I love a parade...

From the Fulton Memorial Day Parade this weekend.

Honor and Remember

Following in his mother's footsteps...

At the parade yesterday I let Griffin use my new point & shoot that I got for Mother's Day (he's always begging me to let him use my "big" camera). He looked so cute with it. Maybe he'll take over the business when he's older. :)


Snapping a pic of his friends (girl friends - heh, heh)

Chimping...

Taking a picture of Mom taking a picture of him. :)

Lake Ontario

Here are a couple of pics I snapped out at Camp Hollis a few weeks ago (I've been so busy that I'm just now getting to them!). Grant's Cub Scout pack had their annual spring campout there and as usual I spent most of my time waiting by the fence for the sunset...

Sweet Caroline

Sorry, I just couldn't resist that title. Of course now I'll have the song stuck in my head all day.

Saturday was Caroline's First Communion, and her parents had me come over to take some pictures before they headed off to the church. She looked beautiful in her white dress, with her hair done perfectly. And that smile! I love kids that are missing their front teeth. It took her a few minutes to warm up to me, but once we got going she was a natural model, striking poses all over the place. :)

Congratulations on your First Communion Caroline!

A First...

Who is behind that bible? Check back for more in the next couple of days.

The Wedding of Sarah and Ryan

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Sarah and Ryan. It was a very small, intimate ceremony (only ten people, including the bride and groom) held at the Arad Evans Inn in Fayetteville. I had never been there before but I definitely want to go back for dinner sometime.

I loved this wedding because it was so lovely and so simple. Take two people who are madly in love with each other, add some close family (Ryan's family even flew in from South Africa!), blend the two families in a simple ceremony, add in some family pictures in the garden, then finish with a wonderful dinner. Do you really need anything else? It was just... lovely.


There were vows...


...and rings...


...and of course a kiss!


There was a beautiful bride and a handsome groom...


...and lots of love.


(He just couldn't keep his eyes off her.)


One of my favorites from the day. I loved the archway at the entrance.


And then there was Duncan. Oh, how I love Duncan (even though he refused to smile for me).


And his mom loves him.


And his dad loves him. Basically, he has the whole family wrapped around his little finger. As it should be. :)

Grant's Piano Recital

A couple of weekends ago Grant had his annual piano recital. He's been studying for almost two years and has shown steady progress. And he still likes it, which is encouraging. Below is a cheesy picture as well as a video of him playing. At the beginning of the video his teacher is reading the words to his piece, which is titled "Homework" (and those words hold a special meaning for our young Grant, who has lived this story many a time).

Baby Blanket Sunday

Each year in our church, Mother's Day is also Baby Blanket Sunday. It's a day when we bring in new blankets, either hand-made or store-bought, and donate them to Church World Service to be given out to children in need all around the world. Usually I just buy a little blanket and bring it in, but this year Grant's Sunday School class took on a project to make their own quilts to be donated. The project began about three months ago, and originally the kids were going to work in groups of three and produce one quilt per group. Then we got some great donations of fabric and we decided to let each child make their own. I was a bit skeptical about how Grant would handle this, but he exceeded my expectations and actually ended up doing about 95% of it all by himself! Along the way I got to thinking about all of the fabric I have just sitting in boxes from back in my quilting days. I decided to make a quilt for Griffin to give, since he is too young to do it himself. I had so much fun making it, and it reminded me of how much I used to like quilting. I really want to start doing it again, if I can find the time.

In the end, between the Sunday School quilts and the blankets donated from the rest of the congregation, we ended up with almost forty warm, fuzzy, love-filled blankets to be sent to those who need them. Rumor has it that our local Church World Service chapter in Syracuse has plans to send them to Myanmar, if they can get them through. It will be nice for the kids to be able to look at the news coming out of that area and know that they've done their little part to help.


Some of the blankets lined up on the choir rail.

Don't they look so soft?

Such lovely colors!

Detail of Griffin's quilt.

Bringing their quilts to the altar.


All of the Sunday School kids with their quilts.

Grant and Griffin with their quilts.