Mason just not sure about this

Mason has been scared to sit on the potty training seat. We now know why. He asked his daddy if he could fit in there. John has this picture posted on FB, and I grabbed it because I get tickled everytime I see it.

I get to see Mason and Audrey today and then Noah on Friday. Such joy to have them all within 45 minutes of me.

My grandbabies

It has been a while since I have shown any photographs of my grandbabies. They are what I photograph the most anymore, so I am not sure why not. These are the most recent ones, all taken in the last 7 days.

This is Noah, he is now 14 months old. I took this one through a longer section of the toy block he has in his hand. He thought his Granny was crazy.

Next is Mason, with his mother, my daugther-in-law, Lindsey. He loves to climb on top of his play car. He is sitting on top of it and Lindsey just stopped long enough for me to snap this. Think it turned out nicely. Mason is now 2 1/2 years.

Next is Audrey, she is 5 1/2 months now. We were checking out a hat I knit her a couple of weeks after she was born. It won't fit her much longer, but it still fits ok right now.

I had to include a second one of Audrey to show this cute little 'sun top' I knit her this week. We were trying it on yesterday just to see if my design work turned out ok.

I spent some time with Mason and Audrey on Thursday. Now I am headed to spend some time with Noah. Got to get those weekly visits.

Seven and half years ago Jimmy and I both went to evening shift work. If you have followed my blog for very long you know that 2 1/2 years ago Jimmy's company shut their plant in Knoxville and he was moved to Spring City to work. I have continued to work evening shift even after Jimmy moved to his new location. Last week my work announced that the evening shift work is going to Charlotte, NC. I will be going on days and won't be able to have these weekday daytime visits with my grandbabies when that happens. Still not sure what I will be doing, but I will still be located in the same building I am in now. And it will be a definite change for me. Jimmy is still out of town, and expects to be there until retirement, at least 3 more years. I hope to retire before that time and go with him during the weeks. Weekend marriages are not the greatest, but we sure do enjoy the time we get to spend together.

Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend.

White Ibis on St Pete Beach

When we were in St Pete Beach in June I saw a White Ibis on the beach.

This was the first time I have ever seen a White Ibis on the beach there. So I was snapping away.

Then Mason noticed his Granny was paying attention to something other than him.

And off he went to investigate. Mason looks like he is ready to fly. I laugh at this picture everytime I look at it.

He couldn't catch him (mainly because we wouldn't let him),

so he is headed back to the water.

I was really surprised how much Mason liked the sand and the ocean. My children were not crazy about the sand at his age. Mason wore us out before he was tired of it, everytime we took him to the beach. Lindsey did a great job of keeping the sunscreen on him and you can barely tell he has gotten any sun.

Granny Mize came to visit

Today my mother is 82 years old. She gave herself a birthday gift, she drove up from Georgia to see her great-grandchildren. The first photo is when she held Noah Daniel for the first time. He was one week old.

The second photo is the following day. For this visit he did not wake up but we still enjoyed holding him and inspecting him real good.

The last photo is with Mason. He is now 16 months old and he didn't sit still very long for a photo session with his Great-Granny.

She also visited with her grandchildren,

but I think her main interest was in their children this time.

She returned to Stone Mountain on Monday.

Happy Birthday to my daughter - Wendy

Today my 'little girl' is 29 years old.

I wish I had been using digital when she was little so I could show how precious she was as a child. I will have to settle for how precious she is as an adult. I am using 3 photos from her wedding, because of lack of other digitals.

Wendy and Lukas together on their wedding day.

Then later. This was taken 2007 at a family get together to celebrate Father's Day.

This is the most recent photograph I have of Wendy. Taken January 31, holding Mason at his first birthday party. Mason is John's son, Wendy is expecting her first child (also a boy!) in early May.

Happy Birthday, Wendy!!!!!

Mason is 1 year old today

Our grandson, Mason, is one year old today. This first photo was taken within the first minute after he was born. He was born with the cord around his neck, and his first breaths were hard. Because of this they did whisk him away to be observed very closely. He was never put on oxygen as they warned us he would be an hour later when we saw him. An hour later we were all able to go in and see him, then we went home to get some sleep, and let Lindsey get some sleep. About twelve hours later we went back to see him, and I was with Lindsey when they handed him to her to hold for the first time. Jimmy and I then left on vacation for 2 weeks. Mason was not due until February, so we thought we had time to go on vacation and return before he was born. That is not the way Mason had it planned. The photo below is 2 weeks later when I got to hold him for the first time. Jimmy was waiting on his turn.

The next photo is Lindsey, John and Mason in June when we all went to St Pete Beach.

First time Mason had his feet in the sand. August, right after I fed him sweet potatoes, he is sitting in John's highchair.

We all seem to like this picture for some reason.

Mason showing off the hint of his first tooth. Love that fuzzy head.

Mason loves being pulled around in his John Deere wagon, especially when Papa gets him close to Granny's flowers so he can pick them.

This last photograph was taken in Georgia when we went there for my family Christmas celebration. Since this one was taken he has had his first haircut.

We will be celebrating his birthday with a big family get together this Saturday.

Happy Birthday Mason!!!!

Happy Birthday to my son - John

This is my son John in his 1967 Cougar. Work in progress. The Cougar that is.

This is John with his son, Mason, born 5 days after John's birthday last year.

So this has been a year of change, growth, but mostly love.

John, Lindsey and Mason.

John and Mason this past fall.

Happy Birthday John!!!!!!

Mason and Papa

Happy Birthday to Jimmy, my wonderful husband. Jimmy's birthday is Tuesday, the 16th, but we celebrated Jimmy's birthday on Sunday. Jimmy will be working out of town on his birthday.
I think the best part for Jimmy was putting Mason on his rocking horse for the first time. Couldn't sit there by himself yet, but that didn't matter to Papa.

May Events

May has been a great month for photography. What month isn't? I just walk outside and I find so much to photograph it is hard to go back inside to check out what I have captured on 'film'. I am so glad I am no longer using film. Partly due to such freedom of being able to shoot from all different angles to see what turns out best. Also partly due to cost, but I really like seeing the photo so quickly. I don't think I could ever go back to film, because of the limitions. Just think, I put off converting to digital until my Canon AE1 had seen it's last and I had no choice but to purchase a new camera.

It has been so much fun watching the Eastern Bluebirds, Goldfinch, Sparrows, Tree Swallows, Purple Martins. The first brood of bluebirds are already learning to fly.

The iris have just about stopped blooming. The lilies are beginning to bloom, and when they are gone the daylilies will be in full force. The daylilies will bloom until frost because I have so many different varieties.

During May I did some assignment photography with Safe n' Sound on location. I really enjoyed it, because it was different than my normal nature photography. I met with Brad and Ashlei for their engagement portraits, which we did on the river bank in Newport. I also had an outdoor outing for portrait photos with Lindsey and Mason. The attached photo is from Lindsey and Mason's outing. You can't see their faces, but it radiates her love for Mason. Although it was not my pick from the day it is Lindsey's favorite.

I went to Lake Junaluska with the Methodist Women from my local church. It was a great weekend of spiritual uplifting, and I also took some great photos there. My camera is with me everywhere I go.

We went over to Douglas Lake one evening just for fun photos.

I ended the month by joining the Southern Appalachian Nature Photographers. I look forward to upcoming events with this organization.

Mason and Lindsey

I met with Lindsey and Mason yesterday for portraits. These are a few of the photos.

Mason John Harrell

This is my one and only grandchild. He is 3 months old. My favorite subject to photograph.