To Ellis with LoveToday Piper asked to paint. I asked her if she would paint a picture for Nana in New Zealand, but she said she had someone else she wanted to paint a picture for. About halfway through I asked her what she was painting, she replied "it's Ellis, she's a fairy"...when I asked her if Ellis was sitting on a chair she said "No Mummy, it's a wheelchair"This is on it's way to our dear friends Kris and Garth who are expecting to bring home their beautiful little girl in the next few months...we love you and we love Ellis already!

what in this for me?

Cheeky little monkey, all I ask for is a few minutes so I can finish my assignment...but the kid is a master negotiator...what's in it for her? It took two bags of fruit snacks and the promise of ice cream to get her from this...to this.

as you can probably tell, I am working on manual custom white balance, I think I still need a lot of practice, but I'm learning so much in this class that I will absolutely sign up for any other ones she may have! All images are straight out of camera, no cropping, no photoshop, I'm not allowed to mess with them yet, I just have to do the best I can.

Whatever!Assignment time, and for some reason all my family members scatter when I pull out my camera. This was Piper's reaction...charming huh! She's working on several others, but this is her face du jour. Luckily I still have the power of bribery on my side and I coerced her into letting me take some shots with 'fruit snacks'...I dread to think what it will take when she is 16!

Oh happy day!

Minnesota FINALLY has the Senator it deserves!

cherry and the spoon bridgeToday we had a wonderful Sunday. Mike left bright and early for a mountain bike ride. When he got home we headed off to our new 'favorite' breakfast cafe in the City, we like to try one every other week from our 'green guide' book, because it's good to try new places and it's awesome if you have coupons!). We took a walk through one of the neighborhoods we long to reside in(insert pained sigh), and browsed in the small stores that lined the street next to the restaurant. After a scrumdiddlyumptious meal and thoroughly satiated, we headed to Centennial Lakes for a stroll and a paddle boat ride. Piper and her Daddy took to the water while Paisley and I looked on. After ice cream we headed home for a short nap and to pack a picnic. We jumped into the car, and headed back to the City for an early dinner at the Sculpture garden. I tried to get a few decent shots of the cherry and spoon bridge, but it was 4pm and still pretty bright. If you look closely, you will see a rainbow in the bottom right hand corner...kind of cool, as across the street a festival for gay rights had just ended.

After a stroll through the park we headed home with two extremely sleepy Snowflowers....just the way we like it!

DOG TIRED

My wonderful husband is tired. dog tired. He works hard, even harder since the layoffs at the company he works for...taking on more and more work. He's not alone, many like him are shouldering the burden of those vacated chairs and offices. Yet, he finds the time to put his daughters to bed and read them their favorite story every.single.night!. He's home for dinner by 6pm, even if that means he is back on his laptop by 8. My husband is tired.

He needs a vacation.

j.u.m.pthe kid has springs in those legs!

and apparently, in her hair too!