The Pioneer Woman Loves my Monkeys Jump!!

Check out The Pioneer Woman's Photography Page - you will notice a certain young, mohawked, bespectacled young man sticking his tongue out (you can't help but notice the cuteness)!  Tis a photo of Jalen taken by my Monkeys Jump (aka Leia).
Way to go Leia for an awesome shot and way to go Dejah for an awesome kid!!  Gams is one proud mama :)

What Are You Thankful For?

This year has been full of challenges and changes in the world of Gams. Amongst the tears and tribulations I have found many blessings to be thankful for. I have prepared a feast of images this Thanksgiving. Pull up a chair and enjoy the bounty that fills my life.

Butterflies Are Free

I spent the last two weeks in St Louis visiting my eldest and her husband.  While there, we took a few day trips to places we had not been before.  The weather was freakishly warm (80 degrees in November for goodness sake) so we took full advantage and had some wonderful adventures.  I'll provide more details and photos in posts to come.
 Below are a few images I shot at the Butterfly House in Chesterfield, MO.  This was my first butterfly house experience - I had no idea how breathtakingly beautiful a thousand butterflies in one location could be!  There is a butterfly exhibit at The Hilbert Conservatory in Indianapolis and it is now on the top of my "need-to-see" list!
There is simply no way to capture the experience "on film," but the images will serve nicely as a reminder.  I hope you enjoy!!

Little Boy Blue

We had a family birthday party this last Sunday - my niece Amaya turned 7.  My sister-in-law originally planned the party at a local indoor recreation facility but upon hearing the weather report, she quickly moved it outside.  It was an unbelievable 70 degrees (in November... in Indiana) !!  There is a wonderful play park in Oaklandon that gave the little ones hours of fun!  I have quite a few photos to process and will post more as I get them done.  Niko is the only one I can easily catch when he's on the run, so I tend to get more shots of him - I'm sure it won't be long before he, too, will be able to outrun Gams.  In the meantime, I'll enjoy the

photo ops his short legs afford me!

They Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine

While life has not been so "groovy" for Gams these last months, it has not all been tears and sadness.  There are 3 little rays of sunshine that come shining through the darkness to illuminate even the blackest of days.

Niko has come into his full super hero powers.  The Nikoman is enamored of all things Superman, Spiderman, Batman and Robin, Power Rangers etc.  He gleefully runs through the house with his cape (whatever piece of clothing he can find to tie around his neck) just flying.  He most often refers to himself as Batman - and Gams is his loyal sidekick Robin.  My front room is now the "bat cage" and we spend many hours looking for the "bat car" or "hellicopper."  The imagination of this 2 year old is a wonder to behold!

Jalen and Dylan recently celebrated their birthdays.  Jalen turned 8 on the 8th and Dylan turned 5 on the 10th - both in September. They will likely spend the majority of their childhood with combined parties and they seem to be okay with that.  Dejah and Joe put on quite a bash this year with face painting, cupcake decorating, tons of outdoor and indoor games, balloon decorating and quite the appetizer buffet.  Both sides of the family  gathered at their beautiful home in Ingalls and a good time was had by all.  Auntie Leia drove all the way  from St Louis to attend - she's been there for every birthday, including the very first one!

Kathy's Clowns

She Did It Again

I've not posted in a long while. My words and photos have taken on a rather "grey" cast these days - much like the cold, rainy weather this Fall has been. I have only been whispering into the interwebs lately, visiting my blog friends as a quiet observer without much to say. Today, however, I am prompted by motherly pride to break my silence!

The Pioneer Woman is one of the first blogs I discovered (thanks Leia!). I sat quite a spell that first visit...reading, laughing, gaining weight just looking at the recipes, and adoring the images she captured of her "punks" and life down on the ranch. Her photography page is one of my favorites and I look forward to each new post. She has recently started a "photography assignment" feature and subsequent page on flickr where her readers can post their photos. I admit to flooding that pool during her portrait assignment! She then takes some of her favorite images from the pool and features them on her blog. Her most recent assignment was to post "texture" photos. Images that have been post processed with textures added via Photoshop or perhaps some other digital media program. As I was browsing through her photos of note, there was a particular image and name that literally JUMPED off the screen at me! Monkeys Jump had a photo posted on The Pioneer Woman!!!!!!!!! (For those who don't know, I have 2 beautiful daughters and Monkeys Jump -aka Leia- is my first born - Dejah is the youngest and the giver of grandchildren) The little poop didn't even tell me she had posted anything to the pool so while I was browsing the gorgeous images it nearly took my breath away at the familiar photo I saw! This is the second image of Leia's that Ree has admired. The first was this one entered over at I Heart Faces the week that Ree was judging.
So... she did it again.
Congrats baby girl!!!

Here is the link to Ree's post (Monkeys Jump is the 7th image) and to her winning image at I Heart Faces.

Rocky VII ~ Starring Niko Balboa

Little ones have the most amazing ability to heal. Sometimes the healing process is quite "colorful," to say the least - as evidenced by the rainbow currently present on Niko's gorgeous little face.

He looks like he just went a few rounds with Apollo Creed! I'm going to teach him to scream, "Adriannnnnnnnnn!!!" and if I manage to capture that on video, I'll be sure to post it (I know, I'm so wrong in many ways - a Gams with a camera can be a dangerous thing). In the meantime, enjoy the video and pics below!

The Boy Without A Face

My daughter and I spent several hours at the Emergency Room with Niko last Thursday evening. He managed to pull a heavy oak stool-height chair down onto his face. He was simply trying to get up from the floor and some how things went awry. First he fell back and hit the back of his head on the tile floor. If that wasn't bad enough, the chair then fell on top of him hitting him square on the nose! Needless to say there was a lot of screaming (probably as much from my daughter as Niko), swelling, bleeding etc. While Dejah isn't one to run the boys to the doctor for every little thing, this particular injury warranted a "look see" to ensure that no serious head injury was involved. Thank God it was nothing serious and we were sent home after 2 hours of Niko entertaining the ER with his very nasal commentary on everything and everyone. As we left he cheerfully waved and said, "buh-bye, people!"
I only have one question....
Why is it always his face??!!!!! If this keeps up, he'll certainly be known as "the boy without a face!"

"Take Picture of Niko"

Given my love of photography, I am most fortunate that I have cooperative grandchildren! Niko has recently developed quite a love of the camera. This is what happened the last time he said, "Takey pitchur of Niko."

I ♥ Faces Week 38

This weeks theme at I ♥ Faces is "Blue." Blue is one of my favorite colors and I just happen to have the cutest little guy with the brightest blue eyes!  This weeks entry was the easiest choice of all my entries to date.   I can't decide which is more stunning - his eyes or the blue of his Colts attire.  I only wish the background had been better - I could have gotten a more satisfactory crop!  I did bump the blue levels and brightness just a bit in post-processing.

I'm anxious to see if there will be any other "Colts Blue" entries.  Click the link below to check out all the blueness!!



Click the image to view full size.

I ♥ Faces Week 37

This week's challenge at I ♥ Faces is "Completely Candid." Nearly every photograph I take would be considered "candid" as none of them are posed - I gave up trying to pose the boys a long time ago. I'm lucky if I manage to get more than one of them in the frame at once! I took this photo of the Dillybar while he was playing "Spy Kids" with his brother. He looks so serious and intent on catching the bad guys-click on the image for a closer look.
Follow the link below to see all the other awesome entries!

I ♥ Faces Contemplative Photo Challenge

This week's theme at I ♥ Faces is "contemplative."

This image of Niko is one of my favorites. Makes me wonder just what is going on behind those beautiful blue eyes!

Click the above button to check out all the other great entries!

This Old Guitar

It belonged first to Daddy. He taught me to play it when I was barely old enough to hang my arm over to reach the strings. I, in turn, taught my oldest. Now it looks as though Geeko may be next in line. He will sit and strum to the music playing in his head... eyes closed, with a look of pure rapture on his face - yep, I think he's the one.

This old guitar taught me to sing a love song
It showed me how to laugh and how to cry
It introduced me to some friends of mine
And brightened up some days
It helped me make it through some lonely nights
Oh, what a friend to have on a cold and lonely night

This old guitar gave me my lovely lady
It opened up her eyes and ears to me
It brought us close together
I guess it broke her heart
It opened up the space for us to be
What a lovely place and a lovely space to be

This old guitar gave me my life my living
All the things you know I love to do
To serenade the stars that shine
From a sunny mountainside
Most of all to sing my songs for you
I love to sing my songs for you
Yes, I do, you know
I love to sing my songs for you

Words and music by John Denver

Splish Splash, He Loves Taking A Bath

I've never met a child that didn't LOVE bath time and my 3 boys are no exception. Geeko, however, would spend his entire day in the tub if we let him. He asks, "Unna takey baf?" numerous times throughout the day. Some days it is just easier to let him splash his cares away - plus it gives Gams and his Auntie Leia some cute photo ops!




Above photo by Monkeys Jump
Above photo by Monkeys Jump

Brothers

My goodness would you look at those faces!!!? From a totally unbiased observer (cough,cough) these are 3 of the most gorgeous little guys I've ever seen! The camera just loves them... and so does their Gams :)




above photo by Monkeys Jump