Moss

Look at this beautiful photo! I took this pic on a walk near our local beach. We are blessed in the PNW with lots of rain...and moss. I din't use to like moss, especially the kind in my lawn. But, it is beautiful and prolific here. I have started to notice all different kinds and all the various places it grows. I enjoy watching it seemingly disappear in the sunny summer but then magically reappear in the fall. It never really left. The vibrant colors draw me in. I'm loving moss. 

5 other things I'm loving...

Iced green and mint tea

Succulents

Rustic garden art

Mary Kay lip gloss

Sauteed zuchinni

Photo Shoot Turnout

As I said in my last post I was going crazy trying to figure out all our outfits. I finally settled on this bunch.

The scarves on top of the ironing board I borrowed from my fab friend and neighbor Ann. I could NOT decide which scarf to add to my outfit. I asked the kids numerous times. They just smiled and said, "yes, that one" even though I was wearing a different scarf each time I asked. I asked Cam too. Finally he warned me not to talk to him about scarves.....ANY MORE. Sheesh! I settled on the scarf on the left side. 

The only items I purchased for the photo shoot was a red bow for Sis and Cam bought a new down vest. Not bad! The rest of it came right out of our closets....matchy and all.

It was a long 90 minute drive to the location for the photos. The kids were not excited about spending that much time in the car. I gave them the "mom does lots of things for you" speech and then plugged in ALL of our electronics to charge for the trip. 

The setting was amazing! Exactly what I wanted for our photos. An old farm with a huge barn, fields of grass, a pond and lots of lovely trees with fall leaves. Oh my!! 

We spent one hour taking lots of shots. The kids were good and put up with all of it. Of course the promise of pizza and root beer kept them smiling and posing nicely. 

We went to a yummy pizza place for dinner. It was so fun!

My favorite yummy beer too!

Look at my loves! So precious!

We have seen just one of the photos so far. LOVE!! I can't wait to see all of them. I will post them here soon! I have one fabulous and gorgeous family!!

Got It!

It's been weighing on me like a ton of bricks. I've done a Christmas card photo and letter every year for the past 13 years. This year it just wasn't happening for me. I was out of time and out of energy. I decided to go with an email card and photo. Saves me time, money and it's green for the environment too.
Once I got my act together this morning it didn't actually take much to get a good photo. A few Santa hats, basic jeans and white tees...oh yes, and candy canes for bribery. You can see Sis and Baby George slurping on them in the photo. A big taboo to have candy in the living room...but worth it:)

Photo Shoot

I didn't get any really good full length photos of the babes in their baptismal outfits so this morning I bathed them and dressed them up. What fun! Baby George was so cooperative...a little model. As for Sister...Holy Cow...she was a crank and a wiggler. I did get a few cute ones though.

My Beauties!

It's taken 7 weeks but I finally took my first picture of all 5 together. I kept waiting until they were all awake, happy, dressed, etc. Finally this morning I just took a picture when 4 of them were already laying together. I quickly called in #5 (Mr. P who was watching cartoons) and snapped it.

So Peaceful

Call me crazy but I had the most peaceful morning sitting in my living room reading the paper today. The one thing that made it so much better was the new paint. Instead of looking at the dirty walls and grimacing about them I could gaze at them and smile. Something about new paint...it's so clean and refreshing. Plus, the kiddos were all quiet and watching cartoons:)
I ordered this print for the wall in the living room. It's a photo I took while in Ethiopia. We took a drive outside the city and this woman was walking along the road carrying sticks into the city to sell for firewood. There were many women doing this job. Some of them walk many, many miles a day. We stopped and our driver Danny gave her some money calling out to her, "mother, mother". He was such a kind and generous soul who gave so freely to those less fortunate. I am having the print put onto a canvas and then framed. I can't wait to see the final project hanging on the wall.

I'm debating which other photo to have put on canvas also. Tell me your opinion. Which picture do you think I should use?

Photo in Addis of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church

Grass hut picture taken on the drive outside of Addis.

Here's the before pictures of the living room.

The new photo on canvas will hang to the left of this sitting area. And..the other photo I've yet to choose..will hang to the right of it.

And....the after!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

Pictures. That's what is on my mind today. I haven't put ANY photos into picuture albums since July! Yikes...it is really weighing on me. I know there are people who never put photos into albums but I'm not one of them. I have always put the photos in as soon as they came home from the developers. I have all of our albums labeled with the year and put into an "A-Z" order to make it easy to find exactly what I need. I even have all of my hubbies and my own childhood photos in archival boxes labeled with the dates. Part of the problem and delay in getting the pictures into albums is the switch to digital. I have downloaded all my photos onto my computer and backed them up on disks but haven't sent them on to be printed yet. I want to first finish my scrapbook of my trip to Ethiopia. I finished one for my Mom back in Oct. but haven't even started mine yet. I'm carving out some time today to do this. Once I get started I will get on a roll. I keep telling myself that once I have the scrapbook done, then I'll get all the photos printed and into albums. Another "picture" topic on my mind today is quite excitng. Our travel agent contacted me yesterday and asked permission to include a picture of my trip to Ethiopia for their brochure. The picture is of myself, sweet baby and my Mom who we joked was the "nana-sherpa" because of the amount of luggage she carried while I carried my sweet baby boy. Well it's about nap time for the babe and I'll get started on my scrapbook!