A Proud Momma Moment!!

Look at these two!!
This made me so happy!!!
My heart leapt
{turns out leapt is not a real word..but I like it better than leaped-just for you Aunt Barb}!!!
You would think that maybe they are just snuggling up and reading a book...
well, you would be right!!
But it's not just a Fancy Nancy book or even SkippyJon Jones...

It's THE book!!!
The Bible.

Jas has been involved in one of our local Bible Study Fellowships...
BSF for short.
Long story short...he was invited to attend a year and a half ago by my junior high math teacher {who has kiddos at A's school}.
What a Blessing!!
Jas has been loving it and looks forward to it each week
and even gets up super early to do his 'homework' when I leave for the gym at 5:30a.m.
We recently found out {through a mutual friend of A's} that they offer a youth program at the same church and time that Jas is at his.
PERFECT!!!

This is her first 'homework' sheet and she was eager to get after it!
{I love her doodling...such a girl thing...but it warms my heart...and Jas is thrilled that it is Jesus' and God's name in the heart and not a boy from her class}
She and Jas got all sprawled out on the living room floor and got to work.

Oh these two make me smile...
they have a bond that is so incredible...

I am eager and excited to watch these two bond on an even deeper level through their BSF and their bond with Christ.

A's first verse to learn{NIV}:
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Oh Baby!!!

I have been totally loving our {new} camera.
I have been loving taking pictures of our feisty ladies...
I have been loving taking pictures of our furry kiddos...
I have been loving taking pictures of things in our garden...
{peas have been planted}
There isn't really much that I haven't loved taking pictures of...
{I guess I know why photographers get addicted to their job...
It is so fun to be able to capture great pictures}
{Please don't misunderstand...I am not looking to add photographer to my list of job titles}
However, I did get to play one last weekend when we loaded up our family on a short roadtrip to help one of Jas' great friends celebrate his birthday.

Jolly and his beautiful bride, Uncle Patty {as Had refers to her} are soon expecting a baby girl
{name is not 100% decided upon yet}...
and since I had yet to try my hand at maternity photos,
this was my chance.
What a fun experience I had being able to take some maternity pictures of these {3}.
I am slowly continuing to learn how to use our camera and while I know these are not as fine-tuned as some professionals would take...
I didn't think there were too bad for a stay-at-home momma.

Jolly and Patty...
We are eager to meet your little girl and so excited for the two of you and the experiences that you are about to encounter upon.

It was so cute...he could NOT keep his hands off her tummy...

This may be one of my favorites...
I had seen this technique online and was really excited that it had rained early in the day providing us with a good puddle.

It is kind of fun being able to tell people to {smooch}...
{they were very cooperative}

Her tummy is about the cutest thing...

You can really feel the love between these two...
and I am not sure if anyone has informed them that they are about to love each other even more at the arrival of their daughter.
Parenthood is one of the most wonderful gifts from God!!!

'Uncle' Patty has that pregnancy glow all over her face.
It helps that she is Peruvian and just naturally gorgeous, too.

So eager to get to love on this baby girl...
I figure as long as all of our friends continue to have babies...
then I can just love on theirs for a few hours and still sleep through the night.

She is due in less than 2 weeks and hopefully, I'll get to take some newborn pictures of her as well.
Thanks Jolly and Patty for letting me capture this amazing time for you both!

Jas and Jolly have known each other for probably close to 15 years...
they played community college baseball together, college baseball together and even traveled to England to live for 6 months while playing and coaching baseball.
They have both since retired their cleats and have instead picked up their guns and some camouflage and spend the majority of their shared time together hunting.

They were in each other's wedding and love each other like brothers...
I know that Jas is so excited for Jolly to become a daddy soon...
and is looking forward to seeing how this little baby girl is going to enhance Jolly's world.

I can only imagine how cute these two daddy's will be toting their daughters along with them into the woods for scouting trips...

...Patty and I will be getting pedicures during those trips :-)

Memories revisitied {and edited a bit}

I recently decided to invest a little more time into being able to use our 'big kid' camera correctly.
I mean if you have the tools, you may as well know how to use them the right way, right?

And while our camera takes good pictures in the 'auto' mode...
they don't always turn out as I envision in my mind.
I needed to learn to be more confident in the 'manual' mode of our camera...
and be able to tell the camera what to do...
not take a picture, say a few 'Hail Mary's' and hope for the best.
Conveniently, about the time that I decided to start looking for a workshop to attend,
I received an email from the one and only,
Angie Penrose of Angie Penrose Photography,
inviting me to attend her upcoming workshop.
AAAHHHHHH!!!!
Divine intervention.
I couldn't wait to attend!!

Giddy like school girl!

I had a great time...
...even learned a thing or two
{Thanks Angie for all of your patience with me}.
You'll have to wait for some of my new and improved 'manual' photos,
but I can show you some of the things that I learned in editing.

***I will include the disclaimer here that I am not a fan of overly edited photos, but a few small touch-ups here and there, to make a great picture even better, isn't necessarily a bad thing.***

The following pictures are the untouched version first...
followed by the edited version.
I love each of these pictures in their original version,
but the edited just tweaks them enough and changes the 'feel' of them.
What do you think?

This was actually taken by my father in law, Oobie Doobie, at Jas' cousin's wedding last summer. I love the silhouette effect.

This is my cousin Carrie, and her little man, L, throwing rocks in the river last summer during one of our 'cousin playdates.'

I took this one of A last fall when we went to the ocean to visit my momma's side of the family.
I really like the {vintage} feel that the edits add to it.

Of course I liked this one from the 'get-go'... it has my favorite man in it!

...and my two favorite girls.

We went from playing in the ocean on an overcast, slightly chilly afternoon...
to what can be perceived as maybe a little more warmer day
{minus my sweatshirt}.

I am really excited to take some more pictures now that I understand our camera a little more and the abilities that it as {and now that I have}.
Hopefully, the two of us can reach an equal understanding and cooperate with each other to capture/create amazing memories.

Snow Day!!!

Isn't this ice covered tree amazing?!?
As each season approaches,
I am most amazed at how creative God is
and just how beautiful His creations are.
Case is point...
Each needle of this tree was frozen in time with ice.
AMAZING!!!

After the gorgeous and peaceful snowfall on Thursday,
we awoke on Friday after having it rain ice.
It was still peaceful and still gorgeous...
everything was covered in a coating of ice.
{I'll post pictures of this is an upcoming post}
The only drawback to the pristine layer of ice on everything...
a lot of branches of trees were incredibly heavy and as a result snapped and broke...
landing wherever they wanted.
The result...NO POWER!!!
No biggie...
{I secretly like it when the power goes out...everything is so still and quiet - except the girls}.
We spent the morning, like most...
except instead of our typical peanut butter toast we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
And after calling to a few of our local Starbucks to find one with power...
the girls and I jumped in the car and drove to get this
momma a double tall nonfat stirred caramel machhiato.
...
On the way home, I received a phone call from my friend Amy,
whose was at our other friend Amy's home...(each has two girls)
{Seems to be a theme in our neighborhood}
Anyhow...we stopped in (as they only live 3 streets over} and all 6 of the girls
put on their boots, gloves and hats and headed outside to get a hands-on winter wonderland experience.

Here is Miss Abra-Cadabra...
playing hard to get
{little stinker did her best to keep from being photographed}

I turned my camera's attention to the right and found Miss Had,
she was keeping her hands tucked safely in her pockets and admiring the ice covered branches.

A joined in on the effort to get a picture of Abra-Cadabra...

Ab's older sister was really intrigued by the branches in her yard and how they had been preserved by the ice.

Well...wouldn't you want to see what it taste like also?

I love that they were all in their jams...
no reason not to be as it was chilly and they didn't stay out long.
BUT BEFORE I LET YOU GO IN TO WARM UP and have lunch...
I need a quick group picture...

OK...everyone look this way and smile...
{Abra...please???}

As I was taking this pic...A announced...
'We don't have to smile...
She's just taking a picture of our boots!'
{Man, that girl knows me all to well}

OK...ladies on the count of three...
ONE...
TWO...

THREE...

JUMP!!!

OK...everyone inside...
kick off your boots and let's eat!!!

Did I mention that Amy's husband was home and had hooked up their generator so they had limited power?
These gorgeous beauties were grilled on their camping propane stove...

...as was this tomato soup.

Is there a more appropriate lunch for a group of girls on a 'Snow Day,'
than grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup?
It was delicious and warm...
better than what we would have had at home...
same as breakfast...
PB and J's.
The soup proved to be too hot for immediate consumption...
and the girls were wanting immediate.
Any ideas on the quickest way to cool off your soup when there is 6 inches of snow outside...

Amy...so smart...grabbed a handful of snow and put a little scoop in each bowl.

On one of the many trips home to check on our puppies...
I drove past this cutie-patootie...
pants rolled up

and more than eager to get to throwing some snow!!!
He is all boy!!!
{recognize him...he is the cute little blonde from my previous post.

I was bummed that Jas wasn't able to spend as much time with us because of his company's emergency service services and it was his week to be on-call.
But the time that we did get with him, was awesome and uninterrupted.
Lots of time spent reading books and coloring by the fire...

I am excited to create our next post...
as it really captures the beauty that those days presented us with.
I hope that most people were able to rejoice in it's simplicity and grandeur...
even without power {for 40 hours...but who's counting?}

PJ's and Honesty...

Hmmm...I'll bet you are wondering to yourself about now what in the world the title of this post means....
Well, it is what made up the two most important part of our girls' days.

Today was Pillow Pet/Pajama Day at Had's preschool.
So here she is...
in her Pretty Pink P.J's,
holding her Penguin Pee-wee Pillow Pet
ready for her Preschool Pajama Party.
I was told that they would Participate in a Pillow Pet Parade.
(ok...enough already...I get it)

But isn't she Precious?

Precisely my Point!
Did I mention that we watched Mr. Popper's Penguins this morning

(Ok...I'm done)

So after dropping Had off for school...
Jas and I rushed down to A's school
where she was secretly being awarded a Citizenship Award.

Proud momma and daddy-o!!
I know that I am biased...
but darn it...
she looks so cute in her jeans and cowboy (excuse me, cow 'girl') boots.
This month's awards were in honor of 'honesty.'
Her's said the following:
"A is honest through and through. She is honest in work and play. When working in our room and when spreading joy on the playground, A is one to seek out to be a positive role model. She sets high standards for herself and is an honest friend, learner and citizen.
Thank you, A for being a great model citizen."
We could not be more proud of our little lady...
nor could we think of a more important characteristic for her to be honored for!!

Now, it's not that I wasn't paying attention to the rest of A's peers as they got their awards...
It's just that my attention kept being stolen by the two cute kiddo's that were sitting in front of me...
I wasn't fast enough to catch this sassy little lady's face...
but trust me..she is stinkin' cute and has an alter-ego that I like to refer to as
'Yo-la.'
Her sister is one of A's good buddies and was receiving an award as well.

Same as this little man (one of his sissy's in also in A's class and was being recognized)...
who was ever so quietly playing his cars on the ground.

He thought it was awfully funny to turn his head back around as soon as I lifted my camera.
Little Stinker...but OH SO CUTE!!!

He is Had's age and the two of them find refuge in each other when they are ganged up on by the abundance of older girls around.

I GOT HIM!!!
It took a few tries...
but I captured his cute little self.

Tell me that he is NOT the cutest little boy you have EVER SEEN!!!

After numerous attempts,
I was finally able to catch 'Yo-la' as well.
Sassy side-pony and all!!!

And here they are...

our little award winners!!

The three of them are great friends...

and the other two have some of the best parents you could wish your child's friends to have!

We are Blessed!!!

I am cataloging these into their 'Senior SlideShow' folder!

We look forward to many laughs and memories with all of A's great friends...

and their families!