On Friday I was doing laundry, as I often do during the day. I stepped on the pile of dirty laundry on the floor and found that the clothes were soaking wet. Great!–I thought. The washing machine has a leak. I cleared up the entire area around the washer and dryer, used a bunch of towels to sop up the water, and tried to determine the source of the water. Luckily, our washer and dryer are in the unfinished portion of the basement, with concrete floors and cinderblock walls. Aren’t …

**UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who commented! I was 9 comments away from winning. So close! I loves reading everyone’s tips and notes of encouragement. Again, I really appreciate how you all pulled together to help me try to win the gift card.**
Fellow mom Jenn Savedge has recently released her new book, The Green Teen: The Eco-Friendly Teen’s Guide to Saving the Planet. The Green Teen (http://www.g2ggreen.org) shows teens how to minimize their environmental impact at home, at school, and in their communities and get their concerns recognized by school …

In looking through my photos from this week, I discovered that I had more than my usual number of candids of people outside my family. Kind of fun for me! That’s one thing I love about having a big ‘ol zoom. I can sit in one spot and inconspicuously snap pictures of people in their element. Those really are my favorite types of pictures. The raw, real, uncheesy candids. I loved the colors in this particular shot of AJ’s best friend’s baby sister. She is a doll, and I love …

This week’s Fix-It picture from I Heart Faces is a great photo to start out with, in my opinion. The biggest problem for me was that it had a lot of noise. So in addition to brightening and boosting, I tried to reduce the noise. Here’s the original:
I kept things simple (for me) and did two easy edits in Lightroom 1. I just love her big, blue eyes!
A slightly closer crop and a black and white conversion. Sorry I was so boring today!
This little girl is just so precious, she …

Could I really have let a week go by without sharing pictures from AJ’s birthday party? Impossible. Have I really been that busy?
AJ’s party was perfect for me. We packed the food and the presents and the kids (and the bubbles. Don’t forget the bubbles) across the street to the park. The kids played for 10 minutes, then blew bubbles for 5. Then they played for another 8, and ate for 5. Back and forth, back and forth. Lots of running. Lots of smiles. AJ has some great friends.
Two of …

I love joining in with I Should Be Folding Laundry’s weekly You Capture challenge. It gives my photos some direction. Something to look for through the week.
Except this week. I don’t think I thought about the theme once. Oops. Thank goodness I take a bajillion pictures and still have some to share.
This first shot was last Monday (so technically, outside the allowed shot dates…you’ll be easy on me, right?). This is classic, unhindered, pure family for you.
On Saturday, I noticed KitKat and AJ sitting together eating a snack at the …

We’ll picnic here and let it fall!(from one of my favorite Berenstain Bears Books)
We didn’t let anything as silly as rain ruin our Memorial Day picnic fun. I sat under a tent with friends and enjoyed good food and chatting….and the kids ran around and got WET!
A wet, slippery moon bounce? Who could ask for anything better than that? How about add a few 10 year old boys….Oh yeah!
The first watermelon of the season. Have you ever noticed that watermelon STAINS are hard to get out!?
And on the way home….roads …

Today, I am writing about a friend of mine–a mother who just discovered that her 2 year old son has cancer. I could tell you all her story, but it means so much more coming from her mouth. Read my friend Beth’s story of her sweet little Ezra, who just turned 2 on May 23rd. I am shocked at how much has happened–how their lives have changed–in one short week. In a nut shell, last Monday the 18th (my AJ’s birthday), Ezra was bitten by a spider.
Beth noticed that he …

Back in October, I met my sister and her little family in the banks of the Potomac River just outside of DC for some family pictures at sunrise. Andrea asked if I would take some silhouette shots as the sun was rising. I had never attempted to take silhouettes before, but was pretty pleased with the results. This was the picture that came to my mind when the silhouette theme was announced at I Heart Faces for this week. I’ve already seen some of the shots people have caught for …

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE!
For today since it’s Monday I thought I would do a NOT ME MONDAY, and I thought I would do a post on funny things that people (including me) in my family have said, even though I wouldn’t say this, NOT ME.

For those of you who didn’t see the first Kim’s Kool Kolumn, check it out at The First Kim’s Kool Kolumn. For some backup info…this is a “kolumn” that I will try to write every month. I am Lolli’s daughter(kit-kat but I …