November 29

We had our first snow of the season yesterday afternoon. Matt and Libby and I went out to see the snow (and to take pictures.) Libby could not have cared less about the snow. She wanted to play with Pookie, the neighbor's cocker spaniel. She's quite taken with him and spends a lot of time at the fence whenever she's outside.

no photo for the 28th. I did take pictures but they were of another family and I didnt get a model release yet. ;)

November 27

This is our Christmas card picture for this year. :) isn't it cute? I totally love it. I know my grandmother won't like it because it's not the best representation of their faces, but you really can't get a better capture of my kids personalities. You can look at this and it's obvious why I call our house "Bedlam."

We let the kids pretty much pose themselves, with a bit of direction, while Steve and I took turns taking the pictures. I think Steve took this particular frame.

November 26

Rilla and Matt helping me make the dinner rolls for the Thanksgiving party for my husband's family. Rilla ran and found her sister's old apron and everything because she saw me with mine. the kids are old enough to be able to spread the butter on the rolls and roll them up. we do a cresent roll shape and it's very quick and easy and very good. I grew up with my mom making 6 dozen every year for Thanksgiving. I only do 3 dozen for my husband's family, but it's almost always enough.

Btw, it's probably cheating here, but Steve took this photo. that's my shoulder on the left. ;) hey, I was making the rolls, he had to take the picture to preserve the moment. I'm glad he's feeling comfortable enough with that these days to help me out.

November 25

This is my favorite Thanksgiving Day photo. Libby has a hard time sleeping away from her bed. It's such a quintiscential Thanksgiving moment to me to have the baby asleep in the high chair.

November 24

another picture of our hoarfrost. I love how it builds up over time as the fog freezes and it is too cold to melt away.

November 23

November 22

we have our first batch of hoarfrost for the year. I love it! that thin layer of ice on everything is so lovely.

November 21

actually taken on the 12th. but she's too cute to keep to myself. ;)

November 20

this was actually taken over six months ago, but since I didn't pick up my camera on this day, I thought it might be nice to see some spring.

November 19

right after seeing Harry Potter. That's my sister and her husband with my two oldest.

November 18

November 17

She still brings me flowers. We have a lot of wildflowers that grow on the route home from the bus stop and Sarah loves to pick me a boquet on the way home. Last week she snuck a rose off of a neighbors bush and we had a talk about taking flowers that belong to someone else. Yesterday, that neighbor was doing his fall trimming of his rose bushes and had thrown a bunch of overblown roses into his leaf pile. He happily let Sarah take them. She brought them home, so proud to give them to me. I had to fill the vase to the brim to even be able to give them water, their stems were so short. Still it was a lovely spot of color for one day and I'm glad she still thinks of me when she sees flowers.

November 16

not the best picture ever by far, but this is my girl. Her daddy got her ready for bed the night before, can you tell? That little red rocking chair is her favorite chair, especially when it's set in front of the bookcase. I love the way she's cuddling her brother's blanket and holding a book. she's not asleep, just enjoying her spot. She sat there for a quite a while, perusing books and rocking in her little chair. the picture is a bad one because as soon as she saw the camera she stood up and ran over to me so i could take her picture. LOL!

November 15

see that colorful striped thing coming off my son's bottom? That's his "lizard tail." He showed me how lizards walk and asked me what they eat (because it was lunch time.) He's a very silly boy. I think he must have had that little stuffed snake down his pants for at least an hour.

November 14th

yup. she's a toddler. Libby has learned how to get herself a snack. aren't we proud? LOL! she reaches into my pantry and pulls out the cereal and just stuffs her little face. She made a huge mess with the rice crispies. She also didn't feel one bit guilty about the mess. Definitely a toddler.

November 13

cheating here. I didn't pick up my camera at all on the 13th, so here's one I took on the 11th. I adore it. it's got a bit of a Tara Whitney feel to it to me. (according to her blog, I think she'd like it because there's catchlights in those brown eyes. LOL!)

November 12

My old high school played their semi-final game for the State Playoffs yesterday afternoon. Steve and I took the two youngest and the other three decided to stay with grandma. The game was a lot of fun to watch. They usually make the quarter finals but it's been awhile since they have gotten this far. I brought my camera to get some action. It's hard to get good football pictures when you haven't done it before. You have to anticipate the team's moves and be ahead of them with your camera. I only got a couple good action shots. This one is my favorite from the game of the action. (the pass was called incomplete because it bounced before he caught it. this would have been an interception otherwise.) I've got a cute shot of baby sleeping in daddy's arms with her brother right there too. ;) oh btw, they won, 24-7 and they will play on friday for the State Finals. The experts who seem to keep track of these things have predicted our team to win. Wish I could go, but it's on the other side of the state, and in ID, that's pretty darn far. LOL!

November 11

Matt's musical inclinations continue. This marshmallow gun became alternately a trumpet and a trombone. He marched around the house making kazoo like noises into it. By the time he'd been doing it for an hour I was ready to hide the darn thing! LOL! whatever happened to short preschool attention spans?!

November 10

my little maestro. he was pretending these wooden spoons were a violin. he hummed mary had a little lamb while he drew his "bow" back and forth. When I first caught him doing it, his positioning was actually right. he messed up his hands a bit when I asked him to do it for the camera. LOL!

btw, no one in our home plays the violin. I don't know where he got the idea to do it. he's just a funny boy. I guess it comes with being a Bubba. ;)

November 9

I took my boy out for some fun. Don't you just love a little boy in overalls? so adorablly cute. matt has two pair and he likes them too, which makes mommy very happy.

Btw, it's totally overexposed. I stink at fill flash. I have read and read and read and I still overexpose the shot. do you have to use manual? I dialed down my flash exposure compensation a full stop. maybe I should have done two. : s

November 8

This is what my day was like today. She's had a cold since Sunday. Poor baby. Poor Mommy. I think we both could use some tylenol.

November 7--The Sharyn Says I Have To Edition

also, I've been having fun with the lollipop pictures from friday. check out my post on Notes From Bedlam.

November 7

Matt playing with the tape measure.

I missed yesterday. it was a very rainy day and I just didn't get my camera out.

November 5

The kids were playing with a manget set. It has two cow magnet strength magnets and a bunch of British pennies and two 2 pence pieces. (British coins have iron in them.) With these, you can build really cool shapes and experiment with magnatism. The kids really enjoyed building the shapes.

funny story: DH borrowed this set from a coworker. He picked up a 2 pence coin and said "hey! Tuppence!" and his coworker said "no. that's a two pence piece. they stopped making tuppence. " LOL!

November 4

Libby enjoying a sucker. I can't decide which version I like better.

I have enjoyed the POD challenge because it's given me a goal to work for. I have made POD not just about taking one photo from my day, but about taking the best photo of my day. I have let myself get lazy with my photography, stopped thinking about it. POD is my way of kicking myself in the pants so to speak, taking five minutes each day to get the best photo I can with what I have availible. So far it's been a good strategy. ;)

November 3

My little guy is sick today. He has a fever and a cough. I asked him what he needed and he said, "can you help me stop sneezing?" :( poor little guy.

photo has a slight blue tone and I messed about with some filters just for fun.

November 2

Libby's favorite spot in the house. She can only see the books after she's pulled them off the shelf, so down they come one by one and pile around her feet. She doesn't care. She sits down in the midst of them and reads, flipping through books, carefully absorbing the pictures one by one.

I will be glad when the pulling the books off the shelf phase is over, but I doubt she will ever get over this fascination with books.

November 1

a tiny pair of shoes, a hat of ribbons (formerly "straw" for Libby's ankles)