Days 12 & 13

So I took a couple days off while my husband was home.  Its so nice when he is actually home I tend to forget everything else.  But now I'm back and he's in Chicago.  That seems about normal for us. 
Day 12 was a sunflare.  I almost forgot to take this picture and then I rushed outside right before sunset to get it.  This is the first time I've tried to do this but I'll be playing around with sun flares some more in the future.

Day 13 was something that reminds you of childhood.  I thought a lot about this.  The things that remind me of childhood are snow, running in the sprinkler and hanging clothes on the line.  Those are my very strong memories.  Its June and the temp is no where near freezing so snow was out of the question.  I don't have a sprinkler or a clothesline so I had to keep thinking.  That's when I saw Phoebe doing what she does every single day: playing with Rowen's Tonka trunks.  This brought back a flood of memories of my baby brother Toby playing in his sandbox with his Tonka trunks. 

Day 11: Silhouette

This was a fun picture to take.  Rowen was a great little model.  He had so much fun standing around letting me take his picture. 

I really love this challenge.  When I first got my camera I used to play with it all the time but I haven't been lately.  I used to know how to use all the different functions and took some really cool pictures.  But then I got lazy and just used the point and shoot function.  My pictures haven't been very good for awhile and I'm so excited to start relearning how to use my camera.  Plus, for the first time since I was in high school I've started editing my pictures again.  I love some of my finished products.  Like this picture.  I love it.  It makes me smile. I want to put it on my wall.  I love knowing that I took this and I made it look like this.  I've realized that the more I learn the more I want to learn.   

Day 10: Animal

I had a terrible time trying to get a picture of an animal.  I should of just done what Rowen suggested and taken a picture of him playing with his dinosaurs.  But I was bound and determined I was going to photograph a real animal.  My lovely dog is kind of a PITA.  He will not sit still.  He gets extremely excited when he gets shown the slightest amount of attention, so taking a picture of him that didn't end up being blurry was nearly impossible.  I finally got this one.

Meet Sulley. 

Day 9: Fresh Fruit

My mother in law gave me a wonderful present for my birthday this year.  She gave me a subscription to a fruit of the month club from Harry and David.  I am so thrilled about this gift!  It was so thoughtful and original.  I love it!  I would love it even more if my fruit would ever arrive.  I'm still waiting on my May fruit even though I received the letter from H&D saying they were on their way.  I might call.  So I was hoping I would be able to photograph my fresh strawberries from May or even the mango's from June... but I still have no fruit.  Boo!
So instead I decided to take pictures of my tomatoes on my back deck because yes, tomatoes are a fruit.

And my little farmer too...

Day 8: Sunset

The sun sets behind my house.  Its nice because I can sit on the back deck and watch it after I put the kids to bed in the evening.  The only problem is there are lots of very big trees behind the house and also a nice big hill.  Its beautiful and nice for privacy, but not so nice for taking pictures of the sunset.  Oh well, I tried. 

Day 7: High Angle

So I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this picture.  I live in West Virginia so we have no shortage of hills.  My backyard is a giant hill and Rowen has been known to roll down on occasion.  I also have two decks and plenty of stairs.  I thought long and hard and still hadn't come up with any wonderful ideas.  So I was looking for inspiration when I saw Phoebe playing in the middle of the kitchen floor.  She does this every single day.  She loves pulling everything out of the cabinets and playing with them.  But I loved so she kinda got lost in all the stuff on the floor. 

Such a busy little girl!  Now if I didn't have the glare of my kitchen lights on my floor, it sure is shiny! 

Day 6: Books

Books are a very big deal in my household.  I love to read.  I could spend all day reading.  I love being swept away in a story.  I can see it all perfectly.  No matter how much I like TV and movies they could never ever compare to a book. I have passed my love of reading onto my son.

This is his nighttime ritual.  When I put Phoebe to bed every evening his job is to do something quiet to relax and unwind.  He almost always picks this.  I love the gigantic stack of books next to him.  Like its really going to take me that long to put Phoebe down.  But it makes him happy.  Books are the only thing I never say no to.  Every single time we come back from anywhere we have a new book with us.  Rowen loves books.


Here is the picture I took originally.  My favorite books: Harry Potter with my Kindle in front of them.  I love my Kindle.  All the books I could ever want right at my finger tips.  But it really doesn't compare with holding those books and turning the pages.  There is something magical about a real book.