Thanksgiving 2009 (part 1)

Thanksgiving this year was a bit of a whirlwind as I had to be back in Des Moines to work on Friday morning at 10:00. I arrived home, with the friends who had kindly given me a ride in tow, on Wednesday evening and was received happily by both 2 and 4-legged creatures :-) I was on the road again (this time with my own wheels!), by about 4:00 Thursday afternoon, but even though it was a short trip home, it was a trip home nonetheless and I was incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be able to make it.














We kind of love our dogs....and yes, Bucky is sitting at the kitchen counter, because that's apparently his spot.














Papa













Mama













Bandit. Conserving.













Yes, the house is decorated for Christmas. Why not enjoy it for a little bit longer?













The gorgeous portrait Sarah's mom did of our dogs, past and present









































Family room

































Front entryway



















Dining room window



















Dining room tree

11/6/09

I haven't been taking my camera to work as often as I did with my Sony, simply because it gets to be a lot to lug around especially riding the bus. Friday, however, was our church's annual Women's Coffeehouse and so knowing I wanted to take pictures there, the camera came to work with me as well. The availability of the camera and the blessing of such wonderful weather resulted in some fabulous shots of the kids. I even got to work on my skills as an action photographer!

Caitlyn enjoying some outside time

So this probably wasn't the safest way to get out of the wagon, but I was definitely glad I had the camera at the right time and place!

There's just something about this pic that I really like...a lot

This is why I love my camera...no editing here whatsoever :-D

Gorgeous.

I'm a little unsteady when I walk in the grass sometimes too...

MN Trip

After several months and some fancy footwork to find a replacement for me at church, I was finally able to make it home to visit my parents in Minnesota. They started renovations on the house earlier this year and while I'd seen some pictures of it in-progress, Mom wouldn't show me the final result unless it was in person. So of course I had to take pictures of it myself (as well as the dogs!); what better subjects to practice my picture-taking skills on? :-)





































My room










Just to break things up a bit...Bucky's posing for the cover of Dog Fancy....











My room again



































Dog pile on my bed :-)










My Bandie <3











Sweet Bucky. These moments are few and far between with this one!

Mr. Pumpkin

The theme in my group this week at work was pumpkins. I had had the kids all bring their own pumpkins and mid-week I gave them paints and brushes and let them have at it. Friday, we carved our biggest pumpkin and I let those who were brave enough play with the pumpkin's innards. Carving a pumpkin with 8 3 year olds standing around you is kind of nerve-wracking, especially when they start trying to touch the pumpkin, but we were all very excited about our classic Jack 'O Lantern and an afternoon photo session ensued :-)






I started by calling them over 1 or 2 at a time, but eventually everyone wanted to get in on the action and so chaos ensued for a while. Funny how 2 and 3 year olds don't understand the concept of walking in front of the camera.... :-)





























I would like this shot even more if it wasn't blurry....













































































Sam came to visit for a couple days this week. She started with us as an infant 7 years ago and is now in 1st grade! How the time has flown by! And Miss Sam is turning out to be a pretty neat kid :-)













Sam with baby sister Emerson. Em is Sammie's twin, 6 years later. While the little lady is the spittin' image of her older sister, her personality is a lot more fiery than Sam's. This was the only shot I got of the two of them together where Em wasn't a blur of movement :-D

It's great to have a camera back in my hands :-)

Thanks to the amazing generosity of my parents, I am now the proud owner of a brand new camera; the kind I've dreamed of having for quite awhile now. While my Sony was a great camera in it's own right, there were just certain things it couldn't do. After only 5 days with the Canon, I still have a lot to learn, but I am so pleased with how the majority of my pictures turn out. Here's a sample of some pictures I took at work yesterday while the kids were playing outside. It wasn't the most gorgeous of days but we take what we can get!









Doesn't he look sweet?
































































































Mom needs to get this one into modeling. What a photogenic little girl!