Happy Independence Day!

Yesterday I took the kids to their first close up fireworks display.  Most of the time on the 4th we end up watching fireworks from inside because the sound scares them but this year they were game and they loved every minute of it.  Sitting on a blanket, watching fireworks has always been one of my favorite childhood memories.  I love the thump you feel in your chest when the finale starts and the sport of oohing and ahhing at every one.  This week my project 52 theme was photographing fireworks so I set up my camera on a tripod and programmed it to click away on its own and the result turned out super cool.  I was so excited about it I edited as soon as I got home from the display :) 

 

 

 

 Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans and God bless all the men and women of the military today and in years past. I thank you for my freedom and the rights you protect!

 

"This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith."  -Lyndon B. Johnson

Millie

This month's Clickin' Mom blog challenge is shallow depth of field.  It's my favorite form of photography- one because it really focuses on details of the face, which I love, and two because it blurs the random stains on the carpet or latest stuff the kids drug out of their closet so background doesn't matter quite as much :) 

Lately my children have been shunning me as soon as the camera surfaces.  When every photo of your kid turns into a snarled face or a "talk to the hand" it's time to give it a rest and find a new subject!  So, this month I turned to my perky little puppy, Millie.  Who doesn't like a web page with a bunch of funny pug pictures, right?  So here she is in all her glorious glory.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."  -Josh Billings

 

If you enjoyed my blog post, head on over to Ana's blog to see her take on shallow depth of field. I hope you enjoy this month's blog circle.

Each month I'm participating on photography challenges with fellow Clickin' Mom photographers... You can follow the blog circle by clicking on our links at the bottom of each of our posts. You can also see them directly here:

Angie / Gina / Megan / Ana / Rebecca / Erica

 

Macro flowers

This week's CM challenge is macro flowers which is beginning to be my favorite form of photography.  I had so many pics that turned out great from my trip to Twin oaks park yesterday... which do you like best?

Beautiful Ugly

"What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet, Long live the weeds and the wildness yet."  Gerard Manley Hopkins

This month's Clickin' Moms challenge, Beautiful Ugly, came easy for me with the bloom of the dandelions.  My kids adore them.  They make wishes by the hundreds, much to my husband's disdain.  Their little blooms stain their smiles yellow.  All the fun my girls have been having over the last few years have made our yard quite the eyesore...err dandelion paradise.  So, beautiful ugly is what you can call our little tranquil haven.  Sorry neighbors!

 "Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."  A. A. Milne

Yes, that is my yard!  he he...

 "...breathing their wishes at a dandelion" -Jill Hanna

 

 Recently my 7 year old asked me if wishes work on things that aren't real. All her wishes were that she could fly :)

 

Not the Mother's day bouquet I had in mind :)

 

If you enjoyed my blog post, head on over to Ana's blog to see her take on beautiful ugly. I hope you enjoy this month's blog circle.

Each month I'm participating on photography challenges with fellow Clickin' Mom photographers... You can follow the blog circle by clicking on our links at the bottom of each of our posts. You can also see them directly here:

Angie / Gina / Megan / Ana / Rebecca

Looking through the glass

“Curiouser and curiouser.” - Lewis Carroll from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

This month's Clickin Mom's photography challenge is to take photographs through glass.  Surprisingly my kids were all enthusiastic to help me out on this one!  It was a beautiful day outside and they just couldn't understand what I was doing outside and they were stuck in :)  Their curiosity translated into some cute pictures, in my opinion.  Don't worry, once I got my shots they bee-lined to the swing set!

 

Playing "ET"... Katie got a kick out of this.

 

 

Ally playing along...although she had the dog on a leash ready to run outside as soon as I gave her the thumbs up.

 

 

Katie in her one of many princess dresses.

 

If you enjoyed my blog post, head on over to Ana's blog to see her take on photographing through glass. I hope you enjoy this month's blog circle.

Each month I'm participating on photography challenges with fellow Clickin' Mom photographers... You can follow the blog circle by clicking on our links at the bottom of each of our posts. You can also see them directly here:

Angie / Caristy / Gina Yeo / Megan/ Ana / Pam / Erica

Bloom

This weeks Project 52 theme is bloom.... which is a bit tricky because my yard is a little barren.  Yesterday the weather was beautiful so the kids and I went looking for flowers and we found our first little dandelion popping up.  If you know me... in a few weeks my yard will be a blanket of yellow (#neighborshateme) but the kids and I just adore dandelions.  They are pretty, they give you wishes and they make excellent macro photography subjects.  Now to just wait for their seeds to pop up for more photos :)  enjoy...

 

 

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Growing up, I loved to use my imagination.  Maybe that's why I found the movie, Mary Poppins so fascinating.  It was a whole world full of magic!  I can't help feel that way when we go to places like the old carousel in Faust park.  My daughter is a joy to watch in these types of places- ok she's a joy to me in any kind of place- but it's days like this we just marvel in Katie's joy.

We recently went there for a birthday party and I thought it would be a perfect place to take on the Clickin' Moms blog circle challenge of the month - interesting perspectives. We had a great time and I think that these shots have some out-of-the-ordinary views!  So ride along with me on my photo journey for the month.  Ready?
 

Ah!  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!  He traveled all around the world, and everywhere he went, he'd use his word, and all would say, "There goes a clever gent!"

Katie has Williams syndrome which is a rare genetic disorder.  It greatly affects her behavior in quite a positive way most of the time.  Katie has emotions to the extreme.  She senses things in her surroundings more intensely than your average kid and things like spinning and bright lights make her squeal with excitement.  So you can imagine that she was in heaven on the horse, so to speak...

Oh, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious, if you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious! Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

 

Katie expresses herself with so much excitement when she sees or feels something she loves. She adores the sensory input. The lights, the music, the motion... it puts her into a very happy place and that happiness is incredibly contagious! I have a feeling she'll be an amusement park "junky" in her future ;)

You know, you can say it backwards, which is "docious-ali-expi-istic-fragil-cali-rupus" - but that's going a bit too far, don't you think? Indubitably!

If you enjoyed my blog post, head on over to Ana's blog to see her take on interesting perspectives. I hope you enjoy this month's blog circle and if you'd like to learn a bit more about Williams syndrome, check out my page above (for the short version) or my other blog (for the long version)!

Each month I'm participating on photography challenges with fellow Clickin' Mom photographers... You can follow the blog circle by clicking on our links at the bottom of each of our posts. You can also see them directly here:

 Angie / Caristy /  Gina Yeo /  Courtney Kirkland / Megan Rose / Rebecca Grabek / Ana / Pam / Erica / Jessica