Day 108 Kinnetz Family Sneak Peak

Thank you to the Kinnetz Family for the fun session this morning! Here's a couple of pictures from our time in the park.

Day 107 Pick-Me-Up

Thanks Brian for the beautiful flowers! It was just what I needed :)

Day 106 Backlighting Practice

I bribed James yet again (with Mountain Dew and gum) to sit as my model for this week's assignment...backlighting.

Day 105 Disheartening Loss

The Stewartville-Racine Sharks were in a marathon playoff game vs the Winona Chiefs last night. The winner continues on, the loser's season is over. After 14, yes 14 innings, and 4 hours 17 minutes of play the Sharks couldn't pull off the win. They lost a heartbreaking nail biter of a game ending their season and any chances of returning to the state amateur baseball tourney for a third straight year.

Day 104 Under Construction

This is the intersection by our house. They are finally working on replacing the street. It's a pain trying to get through and the noise is driving our dog nuts, but it will be nice when they are finally done and we have a new street!

Day 103 Eggs

Making some hard boiled eggs for James for breakfast :)

Day 102 Will Model For Doughnuts

James once again came through for me for this weeks assignment for the photography workshop I am taking. His fee: doughnuts! I think I can handle that :) The first one is in front of a low wall in the park. The second picture was behind one of the elementary schools.

Day 101 Another Full Moon Attempt

I set out to capture another full moon. Much better than my first attempt on day 43 :)

http://nicoleann365.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-43-full-moon.html

Day 100 One Hundred!

In honor of my 100th post :)

Day 99 Switch To RAW

I've done it, I've finally committed to making the switch to RAW! It wasn't that scary after all :)

Day 98 Dessert

Day 97 Landscaping Lights

Okay, so we've had these lights for a long time, but when we re-landscaped the front yard they ended up in the shed for two years. Thank you Brian for showing them the "light" of day,...or night!

Day 96 Evening In The Park

Just a couple of images from a quick little impromptu photoshoot at the park. Technically not great photos since his body is leaning out instead of in and the dreaded limb chops (GASP!) in the first one, but I still like them :) Too much to try and keep straight!

Day 95 Bubbles

James was blowing bubbles for our dog, Spotty. He loves popping bubbles :)

Day 94 Flower Girl

M was the cutest little flower girl. Too bad the ring bearer wasn't feeling very well as they looked so adorable together.

Day 93 Baby C and Mrs. M

This little guy was entertaining all the ladies at the baseball game tonight! How could you not fall in love with that adorable face and those gorgeous dark eyes!?!

Day 92 James

James has been a lot of help around the house taking out the garbage, picking up after the dog, cleaning up, taking out the cans, mowing the lawn, watering the plants and pretty much anything I have asked him to do. He's been a lot of help with my photo scavenger hunt keeping his eye out for items on the list, holding my little clickinmoms signs and posing for silly pictures. Today James was a lot of help with the new photography workshop that I am taking by sitting as my model while I practiced taking pics of him...turn this way, hold this up, smile, stop making silly faces, sit up straight, yes you can have pancakes as soon as we're done. I may be biased, but I sure am blessed to have such a GREAT kid :) Thanks James...I appreciate everything you do!

Day 91 Wild Weather

I left my nice air conditioned work at 5:30 PM to find temps still in the 90s with the heat index still over 100 degrees. You know something is brewing when it is that warm and HUMID!


There was a line of storms fast approaching and the sky turned very dark, but as soon as the storm passed over us the sky looked like it was on fire! (sooc)


Then the crazy dark skies returned: no rain, but a lot of lightning!


Not long after I went inside the skies brightened up again and it looked like the sun was shining on the houses across the street and it was after 9 PM...we couldn't believe it.

It was one of the craziest weather patterns that I have ever witnessed!

Day 90 Motorcycle

Perfect motorcyle riding weather!

Day 89 Clickinmoms Photo Scavenger Hunt 2010

I have been participating in the Clickinmom's 2010 photo scavenger hunt. There's an ever growing list of hundreds of items to capture, but it's not as easy as it sounds. You must take a picture of each item and have the words clickinmoms 2010 visible somewhere in the picture. All of the pictures must be taken during the month of July. This is so fun! I may not win, but I am having fun trying to get as many items as I can and it is definitely helping me to become less shy about asking to take pictures of people or things. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along so far, especially James. This is my entry for heart shaped food.

Day 88 Bad Tire

My tire has been slowly losing air for awhile now. I knew that I needed to take it in to be looked at, but I have been procrastinating. I came out to my car today to find it completely flat and with Brian gone I was going to have to change the tire myself...for the first time. God has definitely been watching over me. I found this patch with the cords showing, in addition to another area with a hole in the outer part of the rubber and an completely bald inside tread. Irresponsible car owner here! Now I will be driving around with this sad looking spare until I can get new tires :(

Day 87 Bee

This bee was buzzing around our thistles today. Wish I had a macro lens and less wind, but for my first time trying to capture one I was pretty pleased with this shot.

Day 86 St John's Block Party

The Gear Daddies were the headliners the first night of the St John's Block Party.


This is lead singer, Martin Zellar. If you are a hockey fan, you will know him as the creator of the Zamboni song!


This is Nick Ciola. He used to play amateur baseball with Brian in Austin.

We LOVE the Gear Daddies and try to catch their reunion shows anytime they are in the area. Unfortunately, Brian had to miss out this time as he was at wrestling team camp with the high school kids he coaches from JM :( I had a great time however, catching up with our friends Troy and Jenny! LOTS of laughs, dancing, drinks and people watching...good times!

Day 85 Cake

I made it through the funeral this morning, I made it through back-to-back baseball losses, I made it to Rochester on a crappy tire all for drinks with my dear friend Kelly Girl and some red velvet cake from Whistle Binkies On The Lake!

Day 84 Sad Goodbye

\
This evening I attended the visitation for Jerry Hammill. He tragically was taken from this Earth far too soon. Tomorrow will be a tough one as his family and friends say goodbye. Rest in peace Jerry!

Day 83 Different Is Good

I went down by the baseball fields to capture some cattails for the clickinmoms scavenger hunt. While I was there I noticed several beautiful wild flowers in the ditch. It's funny how many times I have walked by and never even noticed them. This was a sooc shot that caught my eye because it almost looks like I processed with a texture or something. The soft colors and haze is different from what I normally attempt to capture.

Day 82 Fireworks Round 2

The Rochester fireworks were rained out on the 4th so we were lucky to catch the show on the make-up date, July 5th. What a great display!

Day 81 4th Of July

Today was the 4th of July, a day to celebrate! Unfortunately the weather didn't want to cooperate for the festivities in the park this afternoon, but thankfully the rain held off just enough to get the parade and fireworks in tonight!

On another note, I am praying for the Schmoll/Hammill family with sudden tragic loss of Jerry this morning. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers.

80 Summerfest Run

James ran the city summerfest run this morning while Brian and I volunteered to work the race. They ran a 5 mile, 3 mile and 1/2 mile kids fun race. This is James finishing the 3 mile race in 53rd place out of 282 runners in a time of 24:40. Way to go little man!

79 Refreshing

Refreshing drink on a warm summer day: Ice, water and fresh strawberries from the garden!

Day 78 Pop Pyramid

When it's only $1.99 for a 12 pack we stock up! Lucky for us it's still on sale for a couple more days. Last time it was this cheap we had a wall of pop in our basement. Can you say caffeine addiction???

Day 77 Spotty's PSA

Day 76 Running Memories

James is signed up to run in the Stewartville Summerfest Run this Saturday. He really loved his first year of cross country last fall and the kids are encouraged to participate in the event while the parents/CC bosters work the race. I didn't realize how fun CC would be and I am really looking forward to another great season. This is a page from the cross country scrapbook I made for James last year (there's a picture of us together and his fist varsity letter.) He lettered as a 7th grader! He really found a sport that he enjoys and is perfect for his skinny body type. I couldn't be more proud of my little runner :)