theme thursday | Revolution of Love

This week Cari’s photography challenge for Theme Thursday is MUD. It was my turn to say WTH? We haven’t had rain lately so there was no mud in sight.

I thought about going to the beach and taking a picture of wet sand but somehow that didn’t seem to cut it.

Then I thought about doing a play on the word and taking a photo of a scoop of mud pie ice cream.

But that didn’t seem right so I trashed the idea and disposed of the ice cream. (My mouth may or may not have been the means of disposal.)

Then this morning I saw some raindrops fall from the sky. It was short and sweet not enough moisture to make any mud but we do have some damp ground. So this is as close to mud as I am going to get.

I used Cari’s tip of trying to shoot from a different perspective. I got on the ground, practically laying flat in the damp dirt, to get a close up of Thomas’ face. Meanwhile Matthew thought I wanted to play pony and instead of trying to grab Thomas, as he had been doing, he decided to jump on my back and go for a spin. He is still upset with me for not galloping around the back yard with him. A long shower and a load of laundry later, here is the result.

Thanks again to Cari for hosting. Check out her post to see more appropriately rendered photos!

This week Cari’s photography challenge for Theme Thursday is green. I am glad because it’s been such a busy week, not to mention all the excitement with our new Holy Father! At least I didn’t have to search far for green.

Freshly mowed greens at the Pebble Beach Golf Course.

Green trees at sunset in my in-laws back yard.

The green plants are getting a burst of Lenten color.

Thanks to Cari for hosting!

Cari’s photography challenge Theme Thursday is all about piles this week. Wow, if that word does not describe my house, I don’t know what does. Piles of laundry. Piles of mail. Piles of dirty dishes. Piles of messy toys, the bane of my existence. However, Theme Thursday is supposed to be fun and those photos would be a little depressing to photograph without a cool “after” photo to go with it. Instead, I looked for piles of things in each room that weren’t necessarily messy. (I also tried to add red to most of them.) Here’s what I found.

In the Kitchen

I had fresh baked cookies so I piled them up with a cup of coffee.

( Disclaimer: Some cookies may or may not have been consumed during this photo shoot. ;-))

(UPDATE: Please see the P.S. photo below for clarification about the neat house I keep.)

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In the Family Room

A pile of books on the bookcase.

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In the Boys’ Room

John-Paul was ecstatic to make me a pile of Star Wars Angry Birds .

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In Bella’s Room

A pile of video games on Bella’s dresser.

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In the Master Bedroom

On the dresser is a pile of my Lenten aids.

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In the Bathroom

On the bathroom counter is a pile of my paper bead bracelets from Uganda.

(I think this was my favorite shot. I love the colors. :-))

A big thanks to Cari for hosting another fun theme!

UPDATE: PS – I had to laugh when I read the comment from Christie @ Everything to Someone. She said, ” Your piles are so straight and pretty, and I don’t detect any clutter in the peripherals! I am duly impressed (I can’t say the same for myself!)” Well, it’s all how you position the camera…not to mention using your arm or your foot to make a clean sweep on the junk before you take the photo. Need proof? Here is the same counter from the first photo with the cookies. If I moved the camera over a little you would have seen all this too!

So there you go. The unairbrushed version. 😉

When I heard that this week’s Theme Thursday was about happiness I knew I wanted to do something outdoors. I planned a family favorite – a picnic at Point Lobos and then going on a nature walk. Alas, a number of things happened that made it impossible so we had a quiet day at home instead.

To be honest, I don’t lead an exciting life. Happy, yes, but not very exciting. Therefore, the things that make me happiest occur in day to day life. And after Brian’s cancer, surgery and the uncertainty of the future, it has especially become my motto. The greatest joys come from the simple moments of life. I’ll admit, I often forget in the midst of family chaos but it’s good to be reminded. Here are a few moments from a particularly good day this week.

And since this post has all the required photos of {pretty, happy, funny, real} I’m also linking it with Like Mother, Like Daughter to “capturing the context of contentment in everyday life.” I couldn’t have said it better myself!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

Happiness is waking up to your hubby making breakfast.

(And knowing how to position the camera so you can’t see the stack of dirty pots on the other side of the stove top, the pile of dirty dishes behind hubby that I ignored last night so we could watch a movie instead and the wild kids in the background who were jumping on the couch while I shouted, “Stop being so loud! I’m trying to record a happy moment!”

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Happiness is seeing the first spring blossom and the temperature finally warm up out of the 50’s.

(Even though it also means that everything is covered in sinus-killing pollen dust and that Daylight Savings Time will soon be here and it will seriously kick my arse when it arrives.)

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Happiness is going for a drive…

(And being giddy because I get to go alone to Target and can listen to my choice of music and sing as loud as I want without reproach. The Cure, Red Hot Chili Peppers, or Mumford and Sons anyone?”

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Happiness is always carrying my iPhone with me so after I shop at Target I can pull over at the beach and snap a photo like this.

(Even though Brian texted me and asked, “When are you coming home?” and I texted back, “I’m on my way! I just wanted to snap a quick photo that Cari will enjoy.” And he asked, “Who the heck is Cari?”)

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Happiness is getting the perfect shot of Andrew, Matthew and John-Paul…

(Even if it means taking endless shots while your husband shakes his head at you and your tween daughter hides in her room and you realize you forgot to start dinner so you order pizza instead…again.)

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Happiness is having another female in the house and Bella being at an age where she still wants to have Mother- Daughter outings with me.

(Even though it means watching my baby girl grow up way too fast.)

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Happiness is ending the day in prayer, putting the kids to bed early, and enjoying an at-home date night with my hubby while thinking, “Oh, Phase 3, how I love thee!”

(Even though….nope, no even though. It just rocks. ;-))

Today I am linking up with Cari for Theme Thursday: Architecture. Cari was talking about different online editing tool and she recommended PicMonkey. I tried it out and loved it a lot more than the other online editor I was using. I used PicMonkey for all the photos below.

I chose the Carmel Mission for my subject since I love the old missions and this one is near and dear to my heart. (This is where Brian and I were married and where our children were baptized.) It was a gloomy day and there was construction going on as they rebuild the roof and make everything earthquake safe. I also didn’t have time to go on the grounds so I just snapped a few photos of the basilica through the gate and around the chapel.