The End

Stacy announced on Saturday that this will be the last week of Theme Thursday. I will definitely miss the weekly challenge, but I understand the time it takes to organize it each week. I thought the shot above was fitting for the theme this week, which is The End. When you look at the monkey bars you can't necessarily see the end, but you know it is there. Maybe it's not the end you see at all, but the beginning.

Thanks Stacy. You always inspire me.

History

The theme today over at Stacy's is History. If you missed it, I posted some old photos of the kids yesterday that shows a bit of their history. When Stacy announced this week's theme, I knew exactly what I wanted to photograph.

When we moved into our house almost 7 years ago, we painted every single wall in our house. One of the last areas we tackled was the hallway. After we painted it and scraped off the popcorn ceiling, we had to decide what to hang on the walls. We collected various frames that we painted and refurbished. Then we sifted through old photos to put in the frames. We made copies of the photos that we wanted to frame and hung them all on the wall. I never tire of these photos. To me, this little space is a constant reminder of our history.

Wasn't I cute? BTW-The real photo is not that green.

This is my grandmother and grandfather. I love this photo.

When we were cleaning out my grandmother's house many years ago, we stumbled across this flyer from World War II. We thought it was so cool. My grandfather took lots of photos during the war and we have a couple on each side of this flyer.


For a little more history, visit The Land of K.A.

I Wish......

Today's theme over at Stacy's is I wish. I have been thinking about it all week. There are so many things that I wish or hope, but yesterday it finally hit me. Ultimately, I wish there were more hours in the day. There never seems to be enough time to do everything that I want to do.

I wish there were more hours in the day so I could......

snuggle longer on the couch with my babies

have more time to be silly

spend hours editing photos in photoshop

spend more time taking photos and playing in the yard

finish all the sewing projects on my to do list.

Oh, wouldn't it be nice. Life is too short and I want to live it to the fullest. So does anyone know where I can pick up maybe 5 more hours each day?

To see more wishes, visit The Land of KA.

Can you hear the laughter?

Today's theme for Theme Thursday is laughter. While playing outside in the snow on Sunday, the kids thought it was hilarious to throw snowballs at me. Harper liked pretending she was just walking by and then she would all of the sudden throw the snowball right at me (usually the back of me). Miller was less discreet. He didn't feel that it was necessary to hide the fact he was about to launch snow in my direction.

Oh my goodness, look at that cute scrunched up nose....

and his cute little smirk.



What? I am not doing anything.


Gotcha


This is not a snowball in my hand.

Uh, oh. They are teaming up on me now.

I sure do love snow.

I think I could look at her smile all day long.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

~EE Cummings

If you want to see more laughter, check out The Land of KA.

Is it Spring yet?

This week's theme for Theme Thursday is Summertime Memories. I had all intentions of sifting through some photos from last summer. I am sure there are a couple I meant to post, but never got around to actually doing it. However, I am just too lazy. Plus I felt compelled to share some more of the many photos I took this weekend with my new lens.

We still have several months before it is actually summer time, but here are a few shots that might warm you up a bit.

I get so excited every time I walk through the yard and spot something else sprouting up or even blooming. I just love Spring.

Visit Stacy's for some more warming thoughts.

Love

This weeks theme for Theme Thursday is Love. There are so many things I love. So this one was easy for me.

I love my husband, my kids, and my family more than anything else in this world.
I love creating things.
I love reading a good book.
I love taking a hike through the woods.
I love feeling the sun on my face.
I love finding a photo that you forgot all about hidden deep on your SD card.

I love that I can make that photo look old.

I love that I get super excited about a new lens coming in the mail. (Thanks Maggie for your help with this one.)

I love that this lens gives me a whole new perspective.

I love all the nice, encouraging comments I receive every day from all of you.

I simply love life.

To find more love, visit Stacy's for Theme Thursday.

Project Valentine's Day Cards Completed

We are 99% done with Valentine's Day cards. Harper needs to put some finishing touches on the cards to her teachers. Then we are officially done, which is good since the party is tomorrow.

I decided to go a different route with the Valentine's for Harper's class. I saw these sweet felt fortune cookies on Martha Stewart's website. Since I have tons of felt, I thought it would be perfect to use up some of my stash. I did a test run using pipe cleaners instead of floral wire and they came together really easily. Harper was excited about them too. I cut out all the circles and pipe cleaner pieces. The kids helped glue the pipe cleaners down the middle. Then I wrote little messages on scrap paper and Harper signed each one. I was very impressed. She signed her name 24 times in one sitting. I kept telling her she could take a break, but she was determined. We stuffed all the fortune cookies with the messages and folded them up.

I wanted to do pink and red, but did not have enough. So I played it safe and used all the same color.

I wanted to do something very simple for Miller's cards. I knew that his attention span would allow us 15 minutes at the most. So I printed off pictures of dinosaurs and wording that says, "You are dino-mite". I cut them out and had him glue the pieces of paper to card stock. Harper helped by glueing the wording on. We had a small assembly line going.

The cards in the back are for his teachers. I cut out scrap paper and he just glued it to the cardstock.

I am actually proud of myself because I did not break down and buy anything. Everything we used we had on hand.

Today's theme for Theme Thursday is special. Eventhough it is a bit of a stretch, homemade Valentine's qualify as being special in my book.

See more special treats over at The Land of K.A.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

A Break from the Cold

The theme for Theme Thursday is cold. Since I am really lame and/or lazy, here is my contribution. See it's pretty cold today. That counts right?

Sunday was a short lived break from the cold weather we have been having. I took so many pictures while we were at the zoo. I thought I would share a couple of my favorites. Looking at them warms me up a little bit.

Jump on over to Stacy's for more Theme Thursday.

Project Valentine's Day Cards

Last year after spending way too much time on Harper's classroom valentines, I swore I wouldn't do it again. Her cards were the only homemade ones in the bunch. Not that it matters, but it left me feeling like most people just don't care. Why should I?

I wanted her Valentine's to be personal. I wanted her to be a part of the process. She colored every single card. I probably thought about it way too much and should have just grabbed a box of mass produced cards signed her name to it and called it a day. Well, unforunately that is just not in my nature. So here we are again. Valentine's Day is drawing closer and yet again I find myself obessed with classroom Valentine's. I just can't bring myself to buy any. There is something in me that just can't do it.

The only difference this year is I have 2 sets of cards to worry about, one for Harper and one for Miller. I have vowed not to spend any money on materials (unless I make the dum-dum flowers in the photo below and I will have to buy dum-dums). I have plenty here we can use. I have also decided to keep it simple. I just want them to be a part of the process. I have many ideas swimming around in my head, but have not settled on one yet.

I thought I would throw out a couple of other green options if you do not want to go the handmade route. A good compromise is the Stubby Pencil Studio set. The kids still color the cards, but most of the work is already done. You can also purchase this set from Endangered Species Chocolate. For $9.95 you get 24 cards and 24 pieces of chocolate. Plus 10% of their net profits are donated to help support species, habitat and humanity. Gotta love that.


Head over to Stacy's to see some more projects.

Our Winter Wonderland

The theme this week over at Stacy's is Winter Wonderland. On Monday I mentioned we spent some time outside on Sunday. I took this opportunity to snap some shots of our backyard in all its wintery glory. So these photos represent our little Winter Wonderland. We have been battling colds, coughs, and ear infections at my house this week so these photos are SOOC. I just didn't have the energy to edit them.

One of my blueberry bushes. I sure hope it gives me some good blueberries.

Some irises popping through the leaves.

I am not sure what this is, but it is kind of pretty in a dead flower kind of way.

What's left of my herb garden. Just a little bit of sick looking parsley.

The fairy house still stands. Harper made some repairs.

Visit the The Land of KA to see more winter wonderlands.

A Self Portrait

I really, really, really do not like to have my photo taken. I do not like posing. I do not like looking at photos in which I appear. I am very happy behind the camera. Thank you very much. So when Stacy challenged us to take a self portrait, I can't say I was ecstatic. However, there was something about it that made me a little bit excited. Maybe it was the challenge of doing something I had not done before. Or maybe it was the idea of actually getting a good shot of myself. I can't say that I succeeded at that, but I did have fun.

Yeah, I was trying to go for a wind blown sort of look and I am not sure what is up with the head tilt. I had many others that did not involve a head tilt, but these happened to be the best. As you can tell I also had some issues figuring out where to position myself in order to be in the frame. I did not spend as much time on it as I wanted to, but I feel like I learned a couple of things in the process. I even managed to put on a little bit of makeup.

Of course, the kiddos had to help me get everything set up. Miller loves pushing that remote.

To see more self portraits check out The Land of K.A.