One hundred and fifty-two...

They have dubbed themselves "The Girl Club"

One hundred and fifty-one...

I'm not sure what this little grin was all about. Maybe his is understanding that I want him to look at the camera and smile, because his just froze like this for a few seconds. We were over at Grandma's playing and I have come to decide that her backyard has very good light for pictures. Bodie's favorite thing in her backyard is the little tikes slide. He spends most of his time on it and bulling his other 2 year old cousins. Bodie is kind of aggressive with them. We all just kind of sit back a watch and try to let them work it out. The end of the battle between the cousins was Bodie getting hit over the head with a toy golf club. It was sad, but he had dished out his share of shoving and pinching too.

One hundred and fifty...

We started planting our garden and I am pretty sure Avery thinks that the pumpkins will come up looking just like the seed packet!

One hundred and forty-nine...

{Don't let the blank days fool you, I still had junk to do on those days too!}

Dear Month of May,

I am so glad you are over. The fact I am writing this letter to you in the middle of June is proof that I am about two weeks behind in all of my commitments. You were full of appointments, dance practices, dance recital, games, meetings, parties, visits with family, projects (mostly last minute), home improvement, home maintenance, work and photography sessions . Things have "piled" up so bad that Ron couldn't even find a pair of dress socks for church yesterday. Ron doesn't wear dress sock except on Sundays so that is another indicator of how far behind I am...all because of you Month of May.

I wish that I could say that all the plans that I had for you worked out smoothly. But I can't. I had some oversights that I wish could have been done differently; leaving the hose running in the pool, driving off to a t-ball game and then a birthday party and not remembering until three hours later, forgetting to tell Ron an important detail like the location of Avery's preschool graduation and causing both of us to miss most of it because he was late and I was frantically trying to get in touch with him during the graduation and thinking the little awards day in Rowdy's class was Wednesday when in actuality it was Tuesday and missed it all together. Somehow we all came out of this month alive and fulfilled our commitments to the best of our ability. Never mind, that several times I said "This is too much, I can't handle all of this stuff!" I would like to say that among all the chaos I was able to maintain a perfect fitness and nutrition program to offset some of the stress. However, quite to opposite was true. It seems to be the first thing to fly out the window when faced with a month like you.

I am sure there are going to be many times in my life that I will be faced with a month like you. I am sure that I am not the only women that has a little calendar hanging on the wall that looks like mine. I thought that June was going to be nothing like you. And that the pace would slow down and things would be more relaxed. So far that is not the truth. Maybe I shouldn't answer my phone anymore.

Signed,
Two weeks behind and wishing I could clone myself
Julia

One hundred and forty-eight...

Look what happened....

We thought this Mama cow was pregnant. Saturday morning I pulled into our driveway and this little guy was standing right next to his mama. She is such a good Mama. She is so protective of him (this isn't always the case). When I took these she told me the photo shoot was over by lowering her head to the ground and scraping the ground with her hooves (imagine what a bull does in the ring during a bull fight). Later I asked Ron if she was telling me to get out...and he said I don't think it was a good sign.

Isn't he just wonderful!
It is such a dichotomy to love steak as much as I do and to think that bovine are cute.

Note: Although the date on this post is in May, I posted it on June 15th. I am still trying to catch up on my one post a day goal...

One hundred and forty-seven...

This is Rowdy's stuntman trick off his bike...his fake crash!

One hundred and forty-six...

I have been throwing all of the papers that Rowdy brings home from school into a huge plastic storage tub all year. I wanted to be able to go through it at the end of the year and pick out some of my favorite things and put it somewhere for him as a keepsake. Mainly, because I wish I had something like that.

He brought home this little gem the other day. I could tell instantly that it was a recreation of one of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings...can't you? I asked him if that's what it was and he was so happy and proud that I could tell before he had a chance to tell me. I am going to have to find a special place to hang it in my office. I just love it! And can you believe that they are teaching them about this stuff in the first grade?

One hundred and forty-five...

Just another favorite from the other day. Can you tell I am behind on my blogging and just reaching for anything to post. Behind the scenes though I am working on some more stuff I have learned in my Photoshop Elements program. I am happy with how this one turned out. I am working on "warming" up my images because my eye tends to like them a little "cooler" or blue. I am trying to retrain my eye to like things a little warmer.

One hundred and forty-four...

We went to see the movie UP last night with the kids and I would recommend it highly! Even Bodie liked it. It was really cute and funny. You've got to see it in 3-D though it makes it so much better.

One hundred and forty-three...

I took this photo as Ron saw Rowdy to the end of our driveway for the last time as a first grader to load up on the bus. Ron walks Rowdy out to the bus stop every morning. They shoot kisses to each other after Rowdy loads up on the bus.

I have been so proud of Rowdy this year for making the transition to all day school so well. It wasn't until the middle of the year the he asked me "Why do first graders have to get up so early?" He did have to get up pretty early. I had to get him up at 6:30 to make the 7:30 bus. And he didn't get home until after 3pm. I would get tired maintaining that schedule as an adult.

One hundred and forty-two...

When Rowdy and Avery's team is on the field, guess who likes to hang out in the dugout? I don't mind because it is actually the safest place for him. This is all considering his second favorite place to be is out on the field and I have had to chase him out there several times.

One hundred and forty-one...

"Don't bug me, I am catching up on Elmo's World."

One hundred and forty...

activity, pursuit, amusement, hobby, leisure, distraction, diversion, entertainment are all synonyms for the word...
PASTIME

One hundred and thirty nine...

I will not disclose how many of these Rowdy and I ate on our camping trip over Memorial Day weekend. But it was an irresponsible amount! But they were delicious!

Avery likes her marshmellows ala carte!

One hundred and thirty eight...

I don't think that I have blogged about how much this little boy likes cell phones. Sometimes, if he is fussy in the car, I will hand him my phone to keep him busy. Well, this particular day he was "making a call" and it was just not exciting enough and he fell asleep. The funny thing was, as he drifted off to sleep several times the phone slipped out of his hand and he would wake up and put it back up to his ear with his eyes half open and then drift back off to sleep. Silly boy!

One hundred and thirty seven...

Do you think she might be a bit excited about officially being a Kindergartner.
She had her preschool graduation on Friday. In all honesty, she has been a ball of emotions this week. She has proclaimed many times that she can't wait until Kindergarten and also that she doesn't want to go. Translation: She doesn't want to leave our little preschool that we love so much. We love the teacher, the program, the co-op, we the friends we make and we will send Bodie there too! Last week we had a conference with her teacher and she had so many nice things to say about Miss Avery Girl! She is ready for this next big step.

One hundred and thirty six...

HUG

One hundred and thirty five...

Just a super quick post. I am up to my eye balls in ending the year at the preschool (Avery's last year), end of the year parties and activities at Rowdy's school, t-ball, doctors appointments for the kids, extra dance classes, Avery's dance recital and deciding what to do for Rowdy's 7th birthday party. Also, I have been lucky enough to have several photography sessions since announcing the start of ...the daisy patch. I have added running a small, very small photography business to the list. I am super behind on posting but I will catch up soon.

One hundred and thiry four...

While I am posting photos of the kids and their activities and goofy outfits, I thought I would post these. The words above the photos are the words that Avery's dance instructor uses to prompt the girls about what move is next. Avery is preparing for her recital next week.

I can't wait for summer and a more relaxed schedule....whew!

One hundred and thirty three...

The only thing that comes to my mind when I look at this photo is..."You'll shoot your eye out kid!" We were at the Enchanted Forest for his end of the year field trip. The water show and the shoe slide were the highlights.

One hundred and thirty-two...

the rays of sunshine in the sunrise photo were done in photoshop, but these rays of sunshine and sun flare where done completely by accident : )

The game was over. We had just eaten hot dogs from the consession stand and she says to me, "Mom, can I go run the bases?". Do you remember when you were a kid and you would just run for no reason? As an adult it really does seem strange that we have to carve out a 20-30 minute time slot three times a week to run (exercise). Imagine how different it would be if we ran for no reason.

One hundred and thirty-one...

Rowdy's elementary school had a BBQ to honor Grandparents and my mom came down to attend! We had a great time. Although, we had a little mishap. They were serving lunch in the gym and it was really crowded. So we decided to eat outside on the lawn. Two of Rowdy's other Grandmas showed up and his teacher started to look for him. Well, not knowing that we were outside she started to get worried when she couldn't find him. She had the entire playground looking for him. We headed inside to throw away our garbage and ran into the his teacher and the principle who were about to go into "code red mode" because they thought they had a missing child. Can I just say...."Ooops". How embarrassing! But how great that they were so concerned and on the stick to look until they found him.

It ended up being a really nice time and so special to have a lunch with our Grandma's at school!

One hundred and thirty...

How could I not go out and take this...

One hundred and twenty-nine...

Lately, I have noticed Rowdy's little freckles on his nose...how cute is that? He and I got to go on a little outing yesterday, just he and I. It was really nice because this is a really rare thing for us. We talked about all sorts of stuff. I took him to Walmart to spend a $10 gift card that he got at school for collecting "eagle eyes" (a little ticket that they get for being safe, responsible or respectful). He bought a little transformer and a candy bar! Woo Hoo! When we got home he said, "Mom, everyday if I do my homework quickly and it is all correct, can you give me $10?" Hey, you can't blame him for trying a proposal like that!

One hundred and twenty-eight...

A boy and his dog...

Cooter was trying to nap in the sun and Bodie wanted to give him loves....they really do love each other. They often just take turns following each other around the yard, watching out for each other. Bodie fills Cooter's bowl with food and pats his knees to get him to come. They are best buds.

One hundred and twenty-seven...

So a friend of mine and I have decided that we need to be a little bit more deliberate in our photography. Therefore, we have decided to take some pictures with some photography concepts in mind. I read one time as a photographer it is important to "make pictures, not just take pictures". Our first area of focus is line and direction.

Line: The visual path that enables the eye to move within the piece.

The assignment was to take photos that incorporate the concept above.

I decided to post these homework assignments here because so much of what I have learned about photography has been from other photographers and the information they have shared on their blogs. I wanted to do the same. Plus, I will have little log of my assignments at the end to refer to.

I did some research on this great site and found this article. There are some additional articles that talk about vertical, horizontal, converging and diagonal lines at the bottom of this brief article. So here is my homework assignment on lines.

I put some notes about what I learned in green under the photo.

{Horizontal}

I took this picture before the assignment. It just felt natural. I didn't even know that I was applying a rule of composition.

{not sure if this is converging or just directional (pulling your eye inward)}

Directional is a hard one to get...I still need to practice on this one.

{Vertical}

I wouldn't have taken this picture, if I didn't first have this assignment in mind.

{Converging}
I like how the umbrella kind of makes a star behind her head.

{Diagonal}

Again, I would have composed this shot completely differently if I hadn't had the idea of a diagonal in my mind first.

{Diagonal}

This picture may seem random, but it is not. I bought this bottle of Tabasco because I like it on my egg burritos and I was out. But I took the picture because the little bottle lended itself to a perfect diagonal shot. Also, more importantly, it reminded me of how my Dad used to take his own bottle of Tabasco to pizza places and like clock work he would pull this little bottle out of his shirt pocket and dash it onto his pizza. Silly, funny, oh so lovable man!

The next assignment I will be working on is Pattern.

One hundred and twenty-six...

My Mom and I got to share an awesome night together! She came down Saturday to see the kids play t-ball. Then we went to the store and got some food to make for our Mother's day dinner together. We bought some petite fillet mignons (our favorite) and if I do say so my self I BBQ'd them to perfection! We had pesto pasta, french bread, salad with homemade croutons and we had Boston Creme Pie for dessert! That is what we are doing in the photo above. We are about to enjoy our pie! I must say it might be my new favorite. We were both so surprised at how good it was...we both had a second piece just to make sure!

Anyways, we had a nice night together! My Mom didn't leave for home until about 8:30 and it takes her about an hour to get home. So I made her give me "one ring" when she got home. That is something my parents used to have me do when I was in college. When I would leave their house late to get back to my apartment I would do "one ring"....simply put, I would call home and let it ring once so they knew I was home safely.

One hundred and twenty-five...

Since I did a post about Rowdy's little friend Billy, I thought I better do a post about Millie (Bodie pronounces it LaLa). She is one of Avery's constant companions. She has lots of fun with her. Millie is well loved and I have thought many times that I should buy her a new Millie. But I don't think Avery would buy it if I tell her that she just came out of the washing machine brand new or that Millie went to the beauty parlor.

This was all her idea and we laughed really hard about it! Silly girl!

One hundred and twenty-four...

rain, rain go away, come again another day!

One hundred and twenty-three...

Just testing out my settings for the bigger pictures. The horizontal ones are the ones that are giving me grief. Here is a fun shot of Bodie looking much like he just finished his lunch and needs his nose wiped. So I did it for him in photoshop elements...I also did some other editing. The after looks a bit over worked to me, so if you are thinking that I hear ya'! But it just shows you the power of photoshop. And maybe gives us all a reminder that when we look at a magazine with a beautiful model or celebrity on the cover with perfect skin and not an ounce of fat showing...they don't look like that in real life...just on someone's computer screen.
The difference is pretty dramatic. It is hard to say if I hadn't posted the before picture if it would look as "doll like" to me in the after. Hmmmmm!

One hundred and twenty-two...

This post could not be more random! I am just working behind the scene on my blog html code to find out the exact numbers I need to use to increase the size of my photos. My head hurts from all the math. I haven't been happy with the way they look and am trying to find the numbers that I will use all the time and that won't make my pictures look pixlated...I like that word, if it is a word, pixlated (sp?)...maybe I made it up.

One hundred and twenty-one...

As Avery and I were playing with the apple blossoms, Bodie was doing this. What you see in this picture is a little boy who absolutely loves tractors. What you don't see is the fact that he climbed up there by himself and the seat had a puddle of water in it and his pants are completely soaked. Is he a boy or what!

One hundred and twenty...

After all those black and whites I thought we needed some color!

One of the unexpected things about taking up photography has been looking for chairs, stools, benches and other cute things for my subjects to sit on. When I saw this chair at a second hand store for $10 I had to have it. I loved the color and the texture on the seat. It is really sad when you start to think, "oh, that chair would look cute in a photo". I bet you thought this post was going to be about Avery.

One hundred and nineteen...

Bodie has learned to do thumbs up! I discovered this after I gave him a high five and said "thumbs up dude" and he did this....