Playing with Photo Program

I have been having fun over the past couple of days playing with my new photo enhancement program. I have ALOT to learn about it, but had fun playing with some of the settings on some recent photos we took.

Today we sat on our front porch and watched a thunderstorm build up. The clouds were rolling, lightening flashing, and thunder growling. We were able to catch a couple flashes of lightening as it streaked out of the sky. It was a great science lesson for Nico as he was able to see the cooler clouds being pushed up and around by the warm air moving in. We were wondering if a tornado was going to occur it was rolling so much.

Nico found this adorable little green tree frog in the yard. Nico posed the little guy on the branch so I could take some macro photos of him. I love how you can see all his little bumps and wrinkles. We printed them out to frame and decorate my 'nature' bathroom with. They turned out pretty nice.




Here is one of our kitty cats. This is Zeus. I truly believe he is a little boy reincarnated. He is such a little rascal, just like my 3 boys. Today he was hanging over the side of the swimming pool trying to get to the football floating in there. I was just waiting for him to fall in. One day he thought he would make use out of the bird bath since there was no water in it. I don't know if he thought he was going to catch himself a bird or if it was a nice comfy place to hang out. I like the pictures.

The photo of the bee was taken in Hannibal last week. I did some photo editing and just highlighted some colors. I am not printing it, but I kind of like the affect I got.
Our goal is to decorate our house with pictures of our vacations and pictures of our family. We can spend just as much money getting a picture I print professionally matted at Michael's as if we bought pictures that we don't even know where they are.

I would like to take some classes on photography. This is one of my goals for the year, if I can get someone to watch the boys for me for a few hours.

Camping

We had a great time last week on our camping trip. This time we went just an hour north of us to Hannibal, MO. We stayed at a nice campground called Injun Joe Campground. Although we only spent two nights it was great just to get away.

We spent Thursday in the town of Hannibal doing some sightseeing. We toured Mark Twain Cave, Mark Twain's Boyhood Home, walked up the 244 steps to the lighthouse, ate some lunch, and toured Rockcliffe Mansion.

Trips like this really add to our homeschooling experience. Being able to see where Mark Twain lived and picturing what life was like in his lifetime really imprints on your mind. I have been to Hannibal many times since I was a kid and they keep expanding the museums and adding more information about Mark Twain's (Samuel Clemens) life growing up. I learn more each time and really enjoy sharing my childhood memories with my kids and Mike. I love creating our own memories. I sat Thursday night and watched the boys running around together. Luca was following Nico everywhere and imitating everything. Nico was teaching Luca the art of 'sticks as guns'. Some may say sticks as guns is a bad thing...but boys will create a gun out of anything, trust me having three boys I know. As the saying goes, "It's a boy thing." My kids know they go after the bad guys and they are also aware of the danger of guns. We don't have real guns in the house .

Me and my two babies in the Becky Thatcher Butterfly Garden.

Mike and his boys.

Luca went up and posed in this doorway. He just loves when the camera comes out.

I like this photo of the lighthouse. We walked the 244 steps up to it and then found out we couldn't go up inside the lighthouse. Oh well, it was great exercise. Mike carried Luca up in his stroller - luckily it was an umbrella stroller.

We did some fishing on our first night there. They had a couple of nibbles but no fish for dinner. Nico was glad, he just likes to catch and release, not eat them. I love both of these pictures of the boys. Nico looks so cute with his new tackle box and Transformers fishing pole. He did pretty good casting this time, although I did untangle his line several times! That is what it is all about. Luca did great just hanging out throwing rocks. Mike did come over and let him hold the pole.

Here are a couple of photos from the cave. It was a cool 54 degrees. This cave is not as spectacular as Meremac Caverns as it did not have all the formations in it as there is not a lot of water that runs through the cave. Missouri is known as the cave state because of all the caves found here. If you are ever in MO be sure to check out at least 3 of them. They are all different. Mark Twain cave is neat because they tell the story as based from the book, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", by Mark Twain. One can just picture young Samuel Clemens running around in the cave with his friends and creating this story as he got older.

With all the adventure last week I decided that for fourth grade (2010-2011) we will be studying American Literature, with Mark Twain as one of our authors.

I love these family times together away from home. It gets us out of our work mode and into relax mode. I also enjoy these times as these are some of my favorite memories from when I was a kid....vacations and camping with my family. I am planning on creating a "Then and Now" Scrapbook with photos of myself as a child and my children in the some of the same locations.

Boys of Summer

One Happy Boy!



I have had Brian for a few days. It is so nice to see him again. Nico loves having him here because it gives him someone to play Wii with and today they were able to go swimming without mom having to hang out right there. They are all getting along really well this time. I think Brian being away helped their bond. Although I really miss him, the house is alot calmer when he is not here. I know he is 17 and I know our bond will get stonger again too. He is a very loving boy and still gives me hugs and kisses. He is doing good and enjoying working with his dad. As always I worry about him and am always excited to see him and have him with us.
(The Three Amigos!)


We are planning on going to Tan-Tar-A with Brian in August for the MO-Guate weekend. He is really a big help to me with the boys. I really need to try to plan a night or weekend away with just Brian and myself.


Luca's personality is growing every day. He is so funny and has the cutest expressions. I try to capture them on film, but of course, he won't perform on demand. He is very empathic and tends to go up to children when they are crying and pats them on the back or arm. It is so cute. He is enjoying drawing (scribbling) on paper and then proudly shows us the beautiful work he has done. He does most of this while Nico is doing his lessons. He is also getting very interested in looking at books and 'pretending' to read. In his mind he is reading. He loves music and enjoys singing and dancing. He loves Mike's guitars and the piano.
Guitar Hero!

Luca's vocabulary is coming along. He now has two and three word sentences; although most can't understand him, we can. He tends to be lazy in forming his words completely. He is still picking up on the sign language and signing while saying the words. Nico and I are having fun learning sign language and have used it a few times amongst ourselves. We play games like Simon Says and Red light, Green Light (stop and go). Hopefully soon we can get some sentences together and carry on a mini conversation.

Writing an important note to Daddy! He holds his pencil right already.

Oh, I forgot, he is also showing signs of using the potty. He now runs and hides when he is pooping in his pants. We were in the middle of playing catch tonight when he ran off around the corner. I heard some grunting and said, "Are you pooping." He lauged and ran off....yep, a load in the diaper. So, we are working on the potty chair.

This week was not overly exciting in our activity calendar. Next week we are going camping at Mark Twain State Park and the Lincoln County Fair is going on. Nico is on the look out for a turtle and a bullfrog for the turtle and frog races. He is also practicing for the watermelon eating contest. Last year he came in 2nd place....shooting for 1st and the $3.00 jackpot. (Hopefully this year it won't pour down rain while the event is taking place, I had to put my camera away early and obtained blurry photos...but blurry is better than none!)

A Rainy 4th of July

My Firecrackers!

We started the 4th of July with buckets and buckets of rain. It stopped for a bit in the afternoon and then continued again in time to stop the fireworks show in our home town. We ended up doing a lot of housework today and were able to get a couple of rooms straightened out and shelves hung up. I had to work Saturday night, so Friday we spent our family time together.

We take Fridays off from schoolwork (during the summer) and plan a special activity for the day. This week we went to Grant's Farm with our friends, Melissa and Nate. We have so much fun hanging out with them.

Luca did great feeding the baby goats. He did not freak out at all when they all huddled around him trying to get that little baby bottle from his hands. We were afraid he was going to want to drink it, but he has been baby bottle free for 5 months now and did fine. He was not afraid to pet the snake or touch the nasty hissing cockroaches....ewww, gives me the shivers just thinking of them. (As a matter of fact, just this afternoon, he picked up two dead beetles and brought them to me....great, thanks!!! - at least they were dead...my point, he is not afraid to touch creepy, crawly bugs).

You can see the nasty cockroach in the picture.

Nico had a great time. He kept telling me last night how much fun he had. That is what totally makes my day. It is also great because of the special memories I have of going to Grant's Farm as a kid and then bringing each of my children there. My parent's gave me such special memories and I am blessed to have these three boys in my life to carry on the memories.

This is Luca's first merry-go-round ride! He was in awe of the lights and mirrors. Nico enjoyed making faces at us as he was going around. Melissa managed to snap a photo of it....unknown to her until she looked at the picture.

I had the boys dressed in their red, white, and blue and pose to take photos. Luca is getting into the posing thing. He stands and crosses his arms then gives me 'the look'. Luckily today 'the look' was a BIG smile!

After Grant's Farm we went to Winfield (a little town near us) for a 4th of July carnival and were then going to watch fireworks. However, it started raining so we left after Nico rode the spinning swings for the 6th time in a row!!! (Ugh, I would have been puking after the first.) I think he is gearing up for Disney. We ended up going home and setting off some of the fireworks we had bought earlier in the week.

Am I cute or what????

Mike kept the boys tonight and planned to take them to the firework show in Troy, but when they arrived they found out it was canceled. There were also a ton of people stuck in the mud of the fairgrounds!!!! Mike had his big pick-em up truck but was unable to pull anyone out for fear of getting himself stuck, so homeward bound they went. Mike and Nico finished setting off the few fireworks we had bought. All in all, still a great 4th of July.

Busy, Busy

How can you tell you are in St. Louis? Our beautiful Arch! I took this photo while we were driving on the highway. The first one had a pole smack-dap in the middle of the pic.

Gosh, I thought the regular school year was always busy, but we still haven't stopped! The summer brings so much time outside that I am not in front of the computer much. We have recently put up a new pool that my brother gave us. We have been swimming in it although we can't quite seem to get it sparkling clear. Nico absolutely loves having the pool out the back door. Luca is doing better in it. He loves just laying on a raft floating around, but we had hime doing some swimming the other day. The pics of the filling of the pool are still on the camera. We had to have a 4,000 gallon tanker truck bring water as we are on well water where we live. We didn't want to drain the well and knew it would take DAYS to fill the pool otherwise.

Mike and I went to a wedding a few weeks ago at our beautiful Missouri Botanical Garden. We went early and walked around taking photos and looking at the beautiful flowers in bloom.

Mike and I at the Garden.I couldn't resist taking the photo of this man painting the flowers. I have no idea how to spell the artists name who made all the glass blown features in the Garden so I apologize (Chalui??). They were on display a couple years ago and some of the pieces stayed. this is one of them surrounding the rose garden.

Before we had the pool set up I let the boys play in the sprinkler. I thought Luca would be a little freaked out, but, no worries, he jumped right in! That well water is sooooo cold I don't know how they stood it.

This boy sleeps with a smile on his face! He loves life!

Here's another that is always smiling...not quite as much as Nico, but he is up there! One fearless little boy!

We continue to do school work 3 days a week during the summer. This is so we can take breaks in the winter and still get all the hours we need for the year in, plus to keep Nico up on his skills.

Luca likes to be right next to Nico when we are doing lessons. He imitates big bro so much. Luca brought his paper down to the floor to 'write' like Nico. I LOVE THEIR TOGETHERNESS.

However, we have been trying to schedule Fridays for our fun days. Last week we went the the St. Louis Zoo. It is a FREE Zoo and fun to visit. The big event now is the stingrays. Nico couldn't wait to get in and pet them, however, this compared nothing to swimming with the Ginormous ones in the Grand Caymans when we were on our cruise. (That was Nico's favorite part of the cruise....fearless at 5 yo).

Here are some pics from our Zoo trip and a quick visit to Turtle Park (which is just a little park with a bunch of HUGE turtles to climb on).

Stingrays!

The train ride.

Luca really got into looking at the animals on this visit. Last year we went when he was home only a month or two and he was not so into it.We very rarely get to see the Gorillas close up. This big guy was sleeping right next to the window.

Luca is continuing to say more words and learning more sign language. Nico has learned to sign the alphabet and we are working on spelling words with our hands....so fun! We are also learning word signs. (Much easier to remember than Spanish...but I want them to learn that too..I just can't teach it). Luca now likes to walk up the stairs sometimes he is alternating feet! He still slides down the stairs on his bottom....fine with me! We took the baby gates down and he is doing great.

Brian is also doing well. I haven't seen him in a couple weeks, but we talk at least once a week. I am hoping to see him soon. We are still waiting for the decision on his jaw surgery. I wish they would hurry up, but it seems it is a bit complicated, so we want to make sure they get it right the first time!

Well, I better get off of here and get breakfast started and get my sleepy heads out of bed.

Recital Was Great!

Nico's second dance recital was great. It lasted three hours, which was a bit long, but we made it. His group only had one dance, but all the others were fun to watch. Luca fell asleep right before Nico's performance. Here are a few photos of Nico's dance. He did great. If I could figure out how to upload the video I would, but you'll have to make do with a few blurry photos. We could not use flash and it was hard to get a good, clear shot, but you get the idea. Nico has some great moves and received a lot of hoots and hollers for his solo segment. Of course, everyone did a great job, but I have to brag on my son. I am so proud of him at 7 yo getting in front of an audience and doing his thing. He has so much fun!

The start of his solo segment. He nailed this move - the 'wave like' arm movements of the arms across his body and had his feet in it too.He then proceeded to knee spins, alternating knees.The group then went into the group routine.Nico has practiced this move alot at home. I think his tumbling really helps him out.

Have I Said, "I Love My Boys" today?

Gosh, everyday amazes me with the boys. Today Luca worked a shape puzzle 3 times by himself. Tomorrow we'll get out a new one. Luca is saying more and more words. He is signing and saying the words now with the sign he already knew. Next week we start our sign language curriculum (all of us). Luca enjoyed his first Kindermusik class. He was quiet at first, but got into it when the instruments and parachute came out. I think he will do fine. He loves to dance and tonight came up to me and said, "dance" while moving his arms around. Next week he starts his tumbling and dance classes. I can't wait to see how that all goes. We are having the family celebration of Luca's 2nd birthday on Sunday. Luca has really warmed up to everyone in the family and just loves his Grandpa.

This week I finally got to attend one of Nico's baseball games. He looks so sharp in his uniform. He got 3 foul tips this week. It is coach pitch and unfortunately the coach pitching is not very good. They have some strange rules, but, we attend for fun and exercise. I also finally got to watch Nico's routine for his recital on Sunday. They had dress rehearsal and picture day so parent's were allowed to stay and watch. I loved it. I can't wait to see the live show on Sunday. All the kids looked so adorable in their outfits. We are wrapping up 2nd grade over the next few weeks. Missouri's homeschool year runs July 1-June 30 so we homeschool all year round. We have to keep up with the reading and math. We are also going to be working on language, geography, and Nico's favorite, science....specifically insects (Oh yay!) These are mini lessons and not a full blown schedule. Also, we only work on these 3 days a week. He has done so well. Just today he corrected himself in grammar while he was speaking. I forget specifically what he said, but he ended up saying, "That didn't make any sense." He laughed and corrected the sentence. Gosh, I love homeschooling and love being home with the boys to see them learn.

Brian is coming over to hang out this weekend. I am excited to see him and spend some time with him. I hope he is in a good mood. We need a good few days together. He tells me he is doing well in his online classes and working for the company his dad works for. I worry about him over doing it in the heat, but he is 17 and I have to let him grow up sometime. At least he is with his dad and not haning out with who knows who doing who knows what.

Here are a couple of photos of Nico and Luca. I will get updated ones of Brian this weekend.

Troy Dragons BaseballYeah, I'm too cool to really pose for this baseball photo.

He's the man. I love the fact that Nico likes dancing. I always wanted to take tap lessons, but Mom never let me. I am living through my kids. Luckily they like it. I would never push them to do something they didn't enjoy. He comes out of class every week soaked with sweat. Peace Out!"I can do it too!!!!" Luca was getting his 'hiphop' look on too. I had more photos of him with his 'hiphop' face, but they were all blurry....Ugh, trying to snap photos of a toddler is hard. He loves having his photo taken.

Again, I can't stress how much I love these boys. My life would be so empty without them in it. I am thankful everyday for the unselfishness of their birth mothers and pray every day that they are well. I often wonder how much they think about their boys and what kind of beautiful little boys they are.

Life is good, even though my van is broke down again, the car engine is locked up....I have my wonderful honey, Mike, who is willing to let me use one of his vehicles.....I LOVE MY LIFE AND MY FAMILY!