Photo Dump

I haven't posted in, well, a whiiiiile. Thought I'd show "you" what we've been up to...

From left to right, top to bottom: 

Roller skating for the first time, clean teeth, after school reflections, lost tooth, garden-fresh tomato face, 

big girl swing, follow the leader, frisbee fun, Uncle-love. 

Independence Day!

Here's to Summer!

Haven't been blogging lately...too much summer to have! 

This little one has discovered popsicles...and since she's addicted, momma has to make her own version 

with watered down 100% juice...ha! 

So here's to Summer! May your skin stay cancer free, may you not be eaten alive by the mosquitos, and may popsicle juice drip down to your elbows! 

Check this pic out at iheartfaces! 

Happy Father's Day!

To my hubby and all you other dads out there...

Thanks.

For cleaning up skinned knees and kissing away the tears.

For wiping noses and brushing out hair.

For the tucking ins. And the re-tucking ins.

For making giggles when no one else can.

For being the heroes our children need.

For being a DADDY, DAD, PAPA, FATHER.

Thanks.

I'm entering this one in the Rock My Photography Father's Day photo contest. Thanks for checking it out.

Week 24/52: Portrait without a face

This week's theme was a good challenge for me. I'm always obsessing on getting that perfect glance on my kids' faces. This time I didn't have to worry about that, but instead, I obsessed on getting the perfect foot shot. This one isn't necessarily perfect, but after 10-15 shots, I was happy. :)

This is my Lissy to a tee. Painted toes, dirty feet, stark naked, and reading. 

Happy Birthday, Lissy Lou!

Taking a break from Let's Do 52, to focus on this little girl. Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet girl! Love her!

  

 To add credit where credit is due, I did not come up with this idea on my own, but on Pinterest, from this adorable site: http://www.thejoblingfamily.com/

Grandma and Grandpa came to celebrate, so I'm off to spend the few minutes I have (it's Open House week!) with them. Peace!

I'm back! But only for a minute...

I'm finding it very hard to find the motivation to start this blogging thing up again after such a long broken-computer-lost-in-the-postal-service hiatus. But I'm back. And I'm just now starting up my Let's Do 52 project again. 

So, without further adieu, here is this week's picture:

Week 21/52: "Muted"

I'd been wanting to go out and try shooting the kiddos during that mystical "golden hour" that I hear all these fancy photographers talk about, but darn it, my kids go to bed so dang early that they're usually asleep before that golden hour hits. Last night however, as we were on our way home from eating with the grandparents, I decided to break curfew and stop at the park for a bit. I'm glad I did. Would it be bad parenting to change my kid's bedtime just so that I could take better pictures of them? Love love love the back lighting and soft, muted colors. And what's this? B cooperating for the camera? Nice! 

I got some more too...

So fun!

11/52: Beauty in the Everyday Details

I have to admit. I put no thought into this week's photo. After the week I had, I really felt no inspiration for photography what so ever. But after going through my SD card tonight, I found a shot that I thought, could kind of  work for the theme:

11/52

And then I started thinking...
I get so focused on the BIG PICTURE. I work myself into a frenzy, sometimes, with the BIG PICTURE. My anxiety kicks in, thinking about all the things I have to get done, the dreams and aspirations I'd like to someday achieve, the projects I'd like to tackle. I worry about my children's futures, what they will become, whether we will be able to meet all of their growing needs. I worry about things that haven't happened yet...and probably never will.

I get so focused on the BIG PICTURE, that I often forget to stop and see all the beauty that is around me. These two precious kiddos of mine: here they are, growing up before my very eyes. Why, oh why, do I fret about the laundry and the dishes, and the dirty floors, and the 28 other children that don't even belong to me? This week's picture is a reminder to myself to stop and really see those everyday details. The rocks below my feet. The crushed dandelions that Littles brings me. The love between these two, even when they're bickering.

So this week, I'm challenging myself, amidst a crazy birthday-party-prepping/lesson-observation week, to slow down and appreciate the little moments. The bedtime stories before bed. The snuggles and hugs. The dandelions and rocks.

Have a great week, everyone.

10/52 and in need of a prayer...

Like a BIG prayer:

1)We've gotten hit again. This time by the most awful of flu bugs, I've ever had to encounter. I have NEVER in my life been so sick as I was on Saturday. It trickled through all of us one by one by one. And just when I thought little B had escaped, it hit him last night as we were finally tucked in for the night. Blahhhh. We're slowly on the mend, though none of us have much stomach for anything.

2)Upon my arrival at school today, I found my desk strewn with stuff. I stared, puzzled at the mish mash of items. Post-its, paperclips, staples, rotten strawberries...wait, what? Yes, rotten strawberries. Apparently some kids broke into our school and made a mess of things, stole 9 laptops, a few other personal belongings, some cash, and decided I'd get the rotten strawberries (yay, me!)

3)Upon my departure at school today, I discovered my new car, my BABY, had been brutally keyed along with 5-6 other teachers' cars. Like, all the way down to the base coat. I know, "it's just a car, Katie, it's just a car." But, ugh...

4)I'm expecting my pink slip to arrive Thursday, if not earlier. Please pray for God's will. I don't know what I want at this point.

Onto the fun... Here's some from our horrendous weekend. These were taken when Lissy was feeling better, Miles hadn't gotten hit, and mom was stuck on the couch. Ha!

And here's my entry for "Let's Do 52" The theme this week was "Monochrome Tones." Loved how this shot captured my girl's personality!

Anyhow...I feel like such a Debbie Downer (wah Waaahhh). This blog really wasn't meant to be my diary whiney whiney zone. I'll do better I promise. ;)

Off to bed! The nice thing is, there's always tomorrow!

Week 9...Slaaaacker!

Wow, it's already Tuesday? Where has the time gone? I just realized I hadn't put up last week's picture. I'm so sleepy, and stressed, and blahhhh lately. Pray for me! I think God just needs to lay me off. I'm so done with being in limbo. My district's a mess and ugh...I'm just done. Sorry for the rant...

Anyway, pictures! I had SO much fun this week (in my photography world, that is). I have really been learning to shoot in manual as much as possible. And although, I end up with a gazillion throw-away shots, once I get the settings right, it's amazing and totally worth it! There were two themes this week: "Framed" and "Are you there, Spring?" I had a really hard time choosing which one to submit, so I'll show you both.

"Framed"

"Are you there, Spring?"

I was really happy with both, and although I think I'm a bit more proud of how the flower pic turned out, I opted against submitting it, since EVERYONE did flower shots. I'd been trying to get a sleeping picture of Liss for a really long time, but kept waking her up (such a light sleeper still!) but Saturday was my lucky day and  I was finally able to capture it. So sweet, and I thought the crib slats made the perfect "frame."

8/52 and the never ending ear infection

So we've all been sick, yadda yadda yadda, but Lissy has been a MONSTER for the last month. Just in the most sour mood and so frustrating. Seriously, I have been battling with some serious depression/anxiety because of it. We took her to the doctor early this month for an ear infection. Before she was even finished with the antibiotic, she starts getting sick again. So I took her back in on Friday and, low and behold, another one. Different ear even. ARGH! I am so sleep-deprived and just have no patience anymore. :( Not to mention that my oh-so-good-at-taking-medicine daughter of mine only likes Amoxicillin, NOT Augmenten, so I have to literally force the stuff down her throat. 

But on a good note, report cards are done! And I feel justified in planning on a laid back work week. 

Onto this week's photo...

Week 8/52: Simplicity

With all the chaos going on around me this week, I was feeling a bit nostalgic for the pre-walking, "simpler" days, where I didn't have to chase her all over the house cleaning up after her. I have hung onto these shoes. Plain white, boring, first shoes. There's just something about them. They're not exactly "cute." But  I just love them...simply.

 

Pretty Ugly and Week 7/52

I have been sick for well over a week now. And although I don't think I'm getting much better, I've decided to buck up and ignore it until it goes away. The unfortunate thing is that my cough will not be ignored. And neither will my daughter, who was up 6 times last night screaming her little head off. She should be better, having had antibiotics for the last 5 days. Anyway...I'm off on a tangent.

Allowing myself a sick day on Thursday, I decided that I may as well take advantage of some daylight and take my weekly picture. This week's theme was "pretty ugly" or, "finding the beauty in something ugly." I sat for a while thinking about all the ugly things in my life. I thought about taking a self-portrait of my sad, cold-sored self. I thought about taking a picture of my overgrown litterbox of a back yard. I thought about snapping a shot of the overflowing kitchen trash can or the mountain of laundry in my bedroom. But in the end, I decided I couldn't really see any beauty in those things, so I opted for more "pretty" than "ugly."

I'm sure the "pretty" is obvious, but the "ugly" is the fact that this lovely skein of yarn is in a massive tangle of knots. This is also my first challenge shot that I've gotten to edit with PS5. I am In.Love. I seriously know nothing about this program, but it's slowly coming back to me and you can do so many great things with it. It's terribly addicting...

Anyway, have a great weekend friends. I am off in search of some painkillers and more cough syrup.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just popping in to say "Happy Love Day" and then I SWEAR! Back to grading...

Week 6/52: Linear

I've neglected to post this week's photo, because I'm REALLLLLY unhappy with it. But since the new challenge goes up today (and since if I don't post now, I probably won't next week either) I figured I'd better bite the bullet and do it.

This week's challenges were "chaos" and "linear." And although my house and life did feel a lot like "chaos" this week with the big return to school and this HORRIBLE bug hitting us, I didn't feel quite comfortable sharing all of that with the entire blogosphere. So, I went with "linear."  I had a lot of ideas: valentine conversation hearts, train tracks, pallets...but I kept returning to the simple (probably because of said chaos). Elise's most favorite time of day is bath time (funny, since she hated baths when she was small). And her favorite thing to do in the bath tub is line up her duckies and count them..."nah, he, un, see, do!" The concept was good. I wanted to focus on the ducks, not on Elise so that's what I did. But the lighting was bad. And then when I edited it, it just all fell apart and looked super grainy and well, awful. So sad...

But I didn't have the time, or the energy, to try to re-shoot and re-edit the shot, so that's what I got. We win some, we lose some. BUT...on another note. I got my new lens this week and I LOVE it. And I've been trying really hard to figure out shooting in manual. So last night when I mustered up the strength to bathe the kiddo again, I played around a bit. So, as to not end on a bad picture, here's one I love. This is her Betty Boop face.

I love how she's posing with her little belly sticking out and her hands almost on her hips. I love how crisp her eyes are and the look she's giving, because that's HER to a tee. 

I bought Photoshop this weekend. Still waiting for the authorization from Journeyed so I can actually open it, but it should happen today! Yikes, a new program to play with and grades due in a week and a half. Not. Good. Have a great week everyone!

Week 5/52...YOU!

This week's photo challenge was to get out from behind the camera, something I never seem to do. I'm really not a fan of getting my picture taken. I always feel so goofy, unnatural, something...
So needless to say, this really WAS a challenge for me. I tried to set up my camera on the tri-pod and take some shots using the timer. Everything I got was terrible. Headless, out of focus, weird poses, the whole thing. So instead, I enlisted my friend Jalyne to help me out. We went out searching for the perfect spot, set up the camera, and had some fun. We got a lot of fun shots.

B even got to take a few shots. See the one in the far left corner? Yeah, that was the one he took right after he farted behind the camera. 

But in the end, I could only choose one to submit. Here it is. <3

My two love bugs cuddling with me. As painful or difficult as it may be to get out from behind the camera, it is so important to be able to have these memories. All too soon, these two will be off starting families of their own. I want them to be able to remember the times they had with their mom. And I think this one's a framer. :)

Wanna join the "Let's Do 52 Challenge"? 

http://paintthemoon.net/blog/category/lets-do-52/

I'm still here...

...and enjoying my mid-year break! I have to say that I LOVE year-round school for the fact that every time I'm getting burnt out and feeling like I need a break, I get one! 7 weeks feels soo good right now!!

So, uh, obviously I haven't been so good at blogging and holding a full-time job, not to mention mothering and wifering too, but I sorta knew that would happen...

Anywhooo...

I got a new camera for Christmas (thanks baby brother) and I might be falling in love with photography! I signed up for this "Let's Do 52" project at www.paintthemoon.net.

I'm setting a goal (resolution?) to try to post each week's picture. I'm learning so much already and trying to think outside the box more and more. And I figure, 1 blog post a week shouldn't be too much (there might be more!) to handle.

So, without further adieu, here are pictures from week 3 and 4. (I joined late).

Week 3-52: Negative Space

Week 4-52: Unexpected Perspective 

I may or may not be a little obsessed at this point...I'm sure it will wane upon my return to school.
Wanna join "Let's Do 52" with me? Here's the Link: Paint the Moon - Let's Do 52 Challenge