Day 309

I almost didn’t have a photo today! I was chatting with Sandra, trying to figure something out for today’s shot when I realized I had taken a photo! And it’s well worth sharing.

Remember my friend Felice? She has been working at weight loss for the last several months, so today I took a shot of her so she could really see how far she’s come. She is in the middle of the journey right now, but her progress is awesome!

This was taken in April of this year…

This one was taken today – 4 months later…

Okay…not the best photo, but it was just meant to show her the difference. She’s such a beautiful woman.

Day 308

SNC00120
Originally uploaded by snaphappee.elli

I was too busy to get any photos earlier today (7am trip to store, making special breakfast, church, potluck, work at tannery, school supply shopping, serving dinner - SHEESH! No wonder I feel exhausted!) but God provided me with a video opportunity this evening. We got another doozy of a storm this evening, complete with thunder, lightning, hail, power outage, and excited children.

This is my first Flickr video! I took the video with my Samsung cell phone, then uploaded it to Flickr. I love technology!

Day 307

Mom's birthday cake
Originally uploaded by snaphappee.elli

Today is my mother's birthday - Happy Birthday, Mom! And how did we celebrate this momentous occasion? We took her to Qwivals! This was kind of a combination of celebrations. It was Kristi and Caleb's birthday trip to Qwivals, so we dragged Mom along and had some cake and ice cream with her. I'm sure she would have chosen something more dignified and refined (snort), but I'm not sure Kristi and Caleb would have gone for high tea.

Mom, I hope this next year is a fabulous one for you! I love you!

Day 306

I loved the way Nathan looked in his blue hat and blue shirt today, so I asked him to let me take his picture. I told him I didn’t want the goofy faces this time, I just wanted my sweet Bean to show through. For once, he complied!

Here’s one more…

(Does he look waaay older than 6?)

Caleb wanted his picture taken – it’s amazing how quickly a photo-op will dry his tears! Here’s the photo – if you click on it you can see it on Flickr, where it has notes about his booboos.

Day 305

sunflower bouquet
Originally uploaded by snaphappee.elli

I didn't take any interesting photos during the day today, so I decided to take some of the sunflowers my son brought home (with permission). This was taken after dark, so I used my flash off-camera, bounced off the ceiling. I just LOVE sunflowers. I'm beginning to think they're my favorite flower.

Day 304

Kristi's doll
Originally uploaded by snaphappee.elli

I didn't get any great photos today. I took this (and several others) inside without great light, so they were grainy and blurryish, but I decided to play with Picnik again and see what I could do. I'm not super happy with it, but it's a photo. Picnik keeps adding features, and it's so fun to play!

Day 303

Today was my youngest daughter’s birthday. It’s been a very busy day, so you just get snaps from Kristi’s party. Two parties in 4 days will wear a mommy out! I’m headed to bed!

Happy, happy birthday Punkindoodle! I can’t believe you are 8 years old already!

(Oh, the t-shirt says “Crowns are always in style.”)

Day 302

Nana gave Caleb a cool door “mural” thingy of a cowboy on a horse. The cowboy has a cutout for a face – a photo of Caleb’s face (I’ll take a photo of it tomorrow). I needed a photo of Caleb to put in there, but because of the orientation of the mural, I wanted Caleb’s face to be turned away from me a bit. I told him to look at a particular object over my left shoulder, and then look at me without moving his head. He had no trouble at all…

The other kids thought this was a great game, so they wanted to try. Several of them found this (looking without moving their heads) to be a very challenging task.

 

By the way, all of these photos were edited using Picnik.com. (I even did Levels and Curves with it!)

Day 301

Just some Sunday snaps today. Nathan has a new favorite game – Throw Pillows at Nathan. Ken would throw the pillows at Nathan, he would fall on the couch in hysterical laughter, and Molly would bite Ken. Great game!

(Molly always bites at Ken playfully when he’s wrestling with the kids. It cracks me up!)

Day 300

Zowie Howie! I made it to day 300!!

Today is Caleb's 4th birthday, so we had a party! I only took about 200 photos...and I narrowed those down to 25. My slideshow will only take up about 50 seconds of your life, but be warned anyway. Lots of photos.

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Thank you, Nana, for a great party!

Day 299

Caleb at 4
Originally uploaded by snaphappee.elli

My littlest man turns 4 tomorrow, so I wanted to try to get some 4-year-old portraits of him. I didn't get quite what I wanted today, so I'll work on it more tomorrow. How do you like his crown? The kids all made crowns out of some vine (hope it's not poison-crown-vine!). They called this one Prince Caleb, but I think King Caleb sounds so much better. He doesn't really care, as long as he gets to see his picture on the lcd viewer (camera screen).

Day 298

SuperDubs
Originally uploaded by snaphappee.elli

My little superman is ready to face anything! He needed his soccer jacket that's getting too small - I think it's kinda like armor. Then he had to have the cape...he just doesn't listen to Edna Mode. Doesn't he realize the danger capes pose to superheroes? And of course, a true hero wears at least 2 hats, right?!? I helped him button his jacket and I tied his cape, and he was off to save the world. See? I'm still here, so he must have saved the world!

Day 297

I promised real photos today…do shots from my cell phone count? I didn’t carry my big camera on my walk this morning, but the sunrise was so beautiful that I used my cell phone to capture it. This first shot doesn’t quite capture the beautiful pink that was on top of the clouds…
 

I just love the way the light spilled over the Sapphire mountains!

 

Day 296

I was too busy today to take a photo! GAK! So instead of taking a new shot today, I re-edited one from one year ago today. We were on our big trip to California, so my favorite shot from Aug. 18, 2008 was the shot of my dad and his friend, Sharon.

 

I’ll take real pictures tomorrow – I promise!

Day 295

Just a photo today. I’m tired.

Day 294

I went for a short photo walk this afternoon. There are some really colorful flowers growing around town! I love it!

Day 293

Another day during which I barely picked up my camera. When it got to be 9pm I realized I hadn’t taken a 365 photo! GAK! But I decided to check my card just in case, because I often take a shot on the fly that I forget about later. Yeehaw! There was a photo there from this morning! Austin found a “huge-o-mongous” dragonfly and wanted me to take a picture. Immediately after the photo was taken he put the dragonfly in a tree and let it do its own thing.

Day 292

Oops! I forgot to post yesterday’s photo yesterday! Oh well. I really only took this one…it was a very lazy day. It was rainy, and we had 3 extra kids at our house. This was taken while all 10 kids were watching Race to Witch Mountain.

 
(by the way, I dated this post on Friday so I can find it when I want to – sorry if it’s confusing)

Day 291

Today was a good day. No allergic reactions, no crises of any sort actually, and a bit of pampering! My fabulous beautician/miracle worker is going off on a grand adventure (read “moving away”), so I got in for a trim before she’s gone. I’m sorry that she’s leaving because it’s not always easy to find someone who knows what you want and hears what you say…but I’m very happy for her and her family. So, anyway…here’s a shot Ken took of me with my new hair (and my 11 lb weight loss)… 

I took a shot of him too. Actually I took the one of him first – to make sure the settings were good. So this is my 365 photo…

Day 290

Well, I think I discovered something interesting today. It appears that I should not have pineapple anymore. I had pineapple yogurt for breakfast (the only thing I don’t have ALL the time), and had what appears to be an allergic reaction. Bummer. Oh well…there are plenty of flavors that don’t cause trouble. Here’s the culprit…

 

I went for a little photo walk this afternoon to see if the mushrooms were still there (I was going to shoot them when I discovered my nifty fifty was broken). Some of them were destroyed, but this one was still standing…

Day 289

For those who may have missed it on Facebook, my 50mm lens self-destructed on me the other day. I used it, put the camera back in the bag, and when I took the camera out of the bag again the lens was in pieces.

So now I’m trying to like the 18-55 that came with my XT (because it seems to be the better of my 3 remaining lenses). Having a hard time.

 

(So what are these wonderful things? My mom thinks they’re some kind of mint because the stems are square.)

Day 288

After the sad demise of my 50mm lens on Saturday, I’m having to try to get good shots out of my other lenses. I can tell you that low light is not conducive to good shots when using the Tamron 28-80. Hmph.

Day 287

I put this off until late again. I’m tired!

We had a potluck/fundraiser at church today. All the shots I took today were from there. I’ll just share this one. You may have seen this little guy last fall (he was the newborn)… 
  
He is such a sunny, happy boy!

Day 286

We went to the Creamery Picnic parade today. Here are a few shots…I didn’t take many – just my friends/family.

Molly howled at the sirens. She’s so funny. She’s not a very good howler, but she was definitely sincere. Fancy and her friend Krystal were in the parade riding on the Attention 2 Detail trailer. If you need your car detailed, check them out! My faithful readers probably recognize Felice and her family on the BVAC Ammunition trailer. Felice was obviously trying to throw candy right at me! (Hey – maybe that’s what happened to my lens!) The last photo is my neighbor Vance. Attention 2 Detail is his sons’ business, and he restores vehicles, such as that fabulous Jeep Commando he’s driving.

I also took photos at a friends’ vow renewal ceremony, but they’re not ready to share, so these are what you get. Thanks for stopping by!

Day 285

Last day of VBS. Yay/Boo! It was a fun week, of course, but I’m glad it’s done for this year. Here are the last few photos…

During our Vacation Bible School each year the kids put together one craft to send to kids in need. This year’s craft was a Comfort Critter – a turtle – to send to children who’ve lived through natural disasters and have lost their belongings. Each critter has a little card in its pocket that says “God loves you” and inside that card the kids write an encouraging note. When the kids get these little cuddlies they will also get a book with activities and thoughts to help them through the tough times. I love this part of our VBS because the kids aren’t just having fun – they’re reaching out to help others.

The story today was about God parting the waters so the Israelites could cross the red sea. The snack – Sweet Victory – is the ground (chocolate graham crackers) with the water (blue frosting) parted so the Israelites (butterscotch chips) could pass through. The kids had a great time playing with the “Israelites” and the “water”.

Each day we talked about “God sightings” – things God has done or created that reminded us of His presence. Immediately after discussing this as a group, we discovered our very own God sighting right outside!

Day 284

Here’s a slideshow I made over a Picnik.com. They are always adding fun new features! I love it! You will have seen some of these photos, but a few are from today, so they are my 365 photos.

(I can’t get the Show to embed here…please click the link to see the Show. Thanks!)

http://www.picnik.com/show/id/5364919046_ghHQ3 

Thanks for checking it out!

Day 283

That fire I mentioned a few weeks ago – the Kootenai fire – flared up again yesterday. This afternoon we got quite a view of it from here. For those interested, here’s some relatively current info - http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1733/

Here’s a zoomed-out view to give some perspective…

Despite the fire, we had a great day at VBS. Great music (and fun dancing!), a good lesson, and an interesting craft…but I won’t bore you with those photos. If you want to see them, you can check out the church’s Facebook Page.

Here is one shot of my sweet friend Sissy. You’ve seen her before…doesn’t she just keep getting cuter?? She turned 3 yesterday. What a sweetheart.

Day 282

Day 2 of VBS seems to have been a success. The kids are tired, but they’re all enjoying it. The music is fun, but the best part is watching Caleb do the motions! He’s just so cute! (No bias there. I’m completely objective.)

Here are a couple shots from today. The first is part of the swamp decor…real cattails in our fabulously creative dock.

This one is the craft for day 2 – wind spinners. They wind them up, pull on the string, and hear the whistle of the wind (a reminder of God’s incredible power).

Day 281

We had fun at the first day of VBS! “God is with us!” “FEAR NOT!” Here are two of my favorite shots from today…

Our snack -  the burning bush. The Fritos represent the dirt, the green lettuce is for the grass, the orange cheese is part of the flame, and the red tomato is the red flame. The kids (and adults) loved them.

This is the day 1 craft – a firefly keychain.

Day 280

You just get a snapshot of a t-shirt today. I spent part of my evening ironing on the transfers for several Vacation Bible School t-shirts. I love the image – I think it’s so cute! Group Publishers put out great Vacation Bible School programs. Fun themes, good music, eye-catching colors…I love ‘em! Our VBS starts tomorrow – it’s gonna be a fun week!

Day 279

I had some questions about yesterday’s collage layout…I did it at Bighugelabs.com. The Mosaic Maker is fun! Might take some playing to figure it out, but I love the results. Today’s collage is another one I made there…

Our family and Felice’s family went to play at the river again. We had a great time! Andrew was catching fish with a butterfly net…Caleb had fun on the floaty thing…everyone was enjoying the water – until snack time. Then it was necessary to have a seat on a towel and have a nibble. I think we’re all worn out tonight!