Cobwebs hang on the big picture in the piano room ...
Giant silhouettes from poster board find their way on windows ... (Thanks to Artistic Jacob)
Hallway pictures seem to look a little different ...
Our house is beginning to look like HAlloWEen! ... Stay tuned for more ...
The definition of Perspective is "the appearance of objects relative to each other, as determined by their distance from the viewer, or the effects of this distance on their appearance". I had a few people email me about the Fall tree/Nathan soccer shot and how to achieve a different perspective.
I really don't know, I'm still learning, but so enjoy finding different angles to photograph. That picture I mentioned above shows that it is Fall, it is late afternoon, it shows Nathan with his soccer ball and that he enjoys it since he has the ball in the middle of the forest.
Everyone views objects and people differently through their own eyes. What I see, is most likely not what someone else's sees. I love how different perspectives tell a story. You can zoom OUT and see the entire scene ...
I'm bad at doing that because I love the close up face shots, yet I need to do more of the entire scene. The shot above will remind me of the days that the girls would drag out the bucket of Legos all across the floor.
Next you can hide in the scene (AKA Legos), zoom IN and take pictures of expressions ...
To me those expressions show a little sister watching her older sister and then obviously mad at her.
There are soooo many angles that pictures can be shot from, and EACH of them tell some of the story or mood. I really enjoyed seeing all the perspectives that Kristen Duke showed HERE. I would have never thought of half of those shots!
Anyway, just thought I would share to answer a few emails.
AND after you take the different pictures and are laying right in the middle of Legos, you will probably be asked to play Legos for a while AND when you say YES, you will get a face that looks like this...
Last night for FHE I had everyone sit around the table. I had one of our favorite cakes sitting inside the cake pedestal with the whip cream and hot fudge beside it. I also had my scriptures sitting next to it.
We talked about how yummy the cake is. We then discussed that we can't just sit there and stare at it to taste how good it is. We actually have to open the glass pedestal and take a piece out to try. Then we can eat and enjoy it. I then made comparisons to the scriptures how we can't just stare at them or listen to others talk of how good they are. We actually have to open them and read them. THEN we can feel of the Spirit and learn from what we are reading.
Of course we finished with out little yummy treat and I challenged them to NOT stare, but to open up their scriptures and enjoy them. Anyway, that was the jest of last night's FHE.
(Can you guess what I just had for breakfast ... I had to take a picture ...)
Ash look out the window there is a woodpecker on our clubhouse.
"Mom, it's a birdpecker, NOT a woodpecker."
"Ash, he pecks wood that's why he's called a woodpecker"
"BUT he is NOT wood, he is a BIRD, so he is called a Birdpecker"
(Oh yes Ash, you ARE soooo much wiser with your pre-school degree whereas I only have a COLLEGE degree!!!!)
AND Here she is with her latest instrument, the GARmonica. Yes, I said GARmonica because that's what she calls it and refuses to learn otherwise
Am I going to survive her?!?!?....
I think I have a child who shares my love for photography.
She is good too ...
She captured Rebecca trying to break her leg.
Then I caught HER trying to climb the trees as well. She claims that pictures look better from up above.
She might be right ... I love the different perspective it gives...
I wish the beautiful leaves could cling to the trees longer. It seems like Fall colors never last long enough.
Movie night with the Mason's on Friday - Theater Style.
Lots of Saturday Soccer Games.
Photo shoots for other people, which I SOOO enjoy doing.
Women's Conference with a treat out with friends.
Fall Color Drive.
The little girls and I were pulling out our Fall decor and I came across this mummy that Aunt Alesha had made us.
Just had to share what a cute and quick Halloween craft he would make. She just painted a 4x4 green as well as the wooden ball nose. Tore a sheet into strips to wrap him up. Added googley eyes and there he stands.
Along this same mummy line, I'm thinking about doing these cute mummy and bat chocolates for invitations to the girls Halloween party this year. Aren't they cute?!? They would even be fun to make and put somewhere for your kids to find during their day. Since there is chocolate involved I think it would be fun for my kids to make one for ME! You can see their instructions HERE at Skip to My Lou.
This time of year is sooo fun because it's filled with holidays.
"... Yes we can fix your well ... just know that we charge $220 an hour and the clock starts when we leave our office to come out to your house..." $220 an HOUR!!! Why didn't Stephen major in "well fixing" in college?!?!
Well we do have water now, but we sure don't have any money now ...
And what do you do when your well gets fixed? .... you take a bubble bath .. and I'm talking a bubble bath where the jets REALLY bubble it up!
We have our own well and for some reason our pump is broke. Stephen spent all day trying to fix it himself only to have spent a lot of time and money on all the parts that weren't the problem. We use water for SOOOO many things....
We just take water for granted. SOOOOO since I can't really clean I decided to work on a little project.
I got an I Spy Quilt kit from a friend and since it doesn't require water, I think I will finish up the top today....
There are soooo many fun blocks, this is just a little portion of them. Not only could you use it for the I Spy Game but you could use it for writing practice with the older kids. I could tell them to write me a story using a certain row of blocks. I'm always looking for writing starters in the summer. It's even fun to just look at!
Oh how I love this time of year and all the projects to get ready for Christmas. I'm really excited about a few that I have going right now. Thanks again Amy for the quilt kit! If you are interested in a kit email me and I will give you Amy's contact info.
Every morning I ask the little girls, "What do you want to do today?" AND 9 times out of 10 Jerrica says, "Go swimming and feed the ducks". I swear when that girl is older, she is going to have her own pond of ducks to feed each day.
Well, truth be told we only go and feed the ducks once every other month. TODAY, her request was granted and the ducks were fed.
My favorite picture of the day was actually of Ashley mesmerized by the ducks. I love the soft expression on her face and the bokeh of the ducks with their bright yellow bills in the background.
We really have been having gorgeous weather lately.
Going through a stack of papers and found this. I had originally found it in blogland somewhere and printed it up. Had it on the fridge, and now it found its way into my stack.
Simple yet profound!
Do you want to see something really scary that comes out of our basement?.....
It's a SCARY Batman. No he isn't nice. No he doesn't help people. AND No he doesn't smile.
He IS what Ashley is planning on being for Halloween. She is sooo loving this mask and the long cape that she flies around with. I asked her why she doesn't want to be a princess, to which she replied, "They don't get to wear masks and they don't act mean"
It seems like I have been busy with photography as of late. Senior portraits were due, and then a few other shoots. Stephen was sweet to let me do a photography workshop all day on Saturday with fun friends, which meant him running around to soccer games, science parties and a Stake meeting by himself. I sure love you Stephen!
Since it has been a photo week, I thought I would share a couple pictures (well maybe a couple more than a couple)...
Then remember our little Fall Family day, well I thought it would be fun to have a Fall picture. They never go very well with your own children. We are in the process of rearranging our pose and fighting over who gets to sit on the small bench. I have Kaylee and Nathan over there in La La Land dreaming and talking about something. Then Ashley trying to get Jacob in a head lock instead of looking at me. AND then little Jerrica all squished trying to push her brothers out to make room for herself. It reminds me of our Father's Day picture that you can see HERE. But for some reason I love these kinds of pictures because THESE are my kids!
Friend Friday turned into a Family Friday since I wasn't on the ball to get playdates set up. The weather has been gorgeous here in Colorado AND with the leaves changing we couldn't resist a bike ride. We love the Santa Fe bike trail with all the fun bridges. Costco is right next to the trail so we detoured in there for a pizza and pop lunch.
I am actually glad it turned into a Family Friday!
(Although Jacob ended up having a fun Friend Friday NIGHT over at the Webb's)
I love harvest time. We planted 12 tomato plants this year and have soooo enjoyed the yummy deliciousness. We have enjoyed working in the garden, canning the produce, and of course the eating. I LOVE fresh salsa OR bruchetta OR just a sliced, salted tomato. I am thrilled that we haven't had a hard freeze yet and that they are still going strong. I wish that they would just grow ALL year...
Grandma Jackie would always harvest her flowers as well as her vegetables. We would always have gorgeous bouquets to arrange and enjoy. I think that's where Tanya and I got our love for floral arranging.
I let each of the girls take in a Dahlia for their teachers this past week. They are so big and look so fun in a little vase.
I just love all the colors this time of year with Summer and Fall mixing together! I know that pretty soon it will be time to get my garden and flower beds ready for the winter but for now I'm still enjoying them.
I don't post pictures here from photo shoots but I couldn't resist putting a few of Pam on here, she has always been so good to my family. I was thrilled when she called and wanted me to do her Senior Shoot. She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.
When I do newborn shoots I think of how soft and sweet they are, and how I should just specialize in newborns. Then I do some toddlers and see how funny they are and want to do just them. Then I do couples that are in love, which makes me appreciate the love I have for Steve and I want to do couples. But lately, since I have done a few senior shoots and have two left to do, I realize how much I enjoy this bubbly age. I kinda just want to do all ages...
Pamela and I laughed so hard, talked in Spanish with each other and just had a blast taking pictures. She is so fun! Thanks for letting me post a few of these on my blog Miss PAm!!!
First off a disclaimer I am definitely a yeller/freak outer. If I always spoke calmly with my kids they would never know when I'm REALLY upset at what they did. So even with all the communication stuff I definitely DO yell!
Quite a few have asked what I have on the bedroom chore card. Here is what each of the kids have snapped in their chore magnet. Starred numbers are done on Saturdays. I'm sure there are more things that could be done but this is what we ask of our kids.
Next, the camera that I have is a Nikon D60 and I almost always use my 50mm 1.4 lense with it.
And last but not least I wanted to share Becky Higgins last couple posts on photography. One challenge she had was laying your camera on a table capturing the scene and then this last week was putting your camera on the ground or floor. I LOVED the different perspectives. Check out her favorite picks on her site of the ground shots HERE and then the table shots HERE. They will give you some ideas of things to capture. I want to do a puzzle and tea party shot now!
One of my latest favorite shots was the one with Jerrica on the driveway doing chalk. I had to get WAY down to capture the cement out in front.
Another one down on the ground that I loved was when Thomas was laying on the carpet playing cars. The floor is just such a perfect tripod for keeping your camera still, thus creating crisp shots. You have to be really down low though to get the forefront of the picture, like the carpet and cars in this one. If I would have been up more I would have captured the tops of the cars instead of this fun angle on them.
Go check out Becky Higgins links and try some table and floor shots. I just think it is fun looking through pictures and having different perspectives instead of ALL the same!
If that didn't answer your question, just email me - mymixofsix@hotmail.com.
My sister Tanya and I have talked about this one quite a few times. I think we had the same professor in college who taught this concept. I never forgot his lecture and rarely use the word "no" with my family. Well, over the weekend a mom approached me after watching me with the little girls and I got into this conversation with her and thought I would share the concept.
"No" is overly used in our society. It is a negative word and brings immediate reproach to it. We hear this one word WAYYY more than any other word in our vocabulary. When our children ask a question to which we quickly reply NO, they then whine and ask WHY not? Shouldn't we just start out with the reasoning since we are going to have to give it in the end. If we start out with the reason, we are on a positive note and aren't immediately negative.
Let me explain with a few examples.
*At a store, and one of the kids are crying for a toy. Instead of the no, No, NO with a scene ensuing, I usually say, "Oh that does look fun maybe we can get that for your birthday". That puts a smile on their face thinking of getting it in the future and gives me an idea of what they are into and liking.
*Just ate breakfast, "Mom can I have a cookie?" Instead of a NO with a fight I just tell them WHEN they can have a cookie. "We just had breakfast. Let's save those for dessert at lunchtime." Immediately it's positive because they are going to get a cookie at some point and don't need to put up a fight to the "No" word.
* They want a friend to come over. Instead of NO not today, just do the reason why, without the No. "We have soccer practice today and will be really busy can we do it ...." or just whatever your reason of saying no is.
*Say they want to do something that is dangerous or not a good idea to do. Once again as soon as you say no, they become very defensive. So instead of starting out telling them no, I start out by giving them my reasoning of why I feel they shouldn't do it. "We shouldn't do that because (whatever could happen or whatever the danger is) If I am just quick to say NO NO we don't do that, they will never really understand why they shouldn't, because they weren't given an explanation.
Just by alleviating the immediate negative "NO" you can communicate your view and feelings without putting someone on the defense immediately. I'm really not explaining this as well as my professor, but I hope you get the picture. And by no means am I trying to stand on a soapbox, it just really has worked wonders here for us over the years, and by all the feedback and comments from others watching I think it must work.
SO, don't start out with NO or even use the word, just use your reasoning why you WOULD say no.
Rebecca started a Jazz dance class on Friday and LOVES it. The older girls attended a wonderful Stake Activity Day. I loved hearing the stories from talks they listened to AND hearing about the service projects they participated in. They also brought home cute craft projects. The girls had to draw a picture of themselves in the future. I don't have Becca's picture, but Kaylee saved hers for her scrapbook. I thought it was so cute of her in front of the temple.
Saturday we ran to soccer games, birthday parties (Jerrica was invited to one of HER friend's birthdays), and a quick swim at the YMCA in the evening. Now here we are on Sunday, such a perfect day to rest and prepare for another busy week.
We LOVE doing this every year with the caterpillars that Grandma Charla brings up to us ...
And then they fly away ...
