Just a boring Tuesday

Today I am a mad fly-killing-machine. Instead of chucking them in the trash I should have constructed a pile of my victims. Just so I could prove my skills to my husband, because he is the zen master of catching flies (with his bare hands). Not sure if I should be proud or ashamed of this.

How do they all get in the house anyway?

And why did I throw them away? My chickens would have loved that snack.

We had some rain last night. I wanted to get a certain picture of the moon, but I settled for some lightning instead.



My foot hurts because our Red Rooster went after the Littler Brother. Other than a bit of emotional damage, we're all fine.

I have a little girl who likes to stack rolls of toilet paper into tall towers. I have kittens who like to shred toilet paper. It's an interesting combination. Her record height is nine rolls, which involves a step stool and a chair. Her record when the kittens are around is... maybe three if she's lucky.

We always say our Little Bean is a tough cookie. On multiple occasions I've hollered at her brother (the one who happens to be twice her age) to get off of her, only to look around the corner in time to watch her put him in a headlock and take him down.

Yesterday she got caught up on her vaccines. Instead of transforming into a wailing, tear and snot flinging wild little animal after it was over... she simply gave the nurses a (very) dirty look and said, "Hey! That piece bite me!" And that was it.

Then she had a few drops of blood taken from her finger, and it went down in pretty much the same way.

Yeah, she's tough.

Her brother that witnessed it stood there in awe. Her other brother, when he heard the story of how she didn't cry, said "Maybe they killed her?" with a sort of hopeful tone to his voice.

I entered the I Heart Faces photo contest last week through flickr instead of here. The challenge was "Beautiful Eyes", and I figured everyone and their sister would enter. And they did. There was almost a record number of entries, over 1200.

You can imagine how shocked and honored I am to have made 8th, when there were so so many gorgous entries. So many more deserving than mine.





That cutie is my cousin's little guy Charlie. In the midst of his Great Grandfather's full-honor military burial ceremony, there he quietly sat with his big brown eyes taking it all in.

So, it's just a boring Tuesday around here. And I think that's about all I have to say.

Friendship

They can play just as hard as they fight. It all depends on whether the stars are perfectly lined up, and how long it's been since they had a good snack. But then, there are these certain quiet moments that speak loud and clear...



I Heart Faces - Friendship

Tough guy

Nothing like a pair of "Iron Man" sunglasses to bring out the inner tough guy in an almost-seven (what? how?) year old. Not that he even knows who "Iron Man" is.

I'll be the first to admit, this hazy look is really not my style. But I think maybe it does add a bit of superhero magic.



He's been practicing his "tough-guy" moves on our Red Rooster.

Yes, it's as funny it sounds. Maybe even more so.

Me: "What is going on out here?"

Tough guy: "Mommy, I'm trying to be brave!"

I Heart Faces - "Let's hear it for the boys!"

Best Face of February

I don't know if it's my best. But it's my favorite. I was sitting on my bed, trying to get a decent arm's-length self portrait when this little Bean popped up beside me.



I Heart Faces - "Best Face of February 2011" #263

Happy mess

We spent the last few days of 2010 hunkered down in the house. The snow and wind blew all around outside.

The boys were unleashed upon some craft projects they got for Christmas. Boyish craft projects. Little molded trucks, paint brushes, copper sheet metal (it was really more like thick tin foil), and a tiny mallet and embossing tool.

They. Had. A. Blast.

And a little problem.

The Bean wanted to play too.

How do you avert World War III?



Finger paint... and lots of it.

I even had to scrub the wall when she was done, and she wasn't sitting that close to the wall.



I Heart Faces - "Smile"

My third-hand lion

All he wanted was some lovin'. All I wanted was to keep him more than a foot and a half away from me for just a few seconds so I could get this shot.



Prior to that, we had a little commotion. I told him it wasn't classy to steal bread from the chickens and then smack them when they tried to take it back. Then again, chickens are thieves too. Maybe it was good for them.

Normally, he's such a gentleman, which is incredible since he'd been abandoned here by previous residents not once, but actually twice before we arrived. Doesn't that make him a third-hand lion?

I Heart Faces - Pets

One lens

Winners and favorites HERE. I am so honored to have been included in this group of talented artists!



One of the lenses I look through every single day. Thank God for glasses!

I Heart Faces - Self portrait

Boys climbing

Deb Schwedhelm is the guest judge over at I Heart Faces this week, which means I have got to enter. The way she captures emotion and does magic with a lensbaby is so inspiring to me.

And. She has the most amazing hair I've ever seen.

Oh, sorry. Am I off topic again?

Nevermind.



The boys were showing off the "upstairs" of their lilac house. Busy busy busy.



This week's theme is "scenic black and white", requiring a person (not necessarily a face for this week) somewhere in the photo. I looked up the definition of "scenic" and I'm still not sure this qualifies. They didn't specify "landscape".

Smirk

This was a hard one.

There was the "I'm soaking wet and loving it" smirk, and the "blueberry juice all over the lips" happy smirk. We have all kinds of "this is a very cool snake" smirks. Of course there was the "brontosaurus-underwear wedgie" smirk, which although I adore, might not be appropriate material for the blog. The cutest one of them all was the "every square inch of me is splattered with mud and my brothers had nothing to do with it" smirk.

In the end I decided to go with the "yeah Mom, I suppose I'll get on that bus" first day of school nervous smirk.

Just because.



There is a whole lot of smirking going on over at I Heart Faces.

The evidence

"No."

"A bath? No."

"Uh. NOPE."

"No, I dooooon't need to."



The number of baths and/or clothing changes a boy has on a summer day is directly proportional to the amount of fun contained within that same day.

I need to go wash some towels...


The challenge at I Heart Faces is "Play".

After I got my photo ready I read about this week's judges. Just my luck, they are obsessed with color. So here's me with my black & white entry. Oh, well. I'm gonna play anyway.



Here I am a month later, editing to link up with In A Yellow House photo challenge - "Your Best Shot".

I feel I've really come a looooong way in this photography journey of mine. It was only last November it crossed my mind to take the camera off the "little green box". Portraits are my weakness. But I nailed this one. I love it. LOVE it. For some reason this shot has been on my mind all week, and then Ms Yellow House asked for it... our best shot.

A big smile

This kid of mine has the biggest mouth I have ever seen on a three-year-old.


It makes for some pretty amazing smiles!

He and his brother were tickling themselves with their plants. Then, they decided to blow on the leaves as violently as they could, which was apparently hysterical. Their baby sister thought it was hilarious too.

Their plants were not smiling, as you can see.


I Heart Faces - "Smiles"

Animal handling skills

We had a dramatic celebration of victory!


After a quest of epic proportions, my youngest boy courageously captured his adversary, the skunk. (Really. You have no idea.)

He protected himself with socks, of course. There was also a backpack, a bowl, and a toy chainsaw involved.

The socks were multipurpose. At one point he also used them to cover his nose, because as you know, skunks tend to be rather stinky.

I later found the skunk in it's final resting place, a boy's dirty clothes hamper.

This week's challenge at I Heart Faces is "Dramatic black and white". Although, maybe this isn't the type of drama they were after?


Come join the fun!

Bundled up

A memory from a crisp autumn day, and one of my most favorite photos of our little sweetheart.


Was that only a few short months ago?

She has been working on her walking skills lately, and I cannot wait to get photos of her toddling around the yard this summer (not bundled).

I Heart Faces - "Hilarious Outtakes"

There is some seriously funny stuff going on over at the I Heart Faces "Hilarious Outtakes" challenge.

Just think, a challenge based not on talent, but lack thereof! Finally, I feel like I am really qualified to play along.

Ahem.

Here is my disastrous attempt at a Christmas card photo of my kids this year.

Overexposed. Shutter speed too long and aperture too wide. But hey, I had little more than a month's experience venturing off full-automatic.

At least I tried!

And my kids?











Life as usual here at our place.

Sigh.

I Heart Faces - "Hands-On Fun"

This photo is one I took two years ago with our old Point & Shoot, the first summer we were here on the farm. Chasing after frogs and snakes is one of our favorite summer activities, and the boys still talk about the day they caught a 'Smooth Green Snake'.

Yes, we looked it up.

It was the best snake ever!


I am dreaming of those long summer days...


Visit I Heart Faces to see some absolutely amazing entries in the "Hands-On Fun" photo challenge.