Snow!

Ok, so the last 2 images aren't with snow - but I took a different tack in re-editing them and decided to repost them. We got about 4 inches of snow last week. It was lots of fun and very powdery - so no snowmen......bummer. But it made for some gooooood sledding. Will post those pics in a couple of days......since I messed up my ISO setting and they are grainy! I really hate it when I do that.

We had a great New Years and just hung out at home and played with the Wii. That was 1 game that we are soooo glad Santa brought this year. We've already used it tons since our temps have been in the single digits....and below zero - so outside play isn't something we can do right now. Ah well, we're getting some good upper body exercise with swinging our arms all over the place!

Merry Christmas!

I am waaaayyyyy behind this year on the Christmas cards - so this year they will be New Year's cards! Should be out in the mail soon!

Tumbling/Cheerleading Meet

A full twist on the "rod floor"


Flying high with a double full twist!

I helped shoot a tumbling meet Sunday at the Univ. of IL for one of the local cheerleading associations. It was a long day - 8am-5pm - of straight photography. It also appears to be a place where I picked up the H1N1 virus.......of course, the rest of my family all had it during the week, so I probably caught it from them.

Also had a portrait session with a lovely couple, photos to follow soon. We had a good time at one of the local forest preserves/botanic garden and then went to Cracker Barrel for brunch.

The kids are doing well, though still trying to recover from the crud. Will post photos when I've got time to edit them.

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual run to the pumpkin patch about 30 minutes away. A fun place to take the kids and let them run around for a bit. On the way back, we encountered a stand of trees that had some of the most gorgeous golden color and we just had to stop......ok, I just had to stop. Turns out it was a cemetery - so it was just a hair bit creepy, but the colors were so beautiful it was well worth it!

More Photos

Zach at gymnastics


Love this swing at the botanical garden!


A bridge at our local botanical garden.

Captured a plane in front of the moon. It's apparently some giant military jet, like a C-130, or a B-2 Bomber, etc.. Lots of ideas from my military friends.

A mum from some flowers Mike brought me for our 20th anniversary.

A Foggy Sunday

We had a beautiful and foggy Sunday morning this week. Jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera and was off before anyone was up moving around in the house. Was out for a couple of hours and loved every minute of it. Fog has become one of my favorite things to photograph.

Plant Eaters!!!

Can you see my teeth? Yep, that's gross!

Can you see me now? That's a lot of fake eyes!

These are Tobacco Horned Worms - and they are currently eating all of my tomato plants. They are like catepillars in that they morp in chrysallis' and then into moths - big wool eating moths, that will then eat all my winter clothes. My science lesson.