Thankful Thursday

It's a little past Thursday, but I'm thankful just the same for things that made me smile this week.

1. Little Man's blue eyes.
2. My oldest son's attempt to make a gunny sack for airsoft warfare.
3. Mighty Mouse's artistic expressions.
4. Little Man discovering my tupperware cabinet.
5. Mighty Mouse saying, "I have brown eyes, I have brown hair, I have beautiful face!"
6. Little Man stuffing his face with cheerios.
7. My kids camping out in the back yard, roasting hot dogs over a camp fire with it 90+ outside.
8. Kiddie Pool
9. Boogie Boarding in the kiddie pool.
10. My kids finding and repairing an old garden cart and then pushing/pulling each other around the yard in it.

July Favorite

I have had some good camera time this month and narrowing it down to my favorite was difficult. Little Man's blue eyes get me every time I look at this photo!

NEW

After a busy day of baking and preparing a meal for my cousin who just had her baby I had the reward of getting to hold this sweet little guy and capture a few shots. There is nothing more precious than the sweetness of a sleeping newborn and those tiny toes.

A Sad Day

I knew it would come sooner than later, but I still was not ready to chop off all his beautiful locks. My husband felt it was time to get it out of his eyes, so Friday when we were at the salon getting the girls' hair cut, I gave in and let her cut his.

Waiting for his turn.

I gasped! I cried! The scissors snipped, snipped...

across the front, down the sides...

around the back...

until this is all he had left.

and his blue eyes.

Cool Times

This week I learned that I don't have to load everyone up to go visit a pool for some cool water fun. Who knew that a kiddie pool on the back deck would entertain young and old alike? Throw in some water guns and there is plenty of fun in the hot sun. Best $30 I've spent all summer...only downside is I've washed a lot of towels and dried the floor many a time.

Little Bear turns 6

Our Little Bear turned 6 this week.  My oldest daughter and I stayed up late making her this t-shirt with a zebra print 6 and tulle flounces.  She awoke to find it hanging from her dresser.  I took advantage of the early morning light for a mini photo shoot.   She is growing up way too fast.  Where does the time go?

I Heart Faces/Props

This week's photo challenge is props over at  

I Heart Faces.

Thankful Thursday

This week has been filled with many challenges, but these challenges have given me opportunity to cling to God and see His goodness, mercy and strength firsthand.

Amongst the challenges, here is what I am thankful for:

1. God, He is good and faithful, without Him all would be lost.
2. My children, they humble me and challenge me to seek God more and more.
3. God loves and cares for my children much more than I do.
4. I can trust God and rest in Him in the keeping of my children.
5. My oldest son's sweetness and tenderness. The above photo is of a flower he brought me after he finished mowing the lawn.
6. Photography and the creative outlet is gives me and how it is training my eye to see the beauty all around me.
7. Resting and trusting in God even though I feel unsettled and lost as far as where we are to live. We are still living in a home my parents own...it is a shelter, but it is not my own. I am really longing to have my own place. We thought we had found that place but alas God has other plans, so here I am wondering where we will settle and struggling to be content here, even though I feel unsettled.
8. Movies, my kids will settle in and watch a good movie and give me the quiet I need for a short time.
9. Reading through the Bible in 90 days. I started on Monday and so far am keeping up. The more I read the more I want to read. Right now I'm still reading familiar portions but I can't wait until I get into some of those parts I'm not so familiar with.
10. Life...and all the God has given me.

Shoot & Edit - Week 27

 I'm joining up with Jill over at Jill Samter Photography.  I will be participating in the SOOC(straight out of camera)part and would love tips and critiques on getting better shots, SOOC. At the moment my editing skills are limited as I have not taken the time or money to invest in PhotoShop. 

This particular shot I took back in May, when I did an air to air photography shoot.  We went up just before sunset, hoping for some "Sweet light", but the clouds rolled in and I ended up having to run my ISO up in order to keep the speed high enough to prevent motion blur.  My settings were 1/200, f9, ISO 1250 on my Nikon D90.

Thanks for looking .

I learned...

This week I learned that what appeared to be my son contemplating weighty life decisions was actually him trying to calculate the best way to climb a tree.

I was reminded that no matter how hard I try to protect my children, that in reality I have very little control and ultimately I MUST TRUST GOD to keep them safe and teach them hard life lessons.

I learned that shooting two wiggly toddlers in the house, with the camera in manual is very frustrating. I'd get the camera all set and they'd move and I'd have to reset everything just in time for them to move again. I eneded up with some great photos except for very underexposed subjects. If anyone has any tips to share on capturing toddlers, in an area where the lighting is not constant I'd love to hear them.

What did you learn this week?  Click on over and link up to share.

Baby Teeth

Last week was a very BAD week photography wise. Everything I shot was either out of focus, over exposed or just plain blah! Yesterday, as the warm afternoon light flooded my living room I couldn't resist the temptation to get the camera out and try to capture something. Still feeling rather uncreative in the composition area, I decided to focus on Little Man and capture a shot of his baby teeth. I took 40+ shots trying in an effort to get a good teeth shot. The above shot, showed the teeth best, although I had to tweek it a bit because I under exposed it. Below are a couple of the out takes of the effort.

We had many shots with the tongue or fingers blocking the teeth.

No idea where this expression came from, but it's funny.

My younger girls wanted to get in on the action. I just love the golden light pouring in here.

Trying to capture her eye lashes.

Mighty Mouse just being cute.

Ingenuity - Part 2

Here is a peek at the projects we completed on Friday. My daughter and son made this caterpillar cake for a cousin's birthday.

My daughter and I appliqued 3's on a couple of t-shirts. We practiced on the pink t-shirt for my daughter before making one as a birthday gift for our little cousin.

The biggest mess of the day resulted from creating cow costumes for Chickfila's Cow Appreciation Day. It was worth the mess. We all ate a free dinner out that night! The entire day was very chaotic and these are all the photos I managed to get.