No Tricks, all Treats (Sunday Snapshot)

October,

tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets

and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins.... Merry October!

 

~Rainbow Rowell

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story. 

~Mason Cooley

They start talking about Halloween starting in early September,

and Will usually has thought of what he'd like to dress up a good 6 months

before Halloween. His costumes get a lot of wear as he wears them at home frequently.

This year he went as Ironman and Grace is a 'Weeping Angel.'

I took very few photos of our Halloween evening because it was a rainy one but it didn't stop my trick or treaters by any means.

Probably my favorite image was the candid one below as they checked out their loot in between houses.

 

It may have rained but they still had a great time!





Welcome Autumn (Sunday Snapshot)

If you stand still outside you can hear it...
 Winter's footsteps, the sound of falling leaves.

 

~ unknown

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came,

The Ashes, Oaks, and Maples, And leaves of every name.

The sunshine spread a carpet,
And every thing was grand;
Miss Weather led the dancing;

Professor Wind, the band....
The sight was like a rainbow
New-fallen from the sky....

 

~ George Cooper, "October's Party"

 

 

Autumn is here in Wisconsin.
This week our yellow leaves popped,
next will be the oranges and reds.

It's my favorite season for many reasons but
as a photographer I notice the light is low in the sky, golden
and delicious in color.
This week I took Grace out to a new location and loved the light in the trees.
I can't get enough of seeing these Fall colors
and spending as much time as we can as a family
outdoors.

 

 

Little Boys and Football

 

A Mom's Observations About Flag Football

 

(Now Will is the first of my 3 children to try flag football,

so it's new too me. These are some things I noticed)

 

~ There's quite a bit of energy out on that field of little boys

and it's not necessarily going in the right direction

 

~ Pulling a flag seems to be harder than tackling

 

~ There is some little boy that cries on every play(after all they're only 7)

 

~ The favorite play is "RUN!"

 

 

 

Will might be small but he's quite fast.

And it's really been a joy to watch him play.

It's all about Apples (Sunday Snapshot)

 

When the bold branches
Bid farewell to rainbow leaves
Welcome wool sweaters.

 

~ B. Cybrill

 

 

Fall has finally arrived in our neck of the woods.

Why do I love Fall so much?
 Maybe because for us Midwesterners it's 'just right' as in not too cold,
not too hot and humid, and not too rainy.

  Cool nights and bright blue skies have arrived.

So to celebrate Fall's arrival we made a little trip to a local farm that offers apple picking.
This is a new place for us this year.
The one we used to frequent had gotten crazy busy and

we were pleasantly surprised by the Appleberry Farm.

 

 

 

Now, what do I do with all these apples?
No worries, our two apple picking helpers have plenty of yummy ideas!

 I need to get busy. :)

 

 

Favorite Photo(s) Friday - my children

"They know me in a way no one ever has.
They open me to things I never knew existed.
They drive me to insanity and push me to my depths.
They are the beat of my heart,
the pulse of my veins,
and the energy in my soul.
They are my kids."

~ unknown
 

I didn't write the above but surely could have
because I've thought and felt every single one of those statements.

They make me laugh until I cry.
And sometimes frustrate the heck out of me.

I couldn't possibly love my children more than I do.

(His idea to use 2 sticks to make a mustache).



And couldn't have ever imagined that I'd be in my middle age years
and be a mama to two young children.

I'm grateful for this second and third chance at motherhood and thank God everyday
for my 3 children.
(the big and the 2 littles)

Favorite Photo Friday - November

Ah...November.

In our part of the world it is -

beautiful late afternoon light

wind blowing leaves off the trees
a first snowfall

and the anticipation of Winter days.

For me it's squeezing a few more outdoor sessions in with my children. 

 Last weekend I took Grace out for some portraits

before the snow starts falling.

The light was amazing in this field.

Last year I took her here out on the train tracks.

It's pretty amazing to see how much she's grown in one year.

This girl is awfully patient with me, it was a little chilly when we did them.

I love how she managed to find some levity!

Grace's beautiful hair flower (the eggplant colored peony) is by Sophia Jane Boutique.

And her pretty outfit is by Matilda Jane.

I thought they went together fabulously!

Have a great weekend. 

I'll be staying warm and toasty indoors. :)

Favorite Photo Friday - no tricks, just treats

Halloween started with a costume parade, followed by class parties at Grace and Will's school.
Will's class were all Monarch butterflies and that's him flying away from his teacher.
In the evening he became Green Lantern.

I fully intended to take a lot of pics of the evening but it just didn't happen.
When our oldest (Nick) stopped by to see the kids in their costumes and then
volunteered to pass out candy,
Grace and I ventured out with a friend of hers.
Dan went with Will and some of his friends.

 

It was definitely a success as far as candy totals went...

I think Grace counted 142 pieces for herself. 

Yikes!

 

Sunday Snapshot - Chicago

'But when I go to Chicago, I know I'm home.'

~ Hank Sauer

(The Chicago Theater, historic Michigan Ave. walking north and inside Macy's on State, formerly Marshall Fields and Co.)

'I miss everything about Chicago, except January and February.'

~ Gary Cole

(The Cloud Gate - Millennium Park, Chicago)

The Cloud Gate also has a nickname of The Bean because of it's bean like shape (it's curved underneath like a bean).
I guess the sculpture was inspired by liquid mercury.
It's very cool how it reflects and distorts Chicago's skyline and as you can imagine it's a
popular place to take pictures.

My two favorite cities in the U.S. are Chicago and San Francisco.
So when my friend Grace wanted to make a little trip to Chicago,
I jumped at the chance for a weekend away to show her some of my favorite places
in this beautiful city.

(At the Art Institute of Chicago, one of it's iconic lions is in the top pic, 
a Degas ballerina and one of many Buddhas in the Chinese collections).

Grace and I spent almost 5 hours in the Art Institute, something I haven't done in years.
It's hard to find words to describe this treasure trove of priceless collections
from around the world.

(Grace standing on the main staircase in the Art Institute).

My personal favorites were the collections of art by Monet, the Degas ballerinas,
anything by Toulouse- Lautrec, and pretty much everything
in the Chinese collections.
It was a thrill for me to see a few antique pottery bowls from my daughter's
birth city in China.

Last weekend Chicago showed us it's friendly people and it's beautiful Fall weather.

We did a lot of walking, a bit of shopping, some people watching,
took many pics (these are only  a fraction of them), there was lots of laughing
 and mostly catching up
with what was going on in our busy lives.
This little visit and time away were truly a treat for me...thank you so much Grace!
Please, let's do this again soon my friend.

(Michigan Ave. looking South)

43/52 - 4 more days

In our house there is a 9 and a 5 year old who are practically giddy

with anticipation about one little day that happens to fall on Oct. 31.

Costumes are ready for wearing and candy's been purchased.

(It's been hidden somewhere and I just hope I can find it in time).   ;)

42/52 - this and that

(Taken over the weekend)

~ Fall truly seems to be here in Wisconsin. We were recently spoiled with at least 10 days

of an Indian Summer.

Now we're back to crisp days, cold nights and Winter coats that are presently being worn.

We're starting to bundle up now and ready or not, it's here.

We still have some leaves on the trees and I'm sure they'll soon be gone.

~ My camera is doing strange things and I'm concerned.

Over the weekend it started having issues and I'm getting a little stressed.

Especially since I just sold my old camera (kind of ironic, you think?)

~ Thursday I pick up my friend Grace at O'Hare airport and we'll be having a girlfriend 

weekend in Chicago. 

Grace had been wanting to visit the Windy City and hadn't experienced Fall in a while.

I need to remind her to bring a warm coat.

Can't wait to get together again, show her a few of my favorite places in Chicago 

and maybe get a little bit of Christmas shopping done for my family too.

I'll be back to blogging next week.

Favorite Photo Friday - walk in the woods

Bittersweet October.
The mellow, messy, leaf kicking perfect pause between
opposing miseries of Summer and Winter.


~ Carol Bishop Hipps

Besides the Autumn poet sings,
A few prosaic days
A little this side of the snow
And that side of the haze.

~ Emily Dickinson

falling leaves
hide the path
so quietly

~ John Bailey

How beautifully leaves grow old.
How full of light and color are their last days.

~ John Burroughs

A little bit of our Sunday afternoon.
A walk in the woods with acorn and leaf collecting thrown in for good measure.
And enjoying the peace and tranquility of this beautiful place.

Texture Tuesday - (Red)

I had to participate in today's Texture Tuesday because red is my favorite color.

Taken recently of 2 sisters wearing red and plum colored pettiskirts,
I used one of Kim Klassen's textures called 'Thursday' on overlay and removed it off their skin.
This image has a lot of contrast and I thought the texture added a nice finishing touch.

Favorite Photo Friday - apple picking season

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird 

I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. 

 ~George Eliot

It was a gloriously beautiful day Saturday and we made the little trek down
to our favorite apple orchard.
As I recall Grace and I first came here on a pre-school field trip when she was 4.
We've made it a little family tradition to come here every Fall.
One year it was so cold that we had our Winter coats on and it even snowed a little.

We still have plenty of apples left, and now I'm thinking I better get going on some baking this weekend.

And if you're interested, my favorite of this series is the below image,
a candid of Grace and William picking raspberries.
I love Grace's expression.

Happy Friday!