For Emily

Dear Emily,

  It's gone..... you now have no excuse  ;o)
 Lol!!!

Your friend,
  B.  :oD

One Year

  As I have contemplated this post, edited pics (some old favorites and some never posted before), I kept wondering if I could put too many pics here…. You may count that as your warning that this will be a long post ;o)  
  Today my baby turns one and I just don’t know where the year has gone.  He has brought us so much joy, so much hope, so many smiles, and kisses.  I honestly can’t begin tell you what a blessing he is! ♥ Here is a little re-cap of his year

Right after his birth

  

Resting with Daddy…. Isn’t that just too sweet. 

 

Playing in a pretend beaver’s lodge at the High Desert Museum on his first vacation :o)

 

Practicing his crawling skills in March

 

Bath time

Playing outside in July

First hair cut in August. Man, that emphasizes his blondeness and makes him look grown up!  I had a harder time of it than he did!  

Playing outside at our favorite place this month….   This picture just melts me! He is just so full of fun and laughter ♥

 

He loves to explore 

 

Today, taking a birthday wagon ride at Papa and Grandmas. He and brother have so much fun together!

 

So, there you have it. A year of smiles, of laughter, of kisses, cuddles, love, and joy.  My baby is one….. 

August kid pics

Here are some random pics from August:

 

 

Here is what happens when you show a baby how to blow dandelion fairies and he tries too ;o)

I was so excited to finally get a real smile!  He has got to be my hardest yet to get a good picture of…….  I like this one so well I would frame it

T-Ball

   This summer we joined T-Ball.  The kids were thrilled and it really was a lot of fun.  :o)  Monday was the last night.  Grammy and Aunt Angela sweetly made the long drive to see the fun, Papa and Grandma came, and, all in all, it was regular party!  :oD  Here are a few pics from the last night of T-Ball  (just for you Mom ♥)

Daddy was one of the coaches…. He did a GREAT job!

 

 

Papa, Grandma, Grammy, and Aunt Angela held my busy little guys so I could take pics

 

He insists on wearing his hat in such a way as to squish his poor little ears, it rather adds to his cuteness, don’t you think?  ;o)

Papa also played catch with the girls for awhile.  They love playing with their Papa! ♥

Adventures in photography

   I have, thanks to my sweet husband, a ridiculously nice camera.  :o)  Sadly, I have never really done much other than the auto settings.  I have many excuses, I mean, reasons for this.  I could detail them all for you but would probably bore you to tears, so I will move on to the good stuff.  The other day I went out with my camera, while baby was napping, to try and capture the flowers in the kids’ “gardens”.  I was very excited to be out with my camera but the lighting wasn’t very good and, within a short period of time, I became so frustrated I wanted to throw a screaming tantrum.  I managed, barely, to refrain from this because I didn’t want to explain to the kids why it was ok for me but not for them. I knew I couldn’t fool them! ;o)  The pics looked like this:
 

Over exposed and crummy.  I came in the house and plopped down in front of the puter to pout when a random idea came to mind. I decided, once again, to read THIS great series on making the jump to manual settings.  I read and re-read the series and then went back out.  I decided to start the process slowly and just use the Aperture priority setting on my camera. The results were not what I had hoped for

STILL over exposed!  I was sorely tempted to give up and just figure that noon on a bright sunny day was impossible but I persevered and decided to try Manual.  The very word strikes fear in my heart, makes my palms sweaty, and my stomach churn. I decided a long time ago that I was too stupid to learn it and really didn’t want to prove it to myself that day. My first attempt was not as over exposed, but the depth of field was off because my aperture setting was wrong

 

So I tried the opposite extreme and it was, no surprise, under exposed

I then fiddled with some middle of the road settings and got these:

  

and my favorite

None are perfect but they are better than I thought I could possibly do, so I am pleased. I am also encouraged to keep on trying to learn manual settings.  :o)  My friend Abbi O. is spurring me on also. Maybe, before I am completely old and gray, I will have it figured out! ;o)

*All pics in this post are SOOC* 

Trauma, Tragedy, and Triumph

   I have thought a lot about this post. I know I could turn it into a little life lessons for you, a sort of allegory I suppose. I could say some words of wisdom to tug at your emotions, but I have come to grips with the fact that it is just not my gifting. So, I’ll just tell you what happened, show you pics, and let you come up with your own heart tugging life lesson to accompany it. :o)

  This last week we had a family of little chickadee chicks (I think) leave the nest from the tree in the backyard. Sadly, their mother had not warned them of the danger of glass…… We were cleaning house when we heard 3 thumps on the window. The kids ran to see what the noise was and discovered 3 baby birds laying on the steps below our slider.

We all went out to see what could be done.  We gently helped 2 of them into upright positions and found them a place to recover that was safe from the cat. Sadly, the third was beyond help. 

 

There were tears shed by one sensitive member of the family, but we had many good discussions on life. (I thought about telling my kids just how dangerous leaving the nest was and letting them know they should stay with me forever but thought that, 30 years or so from now, I may regret that little talk  ;o)  The kids were thrilled to be able to touch these little birds and to “help” them recover.  They were also thrilled when they finally flew away.  I think it took a good 1/2 hour before they flew. I wanted a pic of their departure but I wasn’t patient enough  ;o)

They had the most vibrant yellow on their tails, which is kind of making me wonder if they really were  Chickadees…….

but they had the little “masks” like a chickadee.  :o/

If any of you are bird experts and want to help with a positive I.D.  that would be lovely.

A song

Recently heard this song and am loving it today:

Stronger