You Capture: The Feeling of Fall

Ahhh...The feeling of fall. That is the theme of this week's You Capture blog carnival hosted by Beth over at I Should Be Folding Laundry . I love fall--we just don't typically get a very long fall around here. Oh, sure--we get the look of fall; we just don't get often get the cooler fall temperatures. (It was around 80 degrees today.)

But we do get the beautiful windy days where the clouds can't seem to make up their minds on what they are going to do in the sky...

The leaves starting to change colors

and then falling to the ground...

The rain...

Lots of rain...

The evenings spent at the ballpark...

Robert running across home plate.

Robert got the game ball after getting an awesome hit!

That's Josiah in blue.

Going home from the ballpark in the dark...

The ragweed... (UGH)

This is in a neighbor's uncut yard. I can last about 5 minutes outside in our back yard. Nice, huh?

And I have to include a photo of my fall wreath on the front door. I just love it! :) The maple leaves remind me of the big maple tree I climbed in my front yard when I was little.

Check out I Should Be Folding Laundry for more You Capture participants.

This week’s winner

Kathleen is the winner of the 18” x 24” poster print from my recent giveaway!

Congratulations, Kathleen! I can’t wait to see what you have printed from your Israel trip!

Um...Invisible?

Did you enjoy Grace's last video? If you haven't seen it, click here and see it now. Go ahead--I'll wait for you right here. :)

I recorded this next video immediately after she did her Mayor of Whoville impression. She still had the Mayor on her mind, and began with "So..." She quickly remembered what she was supposed to say, though, and began reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. She gets the majority of the words correct, with the most noteable exceptions of "plublic" (republic) and "invisible" (indivisible). Cute!!

And, no, I did not coach her to say "The Pledge of Allegiance" first before she began reciting it. She's simply a natural. ;)

Grace learned the pledge because I recited it while brushing her teeth each night for a few weeks. It's a (fairly) good way to keep her still enough long enough, and she learns lots of things very quickly, very painlessly, as a bonus!

What's the word?

Our littlest Horton Hears a Who fan occasionally has times where she interjects "So, JoJo...What's shakin'? What's the word?" into conversations--with the mayor's hand motions and everything. I finally got it on video. :)



Grace is 3 years old in this video.

Click here and leave a comment to enter for a chance to win a FREE 18" x 24" poster print of one of your photographs, or maybe another image! Hurry--This giveaway ends tonight (September 29, 2009) at 10:00 p.m.!

Sun roses

"Sun roses" is what Grace used to call morning glories...now she corrects me if I call them "sun roses."

Nearly every morning she asks, "How many monin' glowries can I pick for you, Mommy?" I always say "three"...and she always comes back with a few more than that because she gets just a little carried away when she's picking flowers for me. ;)

She always brings me at least a couple of the bluish-purple ones because she knows those are my favorite. Her favorites, of course, are the pink ones, and she brings me at least one of those, too.

Click here and leave a comment to enter for a chance to win a FREE 18" x 24" poster print of one of your photographs! This giveaway ends on September 29, 2009, at 10:00 p.m.

Pretty girl

I love how Grace's eyes--normally so blue--look in this shot with the light from the setting sun and no flash. Beautiful!

Click here and leave a comment to enter for a chance to win a FREE 18" x 24" poster print of one of your photographs! This giveaway ends on September 29, 2009, at 10:00 p.m.

The Yellow River...flooded!

After the recent flooding here in Georgia, the kids and I drove to see the Yellow River on the way to the library today. I had Robert take some pictures as we approached and drove across the bridge.

Then I decided we would park, join the mob of people gawking at the water from the bridge, and get a lot more pictures! Here are the highlights...

The water against the loft apartments (formerly a cotton mill). There are people standing on a ledge looking at the water (slightly left of center). The stairs leading up to the ledge are completely under water.

There was a lot of talk about riding a raft on these rapids...kooky talk...

The opposite side of the bridge. The kids were disappointed that we didn't cross over. Too bad...

Click here and leave a comment to enter for a chance to win a FREE 18" x 24" poster print of one of your photographs! This giveaway ends on September 29, 2009, at 10:00 p.m.

Wordless Wednesday: Dramatic sunset

(Click on photo to enlarge to show detail.)


Visit 5 Minutes for Mom for more Wordless Wednesday participants.

~~~~~

Click here and leave a comment on that post to enter for a chance to win a FREE 18" x 24" poster print! The giveaway ends on September 29, 2009, at 10:00 p.m.

Giveaway: 18" x 24” Rolled Poster Print

LargeFormatPosters.com is sponsoring a giveaway for a FREE 18" x 24” Rolled Poster Print for me and one of my readers! (And this one is absolutely free with FREE UPS Ground Shipping!!) You will love their photo-quality poster prints. Create your own photo enlargement or custom poster for free!

What will I do with my free poster print? I'd still like to have this photo printed for my son's room

since the last time I planned to have it printed I ended up using the freebie for this image for our in-the-process-of-being-revamped Children's Church ministry...

(And that new logo looks awesome on canvas!)

I also think this photo would look really good as a poster:

So, how do you enter to win? Leave a comment telling me how you would use the Poster Print if you won.

In addition, you can leave an extra comment if you:

• Follow me on Blogger.
• Subscribe to my blog by email (Want to do this? Enter your email address in the box towards the top of the sidebar on the left. You will receive future blog posts in your inbox and your email address will not be used for any other purpose.)
• Write a blog post about this giveaway and link back to my blog as well as to LargeFormatPosters.com.

Leave a comment, and be sure to leave an additional comment for each of these three options above that apply to you. I will randomly select a winner from the comments on September 29, 2009, at 10:00 p.m. If you leave an "anonymous" comment, make sure I know who you are. ;)

Disclaimer:
This offer is open to US residents only. FREE UPS Ground Shipping for US residents. The winner will receive an email with the coupon code and instructions on how to claim the prize on October 1, 2009.

I told you she loves books...

Grace absolutely LOVES being read to.

And anyone who has walked into our home and sat down knows that, chances are, sooner or later Grace will come sit beside them with a stack of books and matter-of-factly say, "Read these to me."

She may even correct your pronounciation or say the entire text of the parts of the story that you thought you could skim over.

She "reads" her favorite books many times a day...she has many of them memorized.

And she and her baby Emily love to go to the library every week...

But this little bookworm also sleeps with books.

And that makes for some awfully cute pictures. Don't you agree? ;)

This week’s winners

The winners for this week’s giveaway are

Danielle and Jason!

Congratulations! I can’t wait to see what you do with your wall graphic!

(You will soon receive an email from Uprinting.com with instructions on how to claim your prize.)

Last chance to enter the giveaway!

Just as a reminder...my giveaway for the 24" x 24" wall graphic ends tonight at 9:00 p.m.

Want to enter for a chance to win one of TWO wall graphics? Click here and leave a comment!



What is a wall graphic? Click here to find out more information from Uprinting.com. You use one of your digital photographs, or maybe you'd like to design your own image. It's also a fun way to decorate a teen's or child's room!

A desperate plea for help

Yeah, probably just a little overly dramatic, especially since I’m only talking about internet service…

But we have been having repeated problems with our dial-up service (one of the reasons I haven’t been online much lately) and we are looking for a replacement. I cannot say "money is no object," so I would love to hear any suggestions for reasonably priced, reliable internet providers.

So, keeping in mind that we don’t have cable, do you have any suggestions??

Thank you!

And if you haven't done so already, please click here and leave a comment for a chance to win a 24" x 24" wall graphic from Uprinting.com!

Giveaway: 24" x 24" Wall Graphic

Here is a new giveaway for a new product by Uprinting.com!

Check out this idea--a wall graphic. What is a wall graphic? It is like a huge sticker that you can peel and stick on any flat surface, made from an innovative adhesive fabric and printed with anything you can come up with. (It's similar to the FatHeads stickers you may have seen on TV, only it's using your original photo or artwork.)

I already have plans to use the wall graphic to help decorate the room where we have Children's Church. Maybe it will be something like this, working with the new logo we recently created to promote the reorganization of our Children's Church ministry...

Another thought would be to use a photo. You know I'm partial to gorgeous sunsets...

Or maybe this one...

Maybe you have a photo of an interesting landmark, or a favorite vacation photo...

Awww...look how little they are! This was taken in 2007.

How would you use a wall graphic? If you leave a comment before 9:00 p.m. ET on Monday, September 14th, you have a chance to win a 24" x 24" wall graphic. In fact, two of my readers will win a 24" x 24" wall graphic thanks to the generosity of Uprinting.com! Just leave a comment letting me know how you would use the wall graphic.

This contest is open to U.S. residents only. Shipping is free. Winners must pay a $5 handling fee to claim the prize.

And the winners are…

Byron and Jason!

Soon you’ll get an email from Uprinting.com with a coupon code to use on their website. Enjoy! :)

A Giveaway!

I have the opportunity to giveaway 500 free business cards from Uprinting.com to TWO of my readers! How cool is that?

If you win, you can choose between three different business card sizes. There are also die cut business cards!

Entering to win is easy...simply leave a comment on this blog post. (If you receive my blog posts by email, click on the title "A Giveaway!" and you will arrive on my blog; click on "# Comments" at the bottom of the post to leave a comment.) Two winners will be chosen randomly from the comments on September 10th.



These are high-quality cards--I recently received 500 free business cards ("blog cards") from this company and I was very pleased with the whole online ordering process. They are easy to work with and have a great set-up, including a team who previews your order, puts together a "proof" for you to view before placing your order, and brings attention to any potential problems so you have the chance to correct any errors before your order is printed.


Here's what my "blog card" looks like, front and back (well, without my last name):






Cute, huh? :)

So...what would you use the business cards for?


TWO PRIZE WINNERS WILL EACH RECEIVE
500 Business Cards
Choice of sizes: 2x3.5”, 2x3”, 2x2"
Choice of paper: 14pt cardstock (matte or gloss coating) & 13 pt cardstock uncoated
Choice of color: (4/4) Color both sides; (4/1) Color 1 side , B/W backside; (4/0) Color 1 side, black backside *
Shipping must be paid by Winner. Offer Valid for UNITED STATES SHIPPING ONLY.

* Uprinting.com will NOT be putting their logo on the back or anywhere else on your business cards. :)