"A Wink and a Smile"

A bit cool and overcast , but it was fun to spend some time with 4 of my 5 girls and the hubby. My girls had no troubles climbing. If anyone was a little hesitant it was me. The girls scaled the rocks and big steps with the greatest of ease. I was a bit more cautious in finding the perfect spot to put my foot. We all noted the beautiful scenery. GREAT DAY followed by a some errands and fish tacos!

This week's theme was "Words ..." What better word than g - i - r - l - s I've got one for each letter Beautiful day ... Pretty girls !

Muse Definition of "Muse" in Language: as a noun: in ancient Greek mythology any of 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; protector of an art or science the source of an artist's inspiration; "Euterpe was his muse" as a verb: reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate" [synonyms: chew over , think over , meditate , ponder , excogitate , contemplate , muse, reflect , mull , mull over , ruminate , speculate ] I was a little embarrassed to note this week's theme for MCP Project 52 and realize that I didn't really have a clue as to what I could add to it (with a photograph). Not sure if it is noticeable, but I just love the photo that is on my iPad. It is actually a terrible quality picture that I played around with in Photoshop. It's grainy (due to lighting i...

One of these will be posted to the MCP Project 52 Week 4/52. The theme this week is Soothing repetition .....

Shades of GREY ...

In pictures of course ... Mommy and Daddy had to tag team today and split up. The 8 year old had a basketball game and the three older girls had a 3 day swim meet out of town. {b} did great at her first game. She was so excited. She did a little bit more running of the court and guarding than being aggressive with the ball (like she has in the past), but it was the first game in nearly a year AND with only 2 practices. Big girls are 3 hours away swimming their hearts out. They are also blowing their noses A LOT. Of course they have not been sick all winter, but they get sick after signing up, booking hotel, and paying for a meet. So far though ... GREAT SWIMS. I have a wonderful hubby who will do the travel without a bit of complaining. THIS IS LIFE for us ...

I can think of so many other goals for this year ... run more read more learn more about photography learn to manage OUR money better and aim for debt free manage my time better BUT, I almost always forget to focus on the moment ... whether big or small. So when my 13 year old asked me to come jump on the trampoline with her; I said YES! (really, I said no first) . I want my girls to think of me as a "fun" person and not the stressed mommy that I have been (for quite some time) . So this year I am aiming for the SIMPLE ... JUST . HAVE . FUN !

For these 5 girls ... This year my littlest one (5 year old) is so excited about SANTA . We noted that this year he was coming to our Church so we skipped out on the long lines at the mall and headed to our Family Life Center for a picture. Squeezing 5 girls is just a bit of a challenge, but my girls managed to smile. Although, I don't think they were all looking in the same direction ... oh well! This may just be the last time that I see my five sitting with SANTA (sniff, sniff).

5 HEADS popping out from behind these trees. To be continued ...

I'm fairly sure this is GOD working through my 8 year old ... So this week I will be cheerful, positive, and apparently SKINNY!

In early August 3 of my 5 girls participated in a kid's triathlon. The two older ones in the picture below participated last year, so this was TRI #2 for them! It was actually a really GOOD year for Miss {m} who placed 1st in the girls 10 year age group. This was a big improvement from last year when she had some troubles with transitions. This year ... she nailed that part of it. {k}, the 12.5 year old also placed 4th in the 13 year age group ... another improvement from last year. {b}, my just turned 8 year old did really well considering she biked and (partially) ran with her shoes NOT on in the back. I guess those no tie laces that we thought would help were too tight for her to get her feet in fast enough for her liking. I think it was halfway through her run that she decided she needed to really have her shoes on correctly. She placed 6th for her group. 350 participants ... MY GIRLS DID AWESOME! Just a few weeks ago we also came upon some bad news with our 17 month old ...

Today is the last day to vote ... if you have not. You can only vote one time for each photo ... that is how it works. I would love one of my photos to be in the CAPTURE ARKANSAS book. please , help me out! (click on the link below)

It's been nearly 5 years since I was gifted a lovely camera . I love my camera and I do believe some great pictures have been captured with it. When I first started to use it, the automatic feature was all that I used. Reading the manual was something that never really happened beyond a few quick glances. 3 years later, I did take a basic SLR class at our camera store. I went to about 4/6 classes and did walk away with the ability to use my P mode and not that easy automatic feature. It's been very clear to me that FLASH is not my friend and working with light in the correct way makes for so much nicer pics. Manual is where I want to go ... ALL THE TIME. It's been terribly intimidating to me, but after seeing my husband use it a few times, I know it makes for some great quality pictures. Yesterday I snapped the turtle picture in manual, but please don't ask me what the settings were because I likely used the ones that my husband used last. I love looking at photo...

Well, not the GRAND PRIZE winner, but I did win in the special category division ... most artistic! Thank you to my lovely 12 year old daughter who photographed this picture. One of these days I will have to sit down with her and try to share some of my tips, but for starters she has a great eye and that is a good thing to have. My thanks also to Deacon Bo who seems to have some unlocked artistic skills ... especially in the area of ash application. Every time I see that ash it really does look like Jesus on the cross. Am I just crazy in thinking that?

Poor male puppy doesn't understand that 5 sisters do not know any better .

To take some pictures Just scenery sort of shots. 'Cause I only had one child with me and things seemed easy enough. Except ... I only got about 10 pictures in, when the battery in my camera just shut down . No, I do not have another spare battery in my camera bag. No, 10 pictures is NEVER enough for someone who likes to take pictures. To get 10 GOOD pictures, you may need to take 100. Well, maybe that is exaggerating a little. Needless to say, I was bummed ... ((((SIGH))))) Guess I need to find another perfect day to try ... with a fully powered up CAMERA ;)

I'm taking a few minutes to update the blog while eating my shredded wheat and rice milk ... sounds yummy, eh? I just got three little girls off to school while the other 2 are waiting on me to start their day. Homeschooling is getting a little better. This school year had a shaky start, but we seem to be settling into a groove now. I put on my running shoes the other day for the first time in a few weeks. We've had so much rain and mostly that was my excuse for not running. Yesterday I had a pretty good run while listening to "A Wrinkle in Time" on my iPod. I find that stories and podcasts are much more stimulating to me than music while I run. I always get bored with playlists and after a few songs, I feel like I am watching the clock. It has also helped to have some sunshine ;) Swim team is starting to get busier. We just had our first meet 1.5 weeks ago and we will have one this weekend. The girls did great at the first one ... really cutting their times from the...

My 14 year old was so excited about this dance ... a Sadie Hawkin's dance where she had to ask one of the boys in her class to go. We DON'T do the boyfriend thing, so this was just a boy ;) We bought a new dress and shoes. I spent the afternoon before the dance doing her nails, hair, and makeup. She looked beautiful and I know she felt wonderful about the whole "look". After getting ready, I took her over to a friend's house to take photos and have a nice sit down dinner. A group of her friends were there and the lovely parents who hosted this did a nice job of getting the food (from Macaroni Grill ... we all chipped in). After the picture taking, I left where {e} and friends enjoyed a meal and then were brought to the dance (in the HS cafeteria) by her friend's parents. THIS IS WHERE THINGS WENT DOWNHILL. Other kids arrived at the dance DRUNK. Some kids were wildly dancing (grinding stuff). Some boys were sliding across floors with their ties around the...