recent happenings..

first off...wow! it's been a while since my last post..just so busy. i am going to do my best to get you all caught up on our happenings since my last post.

well...the weekend before last we headed back to tn for father's day weekend. it was mainly a work trip, but we squeezed in some fun while we were there.

saturday we headed to hiwassee river for canoeing and tubing. we encountered thunderstorms while on the river complete with hail...we were very blessed to be able to make it off the river quickly before being pelted. Praise GOD!

here are some glimpses from the trip to tn...(which, unfortunately...does not include photos from the river adventure as that was a very wet trip and well...water and my camera do not mix).

a snooze on the way to tn.

one of tina's new kittens getting his bath. ;-)

gary and debi's (my in-laws) first tomato of the season. isn't it a beauty?

first cucumber of the season...and it is so cute!

the above photo is of my sister-in-law tina working on one of her beautiful ceramic creations. you can check out more of her work on her etsy shop, Xarine Creations. she is super talented!!

time at the duck pond

making father's day cards..

then this past week included another VBS for river...he had lots of fun learning about ways we can take care of God's creation through recycling, preventing pollution, leaning more about the animals God created and how our actions can put them in danger, etc.

here is a snapshot from VBS...

'the little zoo that could' brought in animals to help the kids learn more about them. here is one of the monkeys.

while river was at VBS, lily and i got to enjoy some time together..here, she is clearly getting tired of all the picture taking..oh, but i can't help myself. i mean..look at those gorgeous eyes!

also this week we had friends come to visit us from tn....our buddies, kent and his son daniel.
here are some photos from the activities which took place while they were here...

meet daniel.  ('beast')...a new term i learned from him. i will forever remind him i know this word. haha! he thinks it sounds funny when i say it because i'm not a kid. oh, that makes it even more fun to say around him.

oh my! i love this man!!

making pancakes...river supervising. ;-)

i also finished my homeschooling list (which includes the subjects as well as a materials list). you can find the subjects/curriculum list under the 'homeschool' page. i will be frequently adjusting this list (especially once we actually get started...so, you might want to check back often.

and then saturday fires broke out in gulf shores...what a terrible mess. when we were at the beach we saw this....

afterwards we drove around and snapped a couple more photos of the fire...
here is a news bit on the fire in case you didn't hear about it. gulf shores fire news story.
my friend amy reminded me that the trees being burned are the ones that had just started to fill in from being hit from hurricane ivan. how sad!





well, how's that for a catch-up post? ooh...remind me to keep up with my at-least-twice-a-week-posts so, i can keep the posts a bit lighter. ;-)

i hope you all are doing great and have a fantastic week!

love,
kelly

the lizard and tree frog hunters..

river and lily, as well as our sweet neighbors, matthew and mariah, love going hunting for lizards and now....tree frogs. oh, little itty bitty frogs are super cute.

matthew let river "frog sit" for him while he was out running errands with his mom a couple days ago..

so naturally, i had to take photos of the frog.

isn't he adorable?




isn't God's handiwork in creation amazing?

yes, super short post..and that's okay. i'm sure there are more lizards and tree frogs to photograph. ;-)

when was the last time you went searching for lizards and tree frogs? ;-)

love,
kelly

fine arts camp

Hello!

This week is fine arts camp for River! oh...and in case you didn't get the memo..we are moving away from calling River "leafy". He has mentioned (in not so many words) that he just isn't feeling it.. ;-)

Each day of this week he is participating in singing, drama, fine arts (like painting, drawing, etc), and drums.

He has been enjoying it immensely! He is super excited that his buddy, Noah, is in his group, too. ;-)

Here are some photos of percussion class and some of River's classmates.....

This week's fine art camp concludes Thursday evening with a Mithril concert. Mithril's percussionist, David Hughes, is River's teacher! I, for one, am so excited about this concert...as I love celtic music! Plus, I think this will be a great way for river to see how instruments work together to make music, especially seeing his teacher up  performing songs with his band.

This fine arts camp is really a wonderful thing. I am hopeful that I can find something similar to this in the Chattanooga area when we move back. Anyone know of anything??

Hope you are having a great week!

Love,
Kelly

matthew, mariah, and mama!

this weekend we had the privilege of getting out to the beach, enjoying God's creation, and photographing our friend, alissa and her two adorable kids...matthew and mariah

they live here in our apartment complex...right across the breezeway from us..such sweet neighbors to have!!

matthew and mariah love to play with lily and river (leafy's real name) and vice versa! this bunch together, makes an awesome lizard (and apparently tree frog) catching team.

anywho...here are some of my favorites from the shoot.

you can go to my flickr site to see the rest... (just click on a photo to go there)

the reality of portraits...sometimes one does something silly...but, it keeps it fun!

aren't they an adorable family? their blue eyes are stunning! yes...they really are that blue! gorgeous!

leafy and lily had tons of fun on this shoot...well, near the end lily got pretty hot (as it was a pretty hot day) so she eventually became pretty grumpy. but, other than that...it went beautifully!!

it was our first shoot using our new reflector, which is so exciting! i can really see how the reflector makes a difference in the photos and i am so thankful to have it!

have a great day!
love, kelly


linking up with life made lovely monday.

photos...but, of course.

pretty much just some photos..surprised? ;-)

most of these may have already been posted here, but they have been edited a bit different and well, they are worth of showing again, in my opinion (as the people in the photos are just so lovely).

day 8/365

niece in color ;-)

i pray you all have a very wonderful weekend!

love, kelly

beautiful one

both of the kids have been walking around singing 'beautiful one' by jeremy camp, as well as others, because of VBS, which is going on this week.



so...i had to listen to it for myself again, as i have always liked this song, but haven't heard it in a while.. the video has some pretty photos, too.

also, here is picture 7 of 365 of my 365project (a photo a day for 365 days)...you have total faith that i can complete this project, right? i hope so! ;-)

the kids doing hand motions during a song at VBS

there is something just so sweet and precious about children singing and worshiping God. it is heartwarming, to say the least. melts my heart through and through.

must go now...have a wonderful rest of the week (in case you don't hear from me before then).

*oh...in case you haven't seen the first six photos from my project 365 and care to...just click on the above picture and it will take you to my flickr.

love, kelly