I took a picture!

I took out my big-girl camera and took a few pictures yesterday. I think it may have audibly groaned when I turned it on, being a bit stiff from it's long hibernation in my camera bag. I am determined to get my creative juices flowing again and turning on the camera and snapping a few pics while the kids played in the backyard was a good start. The temperatures are back up in the 60s again, perfect for some outdoor play for kids and grown-ups alike.

And the light was beautiful.

I got a little artsy-fartsy with the processing of this one. What do you think? (Honestly. Does it look too processed?)

Here's the original to compare:

I wanted to keep the light, airy feel of the original but improve the overall color and punch it up a bit. I also wanted to de-emphasize the less than beautiful background of our backyard fence and playground.

A note for Jill (or anyone else interested in post-processing): I edited this one by overlaying it with a texture in photoshop as well as adding some brightening, adjusting the contrast and warming up the colors.

7 Quick Takes Friday: vol.18

--- 1 ---

Advent accident. We almost had a catastrophe at breakfast yesterday morning. We light our advent wreath candles for every family meal and so Eric had them lit before the kids came down for breakfast. When Gustin came downstairs he was getting settled into his seat and while wrapping a blanket around himself he leaned forward over the table and managed to catch his hair on fire! I was in the kitchen and heard him scream and turned around to see flames on the side of Gustin's head until Eric quickly patted them out. Thankfully he was standing just a few feet away from Gustin at the time. Though shaken up and with a patch of hair singed away, Gustin was fine. Somehow the skin of his scalp was not burned. I guess I should call this take an Advent miracle!

--- 2 ---

Silhouettes. At our last Cub Scout campout I was able to capture some wonderful silhouettes of my kids by the lake. Silhouettes is one area of photography that I haven't experimented with much so I was very happy with how these turned out! I only had a few minutes of lovely sunset light to work with and, for once, my girls decided to be willing models. Serendipity! Please humor me while I share a bunch of them.

I happen to love that these are not complete silhouettes; the kids' forms are not totally black. A bit of light still falls on their round cheeks or on the folds of their clothes.

--- 3 ---

Zoom lens. My photography output has really slowed to a trickle these days. I pretty much share all the pictures I take here, and you know how rarely I post to this poor little blog these days. Part of the problem is a bit of frustration over my lenses. I love my prime lenses for good photo quality, but I really need the flexibility of a zoom lens. But, whenever I use my cheap zoom lens I'm always disappointed with the results.

So, I'm thinking about getting a nice zoom lens, a Nikon 24-70 f/2.8. The only problem is that it is a very expensive lens. I've been saving my money that I have been earning from selling my photos through Getty Images and I now have enough saved to buy it. But, I'm scared. It somehow seems wrong to spend so much money on a hobby. On myself.

Any thoughts? Should I go for it?

--- 4 ---

 
Nope, not me. The other day Gustin was taking off his socks and he noticed a long hair on his sock.

"Oh, that must be one of mine," I said.

"No, Mommy," he replied, "this can't be your hair. It's gray and you don't have gray hair. It must be a string from my sock."

Such a smart, smart boy.

(The above photo is from 2 years ago. There may be a wee bit more gray now.)

--- 5 ---

Consumable Christmas. I'm all about consumable Christmas gifts this year. I know we have way too much stuff around our house and I don't want to be the one to make other people's homes even more cluttered. So, the kids on my Christmas list are getting lots of art supplies: coloring books, markers, crayons, playdoh, paints and notepads. The adults are getting chocolates, salsas, beer, marinades, coffee, trail mixes and pickles. Of course all of them are special brands that most people don't get to consume on a regular basis. To top it all off, these gifts were really fun to shop for!

--- 6 ---

The Hobbit! Eric and I have plans to see The Hobbit movie this weekend. It will be one of the two times all year that we actually go to a movie. I'm expecting to be impressed. I really enjoyed rereading the book several months ago. To further feed my hobbit appetite I also really enjoyed Prof. Corey Olsen's new book Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. It's great literary analysis for those of us who don't hold advanced degrees in literature.

--- 7 ---

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Cooking in the Sandbox

We recently visited Eric's hometown for the birthday party of his triplet niece and nephews. I love weekends in Eric's hometown. It's small, quiet community and we always leave feeling renewed and refreshed.

My kids, of course, love visiting grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles but I love that they spend most of their time outside in my in-laws wonderful backyard. Tree swings, sandboxes and pogo sticks are the main sources of entertainment. Sunshine and fresh air abound.

And simple toys. Like old pots and pans in the sandbox. The kids absolutely love them, much more than the plastic shovels and pails in our own sandbox at home.

The way kids' imaginations explode after being handed a pot, a pan, a serving spoon, and a big pile of sand blows my mind. To find such joy in simple things . . . such a blessing.

And a sun slowly sinking in the autumn sky with delicious, soft, golden light . . . more beautiful blessings.

There are some moments in life when your heart just about bursts with gratitude and all you can do is savor the moment by expanding your lungs with a deep breath and then exhaling a most sincere, "Thank you, Lord."

We Made it to September

What a week. My mother's surgery (mastectomy and reconstruction) was this past Wednesday and (praise the Lord!) it went very well. The doctors believe they were able to remove all the cancer and she has not had any complications (again, praise the Lord!). She was able to move from ICU to a regular room today, Saturday, so my kids were finally able to visit her. I think that visit raised all of our spirits. Isn't it amazing the blessing a few vivacious, care-free children are to stressed-out adults? Their being there at the hospital also testified that we are past all of the scary/worrisome stuff and now Mom just needs a little time to get back to her old self.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for my mom and my family during this time. I was amazed at the sense of peace I had while waiting with my dad during the hours and hours of Mom's surgery. I know that peace was a gift from God and a direct result of all the many prayers offered up for us.

I'm about brain-dead now and better finish off this post. Hopefully tonight I'll get a good night sleep with no worries, kids with bad dreams, or obnoxious, repeat, 3 a.m. prank callers to interrupt my slumber.

I hope you enjoy these pictures of my kids from a recent fishing outing with the Cub Scouts. The beauty of nature never fails to remind me of God's great goodness.

Until next time,

A Summer Wrap Up

Well, here we are turning the bend toward the end of August and it's about time I did a little update on my blog. This summer has screamed by (as it always does) and my kids have been back in school for an entire week already. But, before I get ahead of myself, here are some of the things we've been up to this summer:

1. Our sweet Elizabeth turned eight.

And when I say she is sweet I really mean it. She's fairly quiet and shy but loves to help whenever I ask. She's a voracious reader (are there any books left at the library that she hasn't read?) and is always quick to pray for the people she loves and those in need. This little girl is such a blessing in our lives!

2. We shot a few fire works for the Fourth of July.

Gustin and Jonathan had a fierce head-to-head battle with their firecracker tanks.

Gustin won. What joy it is when the little brother wins!

Both my girls were happy to watch from the sidelines. They're not big fans of explosions.

3. We went on vacation!

Every year we go on vacation with Eric's extended family and this year, for the first time, we went to the beach. We stayed together in a beach house (all 27 of us, including 9 kids under the age of 5) and had a terrific time.

We frolicked in the sand and water every day.

We also visited the Corpus Christi Aquarium. Somehow I didn't take many pictures at the aquarium besides the obligatory ones in front of the wingspan sign.

When we drove up to the aquarium we discovered that the USS Lexington is permanently anchored right next door. We had to visit it, too!

What an amazing experience. We hope to go back another day when we will have more time to explore and without a tired, cranky two-year-old who was already pooped out from the visit at the aquarium.

4. Back to school!

Here's our traditional picture of the school kids by the front door.

Jonathan is a big 5th grader. He gets a locker at school now and can play on the school sports teams. Soccer tryouts were already on the second day of school and I may not be able to stop to breathe again until the season is over in October. Gone are the slow days and wide-open schedules of summer time!

Elizabeth is thrilled to be in third grade.

But, even Elizabeth's excitement can't eclipse how ecstatic Gustin is to finally be in Kindergarten.

This little face at his desk on the first day of school pretty much says it all.

There's only one baby at home with me during the day now.

It's wonderful and melancholy all at the same time. Gustin told me on the first day of school that I wasn't allowed to cry because I missed him; I was only allowed to be excited for him since he was so happy. I tried, Gustin, I really did.

5. A prayer request.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in June. She will undergo a mastectomy on August 29th. They caught the cancer early and her prognosis is good, but please pray that they are able to remove all the cancer and that there are not any complications. Also, please pray for my dad who is experiencing some complications with his diabetes. Pray that these complications can be resolved quickly so that his health problems don't interfere with Mom having her surgery as scheduled. Thank you so much for even the smallest prayers that you can offer for my family at this time!

July Photo Challenge

 

I'm submitting this photo as part of the July photo challenge, "Enjoying Life", at iheartfaces.com.

Just the Pics

Is it bad if I write a post where I don't really write anything?

Because, at this moment, I don't have much to say. At least, I don't have much time to say what I would like to say, nor the pictures to go with it. 

So this post is just the pics from a lovely day spent with family, celebrating the birthdays of two adorable nieces.

This amazing swing in my sister-in-law's backyard cried out to me, begging me to set a cute child on it, capture it on film (well, actually, on an SD card) and then show it off to the world (hopefully my little corner of the blogosphere will do). 

And I was happy to oblige.

Happy swing. Happy Clara. Happy Colleen.