1st Day of School!

                                                                                2004
                                                                           2006

                                                                         2007
                                                                              2008

Another year has come. Ben is a Sophomore, and Lewis starts Jr. High in 7th grade. Mornings are rough for me. I am a night owl, so this is never easy for me in that respect. I know so many moms who are glad when school starts but I am not one of these moms.  As frustrated as I may be sometimes, I love being around my kids. Here is a comparison of last years first day, and today.  I can't believe how they have grown. ( I have added a couple of other "1st day" photos from past years.) 

Warning: if you have Arachnophobia !!

Last evening, the boys and I went out for a last day of  summer break treat. We did a couple of errands and came home. What we found on  our sliding doors was amazing. This very busy spider spinning his/her web across one whole side of the door. It was fascinating to watch. Its amazing how fast they work. We had such a close up great view that we could actually see the web shooting out and the many eyes of the spider. If you enlarge the first photo and look very close, you can see the web coming out.  I snapped a couple of shots of " Charlotte" before getting on with the evening routine. A bit later and after dark, my son noticed a huge bug had been captured and was being devoured. I got a flashlight and watched for some time. Its hard to believe that at 43 yrs old, I have never watched a spider spin a web. By the way.... I am terrified of spiders!!!!!  Does anyone know what kind of spider that is???

Warm and cozy

My Husband. I absolutely love this picture. He is beautiful!!
This is my Mom in front of my grandparents house. She looks so pretty.
Ben at the beach. I think he was about 3 1/2 yrs old.

 

This is my husband again. His baby picture. I think this might be only 1 of two that exist. 

This is me and my youngest Lewis. He was about 10 months old. I love how we have the same smile.

In my continuing quest to make improvements in my life, I realized I didn't have enough art and photographs up in my family room. The things that make me want to be in that room.  

When I started my Photography studio, I used our living room to take pictures. When I had a client, I would have to do all sorts or rearranging to make room. We decided to make our family room in the basement and convert the upstairs living room into my full time studio.  Since then, I haven't made much of an effort to make the family room comfy and cozy. So this week, I have       decided to finally go thru old pics and enlarge some of my favorites for the walls.  I  found all sorts of goodies, some old and some newer. When I am done, I will post pictures of the family room but in the meantime, here are a few of my favorites. It is always a warm feeling to go thru old photos. 

Some summer fun

While my young one was at camp this past week,  Ben and I went Canoeing.  Ben has to meet 60 hours of physical education requirements for an independent study course. He can do a variety of organized activities including walking, biking, bowling, golf and he can even go to a baseball game. Since my hubby is not too fond of water sports, especially ones that might actually flip him in the water, I decided to take Ben canoeing myself. We packed up a cooler with sandwiches and water and off we went. 7 miles down a lazy river...  3 hours.  It was very peaceful and calm for most of the trip. When we approached the 6 mile marker the water started moving a bit faster. Our canoe turned around and when we tried to turn back we got hung up on a rock, sideways in the river. I worked for a while trying to free us, all the while hoping I didn't have to call the place and ask them to come and rescue us off of the river. Finally, I was able to free us and  we  made it to our destination.  I had feared the end since we started. I knew noone would be there to pull the canoe in for us and I wasn't sure how I was going  to get out. There was a steep hill, and Ben made it out and tried to pull the canoe ashore but could get very far. I decided I would not be able to avoid getting my feet wet. I stepped out of the canoe with one foot and when I did, the canoe started moving in the opposite direction.  As I stood there doing my best impression of a cheerleader doing a split, I had no other alternative but to throw myself into the river. Oh how Ben and I laughed.  Unfortunately or fortunately,  I didn't have a camera to capture it. I enjoyed my special time with Ben, just him and  I.   

  Ben also was  able to do a riding lesson which I did capture, so here are a few of Ben, his amazingly, sweet cousin Valerie, and Weyekyn the horse.