365 Days of Photos - Day 16

Insects.................well what can I say, they aren't my favorite thing to photograph. I am not a big fan of insects of any kind. While we were at the beach on Monday my husband had a "friend" land on his shoulder. Now normally I wouldn't get close enough to take a picture like this, but lucky for me, I had my big lens on the camera. So this was the bee that joined us during our picnic lunch!

365 Days of Photos - Day 15

So how do you keep an 8 month old girl occupied? Give her something she can see her reflection in. This is my cousin's daughter Hallow. We were trying to get some family pictures before they headed back home to Calgary.  Of course, trying to keep Hallow interested was a challenge. She is just as busy as her Dad was when he was that age! My father and I, whom are both huge M&M's fans, got these dishes at Christmas with M&M's in them. My Dad keeps his dish in his office with M&M's always in it. It's rather shiny, so I decided to dump what candies were in it and give it to Hallow to play with while we took some photos in the studio. She was so enamoured with the dish and the fact that she could see herself in it was a bonus. This is the product of Hallow and the candy dish!

365 Days of Photos - Day 14

My oh my what a week thus far. I am so behind! Looking forward to getting my posts caught up!  Have kind of a neat picture for "Plastic". Friends of ours had their sons first birthday on the weekend, and they purchased a ball pit for the kids to play in, the little kids of course. All the "big" kids were just throwing the balls around! The kids had a fantastic time in this thing. I can remember when my kids were little, we had taken the kids to McDonald's one night the twins were only about a year and a half old then. My girl friend Dayna and I had been out for our nightly walk, and we decided to take the kids for an ice cream. McDonald's was unusually empty for a Thursday evening. We figured we would stay in and eat our ice cream and then finish our walk home. We took the kids into play land. It was deserted.  So Dayna and I thought it would be fun to take the kids through the tunnels and down the slide. They loved it. Then they discovered the "ball pit". The ball pit at our McDonald's was pretty big and deep, so Dayna and I got in there with them. We had the most unbelievable time in there! They were trying to walk around in there but sank every step they took. Dayna and I laughed, like I have never laughed before. I'm not sure who had more fun, them or us.
Now I also know that a lot of the McDonald's have taken their play places out all together, in order to establish a more "mature" restaurant atmosphere. Some have removed the ball pits due to cleanliness. I know our McDonald's used to remove the balls once a week and vacuum out the area to keep it clean. It's a shame really that the play places have been removed as I'm sure there are many of us who have great memories of a McDonald's birthday party, or just simply a play date with friends, while your parents had a coffee and some catch up time!

365 Days of Photos - Day 13

I found this poem, and my oh my how it made me think. We as parents do this all too often. So if you're reading this, and have wee little ones or haven't had children yet but are planning to, this is most definitely something for you to keep in the back of your mind. I can honestly remember saying at times, I wish they could walk, or talk, can't wait until their first day of school. Oh what I wouldn't give to have my babies, be just that, babies again. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love who and what my children are becoming. They are 3 of the most wonderful, beautiful, thoughtful, helpful, empathetic children I know. But just to hold those sweet little babes again..............

Perspective.........

As the years go by, you forget the bad parts. Or at least you put them in perspective as unimportant.

Before you know it, you're wishing you had a baby around again. But be careful not to wish you life away.

First you wish you were pregnant. And then you wish you had a big belly to show off. But when the belly gets to be a burden, you wish for labor to come. And as soon as it comes, you wish it were over. You wish for the baby, and then you wish he was older. You wish your children toilet trained and off to school. You wish them grown up. And then you get what you wish, and your children are gone, and you've wished motherhood away.

The time it takes to have a baby is so fleeting and so full of everything, that maybe there isn't opportunity to savor it until it's over. And when it's over, you're left with you photographs and your memories and your regrets that you didn't appreciate it all the more at the time. You forget how busy you were and how tired. You remember only how wonderful it was to be a mother, and is.

So savor every morsel of motherhood as it comes along. Especially if, like most women today you're only having one, or two, or even three children. In the course of a lifetime, that not so many times to do something as precious as making a baby. It's important to make it count.  ~~ Alexandra McCall ~~

365 Days of Photos - Day 12

My husband and I love going to the movies together! It's a nice night out for us, and relatively inexpensive.  We most often will head to the old movie theatre in down town Barrie. The old Imperial building. Yes it's old, but the inside has a comfortable feel to it. Now of course our newer Cinema in town has the big comfy chairs and what not, but you also pay the price for that. We love the downtown theatre for it's price, not to mention the staff there are fantastic!!!

365 Days of Photos - Day 11

Shoes..............what girl doesn't love shoes? I think almost every woman has a shoe fetish! It is just something we women do! I know I'm guilty.  I can't pass a shoe store or a hand bag store with out making a purchase. My youngest daughter is her mother's daughter. She has more pairs of shoes than I care to think about. But she comes by it honestly! She will save her allowances, birthday money, Christmas money, pretty much anytime she gets money, it's spent on a pair of shoes! These are her latest find!

365 Days of Photos - Day 10

There is just something about water. Good old H20. Even mucky rain puddles have their way of calling out for a photo opportunity. I love photographing water, whether it be the spray off the back of the boat, or the still calmness of the early morning lake, it's all gorgeous.  Let's face it water = beauty. We use water to wash our beautiful faces, we put water into our bodies to flush away the toxins, impurities and of course unwanted fat. Water is a natural resource that we could NEVER live without!  I most definitely love the water!

365 Days of Photos - Day 9

While out for my walk along the waterfront this evening, I came across these two teens that were just sitting and enjoying the view. Was nice to see them just enjoying each others company. Just thought it would be nice to share!

365 Days of Photos - Day 8

Beauty.....what is it? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I find everything about rain beautiful. Rain is the most majestic, peaceful, beautiful single act of nature. Most don't enjoy the rain. For starters, nobody enjoys getting rained on, I myself don't mind getting wet in the rain at all. I would love most days to simply dance in the rain! And lets face it, we need the rain. We as humans require water to survive, so does everything that is a living organism. Farmers need the rain in order for their crops to survive, and we all need fruits and vegetables. We need the rain for our own gardens to grow, our grass and trees, we need the rain just simply to replenish everything.
Next time it rains, don't look at it as a gloomy day, but simply a day where the earth is being refreshed and replenished. Sit and take in every breath taking moment of the beauty within.............

..............after all, this truly is beautiful.

365 Days of Photos - Day 7

August 3rd 2009, Zaydie Patrice Susan Abram made her entrance into this world. And here we are 1 year(and a few days)later celebrating her 1st birthday. Zaydie is the most amazing little girl. She is so full of wonder and amazement. 
Today marked a milestone in Zaydie's life. So many friends and family members gathered to celebrate with her. There were games, prizes, scavenger hunts, food, and lots of beautiful gifts.
Amanda and Sean knew that Zaydie wouldn't remember this day, so they asked friends and family to bring an item to place in a time capsule. What an awesome idea! This capsule will be buried some where safe. The capsule will be dug up 20 years from now by Zaydie and she will be able to see all the wonderful things that people placed in there for her too see from her first year of life.
Amanda and Sean, you are raising one amazing little girl. She has touched our lives in ways you can't even imagine. Watching Zaydie grow this last year has been an honor and a blessing. I can't wait to see what is in Zaydie's future, but I know that whatever it is, it will be GREAT!


Happy 1st Birthday Zaydie!!!!!!!

365 Days of Photos - Day 6

I am honored to be able to post a picture of my wonderful husband and I together. We don't get many of these, as I am usually the one behind the camera! And of course we couldn't leave the dog out. My husband and I have been married for 12 wonderful years. Many people believe that marriage should be just like it is in the movies.......happily ever after. I learned very early on that marriage takes some work. People are individuals, they don't always agree or see eye to eye. But the old saying stands true...............love is all you need. As long as you love each other, and work together, you can get through anything. Most couples are living proof of that.

365 Days of Photos - Day 5

What an absolutely beautiful day it was today! Warm sunshine and a beautiful breeze! Great day for the beach! We have a family cottage over on Wasaga beach and we went over for the day to meet up with some cousins.  While sitting on the beach, feeling the sand in my toes, I decided what better than a picture of my toes in the sand! And this was the product of that................

365 Days of Photos - Day 4

What gives me joy? Well for starters, that would be taking photographs. But if I had to narrow it down to one subject it would have to be babies! Babies bring joy into everyone's life, even if it's not expected. It is the most memorable moment in a parents life to see these perfect little people come into the world.  All these little ones want is to be loved and protected.  Parents strive from the day our little ones are born to teach them how to be respectful, empathetic, wonderful, hard working members of society.  Each and everyone has an amazing story to tell...................

365 Days of Photos - Day 3

I have been traveling back and forth to Midland this week with my son. He has be partaking in some on ice conditioning before getting back in to the full swing of hockey season.  Today's session was the longest and left me 4 hours to find something to do.  I decided to head down from the arena to the waterfront. While strolling around and checking things out, I came across this beautiful painting over looking the lake. The is of St Marie among the Huron. This was always an exciting field trip when I was in public school. All of my kids have been with school and they all thought it was very neat.

This has some very beautiful colorings in it. Really caught my eye!

365 Days of Photos - Day 2

I have many things that I love to eat, but the thing I love to eat the most is Watermelon. I don't care if it's winter time or not, I will eat watermelon year round. Yes, it is most definitely more expensive to eat in the winter months, but it is so worth it. No sooner do we come home from doing groceries, and we are cutting up the watermelon to eat. And we usually devour the entire thing in a matter of hours. There isn't a day that goes by that we don't have watermelon in our fridge. The kids love when I cube it and put it into the freezer with some grapes. It makes a great frozen treat on those really hot days!

365 Days of Photos - Day 1

Meet my first born, Braydon. He is one of my most favorite people. Braydon will be 12 in September, and I couldn't be prouder of him.  He is a fantastic student and he loves sports. He plays ice hockey, ball hockey, school hockey, field lacrosse and box lacrosse. He keeps our lives very busy. He is noticed just about every where he plays for his work ethic and dedication to the game. I am so very proud to call him my son!

This is Braydons twin sister Chelsey-May. She is my brilliant beautiful girl. She is a figure skater and a dancer. Chelsey loves to read. She is and always has been a very intelligent girl. This girl is going to do great things with her life! I am very honored to be her Mom.

Meet Mackenzie-Grace. She is our youngest. She most definitely keeps our lives interesting. She is very energetic and always, always full of surprises. Mackenzie-Grace loves to swim and also play ball hockey. Everyone always tells us how beautiful she is, but if you look closely, you can see the mischief in her eyes! She is her Mother's daughter!

These 3 beautiful babes are my most favorite people.  When given the opportunity I will always write or post pictures of them!