Wellblessed

Baked Oatmeal

2012-02-06T17:53:00.001-08:00

I’ve been meaning to blog this recipe for a while. 1) I LOVE it! 2) The kids LOVE it and shout for joy when I serve it for breakfast 3) I keep losing my recipe and if I blog it I will always know where to find it. I don’t have great pictures but I promise, it’s FANTASTIC! It’s like the cross between an oatmeal cookie and oatmeal cake. *happy sigh*

I warn you, however, that making this recipe could lead to overeating.

Baked Oatmeal

2 eggs

1 cup sugar or honey

1/2 cup oil

3 cups oatmeal (uncooked)

1 cup milk or milk alternative (I use oat milk)

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of sea salt (or other salt if that’s all you have)

spices (I use about a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of ginger, nutmeg and clove)

raisins or chopped apple (optional)

Don’t even worry about using a mixing bowl, just grab a 2-quart baking dish and mix it right in that. Mix eggs, oil and sugar. Add baking powder. Stir in the rest of ingredients until well mixed. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or microwave on high for about 8-10 minutes. Serve with cinnamon and sugar and/or milk (which I’ve never bothered doing because it’s just so good on its own).

I got this recipe from a friend and, as I’ve mentioned, love it so much as it is but I do plan to play with it someday to make it a little more healthy. If I do that and it turns out well I’ve blog that too (I’ll need to be able to find my recipe, right).

Michigan

2012-02-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of January Rob, Gabe and I took the chance to visit family in Michigan, namely Bill. By that time we knew things were moving much faster than expected and that we many not have another chance to visit. Zion, Gideon, and Elias got to stay with their “Tantie” while we were gone.
The first day is all flying. One of our layovers (yes, I said one of) is in San Francisco and we found this cute kids area that had interact science displays. My favorite was the Aeolian wind tub, using the handle you can change the direction of the fan and watch how it effects the sand. I want one of these in my house!

Eventually we land in Cleveland where we have a hotel for the night. In the morning we start the 3 1/2 hour drive to Rob’s hometown. On the way we see a trucker driving his semi with his knees so he can eat a sub sandwich. A wee bit frightening.

The first day is all visiting with family but in the morning Rob and I go for a walk. I wish we’d had more time because I’m in love with old barns, especially red ones, and you can find them in abundance around there. Sometimes red sheds too.

Bill and Gabe play that game where they try to slap each others’ hands. Goofballs.

Later we take a drive and even later than that we play games.
The next day is Sunday and we are invited to attend church. The kids looked so nice I couldn’t resist a few pictures. Codi, Tristan and Brook:

Then we wanted to show Gabe the local park where all the bridges are made out of cement. It’s really interesting.

At lunch Tristan convinces me to try the meatball sub at Subway. Mmmm, it’s been a long time. Yum.
After that break we visit with Freda who was a grandmother figure to Rob when he was young. She’s a firecracker!

Our last event of the day is to follow Codi to go visit her mom, Shelley, we were greeted by coyote howls and spooky trees – loved it!

Our last day, boy it went fast! A few pics before we leave. Rob and his brother, Carl:
Carl, Rob and Bill:

Bill’s wife, Joyce:

*sigh* Too short, it was good to see family and especially Bill. The only thing that’s left is another long day of travel home. But God treats me with a gorgeous sunset on the way home. It sure does last a long time when you’re flying west.

Bill

2012-02-04T22:57:00.001-08:00

Rob’s flight left at 6AM this morning. At about 10AM I got the call that Bill had passed. Rob called from a layover and we chatted, he’s doing OK. Actually feeling the stress of feeling rushed lifted. So we’re OK. As OK as we can be. Bill was wonderful to me from the moment we met, treated me like a daughter, always remembered my birthday, he never failed to call AND send a card. As happens with these sorts of events it does not seem real, I feel as though I could call tomorrow and chat with him.

Well, you know what to do, pray for us. Thanks!

Bill and Gabe goof off, January 6, 2012.

Sorry

2012-02-03T22:20:00.001-08:00

About the disappearing act that is. First the holidays, which were great. We had an awesome Christmas. But January was a wash. At the beginning we learned that my father-in-law, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer, was not doing well so we planned a short notice trip to Michigan. Rob, Gabe and I fly out while the other three stayed with my sister, Jamie.

We had a great visit in Michigan. Bill perked up a bit with us there though it was clear that the cancer was marching on. Then the state of Washington got blasted with snow and ice. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Ever. We lost electricity in addition to many limbs from all of our trees (major sadness). We were out for three days others were out for a week or more. We did fine at home though. It was cold but we have a gas hot water heater so we had hot water and a gas stove so we could cook hot food.

Then just as I thought things would settle and normalize (ha!) we got the call just hours ago that Bill may not make it through the night. Rob already had a ticket to fly out tomorrow night but he’s found an earlier flight out in the morning. We’re hoping Bill holds on until he can get there.

On a happier note, this morning before we knew that Bill’s health had deteriorated so drastically, I had a mini-photo shoot with my boy Gideon. He is so, so funny and enjoyed giving me some faces for the camera. His only fee? Getting to see the back of the camera. He reacts like he won the lottery every time “LOOK! There I am!”

That is all.

Fa La La

2011-12-19T23:13:00.001-08:00

Tis the season for holiday concerts fa la la la la la la la la!

Zion had her school concert and it was an honest to goodness holiday concert as in actual Christmas songs. Zion had been looking forward to it for weeks. A couple of days before I bought her the shiny shoes she’d be eyeing at the store for weeks. She was SO excited she posed seriously for pictures (no tongue sticking out!) and left her hair band in (pretty much a life time first).

Gabe also had his school concert and, well, I’ll try not to speak too negatively. Of course I loved seeing my son on stage singing with his classmates. It makes me sad that, even though the school plans the concert for right before the holidays that they include no holiday music. Winter themed songs yes (and one 1 or out of all of them), holiday, no. I remember the concerts I was in when I was a kid and it just makes me sad. Still, we celebrated Gabe and his chance to perform and that’s what counts. Here he is in one of his three songs (only three, the rest of the time, and it was a looooong time, we watched other people’s children perform – and most of that time we were sitting on the floor, oh wait, I’m being negative).

Did I mention that it was my birthday? And I was sick. Still it wasn’t an entirely bad day. Rob got up and instead of leaving for work he made me yummy muffins for breakfast and he and the kids gave me a birthday present.

And the sunrise was gorgeous.

That’s our cat Eva. She’s hunting birds. I know it’s natural and stuff but I really wish she wouldn’t do it. Naughty kitty.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-18T22:46:00.001-08:00

And busy holidays. And kind of sick. Off and on weird sick days have just made things kind of mellow. I think it took me two weeks just to decorate the house. But it’s finally done! Well, except for the decorations I didn’t get put up yet but there’s still time.

We have a tree and it has lights and ornaments and the kids had a blast decorating. I had a blast trying to keep them under control. Um, yeah.

We once again hit up a local tree farm, the service is great and it’s pretty quick and they give us candy canes and hot cocoa. Then I take a bunch of pictures and realize you can either have Zion being silly…

…or Elias and Gabe.

The next day we decorate, Elias was hilarious. He kept stealing ornaments already on the tree the plunging his whole arm into the tree depositing the ornament on the thick branches in the middle. We kept have to part the bushy branch ends to find the ornaments he’d squirreled away inside.

After I force some posed pictures. And yes, one of my children is missing. I’m still playing catch up.

And the fun isn’t over. At least not for me, because I love close-ups of ornaments.

I hope you are enjoying your holidays! Tomorrow is our first should-be-in-school day of the holiday break. I’m stoked! (Though I still wish I had more time before Christmas!)

For The Birds

2011-12-02T21:54:00.001-08:00

Quite a ways back an online friend of mine showed pictures of bird feeders she’d made out of orange peels. They were adorable and I was smitten and have wanted to make one every since. Today was finally the day. So here you go, so you can make one too of course.

You’ll need an orange (surprise!), some twine or string, something with which to remove the orange’s edible bits without destroying the peel, and something pokey. Oh yeah and probably a knife to cut the orange and scissors to cut the string.

I cut the orange off center of half so it would be a little cup. Cut how you like. If you’re like me you’ll cut a thin slice from one portion and aim your macro lens at it for a while before finishing the rest of the craft. Like so:

Resume your craftiness by scooping out the innards. If you have a daughter obsessed with juicing oranges give them to her along with the other portion of orange. If not, well, you’re on your own.

Cut three portions of string about a foot long.

Use the pokey thing to poke three holes close to the edge of the orange from which to loop the string. If your pokey thing has a blunt end like mine did (I used a bamboo skewer) you can use it to poke the string through the holes.

Once you tie the three strings to the orange gather them up and tie them together at the top.

Then you just need to find somewhere to hang it. I hung the string on the tree and then attached it to the feeder because I found it easier but do whatever works for you.

Fill it up before or after you hang it, again, whatever is easier.

Isn’t this an easy craft? So easy.

Then sit back and wait for the birds.

And wait. And realize the birds won’t come because the kids followed you outside and are making too much noise.

Luckily it was cold enough that the kids didn’t stay outside long. Then my only problem is the dirty window.

While I watched a Dark-Eyed Junco started eye-balling the feeder but didn’t check it out closer. Maybe it has something to do with this:

The cats moved outside right after the kids came in and Maisy seemed to think the orange peel feeder was made especially for her enjoyment.

Ah well, I got some pictures of the birds hanging out higher up, maybe one of them will visit the orange peel feeder tomorrow.

I’m happy to see a new species at the feeder, this is a Black-Capped Chickadee. Adorable but the Chestnut-Backed Chickadees are still my favorite.

The Juncos were very active on the ground tonight but didn’t think much of the dried squash seeds that I put out for them. Hmph. Darn picky birds.

I got quite lucky with this one. I believe it’s a Nuthatch and you can actually the seed he has just plucked from the suet.

So there ya go. A super easy craft that’s very rewarding for you and the birds. :)

Back It Up

2011-11-30T22:14:00.001-08:00

I have a back log of fun stories and photos to share. I’m going to try to catch up a little. These photos are from the 15th. Rob was out of town and Gideon and Elias were both awake before Gabe was due home from school so I packed them all up, met Gabe getting off the bus and took everyone to the park.

It was cold. Darn cold. I made sure I had jackets, gloves and hats for everyone. They turned down the hats but seemed grateful for the gloves. Elias even kept his on the whole time we were at the park. I couldn’t believe it, I don’t think any of my kids have left gloves on at that age.

Look out! Here comes the bulldog!

Swing! Whee!

I was so disappointed to see that this one turned out blurry but I still love it. They are mirrors of each other and it’s just too cute.

CHEESE!

Zion and Gabe like to have races. Hard to tell who wins though.

My crazy kids, fun despite the cold. Which I guess is a good thing since it’s not going to get any warmer for quite some time.

Feathered Friends

2011-11-29T13:36:00.001-08:00

I’m a sucker for critters. No surprise to those of you that know me. Fur, fins or feathers, makes no matter to me. Zion wants a bird. I’d love to have one. I’d hate to add another habitat to the list of cleaning chores. I’d hate more for that darn Eva to get her paws on the poor thing and dealing with Zion’s grief if it did happen. It is a good thing that we have plenty of birds in Washington. In lieu of a pet bird we have dozens of wild birds that we feed and now that the weather is getting colder our visitors are increasing. They also make great photography subjects and with my long lens I can get a decent photo without even opening the sliding door (which is good because when I do open it they all dart off). Recently I bought a field guide for Washington birds, now I actually know what I’m looking at!

The first species we started seeing in the Fall and our most common visitor to the feeder is the Dark Eyed Junco (AKA Oregon Junco).

After that I noticed we have Red-breasted Nuthatches. They are super cute.

A Nuthatch AND a Junco:

Then on Thanksgiving as we were rushing about trying to get out the door to my sister’s I thought I saw a Chickadee. I didn’t have time to grab my camera or take a second glance though so I couldn’t be sure. I’ve been stalking the tree ever since. Yesterday morning bright and early I was rewarded, finally, with a sighting and he even waited long enough for me to get my camera. My new little field guide confirms this is a Chestnut-Backed Chickadee. These little guys are my favorite. So far anyway.

Yesterday I was at Home Depot buying more seed and a baffler to keep the rain off the feeder and very nearly bought a tree – a whole TREE! just because I thought the birds might like it. Uh oh. I may have a problem.

We Did. Did You?

2011-11-28T22:34:00.001-08:00

We supported Small Business Saturday. In the tastiest way possible. A local doughnut shop. Oh they were SO yum! I got my favorite, a maple bar with bacon. Oh yeah baby! The kids seemed to enjoy theirs as well.

We may have just started a new day after Thanksgiving tradition!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T15:08:00.001-08:00

What a lovely Thanksgiving we had! In addition to having so much to be grateful for we had a chance to just relax on Wednesday so Zion and I got to do some baking. We made a pumpkin pie and pecan tarts (later I made a rosemary chicken mix for an appetizer and the next morning a Tollhouse pie).

On Thanksgiving day we took the kids to see The Muppets. Rob and I both were very excited that a new movie was coming out, it was just to share with them something we had loved when we were kids. Though Elias was a bit fidgety, preferring to walk up and down the aisle giggling loudly, they all enjoyed it. Especially the popcorn. It is possible they enjoy the popcorn more than the movie.

After the movie we head up to my sister’s which is always fun. It’s small and casual, fun for the kids and the food is fantastic, what more could you ask for?

A few people heading down Turkey Coma Lane. Must be time to head for home.

Goings On

2011-11-13T23:59:00.001-08:00

That’s one of my favorite titles for posts, I use it often. It pretty much covers all the bases when I’m trying to catch up on blogging. Elias’ little face gives a clue as to what I’ve been up to lately.

If you guessed “taking care of sick kids” you’d be right. It’s a simple cold really and I’m glad it’s not something worse but boy can they linger and get passed around. Elias, Zion and I seem to have the worst of it and me not even that bad. Elias’ nickname for a week or so was Snot Face and Zion was Cough Girl. I still managed to pick up my camera at least once a day. Once was it on many days recently though. I can’t complain about the shots I was getting however. I’m learning better how to make them count, that’s for sure.

This next one wasn’t a pic of the day but it’s pretty cute. Rosie is nearly always on the couch next to me but late one night she decided to curl up with Rob instead.

I have to say I can’t complain when the kids stay home from school sick. It’s easier when I don’t have to worry about buses and driving to schools and I like having all my kids home with me. And kids who stay home from school sick have to take naps when the two youngest do so I actually get more of a break mid-day than otherwise. And I liked my sick days when I was growing up, they meant dragging my sleeping bag and a stack of books to my Dad’s recliner where I’d spend the whole day reading and watching PBS and my mom would bring me Sprite and orange juice mixed together. It does make me feel good to nurture my kiddos too so there’s an added bonus. I hope that this week is healthier though, sick days aren’t so special when there are too many of them. :)

A Study In Elias

2011-10-30T22:13:00.001-07:00

My baby is 16-months old. He’s easy going, active, walking, clever, climbing, investigating, chattering, I could go on and on. He’s just a heck of a lot of fun and definitely keeps me on my toes. Tonight he was hammin’ it up for the camera.

Not Elias but a couple of cute boys anyway.

What happens when the fairy won’t stay on the car and falls to the ground. Poor baby.

Hm, how do I get the darn fairy to stay on the car?

Maybe if I hide and pretend I’m not looking.

Then he figured out that he could half bury himself in the couch. Cute. I wonder what sorts of things I’m going to find down there now. Or who. It’s a good thing he’s the youngest or he’d be trying to stick his siblings down there. He might still try knowing him.

I love, love, love my baby so much! (All of them of course.)

My Girl Is FIVE!

2011-10-29T23:14:00.001-07:00

And today we celebrated with a little party. She got to invite friends from her PreK class and has been talking non-stop about it for weeks now. Finally, the big day came for her. My favorite five-year old girl.

To help decorate for her Tangled party I drew Rapunzel's tower on our sliding glass door. It was not easy to photograph.

After the guest’s arrived and played for a while it was time to open presents. Princesses and pets galore.

Elias is actually pushing the ride-on train with another child on it. He’s getting SO big!

Then time for cake!

After the party guests left Rob put Zion’s training wheels on the bike that a friend passed down to her.

Then Zion, Gideon and Gabe went out for a ride. All three can scoot around on wheels now that Zion has some of her own. Yay!

What a great day and glorious weather, thanks God!

Fall Days

2011-10-23T21:29:00.001-07:00

We had a great Fall day here today. It wasn’t sunny but it was great. I had Rob buy me a saw the other day and today I got to go out and hack off the bottom branches of the tree outside our backdoor. This made me SO happy. Happy because now I can walk more than three steps out our backdoor and not have to hunch over now. Yay!

Rob and I with the help of the kids got the latches replaced on the bunny cage and the cage all cleaned out and refreshed, dog “flops” picked up, the dead garden plants pulled up, the branches piled up, the bird feeder refilled and the leaves raked and tossed out. And that was all after lunch and before dinner. Then Rob and I teamed up in the kitchen and made ham, corn on the cob, stuffed Acorn squash and dinner rolls. MmMm. What a great day!

Around the House

2011-10-22T12:46:00.001-07:00

Had a great day puttering around the house yesterday. I’m still amazed at everything I got done. In addition to general cleaning and normal kid stuff (you know, feeding, changing, bus stop…) I decorated for Fall (a little late to cross that off the to-do list but at least I got it done before Christmas) and organized a couple areas in the house.

First, the top of my cookbook shelf (that would be a four-shelf bookshelf actually, I have a small cookbook addiction – not just small cookbooks either, I collect big ones too, and ones in between – ha ha ha) was a true hazard to anything that might need to be put there. I wish I’d taken a before picture, but here it is after:

Let’s just say this is a dramatic improvement. It’s so much nicer to look at this. The black bowl holds some of the veggies we get from our CSA, this time it’s potatoes, onion and a couple of kinds of squash. The peppermill and two spice containers were my grandmothers and still hold ginger and baking powder (which I don’t plan to use), the old egg beater and iron came from antique stores a town over, the cotton branch was a find of Rob’s on his last business trip. I love that he brought it back for me, the kids were fascinated with pulling cotton off and feeling the seeds inside. We would not find something like this around here, that’s for sure.

I pulled out the Fall decorations box and got the house all dolled up with oranges and browns (my favorites) and used the pumpkins and gourds we got from the CSA to decorate the front stoop. Now doesn’t that look warm and welcoming! The CSA sells corn stalks and I was hoping to nab some but I couldn’t fit them in the van with the kids. Kids? Corn stalks? Kids? Corn stalks? *sigh* I guess I have to choose the kids.

Last night I had my first knit night for a while. When the ladies left one of them pointed out my newly decorated front stoop had welcomed a visitor.

This little guy was sitting on my door handle. Isn’t he cute?!

Getting’ Crafty

2011-10-18T21:53:00.001-07:00

LA Looks Hair Gel, clear – $2.97

Generic one-gallon freezer bags – .97

Food coloring – in the cupboard

Doing a craft that cost less than $4 and took less than 10 minutes but absolutely thrilled Zion – priceless

Today Zion and I made sensory bags to aid in writing skills and such. Not like she really needs it, she actually has pretty good skills there, but I saw the craft here and knew I wanted to try it. And I kind of hope that Gideon will like to play with the bags too and it definitely couldn’t hurt him.

First I plooped a bunch of the hair gel in a bowl and let Zion choose what color to make. She wanted orange (yay, we can also talk about how colors mix to make other colors) and teal. Well, she didn’t actually say she wanted to make “teal” but that she wanted to mix blue and green and according to the food coloring box that makes teal.

I fell enamored with the cool pattern the food coloring made as it ran down the hair gel mountain in the bowl. Oo, pretty.

Then Zion added the green drops. Two or three drops quickly turned into six or seven by accident so the color ended up more green than teal. What can you do?

She really was trying to be careful.

Then she got to stir. Oh, how she loves to stir!

In the end we made two sensory bags that the kids can practice writing with their fingers on. In the post I found the creator inserted laminated photos and pictures. I figured since both sides of the bags were clear I could just lay the bag over pictures for the kids. If that doesn’t work I may put some in the next bags we make. I still have hair gel left (and Lord knows I’m not going to use it on my hair)!

Playing

2011-10-12T23:06:00.001-07:00

I got to play with Gideon while Zion was at school today and Elias napped. I love our one on one time. Today it was a Wii game. Something he’s never been interested in before but Rob bought him a Sesame Street game, Cookie’s Counting Carnival (don’t know why it isn’t the Counts Counting Carnival, that would make more sense). Gideon loved it. The game came with a Cookie Monster cover for the Wii remote, which Gideon had to turn and scoop and move to play the carnival games. He also had to jump which he really enjoyed.

In the spirit of giving a complete review I should say that I was a bit annoyed that the game kept repeating the instructions every time the question wasn’t answered right away. This is generally a good thing but it happens too frequently and (a big AND) the child can’t play the game while the character is speaking. So if by then they have figured out what they need to do and want to answer most of the time the game won’t accept it until after the talking is done. This isn’t something Gideon would understand so he would get a little lost as to what he needed to do. And on one game the circle that indicates which answer you are selecting is too close in color to the background and is VERY hard to see.

Otherwise, so far as we’ve played it, the games were fun and age appropriate. Gideon had to count and recognize numbers (which was a bit beyond him but when Zion played after school she had a great time with it) and complete patterns and recognize shapes. At the end of each game the child wins a golden cookie. We haven’t played the entire game yet but so far I haven’t seen what good the cookies are. We’ve played the Carnival section but not the Games section so maybe they are used there.

Today had some rough patches. Rob is out of town, Elias doesn’t want to nap, Zion is hyper emotional, Gabe is testing some limits, Rosie has decided she isn’t housebroken, spills, falls, tears, yadda, yadda, yadda… So I’m finally taking a breather after the kids have gone down for nap and get to play with the photos I took when I was playing with my camera this morning. There a few that made me smile. I think one is worthy of the store, we’ll see if I still think so after sitting on it for a few days. If you’d like to see them (and I think you should) you’ll have to pop over to my Finding Beauty blog.

Mud

2011-10-09T23:27:00.001-07:00

Warning: This post is picture heavy. I couldn’t help myself. I will tell you, though, that I took more than 300 photos today so just think of all the culling I did just to get it down to this many. You’re welcome!

Saturday we decided to take the kids to a local park. OK, maybe not entirely local but when you live in the borderline tullies it’s surprising what you consider local. This park is so very cool, it’s up a mountain a bit and has three play sets (which the kids love) and hiking trails (which we’ve yet to explore – baby and all, ya know?) and a wading pool (it’s never been warm enough when we’ve been) and it’s beautiful. *sigh* Oh the trees are starting to turn here and are they beautiful!

The kids only care about the play equipment. Elias went right to work crawling back and forth on the bridge between the steps and the slide.

This would be forth:

This would be back:

Meanwhile the rest of the loonies jumped on the wobbly bridge.

Gabe got busy with a stick writing many things in the sand most of which was dedicated to the new friend he made on the playground. He fell madly in love with said friend.

Gabe’s new friend:

He was quite sad when I made him find a nice leafy tree on which to deposit his friend. If I hadn’t had two previously discovered caterpillars already in our butterfly habitat at home I might have conceded. Alas, there was no room at the inn.

Elias gave himself the charge of filling the slide with sand.

Oh those baby blues!

Zion busied herself with this and that. Here she said she was trying to water the branch so it would come back to life. Oh children, why do you make me have to explain such difficult things?

I had the foresight, for once, to have the kids bring a ball. Gideon got to play a bit of soccer. After he had been puddle jumping, clearly.

Zion and Gideon spent a moment in silence for the closed wading pool. Dear poor, sad, wading pool, my children would have happily splashed in you regardless of the temperature. Perhaps next summer when the sign is removed (and so are the dead leaves and other yuck).

Before leaving we walk to the lookout. I shot this picture and then spent the next while taking macro shots of flowers just outside the view point. One of these days we’ll actually go down the path to see where it goes.

I love the windy twisty road that lies on the other side of the lookout. Nice curves.

Gideon looks hopefully for any puddles he may have missed while we meander back to the van.

Then we’re all hungry so we hit up this new lunch spot nearby. It’s a smoothie joint that serves paninis and wraps. The wasabi chicken wrap did wonders on my sinuses. WhooWee! We got Gabe, Zion and Gideon smoothies. I made the mistake of letting Elias try Gideon’s dairy-free strawberry smoothie. Oops. He wanted to drink the whole thing.

This is what happens when you take away the nums.

Am I a meaner mommy for making him cry or for taking his picture while he cried? Oh well, nothing to be done about it now. Poor 4th baby. No sympathy.

And then we go home for nap. Mine!

Excited! Excited!

2011-10-09T21:01:00.001-07:00

If you’ve seen Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs you can say that in your best Steve the monkey voice, that’s how we always do it in my house. ha ha ha

I haven’t been posting that much here lately despite a lot of really good photo days and fun with the kids but I think it’s for a good reason. I waffled on what I would write here or how much I would reveal because making a full announcement would tie my personal and business lives (i.e. my “real” identity) together maybe a bit too much. But who am I kidding? I am me, after all, and that means oversharing.

So without further ado, I am announcing that I’ve made it official and gone into the photography business. Not how you are probably thinking, I don’t want to get hired to photograph your family (who I’m sure is very lovely), that doesn’t appeal to me AT. ALL. But what does appeal is taking photographs of the beautiful world God has given us and making those photos available to anyone who wants one. (For a price of course or it wouldn’t be a very good business.)

I have an online gallery where some of my photos are available to purchase and I would love for you to stop in and take a look. Go here:

Finding Beauty

So, what did you think? I am offering a discount to celebrate, if you make a purchase in the month of October you can use the coupon code GrandOpen to receive a 10% discount.

You may notice that I will create a custom photo-scripture pairing on request. I also intend to make the photos available as cards and possibly other products but am still deciding whether I will make those products available somewhere like Etsy or on the zenfolio site. So keep checking in for future updates! In the meantime, if you are interested in a card set with a photo(s) I have on the site feel free to contact me and I’ll get you a quote and put something together for you.

And it’s Fall. Isn’t that just awesome in itself. Yay!

Lastly, you may notice, if you are a regular reader, that my photo challenge posts have disappeared. I will be posting those to my new photography blog, Finding Beauty Photography (still in the design process), and rededicating this one to my family. No guarantees that I’ll be posting a ton in the near future but please know that it’s only because I’ve got this exciting new endeavor going on and I’ll be back soon! Blessings!

Steps and Sincerity

2011-10-02T22:24:00.001-07:00

My girl. She’s so sweet. Today she told me that she wouldn’t be happy if I died. I touched her face and told her I’d do my best not to for a very long time. She looked up with a serious face and said “Well, you’d better stay away from dinosaurs then.”

“And lions.”

Thanks for the advice, baby girl, I don’t know if I would have thought of that myself.

~~~~~

And Elias is taking more steps daily. He’s such a funny boy. I’d predicted that he’d be my earliest walker as he was showing signs that that would be the case since he was about 6 months old are so. I was wrong. Here is at 15 months and I still don’t consider him a walker. But he’s a wicked fast crawler. Shoo boy! When I stand him up that boy gets that mischievous grin of his on and falls to his knees and takes off like a shot. Who needs to totter along when you can rocket even if it is low to the ground?

Still, I catch him practicing when no one is looking. Lately he’s learned that he can walk with Zion’s baby doll stroller. He wouldn’t do it if I asked him to but as he’s discovered it himself and he doesn’t notice me watching I’ve been catching him at it more and more. And I couldn’t be happier that he’s getting so close. Not because I’m anxious about whether or not he’s walking but my back needs a break! That kid is getting HEAVY!

Sweet Shot and Texture Tuesday

2011-09-27T15:10:00.001-07:00

We are settling into a new schedule and with that comes more regular opportunities for me to choose sedentary activities (my favorite). Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself while the boys are down for nap and Zion is finding a quiet activity. Today I am choosing to spend a little time blogging and what better spur of the moment topic than a photo challenge (or two). Especially since I just spent the weekend on a little getaway with a friend and have a ton of pictures. Most of which I haven’t had the chance to look twice at but I do have a stand out or two. For today, my sweet shot:

We were truly blessed to find this cross standing at the very spot we found to pull off to photograph the rainbow. Wow, just wow. Thanks, God!

OK fine, I’ll post another. After I picked up my friend we stopped at a camera store. It’s the one I like to go to but a bit far off and not at all kid friendly. I had some money set aside for a lens or maybe two and I wanted a chance to shop. I came home with a 50mm 1.8 and a 90mm 2.8 macro (sweet!). While my friend and I had lunch before heading for home I took this one because she’s got great eyes and I couldn’t help myself:

Please go check out more Sweet Shots at My 3 Boybarians!

And for Texture Tuesday, hosted over at Kim Klassen’s Café (LOVE it there – go check out more!).

This one was taken with my new macro (I am SO in love with that thing, it makes my heart sing – funnily enough I wrote that line before I discovered that Kim had made this week’s Texture Tuesday theme “love”. I’m so glad I did because now I can join in with the theme and feel like I’d intended that way, LOL) as we were walking around the grounds where we stayed. We found a few snail shells placed randomly on rocks and in the flower beds, this one was partially buried. I added a layer of Kim’s Corrugated Crack with soft light at 100%, adjusted the levels a little to brighten it, cropped it and added a light vignette around the edge.

Sweet Innocence

2011-09-21T10:39:00.001-07:00

Last week we took the kids to the local Fair. It was a blast (though the time we had was too short) and I’ll post pictures soon. But apart from the usual eating of Fair food and riding of rides a funny thing happened. We went to look at the cows. That in itself is not the funny part (aren’t you relieved). We were walking through the cow barn and Zion asked someone if she could pet a cow and they said yes. While she was fawning all over a very pretty brown and white cow Gabe asked the farmer how to tell which ones are the boy cows. *gulp* Poor farmer. He made a valiant attempt. He pointed to a small solid brown steer that was tied off to the side and asked Gabe if he noticed the difference between that one and all the other female cows standing around with udders bulging.

Gabe said “Oh, I see.” Our collective minds went “Phew, we don’t have to take it any further.” But Gabe continued “That cow is all brown.” I laughed the hardest, poor farmer stuttered and didn’t know what to say I believe. I finally told Gabe that it’s the same way with people, they have different parts. I *think* he understood when we left.

But I could be wrong.

My Storyteller

2011-09-20T23:28:00.001-07:00

Zion has the biggest imagination. Really truly. And she tells stories with such conviction that many people believe them. One of her MOPS class teachers got a little miffed with me for not telling her that we’d changed Zion’s name to Claire. We hadn’t. Zion is just that convincing. And even when it is obvious she’s telling a tall tale she’s just so entertaining. I keep promising myself I’ll get her on video. For now, here’s a transcript of a story that she told in school the other day, her teacher wrote it down as she was telling it.

Once upon a time there was an apple tree in the park and it fell down and hit my head and I didn’t know it fell down on the gate. And I was so trapped. And I had to go in the tree trunk and I didn’t know there was a door there and it slammed it and locked it and I was so trapped. There was no way out! My mom and dad didn’t know and I didn’t eat any food and I fell asleep in the tree trunk and my mom and dad found me. And then I woke up and it was just a dream. The end.

And I can hear her telling it as I read it and see her gestures and her laugh. And this isn’t even one of her best stories.

Today she told me she needed help writing a list. I figured it would be a wish list but it was a chore list. She had me write things like “wash windows” and “clean the table” and when I was done writing her list she proceeded to do the chores. Love it!

Getaway–Pt 3

2011-09-17T21:58:00.001-07:00

I kinda sorta forgot that I hadn’t finished blogging out vacation photos. ha ha ha How unlike me <not>. Here’s a few from the Sunday of our vacation. First though we paid a visit to the little Methodist church down the street. I loved that it was a beautiful day and we could walk there. I think I was born for a small town. But I also want property some day. Not sure how those two can work together. I digress (how unlike me – again).

After church we walked down (yay, more walking) to the café and had lunch then walked home to put certain kiddos down for nap. While they slept (or, I found out when I got home, fussed until Rob let them get up) I walked (again with the walking) down to the yarn store. Yep, you heard me. A yarn store. Within walking distance of the little house. How I didn’t spend the whole week there I don’t know. I bought yarn. Oh yeah.

Later we hit the beach again (we did NOT walk).

Rob jokingly commented something about earth, wind, water and fire when he saw the one above and I don’t think he could have been more right. Elias – earth. Digging, digging, digging, digging. Gideon – water, my little dowser remember. Zion – fire, of course. Gabe – wind, mostly because that was all that was left but he can also be a bit flighty and distractible. A bit wind like. Don’t know where he gets it.

That’s pretty much it for this day. More later.

Eat Your Veggies!

2011-09-10T00:42:00.001-07:00

How many times have you heard that, right? Or said it? A million times probably if you have kids (like mine). Well after weeks/months/years of Rob and I talking about how we are going to start eating better we finally joined a CSA. If you aren’t familiar with that term it stands for Community Supported Agriculture and it’s essentially a farm share. So once a week we go to the farm and pick up our box of fruits and veggies. We are super lucky that the closest CSA to us is FANTASTIC! I thought I’d like it but I LOVE IT!

Not only do I get the box of fresh picked produce but I can also wander the grounds and cut my own flowers and herbs and pick other produce that they have in abundance like kale and swiss chard. They also have an area where they have produce that you can buy in addition to your box, today we bought two containers of raspberries. Not sure why but as soon as the kids saw them they went nuts about them. OK, so the kids are freaking out about raspberries like it’s candy so am I going to say no? Heck no! They had cups of berries for an afternoon snack and they weren’t pestering me for treats. Hm, things are going well already.

Here’s what we got in our box:

That’s lettuce, romano beans (that stuff that almost looks like pasta), cherry tomatoes, strawberries, summer squash, onions, watermelon, peaches, kohlrabi and beets (I forgot to put the herbs and flowers I cut in the picture).

Let’s take a closer look at those strawberries.

They were the BEST, SWEETEST strawberries EVER! Seriously, no exaggeration.

And another great thing about this CSA is that they have amazing recipes on their website. How else would I have found out what to do with kohlrabi (which is a root vegetable and raw tastes a bit like jicama in case you are a veggie newbie like me).

That was some AMAZING soup, let me tell ya! Kohlrabi, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes… do I need to continue. I don’t think so. yum!

And the farm itself is so beautiful. I asked the owner if we could come back later and take some pictures and she said sure so we did. But we missed the good light by a few minutes and the sun was already behind the trees. Still, I got a few… (and we plan to go back tomorrow)

And then on the way home my sis and I were like crazy tornado chasers trying to find a good viewpoint for the gorgeous sun. Turn here! Go there! U-turn! We stopped in what turned out to be someone’s really long driveway and naturally they came out just after we started shooting. Drat, had to move and find another spot. The sun was not waiting for us, what is it’s problem anyway?

This photo does NOT do it justice. The sun was RED. Really red.

I know people always say fresh is better and I always knew it but I just really didn’t understand how much better. I know the few things we have grown tasted better but still … AMAZING!

Firsts

2011-09-08T15:16:00.001-07:00

Two of my babies started school in the last week.

Gabe started second grade on the 1st. I’d say I can’t believe it but that’s what I always say. I meant to get good pictures but they changed the bus schedule on us which meant that we needed to dash a bit at the end. No carefully staged and taken pictures this time just a quick shot of him dashing for the bus. Ah, memories.

Zion waits for Gabe’s bus so that she can run to hug him like it’s been a decade since she saw him last.

I’d intended to make cookies and meet him at the bus with them but I was off by just a few minutes. I pulled the first tray out of the oven right when I needed to leave to meet the bus so he got to have a cookie when he got home instead. I made oatmeal scotchies. I don’t make them often which I really need to change because they’re one of my favorites. And I really must not make them all that often because Gabe, with amazement in his voice, said “What kind of cookie IS this?!”

Then Wednesday Zion started her PreK class at a local church’s preschool. She goes a few days a week for a few hours. She has been looking forward to school for years. Before we left she posed for a few shots.

Then when we got there she and Gideon dashed ahead. While I was getting my camera settings adjusted I overheard her tell Gideon that she was going alone and he’d be without her for a while. I wish I could remember her exact words, they were so, so sweet and thoughtful.

Once inside the children put their backpacks away and then sign in. Each day there is a question and then they put their name under yes or no depending on the answer. Apparently all the children in her class are NOT the oldest child in their family. Huh.

Then she gave me a hug and ran off to play. No looking back and no hesitation. I love my girl!

Meanwhile back at the house Elias took a nap and Gideon and I got some one-on-one time. I can’t recall the last time he and I got to hang out with no other siblings present. We read books and did puzzles and talked about colors and had a great time.

I wasn’t ready for summer to end. After all, we only JUST started to have decent weather (my tomatoes still aren’t ripe) but now I’m starting to feel better about it. I’m just so blessed and feelin’ it big time!

Crazy Days–Summer Finale

2011-08-31T14:55:00.001-07:00

I just learned about the big finale today and am going to throw up some of my favorites. It’s going to be tough though, I tell ya!

My most recent favorites from this crazy summer from my crazy baby boy. I love the saying that the definition of “boy” is “noise with dirt on it”. He definitely fits the bill.

Because I don’t want the post to go on for a mile and I don’t have time for a collage I’m going to stick to our vacation for the rest. Here ya go (p.s. I had 233 “favorites” from our vacation, I will not post them all):

THE END!

Except you should go check out more entries and maybe even enter yourself!

Texture Tuesday–Orange

2011-08-29T23:12:00.001-07:00

Ah, I had one of those days were I got a ton done and doesn’t that just feel grand?! Then I saw that Kim’s Texture Tuesday was orange themed which was perfect because I had just taken a bunch of photos of Zion juicing oranges the other day.

I textured it with Kim’s “granny’s cupboard” twice (both with the soft light blend mode and one at 100% and the other at 62%) and then desaturated the colors using a brush on all three layers (the two texture layers and the hue/sat layer) over the one orange to make it bright again just for fun. That’s it.

It’s nice to be “back in the saddle” and do a photo challenge for the first time in a little bit. If you’d like to join in or see other photos in the challenge check out Kim’s blog here:

p.s. Orange is my favorite color!

Little Harvest

2011-08-28T17:56:00.001-07:00

I’ve had a great time with my garden this year, FINALLY growing some things like I’ve wanted to for years now. Our snap peas are pretty much done, they were so yummy. The rabbit agrees. The lettuce IS done. It was yummy. The rabbit agrees.

But the last couple days I’ve started pulling up some carrots. Except for the greens poor bunny isn’t getting any of our super yummy carrots.

MmMmGood!

Today I pulled some more:

And before you doubt my camera or your monitor I should tell you that those colors are correct. I found carrot seeds that grow different colored carrots. I thought I’d have better luck getting the kids to eat them if 1) we grew them ourselves and 2) they were funny colors. The kids ARE very excited about them. We’ll see if they actually eat them.

Zion insisted on washing them herself.

This has nothing to do with our harvest but today caught a dragonfly. Or, I should say, Eva caught the dragonfly and Gabe saved it. That’s my boy! It was huge!

While I took the pictures Eva was sitting underneath it pondering how she could get her toy back. I tossed her inside and had the kids leave the dragonfly in the garden under some leaves where it could have some shade and quiet to hopefully recover and fly away.

Later when I checked it was gone and I picked our purple pepper. It will taste yummy with the fajitas that Rob is making tonight. No, Towzer, you can’t have it, it’s not a ball.

The harvest coming next will be tomatoes. It was so cold this year I think they got a late start (I’m only guessing since I’ve never actually grown tomatoes before). But I figure if they can only get big enough they can ripen inside if it gets cold before they are ready. Looking forward to it!

Getaway–Pt. 2

2011-08-24T16:48:00.001-07:00

More photos of our little getaway, the 13th of August. We are just taking it easy today and going for a drive. Rob takes us up to Leadbetter Point first and the road in looks like this:

We also passed these amazing iron gates and “No Trespassing” sign which we just SO cool and Rob and I agreed we wanted nothing more than to trespass to find out what was beyond them.

“They” weren’t kidding when they said to wear mosquito repellent to Leadbetter Point. Just rolling down the window to take this picture attracted the skeeters. Rob and I agreed that it wasn’t worth a short hike and continued our drive instead. We went a short ways out onto the beach in Surfside. It was pretty.

Then head off to lunch. The kids all let out a cheer when we said we’d stop at McDonald’s with a playland in Long Beach. Rob and I carried in Thai we bought down the street. ha ha ha

Then since Rob and I wanted a “real” grocery store (read, cheaper) we kept on going South into Astoria. What a cool city?! I’d love to go back sometime I can wander and take pictures. As it is my photographing was contained to Tapiola Park which was entirely awesome (and remember you can click on a photo to see it bigger)!

“Home” for dinner (and after the kids go to bed desert and wine, shhh, don’t tell!) and the kids’ favorite "home” activities. Gideon hanging out in his favorite chair, Elias in his favorite spot, yep – on the coffee table, and Zion spinning in her favorite chair. Gabe was somewhere playing his DS and I meant to take a pic but missed it somehow. Rob was cooking dinner. I’m blessed!

The end and more later!

Hair Cut Day

2011-08-24T14:59:00.001-07:00

I don’t know about you but our family is getting geared up for school to begin. I know so many others have already started and that thought always astounds me. It’s still summer for cryin’ out loud! (Even if we don’t exactly have summer weather many days, it’s been a very weird summer here as far as weather goes.)

Gabe starts 2nd grade next week and Zion starts PreK the week after that (which is more like what I experienced growing up, we never started school until a few days after Labor Day). I still haven’t shopped for clothes or supplies. *yikes*

But today at least I got the pre-first-day hair cuts done (which I’ve been telling myself to do every day for more than a week now). Zion and I will go for a hair cut together on Saturday after Rob gets back in town from work travel (blech, darn work travel) and Elias doesn’t need a hair cut so that really left only Gideon and Gabe. Oh how I wish the boys didn’t have such fine hair. It shows every mistake, every imperfection in a hair cut – and when I do it it’s guaranteed to be imperfect. Still, they pass and they’re free so whatcha gonna do, eh?

Here’s Gideon’s before":

Of course I didn’t realize until after I’d taken the pictures and started cutting that his face still needed washing after lunch. He insists on doing it himself and I sometimes forget to double check after he’s done it. Silly mama.

Here’s Gideon’s after:

After I took the photos I went and cleaned up the back a bit more, didn’t mean to make such a severe line there. And for the second time in my haircutting history I knicked an ear. Gideon shouted “Ow, Mama, you hurt my ear!” in his adorable Gideon voice that cannot be described in words. It went straight to my heart, I felt so bad. Luckily it wasn’t too bad and I know the trick for getting things to stop bleeding (dab on flour, now you know the trick too) and now he’s fine and I feel better having confessed. Phew, that is good for the soul!

Here’s Gabe’s before. Which does not do this mess justice. He looked like a Muppet.

And the after:

He’s not nearly as disgusted with me as he looks in the left one. I just surprised him with taking one last photo when he thought I was done and as it turns out it was the best one of his hair. Gabe’s cut is easy and I didn’t nick his ear. What a relief!

On a different note, I have a new blog and store in the works. I have a few knitting patterns now, a couple free ones and one that is nearly done that is good enough to charge for and I plan to get some photo items ready for sale and needed a place to do it all. That’s a big project for me and since I’m a slow mover who knows when it will be actually up and running but I thought I’d share the exciting news anyway. I’ll still blog here of course but I’ll have a link to my other blog and I’ll probably move a lot of my knit and photo talk there. More on that later.

And with that I’ll leave you with a recent favorite. Gideon yesterday. I’m thinking about what lens I want to add to my equipment and a friend let me borrow her Nikkor 50mm f1.8. What a nice lens! And what about that LITTLE BOY! This is one of those photos that shocks me into knowing how fast time flies by, he’s not a baby anymore.

Getaway

2011-08-19T15:04:00.001-07:00

You may recall that we got a Big Toy this summer and that was our “vacation” this year. Well Rob and I were still hoping to find a way to get the family away for a little bit. Last year we did a weekend getaway in a nearby big city. We stayed at a hotel and swam at the pool (and had to come home early when the housesitter called to let me know my favorite cat had suddenly died) and it was alright. So we considered doing that again but then a friend of mine said that her aunt and uncle have a house near the beach in SW Washington and that they some times let trusted friends stay there. Sweet!

I love the ocean, love, love, love it! Would live so much closer to it if we could. Also, the next town to theirs is one where my parents took us on vacation when we were kids. A rare vacation. OK, maybe THE vacation. There might have been two. Regardless, the point is we didn’t vacation much when I was growing up so it was pretty special. Fond memories.

Thursday the 11th Rob headed off to work and I stayed home to finish packing. He came home after lunch and we trundle off with our laden van and the kids leaving critters, home and daily concerns behind.

We drove for many hours south and west grabbing lunch on the way, stopping only occasionally and we get there in time for a late dinner and the moonrise over the beach. The little house we stayed in was about two minutes from this spot. We felt (feel still) so blessed to have been allowed to come and stay. The week ahead proves to be a great one!

The next morning we wake to discover lovely flowers all around the house so I strike off on an early photo expedition and never even have to leave the yard.

A little later we head to the beach. We are lucky that there is a little tidepool there that is free of the strong waves that are easily capable of sucking any one of my precious babes out to sea. So we can lay out a blanket and freely let the kids splash and play in the water (albeit not the cleanest water but in this case I’ll take safety over purity). They ALL FOUR loved the water, not a fear or hesitation among them. However, later there was some sunburns among them (mostly where we missed spots). Good thing I brought the aloe lotion.

Back at the house after exhausting our crew we snack on mint Oreos and just relax. Ahhhh. The sweet life!

As it turns out Elias favorite place in the whole house is on the coffee table (and Rob is chewing a bit of Oreo I think which is why he looks that way). No surprise there.

The house is a two-bedroom house with one bedroom just big enough for a queen bed and space for the play yard where Elias sleeps. The other three share the bedin there. I would sit in the living room with Rob after we put them to bed and smile over all their stories and giggles. I hope they will remember this and know how special it was. I guess I will just have to keep reminding them.

More to come, I only have a few hundred more photos of our getaway (no worries, I won’t post all of them).

Letting Go

2011-08-09T23:39:00.001-07:00

It can be a little tough sometimes, dontcha think? When you create something it’s a little like giving birth. Sometime cutting the apron strings can be difficult. In this case giving it was such a joy it wasn’t all that hard.

You may recall the lace shawl I started a while back? I started calling it my Heart Attack Shawl because while knitting one night one of my needles slid out abandoning a few dozen stitches to open air. I gasped and I don’t think I breathed again until I’d picked up the stitches and made all the necessary corrections to get them back as they needed to be.

I finished the shawl at least a month ago, maybe more and all I needed to do was block it so I could give it to the intended recipient. Blocking. It sounds so simple doesn’t it? I confess that I don’t particularly enjoy blocking. I love the end result which turns an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan, but the process is a pain.

But the sweet lady I wanted to give the shawl to was coming for tea today so I couldn’t put it off any longer. It was worth it let me just say.

All pinned out after soaking, rinsing and rolling in a towel:

Close ups of edges, body and spine:

The complete finished shawl:

And my dear, sweet friend. Red really is her color.

I’m glad the yarn told me who this shawl needed to be for but it’s a good thing I have so many projects in the works still or I might have a broken heart after saying good bye to my Heart Attack Shawl.

Be Still My Heart

2011-08-05T17:40:00.001-07:00

The kids and I were outside playing last night and I turn around to see Elias climbing the ladder to the Big Toy.

Oh.

My.

Word.

He was only just starting out when I noticed him so I darted the few steps to his side and did what any caring mother would do.

I started taking pictures.

I was thinking while I was doing it that if it had been my first born at this age I most likely would have taken one quick snaphot and gotten him down. Although it is very unlikely that my firstborn would have tried climbing a ladder at this age.

Elias was quite skilled at scaling the ladder and after I would help him slide down the slide he would go immediately back to do it again. While I do celebrate his independence and natural climbing abilities I do, truly and deeply, mourn the fact that I can no longer turn my back on this guy for a second when we’re outside or even let him play outside with the other kids at all while I pop in the house for a second. *sigh*

Without further ado, proof.

Then once he got up there he teased me. He’d crawl to the slide so I’d walk over there, then he’d giggle and crawl back to the ladder, so I’d go over there, then he’d giggle and crawl back to the slide. Arg! Finally I had Gabe climb up the ladder and shoo him to the slide so I could help him slide down. He loved! Lord help me, I have a thrill seeker on my hands!

And so you can see it in live action.

Elias Climbing One - Take Two from Julie Ross on Vimeo.

Surprise, surprise he climbs.

He was a little slow to start in that one but quick to finish in this one:

Elias Climbing Two from Julie Ross on Vimeo.

Climbing AND sliding.

How Does My Garden Grow

2011-07-30T14:00:00.001-07:00

Quite well actually. I was worried when we finally got the raised garden that it wouldn’t produce because it was late and it was SO cold but it doesn’t appear to be a problem.

The first weekend in June my garden looked like this:

The Marigolds dwarfed the cilantro, lettuce, peppers and tomato starts.

But given a month and things had changed dramatically:

I had no idea the cilantro would get so tall and the peas have positively taken off.

The carrots are up:

And a pepper is appearing:

Here’s my garden yesterday:

From here you can hardly tell one plant from the next. The cilantro is HUGE! The lettuce doesn’t look like lettuce anymore but the bunny loves it.

I have a feeling I should have kept the cilantro pruned so it didn’t flower but the flowers are SO dang pretty and they attract lots of subjects for me to photograph. I just can’t get myself to cut it back.

Check out my sugar snap peas. Later I picked it and gave it to Elias to chew on.

Here’s my pepper. It’s a purple pepper. I doubt I’ll get a peck to pick from my one plant though.

I also get the occasional ladybug. They are my favorite because they eat the pests.

My tomato blossom. There’s a bunch. Mmm. I have big plans for some yummy pasta sauce with those tomatoes. I can taste it now.

And some how I’m not afraid of bees when my camera is between them and me. (Though I confess I had my long lens on. LOL)

I just bought some basil the other day since the seeds I put in didn’t come up very well. I think it was too cold. And the carrot tops are tall enough that I’m starting to wonder how you know when to pick a carrot. I guess I have a lot to learn still but I have what’s important, lots of things to photograph.

Texture Tuesday–Dream

2011-07-25T23:51:00.001-07:00

How satisfying it is to find a use for a photo that was so entirely fun to take but also pretty much entirely pointless. ha ha Thank you, Kim, for giving the dream assignment this week. I had fun creating this tonight.

Remember you can click on the photo to see it larger and, of course, remember you can click on the button below to see more Texture Tuesday photos and participate if you like.

And while this post may seem rather lame and short I need to be off to dreamland now. Good night.

Crazy Days of Summer–Critters

2011-07-15T23:28:00.001-07:00

Ooh, a new photo challenge. Yay! A reason to post these ladybug pics I got today (because posting them for no reason surely wouldn’t fly). I found this little lady munching on juicy green bugs on my cilantro today. Thank you, little lady. Please come again soon and bring some friends.

I love that in this one you can actually see the bug she’s eating. Hey, that’s TWO, count them, TWO critters for the price of one!

I can’t tell you how much these photos have increased my desire to get a macro lens. A lot. A lot, a lot.

Sweet Shot Tuesday

2011-07-12T08:41:00.001-07:00

I got a special blessing on Saturday. I got to take the kids to an event hosted by the organization that my sister works for. So many brilliant, genuine smiles to be photographed there. What beautiful people.

One of my favorites, despite it not having one of those smiles, is of this little girl playing at the water table. She was so into it and I love how the water was captured mid stream.

After that we took the kids to my niece’s boyfriend’s tattoo shop’s (that’s a LOT of apostrophes) 1st anniversary BBQ where all three kids got to ride a skate board for the first time. I’m pretty sure Gideon would have slipped this one in his pocket to take home if he thought no one would notice. Or it would fit.

Our day was STILL not done. Then we went to Jamae’s apartment to swim. Well, I didn’t but the kids did. Elias has no fear of water and the only way he didn’t take a header into the pool was Jamie’s tight grip on the back of his shirt.

It was such an amazing day and I got so many sweet shots it almost seems unfair to the others that there three are the only I’m posting but I had to draw the line somewhere.

Click the button for more Sweet Shots.

Good to WOW–Week 27 Sky is the Limit

2011-07-11T21:19:00.001-07:00

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve participated in any of my regular photo challenges. I miss it. I didn’t know about the theme for this one and didn’t have a chance to take anything today but then realized a photo that I took over the weekend fits. Well, it fits in that it has a cool sky. I guess that’s close enough. I’ve gotta get back in the saddle some how. So I present to you my entry:

And in case you forgot, click on the button to see more entries.

A Happy Fourth

2011-07-05T22:46:00.001-07:00

Oh what a wonderful weekend we had, and a long one at that. Saturday was Elias’ birthday part which I will blog about but I had a stronger urge to do the 4th first.

Let’s review the wonderfulness, with pictures. First, it was a gorgeous day. Days like today make all the gray days around here worthwhile. Who am I kidding, I love gray days too though if I didn’t like to hunker down with a good book and a cup of hot tea I might feel differently. But I digress.

We made last minute plans with a couple from our church to do the 4th at out house. Zion just about tortured me all day asking when they would come (“How many more minutes?” every FIVE minutes) and finally they did come. While the older kids dug into the sandbox Elias practiced his Dukes of Hazard skills completely refusing to open the door to get in his little Cozy Coupe – I mean General Lee.

Zion soon joined us on the patio regaling us with a story of … I’m not exactly sure. She loves to tell a story but I confess that half the time I have no idea what she’s talking about. Still, it’s entertaining, she’s downright adorable while doing it.

Rob grilled hamburgers and jerk chicken for dinner. Our grill has been getting a lot of use already this year. Not that I’m complaining. Might have to let my belt out a little. Or maybe I should throw in some more Zumba. Probably the later, huh? While I contemplate that I’ll just finish these Potato Skins Snack Chips. *sigh* If only I didn’t love food SO much!

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen the kids convinced Tanya to set up Mousetrap. Which took so long they didn’t really get to play.

The kids could not handle knowing there were fireworks in the house any longer so after dinner, yes while it was still daylight, we headed out front to let ours offer. Our display was meager but what we lacked in KABOOMS and lights we made up for with shear cuteness. Jacob added more than his fair share by helping to keep Elias in grins and giggles. Dashing over at random times to make silly noises for him.

Elias thinks Jacob’s the best thing since sliced bananas.

See. Cute with a capital ‘C’.

We started with sparklers. Come to think of it I think we always do. Is that normal?

At some point Ross told us how they used to put smoke bombs in water and I thought “Hey, we have a bucket of water. Why not?” So we did. And it was cool. It made little smoke filled bubbles.

Zion doesn’t think to much of anything that makes noise. Nothing we got was very loud but she still hid behind me for part of it. Not that I’m complaining. Sometimes it’s nice to be needed. And cuddled.

Elias on the other hand didn’t seem bothered at all. AT. ALL. Not even a little. He even laughed at some of them.

Gideon, to start out with, was simply obsessed with the water bucket we kept on hand. That should not surprise anyone who knows him. This is the kid who, when we go to the zoo and wildlife park exclaims loudly “Water!!!” at EVERY habitat that has so much as a puddle, seemingly oblivious to the animals there.

He did get a bit overwhelmed after a while, as he also has a tendency to do and told me repeatedly that he was sleepy and needed to go to bed. At least he didn’t tell me this time that our guests needed to go home.

Gabe was involved with everything. How fun it is to have kids at such different stages and to have one or two that are getting old enough to enjoy these traditions (even if Gabe and Zion didn’t exactly want to hear my brief lesson on why we celebrate Independence Day).

Am I a bad mom, though, because one of the funnest parts of the night was laughing at Gabe’s reaction to a firework that took off straight up when he wasn’t expecting it. It was just so funny.

And since we were outside in the front I couldn’t resist taking a few shots of my roses. ‘Cause, oooo, the pink one has open blossoms now.

Then we all went inside for doughnuts ‘cause nothing says Independence Day like deep fried dough. With red and blue icing of course.

Later when we said goodbye to our friends the neighbors really had their fireworks going strong. Some of them really go all out (which is one of the reasons we don’t) so we lingered and watched and I got some good (or at least I think they’re good) photos. I strayed from my usual habit of shooting for dark sky with streaks of light and went for a lighter sky and more details in our surroundings. I love how they turned out. This one is my favorite.

But these aren’t so bad either.

The End!

He’s One!

2011-06-25T15:45:00.001-07:00

I can’t believe it, can you? Wow. One year ago this week we were still wondering how this birth was going to happen. Natural labor? Induction? C-section? Well, if you were around back then you may recall we opted, for safety reasons, for the c-section as heartbreaking as that was for me.

So one year ago today we checked in to the hospital and only a few hours later we discovered that our little one was an Elias Robert and not a Hosannah Claire putting to rest the whole “is it a boy or girl” question. He was big and healthy and has been a joy ever since.

We were meant to have a birthday party for him today but Gabe puked yesterday. While he seemed to recover completely after a good nap (and a corn dog for dinner, what kind of crazy person eats a corn dog the same day they’ve thrown up – yuck!) I didn’t want to risk getting any guests sick so we rescheduled for next week.

Instead I got to have a fasting blood draw this morning – yippee! Then we went out for breakfast and did a little shopping. After we got home the sun had come out so I took a few pictures of my birthday boy.

He would, not surprisingly, have nothing to do with sitting still for a picture so most of my shots are of his backside as he crawls away. Elias is not one to sit still for anything. He does love to drive a toy car and make vroom noises. He loves to be bounced on your lap and dangled upside down. He loves to figure out ways to escape around a baby and sneak a handful of cat food. And oh how we love him!

Edited to add:

We had a fun time at dinner. Elias got his first taste of pasta and Rob made a fantastic dessert in lieu of cake. In fact, I might have like it better than cake. We sang Happy Birthday to Elias which he thought was hilarious for some reason. Then we played outside to burn off some of those calories. A great end to my baby’s birthday.

Here’s the videos I got. Sadly, I’m still getting used to my new camera and hit a button while I was recording our singing and it stopped recording. So I got two videos of our sing, or attempting to, and one of him enjoying his treat.

Elias Birthday Song from Julie Ross on Vimeo.

Starting the song.

While we were singing I loved to see how much he enjoyed it. He seemed to immediately recognize we were singing for him, just look at his face, and he kept laughing while he watched Rob bring his treat. I also love how much the other kids enjoyed singing TO him.

Elias Birthday Song 2 from Julie Ross on Vimeo.

Finishing the song.

Elias Eating Cookie from Julie Ross on Vimeo.

Enjoying his treat.

Bringing Home Baby

2011-06-23T23:37:00.001-07:00

I got a new camera. hee hee

I can’t wipe the smile off my face.

SQUEEL!

Phew! I’m so glad I got that out. Getting a new camera has been on my mind for a while. Not too long ago I started squirreling away little bits of cash, seriously sticking what I could in a Mason jar on my desk like I was twelve and dreaming about my first horse (hey, that’s not a bad idea for that Mason jar now) and thinking it was a looooooong way off.

But then we had a bit of a windfall and Rob generously encouraged me to use a good portion of it on this:

And while you may not fully understand what you are seeing there (besides a box, a bag and the dashboard of our van) let me reassure you that it is about half a dozen steps up from my current camera. At least.

I loved my camera (a Nikon D70s if you want to know) but felt like I’d outgrown it. There were some models in between the D70s and D7000 that I could have considered, and did, but the question on my mind was “How soon will I want to upgrade again?” I think it’s going to be a while now.

I’ve only had it a few days and am entirely pleased. Utterly. Totally. Are there any more words I can use? Thrilled. Yep, that too.

Just check this out:

And that was a mistake! (To explain, I was taking a light reading off her face and discovered that the shutter button on new camera is far more sensitive than the old one – it sure doesn’t take much before… CLICK!) Then I discovered this when I had enlarged the photo on my laptop to see if I wanted to do any sharpening:

That’s me. In her EYE! My old camera might have gotten this much detail but never would have allowed me to crop and enlarge it enough to see it like this. *happy sigh*

And I also love that Zion is getting little freckles on her face. I just want to kiss them all the time. *happy sigh*

So I’m really, really happy. (And I’ve also been super tired lately which is why I haven’t been blogging much. And with that I’m off to go to bed.)

She Dances

2011-06-18T23:53:00.001-07:00

She really does. After only four dance classes Zion had her first recital. I had no idea when I signed her up that the yearly recital was coming up so soon. We jumped in to the dance scene with both feet I guess. Not that Zion has seemed to mind. She was all smiles waiting for the recital to begin. (You’ll notice that she has dark streaks in her wig now but not later, we cut them out. The mom who bought the wigs didn’t know about the streaks, they had to go.)

Taking the stage. (Which is actually the big gym at the YMCA where we take classes.)

She is Big, Blond and Beautiful.

In between performances the girls took possession of a racket ball court for pizza and activities. When I asked later what Zion’s favorite part of the recital was she said “Pizza! And the not-dancing part.” I laughed and asked if she liked the dancing part and she said she did so that’s reassuring.

I did inform her that not every recital has pizza and not-dancing parts just to prepare her for later years. I’m pretty sure the only reason why the Y provided pizza was because they screwed up ticket sales and were forced to add a second performance. It was nice of them to feed the girls though. :)

Zion had to show everybody, some people twice, her new glittery pink box that we got to put her new make up in. I have told her at least a dozen times that the make up is only for recitals. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Afterward I gave her a rose (that Rob was kind enough to go fetch after he and the boys sat through the first performance so that I could stay for the second). It was hard to get a picture of her with it in it though. She was, as she often is, almost too flamboyant to capture on film.

We arrived at the Y at 3 and left at almost 7:30. I zoomed us through the McD’s drive through and let her choose a treat. She picked fries and a strawberry banana smoothie. Right at the moment I took the picture she had the realization that guzzling a smoothie gives one a nasty frozen headache. Don’t worry, she survived.

Here is a video of the second performance. It is awful, I’m sorry. In order to see AT ALL I had to stand on the top row of the bleachers and videotape from over my head. Not only could I not really see what I was taping but I kept losing my balance. Though I wish I’d gotten a video of the first performance where things went perfectly this one is funny. At the end Zion lets her teacher know exactly how she feels about that darn wig.

Untitled from Julie Ross on Vimeo.

Zion Dances.

BIG News!

2011-06-13T19:16:00.001-07:00

We got a Big Toy!

Is that not what you were expecting? Well, it’s big news for us anyway. It just made our back yard a whole heckuvalot cooler. The kids are completely smitten with it, the weather hasn’t been the best since it was put in but we can still hardly get them off it. It is rather cool I admit. I tested the slide and the swings. You know, just to make sure they’re safe.

Even though it looked like this…

…when the guy was installing the thing Gideon and Zion (Gabe was at school) insisted on staying outside to watch, even having their lunch on the patio swing.

I weeded the rose bed for a while…

And I let Elias play in the grass but then it got too cold for us. About two minutes after the guy finished it started to rain. Zion had just enough time to go down the slide once and that was it.

But the next day…

…and ever since then the kids and the toy have been nearly inseparable. And why not? It has two regular swings and a baby bucket swing and a great slide and picnic table (which can come out) and a hanging bar…

…and binoculars.

The summer is looking a whole lot funner.

Rosie Update

2011-06-02T09:26:00.001-07:00

Rosie is a good dog. We hit a rough patch for a few days last week. It wasn’t entirely her fault but it was still frustrating. She must have got a sour tummy when I switched her food (even though I did it gradually like you’re supposed to) and she kept having accidents in the house. At frustratingly inconvenient times and in ways that required breaking out our steam cleaner. Urg!

She also has proven that she’s not 100% housebroken to begin with (sneaking off to have pee accidents in the other room instead of going to the door). Also, always at my busiest moments and right when I was thinking “She’s been doing really well, I can probably let her off the leash for a while.” ERRRRR-wrong!

So poor Rose has been living attached to me by leash or in her crate when I can’t have my attention on her behavior. Sadly, I can’t just let her outside for any length either because she chews up the kids’ toys. Once the weather is warmer and our schedule less busy (i.e. when school lets out) I can be outside with her and scold her when she chews on the wrong thing. She is amazingly responsive to a stern voice. Rarely do I have to tell her “No” about something more than once – at least when I catch her in the act that is.

She has chosen me as her person and hates when I’m out of her sight. She really only likes to hang out with other family members if she can still see me. I hope she relaxes on this a bit once she’s had more time to settle.

While I still suspect she has some Jack Russell Terrier (or as I call them Jack Russell Terrors) she does NOT have a Jack personality at all. She’s my co-couch potato. The cushion next to my usual spot on the couch is now her place and when I get up she follows me but only to entice me back to the couch.

I’ve been catching her and Towzer in some pretty cute moments lately. He likes to give her big kisses and they love to play. Yay!

And today she was most adorable. Gabe stayed home from school because we’ve been passing around this ridiculous Really Little Cold. Rosie apparently thought we still needed to get to the bus and WE WERE LATE! She started frantically jumping up at the baby gate to the laundry room so I opened it for her, she’s never done that before. Then she scratched at the door to the garage so I opened that too. Then she dashed around to the side of the van and put her feet up so I opened the door and she jumped in, settled in the back and looked at me like “C’mon, we’re late!”

I had a dickens of a time getting her to come back to me to take her back in the house. Poor thing was very confused about why we weren’t going to the bus stop.

Yep, she’s a good dog.

Texture Tuesday

2011-05-31T12:05:00.001-07:00

If I’d had my head on straight I would have had this ready to go last night. Ah well, it’s still Tuesday so I’m not technically late even though I feel like it.

My offering for Texture Tuesday this week is this scooter-turned-planter that we discovered on the Yarn Crawl. It sits in front of Fancy Image Yarns and I think it’s adorable!

This is using one of Kim’s magic textures at only about 25% on screen mode.

Go check out Kim’s site to see what other people have posted for this garden themed Texture Tuesday.

Projects

2011-05-24T10:44:00.001-07:00

Despite not blogging about it much lately I AM still knitting. Admittedly, not as much as in times past but I’m on an upswing. I have many projects in the works not the least of which is a lace shawl that I am working on in a mystery knit-along.

In a mystery knit-along the pattern designer releases only portions of the pattern at a time and does not show pictures of the end result. I’ve progressed enough on this project though (a bit more than the picture shows) to know this is going to be beautiful. I even know who I’m going to give the shawl to when I’m finished, the yarn told me. Sometimes that happens.

I’ve got another lace shawl in the works but it’s been snoozing for a long time, I am also still working off and on on the wrap I designed and started on my little weekend getaway, a scarf/shawlette in peacock colors that is about 2/3s of the way done and that one I’m keeping for myself (or at least that’s the plan). I also have two birthday presents I need to finish and FIVE gifts for a craft-it-forward that I’m in (you sign up on someone’s blog of Facebook page and receive one handmade item and you in turn post it on your blog or Facebook page and the first five people to respond receive a handmade item from you) and since my sis won a drawing of yarn from one of the shops on our yarn crawl I told her I’d make something for her with the yarn she won. Lucky me! The colors are SO pretty! The hard part is deciding what to make.

I’ve also made up a few dishcloths recently (one with lavender SCENTED yarn – how fun is that?!). They are one of my favorite go-to knits when I want to knit but don’t have the option of paying attention to a pattern (like when the kids are awake – ha ha ha).

So, see, I haven’t been talking about it much but my knitting didn’t die when I got back into photography.

Texture Tuesday

2011-05-23T23:12:00.001-07:00

Oh me, oh my, whatcha donna do? The cord for my camera broke so I can’t get any pictures off it. Good thing I took some quick pics of a few of the flowers from my Mother’s Day bouquet a few days before it broke.

Isn’t she lovely?

And here she is again after applying Kim’s yesteryear texture with the overlay blend mode at 100% (that’s all I did):

Thanks, Kim, for another gorgeous texture! I love what this one does!

A Quickie

2011-05-23T19:36:00.001-07:00

Just a few things.

My camera cable broke and I can’t get photos off my camera at the moment. BIG bummer! But I’ll take this opportunity to get caught up on a few things this week and I may just get some knitting done.

Rosie is settling so well into our family that it’s almost like she was always here. She’s such a neat dog. Look forward to a lot more photos and stories when I have time.

Zion started ballet last week. I nearly cried watching her first class. I can’t explain why but apparently it’s not an unheard of phenomenon. Moms are so funny, aren’t we?

That’s it. I told you it was a quickie.

Good To WOW Week 19–Rain/Umbrellas Pt. 2

2011-05-19T22:38:00.001-07:00

Just a quickie tonight, I didn’t have time to check on the edits earlier and I have a headache tonight. The next few days aren’t looking hopeful for more time so rather than not post anything I’m just going with my first, and so far only, edit on one of my photos.

I like it though and sometimes I have a hard time continuing to try different things with a photo once I’ve done something I like. So here’s my umbrella shot:

Seattle is typically gray enough without having to go B&W – ha ha – but as I was fussing around with this trying different things I just realized that I really wanted the background ALL gray scale. Or all gray anyway.

Here’s the original:

The original looks pretty gray doesn’t it? But once you work on the white balance and levels and such it’s SO bright! It was RUINED! LOL I AM a Washington girl! Give me gray! But also give me a bright umbrella. :)

Ten Months and Three Years

2011-05-19T21:41:00.001-07:00

Just a little behind on Elias’ nine-month check up. He saw the doc last Friday and got a clean bill of health. My little guy weighs in at just over 21 pounds and is long enough (meaning, I forgot how long but it felt weird to not say something about it). Gideon also had his check up and he weighs 29 pounds. Yep, that close. Gideon has actually moved up on the charts, he was around the 25th percentile last visit and about 50th this visit. Mostly I don’t care about those stats but because of his growth problems in the first year (remember when he actually SHRANK between 9 and 11 months – scary) it pleases me to see him moving up. We will need Gideon to see his allergist again soon and I’m praying for a good improvement there as well.

Elias is a smiley guy who claps and waves and says “Hi Dad!” and the when I ask him to say “Hi Mom!” he says “Hi, daDA!” as if the emphasis changes something somehow. He is also pretty close to walking. Lately he’s taken to “crawling” on his hands and tip toes with his bum in the air. It’s really funny and kind of creepy at the same time (only because he reminds me of Samara from The Ring when he does that, I guess that means I shouldn’t get him on video doing it LOL).

They are both so sweet and funny and energetic. I’m so blessed!

Texture Tuesday

2011-05-16T23:08:00.001-07:00

Last week Kim gave us a heads up about this week’s theme for Texture Tuesday saying it would whatever comes to mind based on the word vintage. My first thought was old cars. I wouldn’t be my father’s daughter if I thought of lace hankies now would I? :)

I did not get any new pics of old cars but I did dig out one that I took a while back. Here’s that lovely old thing after running a vintage action and applying one of Kim’s new magic textures as well as her history texture. I love the crackly effect the magic texture gives.

This one I took at one of my favorite restaurants over the weekend. I think the chairs are a bit vintagy, don’t you? This was after a MAJOR desaturation, addition of another of Kim’s magic textures, then I added a sepia layer and brushed over the chairs to bring some red back.

Lastly, and what turned out to be my favorite of the set is this old sewing machine that I found in one of the yarn stores I visited over the weekend. I converted it to black and white and added one of Kim’s really extreme grungy type textures and that was it. I really love what the texture did, really, really love it!

I’m looking forward to seeing what others have posted. Go check it out:

Good To WOW Week 19–Rain/Umbrellas

2011-05-16T08:40:00.001-07:00

My home state was MADE for this week’s theme and sure has given me a ton of opportunities to get shots of rain this week but wouldn'tcha know, it’s practically sacrilege to use an umbrella where I’m from. LOL We do have them though. I had plans to break out the cute ones the kids have (which rarely get used) and get some REALLY FANTASTIC photos of umbrellas (and probably rain). Can’t really explain what happened however. I only ended up with four (and three of them are nearly the same). None of them were what I had planned but shots I happened upon on my Yarn Crawl over the weekend.

One of the yarn shops happened to be using an umbrella to display some knitted hats.

This one is my favorite. After the yarn crawl my friend, my sis and I stopped for dinner and it was POURING! I used an umbrella. I was the only one. I’m afraid I might just have my Born and Raised in Washington status stripped from me. Anyway, we had to wait for a table at the restaurant so my friend and I went outside to shoot some umbrella pics. I had the sudden inspiration to have her spin the umbrella. Whee! I love to use slow shutter speeds to show motion.

Oh it was so gray and dark and rainy. And my friend didn’t even complain that I made her stand in the rain with an umbrella but didn’t let her put it over her head. What a good friend!

South Sound Yarn Crawl 2011

2011-05-15T21:05:00.001-07:00

Phase One – Yellow House Yarns.

But first. Though you might have guessed already, a Yarn Crawl, is much like a pub crawl. Only more fiber and less alcohol. A lot less alcohol. And, in my opinion, a lot more fun. Especially when you go with your best friend and your sister (also my best friend).

The South Sound Yarn Crawl is an annual event where participants travel from yarn store to yarn store getting their passports (provided at the first store or downloadable) stamped, entering drawings, receiving free patterns, touching yarn and probably buying some or a lot, meeting other fiber artists and just generally have a fantastic time.

I hadn’t planned on going this year but at the last second recruited by best friend to join me making the trip more enticing with the promise of massive photo ops. At an even more last second if that is possible my sister joined up. So early on May 14 the three of us, heavily armed with our Nikons, headed out. There are too many pictures to show and too much to write for for one post so I’m going to break it up.

Now back to Phase One – Yellow House Yarns.

Yellow House Yarns is my LYS (vocab lesson, LYS = Local Yarn Store) so it seemed the logical place to start.

Yellow House Yarns is, surprise!, a cute yellow house. It is cozy and inviting and the owners are super friendly and fun to chat with not to mention helpful.

Purple hats for the Period of Purple Crying Campaign. Love that! I wish I’d heard of purple crying when I was a new mom. Gabe used to have screaming jags daily that lasted from 20 minutes to three hours, Zion screamed every second that she was in a car seat for almost her first year and any time I tried to nurse her (I gave up and switched to a bottle when she was six months old and she was fine) and Gideon, well, let’s not go into Gideon right now. Spread the word, this is a great thing for parents to know about.

I mentioned free patterns. Each store had one knitting and one crochet pattern to give away. For Yellow House it was this knitted sock and a crocheted baby sweater. So cute!

Yellow House also has the coolest bathroom. Very photogenic. And I assure you, the only bathroom I took pictures of on this trip. I’m not in the habit of taking photos of public restrooms. Not usually anyway.

I’m very fond of the kitchen at YH (so much easier than typing “Yellow House” over and over). It’s bright and airy and the yarns are displayed in fun ways. Like the ones on the dish drying rack and in the salad bowl. LOVE!

And like this:

And this:

SWEET!

See what friendly folks you’ll find at Yellow house?

And that concludes Phase One. I walked away with the free pattern and purchased a second one. More soon!

Everything’s Coming Up…

2011-05-13T23:20:00.001-07:00

…roses.

Or Rosie, at least. We have a new member in our family.

Her name is Rosie if you hadn’t guess. She is a one-year old Terrier mix that we adopted only just this evening. A second family dog is something we’ve been tossing about for years. Every once in a while I’d take a peek at Petfinder for dogs in our area. I wanted something small to medium so the kids could play with her without getting knocked over, a female so I wouldn’t have to worry about marking on the kids’ outside toys (something Towzer does that drives me absolutely nuts) and a somewhat mellow dog.

I had previously ruled out getting a terrier because they often aren’t good with small children and small pets and they have out of this world energy levels, something I don’t want to deal with. But something about her little face on the website made me inquire anyway. Her foster mom and I went back and forth a few times talking about her personality before we went to see her tonight. She was pretty mellow, we’ll have to see if she stays that way after she settles in.

Tonight she got a bath and played with her new toy for a while, tossing it up and trying to catch it – hilarious! And is now sleeping in her new bed. Not bad for a first night.

Good to WOW Week 18–Mother’s Day Pt. 2

2011-05-13T12:17:00.001-07:00

This was quite fun. I only had time to work two of my photos today but I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. First, my friend.

The original:

I love a good laugh.

Then the same picture with minor adjustments in ACR:

And lastly the same picture after applying a gradient map (the one that’s all purple and green if you’re interested), sharpened the eyes a bit and softened the skin tone with a layer of pink. I love how sparkly her eyes are.

And then on to the photo I’ve named “Birdy Butt”. The original:

The same photo with minor adjustments in ACR and a slight crop.

Then I picked a couple of gradient map colors at random. The first couple didn’t work out no matter what blend mode I used (well, they might have if I was looking for something different). Then I applied the orange one and my first thought was “Polaroid picture!” So I cropped it square, added an action that rounded the corners and gave it a white frame and added a little noise. Here’s the final birdy butt:

My only regret about participating in this photo challenge is not having more time to play after I find out what edits we’re doing. Please comment and tell me what you think – oo, especially since I discovered yesterday that my photos look entirely different on someone else’s monitor. I have no idea now what is too bright, too dark, colors off… Will have to remedy that soon. Thanks for stopping by! Go to Ashley’s blog to check out more (if you’re not already coming here from there of course).

Jus’ Stuff

2011-05-10T12:37:00.001-07:00

Wow, three posts in one day. I’m going to give my (what 4 or 5?) readers heart attacks with the surprise of it all. And not a photo in sight (well, until you go look at my other posts).

Elias likes to twist his tongue sideways. We’ve started calling him Mr. Twisty Tongue. I know, how entirely clever of me to think of something so creative.

Bacon is still Gideon’s favorite food, no change there.

We signed Zion up for dance classes at the Y. Not sure which she is going to enjoy more, the actual dance class or going shopping for dance clothes.

Just now I looked at the clock and read 1:22 and thought “Wow, how’d it get that late so fast.” and a little bit of “Yippee, that means it’s naptime.” and then I realized the time is actually 12:29 but the 9 had been hidden by glare from the lights. Darn. Will have to wait for naptime.

Gabe…well, Gabe is Gabe.

Rob is not traveling this week. Miracle of miracles.

I called my father on Mother’s Day to let him know I was thinking of him. Didn’t exactly tell him I guessed it’s a rough week for him, May 4th being the anniversary of my mother’s passing and all but he might have guessed. He told me he bought a new car. I should say he bought a “new” car. ha ha If you know my dad you can already guess that the car is in pieces in his garage.

It is. And I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. It’s a 2006 Mustang GT convertible and it needs a little work but I’m sure my dad will have it right as rain in no time. I think next time I talk to him I’ll tell him he should get personalized plates and name the car “Jude” for my mom. She always was a sucker for convertibles.

Texture Tuesday

2011-05-10T10:21:00.001-07:00

I had a couple of really neat shots from my outing on Mother’s Day to play with this week. I also had Kim’s magic textures that she just released to her Test Kitchen members. I think the second magic texture matched well with this statue photo:

This is also with slight levels, brightness/contrast and hue/sat adjustments. Upped the brightness, dropped the saturation.

And then there’s the fun pot bench. I used Kim’s paperstained, chamomile AND the second magic texture on this one.

Not sure I love the crop I did, may go back and play with it more later. Alas, photo play time is over. The kitchen won’t clean itself.

Go to Kim’s and check out more, textures are so much fun.

Sweet Shot Tuesday

2011-05-10T09:14:00.001-07:00

How to choose, how to choose? Thanks to my outing on Mother’s Day I have many shots to choose from. Too many. I s’pose I’ll bypass all the beautiful flowers and scenes from my outing because the people in my life are more special than those. Still, it’s down to two.

This was a sweet scene I discovered yesterday morning while in the mad rush to get breakfast for everyone and get Gabe’s lunch made and get us out of the house in time to make it to the bus. I ran to get my camera and only got the one picture before they moved and the moment had passed. I give you my oldest and my youngest playing at the train table:

And then there’s my good friend who I went out with on Mother’s Day for lunch and a little picture taking time. Yay, us!

(And if you want to see some of the other pictures I got that day check out some of my other posts and come back for more posts to come, there were a lot of photos!)

Good To WOW Week 18–Mother’s Day

2011-05-09T13:56:00.001-07:00

And what a Mother’s Day it was! Rob made a wonderful breakfast and the kids blessed me with cards and hugs. Gabe gave me a coupon good for one time of him preparing me a bowl of cereal. I’ll take it! Then we had a lovely time at church, I felt so blessed sitting there with my kids snuggled so close. Afterward we parted ways. Rob took the kids to play at a park and I got to go have lunch with my friend and afterward we got to go on a little photo outing at a local nursery. Though the lighting wasn’t the best it was nearly impossible to not get at least a decent photo in just about every shot. So hard to choose just one or two or even three when you have a few hundred. Arg!

Please forgive me for not narrowing it down further, it was all I could do to get it down to just these.

I thought the statue was hilarious. Then I looked at the picture when I got home and realized all the tags on the flowers below him WERE him. And because I can hear him saying “Gum, gum, dum-dum!” (Ever see Night at the Museum?)

My friend (you would know her as Cedar) who is truly a great friend and a great mom.

I so want these boots!

I was going to take a picture of this cute little bird but it mooned me so I got a picture of a cute little birdy behind instead. :)

Check out the other entries or go enter yourself, everyone of is invited and there are varying skills so don’t think you aren’t good enough.

Picture Perfect May–Color 2

2011-05-08T23:33:00.001-07:00

Hello, PINK!

My second entry into the Picture Perfect photo challenge for May. :)

I can do a third entry but it’s late and I want to think about #3 so ta ta for now.

Picture Perfect May–Color!

2011-05-08T23:16:00.001-07:00

Ah yes, another photo challenge. This one is monthly which my brain likes. No pressure. Phew! This month’s theme is color and as luck would have it I ended up at a nursery today on a little photo outing with my BFF (that’s best friend forever if you don’t speak text"). I think maybe I got a photo or two that involve color. Perhaps this one:

Orange is my favorite.

Click on the button and join up. It’s fun, I promise.