I Made It!

Today is the last day of April which also means today is the last day of NaBloPoMo.  I'll admit, it has been fun blogging every day but also very challenging.  Even on the days where I only posted photos, it was still a lot of work to get it all together by midnight. And for a procrastinator like me, blogging well into the nighttime hours became commonplace this month, but I did it!  Woohoo! 

Since photos seem to be my thing lately, I will end this month of blogging every single day with another set of photos.  Today, while the girls and I were in town picking up a great craigslist find (a camera bag, in case you were wondering), we stopped at the craft store for some new canvases and a few more bottles of paint.

Mae painted too, but refused to have her picture taken.  Oh, the attitude of an 8 year old.   



(Mae's painting is a decoration for Binny's 7th birthday next month.)

Thank you to everyone who kept up with my everyday posting, and a special thank you to everyone who commented this month.  You all make my day!

Headlock

Priorities

With the news that tornadoes claimed nearly 300 lives and flattened entire cities last night in the southern US, I have a hard time enjoying the unending news coverage (and I use that term loosely) of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding.

Wardrobe Wednesday

 I'm not much of an accessorizer (please tell me that's a word) but I knew I wanted to get a pin, broach, something camera related to wear on my clothing while photographing weddings.  Something that when people saw it, along with my camera in my hand would tell them that I am the photographer paid by the bride and groom to capture the day and not just some nosy cousin with an SLR. I've seen some photographers wear a name tag that says "photographer" on it, but I wanted something a little more subtle and not so GET OUT OF MY WAY, I'M WORKING HERE! 

Etsy to the rescue!  I found this cute little metal pin from this store and it arrived yesterday.

 It came in a little box wrapped with a black satin ribbon.  How cute!

With my first wedding of the year just over a week away, I better start working on the rest of my outfit and think about purchasing a pair of sensible shoes.  Too bad most sensible shoes (meaning they won't kill my feet after running around all day) don't come with a heel. Have I mentioned before that I'm only 5'2"?

Magnified

My grandmother stored her car here for the winter and while she was here over the weekend, she cleaned it out.  Among other things like maps and a pile of empty plastic grocery bags, were 2 umbrellas and a giant magnifying glass.  Mae called dibs on the purple paisley umbrella and Binny scored the magnifying glass.  My grandfather had a hard time seeing later in life so he always had a magnifying glass nearby.  Grandma Dee probably has no idea how many hours of fun Binny will have with her new toy.  If Flash doesn't get a hold of it and chew it to bits first.

Monday Garden Club

 After a long weekend, it was nice to have a sunny day all to myself to get a little spring gardening done. As soon as the girls hopped on the bus and my mom and grandma pulled out of the driveway this morning, I decided that the sunshine and mild temperatures outside (mid 50s) were perfect weather to haul all of the seedlings out of the basement and into the greenhouse.

 



The flowering pansies right in front were not started from seed by me.  While I was out today, I stopped at a garden center (first of the year for me!) and picked up those cute little blooms.  I couldn't resist.



 Because we have had mostly rainy/snowy/cloudy days lately, today's sunshine and light winds were the perfect opportunity to get out and do some work in the garden. I pulled 10 buckets of weeds from between the rhubarb...

Before

After

And the strawberry plants, which will hopefully be relocated from the big veggie garden to their very own garden soon!

Rhubarb liberated from the weeds

I have no idea where these little grape hyacinths came from (I never planted them) but they sure are cute!

Tulips not quite ready to pop.

Compared to last year, this Spring is about 2 weeks behind.  Last year I had tulips blooming for a week already and we were already enjoying the first of the rhubarb.  We'll have to wait another week or two for any of that, especially if the rain in the forecast develops. 

Anybody else gardening this week? If so, grab the Monday Garden Club button on my sidebar, paste it to your blog entry and link up below with Mr. Linky.

Snapshots From Easter Sunday

Grandma Dee

Everybody's favorite senior is in the house!  She and my mom arrived today and will be here through the weekend.

Mae's New Favorite Show

This is a guest post by my sweet Mae with a little help from a blog-blocked Mama.  22 days into NaBloPoMo and I'm running out of inspiration.  Enter an energetic 8 year old who's been home all day and drained me of all of my energy to blog.  Kids do that. 

"I have a new favorite TV show I love to watch on Friday nights. It's on after dinner, but before bedtime.  It stars 3 men acting funny and my favorite character is Curly.  It is in black and white."

Can you guess the show?

Egg Dyeing Again

We dyed eggs earlier this month while the girls were on Spring Break, but they wanted to do it again after they discovered another box of leftover dye in the craft closet.

It never fails, the day after I post for Wardrobe Wednesday, Binny does something notable like walking around all day (at school, the library and now home) with her dress unbuttoned.  Last week Binny's teacher had to remind her that tights are just glorified underwear and no one needs to see them.  She's not convinced, obviously.