Warmer weather rekindles my desire to eat wholesome food.

Gracyn found these in the yard.

My pin cushion flowers are waking up.

So are the clover weeds.

Soccer games began.  The Comets won their first game.  Go number 8!

We think the “Blackhops” (Blackhawks) won.  Go number 9!

The Crusaders did not win, but they played hard.  Look at the boys my girl is up against.  Go number 3!

We are all a little pinker after the games, and next week I will not underestimate the sun.

** Just another reminder that my blog will be down part of the day for installation of my new blog design.  I will make my blog visits before and after the install.  I look forward to seeing everyone’s week!  This URL will change to www.littlebylittleblog.com.  If you are a new reader, there are several ways to stay connected.  Come back and see what’s new!**

To the prompts!

1. Vintage:

I dined on these plates during special occasions growing up.  The pattern is Meteor and is circa 1960s.  There are very few of them left intact, so the few that are still living are part of my history.

2. Word or Quote

This quote speaks to me.  It is a simple quote on a calendar hanging in my kitchen, but there is a great deal of truth here.  I can get discouraged sometimes with this photography journey.  I want to be farther faster.  It’s hard to work day in and day out sometimes to progress, but I do believe that time will pay off.

3. Nature’s Own

I love the simple beauty of produce.  The kids and I took a 45 minute drive into Midtown Atlanta this week to go to Whole Foods.  These are some type of Honey Orange.  I don’t think I have ever had a juicier, sweeter orange.

4. People

The little blond guy is one of my favorite people.  Saturday was our first soccer games of the season.  This image makes me giggle looking at Jasper’s squishy face.  I captured this pre crash-into-teammate-going-for-the-same-ball.  Jasper was bracing for impact.

5. Photographer’s Choice

I don’t know about y’all, but it is a sneeze fest in the south this week.  The yellow evil is out.  The amounts of pollen in the air and on every surface is insane!  I don’t know if this ant-buggy thing is helping to pollenate purposefully, but he is wearing a good deal of pollen.

Have a great week!

Have a blessed weekend!

This little one has the most beautiful color of eyes in a family with mostly dark eyes.  I love to photograph them just to see what colors reflect.  He has eyes that can appear green, gray, and blue…with flecks of golden brown.  I shot this a week or so ago.  I tried for a more recent shot of his eyes, but this is mostly what I got.

Not only did he jerk his head and make this face when I pushed the shutter, but his movement makes it look like I can’t. focus. a camera! Thanks bud, way to boost my skills. My only comfort is that I bet all of us have days like this.  I totally showed him this image and laughed.  Then, I promised it would be posted on my blog for all to see.

I’ll share one more beach trip photo from our hotel.  The kids loved having bunks.

1. Water

We stayed on a marina in Apalcachicola, Florida.  This is the view from our room’s lanai.  It was fun to watch the boats come and go.

2. Light

Though a wee bit noisy, you can see the spectacular sunrise we woke to.

3. Chocolate

And the random shot in the midst of my beach photos…chocolate chips!

4. Animal

Seagulls on St. George.

5. Crowded

Our footprints were some of the few on the beach.  This was not a crowded time of the year where we stayed.

Stillness… a rare occurance among boys.

The Rules:

1. Post these rules.

2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random facts about you.

3.  Answer the questions given to you in the tagger’s post.

4. Create 11 new questions and tag new people to answer them.

5. Go to their blog/twitter and let them know they have been tagged.

I have one photo of myself, so clearly I need to work on getting in front of the camera.  But, this is me!

11 random facts about me…

1.  I married my end of high school/college sweetheart.  We’ve been married for 13 years!

2. I danced tap, ballet, and jazz during my entire school years until I was 18, but haven’t formally danced since.  I was a student at a performing arts magnet school in my county.

3.  I have lived 8 years of my adult life in Bangkok, Thailand as a missionary.  I began as a teacher at an International Christian School, and then once married, we became church planters.

4. I am bi-lingual.  I read, write, and speak Thai. That skill/talent took years and years to hone.  I spent 4 hours a day in language school combined with 4 hours of homework every night for over a year.  After that, I still worked with a tutor for a year.  It is that difficult.  At the end of school and tutoring, I still had lots to learn by immersion in the culture.  Even though we are back in the States, I still watch Thai TV to keep up with the language.  I worked too hard to lose it!

5. All 3 of my children were born in Bangkok, but they were not granted Thai citizenship.  You must have a Thai parent to hold citizenship, so after 6 weeks of age, they acquired US citizenship once their papers were in order.

6. I love Britcoms (British Sitcoms) and anything British.  I really enjoy the wit and humor…as well as hearing English spoken by a true Englishman.

7. I have been homeschooling for 5 years.

8. I spent 7 long, hard months on complete bedrest during my 3rd pregnancy.  By far, this was the hardest thing I have ever faced.  I was in severe pain from being immobile, but I had a 10 cm tear around my amniotic sac.  I barely moved out of fear.  My husband had to pick up all the slack and raised our two children.  I would do it all over again to have my little blue-green-gray eyed imp, Jasper.

9.  I used to be a technophobe, way back when.  I can’t believe how much I now know about technology.  Never saw that coming.

10. I rarely washed my own hair when we lived in Thailand.  It got washed, just rarely by me.  Salons are a huge business in Thailand and they are really inexpensive.  For about $3, I could get my hair washed…and I mean a wash like you have never had.  The wash was a 20 minute head massage.  It was heavenly.  After the wash, you got a small shoulder and neck rub and then your hair blown straight.  I have curly hair that I don’t care for, so this was the perfect treat for me.  I stopped by after language classes on the way home 3-4 times a week.  While my hair was being dried, I studied Thai and practiced on the salon girls.  I die on the inside a little just thinking about it.

11. I am currently watching a Korean drama on netflix called Pasta.  It has English subtitles.  I have a friend that also watches Korean dramas.  Our favorite is My Princess.

Now the questions from Gina…

1. Where did you grow up?

I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia as a first generation southerner.  My entire family is from the north.  I consider myself southern, but only partially, as I don’t have the long history of being southern like most.

2. Coffee or Tea? Tea, for sure.  I love it iced and sweet..that’s my southern.  I also like it hot and in a dainty china cup.

3. What’s for dinner tonight?  Bulgarian.  Our church is having our missions conference dinner this evening.  The missionaries serving in Bulgaria are speaking, so the meal was Moussaka.

4. Favorite dessert? Hmmm….a tough one.  I like cheesecake, strawberry shortcake, chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream…but I really don’t have a huge sweet tooth.

5. Color tones throughout my home? We have lots of brown and dark earthy colors.  I’m not really happy with that.  I would love to brighten up with some colors someday.

6. Describe your personal style.  I pretty much live in jeans since I have nowhere to go as a homeschooling mom.  The looks I love are feminine and classic.  90% of my clothes come from Loft because they fit my petite frame.

7. Any random, usless talents? Knowing British English is pretty random, but fun.

8. Food you don’t like?  This is tough as I am an adventerous eater.  I don’t like liver.

9.  Do you have pets? What are they? I have a pug named Gigi.  That comes from honoring our home state while living abroad.  Georgia has 2 Gs.  We also have a cat named Beezus.  My daughter loves the Ramona and Beezus books, hence the name.

10. Fear of? I love to fly, but everytime I get on a plane I think “what if?”.  I have logged some major flights, and I still have that thought to wrestle with everytime.

11. Worst thing I did as a kid?  What comes to mind is lots of prank calls.

My questions to you:

1. What is your favorite book and why?

2.  If you could live in any other country in the world, where would you live?

3. What is your favorite comfort food?

4. Name one of your goals for this year.

5. What nicknames do you have?

6. Name one item you never leave home without.

7. Name your current favorite show.

8. What relaxes you the most?

9. What is your favorite beauty product?

10. Who would you most like to have coffee with and why?

11. Name your favorite song of all time.

Now it is your turn… I am tagging:

1. Buckaroomama

2. Tinajo

3. Christi @ Living Free

Anyone else that wants to participate!