♥ Wordless Wednesday ♥

 

How would YOU caption this picture?  :)

 

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Yay! Finally! ♥

I am one happy gal today.

As you know I've missed my lens - the main lens that I use on my camera just about every single day.

But......my new one came in yesterday!  Yay!

I will never take my Nikon D40X for granted again.  It's one possession that I do treasure and truly appreciate.  It is responsible for helping me capture so many memories!  :)

Joy says every camera should have a name.  I have never named my camera.  IF my camera had a name, what should it be?

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Catch-Up ♥

Have you ever visited an Amish community? If you haven’t and you get the chance, you should go! We were able to visit an Amish community in Tennessee when we went to my brother’s house for an extended weekend vacation last week. It was a very cool crisp day for the buggy ride through the Amish community. The driver was very informative and stopped at several of the Amish homes for us to visit their shops and purchase wares if we desired.

We watched them make sorghum molasses. We bought delicious peanut brittle that never made it out of the buggy. It was gone before we ever returned to our car! I saw the most adorable little Amish boy in his straw hat that I would have loved to scoop up and hug. I saw a little Amish girl cracking walnuts with her bare feet on her front porch, and eat them. And I had to buy this basket. I have a weakness for baskets in the first place, but this one was made by Amelia, a 12 year Amish girl.

On the bottom of the basket:  Can you see the handwriting -  Made by Amelia age 12

Monday night, we celebrated Jason’s 52nd birthday.

 

And we’re still enjoying the ice cream bar cake. It needs to be gone because it calls to me from the freezer.

 

You don’t get to see Colt (our oldest) very often. I was so glad to have him home for awhile last night, along with Amber. He told Amber he couldn’t believe I only took ONE picture of them. He knows me all too well. :)

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For Sandra’s 31 Days of Fall Challenge, here’s another photo by Joy. She’s keeping me stocked, isn’t she? Mums definitely say fall.

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And last of all, but definitely not least, I hope you’ll join me tomorrow on the sunporch for a chat with Lois of Walking on Sunshine. I’m pretty sure that Lois and I began blogging the same year. She’s a long time blogging friend and I know you’ll enjoy getting to know her a little more! Come join us!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day! :)

{Sometimes Willing} Little Model

As I mentioned in the last couple of posts, Joy has been very interested in photography and has taken my camera out on mini photo shoots.

Well Luke has been drawn into her little photo shoots. Most of the time, he’s fairly willing, although not always cooperative. I like that she captured all those things in Luke’s personality though through her little photo shoots.

Joy has already posted these on her blog and she gave me permission to share them here on my blog.

Luke, the monkey:

He never fails to pick flowers for me when he goes outside.  :)

Well you can't wear a monkey suit without acting like one, can you?

Luke, the farmer boy:

Luke, the baseball player:

He obviously dressed himself....his shirt is on backwards!  :)

Luke, the annoyed:

And last of all, here’s yet another photo by Joy I'm including for Sandra's 31 days of fall challenge.  Maybe I’ll take my own photo soon…..but she’s doing such a great job and letting me borrow them…….. :)  And this one has fall written all over it…..it's that time when we get to break out the boots…..and these are Joy’s new ones!

To everyone that stopped by today, thank you very much! Have a great day!  I hope you’ll join me tomorrow for Faithful Friday. And soon I’ll take you on a little field trip to my mom’s house to see all the good stuff my carpenter has made for her home!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Is She Chinese? ♥

“Is she Chinese?” That’s the question one of the girls in Joy’s Chinese dance class asked their teacher the first night Joy walked into class.  Joy got tickled at the question and asked her with a grin, “Do I look Chinese?” They all got a chuckle out of it and the teacher assured them that it didn’t matter if you were Chinese or not…..anyone could take the class.

We laugh about the fact that 2/3 of my children are Asian and the one that’s not is very interested in the Asian culture. This is Joy’s second year of taking Chinese as a second language class. In addition to that class, this year she is also taking the Chinese dance class. She just loves it. This class will perform at the Chinese New Year festival.

Her fan came from China and it just so happens that in this dance, they are dancing with fans…….just the kind she brought back from China.  It really is a beautiful fan that pops out with the neatest sound and just flows with the dance.



Instantly, Joy made friends with several of the girls…….Kaia, Annie, and Ying Jie. Kaia was adopted as an infant. Annie has Chinese parents but was raised here in the states, and Ying Jie has Chinese parents as well.  Ying Jie is a little shy, but Joy has won her over.  :)

From left  to right.....Ying Jie, Annie, Joy & Kaia

I hope I can video the dance when they perform it so you can see it. It is different from American dance, but it is pretty. You may remember Joy dancing with the ladies in the park in Hohhot, China. If you missed that post, you can see it here.  So taking this Chinese dance class is a very exciting thing for her!

So is she Chinese? Yes, a part of her is and always will be now. After traveling to China, it just becomes a part of you.  :)

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For Sandra's 31 days of fall challenge, I have another of Joy's pics to share.  She loves photography and got some wonderful photos that shout fall and she gave me permission to share with you.  The many leaves that collect on our sidewalk going up to The Cedar Loft:

 



Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a wonderful day!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

The "Eyes" Have It

After seeing my newly adopted niece for the first time this weekend and photographing her, I decided to enter this week’s I heart faces challenge/contest: Beautiful eyes.  

I’ve never entered before, but there has to be a first time for everything, right?

18 month old Sydney has beautiful blue eyes and long eyelashes to frame them. She uses her eyes to talk, raising her eyebrows, so they just glimmer with expression!

I thought this photo captured those beautiful eyes.

Photo Editing at Picnik with Sepia

I'm not sure exactly what it is about sepia toned photos that I love so much or what or why they draw me in, but they do. They just feel so timeless, I guess. I am also a fan of black and white photos, but this particular day, I was playing around with the sepia tones obviously. My husband just doesn't understand why anyone would want either of those, when you can have color!

Anyway, I've played around a little over at the Picnik site with some photo editing. I probably couldn't even tell you exactly what I did to all of these pictures to get the final product, but I had fun doing it! I just play around with it until I like what I see...whatever is pleasing to my eye. :)

Here's a few of the final products:

Our Home...


Colt and Amber....I think I did black and white with some sepia tone around the faces to give a glow...I can't remember....



Joy in the Snow Pics....This one especially has that timeless feel to me for some reason...




Black and white with a hint of color added in:




Okay, Jason thought I was completely crazy for liking this one, but I did. It really was a toss away photo where we meant to get a better picture, but I liked just the eye shot of us, (even if I didn't have on makeup).



Colt....I like this one because of two things in the background that say "Colt"...cell phone and guitar...


More Joy photos....on the playground...


I like this one because it definitely sums up Joy too...love the girly sundress with the cap on backwards...


I've also had Adobe Photoshop CS3 for over a year now (which wasn't exactly cheap by the way) and it still sits on my shelf. I'm bound and determined to sit down long enough and try to learn how to use it. I know it has a large learning curve, and I guess I've just been too scared of it! I really must do that....I know the possibilities with it are endless!

Have a great Wednesday! :) And thank you for stopping by!

Picnik(ing) is Fun...

I'm probably way behind the game here.....but I recently was introduced to a really fun website. It is especially fun if you like photography and then like to improve on your photos.....you know brush them up or enhance them. Even though I haven't bit the bullet and joined (which is VERY reasonable by the way), I plan to do so. I have just enjoyed the free features for now. After joining you have many more options under the premium feature (membership).

For free, you can choose various frames, touch up effects, print texts, improve the quality and tone of your pictures, and more. One of my favorites here lately has been playing around with the pencil sketch option. I just love trying different photos and seeing how it turns out with the pencil sketch option.

I thought I'd share a few of the photos on which I used the pencil sketch. First I'll show you the original picture, then the pencil sketched picture.

Colt and Joy...




Joy and Christina...




Jason and me...




So if you have a few minutes to spare, check it out, by just clicking here.

Treat yourself to a photography picnik. It really is fun and you'll be ever so impressed with what you can do.....and it's easy too!

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Don't Mess With My Babies!!!!!

Do you remember the kildeer (we've always called them "kildee") eggs we found at the edge of our gravel driveway? (You can click on any of the pictures to view them a little closer).



We've been watching them diligently everyday. Since we weren't really sure how long Mama Kildeer and Daddy Kildeer have been sitting on the nest, we didn't want to miss the little ones' debut. The incubation period for the eggs is about 28-29 days. Mama Kildeer hasn't been real happy with me stopping by for my visits.



She immediately begins her squawkin' and fussin' at me....running off into the yard with her broken wing routine to distract me! She's so funny! Because I don't fall for it, she lies there even longer swinging that wing round and round as if saying, "Can't you see I have a broken wing here....come see"!







And then there's Daddy Kildeer overhead flying circles above us squawking and fussing at me to go away and leave his family alone! That's the way God made them to protect their family though, and they're doing a very good job at it! They're excellent parents....I can say that for them!

Friday evening, my dad (Pop) came over and told me that one of the four eggs had hatched and we had our first baby kildeer! With camera in hand, we immediately flocked to the nest. Isn't he (or she) cute?



Do you see the little beak hole in the egg beside him?



Mama and Daddy Kildeer were especially not happy with us then! Mama was scolding me!



Before we left to go out for dinner, the second baby arrived! See, she's still all wet!



Then there was a third one...



Mama must have gathered them all back together to snuggle...can you see all three? The next time I checked they were all scrunched up together snug and cozy!



And we were so blessed to actually be standing there when baby #4's little beak started breaking through first. And then little by little, she was pushing her way into the new world!



Meanwhile, Mama Kildeer was getting bolder. I guess she realized that this human was not giving up too easily. She was getting closer to me and really fussing! And then Daddy Kildeer was still flying overhead warning me to go away. After the above picture, we retired for the evening to let the parents tend to the babies. I was only hoping that the babies wouldn't be gone from the nest before we had a chance to see them, since it was overnight. They don't stay around very long!

The next morning by the time we got out there, one had already left the nest or was far enough away that he was well hidden in the grass somewhere. The others were still there. Mama was very protective on this day as if she sensed the most danger. She was becoming bolder.



First a warning....



Then she just became downright bold and approached me with this warning...."Don't mess with my babies!!!". Can you believe that sweet little bird above can make herself look like this??? Pretty impressive!



With that warning signal, I felt like she needed to be with them, so we did leave for awhile. When we did make it back out there, another baby was missing from the nest. The third one was walking around not far away. Can you see him? He blends in so well!



This baby became my model! He was so little and cute!



In this photo he seems to be saying, "Man, it's a big world out there"!



He wasn't fond of me following him around with the big black camera, but I did get a few more shots!



His long wiry legs were so wobbly! It was funny watching him walk, stumble, get up, flap his wings a little, then wobble along.



This left one more still lying in the nest. This one just wasn't ready to get up and try out her wobbly legs just yet. So, we went inside and waited. The next time, we went out there, they were all gone.....no trace of them anywhere. All fragments and pieces of the eggs were gone and the only evidence that there had ever been a family of kildeer there, was a little indention in the gravel where the eggs had laid.

I think they're off somewhere trying out their lanky wobbly legs and even having trial flights with close supervision from Mama and Daddy Kildeer. Then they'll be off on their own and maybe they'll decide to make their nest here one day and....... hopefully I'll have my camera ready! :)