Mini Photo Shoot

WOW!!!  I am amazed at the turnout so far for the SMS Giveaway (you can still enter here).  Thank you so much to all of you who've stopped by, commented and especially all of the new followers!  I hate that I haven't had time to respond to each comment, but know that I am reading every one and I hate not starting up a conversation with each of you.

Whew, I've said it a million times, but this blogging community blows me away.  So many people getting together to give and share with each other.  It's rad (haha--that's for my dGs circle girls) to say the least.

Now...I don't have any sewing content for you today, so feel free to head to your next blog and come back tomorrow when I promise my sewing machine and it's work will be back to the regularly scheduled programming.  BUT...remember how I said Chris bought me a new lens for my birthday?  Well, I took it out this afternoon and snapped a few pics of the kiddos for our Christmas cards.  Yep, haven't even thought about those yet.

I am thrilled with what I got back.  I was planning on black-and-whiting (I just made that word up you know) whatever photo I liked best for our cards so I didn't worry about their color matching at all.  Plus, we've done the "everyone matching" look before.  This year I thought I'd just take a real (staged) picture of the kids and use it.  You know--who we really are, only with our faces clean, hair brushed and smiling politely.

These are some of what I got.  I'm in love!

I don't know why these last two are fuzzy...darn you blogger!

And I saved a few I didn't show you yet.  So, now I've got to decide if I want to B&W one of them, or go with it in color or take more tomorrow in colors that at least semi-go together.  Oh, and fix Oren's belt since it's all kind of twisted and his shirt's only tucked in in the front.  But, whatever--that's how he rolls.

I hope y'all are having a terrific Tuesday and I'll see ya tomorrow!!

More Photo Fun

Well, the dress and I are working out our differences, I may or may not get it finished tonight, but I am close.  So, for now, here are my photo fun challenge entries:

June 17--Bokeh
  According to wikipedia:  in photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light. ... Blah, blah, blah...to me it means keeping one thing in the front of the picture in focus while blurring out as much of the background as possible.  For my entry I used this picture of one of my roses.  This photo is straight out of the camera.  I didn't edit at all! And I'm pretty proud of that.  I love my camera!

June 18--Eyes
 Have you ever visited Katy's blog at No Big Dill?  (completely awesome by the way, and you should definitely follow her if you don't!!)  Her side bar is filled with the eyes of each of her 5, yes, I said 5 girls.  I think it's such a cute way to think of your children and how different they are. But, surprisingly, while I usually think my two don't look alike, some of their expressions, just in the eyes, were so similar.  I ended up going with this shot of Emma...  I love it because she still looks so young in it and it's less and less that I see that from her!

June 19--Summertime
  Just like childhood, this topic was so vague and "easy" it seemed hard to me.  So many of the other topics this month cover summertime to me, and I didn't want to copy anything I'd already done or take away from something left on the list.  In the end, I went with my alarm clock which may seem strange but it's because we don't use it in the summer.  We wake up when our rooms are light enough to naturally wake us up and start our day of fun.

June 20--Water
  Just a shot of the pool, but I like it.

June 21--Macro (up close)
   Here's a shot of one of my zinnias up close.  They are by far my favorite summer flower!  Possible my favorite altogether.  I love to plant a ton of them and bring them in all summer long in arrangements!

So there you go.  My photo shots from this week.  I've only got 9 left which seems wierd since June will then be over and that's a little sad.  So let's make the most of it and keep playing, huh?

I'm off to wrestle with, I mean hem my bubble dress.  Pictures tomorrow one way or the other.  Let's hope for a fashion photo shoot and not a SEWING FAIL!

School's Out for Summer

   And finally, the day has come.  My baby is now a kindergartner (not sure how that happened) and my oldest is a second grader.  Well, they will be in August anyway.  But, for now, we are packing up the backpacks and lunch boxes and getting ready for some summer fun.  And in honor of summer vacation, Oren got a haircut.  He has been wanting a mohawk all year because some friends of his at school have one.  We told him he had to wait till summertime...so this afternoon:

 
  I'm on the fence about it.  It's not my favorite look for him, but he LOVES it and summer is all about taking it easy and enjoying life, so we'll see how long it lasts...

 I've got big plans for this summer, as in lots of fun, but most certainly taking it easy.  Emma and Oren came down with sinus infections this week...yes, had to miss a day of school the last week and get tardy slips another because they're so run down and having trouble getting going in the mornings.  I see a lot of days spent in the pool, a week at the beach (can't wait Mom!!), some rainy afternoon movie watching, trips to the coast for seafood, and lots of opportunities to eat yummy foods and play together as a family.

   I also see time to get my sewing on.  I've got so many projects floating around in my head I'm making a list of them all so I can prioritize what I really want to do first.  Well, I SHOULD empty out my WIP basket first and get those projects finished, but where's the fun in that?  So, while not prioritized yet, I see at least 1 dress, some skirts, possible a romper for both Emma and me, a beach blanket quilt, a new quilt for Oren's bed and MAYBE a few WIP finishes from the basket...  I should be busy if nothing else, just keeping up with my dreams of sewing ideas!

   And on a completely different note, here are my latests Photo Fun entries:
(don't forget to check out the flickr group for all of the fun from everyone!)

Day 5 was breakfast today...this is Chris' plate, I only had one egg, but had already cut into mine when he brought his out all ready for me to photograph!  He spoils us like that for breakfast on the weekends.

Day 6 was books.  I had lots of good ideas:  a stack of my favorite series like Harry Potter or the Outlander series.  Chris suggested the TOC in the bible with all of the books listed.  But in the end it was 10 p.m. and I hadn't taken anything yet, so I took a picture of the latest book I'd read.  I read it in one day.  It was the day the kids stayed home sick and I wasn't feeling so hot myself so I laid around and read a lot...  Great book by the way, better than the movie.  And yes, I love children's literature.

Day 7 was a High Angle Shot.  Embarrassingly enough I had to find out what this meant because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be at a high angle or what I was shooting.  Oren was just sure I should take a picture of the roof of the house, because it is certainly high.  When I told him I had to be at a high angle, he logically said that I should get on the roof of the house to take the picture then.  I was going to get out in the kids play fort and have them lay on a blanket in the yard like they were watching clouds and make this magical shot that was like the perfect idea of summer...but instead I took the kids to the doctor and when we finally got home it started raining...  So, here's my entry.  I was happy with it though.  Sometimes your second option isn't so bad either...

Day 8 was a sunset.  I like this one.  We have so many pine trees we can't see the sunset usually, so we walked down to the road and I took these.  This is pretty much straight out of the camera with a slight adjustment for the light in the foreground.  Its moments like this that make me stop and remember how much God loves us.  What a beautiful way to end each day.

Today's photo is fresh fruit.  For some reason, I felt uninspired...probably running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to finish up teacher gifts, etc...  So, here's my least favorite picture of the series.  I call it strawberries in a colander...  I thought it would be really cool to take a picture of watermelons still on the vine in the fields as it's watermelon season here and they're everywhere, but I didn't have time or desire to drive into anybody's field today to bust out my camera and take a picture of their fruits.  Oh well...

 So here's to summer...may we all enjoy each day and remember that it's only a season.  Make each day special in some way or another!  And let me know what you plan on doing this summer to make it special...

Domestic skills in a different realm

While I usually show my domestic greatness (haha, greatness!) with my sewing machine, this weekend, I'm using the kitchen.  A friend of mine has a large garden this year and had more corn than she had time to put up, so she offered some to us.  I figured I'd get enough for supper and a pint or two to put up.  Oh no, she had 2 buckets full when we got there and Oren and I filled another.  She also passed on a couple pounds worth of tomatoes, some eggplant, squash and cucumbers.  THANKS, Christie!!!

So we all shucked corn yesterday afternoon until Emma found a worm or two in them and she was done.  Screeching and hollering and in the house, done.  Wish I had a picture of that...  We had corn on the cob for supper last night and it was so delicious!  Then I put up the rest.  Chris used to love when his Mom would put up  whole ears so he could just get one out and eat it for a snack sometimes, so I froze 20 ears and cut the rest.  I ended up with 10 1/2 pints!  I'll take that any day.  Now in October or January we can still have that great fresh from the garden flavor.

This afternoon I took the tomatoes and stewed them down with some basil from my garden and am contemplating vegetable lasagna for supper...  but I could just sit down with some fried eggplant too, so we'll see.

I don't can and freeze like I should to take advantage of summer produce, but I like doing it.  I like knowing skills that have lasted families for generations are being preserved (haha, no pun intended) and where the food my family is eating was grown.  We've got blackberries ready to pick and I'll be making some jam in the next week or so.  Does anyone else love the sight of opening their freezer or pantry and seeing jars of homemade goodness rather than boxes of fruit snacks and frozen pizzas??

This is pumpkin, blackberry sorbet (a fancy way of saying mashed blackberries and sugar!!) and corn I've put up.  I'm running way low on blackberries.  Good thing they're ready to pick!

And here are my latest entries for the 30 Day Photo Fun Challenge.  I was a day late on the hands challenge because I was too busy being Mama.  Oren had pre-k graduation and Emma had her end-of-the-year party on Friday.  But I'm still happy with the result.  Today's challenge of clouds seemed easy enough till I realized it is hotter than blue blazes outside and dry as can be.  The sky is a light blue with only sad wispy little clouds.  I thought about waiting and hoping for rain or a good sunset, but didn't figure I should push my luck!  :)  Tomorrow's challenge is breakfast...what can I convince Chris to make???

Creative Photo Fun

One thing I like about link up parties is finding new blogs and activites on the web.  Mandy at SugarBee Craft Edition hosts a massive linkup every Tuesday.  While I haven't had anything worth linking up (or the time to even check out the parties) lately, one of the links she posted on facebook caught my eye this week.  Abby over at A Feathered Nest is hosting a 30 Day Photo Fun party in June.  She's made a list of items to photograph each day and you can upload them to the flickr gallery.  There's no prize or winner...the benefit is the creativity you use to capture each image and what you get from seeing others' images.  It's exactly what I needed.  A simple and effective way to get my mind creatively thinking again.

  You can join up whenever, so go check it out.  Here are my first 2 entries...
June 1--Self Portrait

June 2--Your Favorite Shoes

  I believe my mojo is coming back.  I've got the urge to sew, sew, and sew some more...now I've just got to move all the stuff I was storing in front of my machine so I can actually do said sewing.  

  Pictures of Emma's bday party coming soon...