My Mom is lookin’ good!

I just had to show off how great my mom looks. I always enjoy spending time with her – I’m so glad she moved here! I can’t believe it’s been 5 years!

(Of course, the peek at my handsome husband is a bonus.)

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Today’s assignment - “Sunday Challenge: Compose an image that has a soft and dreamy look today, and make a photograph.” Here’s my answer…a self-portrait with my sweetie.

This is the first time I’ve worked at portraits in a couple weeks. Shame on me! I must give credit where it’s due – several kids helped me with the photos I took this afternoon, (Dale, Austin, Kristi, Caleb) and I’m not sure who actually snapped the shutter for this one. I think it was me, but it’s hard to tell when we took over 30 photos and everyone wanted to press the button.

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Snapshot Sunday! This is a really terrible snapshot because Fancy’s room is dark and it was very cloudy, so I had to have my camera at 3200 ISO. I took snaps of what all the family members were doing at this time – just for the fun of it – but my computer is behaving so badly right now that I can’t edit them. So this is all you get for Snapshot Sunday!

It seems to me that Fancy recently claimed to have cleaned her room. Hmm.

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Here are a few shots of people I am thankful for.

1.) A nap overtook Caleb. 2.) Andrew is silly, but adorable! 3.) Nathan is a cool bean. 4.) Mr. Fixit. 5.) Nathan loves me! Or something.

It’s not that I’m not thankful for the other 4 – they’ll just have to show up in another post.

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Here are a couple Sunday Snapshots. We had a pretty low-key, lazy day. We spent some time outside with the kids – Ken played catchish with Austin, Kristi, and Nathan. There was a lot more ball chasing than ball catching, but they all had fun.

(::sigh::)

Nathan got distracted from the game – Hammy came to visit, and Nathan had to chase him.

(My kids call every squirrel Hammy after the squirrel in Over the Hedge.)

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The scenery for my Scenic Saturday was a different type of colorful again. I didn’t even go outside to take pictures! I took pictures of the scenery inside. Ken and I took Fancy and her friend Josh out for dinner at the steak house and then to a movie. We all got dressed up a bit and enjoyed a nice evening together.

 

 

 

On another note – I just joined a great group called the SITStahood. It’s a group of bloggers who support each other by commenting on blogs. One of the challenges they’ve offered is to develop our “tribe” (group of like-minded bloggers) by identifying some of our regular commenters. I am so thankful for all of my regular visitors! If you haven’t already checked these blogs out, be sure to stop by – you’ll find great information and probably inspiration!

My friend Sandra is doing the 365 project with me – great photos here! She is constantly inspiring me to do more/better.

Julie is not a photo blogger, she’s a professional organizer! I don’t know about you, but I sure can use help with organization!

Another 365 friend, Leslie, has heart-warming photos and encouraging thoughts. She also has beautiful children!

Amanda and I have been learning and growing in our photography together for over a year. I love how she’s always trying new stuff – check her out!

Don’t miss this fabulous blog by Katie. She is not only an amazing photographer, she’s a sharp entrepreneur. Lots to learn from her! (Katie, I’m thinking about you and your workshop today!)

(Blog friends, if I didn’t mention you today, don’t fret. I will soon!)

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I’m finding Thankful Thursdays to be harder than I anticipated! It’s not that I’m not thankful for everything…just that I’m struggling to shoot new things, or the old things in a new way.

Since I’m struggling today, I’ll make a blessings list and see if I can offer some illustrations.

1. A cozy home. We have a house that’s big enough for the 9 of us, it stays warm, and it’s full of happy sounds and smiling people.
2. Coffee. Okay, so it’s not profound. I love good coffee. I especially love when my first cup gets to just the right temperature and I can enjoy drinking it – it’s even better when the house is quiet in that moment. (Hey Mom [and anyone else who is local], wanna go get coffee again soon?)
   (not taken today)
3. Clear skies. I have gotten so tired of gray skies! We finally had clear skies today! I didn’t get out to take pictures until the lovely moon was rising – but the fact that we could see the moon means it was clear!
4. Music with my friends. I am part of the praise team at church. We lead the music each Sunday, and I love it!
5. My husband. He is the most wonderful man I know (really! it’s true!), and I’m so thankful that he’s mine!
   
   (not taken today)

So there you have it. Thankful Thursday.

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 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 334

I went to the auction last night with my mom, my aunt, and my mother-in-law. It was fun, but especially so because of the bargain we got! My MIL bought this recliner for Ken for…are you ready? Should I really tell you “out loud”? … really? $10!!!!! Yes, TEN dollars!!!

We don’t often get deals like that, but boy is it exciting when we do! My mom also got a box FULL of Pyrex baking dishes and some other stuff for $2.50. It was a steal! It was a fun night because I was there with 3 fun ladies, too. As I’ve said before, Girls’ Night Out for  me is pretty wild! LOL!

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 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 260

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

(bounced flash)

Day 240

I dearly love the subject of my photo, but I’m disappointed. I was supposed to shoot (photograph) a job hunter for the Strobist Bootcamp II assignment, and I have a friend who is actually looking for a job. She’s stunningly gorgeous. We had beautiful weather today. It should have been perfect! But it didn’t work out. I’m a bit bummed.

So, my sweetie came through for me, and graciously agreed to be my model yet again. Fact is, he is also jobless and working at whatever comes along, so he qualifies for the assignment. Here is my wonderful, willing beloved…

 
(Not my best photo. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. Ergh.)

Day 239

Just a snapshot today. I didn’t make any great efforts at photography today. Shame upon me. Ken and I went to the local school for some exercise in the open gym after dinner, and I took a snap of my sweetie working out. Ladies, don’t you be lookin’ at my honey’s forearms! (Okay…I guess you can look.)

Tomorrow’s photo should be a carefully thought out one – I am shooting my Strobist Bootcamp II assignment in the morning.

Day 233

ARGH! I had my ISO all the way up for a shot inside my dark trailer, and I forgot to change it back before taking shots for a challenge over at Digital Photography School. All the shots I took for the challenge are so grainy I wouldn’t dare submit them. GRRRR! But I really loved this one of Nathan, so I played with it in Picnik. I used the 1960’s effect on it since it was so grainy anyway.

You may have seen this on Facebook…

Ken split kindling and tied it in bundles in preparation for our camping trip. He’s such a good guy!

Day 231

Ken and I went “across town” to check out a new location…

I took a few shots of Kristi using my beauty dish to light her in the front and natural light behind.

Look at those cute little chipped teeth.

Day 230

We did it! Ken and I made a do-it-yourself beauty dish!! I’m so excited! We used this tutorial and created this:

 
(In retrospect, we would not use Gorilla glue to affix the reflector because it looks icky from here. Oh well.)

Here are a couple shots I took with it. I’ll be practicing with multiple lights and such soon, but we were shooting outside, and the bugs were AWFUL!

 

Just a note to the photographers…all these shots were taken within 10 minutes of each other (as I said, the bugs were really bad!). The black or dark background was created by changing my shutter speed. I finally did it! Yay! The background for both portraits was a cluster of trees.

I just can’t wait to really learn how to use all these fun things!

Day 202

I took some photos today! I haven’t done much with my camera lately, but I did get outside a bit today. Here are a few random shots…

We truly do have grass growing in our front yard! Whoohoo!

“Go to the ant, thou sluggard” – or run from it, in Caleb’s case. 

Caleb thought Daddy’s bare foot was very funny.