I bought this candle at Target last week. The battery-powered LED lights inside are supposed to provide 180 hours of light. I think it's a pretty realistic looking candle. It's even made of wax and has a fragrance! (OK-I realize this is not that exciting. What can I say, I didn't take a photo until 7:30 pm! Do you like the holiday box of tissues?)
A little snowfall, a family gathering & great food. A perfect day. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Ironwood, Michigan. Home of the Stormy Kromer wool cap. We travel through here when heading to the cabin. This time, it's for Thanksgiving!
Mason is a big help in the kitchen, getting all my prep-work done for me. Here, he's helping to chop up the gingersnap cookies for my cheesecake crust.
Calvin is writing the music for a play his Latin class is doing. His classmates will perform his work during the show. This is just the start, but he's writing for violin, viola, guitar, contrabass, timpani and snare drum. I'm not sure he realizes this is an unusual undertaking for an 8th grader. Proud mama here.
Paul spent 12 hours behind the wheel this weekend. (Thanks for doing ALL the driving!)
Finally, after two long hours...SANTA! 
This is my neighbor, Kay, and this is her latest painting. She's been working on it for as long as I've known her, which is four years. I'm not sure when she started it, but she says it will take many more years to complete the work. 
We went to a show at the Convention Center tonight and I was going to post pictures from there, but "no cameras allowed".
And it's called Five Guys! 
Meet "E", the 13-year-old daughter of my friend Julie. "E" and her friend "L" helped me out with my portrait class by modeling for nearly an hour this afternoon (my boys would never tolerate this). After looking at the photos, I'm ready to head back out and shoot some more. I definitely need a little more practice...but I learned so much by doing this. Thanks to you both! I hope you had fun...maybe we can do it again sometime?
This was one of my favorite design decisions. I traced Cal's guitar on the wall in the craft room, and used a light blue paint to draw the "shadow" where the guitar should hang. Unfortunately, the secret plan to get Calvin to put his guitar away didn't really work. The guitar is usually left on a chair, the couch, or (gasp!) the floor.
It's been a busy week for us. Lots of meetings for the adults, plenty of homework and extracurriculars for the kids. Throw in a positive strep test and you've got our week in a nutshell. It's time to kick back and relax.
This kid is fine. No fever...yet.
Mason woke up with a sore throat today. I was going to send him to school as that was his only symptom...but something about his color and manner made me keep him home. By noon his temp was up to 100, and now we're over that mark. The Tylenol helped, but this bug is definitely keeping him down. Is it the swine flu? I'm not sure. All I know, he's miserable --- he's bored, uncomfortable and wants his mom's company. Wish me luck! We'll be together all day tomorrow!
I keep taking pictures, but not necessarily what's required for my class.
Mason gave me about 4 minutes of his time so I could get some portrait practice. Funny thing about portrait class...you need willing models. I may have to start knocking on doors!
The lake looked like glass for most of the morning. I was able to walk out onto the bog and get some nice shots!
I also took a walk to the tree where Calvin found a whole stack of fungi earlier this year. It doesn't look like much today.
This is what the tree looked like back in July!
I put Mason to work sucking up flies with the vacuum cleaner. This is serious business. Headgear required.
Mason was on a mission this afternoon. Armed with 13 quarters of his own money, we headed to the mall gumball machines for these tiny little animals. Each one comes in its own 1-inch clear capsule. The kids in his class are trading with each other, and I guess it's lots of fun. I understand this fad much more than the Pokemon craze. Come on...you have to admit they are pretty cute! You should see the tiny little cow! Unfortunately, he'll have to try again some other time for that one.
Four days in a row I've had my ISO set too high. I keep forgetting to go in and change it, so my pictures are quite grainy. After all these photography classes, I guess I'm learning it was much easier when I kept my camera set on Auto mode!
