in the moment

cul-de-sac livin'

do you remember playing kickball as a kid???

this is why we moved into a neighborhood.  this is why we chose to live in a cul-de-sac.  for these moments...

when the kids run outside, knock on our neighbors doors and rally a game of kickball to play before dinner.  then, break to eat and meet up afterwards for more.

these spur of the moments... well, they are my favorites.  

week 13 :: planning

i'm continuing to work on the 52 week photo project, you can read more about this project here or click on the link-  

<<<over in the sidebar under categories. 

here is my photograph for this week's theme  ::  planning

yep, i'm a planner.

i multi-task well. i'm a project gal. i think through all the details. i write lists. i check things off. i complete tasks. i'm organized. i'm a 'type a' personality.  the first step is admitting it, right?!?

although, since craig is a pilot and his schedule changes every month, then within that month it changes again. plus having two kiddos involved in basketball, baseball, softball, honor choir, brownies, talent show, birthday parties, play dates along with my own volunteering schedule, doctor or dentist appointments, running errands etc. etc. it reAlly helps to have the 'type a' personality.  ~i happen to think the 'a' stands for awesomeness ;)

so when it came to this photography theme well i knew what image i wanted to capture.  the calendar.  we have a 'master calendar' (in background) that hangs on the wall of our pantry. yep, the pantry-- our family is in/out of that pantry ALL the time.  our life; every event, activity, sport practice, work schedule or appointment is recorded here.  and any event or activity is not scheduled until first consulting the calendar.  further more, any changes to craig's schedule is also recorded here --uh, this took a bit of training but is a marriage saver-- ladies you know what i speak of, right?!?! ;)  i also have a daytimer with the same information that i carry around with me.

i know, i know this is old school.  i'm behind the technology times.  i know there are many of you that have your iCal, or comcast calendar or gmail/google drives that are all synced up to your work or your home computers or iphone calendars. i'm just not there yet. most of you know that i still don't have voicemail set up on my iphone that i've had for over a year and half.  well, really the fact is, i don't like being tied to my computer (or even my phone)-- there i said it out loud.  technology is so gReat-- i love it.  i love the opportunity to access information, to look up recipes, to find art projects or creative inspiration, to ask the all mighty google oracle questions with answers at your fingertips and for photography-- technology is amazing.  but, technology is a big time sucker.... you know what i speak of, how you can just get lost for hours on the worldwide web.  so as a multi-tasker, list writer, likes to get things done type 'a' personality... well the 'time sucker' just doesn't compute with me.  

it's all about balance, right?  we're teaching our kiddos about balance with what we call 'screen time'-- you know, t.v., wii, computer, itouch, ipad -- these are all screens.  the kids can easily get sucked right into the vortex for hours at a time too.  i'd rather spend time with them-- being and doing.   so i save my limited 'screen time' for the fun things like photography and creative projects.  at this point the master calendar is working just fine.

now, if i could just get a handle on planning our meals!??!

week 12 :: spring

i'm continuing to work on the 52 week photo project, you can read more about this project here or click on the link-  

<<<over in the sidebar under categories. 

here is my photograph for this week's theme  ::  spring

i'd like to say that spring has arrived with flowers blooming and warmer weather but that's just not the case in our area.  it has been a damp, wet, rainy, stormy month -- we even had snow showers last week, as evident by the photo below.   

so when the clouds parted on friday and the sun came out, i grabbed my camera in hopes of capturing spring.  but folks, all the lovely spring flowers were damaged by the crazy weather in fact, if you saw the rest of these purple flowers you would laugh.  they were all smooshed , wilted and lying on the soil in some serious distress.  but those lone three flowers were holding on, still standing and just stretching out to that sunshine.  i'm sure they were feeling the same as i-- so happy to see the sun!

and when the sun comes out there's light, light to play with for my photography.  when i was walking through our yard, it was the light streaming through the tops of the petals that caught my eye.  i was so happy to feel the warmth of the sun it seemed to me these crocus flowers probably felt the same way so i wanted to capture that in the image.  the spring season, means to me, bursts of color emerging from the blanket of winter's grey, the warming temperatures, peeks of blue sky and seeing that sunshine once again.  the circles of light are my favorite part -- it seems they are almost dancing.

as for this photo... well it's the opposite of spring.  and I'm ready to say good-bye to snow showers.

we are all definitely ready for spring.

nw baseball??

yep, in the garage.

why, in the garage you ask?  because it's baseball season in the northwest and you all know what that means.... rain, rain, rain and more rain.  baseball practices have begun but with the horrible weather and rainy conditions last week, everything was canceled.  

so, if it's raining and the kids are stir crazy and they both need baseball practice well, you make due with a little hitting practice in the garage.   what you can't see is Craig standing on the driveway, in the rain tossing whiffle balls to alex-  now that's the pic I should have taken.

just a few images of alex, he's looking pretty happy here...   (because he's nice and dry)

good concentration- check out the pursed lips

one hit....

two hits.....

three....  (check out my notes,  it doesn't look like it's raining from the photos but we have 'splatter' to prove it!)

am I looking forward to baseball season???  

watching alex and his team, yes.

 the rainy weather, uh not so much.  so we'll be doing a few 'sun dances' round here in hopes of better weather.  or better yet, i need to invest in some good galoshes and rain gear ;)

 

week 11 :: underneath

finally uploading week eleven of the 52 week photo project. you can read more about the project here or

<<<<<<click on the category photos :: 52 weeks over in the sidebar

i had several ideas for this theme but due to the weather and family life i had to change plans.  so here is my photograph for...  underneath

what lies underneath that plastic green headband?

what lies underneath the combed strawberry blonde hair?

what lies underneath the gently curved eyebrows?

what lies underneath the aqua blue eyes?

what lies underneath the small freckled nose?

what lies underneath the orange leprechaun moustache?

what lies underneath all of the above....

miss a's hidden smile

and miss a's happy heart.

 

just love this girl.

 

st. patrick's day

we had a bit of mischievousness happening at our home during the week from those pesky leprechauns. for some reason they really like causing a ruckus here, don't they know that the Davidson side of the family is Scottish??

the kids again attempted to catch the leprechauns in their trap which has evolved through time.  this year they lured the leprechauns with honey nut cheerios, chocolate and coins.  

do you think we caught one....

nope, but miss a might fit the bill for a pesky leprechaun  ;)  ...

 

more images from the weekend.... the first photo:  evidence of the leprechaun mischief.  next image:  miss a was bummed that st. patrick's day fell on the weekend because she wouldn't get to eat a green lunch at school.  so, i of course made the infamous green lunches on friday with green bagles, green cream cheese, green grapes, green veggie booty, green celery and green chocolate mint candies.  this is now a tradition for our family.  and the last images:  are of alex the morning of st. patty's day, he made all of us breakfast-- green pancakes!

we ended our day hosting a st. patty's day dinner with our irish friends... another tradition for us and the best kind, time spent having 'green' fun!

happy st. patrick's day to you all!

week 10 :: vegetables

a bit behind uploading week ten but still trucking along with the 52 week photo project, you can read more about this project here or click on the link-  

<<<over in the sidebar under categories. 

here is my photograph for this week's theme  ::  vegetables

our family eats a lOt of vegetables especially green salads filled with all sorts of chopped up fresh goodness.  in fact, just recently the kids have been talking about eating the rainbow--- they try to see how many different colors they are eating at dinner on their plate.  have to say that purple gives us the most trouble-- sometimes there will be purple greens, purple cabbage or we'll have purple fingerling potatoes but it's definitely the trickiest color.

we also grow vegetables during the summer--- sometimes peas and lettuce but always cucumbers, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, rhubarb and lots of pumpkins.  each year is an experiment-- we even tried an artichoke one time-- but always the kids help plant, weed, harvest and eat the vegetables.  i'm so happy they like vegetables.

as for photographing vegetables....

i'd like to say these lovely radishes are fresh from our garden- but in the pacific nw, during the rainy month of march, i had to head indoors to take this picture.  we are lucky to have a local grocery store that has amazing fresh produce and a large quantity of organic products too.   and if you remember, with this 52 week photo project, i'm trying to challenge myself.... so, i took my camera into the grocery store, bent down to the shelving and started photographing the vegetables.  i'm sure i looked a bit strange.  but i told the gal standing nearby that i was practicing which seemed to be enough of an explanation.   

as for the picture it is SOOC... that is photographer speak for 'straight out of the camera'.  if you recall, i manually set my exposure on all my pictures.  so sometimes i'm a bit off which can be compensated for when editing.  but this photo didn't need any editing.  it is sooc.   i'm thinking that challenging myself is a good thing.