333/365 christmas tree

Just having a little fun with the tree :-)

332/365 candy canes

I had to shoot these before they're all gone. Candy canes don't last long around here.

There will probably be quite a few Christmas tree light bokeh pictures over the next month or so. Because what's better than a photo with a little tree light bokeh in it?

331/365 traditions

It's Thanksgiving weekend so that means it's time to put up the Christmas tree. We cranked the Christmas music and got all the decorations out. We were a little worried about what Cloud would do with the tree but so far he's pretty much ignored it. We left the bottom mostly free of lights and decorations though, just in case. After the tree was up and decorated, we lit the fire in the fireplace, made some hot chocolate and watched A Christmas Carol together. I love family traditions.

I have never been able to get a picture of the tree that I've liked but I'm fairly happy with this one.

330/365 wormsloe

Wormsloe State Historic Site is right down the road from my aunt and uncle's house. We've driven by it everytime we've been there but have never stopped to check it out. Emaleigh and I decided we needed to see it yesterday.

329/365 sweet girl

I got to meet this little sweetie, her 2 brothers and her mom for the first time on Thanksgiving.

328/365 happy thanksgiving!

My sweet boy on Thanksgiving. We went to Savannah to spend Thanksgiving with some of our amazing family. We had a great time. This is Joshua hanging out in Uncle Richard and Aunt Geri's backyard before dinner.

327/365

Loading the iPod up with Christmas music :-)

326/365

I couldn't think of anything to shoot so I went with what I had nearby ;-)

325/365

This belonged to my grandma. I've been thinking about her quite a bit lately....

324/365

I took the kids to my favorite spot yesterday to get a photo of all of them together for the Christmas card. It started raining on us as soon as we got there but they cooperated and we got some great ones {and had fun doing it! That might be a first}.


They clean up pretty well, don't they?

I can't share the card photos-don't want to spoil the surprise. But I will say that it involves a ticket booth, fake mustaches and my 3 very silly kids ;-)


I love to send and receive Christmas cards so if anyone wants to do an exchange, email me your address and I'll be sure to add you to my list! My email is mattema3@gmail.com

323/365

I'm also loving that Joshua has been wanting to play with the other kids on our street-and not just with their toys ;-)


He has that look on his face because he was trying to ask me a question and I wouldn't stop taking pictures quick enough to answer him. LOL

322/365

I love that he can play baseball at the end of the street pretty much year round.

321/365

Not really liking this but just trying to finish the project at this point.....

I'm behind again. I've been taking pictures but they aren't even edited yet. Hope to catch up on posting and visiting today and tomorrow.

320/365

Poor cat, he's got it so rough ;-)

And less than a minute later....

319/365

The 3rd grade had Diamond Del come to the school on Tuesday. Joshua was thrilled with all his treasures.

318/365

My friend Jen got some fake mustaches for her family pictures. She gave one to Matthew and he loved it so much, I decided to go with it and get some for us too. These will probably end up on our Christmas card but I haven't decided details yet :-)

Joshua had fun with them this afternoon.

317/365

I told him he was squinting and this was his response.

316/365

This was just an experiment to see how close I could get with the 35mm.

I love that you can see me, the reflection of her own eyelashes, the house and the yard in her eye.

315/365 thank you

I'm not really a fan of Precious Moments. This is the only one I have and I only have it because my grandma gave it to me. She had bought it in honor of my grandpa. He was an aircraft gunner in WWII and flew over Germany. My other grandpa was in the Navy and stationed in Pearl Harbor after the attack. My uncle David was in the first gulf war. His son, Micah, was in the Navy, got out for several years and then went to Iraq as a contractor. He was killed by an IED in 2007. His brother, another uncle, my FIL and one of his brothers have all served as well.

We also have several friends and members of our church family who are currently or have served in the military.

Thank you doesn't seem like enough.

314/365

Apparently I'm alternating between the pets and various nature-y stuff.

At least there will be something pretty to shoot when the Christmas decorations go up.....

313/365

Can you tell how the cat is feeling about the camera in his face? LOL

312/365 it's official...

I am ready for this project to be over.


I am really behind on visiting everyone's blogs and I apologize for that. I am going to attempt to catch up today. Thank you to everyone who's visited and commented, even though I've been a bad blog friend.

311/365 alex

I haven't posted one of Alex in quite awhile and decided it was time. I didn't want him feeling neglected ;-)

310/365 this boy.....

he just melts my heart.

Out of 7 shots {all he allowed me}, I got one with him looking at me. And that's only because I was fast enough to get him in that split second before his eyes moved. But I love this shot.

309/365 mustache boy

I had a super fun session yesterday with my friend Jen and her gorgeous family. She brought some fake mustaches with her and Matthew, who went as my assistant, was very excited that she had an extra for him. He took it off for church this morning but otherwise has worn it since yesterday afternoon. Including to bed.

308/365 when all else fails....

shoot the cat.

307/365 fall ball

Last night was the last game of the fall ball season.


Matthew's coach declared him the best batter on the team.



He's also improved in his fielding. It seems like he's grown a lot in the last year or so, both physically and in his abilities.

306/365

305/365 baseball

Matthew usually plays 2nd or 3rd base. Sometimes outfield. He rarely pitches. He did last Tuesday though and I'm told he did an excellent job. Because of scheduling conflicts, I didn't make it to his game until after he switched positions. But he did so well his coach said he'd be pitching again this week. And he did, last night. But he struggled. I'm not sure what the issue was...maybe thinking about it too much.



A little advice from one of the coaches...

He didn't do horrible. He walked a few people but threw some good pitches too.

I think he'll get more consistent with some more practice.


We just found out that conditioning/practice has started this week for the high school team. He's looking forward to trying out in January {7th and 8th graders can tryout for the high school teams here} and getting some practice in over the next few weeks.

304/365 halloween

Joshua decided he wanted to be an "army guy" for Halloween. He had a lot of fun with it but wasn't real interested in pictures, so these aren't that great.




I am soooo over this, mom.

Matthew went as a zombie and Emaleigh went as Katniss from The Hunger Games. She was really disappointed when I told her she could not walk around the neighborhood carrying a {real} bow and arrows.

303/365

I told myself I wasn't going to post any more leaf pictures. But I couldn't resist this light. I had to do it ;-)

302/365

I don't have any pictures like this of my 3 and I really wish I did. So I take them of friend's babies whenever I get the chance :-) This little sweetie belongs to friends from MI who were down here for a few days.