Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Day 185

Hey! I passed the halfway point without noticing! I’ve over halfway done with my photo year! Wow!

I got to take a few snaps of Miss Serenity again today. She is just too, too, too cute!

Sweet Serenity

Coy Serenity

By the way, these were shot with natural light with the black side of  my reflector as a backdrop. These were in-camera crop because I just snapped quickly while Serenity was in the pretty light and being compliant. I had my 50mm on so I didn’t have room to move for a better crop. Oh well…I like these anyway.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Day 184

I have a little collection of family photos today. I haven’t gotten around to doing any serious photos lately, but I am reasonably happy with these shots of my sweet peoples. (Well, a few sweet peoples.)

Ken enjoying spring in Montana
Yep. April in Montana. Hmph.

Sleepin on the job
Somebody’s sleepin’ on the job here.

Cuddling with a kitty
This cat (Crunch) doesn’t look too motivated today, does he?

Kristi and her cat
Since Crunch was just weeks old everyone has known that he is Kristi’s cat.  

Monday, April 27, 2009

Day 183

I loved how Molly was “cradling” her own face…she’s such a funny girl. At this particular moment, most of the kids were outside playing and I think she was pouting that she wasn’t out there too. (I don’t know why she wasn’t.)

Mollywog

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Day 182

I never picked up the camera today. It was a nice Sunday, but not a photo one. I did spend some time playing with Picnik.com again though, and I thought this was a neat feature – before and after:

Day 181

I just totally spaced posting my 365 yesterday! I took a bunch of pictures – nothing spectacular – so I had photos to post. I just didn’t! So here it is for Saturday…

V on the slide

I like the clarity of this one, and the fact that Virginia (neighbor’s daughter) isn’t posing for the camera. When she sees the camera come out she strikes a pose, so it’s very hard to get a natural expression from her.

We took our kids and the two neighbor girls to the park to test out Ken’s (and Andrew’s) catapult. They were catapulting Easter eggs…

Flying egg 2

Their best distance was 14’6”. Ken wants to get better bungees on there to improve the distance. Fun stuff!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Day 180

Some of the kids and I took a little walk this evening, and they picked a bouquet of “Sunshine flowers” for me.
Sunshine flowers for Mommy

I snapped this shot of Caleb in passing, but I love it!
Sweet Caleb candid

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Day 179

I almost didn’t post today. I had to take Fancy to the ER to have her head checked out after she got knocked down and hit it on a rock. She was having a terrible headache and dizziness…we decided to err on the side of caution and have it looked at by someone who knows more than “yep, that’s a bump.” After 5 hours of various waiting areas, we came home with the knowledge that she does, in fact, have a brain, and it is unharmed.

But, I didn’t get a chance to get a good photo today, so all you get is a goofy attempt at a shot for a challenge on OPS. I’m not happy with it, but it’s almost all I shot today (the others are Caleb’s eyes. lol.).

oh my eye again

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Day 178

I didn’t take many photos today, and I was disappointed in everything I took. This is my neighbor’s “flower tree”, as Caleb calls it, and I edited it with picnik.com.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Day 177

Sorry Eric, but this is truly the only photo I took today. (Poor Eric always wants us to share when we post food.)

Peanut Butter Tigger Cookies

For those of you who are part of our Health Challenge on Facebook, I did NOT eat a single bit! Not a taste of cookie dough, not a crumb, nothing!

I was happy with the clarity and DOF on this though. So I get to enjoy these cookies with no calories!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Day 176

We had a playdate at the park today! It was great! The weather was beautiful, the kids had fun, I took pictures…

I took a couple dozen shots, but most of them are just overly bright snaps of the kids playing. This one shot of my friend’s 2-year-old is my favorite though. She has the most amazing eyelashes!!


(I edited this on Picnik – it has a cross-processed effect on it.)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Day 175

We were all outside enjoying spring weather…enjoying it the way it was meant to be enjoyed – watching someone work! Ken was seeding what IS GOING TO BE A LAWN! We have tried for 3 years to have a lawn in the front yard, and this year it IS going to happen!
Ken seeding lawn

While Ken worked, the kids were all watching, and I got an opportunity for a rare snapshot – all 7 kids in one frame!
7 kids on a ramp

Andrew and Nathan were trying to jump at the same time so I could get a shot of them in the air…
 

Andrew in the air Jumping Bean

I never did succeed in catching one frame with both of them jumping. Oh well.

Caleb didn’t want to miss out on the photo fun, and begged me to take a picture of his pose…
Caleb posing
He sure knows how to work it! 

They’re all just family snapshots today, but that’s just the way it goes.

E & S, I don’t quite know what to do with Bootcamp Assignment #3…I guess I’ll need to use one of my “same old” models and try to get it done this week.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Day 174

My sweetie had a surprise birthday party for me today! Yay! We had friends and family over for cake, presents, and fun! Thank you, Kenny, for doing such a wonderful thing for me! The group we had over was just perfect! (Although I wish I had cleaned my house a bit.)

Here are a few photos from the party…

Party 3
Isn’t this great idea for a birthday cake? Me at 4 and me at 40. I love it!

Party 5
My darling with his black bow – we wore black armbands to mourn the passing of my youth. (Ken just wore his strangely.)

Party 6
My mom and my friend’s son enjoying their cake and ice cream.

 

Party 1

A photography book!

 

Party 2

Hand-blown glass ornaments
Party 4

A lovely photo frame

 Party 7

This beautiful ring is from my darling husband.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Day 173

I’m posting my 365 before bed time! Whooohoooo!

I tried (not very successfully) to take portraits of my mom’s dogs. They were not particularly cooperative. The blind one was the most cooperative, but it’s hard to get him to “look” toward the camera when he doesn’t have eyes. (He lost his eyes to glaucoma.) He’s such a sweetheart though. At least he sat for me. The other two are female, and tend to do their own thing. Today their own thing was NOT having their photos taken. Hmph.

Tater 2
This is Tater.

 

Stella 2
Stella – the little beast was NOT cooperative!

 

Tammy 2
Old Tammy Dog – she uses her deafness as an excuse to ignore me. 

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Day 172

We spent the evening with my Dad, two uncles, and my brother. Here are just a few shots I took this evening…

My brother and my dad…
Mike and Dad with border

My brother and my mom…
Mike and Mom 2 with border

My beloved in-laws (who also joined us for dinner)…
Barb and John with border 

I am soooo ready for bed. ‘Night!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Day 171

GAK! I got to bedtime and realized I hadn’t even taken a photo today! Sorry – it won’t be a photo I took today. Instead, I’m going to share one from Monday…

My sweet honey playing Princesses with his little lady…
ken playing princesses

What a great daddy!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Day 170

I took some photos today, but they were indoors when it was too dark…no flash…really bad…

So instead of a shot taken today, you get photo(s) from yesterday, but edited today…

Five Andrews

The cloud cover was soooo heavy, and by this time my flash trigger had stopped working again…so it’s darker than I was hoping for. Oh well. I’ve wanted one of these images of Andrew for a long time. Next time I’ll try it in a better location – better background.

Bonus Post – Strobist Bootcamp Assignment #2

I’m finally posting my Assignment #2 for the Strobist Bootcamp project I’m doing with a couple friends.

Strobist bootcamp 2

Monday, April 13, 2009

Day 169

 

We took the kids to the park today. We live on a fairly busy street, so there’s no good place for the kids to ride bikes and scooters. The park has a blacktop parking lot that’s great for scooting! There’s also a playground and some great space for kite flying…

Austin at LC Park Caleb at LC Park
Kristi at LC Park Fancy at LC Park
Fancy Dale and Andrew at LC Park Ken Elli and Caleb at LC Park
Kite flying at LC Park 2 Nathan at LC Park

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Day 168

Our friends Tracy and Felice (and their 2 girls) joined us for our Easter celebration today. I liked this snap of them…

Tracy and Felice on Easter

That’s all you get because I have a migraine. I might put Easter photos on my family blog tomorrow.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Day 167

We had quite a busy day today! Today is actually Nathan’s birthday, but since we celebrated yesterday, it was a kinda low key birthday. Nathan has his own way of celebrating being six…he came out of his bedroom this morning dressed in a pair of shorts and a pair of gloves. But it’s spring in Montana, so one doesn’t need gloves on one’s hands… (see photo 3 in the collage).

We decorated eggs today…fun, colorful stuff! Some of our eggs came out beautifully speckled. I love those!

Ken wanted some pictures of the kids playing at their favorite playground – his truck. They love to be in the back of his truck, even if nothing is going on in there! And the shot of Ken and Caleb is called “Playground Injury”. I don’t know what happened, but somehow Caleb got hurt. I can’t imagine how a 3 year old could possibly get hurt while playing in the bed of a truck with 7 other kids. Huh.

Easter Eve collage

(credit for this collage template goes to the fabulous Catie Stephens)

Friday, April 10, 2009

Day 166

We celebrated my Naterbean’s birthday today. We had fun at Qwivals! There are a bunch of entertaining options there, and the kids (of all ages) enjoy it every time. (lotsa photos today!)

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If I had to pick just one, this would be it. But I didn’t have to pick because this is my blog!
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