One more.....

.....from inside the barn. :)

Barn

A perfect place to play...and take photos!

My folks just purchased some additional land adjacent to theirs, and it included a barn. A beautifully dilapidated barn. Awesome, from a photographers point of view. To a kid? A whole new world of spectacular fun.

Another warm one!

So what did we northerners do???


we donned our sunscreen....


climbed some stairs....

and we went outside!

and of course, we hit up the swings....

Do you think we had any fun?
Oh yes, we did!!! Went over to NPH for story hour, where we met up with Ruthie and Katie, and then headed over to a nearby park where we hung out with ducks (yes, we had ducks sitting with us), went on the swings, went down the slides, and played with the balls we brought along. A great time was had by all!!

~Em

Guess what we did today?

We went OUTSIDE!!!!

Can you tell I'm excited about the warmer weather? no?
Well, I am SUPER excited about it. Really. I cannot wait for buds to explode on the trees, and flowers to bloom. It will be beautiful soon!

Can I hear a cheer? hip-Hip- hooray ;)

Photo Challenge- Man vs. Nature

Thus weeks photo challenge was to take 3-5 pictures with the theme of man vs. nature:








and, finally, this one's for you, Erin :).....

Spring storms

Two nights ago we had some awesome storms blow through our area- and they showcased some excellent lightning! (we had over 600 strikes per hour- according to my meteorologist friend :) I wanted to get out there during the throws of it, but it was raining SO terribly hard, and I didn't want to ruin my camera, so I had to wait until it was almost past us to try to get some pictures.
I took 31 shots, and unfortunately most of the lightning was in the clouds, so they looked like they were just glowing.
but, I did get ONE...

This is looking East from my front yard a little after 9:00 pm- by that time most of the storm was out over Lake Michigan.

MMM...growing things

Oh, how I love spring, when things will grow.
One arm wrapped around my little one, the free hand pressing dry seeds
into dark, wet Earth.
Little packets of seeds that when shaken, make my child giggle from the belly-
that sweet, sweet sound of baby laughter-
the enjoyment of growing things.

if you hadn't noticed....

Yes, this is my third post today.

I NEED to update on all that's been going on with my J man and my J hubby.
Josiah's new stuff:
1. He can now roll over from his front to his back. However, he has decided that he no longer wants to roll from his back to his front. Go figure.
2. He had his first cereal. Notice, I said HAD, not ATE- anyone who has ever given an infant their first food will understand this) He loves it! Now whenever he sees me eating yogurt, he thinks it's time for him to eat, too.

3. He went to his first baseball game. Too bad Uncle Josh's team lost :(

4. He no longer fits in his 3-6 month clothes. 6-9 month clothing is SO much more comfy. Keep in mind that he is 4.5 months old.

Jonathan's new stuff:
1. He applied to get a job at the FAA I'm not sure what all the details are on it- but I do know the application was 18- yes eighteen- pages long. Basically, it would be more normal hours (no more 3rd shift!) and WEEKENDS OFF!!!!! I am not excited about that at all... ;)
2. He turned the big three-O today! Happy birthday, hubby! I love you!

Weekly Photo Challenge #15

This week's Challenge was to take 3 pictures of a coffee cup....I think it was supposed to be in 3 different situations, but, well....I only had time for one situation, so I thought I would make a nice series of it :)(I've been a little busy with taking other photos- like this)
Tweeking was allowed...and usually I take advantage of that, but I decided to be a purist this week- these photos were not touched AT ALL after being taken. I have been working hard at learning my new camera (fuji S5 pro) and thought I would add an additional challenge to myself to take the pictures how I wanted them to turn out.
So, I used my absolute favorite mug (which usually holds tea, not coffee) and my BEAUTIFUL tulips from my garden (which were freshly rained upon when I cut them this evening), and my golden oak dining room table: and the combination of the three main colors, I think, turned out phenomenal ;) (if I do say so myself!)

Signs of Spring

Budding Trees

Soggy Ground

Sprouting plants in my garden

April showers bring....

the spiders.... blech!!
I have noticed a definite increase in the number of bugs roaming freely around our house. And while I would NORMALLY just find a shoe and squish the little bugger, there was something strangely beautiful about how he (she?) was reflected in our double paned window. Unfortunately, she (he?) scooted away rather quickly after having its picture taken, so the "squishing" I'm so accustomed to doing never happened.
oh,well.