Leap into Spring: Finale

The Leap into Spring challenge was a lot of fun and I am glad to have participated.  I loved seeing what spring looks like in other parts of the world.  This week I'm showcasing a few of my favorite photos from the past five weeks.

{sunshine/light}

{easter/eggs}

{blossoms/trees}

{rain/water}

{green/grass}

My thanks to Alicia, Kristi, and Rebecca for hosting!  Can't wait until the next photo challenge!

Week 19 in Pictures

Hello there!  I took an unexpected and unintentional week away from blogging.  I hadn't planned to take time off, it just sort of happened that way.  I was able to get several things accomplished which makes me feel good.  I hate it when things start to pile up around here.

We had lots of activity going on here last week also.  Our kitchen counter top was installed, Doug got new tires on my van, our dining room set came in so we picked it up, and Doug sold his truck.  And that all happened just on Friday!  

Last week I also attended a Tea and a Mother/Daughter luncheon.  I helped a friend with a crafty project, which put me in the mood to dig out my scrapbook stuff and do some scrapping (didn't actually happen though).  Alex went on his first field trip without me (my name didn't get picked in the drawing) and had a really good time.  And I had a photo shoot postponed twice - once because of weather and once because the little boy wasn't feeling well.  :(  We are rescheduled for this week, so here's hoping!

This week will also be pretty busy as we are preparing for our ladies' luncheon coming up this Saturday.  It is going to be fun!  I'm so looking forward to it!  Anyway, on to last week's pictures ...

{Sunday}

I had bought these hydrangeas a few days before and just got around to photographing them.

{Monday}

Rainy day.  So I took advantage and photographed some rain drops.  I love that you can see my purple Lupine flowers in the reflection.  Oh, and we saw a double rainbow today, but I didn't have my camera with me to capture it.  Darn!  I knew I should have grabbed it before we left the house.  :)

{Tuesday}

Alex had been wiggling and wiggling a bottom tooth all morning and it looked really ready to come out.  But he wanted to wait until he was at school to pull it out because the kids get this sweet little treasure box from the nurse when they lose a tooth at school.  Gotta love it when they know what they want and make it happen.  :)

{Wednesday}

Two double rainbows in one week!  Amazing!  The outer one is very faint, but it is definitely there.  And I was glad to have my camera on me this time.

{Thursday}

The reflector set I ordered came today so Keira helped me try it out.  I really need practice with indoor portraits.

{Friday}

As I said, Friday was a crazy, busy day.  The kids didn't have school, which I didn't realize when I scheduled the counter top installation.  It was all good though.  They stayed out of the way of the counter top guys.  And shortly after Doug sold his truck, the store where we ordered our dining room table and chairs from called to tell us they were in.  Thankfully we were able to get one more use out of the truck and go pick the set up.

{Saturday}

Keira and I spent the morning/early afternoon at my mother-in-law's Mother-Daughter banquet.  Then Doug and the boys wanted to go fishing in the evening since Doug got his license today.  I didn't get my license yet, so all I did was take pictures.  Doug caught all the fish, much to Nick's dismay.  Oh, and three Great Blue Herons flew over our heads before I had my camera out and ready.  :(

     

Week 18 in Pictures

Wow, I can't believe it is May already!  And that Mother's Day is this Sunday.  And that our counter top is finally being installed this Friday!  Yay!  Hopefully Doug will have time to finish up the back splash soon and then I can finally do my kitchen before/after post.  So stay tuned.  :)

This week brought us a few days of summer-like temperatures.  In fact, we had to turn on the A/C for a couple days.  It was HOT!  And I discovered that I need to go shopping for some new shorts.  All but one pair of mine are too big for me.  Woot!

This week also brought with it several opportunities.  I was asked three times to take pictures and get paid for it!  One was a wedding, which was Saturday but I was unable to do due to other plans.  Another was taking photos at a school dance coming up.  And last I was asked to take pictures of an almost-two-year-old little boy for his upcoming birthday.  The last is scheduled for Tuesday evening, as long as the weather cooperates.  The school dance is later this month - still waiting for details on it - but I should be able to make it work.  I'm nervous and excited.  Stepping way outside my comfort zone here.  But I'm excited about the learning opportunities.  Anyway, let's look at last week's pics, shall we?

{Sunday}

The neighbor's lilacs are blooming!  I wanted to see how many different shades of purple I could pull out for the color palette.  I'm impressed that I was able to find that many.

{Monday}

Alex and I spent some time in the morning at our church so I could exercise.  I walked/ran around the parking lot while he "read" the Bible.  Then we played at the playground for a bit.  It was a beautiful morning!

{Tuesday}

Grandparents' Day at school.  Doug's parents were able to come to see Nick's program in the morning and Alex's in the afternoon.  I was able to be there to see the programs since I'm involved with PTO.  One of the perks, I guess.  :)

{Wednesday}

Not sure what was up with me this day, but this was the only picture I took.  A dove sitting in our walnut tree.

{Thursday}

I shared this already as part of Project 52's siesta theme.  Honey was wiped out after spending a few hours at the groomer's.

{Friday}

Our snowball bush is blooming.

{Saturday}

I suspect we'll be seeing lots of similar photos this week.  :)

I wanted to capture the "super moon" while I was able.  This really makes me want a stronger zoom lens as I had to crop quite a bit just to get this.

     

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 05.06.12

This week's items are Shadow, Keys, Smile, Unedited (SOOC), and Fish.

{shadow}So this is more of a reflection than a shadow, but I'm going with it anyway.
{keys}My husband's keys.  The set must weigh two pounds.  And he says he needs every one of them.
{smile}Alex was having a good time playing in the water and sand at the lake the other day.
{unedited (sooc)}We bought these necklaces this week as part of my niece's birthday gift.  I thought it would be fun to photograph them before I wrapped them up.  And I forced myself to play with my 50mm lens that I don't use very often. Linking to SOOC Sunday
{fish}Took the kids to the creek the other evening so they could cool down (it was HOT that day) and they could look for crayfish.  Keira found this one.  He wasn't very happy to be caught.  But I was happy to use him for this prompt.  :)
Have a great week!  Be sure to head over to Ashley's to see more great Scavenger Hunt photos.  And to see what to hunt for this week.

Leap into Spring: Green/Grass

If spring came but once a century

instead of once a year,

or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake

and not in silence,

what wonder and expectation

there would be

in all the hearts

to behold the miraculous change.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Project 52: Fiesta or Siesta

As you can see, I went for the Siesta option.  And since no one else naps in our house, I had to bother Honey.  She was happy to be home this afternoon after spending a few hours at the groomer getting all prettied up.  She doesn't like being around all those little yipping dogs.  :)

A Beautiful Morning with Alex

We've been having some pretty nice weather this week.  Chances of thunderstorms almost every day but they either come during the night or miss us altogether.  So we've been taking advantage and spending our mornings outside when possible.  Monday we went to our church so I could walk/run and Alex could play at the playground.  But instead of playing, he took along a Bible and sat down to "read".

He is learning how to read very simple books, so I'm sure he wasn't really "reading".  But the fact that he picked the Bible over all the other books we own to bring along with him makes me smile.

Once I was done exercising, I joined him at the playground for some fun.

And took lots of pictures.

I have a hard time getting a genuine smile out of him, so I was happy that I got this next photo.

Even if you can see the gum he had in his mouth.  :)


We're still waiting for two of his adult teeth to come in on the top.  They must be lost in there somewhere because he lost the baby teeth months ago!

Now that school is in the home stretch for this year, I feel a sudden urgency to cherish our mornings together.  Because during the summer it won't be just the two of us with Keira and Nick home also.  And in the fall when he starts first grade and will be gone all day ... well, I just don't want to think about that right now.  :)