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

A promise kept….. ;o)

   Once again time has gotten away from me and I am wondering how in the world it has been so long since my last post, how my baby boy got to be 10 months old AND officially walking, how summer can be so far gone, etc…..  BUT, because I said I would, here are the plant pics from our Fathers day outing.  :o)  You just might notice a theme as once again my fascination with water drops is rather obvious. Someday I will get a perfect water drop pic but until then I am pretty pleased with these  :oD   So, without further ado, here are the pics.

I have never done much photographing if Scotch Broom but it has such perfect rain drops :o) This first one is SOOC

 

I love the greens in this one

 

Not real happy with the color on this first one…… I think I had been staring at the screen too long :oP  I may have to try and fix it later

 

I thought the four drops in a row were neat  :o)

Not sure what this guy is, I am assuming some sort of fungi, but I thought he was unique enough to earn a pic

 

I love how Wood Sorrel has heart shaped leaves  ♥

 

  So there you have it!  We *should* finish school next week so maybe I will find time for a few more posts.  I am not holding my breath though and would advise the same for you  ;o) 

Father’s Day 2011

For Father’s day this year Brian had to work, so we only had a few hours together.  To celebrate we went to one of our favorite places.  Most of the time my view of the kids was like this:

Though I was sure to torment them by demanding a few facial photos ;o)

Though overcast, it was bright. Please excuse the somewhat pained expression  :o)

and, though he has the BEST smile in real life, capturing it on “film” has become impossible. I hope this phase passes soon!

My amazing, wonderful husband spent his time cutting trees for the owner. Here he is with his saw near the beginning:

and here is after, taking a break by the creek  :o)

There are no pics of me as I was behind the camera ;o)  but here is what the youngest family member did:

He is just too cute and oh, so sweet!!!  His napping allowed me to get some flower and foliage pics that I am pretty excited about. Sadly, it is too late tonight to add them.  Hopefully I will add them soon.

Mother’s Day part II

  My eldest is all about fun and, as any day with a name *must* be fun, she spent the week before Mothers day getting her card ready, discussing gift ideas, and doing things for me because “Mother’s Day is *almost* here”. :o)  Saturday night she asked to do the reading for our family devotional time “for Mother’s Day”.  She started by reading Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.  “There is a time for everything under heaven – A time to be born and a time to die…….”  ;o) Rather an interesting start but She loves the rhythm of those verses. She then turned to Song of Solomon because “that sounded fun” I tactfully discouraged that and asked her to find something in the New Testament to finish with.  I guess Song of Solomon may have been fitting if we wanted to discuss how I got to be a mother! I just wasn’t ready for the sort of discussion that could arise from some of the verses that she might open to. Lol!

  She decided to read in John 19:14-27.  It is the account of Christ’s death on the cross. What got me was the last 2 verses and how touching they were for a Mother’s day reading. Listening to her read, I was struck by Christ’s act of love for his earthly Mother. He was suffering an agony I cannot even imagine, physical, emotional, and spiritual pain, and what did He do?  He saw Mary and, concerned for her well being even in the midst of his suffering, He arranged for her care. He was dying by means of torture and still He took initiative to ensure that she was loved and cared for.  It was such a beautiful picture and, as a mom, such an encouragement to me that He cares for me and my ministry as a mom. The poignant beauty of that passage has lingered in my mind since she read it.

Though I have read those verses many, many times, they have never really hit me like that before. My little girls “random” choice of passages really blessed me and were one of the sweetest gifts I received, so I thought I would share…….