Blue Balloons and Windy Days

Today I bought the kids some balloons and took them to the park after school. I made sure to buy some blue ones as I thought it would be fun to use them for this week's challenge at I Heart Faces. Unfortunately by the time we got there the wind was picking up quite a bit and the balloons were blowing all over the place. When they weren't being nearly yanked out of Mia's hands, her hair was blowing across her face and focusing was increasingly difficult. Needless to say, we quickly gave up and just went to play.

In the end I decided to just play with some of the pictures, choosing to use selective color on this shot and share it anyway.

In the Moment

On Independence Day, my family and I spent the whole day in Laurel. We enjoyed the live entertainment and talent show, walked through the car show, Jesse participated in the pie eating contest and the little ones got pony rides. We ate hot dogs and Italian ices, rode rides at the carnival, tried to win a goldfish (and lost) and enjoyed a great fireworks show at the end of the day.

Of course I spent the day taking pictures (and video) of all the events. It was in a quiet moment when we were all sitting in the park after having eaten lunch that Amelia reached over to her daddy to give him a kiss.

I love this picture so much that I used it for my masthead and when this week's challenge for I Heart Faces was completely candid I kept coming back to it. I have tons of candid moments that I've caught over the years, but nothing that makes my heart smile like Daddy's little girl.

Almost Wistful

This week there is also the pets category at I Heart Faces. Since we only have a betta fish, most of my animal shots are of wild animals or from zoo trips. This week I've chosen a picture that I took at the National Zoo in Washington, DC of a Western Lowland Gorilla.

I actually just went to the National Zoo's website to see if I could identify my gorilla. She is Mandara and you can read about her and the other gorilla's at the zoo here.

Contemplating Mischief

This weeks theme at I Heart Faces is contemplative; their definition being: thoughtful observation; full or deep consideration; dreamily or wistfully thoughtful: a pensive mood; expressing or revealing thoughtfulness; quiet modes of apparent or real thought; can be marked by some sadness, but doesn't have to be.

All I could see was this pic of my youngest. I took it one day when I was first exploring some of the settings on my camera and was really working on manually focusing on the eyes. I sat her next to the big window, focused and snapped the pic.

I love how her eyes sparkle in this pic, but it's the way she has her lips pursed and is looking up and to the side that makes me think she was contemplating some mischief.

The Rain is Gone

One of the new photo challenges at Gotta Pixel is a photo scavenger hunt. There is a list of 20 items, some specific and others more abstract such as a feeling.

Here's this month's list:

1. Sugar & Spice
2. Morning People
3. Cookies
4. Giddy
5. Putting 2 and 2 together
6. Red and white
7. Born
8. Quiet Times
9. Sunset Bike Ride
10. Coffee
11. Red Velvet
12. Sport
13. Rock, Paper, Scissors
14. Under Pressure
15. Toes
16. Freedom of Art
17. Flour
18. Rear-view Mirror
19. Note to Self
20. I can see clearly now

When I read the last prompt I immediately finished the lyric "the rain is gone." It is what prompted me to get out in the rain yesterday and photograph my flowers.

Now to work on the rest of the list.

It has been a few days since I got out with my camera, and I was getting an itchy shutter finger today so despite the light drizzle I went out to find something to photograph.

I love gerbera daisies. They have long been my favorite flowers. I've always thought they were the happiest flowers. I have these lovely pink ones in my flowerbeds and I just loved how the drops of water were beading up on the petals.

I'm going to enjoy them while they last. Fall is quickly coming.

My new "favorite"

It's funny how I can take a bunch of pictures and I always think I know which one I like best, but I always end up surprising myself. The same thing happened when I was shooting Anakin and Mia at the elementary school.

I was actually done and was loading kids up in the van when Mia started walking along the blue line on the curb. I grabbed my camera and got a few shots before loading her up without even thinking about it.

When I uploaded them all to my laptop the last picture I decided to do some post processing on that last shot, just to see what I could do with it. I liked the contrast of the blue against her orange tutu.

I edited it and have found in the days that have passed that the more and more I look at it I like it. It's become my favorite. For now.

Funny Face

"I love your funny face

Your sunny, funny face.

For you're a cutie

With more than beautie.

You've got a lot of

per-son-a-li-ty N.T.

You fill the air with smiles

For miles and miles and miles.

Though you're no Mona Lisa,

For worlds I'd not replace

Your sunny, funny face. "

The Violinist

Now that the kids are back in school the pile of paperwork has invaded my house once again. There's all the typical forms and permission slips but the fun one for Claudia is permission to be in Strings again this year. Last year was the first that she was able to join and she chose the violin. She surprised me at how well she did and it was a great treat to go her first concert at the end of the year.

I'm looking forward to seeing how she grows and learns this year.

(Kit used is Spring Rain by Jennifer Barette and Kimberly Cameron; Word Art by Leigh Scofield (tricertifiedx2) and Border from Fried Pickles by Rachel Donald)

Back to School

Yesterday was Claudia's first day of fifth grade and her last year at elementary school. She's thrilled with her teachers and her two best friends are in her class again. I tried to get some pictures of her before school but in typical preteen fashion she was not interested in posing for me. The best shot I got of her was from sitting in the drop-off line at the school.

Today was Anakin's first day. He was very excited to go but he got a little shy when we first arrived. We were able to walk to his classroom with him and when it was time to go he told Mia he'd miss her and asked her for a kiss on the cheek. It was so sweet because he never wants her to kiss him. As we were walking back to the van, poor Mia was upset. She kept saying she didn't want to leave him.

After school, Anakin was very excited to tell us all bout his new friends and what he did today. He can't wait to go back and is disappointed that he doesn't go until Friday (staggered PreK and K). I hope he has a wonderful year.