Paper Mama Photo Challenge-Fingerprints

Ava is such a mixture of personalities right now! She loves having her hair fixed and dressing pretty but she also loves playing with dirt, pine cones, and rocks! This is a photo that I took of her earlier this summer. She was trying to put pine cones on the see-saw (and keep them from falling)! 

I am entering this one in the Paper Mama's challenge for fingerprints!

 Want to see more? Of course you do!

Playing with Motion Blur

Ava and I were able to capture a few shots with motion blur while we goofed around today. Here's a few tidbits from our motion shot practice!

First we spent a little time playing with the curtains!

Then we played with Lilly! 

Ava fixed some Bow-Tie pasta!

And poured us both some magical sparkle juice!

Afterward, she decided that Lucy might also be hungry.

Want to see the rest of the shots from today? Click Here to link up to my family blog!

Alphabet Soup-Letter B

I was one day late last week! Bummer! Click here to check out my pics for the letter A!

Now enough of that, onto this week's letter (B of course)!

B is for bread

These might be the biggest loaves of bread I have ever seen! 

B is for Boat.

We rode on one of these little boats during a recent trip to Mannheim. They ran through the water on a little track.

B is for Birthday Party.

This is one of Ava's friends, Noah. It was his 3rd birthday and he was enjoying a big bite of cake!

B is for Brother.

My little brother at his high school graduation party! 

B is for Backpack.

This is Ava's new doggie backpack for the plane ride we will be taking at the end of the month.

Can't get enough of the letter B? Click the linky to see more great shots!

Alphabet Soup-Letter A

I have decided to join the Alphabet Soup Challenge (boy, I hope I can stick to it)!  However I am officially one day late so I can't link up to the post this week. :( 
Each week I will link up to the theme/letter. Of course, since this is the first week, the letter is A!

This was a last minute decision so all of these photos were shot today at the Berglangenbach's Farm Fest!

A is for Arrow.

A is for Ava.

She is checking out all of the horses!

A is for Almost.

Ava loved looking at the horses. We decided to attempt riding one. No such luck, she totally freaked out and clung to me with super-human strength! This was as close as we got!

Okay, so this one probably doesn't count since my husband shot it, not me, but I did edit it! I just couldn't resist posting it.

That's all folks! 

If you want to check out some shots from this week (Letter B) just click the linky!

Something Beautiful-Flowers

I saw a new photo challenge on Ashely's Sisks' Blog (if you haven't checked her out yet, you should)! 

Anyway, a few girls are working on this challenge (here's one of their blogs)! and the first theme is: FLOWERS! So excited! Flowers are one of my favorite things to photograph! Below are just 4 out of the many that I have!

Okay, perhaps I went a little overboard on the textures with this one, but I kind of like it!

This one is one of my absolute favorites!

On photos 1, 2, and 4 all I did was up the brightness a bit! 
On #3 I got a little happy with the one of the grunge textures from Shadow House Creations!

Shoot and Tell

Shoot and Tell

Theme: Looking Up

This is a picture that I took "looking up" the slide at Ava! She used to love going down slides but within the last week or two has become frightened. Now she will climb up to the top and look down at you and possibly even sit at the top (in an about to slide pose) but she refuses to come down. Maybe she just realized that she is pretty high up and will be heading toward the ground at rapid speeds! Who knows! Hopefully she will out grow this fear soon and begin enjoying slides again!

To see more "looking up" photos click the linky below!

Exciting News :)

I just got wonderful news! I have won my very first photo challenge!!!! Yippee! I am so happy, overjoyed, ecstatic.....the list goes on and on! AND that means that I get to be the judge for this week's challenge! This challenge is "back to school". How appropriate since I used to be a teacher!

Check out the entries! 

TMMAPC-Pets

I have used this photo before but it is one of my favorites of our dog, Lucy!

If you want to see more cute pets, click here!

Shoot and Tell

 Is that chocolate or poop?

This is a picture of my daughter Ava! It makes me think of that movie "Four Christmases" with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. There is a funny part where a kid comes in and is covered in something brown. The mom asks if it is chocolate or poop and when he doesn't respond she licks it! Thankfully it was just chocolate in the movie and on Ava!

 

New blog!

I started this blog as a way to share trips/experiences with my family and friends back home in the states (and also to make some new online friends)! Since beginning this blog 2 months ago, I have become addicted to online photography challenges. Most of my followers/friends are also members of the photography world! I have decided to turn this blog into strictly a photography blog. If you are a family member/friend who enjoys seeing my normal everyday stuff, don't worry, I will be starting a new blog just for that!

Happy blogging!

Here's the newest blog addition!
http://sarah-happyhearts4all.blogspot.com/

August Photo Hunt

Yes! I am so excited to finally be able to post these photos! I took all of them in August and am very proud of the fact that I didn't have to use any archived ones! I tried really hard to keep these a secret for the whole month but I did end up posting 3 of them over the course of the month (man I am bad at keeping secrets). 

This is my first monthly photo hunt challenge! 

Hope you enjoy!

1. Flag

I am an American military wife, who has become a German transplant! So here is the German flag.

2. Something Comfortable

There are so many things that come to mind when I think about comfort: my spot on the couch, my old bathrobe, a comfy sweatshirt. I decided to post a photo of my daughters lovies. They make her feel comfortable and loved causing me to feel that way too!

3. Something in Season

I love the selection of fruit and vegetables in the summertime! Here is a yummy strawberry.

4. Feet

My daughter loves her daddy and he loves her right back! She is always very excited to see him when he gets home from work. 

5. Repetition

I was really struggling to find something awesome to shoot for this category.  I took my daughter for a walk after one of her therapy appointments and VOILA there it was! 

6. Culture or Ethnicity

We took a boat ride during a recent trip to a park. During the ride we past this interesting looking tree. It turns out that the German families in the area go there and hang pacifiers, sippy cups, etc on it once they believe their children have outgrown them! 

7. Contrast

This shot was taken at the same park as the one above. It is a jumbo chess board! The pieces where as tall as Ava!

8. An Indulgence

Okay, so there are really to many things that I could have photographed for this category! I decided to take a picture of one of our favorite little treats. A chocolate hippo from Kinder chocolates! The chocolate inside these hippos just melts in your mouth! So yummy! 

9. A Macro or Closeup

This is a photo that appeared earlier in the month on my blog. It is of some multi-color brads that I used on a scrapbook page.

10. Something Masculine

Why did something masculine and something feminine throw me for such a loop? Anyway, I ended up taking a bunch of shots at a local car show (I mean guys do like cars)! I figured my husband likes cars both new and old so that must be masculine, right?!

11. Something Feminine

Like I mentioned, to tricky! I am a girl yet I found it difficult to decide on an object to display femininity! I settled on make-up. That seems feminine to me (sure, sure some guys out there do wear it too). This shot is of some of my favorite lip gloss!

12. Light

I went a few ways with this category but ultimately landed on this photo of a lamp pole at night!

13. Eco-Friendly

 It is very eco-friendly in Germany! Everyone drives tiny fuel efficient vehicles and it is mandatory to recycle. I thought that a spiral energy efficient light bulb would be both eco-friendly and perhaps, interesting!

14. Business

Like so many businesses out there, this one flopped.

15. An Arrow

Which way did he go, which way did he go! This is a sign (in the shape of several arrows) that I found downtown. 

16. Something Wet

Dew! I am sure that there will be several dew entries but I just couldn't resist. Dew is so beautiful!

17. Something Dry

Something dry.....well towels of course!

18. Butterflies

I really wanted to do well with the next two categories! They had such a deep and special meaning behind them (click to to read about it). I panicked when I saw one category was butterflies since summer has, for the most part, come to an end here and fall has chased most of them away. I was thrilled to stumble upon this one butterfly! Like most of us, his wings are a little tattered and torn but his beauty still shines through! 

19. Heart-Shaped Clouds

What a doozie! Again I really wanted to get an awesome shot for this category! I spent day upon day squinting and straining, staring at the sky. I managed to find two heart- shaped clouds this month but choose this one since it also looks like a hand (off to the right) just finished placing that heart-shaped cloud right there! 

20. Strength

So maybe I stretched this one a little! I can imagine that there will be a lot of muscles and weights, maybe even a little heavy machinery in this category, but I decided to switch it up a little bit! I took this photo of my husband and myself holding hands. I believe that we have a very strong marriage which is something that most people are missing nowadays! Together we can make it through! We have strength in each other.

Click here to see more fabulous photos from this challenge!
http://photohuntchallenges.com/