Clark Is In The Mood

No, my husband's name isn't Clark.

Clark is our cat.  

He's a handsome fluffy guy (and by fluffy I mean fat) who loves to be petted and held - sometimes. He loves to be fed - All the time.   

I often hear "Clark is in the mood!" to find my youngest child inching along the wall trying to get past Clark with out a claw or heaven forbid teeth coming his way.  While Clark lays in a sunbeam flicking his tail and keeping a very close eye on my boy. 

I asked my son how he knew that Clark was 'in the mood' and he said "I can tell how he wooks at me, wike he's hungwy or something."  So that about sums it up. 

Clark is our first cat ever, he was a very tiny kitten when we found him, that I think is the reason he has a love/eat relationship with my children.  When he was little, they were little.

 When Clark was this age, my boy was this age.

 Let's be honest they both caused a lot of trouble.

I spent a lot of time saying 'touch kitty gently' to a two year old boy who didn't know the meaning of the word.  My older son loved to let the kitten bite on to his feety jammies and then drag him all around.  I tried I really did, the cat is alive and chubby, I'm going to count this one as a win even if he stages sneak attacks on my children, I guess what comes around goes around.  They do have their tender moments, most of them revolve around them putting food in Clark's dish or giving him a kitty treat.  Of course, that is when my kids love me the most too - feeding time.  They are content to hear him purr every now and again and he's content to nap on their beds. 

But, fair warning, when you hear the announcement that "Clark is in the mood" you had better watch out!

Disclaimer:  No animals or children were harmed in the making of this post.

Some might call it coincidence.....

That's my youngest boy and my handsome husband raking up the leaves in front of our new house.  As you can see, his shirt is well worn.  It has holes in the armpints. (that is how my kids said armpits when they were little, I still use the reference because it reminds me of before they had proper speech.  When they were little buggers, it makes me smile.)

I actually bought that shirt before we had children....oh about 9 years ago. My youngest claimed it when he was tiny and it hung down past his knees.  It has a bulldozer on it you see and says 'my dad works at Caterpillar'.  His Dad didn't work at Cat when he started wearing it but he did when I bought it.
We recently moved here from about 3 states away but we've lived here before, in this little town.  Not in this house but kitty corner from it.

When we first lived in the house kitty corner from here, we didn't have any babies but that didn't stop me from going to garage sales with them (my future little ones) in mind.  Mrs. P the former lady of the house use to have some rockin' garage sales.  I bought all her little Cat shirts with hopes that my crew would someday wear them.  And wear them they have.  They wore the armpints right out of them!

It wasn't long before the little ones arrived and we moved back towards family but there was something about this little town that just stuck with us.  Now, here we are back in our little town and his daddy really does work at Cat again.  The family that use to have the garage sales had moved away and the Lord worked it out just right.  Just right you see, that this shirt could come home again and live it's armpitless last days out on a little boy who will call this house home.

So, I guess I don't necessarily believe in coincidences.   I believe in things working out, for the good....how does that scripture go?  Because, I sure do love Him.  I know He loves me and you.
Have a good day everyone!

I Love Fall, even if my 'to do' list piles up like the leaves.

There is something about fall that is just right.  The weather has cooled and the leaves turn so very pretty.  My one and only complaint is that it goes too fast.  I find my self taking hundreds of photos (yes, I said hundreds.  It's an illness really) because as the wind blows that tree will never look the same.  Well, until next fall but still it won't ever look exactly the same.  So when my lovely husband got home and after looking around a bit said 'so, what did you do today?' I wanted very badly to say, well I went outside and took this:

 but he wouldn't understand how long it took me to sit under that tree and wait for Mr. Leaf to fall, so I didn't say anything.  Actually, I did say something but you all don't want to hear how that conversation ended up.

I could have told him I dealt with this guy:

My husband would have understood that because he's him.  Yep, he's his daddy's boy.  Except he gets those two swirly cowlicks on either side of his forehead from me.  They make his hair just right to get a mowhawk from Miss Margie who cuts his hair.  She also hands out soda to little kids, she's a crazy lady!

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, my husband was looking at the kitchen table that still had paintings drying and paintbrushes caked with paint and was asking what I did all day.  I said 'nothing', actually we both know that I didn't say 'nothing' but this is my blog and I don't want to go into what I said.  Telling him I took the kids to the park and then painted some pretty fall trees wouldn't have made much of a difference.  So, I said other things. 

I'm only telling you this to say, take a lesson from me and don't empty the dishwasher tomorrow afternoon, go enjoy the fall weather.  It's changing fast!  You can bet I won't be taking this many photos come winter time. Get out there and lay under a tree, pick a yard that doesn't have a resident dog, now that's serious advice, and enjoy the beautiful colors.  Even if you're married to a type 'A' kind of person, they'll get over it long before the snow flies.  
This doesn't last forever folks!

Neither will this, and I just can't miss it!  I'm pretty sure the laundry and dishes will still be there when I head back in.  They always are!  Why is that?

Head out the next chance you get and just enjoy the beauty that is Fall! 

Getting Up Close and Personal

I like taking photos, love it really.  
I'm no expert, I've never taken a photography class, just something I've always enjoyed.  Although, I might take a class someday because I keep trying to figure out what an aperture is and I can't figure it out.  
Until then I will fill you in on the little things I've learned along the way.  Just my experiences.  Nothing too in depth. For example, my advice to you today is to get up close and personal with your photo subject.  If you are taking pictures of a child, pet, flower get up close.  Fill the whole photo with whomever or whatever you are photographing.  It's fun and can be far more personal.  

We all love chubby little baby fingers.  Well, my baby's fingers are now four years old but this photo will help me to remember them in all their chubbiness.  When you fill the frame with your subject more detail stands out and they are the star of the show.

Another part of getting up close and personal is getting down on the level of your subject.  I do believe I was on my belly when I took this.  If you can't beat them join them, that's the way it works.
Also, I did not ask my guy to put his hands on his face, he was already doing this.  He was actually waiting to be buried in the leaves, by his brother and sister.  If you ask a child to do something, as in pose for a photo, it doesn't usually work out.  Actually, it almost never looks as you've imagined it and you'll find yourself screaming at them that all you want is one stinking photo for the christmas card!  Not that I've ever done that.  
I find it more relaxing to photograph children in their natural habitat, you get better photos because they are more relaxed and you are more relaxed.  So, get down on the play room floor or sit yourself down in the grass and snap away while they play. Say their name every once in a while, they'll look at you.  If they like you they probably will even smile. 
Or, if you don't want to get down on their level, bring them up to yours.  Let them climb a tree or get up on the jungle gym.  They love that kind of stuff, so you'll get lots of fun smile and crazy faces.  

 How's that for up close?  Did I scare ya?

I have really been enjoying taking photos of flowers, I started this past spring and have been snapping photos of my flowers all summer.  The closer the better!  Flowers are like individual works of art.  

This is the mum that sits on my front porch this very moment.  On a bright sunny day I plopped myself down beside it and took it's picture.  Don't be overly concerned with how crazy you look to passersby. in the large scheme of things it doesn't really matter and you'll get a good photo so it will all be worth it.  Actually, I figure we usually look crazy to passersby anyway, so why try to be different.  I have one boy who insists on 'watering' the trees and another who stands up in a tree and personally greets each and every individual who walks by.  With all that going on they probably won't even notice me and my camera.  


Let's review, if you are looking for something different than your four foot away point and shoot then get up close, fill the whole screen with something or someone you love and change your point of view.  Get down where your photo subject is or bring them up, switch things up a bit.  If you want to get really crazy and are photographing people, you don't even have to get their whole face for it to be fun and memorable:

Now, get out there and take some pictures, have some fun and make some memories!

Daddy, stubborness, a tooth, and a happy fairy....

The tooth fairy visited our house last night, he has been waiting a very long time to collect a certain tooth.  I'll show you a photo I took a few days ago, it should shed some light on this story. 

This is my one and only baby girl.  I love this photo, took it just the other day.  Can you see that tiny baby tooth that looks like it could fall out at any second?  Right there next to her two front teeth.  That very tooth has been driving my husband nuts for weeks!  Weeks is no exaggeration. Every night at dinner, he would ask her if he could please pull her tooth, he asked her when she brushed her teeth for bedtime, he asked her as we left the house for a walk, on our way to the grocery store, when she woke up, he wouldn't leave her alone!  He tried a few time to do it by force, it got ugly folks.  He would beg, threaten, offer money but she dug her heals in and wouldn't let that little tooth be pulled. And he says she gets her stubbornness from me!
Last night, as the kids were brushing their teeth and daddy was asking for the millionth time if he could please just pull it, with all of his promises of it not hurting and our oldest son was saying something like 'just pull the stinking thing already!' it fell out!  Cue angels singing 'haaaaaallelujah,  hallelujah, hallelujah, hallaaaalujahhhhhh!'. 
Now there is no tiny tooth by her gigantic adult teeth (she gets that from me) and the tooth fairy gave her a little bonus, there was two dollars under her pillow!  Not quite as much as the fifty dollars her dad had offered once at dinner (told you he was desperate) but she was happy and I think the tooth fairy was too.  I don't know what we'll talk about at dinner tonight but I'm sure we'll think of something.

Testing, testing....is this thing on.

First impressions are very important.  So, let us begin with this image:

Are you feeling the insanity? 

There is plenty more where that came from!  Please join me as I run through life with my kids, or from my kids, it all depends on the day.