At the Park

Finally...... the park photos. First thing Nona did at the park was fall flat on her face and give herself fat lips. I told her some women pay big bucks for a fat, puffy, unnatural looking pout. She was not comforted.

We finally found Wyatt a bigger bicycle....at a pawn shop no-less. I have been watching Craigslist for months, looking for a 16" bike -- there are none, absolutely none. Having never done business with a pawn shop, I didn't know if you could bargain with them, so I asked. The man helping me kind of smiled ... shrugged. I took it as a yes and offered $10 less. The man smiled and said he would have taken $20 less. And that's what he gave it to me for. I think he saw the four young children and decided this poor, crazy woman needed a break. Small blessings. Wyatt loves his bicycle.

A failed attempt at an offspring photo......normal though, right?

Headed home

PS -- my vertigo is better, my ear still hurts, but I'm on the mend.

Falling

I woke up falling...... spinning........
an unwilling rider on the roller coaster from hell.
The name of that evil roller coaster?
Vertigo.

Catchy name, eh?
I would love to go back to bed .....
wake up on the
Lazy Afternoon Relax in the Park on a Warm Sunny Day ride.
Heck, I would even settle for the
Normal, Everyday, Kicking and Screaming Ride.

Maybe I will post more pictures of our time in the park later today......or not.
Depends on if I can walk around the house without
careening into walls like a cat with a head tilt.

Blue Eyes

Yesterday we went to the park. It was 5o degrees in Lewiston -- beautiful weather for this time of year. My camera tagged along. I found some blue eyes peeking out at me. Walter's eyes have changed from blue to bluish-green with gold flecks. I think they may turn more green as he ages. Who knows?

These eyes are gorgeous. I have no idea who they belong to. A nameless boy -- nameless to me at least. He kept looking out the peep hole at me. I think he wanted his picture taken. I am not in the habit of taking pictures of other people's children without asking (friends aside). But his eyes were begging to be photographed. I snapped two quick pictures. It made him happy (it made me happy, too). Above is the original photo, no editing except my stamp. Doesn't he have beautiful eyes and skin?

Here is the picture with a little editing in Photoshop Elements 7. First I cropped the image and cloned out the piece of dog/cat hair on his hat. Then I made 2 copies of the background layer and set one copy to overlay, and the other to screen -- and adjusted each layer opacity to taste. Then I selected the blue part of his eyes and made a brightness/contrast layer. I upped the brightness and contrast just a tiny bit -- his eyes were so pretty already. Then I ran the unsharp mask, added my stamp, and resized the image. The only difference between this photo and the one below is that I blurred the heavy texture of the playground equipment just little bit with a gaussian blur -- it was bugging me.

Ah...... the wonders of Photoshop......and I'm sure I know only a tenth of it.

PS-- I bought my first photography book, The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. He's a funny guy. I'm learning lots.

The Heavens Declare

I was reliving last spring..... looking at pictures of my flowers...... dreaming of the spring to come. I found this picture (taken with my old camera) of a spring storm rolling in fast. It was a pretty violent one, but short lived -- I think Pullman got the brunt of it. The colors were so vivid, and the clouds all bumpy and churning. Sort of reminded me of storms that brought tornadoes back in Missouri.

This was last night.
Whenever I see a beautiful sunset, I think of this verse:

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
Psalm 19:1 (NIV)

Hula-hoop Dreams

I've never been what you would call an athletic person. Oh, I could run, and once upon a time I was physically fit. I've never thought running takes skill -- just hard work, perseverance, mind control -- and lots and lots of running. But give me a bat or a racket or anything that involves a ball and arms and hands, and then my lack of athleticism really shows. So, you may find it interesting that after swimming lessons last night I bought a hula-hoop, and bad-mitten set, and a boomerang. What was I thinking?

We stopped at Shopko to get a few toiletries and of course, the three boys had to find something to buy. No Spiderman junk, no big Tonka toys, no $30 box of Moonsand. No. No. No. I should have just walked out then. But then Reid had to show me how good he could hula-hoop and my little girl self flashed back on some longing memories of wanting a hula-hoop. And being far too vain to try a hula-hoop out in the middle of Shopko, I put the hula-hoop in the cart. And once you start down that slippery slope, you might as well go ahead and finish. So, in went the bad-mitten set and the boomerang. All of them good, sensible, non-fattening, non-mind melting purchases for three active boys.

Of course, Randy had a good laugh when he saw me try out the hula-hoop. Who knew that using a hula-hoop took so much skill? He had to demonstrate to me the proper hula-hoop technique -- it's all in the hips. And the boomerang? Reid couldn't wait to try it out this morning......in the rain. You know what you call a boomerang that doesn't come back? A stick. Right now, we have a stick. We'll practice some this weekend and see if we can't turn that boomerang back into a boomerang. (Hey, I DID have a boomerang as a kid, and I WAS quite good at getting a boomerang to come back to me, and I could catch it every now and again. So, there's hope). And the bad-mitten? I have promised to play it with Wyatt this afternoon, rain willing. It should be a hoot. At least Wyatt and I are about on the same skill level.

Oh, by this morning, I could at least get the hula-hoop to stay up above my hips for 5 seconds --with great concentration. Go away Reid! No boy should be able to hula-hoop better than his mother!

Are your hips moving yet? Maybe the "tat" is the answer. He he.

Wild and Crazy Genes

It doesn't come from the ruffle pants or the blue jeans
....... I'm quite sure it comes from Daddy's genes.

....the wild and crazy alleles

......the fearless buckerina chromosomes

......the "scare more gray hairs out of Mommy's scalp" loci

Yes, I'm quite sure it comes from Daddy's genes.
Mommy's genes are much tamer.

He Loves Her

Wyatt loves his preschool teacher.
No, not that kind of "Oh, I love my teacher."
No, he LOVES and ADORES his teacher.

Monday morning as we were rushing around trying to get everyone ready for the day and out the door, Wyatt brought me this ring box and told me he wanted to give a ring to Mrs. K. I told him I didn't know of any rings he could give her, but he promptly informed me that I had two rings and that I could share one with her! After I explained to him that my rings were special rings from Daddy, he decided that a bracelet would be fine. Such a funny boy. Since time was of essence, I put the bracelet together for him, but the design was his.
Wyatt, Wyatt, Wyatt. How did you get to be such and handsome, loving boy? I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of "other loves" that will rob your heart from mine. You know, don't you, that I will continue to steal hugs and kisses from you FOREVER!!!! Even when you are grown and OLD!!!!