Category: photography

This Christmas: 1st Year at Home, 1st Non Disaster Story

big family life, blessings, Christmas, parenting, photography, pictures, video, videos

This might have been the easiest Christmas in 14 years of April and Alan family Christmases. We only had to travel two hours, and we woke up on Christmas morning IN OUR OWN HOUSE. Have you ever??? I mean, we had almost never!! Do you do this? Do other people do this every year??  It was so nice! I mean have you read my other Christmas stories??? Our Nightmare Before Christmas The Funeral, Christmas Trip New Years in San Francisco […]

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Fishin’ with DaddyO Photoblog

family, little boys, photography, pictures

[amazon text=Amazon] Fishin’ With DaddyO These weekends were just as beautiful as the photos appear. Alan took our youngest two boys and went camping with DaddyO in Alabama. They fished, they cleaned the fish, they ate the fish, they learned about the importance of gun safety while shooting cans, and they got to sleep in a tent. It looks so good, it almost makes me wish I had gone too. But then I remind myself that I don’t touch worms, […]

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Darling Photos of Seal Moms and Babies

beach, beauty, California, parenting, photography, pictures, wildlife

  Happy Mother’s Day! What better to share on this treasured day than some adorable seal mom and pup pairs from my favorite spot in the world, Point Lobos State Park. This particular beach is not a seal hang-out for most of the year. However, when it comes time to birth babies, late winter/early spring, this tiny beach, completely surrounded by rock cliffs, becomes a true seal nursery. This is NOT a zoo. This is the real world, animal style. […]

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Photos of 17 Mile Drive and the Carmel Mission

beach, beauty, California, photography, pictures, vacation

You may be tempted to think, “How can you live in California and not be utterly happy all the time from these incredibly beautiful surroundings?” Good question. The unfortunate thing is that I don’t actually live on the beach and see these sights every single day. In fact, I pretty much forget they are there until company comes and we show them around. Most destinations are too hazardous to take on with two pre-schoolers, seeing as how I’d like to […]

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Game Day Photos

baseball, Caleb, parenting, photography, pictures

The vast majority of these photos were taken by our family photographer, Aunt Janet.  Thank you, yet again, Janet!! Baseball season has been time-consuming but joyous this year. Joshua joined a team late in the season that was short on players because after seeing his brothers enjoy playing so much, he wanted in on this action too! That puts Joshua in the “Mustang” league, which is an exciting game to watch. At this level, the players get to pitch, get […]

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42 Beautiful Photos of Monterey, California

California, family, grandparents, photography, pictures, vacation

Janet took these beautiful photos of Monterey for us. These include the aquarium, the beach, a hotel, a farmer’s market (where we met some parrots), and Cannery Row. Check back tomorrow! I’m planning to upload photos of 17 mile drive, a scenic route that hugs the coast from Pacific Grove to Carmel! Or maybe I’ll do the seal pup photos next…

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20 More Breathtaking Photos of Carmel Valley and Monterey, California

California, funny stories, photography, pictures, vacation

Right now Daniel is washing his hands after his hour-long worm hunt. All he found was a slug, which he tried to bring into my house. Joshua put a hard stop to that. What would I do without Joshua? JD is upstairs NOT napping. Caleb and Joshua are outside playing with a friend. I’m chugging coffee in a last ditch effort to hold on to wakefulness. A friend of mine is out walking, trying to coax her labor pains into a […]

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Beauty is no less of a gift than any other.

blessings, Classical Conversations, home school, John David, photography, pictures, preschool, toddlers

Spring is one of those things you can’t help but notice. That’s the way it is with beauty. It is inspirational. When beauty surrounds you, you can’t help but feel better. It’s funny how on my sick days I often feel too miserable to want to do chores, but I’m rarely feeling bad enough to not want to go out for a walk in the sunshine. It’s positively healing, isn’t it? I think that when you are surrounded by small, […]

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Fun Times Photoblog

art, attitude, photography, pictures

This week is our Spring Break. Wahoo! That’s something to celebrate! I have about 5 billion goals to accomplish and all of 5 days to do it in. Mostly, we are prepping for the big move. It’s three months out, but hey, that’s like three weeks in Mom years. I could tell you what’s been going on around here, but I thought it’d be more fun to show you, so today’s blog is a photoblog:    What happens is that […]

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Homeschool Week 64: Peace, Testing, and Toddlers in the Waiting Room

chiropractic, funny stories, home school, homeschool, parenting, photography, pictures

This week our family is preparing for standardized tests. I can safely tell you one thing that will never ever work at home school. Standardized tests. Oh.my.goodness. Alan downloaded practice tests and Scantron sheets for the boys to practice with. Here’s an example of why this sort of super official testing would never work at home school, at least not at ours: “Mom, I’m done! I’m done! I’m done!” Joshua shouted as he finished his math section. “Yay!! That’s great! […]

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