Baseball!!!

Thanks Jenks Bombers for letting me have so much fun with my camera this season!!!

Glorious Color!

So, I have this assignment for my photography class where we pick something, anything that inspires us.  I was stumped for several days.  I wracked my brain, wracked Pinterest's brain.  Then decided to wander around the mall to see what might be there - cute outfit?  cute spot?  A HA!  THE CANDY STORE!  

Lots of lines, lots of colors!

And, how about some cute kids?

The chocolate room!

So, maybe I bribed them a little bit.  

The only thing I wish I had done better was to NOT show up on a busy Saturday!  Thankfully the manager was really nice and these little spots where I really wanted photos weren't too crowded.

Thank you Lolli and Pops!

Let's Go For Some Drama!

New assignment for the week!  She gave us a wwwoooorrrdddd and the word was DRAMATIC.  Ooohhh yessss.  Now, how to interpret . . . 

What is dramatic photography?  When I went to Pinterest it shows darker images or quirky ones with interesting styling.  My wheels were turning . . . 

In comes dramatic 14 year old daughter, perfect dress from Target, and bright red accessories to put together a "Lost Doll in the Woods Look."  I like them!  Very different editing and so much fun to do something out of my comfort zone.

This kid was a champ!  This is right up her alley and she 'got it.'  I love this girl.  She's so much fun and sweet!  She's like her momma and kind of likes her quiet time away from the noise of a beautifully, full house.

She just got her braces off and WOW!  Lock her door and don't let her out for a very long time!

Thankfully she's not too boy crazy just yet.  I think having a couple of brothers helps.  

She's brilliant, beautiful, funny, creative, a little rambunctious, and the perfect teenage daughter.

She is capable of great things and has overcome a lot of obstacles in her short years.  Just makes us all stronger.

Our little lost doll in the woods - Zoe!

GRATEFUL

We had a break in our bitter cold weather this weekend.  This time last week we weren't going anywhere soon.  It had iced then snowed on top of that, and then there was the COLD.  Bitter, bitter COLD.  

So we stayed home a lot of the weekend.  It had been Christmas Break you know.  So we'd had lots of together time.  LOTS.  I mean, L O T S.  

We got 'the call' that afternoon that there would be no school the next day because of it.  Usually, I'd be grateful for a Snow Day.  This time, not so much.  I was ready to be back in a routine, back on the mission field.  My kids and I craved routine, and apparently I was not being much of a self-motivator in that area - not feeling too good towards the end.  Ugh.

But THIS weekend was what I was grateful for.  Sunshine.  No need for a heavy coat.  

The ability to get out a little bit and S T R E T C H.  

My beautiful friend Laura found this old tree farm, and since there was no fence . . . we played for a bit.  Running and jumping and discovering.  

I started a new photography class this week.  I'm SO excited for some inspiration and getting back out and doing creative things!  This week's assignment was about "Defining Your Style."  I love a good semi-posed shot, not too formal.  I love color, and light.  I love an interesting composed photo.  I love a shallow depth of field to maximize my chance of getting some good bokeh.  

Gratitude

Thanks to my friend Karen, I've discovered Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience.  She had an excellent daily devotional and weekly video over Advent.  She has a book called One Thousand Gifts.  I'm learning to be more grateful and stopping and noticing things around me more.  In order to do that she has given us a schedule of things every day to be grateful for, if you go to her website search for Joy Dare (I couldn't find a way to directly link to it).  Shocker.  I'm a little behind.  It's Christmas break.  The kids - all FIVE of them - are home.  They don't care as much about dishes and clean clothes and order as I do.  Plus, I have a hard time completing a thought or a task that's more than 10 minutes long.  No wonder I'm behind!  I think my new year will start when the kids go back to school.  How do homeschool moms do it?!

Day One's Gratefulness Project - 3 Gifts Heard . . .

Dryer

Need I say more?

My children would have been an obvious choice for three things heard.  I opted for my dogs.  My pug snores so loud she sometimes wakes me up.  Isn't that cute?  And then the Goldendoodle is just a little boy barking, playing, rough housing.  He's exactly like a 7 year old boy in a dog's body.

My brain is mush.  My head is very headachey lately and that is something to NOT be grateful for.  Ugh.

And, now, for my second day of finding things to be grateful for . . .