Fun with Pictures

I was really disappointed when I woke up early this morning to go yard saling only to discover light rain and clouds. I am so glad our drought has subsided, and typically I love rainy days. But lately, since I've become such a nature photography nut, I find myself turning the table a bit and longing for bright light days to take good pictures with. Cloudy days just are improssible to work with.

The boys and I headed out anyway, and we made a few yard sale stops, but the only picture I took was of a dead (spooky) looking tree. Clouds and black and white worked for that shot.

Around lunchtime, the clouds gave way to sun, and we headed out with time to spare for a birthday party in Cary. I made several stops along the way including a barn, railroad tracks, wheat, and balloons. At the railroad track stop, Joey was very excited to be my helper and touch a real railroad track.

Enjoy a few of the pics below and go here for the best pics of today.

Let's Get Creative

I took a couple of interesting pics today despite being mostly stuck inside working. When I fed Honey and Sugar, I got the idea to take a picture of Honey's head in a food bowl tipped up on it's side. Neat effect. And, when I walked Blaze, I took a picture of a spider web in Christine's yard that I'd misted with water. Also neat.

The rest of the trial and error pics are here including a pic of a dead snake that S&H must have tangled with earlier in the day.

Joey - You've Come a Long Way Baby!

I wanted to show a picture of Joey on the day he started preschool and on the day he graduated from preschool. He's definitely come a long way! Joey spent four years at Resurrection Lutheran Preschool (RLP) as a Bumblebee, Clifford, Pony, and Bear.

Below is Joey's Ressie Bag. Ressie is the school mascot. He was given this bag when he started preschool, and even though it shrunk and picked up a few stains, he used it the whole time.

Just a mom coming to terms with her little boy getting big...

I uploaded two videos of the kids signing at the graduation yesterday. They are here.

Joey's End of Year Certificate Ceremony

It was Joey's turn to 'graduate' today at preschool. I dropped him off at his class and saw that the kids were going to wear hand-made caps complete with tassle. How sweet!

There were more kids in the ceremony today and therefore more parents, so I didn't get to sit as close as I wanted. Still, I got plenty of pics and Joey was able to spot where Rick, Johnny, and I were sitting.

The first thing they did was put a slideshow of the kids up on the wall. Seeing the wonderful faces of the graduating kids got me crying right away. It just made them seem so grown up and the graduation so real.

The director, Miss Cheri, spoke about how great a year it had been and how well all the kids had done.

Then the kids came in and lined up and sang 4 songs for us. Joey was quite the ham singing right along and making lots of hand gestures.

Then it came time for the certificates. The teachers handed them out a class at the time with the Bears (Joey) and Penguins (Jacob) at the end.

We all feasted on a ton of good food afterward and said our goodbyes. Joey got his pic with Mom and Dad and with Miss Lori and Miss Joanne.

The rest of the pics are here. You'll notice Joey coping with standing still in one place by making some interesting faces:-)

Johnny's End of Year Certificate Ceremony

Rick, Joey, and I attended Johnny's End of Year Certificate Ceremony this morning. Some of you may remember that Johnny refused to let Rick drop him off at his classroom for the Thanksgiving program last November. To try to avoid that scene, we had Miss Sue meet us at the normal drop-off spot so that hopefully he would not feel like his routine was being altered. Unfortunately, he out smarted us out smarting him and got upset getting out of the van, but Sue coaxed him out and lead him to his classroom anyway.

The kids came in and lined up very nicely. Johnny gave us a huge smile when he saw us.

A few minutes into the ceremony, though, he almost burst into tears, and you could tell he really wanted to just come sit with us. We're so proud that he kept his place and got past that tough moment.

After Johnny settled back down, we got to see a lot of his tummy:-)

After the kids sang several songs, Miss Sue and Miss Mary gave out the certificates.

Below the kids are waiting patiently for the rest of the kids to get their certificates.

Once outside and reunited with his family, Johnny was all smiles again.

We filled him tummy and got pics with his teachers and with Mom and Dad.

This is Miss Sue. She had a great first year at RLP.

This is Miss Mary (we ought to call her Miss Clifford). She taught Joey two years ago and has been at RLP many years.

The rest of the pics from today are here.

A drop of water...

Joey and I went to Lake Wheeler on the way to school this morning. Unfortunately, you won't be hearing me say that again for a while if ever since today was his last day of preschool and he starts kindergarten at another location at the end of July. More on that Thursday when he has his certificate ceremony (and I can afford to start crying). At any point, he sure was a good helper this morning, and I got several interesting pics. It was a cloudy day or the pics would be even better. Seems like the birds are the friskiest and in the best positions when the sun is behind the clouds. Oh well.

This is some sort of duck or goose...not sure. Can anyone help? I am just fascinated by the drop of water coming off his beak after he bent down to snag a piece of bread.

This a Carolina Wren.


This is a Cormorant. He kept his wings out for several minutes.

The next two pics are of a beautiful Great Blue Heron.

The rest of today's pics are here.

Strawberries

I can't believe it's almost Memorial Day and the boys and I had not picked any Strawberries from Porter Farms & Nursery. I told the boys if they did a good job eating their dinner (why did I say that 'cause they always chow down) that I'd take them for ice cream at the produce stand afterward. We ended up at Madi's house for a playdate first, and then we headed out for ice cream. They make it there, and it's REALLY GOOD.

I figured we'd just come home afterward, but the boys begged to pick strawberries. After a quick lesson in what to pick and what not to pick, it took us about 15 minutes to fill our bucket (and I only helped a little). The boys were thrilled. I was happy too 'cause picking strawberries when the sun is NOT overhead is my kindof picking;-)

Bring on the fresh corn out of the field...soon!

Enjoy these pics from our evening.

Tissue Tea

I went to Johnny's preschool class around 11:30 today for a Tissue Tea. Basically, it gives the moms a chance to look back on the year and cry about their babies getting bigger. Johnny's teacher, Miss Sue, put together a picture and video slideshow on DVD showing lots of neat things the kids did during the year. It was about 25 minutes long and seriously a near tear jerker. Unfortunately, near the end of the DVD, the fire alarm went off. I think it was the construction on the new building that set it off...no fire. We missed the end of the video, the kids were a little startled, and carpool got a late start, but everyone was fine, so that was good.

Today was Johnny's last school day, and tomorrow is Joey's last day. We go back Wednesday for Johnny's certificate ceremony, and we go back Thursday for Joey's certificate ceremony.

The rest of the pics are right after I got home with the kids. We were just clowing around in the driveway before I went to my office to work. I tell ya, I had to force myself to come inside it was so pretty.

Ladybugs in a Field of White

Daisies are pretty, but add a ladybug crawling around and posing and the eye's fascination with the picture goes up. Sortof like taking pics when the daisies have water droplets on them. I took the bright sunny shot yesterday and the cloudy day shot today. There are plenty of ladybugs on the daisies, but they don't necessarily want to hang out on top. I'll keep trying for that ultimate shot.

After sitting in the Odyssey very nicely while I took the daisy shots, I took the boys to Falcon park where they had a good time. I was trying to recover with another run in with a fire aunt mound:-(

The best of today's pics are here.