Grandparents' sofa

My three-year-old crashed just before dinner after playing all day with her cousins at my parents' house. I hated to wake her, but I knew she needed to eat. This picture brought to mind a poem by Eugene Field:

Last night, my darling, as you slept,
    I thought I heard you sigh,
And to your little crib I crept,
    And watched a space thereby;
Then, bending down, I kissed your brow —
    For, oh! I love you so —
You are too young to know it now,
    But sometime you shall know.

Skies

We took our munchkins to one of my favorite places. I used to visit here when I was in college. It was a beautiful and peaceful place to study. When I was pregnant with baby #1, my husband and I would go for walks here trying to encourage my oldest to come out. I'm so glad my children liked it as much as I do.

 

Nature Break

My middle daughter has become an insect whisperer.  First she had a moth land on her knee, and then she was able to get a butterfly to rest on her finger.  Luckily, I was able to snap a few pictures of the butterfly.

Those Summer Nights

A birthday tradition started last year: going to the local interactive fountain for my oldest daughter's birthday.  Unfortunately, both last year and this year were unseasonably chilly the evenings we went, but the girls insisted on staying despite their shivers and chattering teeth.

I miss doing landscape photography.  When I first started taking photography classes, back when everyone was still shooting film (which still feels like only a few years ago to me), I never wanted to photograph people.  My peace was found in capture the beauty that God had created all around me.  Photographing people was stressful, because people move, and the younger the people, the more they moved.  Now that I am a mother, most of my pictures are of my children.  They do move, all the time, and it can be stressful because I have perfectionist tendencies and ideas of the "perfect picture" that I want to capture.  It is best when I just let them play and capture them while they are doing their own thing, when I choose not to worry about the best portrait.  Those pictures often end up being better than the portraits I attempt to take, but I still try to capture "nice shots of everyone smiling and looking at the camera."  I must enjoy suffering.  Still, I think landscapes will always be my peace.

My neighbor coordinated a really wonderful block party, which included a firework display.  I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the Fourth of July, so I went ahead and tried my hand during the neighborhood display.

Flower Picking

My family went flower picking for our first time. Not only did we come home with some beautiful tulips, but we had the opportunity to take some pictures.

Cooper's Hawk

A few weeks ago, the girls and I saw a hawk in a tree just in front of the house.  I tried to get a picture of it, but apparently the mighty hawk is a bit camera shy.  I had barely raised the camera to my eye when it took flight.  Sadly, I was not able to get my camera settings correct before the hawk was gone.  Last week, my second oldest went out front to play, and the she quickly came scampering back into the house to breathlessly tell me that the hawk was back.  I snatched my camera off the table, asked the girls to stay in the house and watch their brother while I tried to snap a few pictures.  Since I remember how shy the hawk is, I took the pictures through the branches of some trees that were by my house.  After looking at the pictures, we discovered our local hawk is a Cooper's Hawk.







And this is what awaited me when I finished taking pictures. I love them!

Hurray! Snow!

We finally got a really good snow.  Well, we had a decent one before, but last weekend we got about 10 inches!!  It was all powdery, so not good for fort or snowman building, but great for sledding.  Since it happened on the weekend, my husband was home.  I was able to escape the house and go for a snowy walk all by myself, which of course meant I brought along my camera, and this is what I got.  I wish it had been a wetter snow, as they tend to be a bit more picturesque, but you can see how hard it was snowing from these.

Quick Post

Just a quick post to show you what's been keeping me busy.








Aren't they cute?  What a good way to keep busy.

Best Face of 2014 - I Heart Faces Challenge

I am entering the I Heart Faces Photo challenge.  The theme is "Best Face of 2014."  This is from July, when my son was born.  My five year old daughter (one of his three sisters) is holding him, and she loves him so.




Feel free to either look at the other wonderful photographs in the contest or enter one of your own. http://iheartfaces.com