4/52 - A Part of Me

I struggled with this theme a bit.  Not because I couldn't think of anything to take a photo of, but, I instead because I had so many ideas to consider.  In the end, I decided to depict my "faith" and the challenge became how best to do that.  I have an old photo I have from my baptism (as an infant some 50+ years ago) and Ron and I went to the church for a photo session.  He was patient as I figured out my new tripod, where to stand, etc., and even held the picture for me in several shots.  In the end, I decided to use one where I was holding the photo myself.  The church has changed a lot since that time, but the chapel where I was baptized, still looks very much the same.

Last weekend, we made a quick trip over to McKinney so that we could attend Michael's first tumbling competition, the Dallas Cup.  He joined the tumble team for the Texas Twisters in the fall and has been working hard to perfect his routines.  This first competition attracted teams from all over Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, so there were all different levels of competitors.  When he saw his uniform for the first time, he kind of freaked out, but we were all able to reassure him that he wouldn't be the only boy that was scantily dressed.

His floor routine was first and did great.  He seemed so little out there, but, it was hard to believe that this summer he was afraid to do the back "flips".  He seemed pretty fearless on Saturday!

It was a long day for Adellelyn, but she was occasionally entertained by seeing her parents or herself on the "jumbotron".

During the afternoon break, we had time to get lunch and enjoyed a nearby walking path since it was such a pretty day.

Adellelyn squealed with delight when she found "Olaf's arm"!

And, of course, Michael looked for frogs and other creepy, crawly critters.

Back inside the Event Center, Michael ran off with his group to get ready for the trampoline events.  His Papaw and I moved closer to the big trampoline, so that we could get close to the action.  He did great and didn't even seem to be nervous.

The double mini-tramp was last and he again did very well.

Overall, it was fun to watch and Michael was thrilled to have received second place in the Trampoline routine.   I'm guessing there will be many more of these weekends in our future.

3/52 Light

M4H Project 52 - Light

Friday evening, as we drove west on I-20 towards McKinney, it was clear before we'd even left Shreveport, that the sunset was going to be amazing.  

And it did not disappoint.  As we entered East Texas, the sky seemed to be on fire and I took a few photos through the windshield.

It's great to have a husband that doesn't seem to mind pulling over on one of the exits so that I can take yet another picture.  I was able to step outside the car to capture the colors that were sure to fade as quickly as they'd appeared.  I love the sweeping clouds below and how they contrast with the darker clouds above that form an almost straight line across the sky.  

2/52 Storytelling

This year, I am trying my hand at the M$H Project 52.  Each week, we are given a prompt to interpret as we wish through photography.  I joined the group in the second week, so I still need to go back and catch up on the first prompt, but the second week's prompt was Storytelling.  I must admit that it is extremely intimidating to see the photos that other participants post, but I am hopeful this project will help me improve my photography skills in addition to documenting my life through pictures.

For this prompt, I took a few more pictures of baby D while he was at my house one afternoon.  The challenge in this for me was capturing some sort of "story", while keeping his face hidden from view, since the photo will be posted on a private Facebook group.  The picture I chose was taken just after he'd fallen asleep.  He had been playing on a blanket on the floor and was so happy as he rolled around , holding onto his feet as he looked at books and musical toys.  Even at 5 months old, he already loves books---especially ones that he can get into his mouth.  This little book is just the right size for his tiny hands and he eventually fell asleep while looking at it.

I wish that I had thought to take pictures of my own children's hands and tiny feet when they were babies, but most of their photos were taken from afar with a low-quality pocket camera. Learning to use my DSLR is allowing me to capture moments that I never want to forget and stories that I want to always remember.

Valentine DIY Kit

Here's a quick and easy gift that I put together in a matter of minutes--nothing fancy, but fun.  We're going to see the grandkids this evening after work and since they don't live close by, I wanted to bring them something fun to do when we're not with them.  With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I decided to make up a little "Valentine DIY Kit".  I found a cute photo box at Michael for $1.99 and then walked down the shopping center to the Dollar Tree to fill it up with goodies.
**pens, tiny stampers and glue (love these little Elmer's glue tubes!!):

**lots of stickers, foam hearts and doilies (they were always my favorite)---Joy's foot is optional.

**googly eyes and a package of sequins(and I bought a set of tiny plastic jars to store them in, but the biggest eyes didn't fit, so I just put them in a ziploc bag)
Obviously, the dogs very much wanted to be  part of this project!

**and last, but not least, blank cards to decorate--red for Michael and pink for Adellelyn.  On top, I tied a stack of tiny heart-shaped notebooks, just because they were cute.

The total cost for all the goodies, box included was about $20 and there are enough supplies to make at least 40 valentines!  Hope they have fun!

Papaw's Beard

Ron loves babies.  And the feelings seem to be mutual.  Baby D loves his goatee and would love to be able to get those glasses into his mouth.  Snuggles and kisses often yield squeals of delight and an occasional giggle.   It just doesn't get much better than baby giggles!

Crafting With Callie - One Little Word

With a day off from work yesterday, Callie and celebrated by having our first ever "Craft Day".  She and Luke came over this morning and, with supplies spread out across the dining table, we set to work.  Both of us are participating in Ali Edwards' One Little Word class, so that is where we began.  I love that Ali encourages you to use her prompts and interpret them in your own style.  Callie's word for the year is "CHOOSE" and mine is "HOME" and we have very different styles of creativity---she tends to excel with the written word, while I prefer the visual arts to express myself.

When he wasn't helping us with our creations, Luke rolled around on the floor by the table.

For my cover page, I again used watercolors to make a simple drawing of my house.  While my goals for my word include a lot more than the physical house, it is a great visual reminder of the word.  

I included a photo of myself and a description of the reason why I am going this project this year, particularly since I never finished the project last year.

For January, we were also prompted to answer a few questions about our chosen word.  I used the watercolors to paint a wash background for each question.

I painted a wash on the other prompt page, as well, but was less than thrilled with how it turned out, even after mounting it on a piece of colored cardstock.

I added a patterned border and black zig-zag stitching and like it much better now.

Finally, we were asked to list our intentions for the year---what actions we wanted to take to bring our word into our life in a meaningful way.  I created my own page for this documentation, and cut a page protector in half lengthwise.  Strips of washi tape seal the edge.

I may be jumping the gun a bit on the OLW project, but I felt like I needed to organize my thoughts a bit more before actually getting to work on making my word a part of my life, so I made task cards listing specific tasks I want to do this year.  I plan to replace each card with a photo of the task as it is completed.  I think this will also help me to reflect on how things are going throughout the year and remind me of what's next on my list.

We had a great time on our first Craft Day and were quite productive---the only thing missing was Jana.  But, she actually was doing a little work on her own OLW project as well, with yet another wonderfully creative style!