The JOY Of Running Water!!

Riley had fun playing with the water hose this afternoon. He was SUPPOSED to be washing his 4-wheeler, but I think most of the water was on him! Remember the days when the water was never too cold to have fun in?!

I love the muddy legs, socks and unlaced boots with his shorts. LOL.

Wind!

Does anyone else feel like we're having an extended March? The wind is unreal for May. Of course the heat reminds me that it is truly May!

This is another one taken on Mother's Day. Mammaw got a flag pole as one of her gifts, and the guys installed it for her. This pic was taken at F22 (I think) and a low shutter speed to show the movement of the flag in the wind. =)

Boys Are Easy!

2 boys + 2 ice cream cones + 1 John Deere= BLISS!

Riley and Elliot (my cousin John's 4 y/o) had a lot of fun playing together on Mother's Day. They stayed on this John Deere tractor for a good part of the day, pretending to drive. They were having a great time, and then things got even better! Mammaw brought out the ice cream cones! Can you tell that Riley enjoyed his cone?! What a piggy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Or, as Riley would say, "Happy Woman's Day!". We had a nice, relaxing day down at my grandparents' house. We sat outside most of the afternoon and had a nice breeze to keep us fairly cool (in the shade, of course!). I haven't had time to go through my pictures, but I did get this one of my "Woman's Day" gift from Riley.

Mom took Riley shopping for my gift on Saturday. He did MUCH better this year. LOL. Last year I got a singing parrot....so it was really hard to do worse (but I was happy that he picked it out himself...and it means a lot to me for that reason alone). Mom said he picked out my gift again this year. When they went into the store, mom suggested a little vase to keep on my desk for the "flowers" he is forever picking me, and mom says that he replied "We'll just leave it right here and if we don't see anything else we might come back and buy it." LOL. This kid is a serious shopper apparently....who knew?! He picked out a green purse (his favorite color) and was even trying to find me a matching headband for my hair. In the end, he settled on some green and pink rosebud soaps and a pack of Bubblicious gum, picked up from the gas station on the way home. (Note: He's already chewed my gum and used one of my soaps!)

(I hate that I didn't get a pic of the gum with the rest of the gifts!)

I hope everyone enjoyed their day!

Now Some From The Park!

Can I just tell you how much I enjoy taking pictures of baby Lucas?! What a doll. I love the fact that he is immobile (for the moment), and I don't have to chase him down! I am lovin' that Buddha belly he has goin' on! The one with Tara holding the baby is my absolute favorite from the day. My second favorite photo is the one of Miss Lilly playing peek-a-boo with me through the gate.

Friends!

We spent the afternoon with my friend, Tara, and my sis-in-law, Shanon, and an assortment of children ages 5 and under. Boy was it a hot one today! After the park, we decided that ice cream sounded like a wonderful treat, and we all headed down to Southern Sweets on Bay Street. Riley enjoyed his day with friends, and he told me his favorite part was the ice cream (no surprises there!). I got quite a few shots today, so I may just share a few tonight and then a few more tomorrow. I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day weekend!

Since the ice cream was Riley's favorite part of the day, I'll share the pics from the ice cream parlor first.

He's shy around people most of the time (at least until he gets warmed up), but THIS is my Riley. The goofball that loves to make people laugh.

Hannah at her favorite ice cream shoppe.

Riley enjoying his cone.

Lilly. Finger-licking good!

"Aunt" Holly, younger sister to my SIL, Tracy.

Create!

Riley got exceptionally dirty today and had to have a mid-afternoon bath. After his bath he was ready to watch a little Spongebob and draw Mommy a picture. He doesn't have much patience with coloring, but he does love to draw and write his letters and numbers. This quiet time lasted until he heard Bailey ride by on her four-wheeler...then it was out to get dirty again!

And what is this? Eye contact?! Woohoo! LOL.

Old Bottles

These are some old bottles that sit in the window in one of our bathrooms. I didn't take this today. I took it last summer during a power outage. I was bored, so I grabbed my camera and headed for the only room in the house that had good natural light coming in through the windows....the bathroom! One whole wall in that room is basically windows, and it gets great light. I have thought about framing this one for my room, which is blue and white.

A Reminder

Another post today!

Did anyone else see the rainbow in the sky this evening? Mom spotted it and yelled for me to bring my camera. It wasn't even raining. I guess God just wanted to remind us of his promise to never again destroy the earth by water. Do you think he's trying to tell us we're in for a drought? I sure hope not!

My Other Hobby,

when I have time for it, is scrapbooking. Photography and scrapbooking are a match made in heaven as far as hobbies go. They feed off of each other. Preserving memories. It's a great hobby to get into! Riley already loves looking at his scrapbook. I showed him the pages I did for his book when I got home last Saturday night. It was pretty funny. When he was in the middle of looking at his book, he turned to me and said, "Is this book all about me?". YES!!! It's all I have time to scrap. I am a chronological scrapper, meaning that I go in order of date, and I am so slow that I'm still scrapbooking photos of him when he was 1. He turned 5 in March!! Here are the pages that I completed at the crop on Friday night. They're pretty simple pages, but I was pretty happy with them. It just goes to show you that scrapbooking crops are not ALL about scrapbooking. It's about the fellowship with friends, the yummy food and just having a good time with other adults (no kids allowed!).

NOTE: Please remember Wendy's mother-in-law, Sandy, in your prayers. She suffered a stroke yesterday afternoon and is in the hospital. When I spoke to Wendy this morning, she was doing better. She was still in ICU, but Wendy said that they did have her up and walking today. Thankfully she caught it very early on and sought treatment right away.

Please excuse the horrible photos of my pages. Everything is straight on the pages in real life.

And a REFLECTION photo for Jamie and Shane. This photo was taken by Jamie's husband, Shane, in Alaska. Isn't it gorgeous?! Jamie said the only thing missing was the reflection of the mountains in the lake, as the wind made the water too choppy that day. So, I added a reflection in photoshop!

Shots From Yesterday

I'm not happy with the fact that I ended up having to use the flash for these photos, but I'm pretty happy with them otherwise. This is my sister-in-law, Shanon, and her sister, Stefanie. I didn't want to post these pics yesterday because I didn't want their mom to see them. She left this morning for an international, 9-day mission trip and will not be home before Mother's Day (the reason the pics were taken in the first place).

A Perfect Day

for sailing! I was downtown today to take some pictures of Shanon and her sister Stefanie that their mom requested as a Mother's Day gift, and boy was the wind whipping! Not a great thing for subjects with really long hair, but a perfect day for sailing. There were lots of sailboats on the water taking advantage of the stiff breeze. I snapped this photo after taking pics of the ladies. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Goodnight!

It has been a long, but enjoyable day. I went scrapbooking at Carolina Stamper all day today, and we all had a lot of fun! It was a Mexican Fiesta theme in honor of the Mexican holiday today. Mexican lasagna, enchiladas, taco layer dip, Mexican cornbread salad, chips and salsa, and even a Mexican pasta salad (who ever heard of a Mexican pasta salad?!). That doesn't even cover the yummy brownies! Someone even brought margaritas! I was about as productive as I figured I would be. I usually get 3-4 layouts completed at an all-day crop. Today, I completed three layouts (and I even came home early!!!) I'm a slooooow scrapper, but I do have lots of fun.

Anyway, I didn't expect to have a photo to post today, but you never know when an opportunity will present itself! Riley was watching TV in my bed while I checked my email, and I looked over to find him playing with my reading light. I grabbed my camera and snapped off a couple of pics. I like them.....especially the one where he appears to be sleeping. He was faking!

Roses Are Red

and white! Yes, I walked out the back door with the camera in hand, and mom (who was dragging the water hose around the yard) immediately said "Oh! I have the prettiest rose blooming over on that side of the yard!". Sheesh! Does that woman think of nothing else?! Lacking any better ideas, I headed off in the direction she indicated and took some photos of the rose, which did turn out to be quite striking. I also tried taking some photos of Henrietta and Sambo, mom's two chickens. Have you ever heard the term "bird brain"? Well, spend a while trying to take some photos of two young chickens in a cage, and you'll have a real good understanding of where it came from! You'll notice that I didn't get a single decent picture of those two "bird brains" by the absence of their photo in today's post. So, without further delay....here's the rose. I think it's called a candy cane rose or a peppermint candy rose, either way it sounds delicious. =)

Busy Day

Today was a pretty busy day. I had lots of work to keep me busy and had an extra kiddo in tow today. It was Bill's day at the fire department so I kept Bailey. The kids are good. They play really well together...most of the time, but they're just THERE and into everything. Two trips into town today didn't help matters. One trip to pick up my work, go to the bank, etc., and the second trip was to go to my monthly scrapbook club meeting. So, there wasn't a heck of a lot of time in there for picture taking today. Bailey was trying to blow a bubble for the camera, but she was really just being too shy in front of the lens to accomplish much. And, of course, then there is mom who has been bugging me for a week to take a picture of her iris. So, today I have Bailey photos and an iris photo. The first picture of Bailey just captures her personality. LOL. She's just being shy and darting her eyes everywhere but at the lens in the second one.

Cursed Again!

You know, I'm really going to start taking offense if my friends keep cursing my name! Oh well, I guess the end result is worth it. I am happy to report that another friend has joined the ranks! I'm adding a link for my friend Judy T.'s blog! Some of you know her personally (Ms. Judy, Jamie, Jeff and Tara), so y'all be sure and check out her blog.

I think mom feels that her flowers are being neglected on the blog. She requested some photos of her flowers for today's post. She also has a certain bloom lined up for tomorrow's post...but we'll have to see about that!

Oh, and the last photo is for all you people who have been blaming me for introducing you to the world of photo blogging! LOL. It's the wrong end of my mom's ring-neck dove, Othello.

Flowers in the 3-tier plant stand that mom got for $1 at Lowe's last fall. (just FYI for those who know mom is a bargain hunter. LOL. Dad would laugh at this notion.)

These Gerber daisys make me think of fireworks with those petals.

LOL. My camera was right in the line of fire and came away unscathed!

A Series Of Unfortunate Events...

led to one very very bad haircut for Max today. LOL. I've been meaning to shave him for a while, but I just hadn't found/made the time. Well, today it could be put off no longer. The dog had a matted accident on his back end that necessitated immediate attention. I got the clippers and just went to town. A hairstylist, I am not. I can't say he looks any better than before I started....but I know that he has to feel better. I'm not done. He'd finally had enough, and, frankly, so had I! The plan will be to let his hair grow out a bit (minus the mats) and then use a guard on the clippers to clean him up.....or heck, just take him to a groomer to clean up my mess. LOL.

Hayden stayed with us tonight while Adam and Shanon ran into town for a bit. I handed him a thing of bubbles and grabbed the camera. I was happy with a couple of the pics and thought I'd share them here.

SOMETHING FUN: Here's a link to a little game where you get to play photographer! LOL. I thought you guys might like to have a little fun with it. http://hk.promo.yahoo.com/movie/superman/Stop_Press_Game/