There is more than Red in them!

All my life I thought ladybugs were only red with black spot. Well I was wrong! This is what landed on me as I watched my sons played after picking my oldest from school.

 In high school many, many years ago :( one of my favorite subjects was science amongst others. 

 

It's actually quite interesting to learn about this tiny little bug. I learned a long time ago from watching "Bug's Life" that just because they are call ladybugs doesn't mean they are all ladies. But did you know that there are about 500 different kinds in the United States alone and nearly 5000 world wide. If this little guy or girl wouldn't have landed on me I would have never known that they come in different colors other than red. In fact after doing some research I found out they come in yellow, orange, gray(like my little friend above who is actually called "ashy-gray lady beetle" or Olla v-nigrum), black,brown and even pink. They all look beautiful! I must say that their larvae and pupae is not as great looking as they are once mature I would think that if you have never seen them in that stage of their life you would probably confuse them with an ordinary bug. I love that my oldest and now even my youngest will ask to research things on the Internet when we don't know the answer to something. I'm so happy I'm not afraid of technology as I once was; confused and frustrated sometimes YES  but enjoying the learning experience.

What a weekend!

Warning this is a long post, sorry but I hope you enjoy it!

We had quite a busy weekend. I meant to do a post on Friday and thought about on Saturday by Sunday I barely made it to my bed. In fact I think I'm ready for the next weekend just for the hope it brings of sleeping in....... wait I think I might be dreaming there is no sleeping in at this household. We're very lucky our boys don't wake up super early and both of them go to sleep at a regular time each night (or most nights) on their own bed; the problem is that when they go to sleep my husband and I stay up to spend some time together and well sometimes we stay up way past our bedtime. Every morning I say to myself tonight I will go to sleep earlier and then 9pm rolls around and I start reading or cleaning or watching some our favorite shows on TV and then by the time we look up it's already 11pm or even midnight.  Oh well, I will sleep when I'm dead!!!

{Friday Photo Bliss} This is what made me happy this past week....

Loved the rain ant the cooler temperatures it brought!

I wish this were always in bloom. I love it's sweet aroma :)

My boys really need a sand box!

After the rain there is always sunshine!

I almost picked this one for my "Tickel Me Pink" submission but I don't think is quite the shade of pink that it needs to be. I still love it!  


Project64/week-12/Tickel Me pink

Saturday we had a great family outing to The Renaissance Festival that happens every year here in AZ. This was our first time going didn't take as many pictures as I though but I found my "tickle me pink" shot amongs other great shots to help us look back and remember the fun times we spend as a family. Every year we had said we wanted to go yet up until now it seem to just pass us by. I was so glad "aunt Pammy" as my youngest calls her invited us to join her and her grandson. He is a little older than my oldest and although they don't see each other often everytime they get to hang together it's a blast for both of them. I hope that as they get older they keep in touch. 

Our three musketeers!

What could be better than to see them having fun!

This was AWESOME to watch!

 This is what we wanted to do when we got back from the festival!

Looking for "scarlet"

Project64: week-11-scarlet!

I can't choose my picture for last week challenge of finding the color "scarlet" I have a soft spot for Elmo but I don't know what do you think? I need to summit very soon and I just can't decide :)

Elmo and the box of crackers where shot March 21, 2011

This one was shot a few weeks ago at the Phoenix Zoo



This one is just for fun because it was shot almost a year ago at Sea Wolrd San Diego during their new "Blue Horizons" show.



Under the moonlight!

I love the weekends because I get to spent my time with the people I love the most; my husband and two wonderful young boys. I'm pretty lucky I must say because I know that not everyone has the luxury to spend as much time together as we do during the week. I also know that as the boys get older and get involved in different activities things might change and that's okay that is why we truly enjoy days like today; with no real agenda. We had breakfast, ran some errands, went to the park to fly kites, took a walk along the lake and did some grocery shopping.   Then came home had dinner, got the boys ready for bed all in time so that my hubby and I could try to capture shots of the "Super Moon" now that's a perfect day!

He loves swings so much so that he was almost ready to fall asleep.

I don't think he stopped smiling until the moment we told him we had to go.

It was very overcast at the moment that we spotted this beautiful plum tree with blossoms but my hubby was still able to capture this shot.



Here is what the "Super Moon" looked like on March 19, 2011
The top one was taken at 7:43 pm and the bottom one at 10:09pm.



The above photo was taken on Jan 16, 2011 at 6:33pm. This was the very first time that my husband and I were able to actually capture the moon. I love that we share the same love for photography.

I am living a dream!!!

{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by one of the many blogs I follow (http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/). Every friday I will attempt to post a picture(s) taken some time during that week that made me "happy"

So this pictures were taken this past Saturday at one of my favorites places to be. A farm owned by the parents of my best friend and sister-in-law. My boys love going probably because they can be kids there; meaning there is so much room to run around. They have horses and according to my youngest cows and goats (not really) but the neighbors do so they can get close enough to where they can enjoy them. They also have very playful dogs and my boys absolutely adore them. On this particular day they were expecting irrigation to come in their front pasture and they ask if the boys would like to play in the water. My oldest wanted but was concerned because we didn't bring swimming attire. He is sooo funny! My youngest in the other hand was quite happy to sport his tiny, cute little "Finding Nemo" big boy pants that he recently got. I was soo worried about potty training him thinking it would be hard and I have been pleasently surprised!!

I'm so blessed to have so many loving people surrounding me and my boys.


 What made me happy this week?

The peaceful sound of the water rushing thru the rocks.

Ability to capture this shot.

Seeing my boys being boys and having fun!

Finding my plum!

Plum was a tricky color, I had many ideas fruit, flowers, toys and I even own a top that could have been okay but it was just not it; at the end this won me over. I don't even know the correct name for this plant, grass or bush. All I know is that I absolutely LOVE how graceful it moves in the wind and how it's so simple yet so beautiful.

My submission for Project64/week-10/ Plum

"Dragons are having a party"

Today was a beautiful day some things didn't go as planned but sometimes that is the best. My boys and I spent the whole day at my parents although (Andrew) my oldest couldn't wait to come home because he was looking forward to practicing riding his bike. He fell asleep on the way home but sure enough as soon as we got home he was ready. This child of mine is a daredevil for sure it's barely been a week since his daddy took off the training wheels and he is already trying to do all sorts of tricks.

He asked me " How do you do a wheelie?" and then I heard "look at me with no feet on my pedals" He wants to do a back flip with his bike so pretty soon I think we should go buy him a more grown up helmet because his "Elmo" helmet not only doesn't fit it's also no longer "cool". Sorry Elmo I'm sure Nicholas will take you at least for a little while.

I loved seeing him so happy! I also was able to enjoy the sunset in the distance and was able to capture this...

Then I ask Andrew- What do you think about the way the sky looks right now? And he says....well is obvious that the dragons are having a party because the sky looks like it's on fire. It's very pretty don't you think. All I could say was - yes it is.

Spring is so very close and although it's very short lived here in AZ; after having really cold temperatures for the past two weekends this weekend was pure JOY!

Can't wait for their sweet fragrance and beautiful colors!

Love you forever

My boys are growing so fast. Makes me happy, sad, scare and excited all at the same time. Weird, right? I think most parents can relate to all of those feelings. I love them so much I hope they know that for both their daddy and I they are our first priority. We are always trying to do our best for them. I know we will more than likely make mistakes but I hope they don't take it to personal because being a parent is hard.  Just when you think you have things figure out they throw you a curve ball that is completely unexpected.

My "turkey baby" aka the cool big boy of the family has just learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. He is so proud of himself and we are too. He can't believe mommy didn't learn until her early twenties. I know..... shocking, right? 



I can't believe in a few months he will be off to kinder garden!


My baby or our little man will be turning three next month. I love that he loves to sit and "read" books and is always trying to observe his big brother and soaking everything he can. He wore big boy underwear for several hours today and he loved it so it looks like he is ready to grow up just a little more.

Their "babyness" is slipping through my fingers like water in my hands. As time goes on I cherish more and more the cuddles and kisses that I get.

"I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living

my baby you will be"

Food can be art!

This past Thursday we had our craft day. I'm so glad my boys enjoy doing things with me. I could have sworn that my oldest would have like this one more than the youngest but I was wrong my youngest was the last one besides me to get up from the table. We usually have one of my oldest son's closes friend and his Grandma who my youngest affectionately calls "Grandma Donut" join us, we all have so much fun. I love how they can be playing and having fun but as soon as we say we are going to do a craft they all run to the table to get on their usual spots.

I had been wanting to this activity for a long time but for one thing or another it got push back. I can clearly remember doing this as a child. I still can close my eyes and see the little house sitting next to a tree along side a river. For the boys we just use a medium size piece of cardboard and I use a frame "Grandma Donut" found at Goodwill for a dollar. All different kinds of beans and tacky glue or glue gun it's all we needed to have a great time. One of this times I should set the camcorder up prior to starting our craft because the conversations that get sparked while doing crafts are quite interesting and so it's the outcome of their work.

Invisible "white" as my oldest used to call it.

When I read that this weeks color for "Project 64: out of the box" was white I taught it would be difficult to really capture this color don't know why. Then I started thinking but nothing came into my mind. Off to bed I went.....after a while of tossing and turning I remembered that my wonderful husband had bought me a beautiful bowl to use as a prop a little before the end of the year. I still had not used my white bowl for anything; so my fist thought was I will just take a picture of it. Then while warming up lunch for my boys my youngest a very curious almost three year old grabs two eggs out of the refrigerator as I was turned away washing my hands. All I heard was "look mommy two white eggs" I don't remember exactly what I did next but at that moment I though "Yes, white eggs" So here is my take on white..........

Who knew white could be so interesting?  I still have several ideas but I'm dying to share this.

My submission for Project 64 / Week-9 / White