I hope you have a napkin handy before viewing the first Photo a Day Challenge because you may drool. The word was 'favorite.' Now one could take that in many different ways, couldn't one? One could show a favorite book, or a favorite activity, even a favorite loved one. All of those nice things pale in comparison to my idea of 'favorite.'

Now we see why I need a family membership at the gym...all to myself.

The next Challenge was a little trickier and took some thinking. The word was 'candid.' To me, candid means, a picture taken when the subject least expected it. Let me assure you, I don't think Chip ever intended for me to find him imitating laundry, let alone snap his picture.

Look at that face. Looks like candid to me.

Check Out Some 'Contrast' and Some 'Action'!

Here's Contast!

And probably my favorite picture of Chip right now! We just call this one 'Action.'

I'm a Woman of Joy!

I did something completely out of the ordinary for me last weekend. Something that I really needed and enjoyed so much! What could it be, you ask? Was it chocolate covered? Well, in this rare case, it didn't involve candy, not that I didn't eat candy, but that's not the whole point of this post. Instead, I kissed Tim and All Those Boys goodbye and headed to Branson for a ladies retreat with some friends.

Wow! I know! We look so good, don't we? We are just about to head out for our fun-filled weekend of excitement at the Women of Joy conference.

We arrived in Branson just fine and were ready for all the events the weekend would hold. We saw Kirk Cameron Friday night and he spoke about his faith in Jesus. We all really enjoyed listening to him. The other speakers were just as wonderful and the worship band was truly amazing.

We did lots of fun things that only women would enjoy. We laughed alot, cried alot, ate alot. Some of us got our hair cut and styled. One brave friend even got an ear piercing that looked really sore to me, but she was glad.

It was a great weekend, but nothing at all compares with coming home! I missed Tim and the kidlets so, so much! They did great without me, but I have a feeling they were just as glad to see me as I was to see them.

I have several days worth of Photo a Day Challenges to post for your viewing pleasure. I can't believe the month of April is almost over. Don't worry, though, as May's list of challenge words is ready to go.

Here we see my interpretation of 'Lean.' Taking pictures of the older boys is a rare pleasure as they usually disappear when I whip out the camera.

Next is my idea of 'Fly.' Note the fly ball zooming away from Tyler's bat.

Finally, here's 'Bass.' There are lots of ways to show the various definitions of bass, but here's the best one for me. Can you imagine me trying to capture a picture of a bass, as in fish? That would require a trip outside, which would be, of course, unthinkable. ;o)

Get 'er Done!

Tim, along with our able bodied sons, is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to fighting the never-ending battle of growing grass. He takes great pride in a carefully manicured lawn, (complete with stripes, no less!) and has trained the young'uns to be excellent mowers. This year they're helping out with mowing the church yard. Let me assure you, that grass has never been more precisely shorn in all its days as when the Thomasson's are on the move. The church is a beautiful building and I think it's Tim's personal goal to make sure the grass is picture perfect too!

Jennifer's Baby Shower

Having a baby is cause for a big celebration...especially when it's not yours. ;o) Joe and Jennifer are all set to welcome their first baby into the world and that means it's time for a par-tay.

We don't do anything half-way, so we started out early the day of the shower and met Paula, Angie and Carson for lunch. Everyone was super excited to see each other!

Chip loves Angie very much!

After lunch and chatting, we headed to Jennifer's house for the shower. Jennifer looked great and is so eager to get little Jack William here for her to hug and kiss!

Sandy had prepared a table with some of Joe's baby things. It's so hard to imagine when you look at his baby pictures that he's about to become a daddy.

We had a great day! Congratulations, Joe and Jennifer. We can't wait to meet your little boy.

Tonight is all about catching up. There are so many fun things I want to share with you that I hardly know where to begin. I guess the best way is to just dive in and get to it. So here are the last several days of Photo a Day Challenge.

I did double duty with this photo, showing both 'Hat' and 'Protection.' Pretty clever, eh?

Then we had a beautiful 'Silhouette' of a tree against a sunset.

Here comes 'Fuzzy.'

And my personal favorite this time around, 'Tunnel.'

Last is 'Detail.' This one was hard to shoot, as getting really close to something in my house tends to show a fine layer of dust cozily nesting on it. But who's got time to dust when there are pictures to take?

A 'Complex' 'Fire'

The last two day's worth of Photo a Day Challenges are contained herein. The first word is fire. I really wanted to get a match at the exact moment of lighting. It's a little too washed out, but I really like the shape of the flame and the smoke.

And for complex, I really tried to think outside the box. Well, actually, I thought OF the box! I chose to show a list of insanely weird ingredients in a box of Stove Top stuffing. I sure like that stuff, but I'm not going to look at the ingredients again. ;o)

Tyler and I are reading Little House on the Prairie together and enjoying it immensely. Ma Ingalls, as we all know, was extremely resourceful about serving up veritable feasts with virtually nothing in the larder. One of the meals that really impressed Tyler was corn cakes and bacon. I have to admit, my mouth watered too as I read how Ma carefully greased the spider with a piece of salt pork, mixed cornmeal, salt and water, then patted it into little cakes, and baked them.

I could almost hear the prairie grasses rustling and Jack, the brindled bulldog, growling softly in his throat.

Well, I'm bound and determined to give my kid An Experience any time he shows an interest in something. So I popped open a Jiffy corn muffin mix and went to town. When I served Tyler his simple, yet tasty, meal of bacon and corn cakes, he was excited.

But, as you can clearly see, he observed the age old rule of 'Children should be seen and not heard.' He ate his meal with gusto, much as the
Ingalls did, I'm sure.

Chip thought it was okay too. Anything Tyler does is big news to Chip.

Pa Ingalls was awfully resourceful too, but I've got a much better shot of keeping up with Ma, so we'll just leave it at that.

That's a Tall Drink of Water

Washing dishes is always a stimulating affair, but imagine my surprise when I glanced up from my task and saw TIM looking in the window! Now that may not seem like such a startling thing, until you realize that my kitchen window is on the second story of our house. Never, in all my years of living here, have I ever spied a human face looking back at me from that window. Well, nothing was amiss, as I quickly realized. He was simply washing the windows...balancing atop a gigantic ladder.

As you can see, Chip is concerned enough to be phoning someone for help. ;o)

'Graffiti' and 'Drop'

These Photo a Day endeavors were definitely a group effort. I was able to find a good shot of 'Graffiti' right on my kitchen wall. Granted, it's not cool bubble letters on train cars like those artistic bad boys do, but it's art in an unexpected place.

And then we came to 'Drop.' Well, you see, when there are drops outside, you know what that means! It's raining. And we all know how fond I am of inclement weather. So good old Luke headed outside to find this masterpiece. Let me say one more time how very proud I am of his photographic skill!

Liquid Fuel

Today's Photo A Day word is 'Liquid'. I chose to show one of my favorite liquids in the whole world. Super creamed-up hot and steamy cuppa! Doesn't get much better than this!

Happy Good Friday! What a special weekend we have before us. Today is cleaning day; tomorrow is cooking day; Sunday is celebrating day! Before I get too busy, I want to make sure I get you caught up on our Photo A Day Challenge.

Yesterday's words was 'imprint.' I think this imprint of my hand works quite nicely, don't you?

And today's word is 'produce.' I knew this would be a highly competitive day, due to the limited nature of the word, so I had to vault from my bed and begin rearranging vegetable items. Whew! I got 'er done, but it was tense at times.

Flushed Cheeks

The Photo A Day Challenge word is 'flush.' I certainly didn't want to be so ultra common as to use the commode! So I had Nick engage in some rigorous exercise and endure some gentle cheek pinching to result in the flushed cheek shot showcased here. I think it works well. And I didn't have to break a sweat so I'm pleased.

Let Them Eat Cake!

The other night I realized that Chip was being very, very quiet. That, of course, can strike fear into a mother's heart quicker than an ominous retching sound in the formal living room. I wandered through the house, looking for Trouble, I mean Chip. Oh, I found him all right. In the kitchen, having himself a little snack.

Actually, that's not a little snack. That's the whole stinking cake.

Oh, how delicious the forbidden fruit! Or cake, in this case.

That, my friends, is the smile of a busted little guy.

There are days when I am sure the story of my life could be titled 'Catch-Up'. Not every day, of course. Some days I feel very adequate and capable...others I realize I've let things get away from me. Again. Like my Photo A Day project. Here it is April 7, and I've withheld 4 pictures from you already. It certainly hasn't been intentional, and I did take the pictures. I just haven't taken the time to upload them here to the 'Blog. But I'm about to correct all those errors. Here we have my interpretation of 'Frame', 'Spring', 'Fence' and 'Eye'.

What a great feeling to be caught up! I feel light as a feather and so accomplished. Hard to believe I'll probably fall behind tomorrow again. ;o)

Happy Friday, everyone! Today's word is 'Mixed.'

I chose to use birdseed since it's made of all kinds of seeds 'mixed up.' On other days I could use my life in general, when it is 'mixed up,' although that would be really hard to photograph!

I'm sure you're all eager to see what exciting picture I found to embody the word 'cycle.' Well, to be honest, as soon as I saw that word, I knew exactly what I would use. Something I am intimately familiar with. Here we have the PAD for April 2, 2009:

'CYCLE'

I know! It touches you deeply, doesn't it? Me too!

Tyler's Tae Kwon Do

Tyler has really taken to this whole Tae Kwon Do thing. We go there twice a week and I noticed that there are lots of 'You can do it!' banners all around the TKD place. Made me feel like doing some jumping jacks or something.

Now I know he's never going to become a martial arts expert and star in action movies, but this has been a really good hobby for him to pick up.

Recently he tested for his orange belt. Here's a picture that shows all the belts in order. As you can see, orange is the third belt.

That was really neat because he moved through his yellow belt surprisingly fast. Of course, I've got some off-color, grainy pictures of his test for you.

He did great at his test! So at his last TKD class, his instructor, Master Fred, presented him with his orange belt. They make a big production out of receiving a belt. In the first picture, Tyler is removing his now-discarded (actually Chip thinks it's his) yellow belt.

Here Master Fred is tying the orange belt around his waist. Probably some secret ceremonial knot or something.

Finally, they bow to one another and shake hands like tough dudes.

And here, for the first time ever, I present to you,
TYLER THOMASSON:
TAE KWON DO ORANGE BELT!!