This and that

Yesterday was a day for doubles. The 19 month old, and the one month old. By the end all three of us were in the chair. Thoughts of finding a bigger chair came to mind, but snuggle them both I did.

Oh how I wish there was a need for sun glasses! Baby boy didn't care, he thought they were great. I only had to put them back together 8 or 9 times.

Thanks for stopping by.

Top Five Quarterly Favorite photos

Linking up with Amber at Click.Pray.Love, Sarah the NapTime MomTog, & Ashley at Ramblings and Photos

Favorite top 5 of the kids. That was tough. I like different photos for so many reasons, but here is what I came up with.

#1 Grandson

This was his last day as a six year old. A big seven years old now, reads like there is no tomorrow, and still a sweet, sweet boy. I love this photo because he is relaxed, happy, and loving on the fur baby. It will be a sweet reminder of how he looked with his baby teeth. It won't be long before those front teeth come out.

#2 Grandson aka baby boy

Almost 19 months old..hitting the terrible two's a bit early. We call him the "consumer" because he loves to eat. I adore his  milk chocolate pools for eyes. He's such a sweet little guy. I love this shot for his red hair, and brown eyes are complimenting each other so well.

                                                        ROWDY 2 1/2 YEARS OLD

Rowdy is my sweet friend, who I call my adopted grandson. He is a doll baby. Probably one of the happiest fellows around. I love this shot for the bright colors, and his adorable glasses.

                                           First Grand daughter aka baby girl

I was thrilled to have a baby girl in the family again. It's so fun to have fluff, and pink, and all that goes with it. She is four weeks old here. I love this photo because she is bright eyed, and laying in the suitcase that we used for her parent's wedding day. Inside of it were table assignments. Her parents have traveled the world to find who they were looking for back home, and I'm sure baby girl will travel the world as well.

                                          My daughter

The day she was born, my husband said, "look at those little lipstick lips" Her lips are magnificent. I've always said she should be a lipstick model.  Pretty on the inside, as well as out.  I love this photo because it reminds me of our trip to Hawaii. You can see the ocean and chaise lounges reflecting in her glasses.



Abstract

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to take photos. This week's photo challenge for Finagle a Foto is abstract.  I struggled to find anything abstract to shoot. I know it's out there, but I came to the realization that I'm not an abstract person. I don't have abstract art in my home, I'm not drawn to abstract images when I see them. I figured it's not who I am. It's not how I'm wired. None the less, I continued to search. There must be something abstract I found interesting....well, abstract is in the eye of the beholder.

Hopefully the next prompt won't be so mind boggeling for me!

 also linking up withmy3boybarians sweet shot Tuesday

Week in rewind: Simple things

Another week bites the dust! And what a wild and wonderful beginning of spring it has been. Snow, then more snow, then sunshine. It's the wacky Pacific Northwest, anything goes around here. At least weather wise that is! Twelve weeks crossed off the calendar. Woosh!

This week's theme was simplicity.
Monday

Baby girl and her mama came for a visit. What could be simpler than napping where ever you are?

TUESDAY

Just a little bit of snow to keep us on our toes. School was delayed two hours for this little bit. Makes me laugh, but even with the delay, a school bus slipped off the road.

WEDNESDAY

More typical for spring in Oregon. Wet, and green

THURSDAY

A day of running errands,  and we had a business dinner that night. The "girls" like to sleep on my bed.

FRIDAY

Baby girl came over for a photo shoot. We tried so many fun things, easter, travel, the bible...the greatest of these IS love. pure simplicity. She is four weeks old today. I can't believe how fast this month has gone, and how she seems like she's been with us for years.

SATURDAY

Saturday night I went to a craft night at a young woman's home. It was filled with my daughter's contemperaries and their mom's. The house was covered him crafts. It was as if we walked into an Etsy store. As I looked around the room, babies were in arms, and many in utero. It's such an exciting time of life that these women are in. It's wonderful to watch them grow as women, and mothers.
  There was a raffle for Rowdy's mama who is working on adopting a little girl from Eastern Europe.  Sweet girl, has that extra little chromosone and will be so lucky to get a forever home with Rowdy and his mama and daddy. The reality is it's so expensive and this was a fun inspired way to help the family out. Some craft items went 100% to the adoption fund, and Rowdy's mama is a wonderful seamstress and made such cute dresses that were for sale. She's a crafy lady and I was so pleased to see this group of women come together in friendship and love and support each other. When smart talented women unite, I swear there is NO stopping them!

If you want to learn more about the adoption, there is a button on the side of my blog. You can read about how they came to want to bring this little girl home, and what is involved.

SUNDAY

A lovely afternoon at baby girl's other grandma's house. A "sip and see" event for family and friends to come and meet the new baby. This is a shot of baby girl's great grandma.

That was last week, now I best get moving to take this week by storm! Thanks for stopping by.

Scavenger Hunt 3-25

This week's hunt is whimsy, create, dust, seed/sprout, swing/drop



                                                    SEED/SPROUT

In our family, this is the newest sprout

I
                                                        

DUST

This week we had a dusting of snow, and then the next day several inches. Mother Nature seems to have settled down, today there is sunshine!!!

                                                                       WHIMSY

The biggest egg in the basket

                                                                     CREATE

God created the heavens and the earth. I created the photo with text


.

                                                                  
                                                              

<><><><><><><><><> DROP

As quickly as the snow came, the weather warmed up and the snow melted quickly I was testing my patience to wait for a drop of water to shoot.

Linking the above photo with Kim & Misty at Through a Photographers eyes, shoot, edit, submit

Edit me challenge berries

For the first time, I am attempting a challenge with only photoshop elements. Day three of working with it, not sure what I'm doing, but I'm practicing and hoping to be able to use the tools here.


                                                                           BEFORE

                                                                              AFTER

First I cropped the image
Then I added Text
I added a layer of a green texture I found in elements 10
Then I increased the saturation by 25%
I may have hit a brighten button, but I guess I need to write down the steps of what I'm doing.

Hopefully, the more I play, the more proficient I'll get. I did think this image had such a lovely bokeh in the background.  Feel free to give me suggestions, like I said, I'm learning!

Black and white Wednesday with a little dusting of snow!

Oh my. More snow on the ground this morning. A two hour delay for schools. This is bordering on ridiculous! Spring, do you hear me? Spring, bring your sunshine, stop trying to freeze out the flowers. Enough, I tell you, enough!!

It's half way through our week, and time for wordless Wednesday, and black and white Wednesday.

Milk coma

My first born with his first born

Three weeks old

Spring equinox

Today is officially the first day of spring. Hard to tell here, as the rain is drizzling down my window, and the chill is in the air.  To take my mind off of this unpleasant weather, I want to  post blooms that I caught during a few sun breaks.

Linking up with the following blogs for a little fun

I was so excited to check the blog roll this morning and see someone who's photography and insight has always brightened my day. In honor of Becky at Shaking the tree, I did my very first photo shop edit. I'm trying to learn, and taking a mini class from Kim Klassen. Hopefully I will get over my fear of photo shop and learn to tweak a little here and there!

 

Mr. & Mrs. Mallard waddled into our yard. I thought I had a lovely shot. framed with flowers, and the window grids, when much to my surprise, Kitty got a little excited seeing the ducks in the yard. Not a great photo, but it makes me laugh. Once the ducks saw the cat, they waddled off and away.

This little duck came by for a visit, and nothing screams spring quite like a ducking!

 

The weatherman is toying with us. Promises of sunshine for the weekend. Oh, please let it be so...just a day or two here and there, makes all the difference.