Photo 365 #267

May 1, 20156 Comments

dandy Dandelions are such happy flowers. When I was little, I loved picking dandelion bouquets for my parents. Despite their weedy status, I loved them. As a matter of fact, I still do, even though they’re threatening to take over my yard.

But really, is there any sight quite as joyful as a field of dandelions? If there is, I’d like to see it.

It must be the color. Yellow is such a happy color, and after a long winter, dandelions are like little spots of sunshine appearing to remind us all that there’s more to life than snow and gray and endless cold. Dandelions are symbols of hope, and Suzanne Collins wasn’t the first to think so.

Anyway, Thumper and Cricket are enamored with dandelions at the moment, and it’s got me thinking about childhood and wonder and seeing the magic in the everyday. Yesterday, Thumper picked a dandelion bouquet for me, and it graced the table till well after supper, even though the blooms had closed up by then. I just hadn’t the heart to throw them out. He took so much joy in picking those bright little flowers and then carting them all over the yard – they were his new best friends. They climbed trees together, they chased cats together, they ran themselves ragged together.

I don’t have a whole lot to add to that at the moment; I’m too brain-dead to come up with a decent ending to this post. Brain-deadness has become my new best friend, and it’s one I could really do without. Hopefully the solution to this problem is right around the corner.

In the meantime, may your weekend be filled sunshine, whether in the sky or in the ground. Have a great one!

Photo Friday time!

May 1, 20155 Comments

It’s been such a lovely week here that I’ve started thinking about camping again. We always have a lot of fun camping, but with the move and everything last year, we weren’t able to go. We’re making up for it this year, but in the meantime, I’ve got these great shots to get me in the spirit:

: Miss Tadpole evidently wasn’t careful enough…

: …when applying bug spray to Bubbles.

These pictures come from a trip to Pine Lake a couple of years ago, and are some of my favorite camping photos:

: The results…

: …were…

: …hilarious. 🙂

I can’t believe it’s May already – camping season is just around the corner!

Have a great weekend, everybody, and don’t forget to stop by Charnele’s blog and check out what she’s got going on today!

Springfall

April 26, 2015April 26, 20157 Comments

springfall Last week, I got a great picture of my son in motion. The kids were all outside; I was busy snapping pictures of them in the magnolia tree they’d swarmed. Bubbles in particular loves climbing trees, so it was no surprise to see him in it, but the others spent almost as much time in it as he did.

Eventually, Miss Tadpole and Thumper started posing for the pictures, and I got a couple of really nice shots of them. Then Cricket joined in the fun. Not to be outdone, Bubbles joined them in all his silliness.

He spent five minutes horsing around in various states of upside-downness, but at last, his shoe gave way, and down he went. Unfortunately, my shutter finger wasn’t quick enough to catch his shoe as it followed him to the ground (with a brief layover atop his head).

It wasn’t the first time he’d slipped out of a tree that afternoon, and it wasn’t the last, but it was definitely the funniest. What can I say? He inherited his butterfingers from me. 🙂

Afloat

April 11, 2015April 10, 20156 Comments

slide As I’ve mentioned before, Thumper doesn’t know how to be still. The kid is always moving, even when he’s asleep.

What I wouldn’t give to have that kind of energy.

However, his inability to sit still has come in quite handy for this week’s photo challenge. Because he is completely unable to sit still, I was able to catch him floating off the slide one day at the park. I have no idea how I did it (though I’m pretty sure it involved burst shooting), but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Maybe the reason Thumper can’t sit still is because he’s such a happy little guy that all that joy physically lifts him up? Of course, if that’s the case, then maybe we’ll have to rechristen him Bubbles and find a new nickname for his big brother… 😀

Blur

April 6, 2015Leave a comment

This week’s photo challenge theme is blur. When taking pictures of kids (or at least, when taking pictures of my kids), I seem to end up with quite a few blurry pictures. Some of them are by design, but most aren’t. Thumper in particular never stops moving, so I love my cameras’ burst modes. In addition to being just plain fun, they allow me to capture great pictures of my little Energizer bunny that aren’t blurry.

blur

This picture, though, was blurry by design and features a cute moment with Miss Tadpole and Cricket. The Easter Bunny was kind enough to leave him a gift at my aunt’s house, and Miss T. thought it would be funny to look at him through the other end of his adorable binoculars. She was right – everyone got a kick out of it, including Cricket.

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter!

Photo Friday throwback: The late edition

April 4, 20154 Comments

This weekend, man. Talk about busy! I meant to share this last night when I got back from the last fish fry of 2015, but I was so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

Anyway, since it’s Easter weekend, this week’s throwback photo is Easter-themed. It was taken on Easter Sunday in 1991 at my aunt’s house, right after my sister, my cousin, and I had finished our Easter egg hunt. My aunt must have been the one who took this picture because my grandparents and my mom are all sitting on the steps with us (along with my cousin’s grandpa). My mom and my grandpa were huge photography buffs, as is my aunt, so family get-togethers when I was growing up involved many, many pictures. And if we were getting together with my great-aunt and her family? More cameras.

You can see where I get my shutterbug-ism from. 🙂

Did you hunt Easter eggs when you were a kid?

Photo 365 #232

March 27, 20154 Comments

Last night, Seymour and Bubbles spent the remaining light of day playing catch out in the yard. Cricket, not one to be left behind, was desperate to go outside and join them. I snapped this as he was hurrying through getting his shoes and coat on. He was so excited that I had to be quick with the camera if I wanted to capture even a bit of his joy.

I imagine I might look a bit like this come five o’clock this evening… 🙂

Photo 365 #229

March 24, 20158 Comments

2015-03-22 14.09.16 We play cards in our family. Like, a lot. It’s kind of our family pastime. And we start ’em young.

Well, not that young, really – I think both Miss Tadpole and Bubbles were in school before we taught them any card games. But when Grandpa and Grandma were up over the weekend, Cricket and Thumper wanted in on the action, too.

They hate being left out.

It started off with Cricket teaming up with his aunt. That went okay, until Thumper decided that he wanted to play, too. He teamed up with Grandpa, but wasn’t satisfied with letting Grandpa hold the cards. We gave him a couple cards of his own to hold, but that actually made matters worse. I finally managed to decipher the sobbing squeals – he wanted all the cards.

At that point, we decided it was naptime. That really set him off.

But someday, they won’t be too little to play cards. Someday, they’ll learn how to play Up and Down the River with us, and then it’ll get really interesting (Miss Tadpole and Bubbles make it interesting already). It’ll be nice when, someday, family game night includes our entire family.

And maybe by that point, I’ll have figured out how to win. 😉

Do you have any family pastimes or traditions like family game night? What are they? Shout ’em out in the comments!

Photo 365 #227

March 22, 2015Leave a comment

It’s hard work being a little guy. Eat and sleep, play and eat.

But sometimes, there’s cake. And everyone loves cake, especially little guys like Thumper. It’s even better when it’s birthday cake and Grandpa and Grandma are here to share it.

Today is my father-in-law’s birthday, and the kids are beyond excited to spend the day with Grandpa and Grandma. I hope your Sunday will be as nice as ours!

Photo 365 #226

March 21, 2015March 22, 20152 Comments

Cricket recently acquired a new set of Superman jammies, and he adores them:

“Superman to the recksyou!”

Cutest. Superman. Ever. 🙂

He loves them so much that I have a feeling he’s going to try to convince me to let him wear them to daycare come Monday. That’s going to be a hard argument to win, because he’s so darn cute in them. 🙂