Wishing I had all the answers...

So, we're still waiting on our newly rescheduled cleft team appointment, but we had a height/weight check this morning, and, well, S has dropped off the height chart. Six months ago, we finally were on the base of the height chart, and now we've dropped off it. :(

This isn't great news. See, being short is all fine and dandy, but not following your natural growth curve is most decidedly not. When you have a cleft, any midline organ can be affected. Heart, pituitary gland, thyroid gland, .....anything that crosses that center line, can have problems. I need to call up her pediatrician, and request testing on her thyroid and pituitary gland.

I don't want to.

Plain and simple.

I just want to keep enjoying this beautiful little girl, who is such a happy little joy, and leave all this medical crap behind us. Just bury my head in the sand, plug my ears, and loudly sing "lalalalalalalaalalal" to myself....to just scoop her up in my arms and run away.

Sigh.....I better go find the phone and make some appointments. I know God's got us firmly in his arms....

Macro Friday...the return!

Ok, I gotta make this quick, as S is trying to paint my diningroom with chocolate milk......

This is one I took quite a long time ago, but never shared!



Hop on over to Blogging from Bolivia, and check out all the other great macro shots!

I'll be posting more photos soon! :) Trying to get caught up....have had lots to do for my little photography business I've been working on starting up!

Be Blessed!

Foiled Again!

Just when I think I'm gonna get back on the bloggy-ball,..... I get SICK!

For those of you who know me in real life, I tend to push through feeling yucky.....I just keep doing when I do, taking care of my family, etc......doing my Mommmy thing.

Except every once in a while, I get sidelined by a nasty bug.....I stop being functional for a couple days. It really throws everyone off...the house gets a mess, laundry doesn't get done, children wind up buying school lunches....

and then it takes me forever to get caught back up!

On a happy note, I got the honor of photographing a wedding this weekend......my first wedding for someone who doesn't know me at all!

I'm really so behind.... I need to do a birthday post for my sweet little S.....for that matter, I need to do a birthday shoot for her too!

In the meantime though, I need some sleep! I'll leave you with a photo of my M from the other day, that I took for Faith's photography class...


Nite you guys! Be Blessed!

Before/After....and why I've been missing....

Ok, charity game I was hired to photograph is done. I am one tired Mama!
I will be posting photos from it a little later.....for right now, I need a basketball break!

So, as I've mentioned, I'm taking Faith's DSLR class, and it's awesome...... I'm having a BLAST learning my camera better!

So, for my before/after this week, I'm going to use one of the portraits I did of my daughter, R...

Before:


After:


She is my Diva, for sure! Here's a few more of my rock star...



and channeling her inner Janis Joplin...


Hop on over the Pixel Perfect, and see everyone's amazing edits this week!

Here's a few other shots I've taken for Faith's class in the past week or so....









Oh, ok..... one basketball photo from the charity game....



As for me, we've got a appointment next week with S's surgeon.....it's just your standard every six months visit, but it makes my stomach get all butterfly-ish....I mean, we just never know. We could go there next week, and have him see something in her mouth that needs fixing, and find ourselves gearing up for surgery again. Not what I want to have happen, but I'm trying to prepare myself in case. That's the tough thing, the care is so individualized after the first year, there's no laid out, set in stone path we are following. During her first year, I KNEW she's be having lip/nose surgery between 3 - 6 months, and I KNEW between 10 - 12 months, she'd have palate surgery.......now everything that lays out in front if us is full of possibles and maybes. ::::Sugh::::: I know it'll be ok no matter what. God's there, walking me through it all, even when I only see one set of footprints in the sand.....

Macro Friday!

It's Friday, and I haven't had much time at all to take Macro shots this week! lol

It's still one of my favorite times of the week!

This week, I'm using a macro shot I took for my photography class.....it was a simple object assignment...



Inspired by my child, who left Mr. Whale cracker sitting all my his lonesome on the chair......

So, hop on over the Blogging from Bolivia, and see everyone else's awesome Macro shots this week!

Before/After

Wow..... what a week it's been! Sorry I've been MIA for the past couple days, but between doing a couple photo shoots, getting the kids ready for back to school, being sick as a dog myself, and taking Faith's SLR E-class......I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off! (BTW..... he class is AWESOME......if you get a chance to sign up for the next round, do it! You won't regret it! Everyone can always use some fine tuning....her challenges are fun and, well, challenging! lol)

So, it's Thursday and time for Pixel Perfect's before/after blog hop! I'm happy it's one of my favorite challenges of the week, cuz I need a distraction! I did a shoot the other day, and the young lady I was taking portraits of, well, the photos are going to be published online as advertising for a charity semi-pro basketball game in my area. She's singing for the halftime show, and I'm waiting to hear back from her if she liked them.... so I'm a little on edge!

So, my before/after is a back to school shot today! As I was walking my brood down the street, I was wearing my camera (which was off at the time) and juggling the baby in an umbroller on REALLY uneven sidewalks.....the middle two got ahead of me a little, and I thought, "Wow.... that would make a really cool shot!" So, I grabbed my camera, turned it on, and took the shot.... I didn't even have time to check the white balance...

Before


So, when I got home, I did some editing in camera RAW, and in Lightroom 2, until what I got matched what I saw in my head before I took the shot!

After


So, hop on over to Pixel Perfect, link up your own edits, and check out everyone else's amazing work! I learn SO MUCH from this blog hop every week!

Back to School.....

My friend, Mom to M&M, over at Simply Life Photographs, shared this a couple weeks ago when her kids started back to school. Tomorrow, two of my children have their first day back to school, and Thursday my oldest joins them......

Back to School Prayer

Heavenly Father:

On bended knee I offer you all the praise and glory for your creation. I am so thankful for the children that eagerly await that first bell, and I am thankful for the ones not so excited. I am thankful that you created the desire to be a teacher in so many that our children may benefit from the gift that you provided others.

I know that we are all sinful, Father. And I ask you to take away that sin so that we all may glorify you.

Lord, I lift up to you each parent that prepares their child for school, ( home or away) that you prepare their hearts to let go and expand their world. I especially lift up to you the parent who send their first child to school this year. Give that parent confidence and peace that their child will be well cared for, that no one will ever take their place. Help them prepare to start letting go as their child grows. And for the parent sending their last child to school .. Lord, give them purpose that is fulfilling. Fill the empty spot with joy as they see their offspring take off with new wings.

Lord, bless and keep each child. Provide safety as they travel to and from school. Open their minds to absorb new facts and knowledge. Provide confidence and security. For the shy child, provide a friend. For the bully, provide security and take away the desire to be overpowering. For the ones who struggle, provide a new approach to understanding. and for the chatty child provide some spiritual tape to their mouth. Let this year be the year of new beginnings of openness and acceptance for each child as you created them.

Lord, I lift up to you teachers. These adults are HUGE in our child's life. They can raise up a spirit with a kind word or smile. And they can dash ambition or interest in a heartbeat. Give them joy to teach. Have them long for each child to succeed to the best of their abilities. Create in them new ideas to reach each child. Drive them to provide and love and care for each single student in their care.



Lord, bless each family at this school..For the household that struggles with employment issues or financial issues.. provide a way to meet each need. The home that struggles with addiction or anger, fill them with your love and healing. The families that deal with illness and despair, fill them to. What ever the need, Lord, fill it according to your will. Create a light filled path that leads only to you.

For anyone Lord, use this educational experience for others to have a relationship with you. Pour out your love and strength and protection to them all!

In Jesus holy name, I pray,

Amen

(The photos above were from M's Kindergarten Orientation last week.....can't believe he starts school tomorrow! Where did my baby boy go?!>)

Mystery Macro Answer!.

So...... sometimes, I get really board on trips.......

So, especially if it's nice out, I'll lower my window just enough, and take photos......

I live in farm country.....

So, to get anywhere, we pass a LOT of farms.....

Old Farms....


New Farms.....


and LOTS of these....

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Anyone?
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That, my friends...... is an itty bitty portion of a cow.....a cow's nose, to be exact! Taken from my passenger window, out of sheer boredom, on our way to Hershey.....



Cow.



'Nother cow.


Actually I think that was the same one.


A friend of mine reminded me of that quote the other day, when she saw these photos....anyone remember the movie it's from?

Cute Kid Contest!

Photofreak has started a contest.....this one is a cute kid one! Now....how can I resist????

The contest rules say three photos per person...
Well, that's REALLY hard when you have four children! So, for the purposes of this contest, I am declaring my oldest as "Handsome" instead of "Cute", so I will only include photos of the youngest three! :)

Given I have a ridiculous number of cute photos of my kids, I limited it to photos I've taken in the last couple weeks...lol

Here's M at his Kindergarten Orientation.....


S with the cutest little serious expression ever.....


and R being her beautiful self!


So, hop on over and check out all the other cute kids! I know that's where I'm headed!

Macro Friday!

This week has just FLOWN BY!!!!

I was only able to hop out and take Macro shots once this week, but these are my favorites!

(First one's my submission)









And...just for fun, anyone want to guess what this shot is of?



So, hop on over to Blogging from Bolivia, and check out everyone else's cool Macro shots this week!

Before and After Blog Hop!

Hooray! It's Thursday!

I've been crazy busy over here!
So, this week, my shot is from an adoption I shot last week.

Before:


She's a gorgeous little girl, but she has a problem with her sinuses that are causing bags under her eyes (she's having surgery to fix this next month).

After:


Her excitement was contagious that day. She was so much fun!

This was shot with my Panasonic FZ35 (my big girl camera came the next day!) and edited in Lightroom 2 and CS5

So hop on over to Pixel Perfect, and see everyone's amazing before/after shots!

August Photo Hunt Challenge...

So, this whole month, I've been working on the August Photo Hunt......it sounded like such a fun idea! So, today is the day we link up our entries!
Edited to add explanations and link back to photo challenge website!
1: A flag that represents you
I'm proud to be Italian....my Mother is 100%, and many of my relatives speak Italian fluently...


2.Something comfortable
Nothing more comfortable than a Father's touch...


3.Something in Season
Well, summer IS slide 'n slide season, right?


4.Feet
My favorite set of piggy in the world....so cute!


5.Repetition (click to enlarge)
Every look outside and just feel like your kids are EVERYWHERE???


6.Culture or Ethnicity
Something about kilts I just love...


7.Contrast
I love high contrast black and white shots....


8.An indulgence
Because who doesn't love pie?


9.A Macro or Closeup
Neighboring Lizard...lol......because sometimes you run out of bugs and flowers....


10.Something Masculine
This was parked near our house, and I thought it qualified...


11.Something Femenine
Something about the way she's holding her hand, and the look on her face, just is so girly to me.... I love this shot!


12.Light
Sunflowers and Sun....


13.Eco-friendly
Someone's recycling bin...... I took this one on a walk with my kids. I'm pretty sure I've embarrassed them for life....


14.Business
On the walk, our neighborhood post office....


15.An Arrow
I looked everywhere for a cool arrow..... I finally found this one on our drive to Hershey!


16.Something Wet
Doesn't get more wet than the top to a fountain!


17.Something Dry
Sand....lol


18.Butterflies
I have not seen a butterfly all summer.......this is my favorite wind chime though!


19.Heart-shaped clouds
Found on our drive to Hershey


20.Strength
My son, facing his fear of heights....