Project 52 - Week 51

Last week had so much crammed into it, it seems like it lasted a month!  Is that possible?  :)  I mean, our church's Christmas play was just last Sunday but now that feels so long ago.

Anyway, just days before Christmas and not one gift is wrapped.  Maybe today I'll get a few done.  If not, they just won't be wrapped this year.  I'm not fretting about it.  Keira and I want to make some cookies.  Mainly to give as gifts to family.  And because they are fun to make.  And eat.  :)

But enough about that.  Let me show you a few photos from our week ...

Sunday morning was our Christmas play, The Legend of the Candy Cane.  The folks in this photo were the masterminds behind the whole thing so it seemed fitting that they get their picture taken in Mr. Sweets' candy shop.

Sunday afternoon I had a mini snowy session with this lovely couple.  It was COLD!  But we still had a good time.  And I discovered how fun it is to do photo sessions in the winter.  I hope I get to do more!  (Her eyes are so gorgeous, don't you think?!)

My boys crack me up.  We bought new Santa hats this year since our old one had seen better days.  The boys agreed to let me snap a few shots of them together.  I don't really know what they are doing here, but I'm sure they are up to no good.  :)

On Wednesday afternoon I had another mini snowy session with this family.  When Rachel contacted me, she said she wanted a "fun" session so I did my best to deliver.  This idea isn't mine originally.  Sarah did something similar during her Christmas minis and posted a photo to Facebook.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to try it too.

During our Wednesday night Children's program we had a Christmas party for the kids, which included a White Elephant gift exchange.  Only the kids didn't bring gifts; we provided them.  Things like old dish cloths, stale bread, last year's phone book, and old muddy boots were among the "gifts".  Most of the kids got a good laugh out of it.  Like Sarah who got a kick out of her old dish cloth.

On Friday afternoon I helped at the Christmas party in Nick's classroom.  One of the games the kids played was a dress up one of your teammates game.  Nick's team won.  They had to dress Clayton up like a Christmas tree.  The other teams were a snowman, a gift, and a reindeer.

Keira loves to bake.  Another great thing about having a teenager in the house.  If I need something made and don't have time, I can typically ask her to do it and she does.  So I gladly returned the favor.  I helped her make cookies to take to her youth group sleepover Friday night.  She needed help getting the Kisses unwrapped and placed once the cookies came out of the oven.


We had a family date on Saturday at the Carnegie Science Center.  The kids had a great time in the sports center.  Keira and Nick kept going on the BOYO.  It was like a human yo-yo machine.  FUN!  We also sprinted against each other and rode in the roller coaster simulator.  It was a great day!

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Week 9 in Pictures

Another week under my belt.  Some days I wonder what I was thinking deciding to do a THIRD year of Project 365.  I'm hoping that once spring arrives and the flowers start blooming, my inspiration will return.

A quick kitchen update ... the appliances were delivered on Friday morning.  They are currently sitting in boxes in my kitchen as we are still waiting for the cabinets to come in.  They should be in soon.  I hope!  :)

Now on to last week's photos ...

{Sunday}

My first attempt at photographing a starry sky.  I really didn't know what I was doing.  I just focused to infinity and hoped for the best since I couldn't really see anything through the viewfinder.  I managed to get the moon in this shot ... and the streak through the middle is a jet passing through.  And I think that is the Little Dipper in the top left corner.

{Monday}

My friend, Laura, and I went to the zoo (sans any kids) to stalk the gorillas in the hopes that we'd catch a glimpse of the new baby.  You can see we were successful.  Isn't he adorable?!  And his mama, Moka, is such a good mother.  So loving and gentle.  A sweet soul. We're so glad we went!

{Tuesday}

This was one of those days I was lacking inspiration.  Maybe because I had taken over 500 pictures at the zoo the day before.  :)  Anyway, this is Honey eating some Kale.  She's a very strange dog sometimes.

{Wednesday}

Nick's class hosted a Dr. Seuss Reading Cafe at school.  The kids each had their jobs.  Nick's job was a waiter.  He took my order (ie. asked me which book I'd like read) and then proceeded to fetch the book and read it to me.  He also helped himself to my drink and snacks, which was okay because I wasn't going to have them anyway.  :)

{Thursday}

Several local stores are selling these primrose flowers for a dollar.  I couldn't resist buying these pretty purple and yellow ones for some much-needed inspiration.  And I thought this would make a good photo for the color palette so I can finally participate in Rosie's Color Me Weekly link up.

     

{Friday}

The appliances got delivered early enough that Alex and I had time to head up to our church so I could run and he could ride his bike before school.  After I was done exercising and before we left for home he asked me to take his picture up in this tree.  Since he's typically running away from the camera these days, I gladly obliged.

{Saturday}

I have to admit, I'm cheating on this one.  It was taken on Friday as well.  But the only pictures I took on Saturday were of Alex at soccer and the lighting in the gym where he plays is horrendous.  Anyway, Keira and I were able to have a little girl time before her dentist appointment, so of course, we went to a local park to take pictures.  What else would we do?  :)

So that was my week.  I also started reading another good novel called A Constant Heart.  In case you didn't know, I'm giving away a copy of The Guardian Duke.  It is a really great book that I recently read in two days because I just couldn't put it down.  If you'd like to find out more about it and have a chance to win a copy for yourself, just click here.

Be sure to stop back on Wednesday to link up with Wild & Wonderful Wednesday.
Have a fabulous week!  

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Photos of the Day: December 21 & 22

Seems I've been doing this a lot lately ... posting two photos of the day in one post.  I just had so much to do last night and, having bronchitis, have not really had the energy to do much more.

{December 21}

One of the things I was doing last night ... Keira asked me to make her a bow for her headband to wear to today's Christmas concert at school.  So I found a tutorial on You Tube and made this in just a few minutes.  It was so easy!  And it got me itching to be crafty again, which is a good thing.  I haven't scrapbooked in a long time!  And my husband even built me my own scrapbook room about 18 months ago.  :)  Anyway, she loves the bow.  And she told me after school today that a girlfriend of hers wants to know if I can make one for her too.

{December 22}

Today's busyness consisted of an 8 a.m. Christmas concert at Keira's school (I took pictures but they didn't turn out great inside the dark auditorium as far as I was from the stage) ... then Alex and I had to run a few errands to pick up some things for Friday's Christmas party at the boys' school ... and then I got to bring ice cream to Alex's afternoon Kindergarten class because they won the Campbell's UPC collection contest.  If those Kindergarteners didn't like me before (although they did), they certainly do now.  I overheard one little boy telling Alex, "Your mom is GREAT!"  Six-year-olds can be pretty easy to please sometimes.  :)

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Week 47 Summary

Wrapping up yet another week.  Time is just flying by these days!  Here's how our week looked in pictures ...

20 - Alex overcoming his fear.

21 - Turkey on the school's bulletin board

22 - Sunflare through autumn leaves

23 - Alex at school's Turkey Trot fundraiser

24 - Turkeys in neighbor's yard on Thanksgiving morning

25 - Pretty view while walking on the bike trail.  Tracey picked this as one of her Top 5 6 this week.  Thanks, Tracey!

26 - Light up night in our town

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving!  Ours was wonderful.  Although I was so busy preparing the meal, I didn't pick up my camera, so I have no photos except for the few I took in the morning.  :(  After the noontime feast (we ate early since my husband had to leave for work), we visited with family for a bit, then watched a couple movies.  It was a nice, relaxing afternoon/evening.


Can you believe that December will be here next week?!  I truly can't believe it!  Although I am super excited that I get to meet bloggy friend, Melissa, on December 1st!  She's heading up here to stay with our friend, Laura, for a week or so!  I can't wait!  I plan to hang with them every possible chance I have.  :)


Hope you had a wonderful week!

     

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Photo of the Day: November 23

ISO 800, f/8, 1/100s, 18-105mm lens

Our PTO held our annual Turkey Trot today ... a simple 30-minute walk-a-thon for the kids, teacher, and parents to raise money for the PTO.  The kids really enjoy the Trot and look forward to it each year.  This year Alex had fun trotting with his fellow Kindergartners.

Have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving!

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Photo of the Day: November 21

ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/30s, 18-105mm lens @ 70mm

So often I'm more concerned with getting a "great" photo that I miss documenting my day to day life.  Like today ... I went to the boys' school to put this turkey and a bunch of feathers up on the bulletin board for PTO.  The kids are able to purchase a feather (or feathers) with their name on it.  The winning class will get a special prize.  And the money raised for PTO will be used towards programs/activities for the school.  The kids who walked past when I was done thought the turkey was pretty cool.  I agree.  :)

During this week of Thanksgiving, I'm stopping to be thankful for the many, many blessings in my life.  (Although I try to do this every day - not just this week.  I just happen to be putting them in my posts this week.)  I'm so thankful today that I get to be a SAHM and am able to do things like this.

BTW, I used the liquify filter on the feathers so you can't read the kids' names.

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