mymeanderings's Xanga

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:51:31 GMT

We have to take the computer down for a while. We are getting our floors refinished.

I am still doing the photo of the day and when the computer is up and running again I will post the pictures and excerpts from the journal.

Thank you for the kind comments and for those of you who are enjoying the photo of the day as much as I am. I am thrilled that some of you are starting your own!

Hope your week is filled with beauty and joy!

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:22:36 GMT

I had one of those days where I was so busy I did not think I was going to survive it, but I am here typing so obviously I was exaggerating the whole thing, but still...

Steve and I have been getting more and more interested in watching birds, he has been cracking jokes about us being too young to like this sort of thing, and yet we still stand there holding our breaths watching them come near our window. We even have binoculars.

Go ahead and make fun of us.

My good friend Lisa had a little one who decided to come a month early. Her delicious tininess reminded me of Jeff when he was also five pounds and looking like a small bird. This was a quick follow up to a shoot I had already done for Lisa. Someday I will get around to posting those. :)

My Dad picked up the boys today and took them on a four mile hike in the woods. They came home covered in ticks and stories of bear poop and carving their own walking sticks. The first thing out of Eti's mouth when I saw him was "Mom we forgot your present we picked you daisies but you can share with Daddy we brought him newts do you wanna' hold one?"

So these three pictures were taken by my father. I have decided to develop the ones that have the date on them and create an album with them, so I am journaling more private things for each day which makes the whole experience richer. This means nothing to most of you out there except for the handful who have written to me and told me that they are also going to do a Photo of the Day. I have a seperate paper journal for the thoughts that do not go on the blog.

After everyone was de-ticked and fed Steve and I decided to get in shape by having a jump rope contest...see now, this whole photo of the day thing, you all are going to see how nerdy we truly are. We bought the kids jump ropes and they do not know how to use them, so one thing led to another and I think I am ten pounds lighter.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:24:37 GMT

I am so tired I normally do not get a chance to get on to the computer until this late...

Today was a very busy day, I cannot think correctly right now so I am just slapping one up here.

The boys have been begging Steve and I to let them do a lemonade stand. I do not know where they got the idea from, but it is ever present on their mind. Today they were whispering and planning something outside and came in and asked me for the tape. Later I saw that they had taped this sign on the window shield of the van.

There has been some debate in the house because the boys think that more people would stop and buy ice water than lemonade and Steve keeps telling them that no one has "water stands".

Sunday afternoon before naps

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:54:09 GMT

The big thing this Summer for our family has been playing baseball in the backyard. Chloe sits on her little base (big flat rocks because we are cheap) and she picks the grass around her to make "soup". When it is time to move she gets up all excited and runs as fast as her little three yr. old her legs can take her. Her arms pumping and head down low.

Half the time I have no idea what I am doing, when the boys finally hit a ball I will start running too, even though I am the catcher. I am just so excited for them! Steve will start laughing that outrageous head back laugh that is so contagious, in the end my sides hurt from laughing and all the kids are laughing too. They don't always know why, except that Mommy and Daddy are laughing and it all trickles down to them.

We have a few invisible friends that make up the team and the boys give them names.

Lately Jeff has been asking me to please have more kids so that we could have a full team.

Steve says that to really play correctly you need two teams so that is what? Eighteen kids?

After church Steve grilled our lunch and Jeff hit this shot into the neighbors yard right before we ate.

Bell tower

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:24:17 GMT

I spent most of the day shooting this wedding overwhelmed with gratitude.

My husband is so involved with all the details of every wedding I shoot. At any point of the day he knows where I am and is usually praying me through it. I spent the day collecting stories to tell him and half way through snuck off and talked to him because I JUST COULDN'T WAIT!!!

Jenean (the other photographer) and I work in sync, it's fluid. Like our own language.

The Bride and Groom were a dream couple, in love and so easy to work with. There have been weddings where I knew that I would count them as friends afterwards and this is one of them.

and the church, the church, the church....

Below is the picture of part of the bell tower.

Dr. Harris officiated the wedding and the fathers each gave a small charge. I usually cannot listen the whole message because I am so intent on getting the shots, but I heard a portion of the Groom's father's charge today and I am going to butcher it in my paraphrase but this is what I remember..

"When you think about the fact that Christ died for you, that His blood covered your sins, that you stand before Him now as forgiven, and that He has gone ahead to prepare a place for you, how do you not walk around in a constant state of gratitude? How does that not effect every single circumstance you have to face?"

My mind is filled with so much but I am timing myself 10 minutes to blog this photo of the day and then back to my husband.

One of Peter Pan's Lost Boys

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:48:32 GMT

"There really are places in the heart that you don't even know exist until you love a child." Anne Lamott

I have no explanation, I will leave it to your imagination. He was found this way, complete with large Hosta leaf wings and various foliage in his hair. Jeff was proudly standing beside his artwork.

We are having a great day drawing, reading, sewing and getting dirty outside.

Steve came home all excited because he passed one of these on his way home.

*photo taken from http://www.microcarmuseum.com

Photo of the Day project

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:41:42 GMT

Yesterday the kids and I walked to the local playground.

Coco did somersaults down the hill

The boys ran around under the bleachers and then we all watched the clouds pass us by.

I kept thinking about how real life is better than a painting, better than any photograph, no matter how great the quality, you can't see the clouds stretch and move. Even a video, the shadings and colors are never perfect.

We laid there with our hands behind our heads talking and day dreaming together.

And I thought of this quote by Fenelon:

"Everything that is in you

cries out against yourself

for your Creator.

Be still then creature."

When Jeff was a baby I heard the President of Amazon.com say that he took one picture every single day so that at the end of his life he could look back and see the life he had lived. It was during a time in my life when my friend Amy had given me all the college photography course material she had and I was ready to take photography a little more seriously.

So for Jeff's entire first year I have a photo a day and then for Eti's first year and finally for Coco's.

That is what I did for their baby books, they can look back and see what was happening in the first year they were born.

I decided to do it for a year again, this time for no reason, just start it when I had a birthday and keep up on it for a year.

The three years I did it in the past I was more grateful, more aware of life and little happenings all around me.

I am going to assist for the first time this weekend to help my assistant Jenean shoot her first wedding! It will be so much fun to have no pressure just creative license to take all the shots I want! I am already backed up on weddings I have done this Summer so it is nice to just hand them to her and not have to edit! :) Jenean and I think so much alike in the world of photography, it is very smooth and comfortable with her.

I invited her to go to the park with me today and we stopped at the church to get more ideas for Saturday. This is a HUGE Gothic style church built in the mid 1800's. While Jenean was taking care of her baby the boys and I went in to check out the church. I got talking with a woman who worked there and some how talked her into letting me up in the bell tower! I got the distinct impression that very few people have been up there, by how dirty the steps were. The spiral steps were so tight like a light house tower. The picture above is one of the walls many storeys up inside the bell tower. I kept tapping the boys behind her back saying "No one ever gets to do this look around, just think of the stories we can tell Daddy when we get home he will be so jealous!"

Taking after his Mama

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:52:04 GMT

The library that we go to each week has some really great programs.

In May they taught the kids about the architecture in our town and then took them on a tour to see the buildings.

Each child was given a disposable camera.

At one point I heard some one say "That boy is taking a picture of the sky and of the sidewalk" and I smiled and thought to myself "I know because that boy is mine!"

They took a few of the best from each child's camera and put it on display for First Friday. Now that First Friday is over they are moving the photos to a gallery in the local museum!

I tried VERY VERY hard to not tell Jeff anything and let him shoot the way he wanted to. What I want is for my kids to really fall in love with photography to learn to see in their own way. The technical quality is not as important to me as having my kids learn to SEE and then keep their eyes open.

The librarian just gave doubles of his photos to me, there were so many to choose from but I am just going to post a few here.

*The next four photos were taken by Jeffers I scanned the photo but did not edit at all.

One of my favorite buildings of the day was this one. My mind started spinning when I saw the exposed walls and the boundaries of each room. The tile and paint and wallpaper. Almost..just almost on the fringes, I could imagine the lives of the people who lived here.

This is not the first time I photographed a building like this. Sometime in the mid nineties I had Steve pull over and explore a building just like this. I photographed it all in black and white for the very same reason.

Birthday boy

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:05:17 GMT

Eti is Six now

What he wanted sooooo badly was a little guitar. Steve is on the sound team at church, when it is Steve's turn he will often take Eti with him and let him hang out with the musicians. One time Eti stood up on the stage for an hour strumming an empty guitar case one of the cool guys on the team let him borrow.

This picture below is from yesterday, early in the morning at practice. Eti is standing next to Josh a really great guy who comes to our small group. Eti loves sitting next to him and smiling up at him, it is the cutest thing.

After the morning church service I did my tradition of taking the birthday child out alone with me. I took him to a nice restaurant and for the first time EVER had all the waitresses and waiters come out and sing to him. He was so stunned he just looked down at the sundae they gave him and smiled the same smile he has on in the first picture with the huge hat.

He talked about it for the rest of the day!

The restaurant owner came out and took our picture and printed it right there in the restaurant and handed it to me a few minutes later.

Etienne wants to pin the picture right next to his bed, and

he said I was his best friend!

After church Sunday night we surprised the kids by taking them to their first drive in movie. It will probably be their last because I am reaping all the benefits today of having the kids out until after midnight but it thrilled Eti. That's him below in the front seat.

This picture cracks me up, I bought super tall candles thinking Eti would like them and they would not blow out so after the fifth try everyone was trying to help him!

Eti said he wanted a paper airplane birthday. So I left all of the decorating up to Steve. I could hear him in the dining room stringing them up saying things like "I am a genius, this streamer is so cool I should go into business being a party planner!" all to himself.

Juls made one of her reaaaally good cakes, shaped like a cloud. Steve put one of his very cool planes above the cake.

My favorite part of Eti's day was another tradition of mine. We sat together and looked through his baby album and I told him stories about when he was born and how happy we were to have our little Eti and what a joy he is.

My second favorite (it's my blog I can have second favorites) was when a 17 yr. old friend of ours asked me what Eti would like for his birthday and then followed through. Sunday night he brought Eti a chocolate covered pretzel stick and then one for Jeff and Coco so they would not feel left out. Steve and I are still smiling over that little act of kindness.

"Coco Fo sho' "

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:15:29 GMT

Coco comes sliding in with 22 votes. Schwinn is hanging back with only 17 votes. So..the people have spoken Coco it is! Thanks everyone for taking part, Steve and I had so much fun with this! I should add that although he is a poor loser, this was all Steve's idea..the whole "Let xanga decide scheme". It was more fun than the Rock Paper Scissors that we usually play to decide something like this.

*Images taken from Amazon and the Forge website

We found a very very cool bike path that is three miles long and both boys are old enough to keep up with us on their bikes.

This year Steve and I are buying bikes for each other's birthdays so that we can go on the trail together as a family. Steve is taking me out this weekend to pick mine out. I am having such a hard time choosing between these two. I would love to have a retro bike, both have that feel.

The first one is made by Forge (have never heard of this company before) but I love how it is brown and it is named COCO.

The second one is made by Schwinn which is a great old bike company..think banana seats and all that good stuff. I love the fenders.

I am so going to put a basket on either bike!

Soooo what is your vote the Schwinn or the Coco? Please help me I really can't decide!

I really am going to go with what the majority says, all votes have to be in by Friday at midnight.