per day.  Especially when business picks back up.

Anyway, here are last week's FMS photos ...

{February 1:  On my plate}

Alex has been asking for a week or so now if we could have shrimp for dinner.  So today we made that happen.  Grilled shrimp with pasta and broccoli.  Mmmmm.  And we finally got to use our new dishes.  Yay!

{February 2:  Mail}

I love getting happy mail! And conveniently a friend of mine sent me this thank you card and it came today.  :)

{February 3:  Water}

My quandary for the day - how to get a water picture without actually leaving my house as I don't feel well today and it is awfully cold out. Thanks to the icicles hanging from the front of our house, I was able to do it.

{February 4:  Reward}

On Wednesday nights at church the kids can earn coins as rewards for doing certain things - like answering questions correctly, saying their Bible verses, or getting caught being good. Then once every two months or so we have a "store" where they can spend their coins for prizes. The kids love it and it seems to be a great motivator.

{February 5:  Something blue}

There is a special time of the day called "blue hour". According to Wikipedia it is "the period of twilight each morning and evening when the sun is a significant distance below the horizon and the residual, indirect sunlight takes on a predominantly blue hue." 

I'm not sure I captured it exactly, but I still love the look of this photo. I was walking out on my way to a meeting and had to run back into the house to grab my camera so I could capture this. And in case you are wondering, no, I wasn't late for the meeting.  :)

{February 6:  Makes me smile}

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." ~Woody Allen

We laughed and laughed while Nick was being silly singing and carrying on.

{February 7:  Stripes}

Colorful stripes help to brighten up this colorless season.




And my usual rundown of the week (feel free to skip this - it's more for me anyway):
Sunday we watched the Super Bowl and even though I truly didn't care who won (since our Steelers weren't playing), I was disappointed the Seattle lost.  Especially after that last drive.
Monday the kids had a snow day.  Or rather an ice day. 
Tuesday evening was spent at the Senior High school watching Nick and a bunch of other 6th graders playing volleyball.  Or at least attempting to play volleyball.  Nick's team won 2 out of 5 games and are moving on to the finals.  Not quite sure how that works.  Must be like the NFL.  :)  Anyway, those games are on the 17th and are single elimination, so if they lose, we get to go home sooner.  :)
Wednesday was normal stuff.
Thursday Keira was sick.  I took her to the doctor since she's been having ringing in her ears which then becomes a nasty headache.  The doc thinks the tinnitus is leftover from Keira's recent illness and gave her an antibiotic to try to kick it out of her.  If that doesn't work, we will see an audiologist.  Keira was playing her guitar some tonight (but not her violin yet) so she must be feeling better.
Thursday was also PTO meeting night.  We had a meeting with the 6th grade activity committee afterwards to discuss what we want to do for the 6th graders at the end of the year.  It is sad that this might be our last year to do this at our current school.
Friday I ran some errands, did some couponing (which I'm going to try to do more of this year), and we had our normal popcorn and movie night.  We rented Mr. Peabody & Sherman.  It was cute.
Saturday morning was soccer.  I finally got to go to a game.  Alex's team lost again but they had fun.  We sat with friends of mine whose son is also on Alex's team.  After the game we ran a few errands and came home.  Doug and I were supposed to go to the symphony that night but he didn't feel well after dinner, so we stayed home.  I was okay with that.  I really enjoy the symphony, but sometimes I just really don't want to go anywhere.  That seems to be happening a lot this winter.  I'm just content to stay home.

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Our Week in Review 2014 ~ 10/5 - 10/11

I just discovered that my week numbers seem to be off, so in order to not drive myself crazy with trying to fix them, I'm just going with a more generic title for the remainder of 2014.  While the song "Let It Go" is running in my head and I take deep, cleansing breaths.  Don't sweat the small stuff, right?  :)

I'm still continuing with Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge.  Here is the list for October.  Easy peasy, right?  Not always.  But fun nonetheless.  I have decided that I may take a new picture or use an archived photo, depending on my schedule and my mood.  :)

{October 5:  E is for ...}

Evening sky.  I took this photo a few weeks ago. A gorgeous sunset after church one evening. This is basically SOOC - just some sharpening done.

After spending the day with my nephew who just got home from serving in Afghanistan (he's a Marine) and my sister (his mom) and my mom, I honestly didn't even think about picking up my camera to take a photo for today's prompt. We had such a nice day together. Talking and playing UNO, our card game of choice these days. (That way the kids can play too.) I probably should have taken some pictures, but I just didn't.

{October 6:  F is for ...}

Flower.  We had lots of sunflowers in our garden this year. They make me happy. I mean, who can look at a sunflower and NOT be happy?   :)

{October 7:  G is for ...}

Green frog.  Ribbit.  :)

{October 8:  H is for ...}

Hat.  Gobble gobble.  :)  While out shopping today I saw this turkey hat at Target and just couldn't pass it up. We have a crazy hat night coming up soon at church and I thought one of the boys would like to wear it. Alex volunteered to give it a try this afternoon.

{October 9:  I is for ...}

Inside ... a milkweed seed pod.

{October 10:  J is for ...}

Jagged.  This was a tough one. I had a long list of ideas and this wasn't even on my list. But it ended up being my favorite. Funny how that works. :)

{October 11:  K is for ...}

Kindness.  The boys and I went for a walk on a bike trail today. We saw lots of woolly bear caterpillars. Every time we came across one crawling its way across the trail, Nick would pick it up and carry it safely to the side so it wouldn't get stepped on or run over. He showed great kindness. My sweet boy.

Still busy with photo sessions and editing until my eyeballs are ready to bleed.  :)  It's a good thing.  Hoping to post some photos from recent sessions soon!  Thanks for stopping by!

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