Photo Challenge Day 14

Adele is napping, Fiona is playing with Daddy and I'm meant to be doing laundry, so what better time to take a break and play with photoshop?

One of the things I am constantly working on when taking pictures is getting at least one, but preferably both eyes in focus. It's more tricky than it sounds because those girls move fast!

I told Fiona that I wanted to take her picture and this is the pose she did for me...

So I told her I needed to see her eyes and this is what she did next...

So helpful!

So I bribed her with a gummy worm and she cooperated, for the most part...

I did a little editing in photoshop to brighten it up a little and there is day 14.

30 Day Photo Challenge Day 14: Eyes

Photo Challenge Day 13

We went to the zoo today, then straight to Cathy and Erik's for game night with them and the awesome Lori and David, so I'm attempting to post today's picture from there...

To save you counting here are the things:
1. Cat
2. Hat
3. Mat
4. Fish
5. Pot
6. Rake
7. Dress
8. Kite
9. Umbrella
10. Mirror
11. Books
12. Sally
13. Nameless Boy



Photo Challenge Day 13: Yourself with 13 things

Photo Challenge Day 12

Fiona has been at grandkids camp since yesterday which is a fantastic camp adventure run by her grandparents for her and her big cousins. Adele is too little still, but maybe next year :-)

Apparently she did a really great job and even slept for a few hours last night. She had so much fun and keeps asking for more grandkids camp. I think Grandma and Grandpa are going to need the next year to recover but when it arrives she'll be there with bells on! Camp finished this evening with some playing in the lake, dinner, and a closing ceremony.

Fiona has been getting more confident in the water over the summer and her favourite game is jumping in. She was reluctant to jump off the dock but a couple of weeks ago conquered that fear...

Jump...

Splash!

Her cousin Emily is great at getting her to try new things (and eat her vegetables) and Fiona loves hanging out with her and her other cousins.

The closing ceremony involved putting stickers on everyone else who was at camp and telling a memory of them from camp or something nice.

Everyone had really nice things to say and Fiona carefully selected a sticker for each person and told them all something nice. Ryan was first but I was too slow with the video and I missed it but she said "Ryan, this sticker is for you because you're the best swimmer in the whole world I never seen". You'll have to watch the video to see what came next...

After that we had s'mores and brownies. Today's photo challenge was sunset and it was a high pressure challenge because if you miss the sunset there's no second chance! I set the alarm on my phone to go off to remind me but we were still hanging out and facing east when the sun set. To complete the challenge I took a picture of the sunset reflected in the house across the lake reflected in the lake.

Photo Challenge Day 12: Sunset

Photo Challenge Day 11

The older I get, the less interested I am in waterslides. Sun lounger in the shade, fruity cocktail, good book, peace and quiet = paradise.

We had a playdate this morning in a park by the Edina pool and I was reminded of this by the giant waterslide and pool full of screaming kids. I bet there was a serious lack of fruity cocktails too...

30 Day Photo Challenge Day 11: Something Blue

Photo Challenge Day 10

When I was little I loved to watch Bagpuss. According to my Mum I called it "Puss" and it was my favourite.

I tried to introduce it to Fiona but she thinks it's boring. I think it's wonderful. I may or may not get a bit emotional watching this...

It's well known among my Scottish friends and family that I love Bagpuss and one year I was given one as a Christmas gift. I brought him out today to photograph and Fiona really liked him.

That other thing she's holding is Floppy Bunny. My Mum knitted him for me when I was a baby. The tips of his ears are red (the story goes) because she ran out of white wool. I think he used to be fat, but his stuffing got all packed down and now he's floppy. Fiona only got to hold him briefly in case she stopped protecting him adequately and allowed Brodie to get him.

She quickly found that if you squeeze Bagpuss' head he yawns and says "it's rather nice to have a cuddle!". She liked that!

So that's day 10!

30 Day Photo Challenge Day 10: A childhood memory

Photo Challenge: Day 9

Once upon a time there was the cutest puppy in the world, named Brodie...

The puppy was cute, but mischievous. He liked to chew on important things like shoes and cats. He was a sweet puppy though and enjoyed going for long walks with the humans he lived with. He grew bigger and bigger and one day he moved with the humans to a different city.

After some time a noisy screechy thing named Fiona came to live with them. It was interesting, and smelled good. Brodie liked to lick it, but was very careful with it.

Some more time passed and the screechy thing became a screechy walking thing. She would follow Brodie around and love him and dress him in towels and pull on his fur. Brodie did not love this, but he loved the humans and she tasted good after she ate dinner so he tolerated it.

Before much longer another screechy thing arrived, who was named Adele. By now Brodie couldn't care less. He was used to the noise and the abuse and was just happy to be petted and loved in between the pulling and poking. The second screechy thing tasted just as good as the first too, so he was pretty happy with the situation. Now she's crawling around, climbing all over him and loves to give him kisses. He is enthusiastic to return the favor.

Every meal time he hangs out under the table patiently waiting for accidental cheese or intentional carrots to come his way.

Now don't get me wrong, Brodie has his flaws. He jumps on people when they enter our house. He is highly motivated by food and frequently eats some or all of the food I have just prepared for myself but left too close to the edge of the table. Last week he ate an entire loaf of bread. He snatches food out of the hands of toddlers (or anyone not paying enough attention) and he still has a tendancy to chew on things, now mostly precious plastic toys, much to Fiona's horror.

But, the girls love him. They love to take him for walks. He's part of our family. He's gentle and kind and undemanding. I guess I love him too.

30 day photo challenge, day 9: Someone you love.

Photo Challenge: Day 8

Oh, today is tricky! I have to photograph a bad habit. I noticed that it didn't specify that it had to be one of my bad habits, but it seems like cheating to post one of the 4,000 pictures I have of Fiona picking her nose. She does it on purpose when I try to take her picture just to annoy me, so I have quite the collection.

So what's the bad habit? Well, I have mentioned this before but one frequent source of stress in my life is caused by my favorite bad habit: procrastination. It is my friend throughout the day. I put things off until the last minute causing me to be frequently late, and on the days when too much of the morning is procrastinated away, unshowered. I pack for trips late into the night before leaving very few hours for sleeping, I wait until there's no underwear left in the drawer before doing laundry, and why do you think this blog is posted so close to midnight every night? That's right. Procrastination.

I have book club tomorrow evening and put off starting the book because I was excited to read a different one. If I wasn't a procrastinator I would have started it before the other one, but I thought "I'll read that later, I have plenty of time".

Still 18% to go. I'm not sure I'll ever learn.

Photo Challenge Day 8: A bad habit.