Between Storms

A few nights ago in the early evening we had a few rounds of thunderstorms come through. We were just hanging out at home listening to the thunder and rain pouring down. There was a break in between storms when I looked out the window and noticed a rainbow right over our neighborhood. Of course I grabbed my camera and ran outside.

I had to hop in my minivan because it was still raining a little bit and the next storm was rapidly approaching. I'm not a fan of electrocution, you see.

I was able to get a couple shots, one faintly showing the second rainbow above the main one. My only regret was that I didn't take the time to grab my wide angle lens so I couldn't get the whole rainbow in the frame.

Nine Days and Counting

Our family is a blended family. My husband and I were both married before and both of us had children in those marriages. He has Jesse (will be 13 in December) and Ethan (turning 11 in January). I have Claudia, who will be 11 on Valentine's Day. Together, Jason and I have Anakin (5 this November) and Amelia, (affectionately called Mia who will be 3 in October).

Claudia's father lives in Washington State, 3000 miles away from where we live in Delaware. She flies out to her dad's twice a year; for a week or so at Christmas and for nine weeks in the summer.

While I miss her terribly, I try to look at it positively. I'm happy for her that she gets to spend the time with her father and she's made friends there and really enjoys her time. Well, of course she does; her dad tries to cram a whole years worth of fun into a couple of months. And now that she's getting older and is rapidly approaching those tempestuous teen years, I figure that it will be a nice break from each other. LOL

However, by the end of the summer, I start getting twitchy for her to get home. The little ones are counting down the days and plans are being made to have lots of fun together before the school year starts.

That also means that I start wanting to take new portraits of the kids as I never buy the school pictures because my kids never look like themselves in them.

Claudia especially. She's one of those kids that always seems slightly uncomfortable when the camera is turned her way. She's more likely to stiffen up and smile woodenly with a "please just let this be over" look on her face. It's OK though as she gets it from me. There's a reason I got into photography; it's easier to hide from the camera if you're the one holding it. LOL

Unfortunately, that also means I have less pictures of Claudia because I don't want to torture her. Well, not too much, that is. Maybe this time I'll get her looking at the camera. :)

Gotta Pixel's Scrap Star Contest

Gotta Pixel is the digiscrapping site I spend the most time at. It's where I was introduced to digital scrapbooking and it's the site where I've gotten some of my favorite kits.

This month they are having a Scrap Star Contest. Each week there is a new challenge to be completed and at the end the winner will earn a place on their creative team.

This weeks challenge was to use the kit Comical by Amy Sumrall and Simply Scraps which is a very boy oriented and superhero themed in an unconventional way and to use at least 10 elements from the kit.

I threw around a few ideas and finally settled on this:

If you'd like to try your hand at it, you can get Comical at GottaPixel.net.

About Me

Back in January I was participating in a series of scrapbooking challenges at Gottapixel.net when one of the challenges was to creat a page about yourself. We were given four sentences to finish and then needed to take a self portrait that didn't show our faces.

It was the first time I created a page about myself and ended up being a lot of fun.

The kit I used is called Cozy Kind of Love and was created by Sweet Digi Scraps. :)

I Heart Faces Tamron Lens Giveaway!!

Wow! I Heart Faces is giving away a Tamron 18-270mm VC lens ! Who wouldn't want a new lens? Obviously not me, as I have already entered and you can too! Go right now to I Heart Faces and enter! You have until this Friday, August 7th at 11pm eastern/8pm pacific.

One of my first pages

I believe this is the second page I ever scrapped. It was a re-do of the first page I created which was really horrible. So horrible I trashed it. LOL Even at a young age, my youngest was a total drama queen. I'm not sure what she was crying about now, but her faces were to adorable not to shoot.

You can't tell by the pictures but she was standing in a tall cardboard box. Up until the point that she started to cry, she'd been laughing and playing peek-a-boo so I already had my camera in my hand.

I have to say at almost three years old, she's gotten even better. But that's a story for another day. :)

The kit used is called Express Yourself by Ronna Penner. It was a freebie I downloaded from http://www.shabbyprincess.com/downloads/expressyourself/express-yourself.asp

Surf and Sun Kind of Summer

Living less than an hour from the beach is wonderful in the summer but we usually only make it a few times a year. Well, this year we've gone nearly every weekend. We fill the cooler with some drinks, pack my huge beach bag with towels, sand toys and snacks and off we go.

I love all the colors of the beach. It reminds me of looking into a kaleidoscope with all the umbrellas dotting the sand.

Even though she's not even three yet, Amelia usually runs straight for the water and splashes in.

I usually panic a little until Jason goes after her and grabs her hand before she floats away.

Anakin may be two years older but he's much more timid than Mia. Instead he just goes to the edge and sits, letting the water rush over him.

He then spends the rest of the time digging in the sand, searching for treasures and occasionally playing at the edge of the water.

Eventually, the whole family joins Anakin in the search for tiny clams and sand crabs before heading back into the water for awhile.

This year is the first that Jesse has taken a turn on Jason's boogie board. Jason gave him some pointers and then sent him out into the ocean.

It took a little while but soon Jesse was getting the hang of things and was riding a few waves in.

As always, Mia decides that she wants to do it too, and convinces us to let her have a try at boogie boarding.

Before you know it the kids are starting to tire out and actually sit still for more than five seconds.

Eventually, we drag Jesse out of the water and start to pack up to go.

We're all covered in sand; Amelia looks like she was swimming in it and not the ocean.

We wrap up in towels,

take one last look,

and go, discussing what's for dinner on the way home.

I'm thinking....burgers on the grill?

This blog was inspired by the challenge at http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/This is my first time participating in the challenge and I look forward to participating again.