May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain...

After more than a week of rain, rain, and more rain, we are blessed with this in the sky on  this Friday night. It's a beautiful thing.

Math

We started a new chapter in math in school today. It got me to thinking about how we teach math to students, and how it is so different from the way I learned how to do things when I was in school. I don't remember having so many different kinds of manipulatives to use in the classroom. In a way, it is nice that I have a different way of doing things, because I can present more than one strategy to arrive at an answer.

Relaxing Wednesday

It is raining again, so I decided to treat the kids to a Starbucks treat after school since we couldn't play outside. The kids each enjoyed a kid's hot chocolate and one of the new cake pop treats. My daughter decided to camp out in this chair and read while my son and I played some games and talked about his day.

Friends

Another Tuesday, another soccer practice for my daughter. The weather is still soggy with lots of rain showers that pop up out of nowhere. My son and I stayed at the park where practice was held just in case they had to call it because of the weather. Luckily one of my son's friends was there too. The two of them had a great time hanging out together in the pavilion as the girls practiced in the rain.

Monday, Monday

Today was full of on and off rain showers, some of them strong. During one of them I focused in on a puddle and was able to catch some of the raindrops hitting the surface. Today is also my husbands birthday. The kids and I surprised him with his favorite dessert - Tiramisu. Happy birthday, my love!

Coaching from Dad

Today is another soggy one, on and off rain for most of the day. Our daughter's game was cancelled early in the day, so when there was a break in the rain we headed to the park to play some soccer. Dad coached the kids on shooting, and they had a great time. Until the rain started again...

Soggy Soccer Saturday

It was another wet morning, but luckily it only drizzled during the game. My son had a few goals and his team played very well. Lots of passing and teamwork. It is amazing to see how much they improve over the season. Only a few weeks left!

Field Trip!

Today I was lucky enough to go along with my daughter's fourth grade class on their field trip to Indian Echo Caverns. It was an amazing place! The rock formations were incredible and the guide was great with the kids. My daughter can't wait to go back again as a family.

Reading Material

Thursdays mean both kids have soccer practice. Drop one off, drop the other off, go back to field 1 and read while I wait. Here is the reading material I brought with me today.

Pink Depression Glass

A package from my grandmother arrived today. Inside were a few pink depression glasses that have been in the family for a long time. I remember looking at these pieces when she had them displayed in the antique secretary in her home in NY. A few years ago I inherited the secretary and it stands proudly in my dining room. Today I have some glasses to put inside it. Family memories.

7

The little guy is 7 years old today. Time sure does fly. All he wanted for his birthday was to have chocolate cake with peanut butter icing from his favorite restaurant. We were happy to oblige.

Blue Skies

Ahhhh. We need more days like this.

Eye on the ball

Happy Mother's Day! Today was another gorgeous day, and my daughter had a soccer game. It was a hard fought battle of two undefeated teams. All the girls stepped up and played their hearts out. The biggest nemesis seemed to be the fact that we actually had sun and warm weather! The best part was watching the girls have fun, and seeing them smile on the field. It was a great mother's day afternoon.

On a roll

Another Saturday, another Blue Lightning soccer game. Today the sun was shining and it was a great day for soccer. And boy did those kids show up to play! They were hustling out there on the field. They were, as my son would say, "hungry for some goals." Smiles were plentiful. You can't ask for more than that.

Kid Art

This is a photograph of a piece of art work my son had in his school art show. We are so fortunate that the art teacher is patient, talented, and brings out the best in all of the students. I can't wait to frame this one.

Random

The daily shoot assignment for the day was "Illustrate randomness in a photograph today." I had no idea what to shoot until I was taking my son to soccer practice. This was a routine we have done once a week every season, same park, for four seasons. I never noticed that there was a payphone there until today. I couldn't believe it! I didn't think these things existed anymore! I took some shots of it, and then decided to see it it was functioning. It was. Absolutely unbelievable. And totally random.

Lilies

Today was teacher appreciation day at my kids school. They decided they wanted to cut some lilies from the front yard to take to their teachers. They put together two bunches and tied them with ribbon. What a beautiful reminder of spring!

Silos

I know I've said this before, but the view from the practice field is amazing. Today's daily shoot assignment was "Make a photograph of something old or aged today." The farm across the street from the field is an old one. But there is a lot of new there, too. Old barns, new barns. Old silos, new silos. New and old equipment. I decided to experiment with black and white today, and here is one of the results.

Primary Art Show and Spring Concert

Today was the first - third grade art show and concert. Our boy and his class were the farmers, do he busted out his cowboy had Nona and Papa bought for him at the farm show many years ago. As usual, the art teacher worked with the students to make some phenomenal pieces, and the music teacher created an awesome program. The kids did a fantastic job.

The Dandelion Debacle

Today my daughter's soccer team traveled play another team. We arrived at the location to find a huge dandelion field. Not tiny little dandelions, big ones that come up almost to the girls' knees. Some were pretty yellow dots, others were fully seeded and ready to fly. The grass was tall as well, so it made play interesting. Even though allergies were acting up, the girls attacked the task at hand. The girls did a great job and played a wonderful game.

Big Kick

Today is Saturday, so as always, that means the little man has a soccer game. They had another tough one, great talent on both sides of the ball. The daily shoot assignment was "Make a photograph dominated by the color green today." Seeing as how we've had a ton of rain, the fields certainly are green!

More signs of spring

It is supposed to be spring, though around here you wouldn't really know it. Peaks of greatness show up and quickly dissolve into more rain and clouds and cold. I didn't get out today to take a photo because it was just too lucky. So I am posting one of what I would like the weather to be instead.

Lines

I was looking at an archived list of daily shoot assignments, and this one jumped out at me "Make a photograph that emphasizes converging lines." The thought of looking at lines intrigued me. At soccer practice I looked out across the country side and the farmers had just cut the hay. There were so many lines in the field - the lines made by the pile hay, the lines in straight rows from the cut stalks. Some converge, some are parallel. If you click on the photo for a larger view you can see some of these details. The photo of the small area doesn't do the view justice. It was peaceful and beautiful.

Meal time

Today my grandparents were in town on their way back north. That gave my sister's family and mine an excuse to converge on my parent's house in the middle of the week. All the cousins had a great time playing together and filling in grandparents and great grandparents on the goings on in their lives. It gave me an opportunity to take more photos of the beauty above. She is growing up way too fast!

Circle

The daily shoot assignment was "Make a photograph that features a circle today." It is amazing how many circles you can find in a day! Traffic lights, basketball hoops, erasers, tire swings...the list can go on and on. Out of all the circles I saw today, this one made me smile. It is on the wooden upright on a neighborhood playground. I'd like to think the little person inside the circle is trying to encourage the kids to get out and play and have some fun.

Purple Sneezes

Here it is. The Easter flower that is everywhere in abundance. The hyacinth. Nice to look at, but I can't stand them. Daffodils and hyacinths - signs of spring, right? Not for me. Those little suckers are enough to put me completely over the edge in the allergy department. All it takes for my eyes to swell and water, nose to run like crazy, and throat to go haywire is for me to be downwind from one of these "lovely" little plants. I don't even have to see them - I can smell them from far away. You won't find me having these beasties in my garden.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Friends

Today we had a great day with some awesome friends. The dads brewed some homebrew, the moms talked about what to do on a future day trip, and the kids had a blast. They rode bikes, jumped ramps, played with RC cars, made-up games, got dirty in the backyard, fished for minnows, and even shot targets. We enjoyed a great dinner of burgers on the grill. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

Springline

Spring is here, and the trees on the street are in bloom. A lot of the blossoms have been blown away or knocked out of the trees by rain, but the ones that are left sure are nice to look at!

Just Play

Once again I found myself at the soccer field with some time to kill. I took a lot of actions shots, trying different settings, but most were duds. I saw this lonely ball in the middle of the field so I decided to see how far my zoom lens would work and focus on the ball. How appropriate that the Nike swoosh was right there. Just do it.

Connection

This week my daughter had an extra soccer practice today at the middle school. My son came along - he was hopeful that Rossi might let him play, too. But that all changed when he saw his "friend" from school - Liv. Liv is a great girl - active, imaginative, and fun to be around. My son was thrilled to spend time playing with her while my daughter played soccer.

Rainy, rainy

Rain, rain, and more rain. Wait - a few hours of sun - then more rain. Today was mostly nice, but with some showers, and then harder rain after soccer practice. These poor petals were knocked out of the trees by the rain and wind. The beautiful blossoms won't stick around very long this year.

Egg

Today at school our fifth grade buddies planned an egg hunt for the second graders. The big buddies wrote math problems on slips of paper and placed them in eggs. They then hid the eggs in the courtyard for the second graders to find. Find an egg, solve the problem, get some candy. Good times.

Dribble

The rain stopped, and the sun flirted with coming out from behind the clouds today, but it was incredibly windy! Even so, the girls had their third game of the season. They passed well, talked to each other, and scored some goals. Keep up the good work, ladies!

Drive

It is another wet, soggy, rainy day, so the kids get to enjoy time together inside. Today's activity - driving! The children challenged each other to races while playing Mario Cart. Let's just say it is a good thing that neither one will be driving for real anytime soon.

letters

Letters are the building block to written communication. Learning the sounds and symbols, using them to build words, then sentences, books, stories, and news. A favorite of many kids are the magnetic letters. When they are all in a jumble they don't look like much - but just wait until a child uses them to leave a message on the refrigerator. Amazing little things indeed.

A field with a view

Twice a week my daughter has soccer practice on a hill. On the hill is a small township park with a small playground, a baseball diamond, and two soccer fields. It is up above the bordering roadway, and it is very peaceful. On clear days you can see for miles. This is a sampling of a view from the field. Not a bad scene.

people

A box full of people sits on the shelf. The people in this box are red, blue, yellow, and green and they are used frequently in my classroom. We use these people as game pieces, actors, and place holders. We move them, line them up, and pack them away. These people do everything we ask them to.

Texture

Today's daily shoot assignment was "Focus in on an interesting texture and make a photograph today." One of my students has a shiny red coat. It was on the back of her chair and the light was reflecting off of it in an interesting way. I snapped this photo without the flash - the reflection is from the light coming through the window.

Spring is in the air

It was a beautiful spring day today. Before we went in to piano, we took some pictures outside. In this one it looks like the kids actually like each other! After we posed a few photos, We were looking at all the blossoms and I was able to catch this one:

 too bad the spring weather isn't here to stay!

GOOOOOOOOOOAAALLLL!

It was another great day for the Black Lightning Bolts. Another shut out, and our daughter even scored a goal! Smiles all around...

Concentration

Today was the second game of the season for the Blue Lightning. Our son loves to play. He has been practicing his "moves" and always wants to show them off. Today his team did a great job of containing the other team, and everyone was very focused on teamwork, passing and goals. Here is a picture of the little guy in action...

Spring?

Spring is supposed to be here. If you only paid attention to the temperature you wouldn't believe that spring really is here. The kids and I have been watching for signs of spring. This is the first bud to bloom on our tree out front..I guess spring is on the way!

Spelling Practice

Practicing for a spelling test is a right of passage. My son has lately been getting "extra words" because he does well on his pretests. These words are tough for a first grader and have been giving him a needed challenge. What is his favorite way to practice the words? Using a magnadoodle!

Not Good

Baseball season is upon us. That means many teams use fields at schools and other locations at all hours of the day. And that means we have the traditional spring delivery of the port-o-potty to those locations. Too bad these two didn't hold up to the wind we've had lately...

Edge

Today's daily shoot assignment was "Focus on an edge today and make a photograph." I was at a nearby school this evening, and noticed some brick pillars. They caught my eye because every so often a random dark brick would appear. I decided to focus on the edge of this brick and take a photo. Here is the result.