Merry Merry! (Sunday Snapshot)

 

 

Well it definitely was a Merry one.

All those days of preparation, shopping, wrapping, baking and cooking...

then it's over awfully fast.

 

 

 

 

 

And all that getting ready is worth every single second,

to see their faces.

 

 

 

 

 

We had a quiet, low key Christmas with my own family,

(Dan, me, Nick, his girlfriend Lindsay, Grace and William).

 

 

 

 

I put my camera down after I took these and didn't pick it up again,

which is good for me to do now and then.

Over the weekend we spent Saturday at my parents house with my 3 siblings

and their families.

A very, very fun evening and as always I laugh till I cry

when I'm with my two brothers and sister Betsy.

 

 

I hope everyone's Christmas was lovely!

 

 

 

 

 

 



(Sunday Snapshot) - Are We There Yet?

 

 

Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men.

 

~ Chinese Proverb

I feel like I'm one of my children in the car as we travel to a destination,
and instead of asking "Are we there yet?" I
keep asking to myself, "Is Spring here yet?"

It seems to take one step forward and 3 steps back.
Many days we've had cold rain, a few days of snow, and not much sun.
Since we've had a month of April showers, we should have
a plethora of flowers in May.

We decided to embrace our (slow to arrive) Spring
and have fun in the puddles and rain.
Spring will come, it always does...

 



Week 4

{Wild - captured this morning}


Another week has gone by.
And February is near which means Spring isn't far behind!

Some more photos of the day with their prompts:
1. Wild - Our bed hog dog, Zoe making herself comfortable.
2. Cold - a bitter cold snowy field near our little town.
3. A Circle - a curvy circle, that's a beautiful little dish given to me
by a thoughtful friend. 4. Frozen - snowflakes on my red mitten.
5. Snuggle - Will with his much loved and well worn blankie.

It's been  horribly cold this week and I know

it's cold when our dog Zoe doesn't want to go out.

 

The prompt or theme on Tuesday was 'Bright' and

I went with some lemons we had in a bowl.

The color yellow makes me happy during these grey Winter days.

 

 

 

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!

Sunday Snapshot - my youngest son

He has a big name for such a little boy, our 

"William Michael Yousheng."

At age 6 years - 4 months, he is 42 lbs.

of fun, feisty and activity.

Pretty much from the moment we met Will in China, it was obvious he was a gifted child.

He's very intelligent but he's also a deep thinker. Will understands the concept of time travel, 

comprehends death and the implications of it, knows directions (North, South, East and West), 

and grasps the days of the week and time passing. 

Many of these things have become apparent when he asks us questions
about specific topics

and we had no idea he even knew about them.

(I love his strong hands).

He's gifted physically as well...he loves anything that's physically challenging.
(Dance and gymnastics for him...so far. He'd like to try karate next).
He reads (far above his grade level) and writes (more legibly than Dan).
I don't have any idea what he'll become when he grows up but his
outgoing, friendly and compassionate nature could lead him into
many careers.
I would love it if he became a doctor or a person who helps people.
Mostly I just want him to be happy.

Four years ago we found Will on our adoption agency's special need's list.
His special need was a repaired cleft lip and palate.
This superficial physical anomaly has been beautifully repaired and by the time
he's an adult it will only be a vague memory.
However, Will's real special need wasn't his cleft. His real special need
is related to an emotional disability and chemical imbalance in his brain.

And now as we hear words like "low levels of norepinephrine and dopamine " and "neurotransmitters".
They're words that have meaning to me because of my nursing background, but
now those words have additional meaning because they explain some things.
For the entire time we've had Will we've been learning more about him and
learning from him - attempting to understand and help this complex child.
He has sensory issues, problems with anger and defiance, and difficulty
attending and focusing in school.
We have a long road ahead, with no easy answers or a quick fix to any of this.
But we'll do whatever it takes to help Will cope with life and school a bit better.
Will has such a dear sweet heart and caring nature;
we want the world to see who he really is and not label him.

I am a photographer but that's just a part of who I am.
My most important role is that as a mom and right now my son needs me.
I couldn't possibly love this child anymore than I do right now.

The black and white of Will was taken about 30 minutes before sunset

and composed in camera using

the rule of thirds. 

Nikon d700

85mm 1.4 lens

f- 2.2

1/250 sec.

ISO 320

Sunday Snapshot - Almost to the Finish Line

{Playing hopscotch}

 Grace and Will recently asked me how many days

 were left until Summer vacation.
We're doing a little countdown on the calendar until the last day of school.

As of today we have 13 and 1/2 days of school until it's here.

This is the first Summer we have nothing scheduled...no dance, no Summer school,
just Grace's birthday and a vacation to Door County in August.

I may be more excited about school getting out than they are...
We're hoping to have a couple of trips to the Chicago area to see friends.
Other than that they'll be spending some lazy days of sleeping late (wishful thinking on my part), running through the sprinkler, swimming,
playing with friends, and going to the library to check out new books to read.

It's hard to believe how fast this school year as flown by!

Though the first one is my favorite image,
it was a little mistake (as far as not what I was planning to shoot) that I found when I uploaded the pics.
I loved how as Grace was jumping, her legs framed Will in the bokeh and the
word 'finish' framed the bottom.
It's kind of funny because I'm finding as I continue on my journey
with photography some of those happy accidents with me and my camera
are becoming my very favorites.

Taken a few evenings ago with my Nikon d700.

50 mm lens

f/1.8 (the first image)

1/1600 sec.

ISO 640

Edited with Florabella's Classic Workflow actions

using Classic Color, 1968, and a tiny bit of Cross Process.
Please go on over and see some photographers that do amazing and inspiring
work at Stefanie's Sunday Snapshot.

16/52 and Texture Tuesday - Free and Easy eDition

{White lilacs}

My lilacs are in full bloom and I am happy about that.

I would say I haven't met a flower that I didn't like and have a few favorites.

Peonies and lilacs come to mind.

Oh and sunflowers too.

Edited with Florabella's 'Classic Film' action

with two layers of Kim Klassen's 'i Am' textures,

one at overlay and one at soft light and desaturated a little bit.

Sunday Snapshot - brothers and sisters

"It was nice growing up with someone like you - someone to lean on,
someone to count on...someone to tell on!"

~ unknown

"Help your brother's boat across, and your own will reach the shore."

~ Hindu proverb

"In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips."

~ unknown

The groundhog in Wisconsin was correct this year and we're

having an early Spring.

Sunshine, warmth and children playing outside together...today

they're making some childhood memories.

I think brothers and sisters can be embroiled in a sometimes - love 

and sometimes - hate relationship from the beginning. One minute

they're playing happily and the next, they're arguing about something

inconsequential. They learn to "push each other's buttons," manipulate, 

cajole, tease, share (whether they want to or not) and tolerate.

And they learn to forgive.

Grace is the typical big sister - she likes to boss Will around, tells on him

and sometimes has him wait on her like a "butler." They both have

strong personalities and want the other to play their way.

Will is a typical little brother - he adores Grace, follows her everywhere, 

spies on her, and bugs/torments her at times.

Both are delighted to get the last cookie, Popsicle, soda - anything

that denies the other something they might want.

That being said, they truly love each other and usually

are delightful together.

As I've said many times, we are so blessed to have them in our lives.

I happen to be an oldest sister with 3 younger siblings(a sister and 2 brothers).

My husband is the youngest brother of 7 children.

We both well understand this complex, yet wonderful

life long relationship Grace and William have.

And Stefanie at Ni Hao Yall has changed it upin a good way for her Sunday Snapshot.It's new and improved with a twist!
These were taken this week when we were off school for Spring Breakand took a walk around a local nature conservancy.I chose the top image as my best one. Not sure it's my best but it's my favorite becauseit was a candid of them doing what they do best...be kids.
All shot with my Nikon d700 and a 35mm 1.4 lens.
The settings were:f2.51/2000 sec.ISO 500
I brought all my pics into Lightroom and adjusted the exposure as needed.Then into photoshop CS 3 where I used Florabella'sClassic Color action at about 50%,1968 action at around 20%and Warm Color Pop at 32% on everything except their skin.

Texture Tuesday - Pink

{Cherry blossoms}

Our early Spring days have been glorious.

Taken yesterday at Olbrich Gardens in Madison, there was 

a canopy of fragrant blossoms above.

Edited with Florabella's classic color action

and two layers of Kim Klassen's 'Be Still' texture.

The first at Luminosity @ 15%

and the second at Pin Light @ 10%.

I removed a little of the texture off the foreground flowers.

Favorite Photo Friday - black and white

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart."

~ Kahlil Gibran

(One of my favorites, taken about 3 weeks ago, I am loving it in black and white).


Those eyes clearly show what is in her heart.




Edited with Florabella's High Key bl/w action
from her Classic Workflow actions.
(Which I highly recommend!)