self-portrait

I just realized that I have only a few self-portraits.  And, all the ones I do have, I'm not smiling.  I might have to fix that....

scavenger hunt sunday

I was able to get all the pictures for Scavenger Hunt Sunday yesterday and today.  I really like these ones this week.

1. Capture the Sky

I love this picture because of the birds.  If you look close enough, you can see them. 

2. Everyday



While driving isn't everyday for me (yet), this is what I see from where I sit.  For homeschoolers, we are in the car alot... :)

3. Furry



My sisters' kittens.  These two are bad but hilarious.  When I took this picture, they were climbing all over our furniture and chasing each other.  It was only when I pulled out my camera that they stopped.  They probably felt guilty!

4. Life

This little girl brings life to our family.  She makes us all laugh, and exclaim over the new words she is learning.  I was outside in the snow, and she was inside, banging on the window and watching us.

5. Blurred

I took this on the car ride home.  I love that you can see the rear-view mirror and part of the dashboard.

Lovin'

1.  Recently saved family members!  So happy about this!  If I get permission from my sister, I might share more...

2.  Finding amazing deals while shopping.  My mom, sister, and I went shopping today, and found the best deals ever!

3.  This photo...  I used it in a header for Sealed for Redemption. 

4. Working on a new blog design.  I am putting it up later today because I am going to be busy next week.  Be prepared for a big change!  I think it's going to be good!

5.  Jane Austen novels.  I am reading Sense & Sensibility right now.  So good!

6.  You.  I love you, dear readers.  Thank you so much for commenting, and for even reading my posts for that matter!

7.  Planing for the summer.  I am so excited to do some free portrait sessions this spring/summer.  I am asking a few families if they will let me "experiment" on them - meaning, it will be free.  Hopefully, there will be a few families/people who are willing to let me do this. 

8.  Love.  Yes, I am loving love.  Sounds strange, I know.  Just being able to hug and kiss my little siblings is joyous.  I could sit for hours and just watch their tiny hands build lego ships or dress their dollies.  Laughing so loud with my sister at night that a parent has to come in and tell us to be quiet.  That is love for me right now.  Not just saying "I love you", but spending precious moments together.

What do you love? 

In the Morning

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness."

Lamentations 3:22-23

Scavenger Hunt Sunday!

Today, I devoted some time to "Scavenger Hunt Sunday".  It was so fun to just take a break, be creative, and take some pictures!  I have neglected this blog.  You could say it was a little break!  :)

But...I promise that this week there will be plenty of posts.  There will also be a giveaway when I figure out how to put a button in a post.  If anyone knows how to do that (which you probably all do) could you please contact me?  It would be appreciated a lot!  Anyways, here are my pictures for this week...

1. Chocolate

My siblings were painting tonight, and I asked my brother to paint this for me because, for some reason I can't explain, we didn't have any chocolate in the house!

2. Numbers

This looks similar to my music photo.  I realized that the numbers were there, and I wanted to make it look vintage.  I had a little fun with it!

3. Canned Food

When you live in the country and have a garden (and homeschool for that matter) you can things.  This year we canned so many jars of greenbeans.  We also have jars of strawberry jam from two years ago that we made.  I love how these cans are glowing. 

4. Music



Told you it was similar.  I love this picture because everytime I look at it, I am reminded of how much I need to practice piano.  I want to play piano, but it is hard to find the time. 

5. Stacked





Colorful magazines.  That's all I have to say.

Have a great Sunday night, and I hope your Monday is wonderful!

The Archives

Because I haven't taken a picture for a week now, I decided to go back and see what I have on my camera that you haven't seen before.  I have 1,290 photos on my camera right now.  That might not seem like a lot, but I do not like to have a lot on my card.  I delete the ones I don't want or I know are on my camera.  Then, I keep what's left...

So, how about we go back to the "good old days" when I first got my camera!  As I go back, I realize how little I knew about photography.  I know that I have learned a lot, but I also know that I still have a lot to learn. 

Most of these are unedited.

So, there you have it!  I think every once in a while, it is good to go back and see what pictures I've taken.  Some of these are even better than the pictures I am taking now.  Have you ever done this?  Maybe you should try it too.  (I see a life lesson in this...but, I'll save you.  Maybe I'll post it on Sealed for Redemption.)

A Few Thoughts

1.  I have been a very bad blogger lately - sorry!  I have been very busy preparing for some big things, and, well, really haven't taken a single picture!

2.  With that in mind, I am working on a big giveaway!  It is going to be awesome...

3.  My friend just made a blog.  Go check out her stories and adorable pictures here.  I LOVE the name so much too.  p.s. It might look a little weird - she's working on it right now.

4. Tomorrow, I am going to take pictures.  I promise I will have lots of posts with pictures soon!

I Have 50 Followers!

Oh my goodness!  Thank you so much everyone.  As of a few days ago, I had fifty followers.  Now, I have fifty-one.  I love all of you, even if I don't know you.  :)  I am so glad you have taken the time to read my little blog.  It has been amazing to watch my follower count go from 12 just last month, to 51!  It is so cool!  I'm thinking about a giveaway.  Maybe a Valentines Day/50 followes giveaway?  What do you think?  Would you enter?  Thank you to all my followers!  You are the best! :)

When You Have a Big Family...

When you have a big family, things look a little different.  The kitchen table is bigger, and has more chairs that most people.  The food we have to prepare is "supersized" if you will!  Everything, it seems, is larger.  I have never known what it is like to sit at a table where just three people are eating.  I have never known a house that is perfectly clean, with every book straightened and every toy picked up.  Sometimes, I wish my house was like that, but I can't do anything about it, so I have learned to enjoy it!  

When you have a large family, your table looks like this before every meal...

...and even worse after every meal!

When you have a big family, there must be room for everyone to sit.  Count the chairs if you would like.  Oh, and don't forget about the baby's highchair!

When you have a big family, the food prepared is in large quantities.  There has to be enough for everyone!  That may mean one child may not get a lot of his favorite food or may get too much of his least favorite food.

When you have a big family, the tables look like this after school...

Let's see what we have here.  A random candlestick - some child must have thought that would come in handy when the power went out last week.  What else?  Oh, my laptop, my binder, my history (which I should be doing right now), my Bible, my pencil case, my books, my books, and...my books.  Sidenote: I used this picture instead of any other because I knew I might be attacked by one of my siblings if he or she saw it!  Just kidding!  I simply used it so that I have no one to blame for the mess!  :)

When you have a big family, the train table turns into a lego table, and it looks like this 24/7...

When you have a big family and homeschool, your book shelves look like this...

That might not look like a lot to you, but multiply that by about five or six, and that is what our basement looks like.  We have a lot of books.  And I have a lot of siblings who apparently do not know how to put books on a bookshelf correctly.  (Sorry for the sarcasim.  I'm usually the one who has to organize these shelves when we clean the basement.  You could say I'm a little bitter!)

When you have a big family, life is never boring.  There is always someone to talk to, always one child that will give you a hug, and always a bedroom to share!  When you have a big family, times might be tough.  It may be hard to get some peace and quiet, or go shopping right when you need to, or get that last piece of chocolate cake without sharing.  In the end, though, it's worth it.  In the end, I hope I will never say, "I wish I didn't have a big family."  In the end, and forever after that, I will love being in a big family.

Winter Wonderland

Last week, my family and I settled down and prepared for the worst.  We didn't know what the winter storm would bring.  No power?  No heat?  No water?  We didn't know.  When the storm ended and humans emerged from their homes, we beheld an iceland.  The ground was sparkling, so slippery you would fall with every few steps.

My siblings and I expolored this new iceland, wondering what areas of the lawn were changed.  We strapped up our iceskates and played hockey.  We slid down hills in our bellies.  The break was welcome.

Icicles hung from every tree branch - sparkling and tinkling. 

Water dripped from them steadily, forming solid holes in the mounded snow.

Every plant, leaf, and branch exposed was clothed in a sparkling coat of ice. 

Children broke icicles from the branches, licking the cold, most likely dirty, sticks.  They didn't care.  Who did?  Why did you have to?  It was a welcome break from the strains of school, and we were there only to have fun.  The history, the literature, the Latin, the math were all forgotten while we laughed and played in the winter wonderland.

The entire week we spent outside, coming in only when school was necessary or when we couldn't feel our fingers and toes.  Sure, there were some falls and fights, but in the end, we were so glad we took the time to be together.  We were so glad we explored the winter wonderland while it lasted.

Posters

Using my Ethiopia pictures, I created these "posters", as you could call them...

Except the last one, all these pictures were taken during my trip to Ethiopia last November.  I simply thought that these "posters" would be a good way to show you what Ethiopia was like.  I also wanted to put emotion into these photos.  Show what it was like to be there, to experience these things.  Let me know what you think about them!

Also blogged here.

The Best Snow Day Ever!

Today, even though I did some school, it was a snow day.  The ground is frozen.  You can't even see the ground.  Thus, being the smart children we are, we decided to go outside and sled!  We hit the hill for a while, then got an even better idea.  What if we put on our iceskates?  Would it work?  Yes, of coure it did.  We're homeschooled - we're smart like that.  It was the most fun thing I have done in a long time.  We eventually got brave and went down the hills in our yard.  We fell a few times, laughed the whole time, and had a great time! 



This was what it looked like outside today, and this is where we were skating.  I mow this area in the summer.  This is grass most of the time, yet we were skating on it. 

Besides being outside, I took a lot of pictures.  I tried to capture the falling snow, but haven't been able to do it yet.

I got some drifting snow here, but that's about it.  I love this picture because it just reminds me of cold.  It was windy, snowing, and COLD!

I also took pictures of  the piano.  I didn't practice, even though I should have.  Shhh.  Don't tell my mom!  I have found that the light that falls on the piano is gorgeous!

This was the view from our bathroom window.  The snow and ice was touching the window!  This has never happened where I live since I have been alive, so I thought it was pretty cool. 

You can't forget baking!  I made nice, warm brownies after dinner, and everyone was happy.  It was a wonderful way to end a good day. 

What did you do today?