Better late than never, huh?

Sorry I'm so late today! Jared forgot a meeting he had this morning, so I had to drive him... and then stick around to bring him back home. Which wasn't so bad, except that I am so late blogging today.

Remember when I wrote this yesterday? "One of these days I need to stay home and get some projects done. (sigh) At least it is warm & sunny outside & I have great excuses to get me out in it! :)"

So I got out in it... and got stung. And I'm allergic to bee stings. So really, I spent yesterday in the ER. Bah.

But today, I'm fine. And the day was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L! and I was out in it... running errands, but that counts, right?

Last night was my first photography class. I really was so sleepy and out of it (because of the antihistamine from the ER), but I took lots of good notes and went back over them today and made sense of them.


The assignment for this week was to take pics that:
1 - freeze motion
2 - show motion
3 - panning

So, for freeze motion I had Jared jump:


Showing motion (do you see the blur in the middle of the photo? It was a little girl & Matt swinging):


I don't like that one very well; the exposure isn't just right, so I'll be trying that one again.

Then, for panning, I had the kids swing:




I'll be playing some more in the next few days and then I email the best ones to my instructor.

So how are you all? I didn't get to go visit blogs today, but I'm going to try to stop by a little bit tonight. I might have to catch up with them on Saturday though. :/

Have a great rest of your day!!

P-A-R-K day

On Sunday, we packed up the whole family and took them to the P-A-R-K.

Aiden was so interested in everything there.

The birds in the trees



The cedar chips down below



Everything.



Michael amazes me. He has an arm that doesn't always do what it is told and a leg that just had surgery, but does he let that stop him? Never!



And I think that he is on to me when I say to the family, "Do you want to go to the P-A-R-K?" because last time he said, "Let's go to the park!"



While Aiden and Michael were swingin', Jared and Matt were practicing their tennis skills.



I asked Steve to watch Aiden while I took some pics. When I came back, I found him holding Aiden in the swing. I asked him why he didn't just leave Aiden in the baby swing (much easier, I think!) and he said that "He looked sad" so he took him out. Such a good daddy and grandpa, he is. :)



This shot came from out of the blue. I had just been composing the pics I took of the family on the swings, not really paying too much attention to what was behind them. When I was editing, I noticed this gorgeous fairyland behind them. Look at the way the sunlight is playing back there! I wish I would have paid more attention and took some purposeful shots!



Emily was with us too. See the lime green shirt hiding behind the slide way up there on top? Yep, that's Emily. She didn't want her picture taken because she has been sick and didn't want everyone to see her that way.



I have such a great family. Could I be blessed any more than I already am?!

Have a wonderful, sunshiny day! :)

They're here! AKA: Amber's Graduation Present

Yesterday, Amber's graduation present came in the mail. Today, Steve, Michael, and I took it to her.

Since she not only graduated from high school but also graduated with a 1 year certificate in Culinary Arts from a community college,AND since she loves to cook, I thought that good quality pots and pans would be welcomed. :)

So, I started looking for the same pots and pans that I got for Christmas a couple of years ago because I LOVE THEM!!



The pots and pans that came to her were very similar, but not exact, dang it. Still, they are brushed stainless steel (Mine are only brushed on the outside; hers are brushed on the outside and inside. I hope that it works out okay. :/ ) with an aluminum core bottom encapsulated in stainless steel for even heating w/o hot spots. They also have silicone handles for cool touch handling. (I think I would scorch myself constantly with stainless steel handles!!)

I hope, I hope, I hope! that they work out well and she loves them for years and years and years to come.



I got them from Target.com, since they are only sold online. (As a side note: it appears that some have stainless steel lids, while other have glass even though the description says glass lids - I'm perfectly happy with that because I do not love glass lids.) And they were shipped free! Score!

Keep your fingers crossed that they work perfectly and that she loves them, will you? And I will let you know how they turn out. :)

Happy Birthday, dear Tino!

Tino's birthday was last week in the midst of school getting out and graduation.



As a side note: he was born in the exact month and year that I graduated from high school. I'm not so sure that I love that, 'cause now, every one of his birthdays will be a countdown from when I graduated. This year he was 23. Oy.



He is so cute with the kids. He loves to play with them and tease them. Sounds like he's going to be a great big brother to them, right? :)



For his birthday, we gave him a Weber bar-b-que grill. Amber told me that he's been wanting one.



I hope that he loves it as much as we love him. :)



Happy Birthday, Tino!! I hope that this year will be the greatest ever! :)

Graduation - the family

Aiden was holding Josh's hand when he first saw Steve in the parking lot of the high school, so he poked up his little hand, wanting Steve to hold it too :)





Aiden kept looking at the ground and wouldn't look up, which Josh and I thought was weird, but then Steve realized that he was watching his shadow.



I figured that they were all dressed up anyway, so we might as well take a pic, right?



Such a cute little family!!

And this is why I am giving my blessing to their upcoming wedding:



I don't remember what was going on, but this is just how their are together. Look at her face! She is beaming. They really are so cute together :)

And the more that I'm around Tino, the more I see Steve in him. They say that a girl will pick someone like her dad, and a boy will pick someone like his mom and boy have we found that to be true with our kids! Not that Karen and Tino are clones of us or anything, they just have similarities, which is kind of endearing, actually. :)

Today I have nothing planned. Yet. But it is before 9:30, so that could all change, I suppose.... How about you? Anything fun planned? Or are you hoping to be a couch potato - with or w/o a tv- like me? :)

Have a great day!

Graduation

Sorry I missed you yesterday. The day just kind of got away from me.

Amber graduated on Tuesday evening. YAY AMBER!! So, of course I had to take lots of pics :)

With the Graduate:

Steve, Amber, and me


Amber and her paternal Grandma (I airbrushed out the name of the high school for privacy reasons. I hope that you understand. :)


Amber and Tino


Waiting.....


The 2011 class preparing to become official Graduates


Amber opening her Willow Tree "Wisdom" figurine from Regina (to Regina: She loved it!! Thanks so much :)


Amber reading her card from her maternal Grandpa (my dad :)


Jared gave her a donut :)


And we celebrated with cake:


Just a note to my Graduate:

Congratulations my sweet Amber! You have always made your daddy & me proud and continue to every day. We love you!

If I don't stop tearing up every time I think about her growing up I'm going to get dehydrated!

I couldn't believe how emotional I got when the graduating class moved their tassles from the right to the left. It wasn't just tears that came, but sobs that I had to control. I should've realize that since I get teary at other people's children's graduations, with my own.... well, I was just so proud! (as a side note: I did get ahold of myself before all of the whooping and hollering was over, so no one except Tino and Karen noticed... I hope.)

Earlier, I had gotten off of the stands to take her picture with her Principal in front of a school emblem that they had set up; she walked by and smiled at me and the whole time I'm thinking, "I'm not gonna cry. I'm not gonna cry." and I patted her on the back and walked on. Karen jumped up and ran over and gave her a hug. I was so glad that someone else filled in my gap! Later Amber told me how weird it was when I just patted her on the back like a football player (except it really *was* a pat on the back, not the behind! :) I laughed and told her that I knew if I hugged her I'd cry in front of all of those people and would have embarrassed her & me. What a baby I am!!

After the ceremony and visiting with friends at the school, we went to a park and had cake and opened her gifts. Her paternal Grandma gave her a card earlier, so I missed a shot of that, and her maternal Grandma is saving her card for her at her nursing home. My sister has a card for her. I suspect that there are probably many more cards, too. :)

Amber didn't want to "walk" at graduation, but graduation is such a Rite of Passage that I pretty much begged her to. She told me several times that she was only doing it for me. That was okay with me! Hopefully at some point she will realize that it was for her too. :)

As another side note, I don't think High School Graduation is only a Rite of Passage for the graduate; after going through it and experiencing all of those feelings, I am sure that it is also a Rite of Passage for the parent, too. Thanks for giving that to me, Am!

Today, we are going to celebrate Tino's birthday. He was born in the same month and year that *I* graduated from high school ... he is 23 today. (Wow! It sure doesn't seem that I graduated 23 years ago!!)

And a note to Tino:

Happy, Happy Birthday to my almost-Son-in-Law! You have already found a place in all of our hearts & we love you very much! Have a super terrific wonderful day today! :)

I hope that all of you are enjoying the end of the school year hustle and bustle celebrations and fun! Have your kids' school ended yet? Are any of them graduating from preschool, elementary, jr. high, or high school? I'd love to hear about it!

rain rain, go away

Baby Aiden wants to play.


Not to mention that there are now mud slides in that same canyon that I showed you last week. The ground is saturated.

Dear Rain,

Could we please take a rain check for some of the rain that you have in store for us and cash it in when we are having another drought??

Sincerely,
Melody

This week is the last day of school for my kids, including the last day of homeschool (ever) for Matt, and hs graduation for Amber tomorrow. Big changes.

Amber has had some time to get used to the idea of graduating and moving on, since she didn't really attend high school this year much. She had most of her credits done by the time she finished her junior year, so this year she only had 1.25 credits to finish up. She has done excellently through high school and I'm so proud of her for doing so well! Way to go, Am!! :)

My heart is tugging as I think about Matt leaving me and going to a brick and mortar school next year. He has been such a fun kid to homeschool: he learns quickly, retains what he learns, works hard and independently, is funny and is just a great kid! It has been so fun to have him home with me this year. I will miss him next year. (Thanks for such a great year, Matt! :)

Michael will still be home with me, though. I am planning on working on preschool skills with him and trying to teach him number and letter recognition. He is my perpetual child. What takes another kid just a couple of months to learn takes him years. BUT HE LEARNS! Just a bit slower than others. This year I've been working on animal sounds with him. Horse and cow have been hard for him to distinguish between, and it has reminded me of the Seasame Street "Smell Like a Monster" parody of the Old Spice commercials:



So, on to new and bigger things for my family. (Though I *am* torn between, "can't they just stay little forever??" and loving their (and my) new found independence.)

Note to self: Life can sometimes get crazy: hold on tight (to each other) & enjoy the ride!

A Hodgepodge - May 17

Warning: This post has lots of random ideas & jumps from idea to idea.... :)

On Saturday afternoon, while Steve was in the grocery store picking up a few things, Amber, Aiden, & I hung out in the car. Amber tried getting Aiden to make fishy lips & here is his attempt:



You know, a funny thing happens when your child makes their own child: you see aspects of your own child peeking out from the quiet little corners of their personality and looks. Right here is Josh's smile:




How cute is this?! Just gettin' comfy, I guess:




Last week we finally got some dry, sunny, warm days, so I ventured out to take some pics:




This one reminds me of a fairy world:




"Don't take candy from strangers!" That is the message in Brandon Mull's The Candy Shop War.



This book did take me a little longer to get into than his Fablehaven series, but it was a really good book!

Here is the description from over at Amazon.com:

"Welcome to the Sweet Tooth Ice Cream & Candy Shoppe, where the confections are a bit on the . . . unusual side. Rock candy that makes you weightless. Jawbreakers that make you unbreakable. Chocolate balls that make you a master of disguise. Four young friends--Nate, Summer, Trevor, and Pigeon--meet the grandmotherly Mrs. White, owner of the Sweet Tooth, and soon learn about the magical side effects of her candies.
In addition, the ice cream truck driver, Mr. Stott, has arrived with a few enchanted sweets of his own. But what about the mysterious man in the dark overcoat and fedora hat? Why are all these "magicians" trying to recruit Nate and his friends? Who should they trust?

The mystery deepens and the danger unfolds as the four youngsters discover that the magical strangers have all come to town in search of a legendary, hidden treasure--one that could be used for great evil if it fell into the wrong hands. The kids, now in over their heads, must try to retrieve the treasure first. And so, the war begins . . ."

Brandon Mull is an excellent storyteller & I highly recommend his books for all ages!

What are you and/or your children reading these days?

Have a super terrific day today!

I'm baaack

Yay! I can finally post on blogger today! And all of my posts are back! I'm so relieved! I have learned my lesson, and I will regularly back up my blog. I was soooo worried!

{sigh}

Now I can show you Aiden's picture after I played with it.

I played around a lot with this pic. I turned it into a black and white, and then I cropped it really tight. Really tight. Because I can't get enough of his eyes, and this pic has such an ethereal look to it.



Okay, does he or does he not look like an angel?

A milk mustached angel, but an angel none the less.

I also blurred it a little, just for effect.



And that is the pic it originally came from.

When I take pics of Aiden I just get him playing in a well lit place, usually by a window, sometimes outside.

Then I give him a toy to play with and snap! snap! snap! those pics. He doesn't like to sit still. At all.

When he has lost interest and toddles off, I call the photo shoot finis and go and look at the pics.

Usually there are lots with lots of movement, but I always get at least one good one.

I really did miss you all today! I hope that you had a great day today and that you have a terrific weekend!!