Posted on by Anne Sandler · 32 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #193: They Say It’s Your Birthday

This week, John asks us to share anything special about our birthdays. I’ve always had to share my birthday. No, not with another sibling, but a National holiday–Father’s Day! Are there any other June 18 birthdays out there? I sympathize with anyone who shares their special day with a major holiday.

Here’s a photo I have of a shared holiday in 2010. Richard is opening his Father’s Day gift and I’m opening my birthday gift.

Today, I’m sharing celebrations of many sorts. My grandkids have brought me great joy as they’ve grown up. Let’s begin with the older set.

Christopher

Prom 2010
Birthday 2011

Madison

Prom 2013
High School Graduation 2013

The younger set: Olivia and Ryan

They joined our family when Ryan was 3 and Olivia 10 months. They filled Greg and Jessica’s lives with joy and happiness. Ours too. Here are some fun first times with them.

I love this picture even though it is poor quality.
At Christmas. Olivia is wearing her pretty Christmas dress while riding on Christopher’s shoulders.
Our first zoo visit. Another favorite picture.
Olivia wearing her Christmas dress while riding on Christopher’s shoulders.
Ryan decorating his grandfather’s face!

Time moves on. All the grandkids have gotten older. I’m just happy that we’ve had the opportunity to watch our grandchildren progress through life. This is truly a cause for celebration!

Oh, I checked, and in 2023 my birthday will be exactly on Father’s Day!

We enjoyed your earth story posts from last week. They were varied and so interesting. Thank you. Please remember to tag John’s post so we can find it in the WordPress reader. Next week Sofia will host our challenge.

 If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, we have easy to follow instructions. Just click this link and join us: https://photobyjohnbo.wordpress.com/about-lens-artists/

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 12 Comments

Lens Artist Challenge #127: Precious Moments

Precious moments are those times that get us through the difficult times. Remembering them fills our beings, making the dark more bright. Amy’s choice of Precious Moments couldn’t have come at a better time. We all need to come out of the dark and into the light.

My precious moments revolve around my children and grandchildren. In this post, I’m sharing images of my wonderful grandchildren. I have two sets and they are far apart in age. I was at the same elementary school for 16 years! After adopting two boys, we had a natural child, a boy of course.

My oldest John, who passed away, left us with two wonderful grandkids. Madison and Christopher. Here are their prom and graduation photos.

Christopher agreed to have his picture taken before he left for his prom. With him right after graduation are his mom, Teresa, and sister.

Madison’s prom and graduation came 2 years later.

Madison and Christopher are now grown with homes and loved ones.

The younger set belong to my son Greg and daughter-in-law Jessica. We were so excited to welcome Ryan and Olivia to our family in 2011. We had a family party in celebration of Olivia’s first birthday. Ryan was three.

Two special moments I was able to capture was at the Sacramento Zoo in 2013.

Although older now, 11 and 9 years, they still are close siblings. Here they walk the zoo hand in hand.

We were across from the flamingos when Olivia noticed the plastic birds. Just from the look on her face, I think Olivia thought they were real.

My last precious moment occurred on Valentine’s Day 2015. The kids were spending the night with us while their parents went out. We prepared a small celebration with some gifts. Ryan used all his stickers on his grandfather. I thought that it was a generous share!

These children are my precious every things. They feed my heart and soul. It’s true, you have children so you can have grandchildren!