The Jingle Jar

We have this jar that sits on our office shelf.  It's an old gatorade glass jar that Brock has had forever.  It's been around before me.  You know it has because its glass, as opposed to plastic (for the sake of this post, I looked it up online...gatorade switched to plastic in 1998).  When we got married, Brock put my wedding garder around the top.  Every time we have loose change, it goes into the jar.  If it gets full, Brock cashes it in and does something special with the money.  After I started staying home with the kids, that jar has given me some freedom to spend on little things without having to ask Brock for every little thing we need.  In a hurry, it has gone on several car rides to places....garage sales, the mall, McDonalds, and MOMS group.  It sounds kind of pathetic but it has been really nice to have.  I feel bad asking Brock for $2 for this or that...so instead, we use the jingle jar.  When I say "we don't have money to do that today" the kids say "yes we do...we have money in that jar in the office!".   So I get it down and I tell them what coins to get out and how many to count.  So now it has been a fun learning tool as well. 

Yesterday we had to swing by the mall to return something and I knew the kids would want to ride on the "ridey things".  I checked my wallet and found only a few pennies.  So I grabbed the jingle jar and off we went.  I had the kids count out the quarters they needed to go for a ride.  I could have easily said no, but with the jingle jar...I don't have to.  Sounds like a informercial doesn't it?  Everyone needs a jingle jar!  I thought it might be fun to post certain things we do when we use the jingle jar.  Most times when we use it, I seriously pay in coin (yes, you have to swallow your pride for this), but if it's going to be like a $30 deal, I will cash it in (I did this to pay for an unexpected bill).  It sounds silly, but to me it's less burden for Brock.  Here are some pictures of the jingle jar...

On the shelf in the office where she resides usually

 On the floor of the car from yesterday (mall)

 My treasure... :)

A beautiful morning for a photo shoot

The area where I live would be a photographer's dream.  There are so many unique and beautiful places to shoot and I keep discovering more.  I don't consider myself a photographer (FAR from that) but its still awesome to have great pictures in these settings without having to travel.  I have so many creative ideas to try that I have been dying to do since long before getting the new camera.  And honestly I have tried them before but didn't get the results I was looking for.  You see, it's really about the camera and the lens you use in order to capture a great picture.  It isn't me...yes, there is a creative side to photography, but I do believe anyone can take a great picture if they have a great lens...good "models" help too!  My kids are tired of me getting them all dolled up to try and get the perfect shot of them.  This is why I don't think I could be a photographer...I am too much of a perfectionist! 
So this morning we went out to capture some great moments and pictures...several meltdowns and technical difficulties later....we didn't do so bad.

Some of these pics were taken about 2 blocks away on an old farm and some were taken in the empty lot behind us (diagonal) - this lot is for sale by the way.  It would be a great lot to build a house on!  We did have our neighbor take a few of our family in that old lot but since they might be what's on our Christmas card, I am not going to share them yet. 

This is an old grain silo...

Sugar Creek Nature Fall Festival

On Saturday, Reece and I joined my neighbor A and her son D and went out to Sugar Creek Nature Center for their fall festival.  This was a great place for fall pictures.  I even showed her how to work the camera and she took a few of Reecey and I together.  It was so nice to be on the other side of the camera and have some pictures of myself and Reecey girl. 

 We seriously didn't even see this stick in the picure or even when we laid down...wasn't til I got it on the computer that I noticed the stick in front of our face.  That shows you how much detail this camera shows...it really  brought out the stick!

All these pictures either had no editing or minor editing.  I have only just begun looking into editing and I really have no idea what I am doing.  It is very time consuming trying to figure out what all the terms mean and what they do to the pictures.  I guess it's figuring out what you really want the picture to look like!

More pictures on the new camera

I am just having a blast figuring out my new camera and capturing some great memories with the kids.  I have some excellent litle people to capture!  We are hopin to have a family photo session this weekend...so maybe an update of those next week.  Here are some of my faves from the past week.

Fun in the leaves

 Reecey and her cousin KK

 The girl cousins...

 The boy cousins

 My cheesy little guy down by the pond...

 Tea party for three

 Catching him in action...came downstairs to find him undressed, in his slippers were he wasn't suppose to be.

A 3 year old boy &...Mama's new toy

My little boy turned 3 this past week.  Just in time for his birthday party came mama's new toy - a new camera!  Now I can take and capture pictures just the way I want to!  Here's some pictures to show you both...I am having a lot of fun with both a 3 year old boy and a new toy!

Make a wish...

 A combine ride...

 A boat ride...

 A warm fall day...

 Our Harley dog

 Daddy's toy...

 A day at the farm...

 Our sweet three year old....all of these things are priceless!