Harvest Festival!

We had a fun Harvest Festival at our church today!

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Too cute not to share

SNC00121
Originally uploaded by snaphappee.elli

I thought Caleb was so funny with the fish tank at the dentist's office. He was encouraging the fish to come and see him.

This must be 367

See? It’s true. I can’t go even a day without taking a photo. Here is one I took this morning of Felice in her lovely new hat. She’s thrilled with it! (It was a gift.) I think it just looks so “Felice!”

(Gonna have to do it again – my focus was off.)

It appears…

…that I can no longer go a day without taking a photo. Or three. Okay…I actually took 9. I only kept 3. This is my Express Print spiral book from ColorInc. I love, love, love it!!

DAY THREE HUNDRED SIXTY FIVE!!!!

I did it! I finished my 365 project!! WHOOHOOO!!!

Instead of just one photo for today, I’m offering a slideshow of about 70 photos from the year. The last photo in the slideshow is today’s shot.

Thank you, loyal followers, for sticking with me for this whole project. It was fun, enlightening, and occasionally frustrating. I learned a lot and I believe I improved my skills during this year. I’m not going to commit to doing another full year, but I will probably be adding photos regularly because it is such a habit now. Keep checking back!

""

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Day 364

Sunday snaps! Here are a few snapshots of my boys and Molly playing a game. The game is called 5,000, and the point is to get 5,000 points by catching the ball at the time the thrower calls it – either in the air, bounced off the ground, or whatever. Dale was throwing while I was watching, and I saw Andrew get points, and I saw Austin get points, but Molly didn’t seem to understand all the rules. She seemed to be under the impression that she would gain points by grabbing the ball and running with it. The boys didn’t give her points for that. Dale did say that she got 5,000 points during one round because she got the ball on the ground.

In that first shot, notice that there is a boy on the ground with Molly. They were fighting over the ball. I guess she untied his shoe in the midst of the fracas. I love that she plays like “one of the boys.”

Day 363

(I got this ready on the right day but, for some reason, I didn’t have internet last night so I couldn’t post. So it’s a day late. I’m dating it on the right day so I can find it later.)

Here are a few shots from the retreat…

  
This is a shot of our room. The bed was sooooo tall!!

I thought my mom would appreciate the lovely pillows on our bed.

  
This is the view of the dining and living rooms from upstairs.

Bill and Deb enjoyed the porch swing early Friday evening. It was raining lightly, but the swing was on a covered deck, so it was a lovely, peaceful spot. I took this shot through a glass door, so the odd lights in this shot are reflections of the indoor lighting.

This was the bathroom of our master suite. The red is a little too vibrant in this shot, but I didn’t take the time to get it just right.

Here is the whole group…it was a fun collection of people to spend the weekend with!

Day 362

I didn’t take this today – I took it yesterday when I did the Edwards’ photos. This is their view when the clouds aren’t obscuring it. Of course, the clouds moved off as soon as I put all my gear away. I’m posting this today because I won’t be at my computer this evening to post anything, although I expect to take photos this evening.

Ken and I are going to a Marriage Retreat this weekend! I’m excited. My wonderful mother-in-law is keeping our kids overnight so we can go enjoy a peaceful evening in lovely surroundings. I can’t wait!

Day 361

The weather didn’t cooperate for our outdoor session today, but here’s my favorite shot…

And here’s one of the whole family…

Day 360

I finally pulled out my reversing ring to try a tiny bit of macro stuff (like that pun? tiny bit? I still think I’m funny.). I have a shot of the whole glass taken with the 50mm on properly, and then a couple shots of some of the air bubbles in the glass taken with the 50mm on backwards with the reversing ring. Kinda cool!
 
(Lit with overhead light and a flash bounced off the ceiling or the window.)

Day 359

I had so much fun with Safaria today! She is so cute! And so energetic! And yet so well-behaved! (lots of exclamation points because it was FUN!) Isn’t she adorable?

Day 358

Only 1 week left of this project! I remember when I was back around day 40 I said to myself, “I’m never going to make it through 365 days of this!” Well, I think I might make it after all! Actually, I haven’t hated it once this whole year. Some days it’s been my only motivation to pick up a camera.

Here is some practice stuff from today. I was testing out bouncing my bare flash directly off the ceiling, off the walls, off the windows…I decided that in my house with the furniture where it is I prefer the flash bounced off the ceiling. I asked Caleb if I could take his picture, so he posed for me…

Finally!

Day 357

I had a mini-session and 2 mini-mini-sessions. I wish I could have taken more time for all of them, but I got few shots worth keeping. Here is my favorite one from one of the church family shots. Doesn’t he look like he’s afraid of her cooties?

Here’s one of their family shots.

If these kids look familiar it’s probably because I did kid photos a little less than a year ago.

Day 356

I had another fun session for the church directory today. We had a couple reluctant models…but I think it worked out okay. Here’s a quick peek…

Day 355

I wanted to see how my new stuff works…I got these two treasures at the auction last night. Andrew is sitting on my new stool (showing off his new Rubik’s cube). It’s shorter than the others I have, so it’s great for these in-between kids.

And my sweet mother-in-law bought this adorable little wheelbarrow for me! (She also bought the stool – but it’s not adorable.) Caleb settled on a place with lots of leaves for his play, but unfortunately the spot didn’t give me much room to back up. I was stuck in a fence corner and my new 50mm lens requires a little more space than I had. Oh well…you can get an idea of what the adorable wheelbarrow looks like.

I hadn’t really noticed it before, but my friend Cassie pointed out recently that all my photos of Caleb have motion blur. Too funny. This one does too, if you look closely at his hands. What a great point! He truly is always in motion. Even when he sleeps. I’ve often said that sleeping with Caleb is like sleeping with an octopus tangled in a windmill. I’ll make sure this photo links to its Flickr page (don’t tell Flickr that I usually forget) so you can see the blur. :-)

Day 354

Ooh! Ooh! I had the best family session today! These people are so much fun. I love them! Really – I do. They’ve been good friends of ours for about 10 years, and this was my first opportunity to do a session with them. It was fun, easy, and quite amusing. Especially when the girls saw a snake! They all (including Mom) screamed and ran this way and that like the thing was going to eat them! It was a small, non-venomous snake, but you couldn’t tell that by the screams reverberating around the park. Too, too, too funny.

Here’s a quick peek at this great session – just one for now because I’m way too tired to edit the rest tonight.

Okay…I couldn’t stand it…just one more…

Day 353

I have to show off my 19-pound weight loss reward! (Yes, yes, I know it’s more traditional to go with 20 pounds, but I didn’t want to risk waiting for that one more pound! What if the purse was gone!?!) I had seen this very purse at the auction a few weeks ago, but it sold in a box of stuff for way more than I could afford. But it happens that the owner of my favorite second-hand home furnishings store was the one who got the box at the auction, so I got a second chance! Yay! I love it’s “beaded” look (I think they’re glued on, but I love it anyway), and I love how it drapes and moves.
 
(Now I need to lose that pound!)

Oh, another piece of good news (to me) is that I replaced my 50mm lens today! I really, really wanted to be able to get some good bokeh in the sessions I have coming up (6 in the next 5 days), so I went ahead and got it. I hope to have some great photos to share tomorrow!

Day 352

Today was an errand-ful day, so I didn’t get photos taken until after the kids were in bed. Oops. I did get something cool in the mail today though! I got my first spiral bound book from ColorInc! I got it for my friend, and I’m thrilled with it! I wish I’d gotten a border on the cover image, but otherwise I think it’s perfect!

Day 351

Mom gave me a pretty pepper plant last week – it’s a decorative one, and the peppers look like Christmas lights! I love it! It’s so fun and pretty on my table. Caleb asked me to take some pictures of it, so here’s my favorite.

Aren’t maple leaves supposed to turn colors and fall off the trees before they get curled up and crunchy?

Day 350

We have a houseful of sickies today. Most of the kids aren’t really sick, but they’re germy, so I kept them home from church. A couple just have headaches and a little cough. No biggie. But Dale has been sick for a few days, as has Caleb. They’re both still miserable. Poor guys. Tomorrow might be time for a call to the doc. :-(

Kristi hasn’t seemed to be very sick – just a little cough – but she was in the boys’ room with them this afternoon and Nathan bumped into her. Apparently that was very painful to her broken collarbone! She came out howling and settled into a comfy chair where she stayed (sleeping) for the next 4+ hours!

Sorry these aren’t studio quality photos…it just isn’t happening these days. I will have some soon. If I don’t get some great shots earlier, I should have some next weekend after I do a few more church sessions.

Day 349

We finally got to celebrate Andrew’s birthday today! We went to Qwivals again. The kids really love going there, but I think we’ll do all at-home parties next year, just for something different. Here are a few snaps from the party.

I had a hard time enjoying the beginning of the party – Caleb is sick today and couldn’t go. He stayed home with Fancy. When I left he was sobbing his little heart out and saying, “I want to go to Qwivals!” It was terrible! But he soon fell asleep again, and was fine when we got home.

Here’s a snapshot that I thought might amuse a few of my regular readers/viewers…
 
Does Ken ever get to use his own chair?

Oh, and one more of me and my miserable little man this afternoon…

Day 348

We woke up to almost an inch of snow on the ground! Under that snow it was very slick, so it was an interesting morning. I wasn’t quite ready for winter yet, but here it is.

(The snow is a little blown. Bummer.)

If you want to stay caught up on the busyness of Scrivnerburg, be sure to check out my family blog. It’s been an interesting week.

Day 347

I thought it was time to get a shot of our “armless” girl. She has her left arm in a sling that’s wrapped to her body with an Ace-type bandage. It stays hidden under there all the time, and will for about 6 weeks.

Is anyone else sensing a trend here? (See yesterday’s blog.)

Day 346

Here’s a snap of Crunch in his new chair…oops…I mean Ken’s new chair. I think everyone finds this chair to be more than comfortable.

Day 345

What a day! I took a few photos of my aunt and Andrew…

But my favorite was this video of Ken reading to Nathan…
Please click here to see on Flickr – this embedding doo-bobby doesn’t work with Windows Live Writer.

Day 344

What a day! It was Andrew’s birthday, and I didn’t get a chance to take any birthday photos of him, but I did shoot the homemade pizza I made for him!

This photo was taken moments before Kristi came in the house shrieking like we’ve never heard…she was obviously in great distress! After just a few minutes it became clear that whatever had happened was not your run-of-the-mill bump or bruise, so we took her to the ER. Sorry we couldn’t celebrate, Andrew!

It turns out the Kristi broke her collarbone when she fell. The dr. said she did a pretty good job of it too!
 
Kristi came home, got ready for bed, and went to sleep immediately. At this moment she is sleeping peacefully!

Day 343

I did some quick shots of a couple families at church. I didn’t get signed releases, so I won’t show all of them, but I’m going to give my blog friends a peek at this one. I love how sweet they look after 29 years of marriage!

Day 342

Andrew and Molly
Originally uploaded by snaphappee.elli

I'm kinda cheating (again) for today's post. I did take a couple photos, but they're just snaps and I haven't edited them. This is a very short video clip I took while Andrew was playing "fetch" with Molly this morning. It cracked me up...I like Molly's take on "fetch"!

Day 341

We found a game at pbskids.org – in the Between the Lions games - that Caleb really liked! It involved following a series of progressively difficult instructions. He did GREAT! This is the first computer game he’s really felt successful at. I love PBS and Between the Lions!

Day 340

I snapped this quick shot of Serenity this morning. Why are my favorite shots of her all quick snaps?