Photostory Friday: sunshine

This week we finally had some sunshine and warm weather that I have so desperately been craving. The kids were able to play in the sprinkler for a bit. The picture below the big hair post just below this one was taken this afternoon as well.

After getting a handful of shots of the kids, I thought I would take some pics of the flowers in the garden. Yellow flowers against the blue sky are one of my favorite things.

As I ventured over to the flower beds, Will and Livi both had to come over to hop in the frames. The crazy pics never get old for a 4 and 5 year old. I think he is still missing Monkey!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

weekly winner, April 20-26, 2008

Thanks to Lotus at sarcastic mom for hosting this fun way to see all those extra pics that I didn't blog about this week.

part of the mongo play structure in the backyard

The storm that rolled through yesterday evening

towel roller here

day four of our caterpillar project....four of the five are on the top ready to do the chrysalis stage

Not much this week......I guess I need to pick up the camera more....happy weekend, y'all!

Project Green and Happy Earth Day

Anna of Anna Carson Photography is doing another color challenge..... green. This was taken at the duck pond last week. Normally when I take pictures of the kids, it is very nonchalant. They pay no attention to me as I just get down and snap pics. We had been there about thirty minutes. Well, thirty minutes into a mongo lollipop like that, the last thing Will wanted to be doing was sitting around a park bench. He wanted to run, explore, jump off things, and all the things that make him a boy. This was the final shot, can you see the "Mom,-are-you-done-yet" look?

Speaking of green, in honor of Earth day, these are the few things we have done to go green in our home in 2008.

• switched to my own bags for groceries.
• reuse the produce bags multiple times or until they break ( I still want to make the ones made of tulle.
• switched all bulbs to the CFL light bulbs
• unplugging appliances when not in use
• slightly raised the thermostat during the day ( I still can't do 78 degrees though!)
• stopped buying bottled water....use a refillable one now.
• buy organic produce when possible
• do only full loads of laundry on cold
• add one meatless meal per week
• buying bulk packages rather than single serve items

Not a whole lot, but it is a start.....pretty soon I just might hug a tree.

Happy Tuesday and Earth Day, y'all

Project Yellow....take two

Project Yellow, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

Anna of Anna Carson Photography issued a yellow challenge earlier last week.

Here is my second attempt at Project Yellow....this is the bar area that separates the kitchen from the family room. I hung these iron gates myself when Husband was deployed. I felt so "Call me Lion, hear me roar" when I finished. I COULD do things by myself!

The paint on the walls is called Nacho Chip....to me it is darker than a nacho chip. We have used this on walls in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.....and probably when we move to KY!

flower at the duck pond

flower at the duck pond, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

Anna of Anna Carson Photography issued a yellow challenge earlier this week. I knew I wanted to participate. There are these huge yellow flowers at the park the kids play at all the time. Against the blue sky, they are simply striking. Flowers always seem to give me hope.....they are so beautiful and to easy capture a great photo.......which bring me to today's thoughts.

Since we have listed the house, it has been a roller coaster. After the Shine team did their walk through preview they sent us a list of postives and negatives. I am so glad they didn't share this with me the day they did the walk through. I would have burst into tears. Of course they loved all the many things we did....the overall floor plan, my decorating, the large wooded area behind the house, etc. The negatives kind of surprised me.

We have a huge wall in our bedroom that I had family pictures in all black frames with white mats. There were probably 20 of them randomly up there. They said we had too many family pics in the master bedroom.

We also needed to move the water hose to the side of the house. Finally I needed to replace a light fixture in the office. Very simple things that were easy to change.

While getting the light fixture at the light store, I noticed a huge (about 5 feet by 2 feet) rectangle oil painting of some poppies. I knew that it would be our Texas art. I didn't get it as it was over our "don't purchase without running it by the spouse" limit. But Husband happened to run home for a late lunch. I asked him about it...quick agreement it would be great, so off I went back to the lighting store. Who knew they had art there!

So, now that oil painting is hanging in our bedroom on that wall. The family pictures are stored away until out next home. Finally, we have followed their suggestions....so hopefully another family will fall in love with this house we have made our home. We knew it was the house for us as soon as we walked through the door......hopefully some other couple will feel the same way!



The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. - Allan K. Chalmers

Playing around with the camera

I have just recently started reading Corey's blog: Living and Loving Every Minute of It. She has a series of Corey's Photography Tutorials. Rather than like the normal person to start with the first one, I dove right in with the last one. She showed some adorable shots of her daughter jumping in some water puddles.

Since my favorite kids were at preschool, I played with the water faucet. I turned the faucet on and just took a whole bunch. Then I thought, oh how fun it would be to take some of the sprayer?

Did you know you can't take a picture, hold down the force flash, and squeeze the water spray nozzle at the same time? So what's a mom on a mission to do? I figured out that I could wrap the nozzle with a rubber band to get it to always stay on.....Just call me a genius! Okay, that one was pretty cool.....but I really wanted the water droplets.

Aaawwww, more like it. Don't you know I had a shiny sink to boot!

BTW, I had fun with this little experiment. I looked at the clock and realized it was time to go get the kids. I totally forgot to take the little rubber band off. Later that afternoon I turned the water on, only to get a full on shower from the banded nozzle! Yep, you are in the presence of a genius! Take note....remove the band.