Thank You, Kim!

I love my bloggy friend Kim.  She has taught me a lot about photography and photoshop.  I just finished reading her post here, ran to open my Photoshop, and created this! 

It’s been 6 years since Rick and I went on our honeymoon.  We stopped at a very large store that he LOVES on our way out of the state.  I made us take these two pictures with the hopes that one day I would figure out a way to join us into one picture.  6 years and 2 months later, I finally figured out how to do it!

Thanks, Kim!

Before:

After:

Layer masks.  Who would have thunk it? 

 (I did this pretty quick, but it’s pretty good.  I’d do a little more fixing before I printed it, but this is all the time I had)

Thanks, Kim!

Best Friends

Jack has a few buddies his age that we love to hang out with.  Jack is the oldest, and these three boys are almost all the same age –born the same month I believe.  Of course, I’m friends with their mamas, whom I love to hang out with as well.

I thought I’d show you some sweet “Best Friend” pictures I’ve captured recently while the boys were hanging out.

Tiny

Ben

McCager

Did I ever mention that I like the back of my son’s head?  I feel the same way about his friends too.  Little boys are meant to be pictured like this.  It shows off their curiosity and sense of adventure.  They’re always on the go!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This is my first Scavenger Hunt Sunday, and it’s about darn time!  I’ve loved seeing these posts on various blogs I read, including the host,  and I’ve always wanted to join in.  But 5 topics and 5 photos is, evidently, hard for me to get together.  Maybe it’s that it is a weekend post, and I’m not very good with those.  Whatever it is, I’m so happy to be finally participating.  (I hope it’s not my last time, but don’t hold your breath next Sunday)

The idea of this photo challenge is to take 5 new photos during the week for the 5 prompts.  I have to admit that I’m cheating a bit.  These shots weren’t all taken this week.  Most of them weren’t.  But that’s not stopping me.

 

Stairs

These are steps up an Indian burial mound in Marietta, Ohio.  We were just there 2 weeks ago.

Macro

Yes, Yes I am. And so are you!

Clouds

I took this a few weeks ago. I posted the SOOC shot before.

Abstract

We went to a hot air balloon festival a few weeks ago. I was able to stand right beside the basket of this one and stick my head in there to get this picture. So cool!

Smile

It’s rare that I take a self portrait that I like.  Or that I share.  So here is one that fits both bills.

Foto Friday–Around the Yard

This week’s theme is Around the Yard/Garden.  Seeing as how I don’t have a garden, I picked a picture of my cute little subject who loves to play in the yard.  Since the temperatures are back up well into the 90’s again, we’ll not be visiting the yard today.  Mommy’s pretty much a wimp when it comes to hot temperatures and would rather stay in the air conditioning.

I edited this with my favorite actions “Heist” from Paint the Moon and “Miracle Makeover” from (I don’t remember – Kim, help me out here).  Really, I LOVE these actions.  “Heist” seems to be my go-to action these days.  That being said, I do think it looked better on my screen when pulled up in photoshop than it does on this blog.  I’m not sure why.  I may have to go take some more brightness out again before I order them for my wall.  This is going to be my next framed picture of him I think.

*Sorry for all the photo-speak.  I just figured that some people like to hear how I processed my picture this time.

Have a great weekend.  I hope you get to do something fun for this long weekend.  Stay cool!

Scripture & Snapshot

 

A few months ago, we found this land that we LOVED in West Virginia.  For years now, we’ve been looking for land to move to, maybe with a house on it, maybe not.  Sometimes when we find land, I get a feeling of dread – like it would be a bad idea to move there.  Sometimes I get a feeling of indifference – like I’d be okay if we moved there, but I’d also be okay if we didn’t.  Very rarely I get a feeling of excitement – like I can see us moving there and I actually WANT to go there soon. This land was the rare occasion when I actually wanted to move here.  It was 80+ acres in the middle of nowhere, but so gorgeous and in our price range.  (I did confirm that there would be internet access before I felt excited).

When we went home to pray about/stew over it, we decided that we would make a motion forward with this property.  When we went back to the site to find it, it was gone.   

 

¹⁵And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.”

This verse was part of our pastor’s sermon this morning.  It is exactly what I want to say when I face a decision like this.  Lord, I don’t want to go there unless YOU will be there. Evidently, the Lord didn’t want us to have this property.  That’s okay.  If He wasn’t going to be there with us, I wouldn’t have wanted to be there anyway. 

This verse also reminds me of my friend Brooke from Mountain Mama. Her family has followed where the lord leads, and they’ve been blessed because of it.  They’ve also seen hard times, which she is going through right now, but always, she has said “I don’t want to go there unless You are there with me.”  She is an inspiration to me.  Could you please say a quick prayer for her family as they’re figuring out what the Lord wants for them at this juncture?  Thanks!!

  

Perfect Picture Day

The other day, while Jack and I were driving home from running errands in the middle of the day, I told him I wanted to stop and take pictures of the beautiful sky. The weather was perfect and I loved all the puffy clouds in the clear blue sky.  It was my idea of a perfect day.

Jack said he wanted to take pictures too, so I decided to give him my old point and shoot (as opposed to my new point and shoot ) and let him have at it. 

When I gave him the camera, it was broken.  There was something wrong with the card.  It wasn’t reading that it had a memory stick in it, or something else about the memory stick was bad.  I couldn’t figure out how to fix it, so I just gave it to him, told him it was broken, but that he could ‘metend’ (pretend) that he was taking pictures.  By the end of the impromptu photo shoot, the camera was fixed and he was taking pictures like a champ.

Here are some of our SOOC (straight out of the camera) shots.  Maybe someday I’ll take the time to sit down and bring out the blues and greens, and play around with layers and levels, but I couldn’t want to show you what I captured the other day.  Plus, I think they’re pretty good SOOC.  I’m pretty proud of my little point and shoot.

Good form, buddy!

This is Jack’s picture.  Honestly.  Now, it was the only picture that was worth showing – only one with out a finger in it really- but it’s honestly his picture of his doing.  And I tell you the truth that I was wondering the whole time if I should have gotten down on my bottom to take a picture from a lower perspective.  I’m glad Jack had me covered.

Foto Friday - Water

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I decided kind of late to get a photo in for today, so these are unedited, untouched, and even unfocused. (Does that make them un-good?)  But I wanted to show you some  of my favorite shots from when Jack was playing in the sprinkler the other day. 

I have to admit that some of my most favorite shots of him are when he’s not looking at the camera – when you can’t see his bright eyes, smiling dimples, or sweet expressions.  This is a good thing, since he’s a toddler, and it’s very hard to get a good portrait of him these days.

In this one, I love how, even though you can’t see his face, you can tell that he’s running away from the water that just got him. You can almost hear him squeal.

He loved getting the water in his mouth.  It was quite entertaining for me, since most times the water would splash him in his face while he was down there.  Call me a mean mommy if you want, but I thought it was hilarious.

I have a TON of pictures of Jack’s back.  I love them all.

And this shot is all wrong…the picture is blury, the color is wrong, and his wrists look like they’re broken.  But I love his sweet face in this one.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you go to La-La’s Home Daycare today and see the other photos showcased today.

Foto Friday – Looking Up

So, this week, I’m joining in for Foto Friday again.  I’m on a roll!  I like supporting bloggy friends, and I like showing off my son, so the combination today was perfect. 

Today’s theme is LOOKING UP. 

This is the most perfect topic for me.  Every time I take Jack to get his pictures taken, I always ask her to take a picture of him looking up.  She must think I’m a bit crazy.  Even when I’m taking his picture, I try to find a way to get him to look up.  I don’t know what it is, but those eyes looking up in wonder just melt me.  I think it comes from feeding a baby.  As Jack was laying in my arms, he would look up at me and just stare.  I would stare back.  It’s one of the biggest joys of being a mommy.  I’m getting all blubbery.  Moving on!

I couldn’t decide on just one picture, so this week I’m cheating.  I’m throwing in a bunch of photos of  my son looking up.  I love them all!!  I haven’t touched any of my shots, but the professional shots are obviously touched a bit.  Someday I’ll take the time to use my Photoshop, I just can’t seem to work it in my schedule right now.

3 months – his first professional photo shoot.

18 months - professional

Last fall - (me)  Not the best picture, but it makes me smile.

Last October - (me) playing in the corn wagon at a local farm.

Christmas 2010 – professional

2 weeks ago – (me) helping Daddy hang a big picture at Gramma’s.

This week – (me)  looking at a big jet flying by.

Sorry for the Foto overload this Friday!  I promise to control myself next time. 

You can go see other Foto Friday participants and see if anyone else broke the rules as badly as I did today.

Have a great weekend!

Foto Friday

A bloggy friend of mine is the new host of Foto Friday.  It’s a linky party that allows you to share pictures that may or may not go with a theme for the week.  I’m bad at being regular with linky parties, so this may not be a regular feature on here, but I thought I’d show her some support, as well as try my hand at trying to find a photo in my collection that goes with the theme this week. (Man that was a long sentence!) 

This week’s theme is TEXTURE.  Since I don’t know how to add texture to photos in Photoshop yet (and I should add, I haven’t found FREE textures to download yet-I’m so cheap), I went with a photo of something that shows texture.

When we bought our new camera (still a point and shoot, but pretty cool all the same), I took hundreds of photos trying out all the different settings.  This one was called Pop Art.  I had a very agreeable model to shoot. You can’t imagine how many photos I have of this guy!

Hi, Thomas!!!

Thanks for being my son’s best friend.

As soon as I remember how to add the pretty button Kim has made, I’ll put it here.  Until then, you can go to her page from the following link to check out a bunch of other blogs who posted pictures today.  There are some amazing photographers out there. 

Foto Froday Link

Happy Mother’s Day

I hope you had a wonderful day today.  I spent today with my mother and sister and her family.  It was a beautiful, sunny, chilly day.  We went to the park to get some family photos.

Last year on Mother’s Day, we dedicated Jack at our church.  He was 4 months old at the time.

This year, we tried to get another family shot.  Jack was not going for it at all!  He wanted to run around, not be held captive for a picture.

 

This was the best we ended up with today.  It’s not horrible, but you can see the frustration in Jack’s face.