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. :)

 

 

Celebrating Her Special day(Sunday Snapshot)

 

Grace turned 11 in early August.
 That month for us was a crazy busy one with our vacation,
a trip into Chicago, me making a brief trip to Florida to see a friend
 and getting ready for school so

we elected to have her party last weekend.

We had it at a 'Kid Spa' in Madison
where the girls were pampered with manicures,
a glittery faux tattoo, and their choice of a little bit of
makeup to wear.

  

 

 

Oh and their choice of flavor of ice cream.

You can tell by the big smiles all around that they all had a GREAT time!

I love every single one of Grace's sweet friends

and we cherish their friendships.

 

 At an age where Grace still loves to play with her American Girl dolls
but would like to start wearing a little makeup,
she is definitely a tween.
And I'm taking in every moment of this time in her life.

 

(Sunday Snapshot) Summer Vacation

 

"Happiness is a Summer breeze, sand between your toes, and your best friend right beside you."

 

~ unknown

 

 

"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), It's always our self we find in the sea."

 

~e.e. cummings

 

 

I call it beach therapy, for us also known
as our Summer vacation.
And the beach can be at the ocean, a lake or a bay.
I've had a love affair with being near water for most of my life,
so naturally my children would love water too.

These were taken two weeks ago while we were in Door County
enjoying some time together in the town of Ephraim.
I had great plans for taking even more photos that
would eventually be used for our Christmas
card but that didn't happen.
We came home a little bit early as our oldest son
was ill, thankfully
he's well now.

 I have found that my favorite photos are the ones where I just sit back and observe what's going on.
So I'll let the rest of the images speak for themselves.



(Grace created this woven wreath herself with things she found
on the beach,
a twisty vine and leaves made a beautiful headpiece).
 



 

Please link up with Stefanie's

Sunday Snapshot.

 

 



July Snapshots

I take a lot of photos every month, and am surprised at how many I take with my iphone.

These are some of my favorites from July.

 

1. Grace and friends sitting on the deck enjoying snowcones. 2. Grace had decorated

her walking stick while we were at the dog park. 3. Dan, Will and Zoe at the park.

4. Batman, one morning, standing on the landing. 5. Grace and handsome Jack.

6. A beautiful sunset at Pope Farm Park. 7. The back of my big camera, a recent

session with three little girls. 8. Grace and Lydia going down the slide at our town's

Summer festival. 9. A happy Will with his snowcone!

 

July has flown by.

When Summer starts I always feel like

it will last forever and it always seems to go way too fast.

rubberband boy

 

My little gymnast.
This is his second year with gymnastics.
He loves his new coach and he's
learning all the apparatus.

We just found out that Will's friends in his class
call him 'rubberband boy,'
because of his flexibility.
Will likes his nickname very much.
And he likes being the best in his class.
He's about ready to move up to Level 4.

We're very proud of Will and all that he's accomplished!

 

32/52 - Summer Vacation

{First glimpse of the beach, the waters of Green Bay in Ephraim, WI}




I'm a water person and it's no surprise that all 3 of my children are too.
My Dad had a boat when I was growing up and I learned to ski
and spent many hours on lakes and reservoirs growing up in Indiana.
It's probably for that reason that we try to vacation at a spot near water.

The water this time was in Door County, WI.
This was our second visit there as a family and it didn't disappoint at all.
We spent quite a bit of time on the beach or in the water...whether
it was the fresh water of the bay or in the pool.

When we weren't in the water we explored some of the quaint little towns and villages
that are up and down the peninsula.
I found a gem of an antique store and purchased a few photography props that also
double as items that go in our home.
Grace and Will got to experience a drive-in movie (we saw Ice Age 3).
They wore their pj's and ate popcorn and we snuggled under blankets
while watching the show on that big outdoor screen.
It reminded me of my own childhood.
 We played mini- golf
and went to a traditional Wisconsin fish boil.
The food was delicious!
They embraced all these new experiences...all 3 were a huge hit.
We found that Will  has a fondness for boats of any kind...it's adorable.
He loved checking out the local marinas.

I think the best part was time spent together away from the tv, computer and
video games.
Just us being a family.
Together.

These are a few of my favorites but as you can imagine
I have quite a few more photos to go through and will do a couple more posts
showing our time in this beautiful place.
It's lovely in the Fall, so hopefully next year we may return...

Friendships, Photography and Fun - Favorite Photo Friday

{Beautiful Natalie, just after being photographed by her mom.} 

 

If you read my previous post you'd remember that our friends (Grace, Liam and Natalie)

visited us for 5 days, (here from Florida).

Grace (mom) had a new 35mm lens and wanted to take it out for a try.

She already knew plenty about light and how her camera worked.

Her photography is beautiful.

I did show her a couple of things...one of them being as far as what I do to get children

to relax and have natural smiles and expressions in photos.

And it's not hard...we have conversations, I listen, we talk and I ask questions.

Many times the best expressions are between the talking (and that's my opinion).

Natalie did awesome by the way!

Grace(mom) also wanted to get some photos of Liam and Natalie

and then Liam by himself.

I'm hoping in a blog post she'll show some of those adorable photos

that she captured.

My husband Dan was a great assistant as far as distracting the two boys while 

Grace, Natalie and I were working on photos.

Dan and the little boys took a walk around the back of the park and found some

big sticks. They started making what looked like a tepee.

Eventually the girls joined in.

The kids called it a 'nest.' As in a birds nest.
The girls added leaves and flowers.
They were all so cute together making this thing, and
it was serious business for everyone.
The boys had to choose just the right stick.

While they were here visiting, we went to the Madison Farmer's Market,

 Grace(mom) and I went out to dinner by ourselves, 

they helped us celebrate my Grace's 10th Birthday on Monday 

and they got the grand tour and saw  Southern Wisconsin's

rolling hills, beautiful barns and farmlands.

Oh...and cows of course. ;)

In the evening time the kids raced around the backyard playing tag with neighbor children

and they caught fireflies. Fireflies don't seem to be in Florida I guess.

Of all those things, I think this one...with our 4 children building that funny 'nest' was my favorite time

and I'll always remember how much fun we all had.

In our quaint little corner of the United States.

I call it 'Mayberry.'

And it really is.

Thank you Grace, Liam and Natalie...you made some wonderful Summer memories for all of us.
Maybe next time...Florida?

Liam (5.5 yrs.), Will(6.5 yrs.), Grace (10 yrs.) and Natalie (9.5 yrs.)

Love those sweet smiles!

31/52 - Seeing Double

{2 little Batmen} 

Last Friday our friends Grace, Liam and Natalie arrived in our neck of the woods.

It was their first visit to Wisconsin and our little town.

Grace lives in the city and we live in the country.

I believe they had been here about an hour and Grace(mom) was upstairs unpacking.

I was downstairs and came around the corner to see these two little boys all decked out

in their best crime fighting apparel.

I watched what transpired between the older Batman and his younger friend.

(Will was fastening Liam's cape in the front).

After that these two drove off in the Batmobile! ;)

Though I love taking portraits, my very favorite style of photography is lifestyle. 

You just sit back, observe and watch the show. 

This one was delightful...

(More photos of their visit coming later in the week).

Favorite photo(s) Friday - a little bit of my life

{Time capsule}

I've had quite a few roles in my lifetime...as a daughter, a student, wife,

a long and rewarding career as a Registered Nurse,

 an elementary school tutor for at risk kids and now part time photographer/full time mom.
Being a mom is hands down the best thing I've ever done.

It's my personal belief that motherhood isn't about a list of tasks we complete
or having a spotlessly clean home at all times,
it's about being there for our children.
The little ones and big ones.

I'm not a perfect mom but I'm a loving and caring one.
I thoroughly enjoy my children, and yes even the stages or phases
that are a little more trying. I've learned they all pass in time.

One of my favorite things is to observe my kids doing what they do best 

which is play.

And I jump in now and then too!

The storyboard shows parts of my life over about a 13 hour time period on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

There's Will and Grace at 7:20 am (on the left) waiting for their Dad to put on his coat 

to drive them to school.

The top row shows a photo of my kitchen table (a place we spend quite a bit
of time doing homework, crafts and eating meals),

then there's a cup of my favorite tea in front of the computer...

I was editing a lot that day.

Middle row is our 9 month old pup Zoe looking awfully cute

and Will (after school) working on some Valentines.

The last row is my little fish (Will) in the bath

and Grace fast asleep around 8pm that night.

She has to have her favorite stuffed animals arranged 'just so perfectly.'

I feel incredibly blessed.