December 8, 2012

A photo blessing day!

1. 
   I loved the angelic light on Gavin as he was chewing on his “teething table.”
2. 
   It was a beautiful winter day at Linerslodge.
3. 
   My boys were loving Aunt Felice today – Caleb sat next to her during lunch and Gavin went to her repeatedly – especially after she fed him ice cream.
4. 
   I’ve wanted a picture of Gavin in the Moby Wrap for evers so I could share it on the Moby Facebook page – and what does he give me? A picture I could have shared before he was adopted. Crazy boy. He did sleep peacefully in the Moby Wrap though.
5. 
   Caleb is such a goof. I was trying to force my cell phone camera to give me “bokeh dots” in the background and he was making faces for the camera. He also insisted that I get a shot with Molly in the frame…

I was able to get just bokeh dots, but none with a subject in front (with my cell phone).

September 30, 2012

Blessings:

1. We were able to worship with New Day Fellowship twice – once in Haugan, and once in St. Regis.

2. We made some wonderful new friends this weekend.

3. The trip home was uneventful. That’s generally a good thing.

4. We gathered up all our family members – Kristi and Molly were with Nana, and Dale rode home with the Liner family, but we got everyone back under one roof. You already know that makes me feel better – I love to have my chicks back under my thumb…uh…wing.

5. As I went through the pictures I’d taken over the weekend to post on Facebook I was able to relive the trip. I really enjoyed almost all of it (the broken phone and the unhappy stop at Payless ShoeSource being the only exceptions).

I am eagerly watching for the next opportunity to serve!

July 14, 2012

Sad puppy. Ken and Dale are gone for a week and Molly is sad.

Blessings:

1. I was able to go to Missoula with the Fabulous Felice. Always a good time.

2. I found some bargains on craft items and gifts.

3. My mother-in-law watched my kids for me!

4. Ken and Dale made it to Hillsboro safely.

5. Ice cream! (And Lactaid tablets!)

July 12, 2012

Blessings:

1. My husband does dishes – even when we’re camping. He’s awesome.

2. We had a great camping trip.

3. We went back to The Ice Cream Place today and had lunch. Yummy burgers!

4. Ken’s parents took care of our Molly girl for us while we were gone. She was great for them, and they loved her. In fact, Nana told the kids she wanted to keep Molly!

5. We had a nice afternoon/evening with Ken’s parents.

Bonus: Everything is unloaded from the trailer already! Whoohoo!

June 7, 2012

Andrew was barking at cars as we passed. Who needs a dog? (Don't tell Molly I said that.)

Blessings:

1. I slept in this morning! First time in evers! (Okay – sleeping in is relative. I slept until 7:45.)

2. Cereal sale!

3. My new computer is sooooo fast!

4. Little Man was so cute today – we took him to the store and he put on the FLIRT for one of the store employees. It was so funny – every time she’d look at him he’d turn his head and cut his eyes toward her with a sly grin. Little Stinker.

5. The foster/adoptive parent picnic. It was fun to see some people we only see once a year. I got some great pictures, but I can’t share them. Sorry. It was fun to take good pictures again too! It’s been way too long since I got my big camera out.

April 14, 2012

Molly loves being outside with her kids. Even when she’s not playing with them she just wants to be out there. The kids were shooting Nerf guns, so Molly was just enjoying the sunshine in the presence of her favorite people.

Blessings:

1. Mom and I had a fun time puttering around town this morning.

A treasure I found while Mom and I were at the thrift store. I told Mom she needed "party sweats" and she (rightly) pointed out that when I say "Mom, you need this" you can be sure she does NOT need whatever it is. Hmph. But really... How can she NOT need party sweats?!?!

2. More fun with Mom.

My mom looked at this and said, "Wouldn't it be easier just to put your waffles on a plate?"

3. It is a gorgeously beautiful day.

4. I have waaaaay too much fun creating things to cover Little Man’s backside. This one is a waterproof diaper cover.

5. Two adorable little boys just brought this to me and told me it's a heart-shaped "wuby." They are just too cute! (One of the boys is a loaner – we have “that” house where all the neighborhood kids congregate.)

More pets!

I promise there are other beings in Scrivnerburg besides the pets. As I said before, it’s been a very busy week, so I’ve just snapped photos as the opportunity arose. I just caught this moment between Crunch and Molly. Two best buddies who like to pretend they’re not.

It’s time for a family portrait!

Fancy will be graduating (GAK!) in a month, and then she will be heading off to Indiana for who-knows-how-long. I wanted to be sure to get a new family photo before she’s gone. I wanted to go down to Father Ravalli park and use the great expanse of grass…but it was quite rainy. Instead, we cleaned the living room, moved the furniture, set up the studio lighting (Felice, I LOVE that new flash!), and took a new family photo!

We tried to get Molly in the shot(s), but she wouldn’t cooperate, so we didn’t manage to get even one family photo with her in it. Oh well. All the kids cooperated, so I’m happy. After we were done shooting we went to the grocery store and everyone got to pick out candy as a reward for getting a good family portrait.

We finished up Saturday by watching Tangled. It was great! We all really enjoyed it! The whole day turned out to be a good Saturday in Scrivnerburg.

Spotlight on precious

I had a wonderful light opportunity today - Caleb and Molly were cuddling in a shaft of sunlight. I loved the effect it produced...
 

I finished Nana's scarf today! The family (plus 2, minus 1) went on a walk. We played some games after dinner. It was a mellow, at-home Saturday. Whoohoo! Ken and I are finishing it up with The Bucket List. Somehow we've managed not to see this one yet. I like it!

Working on a scarf for Nana

I've slowed down a bit on knitting projects - I have 3 in process right now, but all 3 of them are longer-term projects. This one is for Nana - she asked me to make a scarf for her, and Caleb helped me pick out this yarn. I like the way it looks so far, but I have a long way to go on it. This stitch isn't nearly as fast as Fancy's or Andrew's scarves.
 

What do you think, Nana?

After I put all my photo gear away last night I figured out how I should have taken my cup cuddler photo...so I set up my "seamless background paper" (aka blank newsprint) and did some "studio" work. The shots of Nana's scarf were taken this way, as was this photo of yesterday's cup cuddler. 
 

While I was doing whatever it was that I was doing (I'm not quite sure what I've accomplished today) Caleb was scrubbing out the sink with a Magic Eraser. What a helpful little man.

Molly was occupying herself by surveying her kingdom. Ken says this is our new outdoor centerpiece.

So there ya have it. If you have a photo blog be sure to check out our Facebook fan page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-365/122397384492157.

Molly wasn’t really into the photo thing…

It was Molly’s turn to sit for photos again today. She wasn’t thrilled. She refused to offer eye contact at all. Oh well. The Daily Shoot assignment was to make a photo with a soft look, so I shot this one into the flash to simulate sunflare and get that soft, washed out look of shooting into the sun.

Here are a couple more projects I just finished. I made the hat for Nathan last night (in 3 hours!) and I loved it so much I made one for myself today.

(Thanks to Dale for shooting this one.)

331/365

Today's Daily Shoot assignment is "Go for an unusual point of view and make a photograph that can only be made from that viewpoint." Well, I don't know if this is a particularly unusual viewpoint, but it's the best vantage point to see how Molly is cradling her face. She either sleeps like this - with her face cradled by one paw - or she crosses her front feet and rests her chin on them. She's a funny girl. 

Yesterday, after all that playing at Nana's, she came home and found her cushion. At that time it was just tossed in my bedroom - not its normal place - but she went in and went to sleep on it like it was bedtime. I guess she wore herself out! Apparently she wasn't the only one. Last night is the first night in years that we did not have to reprimand the boys for talking after it was sleep time. I guess 3-4 hours of sledding will wear a body out!

280/365

The Daily Shoot assignment is "abandoned or discarded." Here is a shot of my neighbor's unloved trailer - it's been sitting there with this flat tire for many moons.

I also had to shoot Molly enjoying the leaf pile...

Fall is awesome!
Oh! We had a little visitor for a few hours today. This little guy wandered out of his neighborhood and into ours. He was happily playing in our front yard when we discovered him. He had a collar with an ID number on it, so we called the vet's office and they eventually contacted the owner. Turns out this little guy's name is Bentley and he wandered across Main Street to get to our house. Scary for a little beast like him. He was adorable and funny, and we had a good time with him while he visited. His mommy had been looking for him, and was happy to locate him. Yay for ID tags!

265/365

Only 100 days left in this year!! Crazy!

I wasn’t too thrilled with the topic at The Daily Shoot - “Communicate chaos, disorganization, or messiness…” – so I just went out and shot what I saw. Today it happened to be Sweet Molly Magolly. She’s such a good girl now. She’s definitely my dog, and she goes everywhere with me if I let her (even to the bathroom!). Today she went looking for photos with me, and became the subject. It’s been a while since she showed up here, so here she is.

200/365

Day 200!! Zowie Howie!!

Since Ken had the day off we all went to the river for some water fun after the errands and chores were done. I didn’t get any great shots of the kids (I was too busy watching 7 young kids!) but I was happy with this shot of Molly. She just loves the river!

 

I don’t know this kid, but I liked this shot of him jumping off the bridge. I get nervous every time I see them do this, but a friend of mine assured me (several years ago) that the river is quite deep enough here for bridge jumping.

Here’s one of Caleb at the river. He really enjoyed the inner tube.

(Little bit of a topazish adjustment on this one.)

183/365

I am halfway through this project! The thing that really amazes me is that I have not forgotten a day yet. I have posted every single day. Whoohoo! I don’t know why that matters to me – it doesn’t really make a difference if I post every day as long as I’m still picking up my camera and learning, but I am pleased that I haven’t forgotten.

Anyway…

I had two different challenges today. I would have loved to combine them, but it just wasn’t possible for me to carry out my vision today. The Daily Shoot assignment was “Refresh from the summer heat today. Make a photo of water in motion. Freeze it or let it blur!” Our Project 365 group’s challenge today was “the dog days of summer.” I wanted to take our dog down to the river and let her splash around – she loves water – but it’s been a bit windy and too chilly for water (for me), and I really didn’t have the free time today.

So, instead, I have two photos – here is Caleb with his new squirt gun. No one was safe – he even shot my camera!!

That’s my response to the water assignment.

And here’s the dog days of summer – Molly is enjoying our brand-new grass in our very own yard! Yay for grass!

174/365

I love the inventiveness of my children. Andrew decided to make brooms today. He found some yard, some weeds, and an old broom handle, and made a broom. This is actually his second one. The first one was made with old, dried something-or-other, and I’m sure it came apart as he tried to sweep with it. He obviously learned something, though, and this one stayed together for quite a bit of sweeping! Rose had a great time cleaning my sidewalk and ramp with it.

The Daily Shoot assignment is “Make a photo composed of interesting shadows today. Try composing with long shadows at the beginning and end of the day.” I wasn’t able to get out with my camera when the shadows were long, but I did get this one shot of Fancy and Molly.

171/365

Snapshot Sunday! Ken’s brother and family are in town for a week, so we’ve been hanging out at Nana’s house having fun with them.

After a rousing game of “football,” (the only rule is that anyone over 18 is winning) Ken kicked the football out into the field and told the kids to go get it. Nice kick!

(Molly was quite happy to chase it.)

Nathan kept claiming injury – it seemed to happen most when he didn’t get the ball the moment he wanted it. Wierd. Here Uncle Jerry and Cousin Cristina are offering sympathy to the wounded player. Or something.

Caleb and Nathan both struggled with the grumpies every time they didn’t get the ball.

But it’s really hard to stay grumpy when Uncle Jerry runs over and poses with you. Even Molly got into the action!

139/365

I didn’t take too many photos today. I tweaked my ankle walking up the stairs, so I spent a good portion of the day with my ankle iced and elevated. But I did get outside with my little man and took several shots of him and Molly running up and down the sidewalk. They were funny – up and down…up and down. After he was done running he stopped, put his hand on his chest and said, “Mommy! My heart is bumping!”

138/365

Well, it’s been a very, very busy Tuesday, and I didn’t get a dedicated “texture” photo…but here’s some nice texture! My sweet son Dale bought these roses for me last night. Not only did he see roses and decide to buy me some, but he thought it out – one rose was $3.98. A dozen was $12.98. A dozen was a better deal, so I got a dozen! Good boy!

Here’s a storyboard I just had to put together. Molly is learning to obey, and she now stays in the yard when the kids leave for school, but she doesn’t do it happily.
 
She’s really turning into a great dog. Whew!