07/14/08

Quiet

Rain Falling

Cooler (for summer)

That was my day today! It was actually shocking to wake up to clouds and have them hang around most of the day. That is just not a normal summer day here in NC. It began raining softly in the later morning and rained until mid-afternoon. It was wonderful, soaking rain. I just thanked the Lord for it. I also just "had" to photograph the moment. :) (click on them to see the rain better...)

I had been doing some things around the house, as well as finally scrapbooking after many months, and began to watch it fall. When the rain started coming down harder I decided to go out on the front porch and "soak" it all in. It was so peaceful... so relaxing. I am cherishing these times because in a month, that will not be the case. When I walked back inside I decided to stop listening to my CD's and just listen to the rain. It was nice "music" by which to scrapbook.

After the rain ended, Wesley wanted me to come out and see a little guy he had found. I believe this is a baby bluebird... not sure, though. (We have a nest and looked in it the other day to see the baby bluebirds were almost big enough to learn to fly.) Of course, looking at these pictures again I am truly wondering if this isn't a mockingbird. I checked it out enlarged on the screen. Hmmm.. I am sure Kevin will tell me!! He was scared to death of these big people coming to look at him... especially the one with the large black thing with legs. lol (my camera and tripod) I had a mockingbird flying low around me while I was photographing some of the flowers with water droplets... I truly wasn't sure if this little guy belonged to it or not, but it finally calmed down a bit. He finally went to a different part of our flower bed. I heard him later on but could never find him again. I was pretty impressed that Wesley was a nature detective today and found the little thing. He was so excited. Both of the kids love finding more of God's Creation.

I love water droplets on things after it rains. I am a "sucker" for getting out and photographing them often. I will show those pictures later. I have too many to show today. lol I did want to show the red gerber daisy, though. :)

Above I had mentioned I was finally scrapbooking today. I got the kids albums caught up as far as getting the pics in for first grade. I still have to journal, but at least they are in there. I am not doing fancy smancy pages. I just don't have time for a lot of those anymore. I still am so linear, though, so they definitely have some straight lines. I did go out on a limb on a couple of them today and go a little "catywompas." :) I am now on Easter in our family book. I feel really good about what I accomplished today. I would really love to be "caught up" with what I haven't done yet by the end of the week. We'll see.

I have been uploading my vacation pics to be printed today. Let's just say I am only on day 2 and it has taken me alllllll day. I'll do more tonight. I know my system is a bit slower right now because I am backing up my files online. After what happened to one of my online friends the other day, I felt it would be best. :)

Below are the pictures I was telling you about with the sparklers. I was pretty tickled with them for our first try. The kids are in the first one just running around the yard. That was when I was trying to get my settings right. I am doing the heart, star and zigzags. (Behind my picture of the heart you can see a car went by... the headlights keep going! Kind of cool!) Mikayla is doing the "figure eight" looking thing and Wesley did some but they would not upload for some reason. Maybe I can try his on another post. We had so much fun doing those. Steve originally said we would only do one pack of six. I think I had maybe eight packs of six, but by the end of it all... we had done them all. ha!! It was great fun and I wish we had had more.

I did this heart for my SWEETHEART, Steve. :)

This almost could have been a Christmas tree. lol

Mikayla :)

This last picture is of the moon. I am trying to learn how to take moon shots... and it isn't easy. This is the best I have ever done, though, because my camera was on my tripod, but it still doesn't "LOOK" like the moon. I thought it gave it a neat look, though. It kind of looks like a starburst.

The kids and I went for a walk later this afternoon. It was so neat to watch and hear the birds more active than I normally see them this time of day. I think the rain caused them to stop and enjoy the moment as well. I also noticed the grass looked greener and "perkier"... it is amazing how the plants perk up so much when it rains. It is totally different from when you water them yourself.

Steve had to work late so the kids and I ate supper "picnic style" in the middle of the den and watched Finding Nemo. We love that movie. :)

I hope you have a wonderful evening. :)