Merry & Bright

Hey Friends! I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! 

We had a wonderful, wonderful day full of love and excitement.

While the love and excitement is still in our hearts, Christmas is over so I'm going back to 

the subject of bunnies :)

Here they are- twenty days old! 

and yes, in case you were wondering... 

I took these with a new camera- the one my husband gave me for Christmas! 

New Kits on the Block

Well, it's been almost a month since I sat down here to write.

Much has happened but probably not much of it is very interesting so I'll share our most exciting news- 

we have six babies!

Can you tell what they are? 

Our rabbit, Cookie is a mamma!

They are so ugly, and so cute. 

They were born on the 5th of December.

I only held each one for a second to make sure they were alive- my hands were trembling, 

None of our rabbits have ever kindled before and I personally have never touched 

such a tiny, fragile creature.

I was also on the verge of freaking out because Cookie made her nest on the floor of her hutch instead of in the nesting box; and while I knew it was important to move the kits into the nesting box, I was terrified that she would abandon them. Rabbits can be really finicky if they feel threatened and

this particular mamma rabbit was 

really... um... grumpy during her pregnancy. 

 But her attitude has improved a lot- she actually lets me pet her again!  :)

Day 2: you can see their fur beginning to grow already!

I have lots of cell phone pictures and of course none of them are very good!

But I don't care. I'm so proud of Cookie and I'm so happy they are all still alive! Well, I let Cookie do all the work: she only nurses them once, in the early morning and when I check on them later in the day each belly is full and round. She pulled fur from her belly to make the nest all cozy and warm and the second day when the weather turned colder she gave them more of her fur- such a good mamma!

This baby is the most active so far and always seems to be on top of the bunny pile:)

Here is the same baby at one week of age!

And here she is today!

their eyes just opened yesterday and I brought them down to the house for their first exploration...

...apparently they still prefer to cuddle and sleep-
I hear you, baby!

No, we didn't fall off a cliff.

Yes... we are still here... 

We are doing just fine!

We have been busy enjoying the fall 

and not taking many photos at all.

 But it's nice to stop in here for a moment just to say hello

See you soon 

(hopefully that doesn't mean another 6 weeks)!

Nap Time

Somebody isn't sleepy...

I went into his room to encourage him to sleep and he said "Me baby. Peas sing me baby song" so I sang "Baby mine" to him. He giggled and propped his feet up on the side railing of the bed, just like he has been doing every day since he was a tiny baby.... ah kid, if only you knew how much I want you to stay a baby :)

Charlotte's (disposable) web

This is one interesting spider: 

we walked through discovered her web across our back door early one morning 

so we removed the web and put her in the bushes. 

Normal garden spider encounter.

Except she continued to rebuild her big old web across our door every night for a week and every morning the kids would come to the door and look for the big spider in the window. 

And then she would be evicted. Again.

You can see from this picture that our friend is starting to grow tired of this routine- she hasn't even bothered to weave her typically perfect zigzag pattern on the web- which makes sense, I suppose, since she knows this web will only last one night!

Home

Home from vacation...

 back to reality.

We had such a lovely time,
I miss it already.

I may have mentioned this before but every single time I visit the ocean I think of the hymn by Trevor Francis

"O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!

Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!

Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love

Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!

How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!

How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;

How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!

’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;

And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!"

The End.

Why is spring in the air?

My plants seem to be all confused! I'm not sure what's going on but I'm certainly enjoying it... My azaleas (which didn't bloom very well in the spring when they were supposed to) are giving me pretty pink blooms, my morning glories are in full glory along with my rose, my mums and my crepe myrtle! 

I guess everybody in the yard is having their last hurrah before the fall leaves steal the show :)

Outside My Comfort Zone

Hey, happy Monday to ya!

Is your day starting out well?

Right now I'm finishing up my homework for the first week of photography class.

Week two, here I come!

I can't wait to tell you about this particular assignment because it stretched me as a photographer (in a good way) and I think you might like to try this too!

So, this exercise is about finding an image that is dramatically outside of your normal photography style... and recreating it.

My inspiration for this challenge comes from Ashley Sisk- I'm sure you've heard of her! I have always admired her bright, crisp, clean style of photography.
I decided to take a stab at architecture because I believe it's one of my weakest subjects.
My specific goals are:
a. sharp details
b. vibrant colors
c. clean lines.... here goes:

 I know it's not the most artistic thing ever- but hey, I can only stretch so far outside my comfort zone! 

What do you think, is that something you would like to try? 

You don't even need to copy someone else's image

 just examine your own strengths, your weaknesses and give yourself a challenge! 

Spider Lilies (Part 2)

This month, I'm taking an online photography class from SweetViolet and I'm prepared to share a lot of class homework with you! One of the assignments this week was about finding inspiration from other photographers, picking a favorite and trying to capture the same tone and quality of light. I've never done this before and I admit the project seemed a little daunting but it didn't take long to find the photographer I want to imitate- I am totally enamored with this photographer and I would love to borrow a horse so I could do an equestrian session like this!
I couldn't get my hands on a horse this week, so I decided to stick with the obliging spider lily:

Overall, I'm not satisfied with this- I don't think my composition, tones or lighting are as pure and calm as Ditte Isager but it's a start and I won't give up! 

Spider Lily

I love these graceful flowers.

They pop up in September and remind me that autumn will soon be here... 

...and cool breezes will soon beckon us to open the windows, play outside, bake all sorts of good things, clean the house from top to bottom and snuggle up in the evening with a pile of good books. 

And it always starts with the Spider Lily :)

Love & Other Drugs

Hey there, how have you been? I've missed you... sorry I haven't been around much,

I just haven't had anything to say. 

Maybe I've been too busy trying to overhaul my personality, deep clean my house and morph into a sane productive SAHM? Nah, that should only have taken a day or two, right?

This must be a simple case of writer's block or inspiration deficiency.

Makes me think of a movie we watched the other night where a desperate author with writer's block and a looming deadline took an interesting clear pill on a whim and immediately discovered that it enabled him to access all of his brain. His new mental clarity made him focused, brilliant and successful at absolutely everything- if only for 24hrs before the drug wore off and he felt compelled to take another... what a terrible addiction. And yet I caught myself thinking Heck yeah, I'll take it!

Anyway, Monday was pretty typical: all I did was laundry.

Well, and there happen to be three awesome kids around here to hang out with.

Oh, and I also picked up ice cream to share with my husband.
Which may have been a stroke of genius.

 But no one offered me an interesting clear pill (or any pill for that matter) so Tuesday was pretty much the same: teaching, parenting, loving, playing and cleaning. Nothing special.

(my idea of a good pose)

(her idea of a good pose)

Now, it's getting late and still no friends or dealers have offered me anything to make me brilliant or focused so I guess I'll have to fall back on the old stand by...

...caffeine ;)

The Shenanigans Continue

and the disguises continue! We don't know who's who around here anymore!

Awesome 'Stache!

'nough said?

Also linking up here, here, here & here