Kiss Me & Kiss Me Again

Windows & Doors

I really enjoy the architecture of the library in our small town.  It was built only a few years ago and sits on the main road through our small town...did you know a block from here is the home of the only traffic light in the county that changes color? (as opposed to the ones that just blink) Yep, that's how small town we are.  Home of the National Asparagus Festival.

Leaf Veins

I couldn't decide between these two...I had the one below prepared.  My daughter had found this spiderweb with droplets on it sitting over the rocks, and I liked the veins of the helicopter.  Then I saw this bush at a friend's house and thought the red leaves amongst the green were just so interesting!

Lashes

We know about eyelashes here...and looks like we'll someday know about tweezers! All 3 of my darlings have dark thick lashes framing their big, bright eyes.

Faceless Portrait

This friend one of those girls who looks so darn cute wearing a hat!  I'm so excited that this mother of a 7 year old and 10 year old is expecting another in 2 months!

One of the big highlights of my month are the YAC (young adult couples) get-togethers.  It's a guaranteed date night for Tim and I, and we get to hang around with our friends for a couple hours, have a sharing time where we grow deeper with each other in community as well as in God's Word.  It's building marriages.
I used Kim Klassen's Portrait texture with a mask at soft light and multiply.

"When I realize that it is not God who is my debt, but it is I who am in His Great Debt, 

then doesn't all become gift?" --Ann Voskamp

#393-407

Kisses in the evening

Kids swimming 'til bedtime

visiting old friends

Grandparents watching kids

Reading a good book "Adam and his lost kin"

Afternoons sitting at the patio table with a magazine

2 fastest 5k runs of the year this week

Heroes like Dave & Karen Nienhuis

Friends that are still in love

Gracious opening of home by Nancy

Weekends spent together

Weeding garden

Strawberry picking with Nana

Strawberry jam and shortcake and more in the freezer

All day rains

Scavenger Hunt at the Beach

I Love, Love, Love, Love going to the beach!  We went for the first time this week, on the first sunny day and  we had high temps in the 50s!!!  I know, I know, let's rejoice in the small things!  The girls actually waded in chilly Lake Michigan, and I got a few fun photos, even with several sets of dead batteries!  Mav enjoyed the crashing sound of the waves and the gentle breeze on his face.  Of course, he stayed nice and dry tucked into the back pack.  I can only imagine the trouble he will get into on our real beach days!

Joining the Scavenger Hunt this week, this is my favorite piece of architecture.  I have taken pictures of it in every season.  I'm so glad to live only a few miles away.  I actually feel guilty in the summer if we don't go to the beach at least once a week--it's really my responsibility to fulfill since I live so close, right?

This is a shot called "rimmed with light".  I admit it's from a few years ago, as sunshine has been a precious limited quantity lately, and I haven't been able to catch it just right this week.  This is from a Bed and Breakfast Tim and I stayed at called "The Shack".  Very cute and quaint.

Here's to "Toes or Feet"!  Makenna's are way cuter than mine...here they are buried in mud from the channel.

Here's to my "Favorite"...I decided to show you my favorite book of the year!  God is using this book to change my life.  Even the cover is beautiful!

Shade?  Shades?  Shadow?  take your pick!  Above is me with Mav and Makenna at the beach.  Sportin' shades, as always in the sun.  The sun bothers my eyes and headaches so much more now as an adult.  If you were to look very closely, you could see a red ladybug on my hip.  Just thought you might like to know.

Below, is a leaf floating in the channel out to sea (the Big Lake) and I found the shadow that followed it down the stream was so interesting.

Scripture & a Snapshot Sunday Expectant Waiting

Continuing in this new challenge of combining Scripture and a Snapshot.  This chair sits on my front porch, and it's totally juts for looks...we spend very little time on this porch as it's so close to the road.  But I chose this verse to go with the photo because the chair is empty...it's waiting.  It's waiting for the mornings when I go before the Lord with my day.  So much about our relationship with the Lord is about Waiting...Resting...Trusting...Patience.  But it is not a waiting without hope.  It is Expectant!

Easter...a time for dressing up!

 Trying to get all 3 to look at me and be happy is quite a feat!  The girls wore matching yellow dresses and Mav had on a yellow Polo.  Sponge rollers the night before produced lovely, bouncy curls in the girls!

Hannah has finally gotten past the running away from the camera syndrome that plagued her the previous years of her life!  Now she's into posing, and I end up with many more usable photos of her than the other 2.  Poor Makenna also inherited her Daddy's un-photogenic-ness.  All squinty eyed.

See the Sass and Sweet I have to deal with?? 
Hands on the hips is typical...4 going on 14!

The girls picked and picked all these Daffodils...to decorate their fort!  I convinced them that we should bring them home, because the next time they visited Nana & Papa, the Daffodils would be sure to be dead.

Yes, that's dirt in the hair.

What's a boy to do the first time he hits the ground in the spring?  Throw dirt, of course!!

Day Lilies

Here's another summer picture.  This is Hannah holding Day Lilies.  I added some texture layers and blending modes in Photoshop Elements 8 to get this result.  Cheerful on another day of snow...oh, where is Spring?

Shutterfly {FREE} Photos

I love getting our family Christmas card together each year. For many years, I have made our own cards...stamped them, designed them, digitally made & printed them. This year, a few cheap and quick deals caught my eye.

Shutterfly is offering 50 free cards to me for blogging about them! And if you blog about them, the offer is open to you as well...until December 10.  It's good for 5x7 folded or flat cards.  Yippee!

At church yesterday, I had the family dressed and ready for some good pictures. This is what we came up with. Of our whole family, I have either black and white (vanilla tint action) or the dreamy hot cocoa action.

Next, we have 2 poses with all 3 kids. I think the one on the left of Maverick is better. Maverick didn't cooperate very well and kept trying to get away, which caused the girls to be distracted or to "help" keep him in place.

So I like this one of the 2 girls. They both are giving genuine smiles and their eyes are wide open. Makenna and Tim share the same unphotogenic trait: squinty eyes, eyes rolled back, eyes closed, etc.

And of course, a few of my Mav-man, looking cute.  I love seeing the curve of his cheek, the long eye lashes laying down.

Here's a few Shutterfly cards that I like:

I love these color schemes as well as being able to use multiple photos.  Another must:  It must say Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays or some other greeting.  I'll show you soon what I came up with.