Day 278

I’m not waiting until bedtime to post today!

My friend Amanda posted a cool collage of red items the other day. I loved the idea, so I decided to try it myself. These were all shot with natural light.

Day 277

I got out with my camera today and discovered too late that I did not have my CF card. ARGH!! So you get a photo from yesterday. It’s very dark because I took it while I was doing the sunflares, but I loved the light on Cheerio.

Day 276

I was practicing sunflares again. This time it was evening. Why don’t these turn out as well as the morning ones? Here’s the early-ish one (around 7pm)… 
 

And this showed up while I was working on sunflare shots…

No, this is not the victim of a horrific crime. This is a boy who had fresh cherries for dessert.

A sunflare as the sun was about to set…

And one more as it was going behind the peak…

Day 275

I didn’t take many photos today. My friend Michelle stopped by with her daughter Michaela, so I took the opportunity to snap a few shots of someone that doesn’t live at my house!

Michaela is a very special girl, and sometimes it’s hard to get eye contact with her, but she gave me a couple looks with smiles. Here’s one…

I took this shot as they were standing on the sidewalk talking to the kids…

I just loved the mother and daughter holding hands.

Day 274

I thought I would try some shots of the beaded jewelry Fancy has made for me. This is the only complete set she has ever made – they are my special Christmas Concert pieces. I was just trying some different lighting and such. It would be great if I had a bust-type mannequin to hold the jewelry, but I don’t, so I used my DIY beauty dish with a well-loved piece of fleece over it. Please note in the pull-back shot that I used one flash shot through and umbrella, the diffuser panel of my reflector, one voice-activated backdrop stand, and one voice-activated reflector stand.

Here’s the pull-back…

 

Oh! In case you haven’t seen this…my first ever lightning shot!!

Day 273

This day started really, really early! On Sundays (now that our church has 2 services) I have to be up and moving around 5:30 am to get everything done. I get to church at 7:20 or 7:30, after getting myself ready, getting everyone else moving, and feeding them. All of that means that Sunday afternoon is my nap time!! That’s why I often don’t have super-duper photos on Sundays. There’s just too much going on.

Anyway…

At church today the children’s sermon was about treating each other nicely and saying nice things. Hmmm…

Today we went to my in-laws’ for lunch. While lunch was being prepared Austin and Nathan got into a disagreement and were not saying nice things, so Ken reminded them of the children’s sermon, and then he pulled an old (for us) discipline method out of his hat… 
  
The boys had to stand in Nana’s front yard and yell, “I love you, Brother!” until Ken heard them in the house (or they started laughing, which actually happened first). It turned into a fun game with two other kids involved! LOL! That idea came from a great book that I highly recommend to all parents – Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel. There are a lot of really great discipline ideas in that book. It has been so very helpful to us!

This evening we had a fabulous thunderstorm! Rain was pouring as hard as I’ve ever seen it, and the thunder was LOUD! Some of the kids thought the heavy rain was an invitation to bathe, and since it saves on our water bill, who am I to complain?

It must be noted that the water was deep enough to cover Nathan’s feet and ankles here, but there was no water in this place at all just 5 minutes before this was taken.

Gotta love a good thunderstorm! (Unless they scare you – in which case you hide out in the house!)

Day 272

I took my girls out for a quick session this morning. Kinda scouting some locations around town. I didn’t get one I loved of Kristi, but this one was okay.

Then I got a few of just Fancy. This was my favorite…

And if you missed it, make sure to check out my family blog for Andrew’s newest culinary creation!

Day 271

Today’s photo was taken waaaaay late for a thread in one of my photo forums. I bounced my external flash off the ceiling for this.

Day 270

I took a bunch of photos today! I have another collage here. I have a whole bunch posted on my family blog. But I’ll just post two here.

I took this on my morning walk. It’s in that collage, but it’s too small to appreciate in there.

This one was taken during our trip to the river.

Day 269

An early post today!

The three smaller photos were taken on my morning walk today. The sunflowers were shot a couple days ago on the short photowalk, but I only got 3 photos worth sharing this morning, and I needed a 4th to create this collage with bighugelabs.com.

Day 268

By the time I got around to photos I was the only growed-up around, with one kid in bed and one watching a movie. So I couldn’t go far in my photo search. I stepped out my front door for both of these photos. The first one is just another shot of Queen Cheerio. Apparently this is her bench. I put Crunch on there to get a shot of the two of them and she sent him away in no uncertain terms.

This is the view of the mountains from my front door. That is the Kootenai Creek fire.

Day 267

I recently joined SparkPeople to help to achieve my weight loss goals. I’m loving the site! One of the fun aspects are the SparkTeams – groups of people with common interests or goals. I am, of course, a member of the Shutterbugs group. This week’s challenge in that group is to take a walk for exercise and take 4 photos on the walk, then post them as a collage. This is my “photowalk 4.” (Collage created with Picnik!)

If you’re working at weight loss, check out SparkPeople! It’s fun, helpful, and FREE!

Day 266

I had to laugh at Caleb’s lunch. Today I put all sorts of sandwich makings on the table and let the kids make their own sandwiches. We also had cucumber slices for a fresh veggie...the kids love cucumbers!

So Caleb, who will be 4 next month, made his own sandwich. He got two slices of white bread, spread at least 2 tbsp of peanut butter on one slice (that's a LOT of peanut butter!), and then put a deli slice of smoked turkey on the other slice. I asked him if he was going to put them together and he said, "Yep! And I gonna eat it all!" Not only did he put those two slices together, but he put a slice of cucumber in it. And then one on the outside for good measure.

Now I would never have thought to make such a combination, and I'm sure I would never eat it...but he ate almost all of it! And when the sandwich got "too messy" he took it apart and ate the turkey. Such a funny boy.

Oh...just for the record – Nathan put mustard on his peanut butter and jelly. He ate his too. Blech!

Day 265

Only 100 days to go! I can’t believe I have stayed with this project all this time!

Today we celebrated Rose and Virginia’s birthday at Qwivals. This was their first birthday party ever.

Before we got started with all the fun stuff I took pictures of the girls and the family together…

This was my favorite shot of the two of them.

Here’s a shot of the adorable family. I don’t get Tracy in my sights too often, so I was happy for this opportunity.

I’ll have many, many more photos from the party on family blog. 

Day 264

Ken thought I should get a photo of Nathan before he washed up for dinner… 

When I went out to find him I discovered their “fort.” Getting there is an obstacle course, but they seem to be having fun. 

My settings weren’t right for this shot, but I kinda like this wall! Almost thinking about moving that wood so I can use the wall as a backdrop… 

(I truly believe Nathan is incapable of having a normal portrait taken.)

Day 263

Nothing spectacular today – I need to get back to doing some portraits, but I just haven’t done it lately. Any local, willing models?

Ken replaced an outlet today so we could plug our air conditioner in. I’m so thankful to have a handy husband.

 

Vegetarians – be warned…the following photos depict red meat…

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This was our dinner. I cooked the London Broil on the grill for about 7 minutes per side, then let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing against the grain. All the kids loved it! Even picky, picky Caleb!

Day 262

The kids found this moth outside today. After much searching, I have come to the conclusion that it is a Blinded Sphinx Moth. Andrew was very careful not to touch its wings, but he did hold it for a very long time (well, in the moth’s life span, anyway).

Day 261

My boys brought me flowers! This time they came from the neighbor’s garden with her permission. Aren’t they beautiful?

Uhhhh…volleyball? My boys were playing volleyball in the front yard. I guess the sidewalk is the dividing line – who needs a net?

Caleb’s serve leaves something to be desired, but when you’re having fun, who cares!

(Is Nathan actually helping his team? In one shot he’s head-butting Dad, and in the other he’s playing with his loose tooth. Not so helpful.)

Fun times.

Day 260

This is what going back to school looks like for a father of 7 young kids…

(bounced flash)

Day 259

I thought it was time to chronicle the daily tasks of a superdog.

After the trip outside for the necessary bathroom/bark break Superdog must have her nap.

Superdog takes a moment or two to check for scraps, then settles in as the sentry.

(That’s her alert look. ‘Thought you might need to be told.)

After a few more minutes of flopping from side to side and watching children pass by it’s time for speed bump duty.

All of that work is exhausting. By the time the kids have gone to bed, Superdog must rest.

Day 258

Sorry to those who have already seen this photo. I just didn’t get anything else today, and I’m too tired to go traipsing around, looking for a photo op. I did edit it in Picnik.

 

Day 257

We spent all day at Nana’s house (my MIL) helping her with her garage sale. I didn’t take my good camera because I knew I was going to be busy all day, so I took these photos with my cell phone. The kids had a great time at Nana’s house – of course!

The kids were thrilled to have watermelon! (Except for Andrew, who does not like watermelon – he had an apple.)

This hat was a treasure from Nana’s sale. I love it on Caleb!!

Day 256

Here’s one of my barefoot boys. This one is Caleb, but it could just as easily be Nathan. I think the boys are allergic to shoes. You can kinda see that Caleb’s right big toe and left pinky toe are injured…does that encourage him to wear shoes? Not hardly. It encourages him to get Band-Aids that stay on for all of 3 minutes.

I took several photos of his bare feet as he was playing outside, but this was the only one that seemed to show movement. I decided that I wanted something more than just bare feet – I wanted some motion in it.

Day 255

Here’s another family snapshot. I had the opportunity to capture a moment between Fancy and Caleb. Fancy will be going away to a camp next week, and she told Caleb she would miss him. He immediately went over to give her a hug and an Eskimo kiss.

 

I am a member of Scrapbook Dimensions (not that I do much with it), and I get a desktop wallpaper download most months. Here’s the one for July with two shots from our most recent camping trip.