Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Coneflowers

IMG_2030

I love coneflowers.  

IMG_2026

I love the cones in the center of the flowers.

IMG_2034

I love the way sometimes the petals point down towards the earth. 

IMG_2031

And how sometimes the petals stick up in the air. 

 IMG_2046

And sometimes they stick out in all directions. 

IMG_2043

They are beautiful no matter what they look like. 

I love coneflowers.  And I’m still trying to catch the elusive hummingbird. 

Happy Wednesday! 

Monday, August 30, 2010

Photo of the Day – 8/30/10

IMG_2220

William:  “If you need a caption, I’m playing Pokemon Yellow.”

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sneak Peak

SneakPeak

Where did the weekend go?  Wow!  I hardly took any photos this weekend.  I tried to catch the ever-elusive hummingbird who only eats when I am inside and the zoom lens is NOT on the camera.  Hmm…

I have been struggling with finding the right words to say thank you to Mom for being William’s Confirmation sponsor.  And finally I found them.  And felt comfortable enough with them to put them on the “Gratitude” painting that I created.  So-here is a sneak peak, Mom! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  Looking forward to an extended Labor Day Weekend next weekend!  Happy Monday!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Project Life

IMG_2103

First things first-this book was created for engineers.  I mean-look at the way these colors mix and match.  I’ll get back to that in a second.

My kitchen table was all cleared off on Tuesday from having company for the weekend, so it was the perfect time to pull out all of the cards and figure out how I wanted to arrange them.  

 IMG_2105

These small journaling cards are my favorites. 

IMG_2109

This is the huge mess that I made.  But it was okay because the kids were at school.  And the dogs were laying around doing nothing :) So-back to this book being for engineers.  I mean, really.  I like to organize by color.  And I’m very systematic about it.  I loved it. 

 IMG_2111

This is how week one turned out (so far).  I started with Saturday and went through the first day of school. 

 IMG_2112 

Now comes the hard part:  keeping up on printing the photos and taking a photo a day. 

Like mine and want to create your own?  You can learn more about Project Life here.  Thanks so much, Becky Higgins!  I love it! 

Happy Friday!!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Sunday Family Day

IMG_1944

The “after church” photo.  We have 3 NFL teams represented.  And one child missing.  She just couldn’t pull herself out of bed for the photo.  And she wasn’t wearing makeup.  And Grandma and I wanted to change into shorts. 

IMG_1938

Smokers…It was really funny because they had all of these cans stacked up in front of them and they had only been there for about an hour.  I asked, “You guys been doing some drinking?”  Ha ha.  Their story was that everyone placed a can there. {Maybe…}

 IMG_1970

William:  Pretend like you don’t smell bad. 

IMG_1973

Brother and Sister. 

IMG_1982

Mom and Sister. 

 IMG_1983

Sister and sister.  I should have cropped this one.  But then people wouldn’t see our “hair sticking up” thing going on.  Oh well…

IMG_1988

Eating Sunday dinner (chicken enchiladas :) 

IMG_2004

Laughing because I said, “Pretend like you don’t smell bad.”  Well… Mom got it. 

IMG_1994

Birthday card from Jakey.

IMG_1992

Happy Birthday, Jakey! 

 IMG_1993

Birthday card from Jakey. 

IMG_2019 

Awww….having a little bit of trouble with that last candle…

We had a great visit with family this weekend, but it flew by wayyy too fast!  I had a great time visiting and seeing everyone. Next month we will get the stuff that makes me go crazy out of the way on Saturday evening so that I can relax on Sunday!  Thanks to everyone for coming!  We loved having you all and hope you will all be back soon! 

Happy Thursday! 

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Back to School-Part II

 IMG_2098

First day of school-2010

{Someone (usually Bryan) is ALWAYS blurry in my photos of the 3 kids.  I have taken sets of 10 photos before just to get one where all 3 are in focus.  I had enough patience among the 3 to get one photo snapped this morning.  Not to mention the fact that Elizabeth wasn’t ready until the last minute (as usual).  But…the photo was taken and the first day of school has commenced.  }

 IMG_2097

Getting ready.

IMG_2090

Not wanting to get up. 

IMG_2094

Cleaning white shoes. 

IMG_2096

Drinking milk.

  IMG_2092

Clothes laid out to get ready. 

IMG_2088

Happy to be awake so early. 

Okay, this is probably why some people hate me.  It is 8:24 am.  I already have all of my first day of school photos blogged and uploaded onto my computer from my camera.  And I am uploading them to Shutterfly as we speak to get them printed at Target this morning so that I can pop them in the Project Life album.  And I will probably do a scrapbook page about the first day of school, but I’m not sure I will do that today.  I probably should, but I’m not OVER-zealous :)  Anyway, I LOVE the first day school and since I graduated in 2006, I have begun taking the first day of school off so that I can celebrate the way things have changed over the years.  Some years I make an album, some years I just take some photos.  This year I have been journaling and blogging the photos. While I was going to school, some semesters put me in a position where I was unable to celebrate the first day of school with the kids and I am making up for that now.  The year I had my co-op in the Fall, my first day of work coincided with Elizabeth’s first day of middle school.  And that really sucked.  I was a nervous wreck and she was mad at me-it made for good times.

I have decided to start my Project Life album with this past weekend.  Because this will be the last real school year.  And I have some awesome photos from the weekend that I want to include.  Next year, Elizabeth will be going to college (probably community college, but things will still be VERY different.)  And I want to document this last year in a very special way. 

So happy Tuesday (again).  Don’t hate me too much… 

Back to School-Part I

IMG_2061

The day before. 

Bryan is getting his binder ready to go.  Wow-7th grade this year.  I cannot believe how quickly the time goes. 

IMG_2064

Bryan and Daddy.

IMG_2067

Bryan and Mommy. 

IMG_2056

Taking photos of the supplies before they are sucked into the black hole of Bryan’s locker. 

IMG_2080

Team Jacob.  Taking a shower the night before and straightening hair is a way of life for some us.

You can tell how happy and excited they are :)  

Monday, August 23, 2010

Saturday Night “Live”

IMG_1850

Playing Washers in front of the giant cannas.  I really need to start recording things that are this funny.  We have soooo many photos of Sarah laughing like this and we almost NEVER remember what was so funny.  Sari-if you remember, let me know! 

IMG_1865

Party!

IMG_1857

More Washers!

 

IMG_1910

OMG.  They have left the confines of the indoors! 

 

IMG_1887

Around the bonfire!

 

IMG_1919

(Favorite settings for bonfire photos:  Tv Mode (Shutter Priority): ISO 1600, 1/4 sec, f/5 )

My honey. 

 

IMG_1924

Cute!

After golfing, we were sooo ready for bonfire and beers.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and ate s’mores with dark Hershey’s chocolate.  Yum!  Then we went inside and mostly…we were all wiped out!  It was good times!  Happy Tuesday (First day of school!) 

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Jakeys Birthday 2010…Wooot!

IMG_3678

Every year we go golfing for my brother’s birthday.  Almost every year it is hot and we are tired by the time we reach the 9th hole.  This year, we decided to spoil ourselves by using carts.  It was great fun, but we were still pretty wiped out by the 9th hole (yes-we are whimps…) 

IMG_3685

{photo by my sister, Sarah}

Love the rock and the marigolds! 

 IMG_3686 

You could hear these guys coming a mile away…

IMG_3690 

Nice shoes, Jake.  I like them.

 IMG_3706

Having a great time.  Wish you were here :)  Sweating with us…

 IMG_3701

Jake and Patricia

 IMG_3702

Sarah and Ryan

IMG_3691 

Having fun.  We always have a great time golfing.  Which is a good thing, because we’re not very good…

IMG_3695 

Wish I could remember what was so funny, but I don’t. 

IMG_3696 

We all spent some time wading through the tall grass…

IMG_3703_edit

{Photo by my sister-in-law, Patricia}

Sweaty and tired and happy. 

Happy Monday!