Pam at work

Today I was given the opportunity to dip my toes back into the profession of teaching.  Although, this time, my student wasn’t a kindergartener, it was Pam.  Pam’s family and mine attended the same church for many years and I have gotten to reconnect with her daughter through the wonderful Facebook.  Right before Christmas, Leia (Pam’s daughter), contacted me about giving her mom some lessons on photography.  Now mind you, I don’t pretend to know all there is to know about photography, or to even know a little bit.  I pretty much get lucky in my opinion.  Nevertheless, I said yes and thought it would be fun to reconnect with Pam, and have some photo fun in these cold winter months.

We decided to take out a couple of newly engaged, soon-to-be-married, people that I happen to know!  Well, at least I know the male half of the couple.  CP’s dad was the pastor of the church I first attended when I arrived in Maryland in 1987, so I’ve known him for quite a while.  And he has grown up to be such a handsome, kind, wonderful man.  Know how I can tell?  It’s the way Sara gazes at him, cuddles up in his arms, and laughs at pretty  much everything he says and does.  I wish you both the best, and thank you for letting Pam & myself use you as our guinea pigs.

So when I married my wonderful husband Josh, I had didn’t realize I was marrying into such a creative, talented family.  It’s a lot of competition, I must say!  My husband, Josh, is really skilled at all things Mac, programming, and the techincal side of music.  His dad is a great CPA, and his mom, Bonnie, has been creating and crafting ever since I’ve known her.  Recently, (in the last 7 years) she has made quite a following for herself on eBay selling all kinds of things.  She started painting sweet, shabby chic flowers on vintage and antique items, and has recently moved on to creating Shrink Plastic & resin earrings.  Occasionally, when I have time, she asks me to snap some photos of her stuff.  I usually try to do this during my littlest girl’s nap time because my girls just go “ga-ga” over “Gigi’s” jewelry.  So, in the interest of trying to blog more faithfully, and sharing my life with you all, I had to share with you some super cute stuff that my mother in law is making these days.  Here are some items from her shop, Fun Jewelry:

I am very excited about some upcoming photo sessions this Valentine’s Day weekend. While I wait for those, I thought I’d share with you two of my little loves: Emma & Brooke. As I mentioned before, Emma has started saying, “I’m bored,” and “This is boring!” And there’s only so much I can do with another child to cart around in this colder than cold weather (except today…it’s unseasonably warm and we’re loving it!). I decided that little Brooke might be old enough to handle Play-Do now without eating it. I was kind of right…she only ate a little bit. Oh, well! Here they are playing play-do while I amuse myself with my camera.

Emma cutting

Dora in the mud

Cutting Dora out of the mud

Okay, so if you know me, I have a morning ritual of looking a some favorite blogs:  Heather, Stacy, Bev, Pioneer Woman, Jasmine Star, Jessica Claire, How About Orange, Thimbly Things, & Want What You Have.  These are blogs that belong to friends, people I admire, or just strangers who I like to read about.  Well, as I was reading Jasmine Star’s blog, I noticed she was giving a FREE video chat on PhotographyMentor.com and basically having a Q&A with her readers.  I hoped on (after much time & difficulty) and sat there in awe!  Here she was, in person (sort of), Jasmine Star, photographer extrodinaire, on my home computer, kinda, sorta talking to ME (and the other 300+ people watching).  I got up the guts to ask a little question, and she answered it!  It’s not much, nothing to speak of, but I felt very special having someone so talented at what she does take the time out of her schedule to talk to us blog readers and answer our many questions.  So, thanks Jasmine.  I really enjoyed listening to you share.  Here’s my little clip, with my name, in case you wanted to see!  Hopefully I’m not breaking any copyright laws!  Ask forgiveness, not permission, right? [vimeo http://vimeo.com/3122528]

She said my name! from joshsroka on Vimeo.

And speaking of videos, I thought you might enjoy this one of my littlest girl trying to put her shoes on. Be sure and watch the whole thing because the expressions at the end are worth it!

See this poor little tulip?  Covered with snow, trying to break free of winter’s grasp?  That’s how I feel right now…like a little flower yearning for Spring, yet covered with Winter’s ice.  I think I go through this every year.  When the hulabaloo of Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Year’s are over, there’s not much to do, especially for the stay-at-home mom of two young girls.  My days are filled with staying in because it’s too cold to go out, coughs, sniffles, mentoring sisterly arguments, entertaining an almost four-year-old who thinks things are “boring,” and basically just cleaning up the same mess over and over again.  It sounds depressing, I know.  And sometimes it is.  So, I thought to help lift me, and possibly YOU, out of these winter blahs, I’d post some signs of Spring.  Who cares what Punxsutawney Phil says, right?  We can still have a little Spring early.

Here are some photos of flowers I’ve taken over the years.  I don’t always know what to do with them, but nevertheless, I still keep taking them.  They are yours.  Take them.  Drag them and drop them onto your desktop.  Use them to brighten your winter as you wait for spring.  And I will leave you with this quote: “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”  ~Josh Billings