Project 52 - Week 8

Happy Monday!  The sun has been shining here all day and feels wonderful.  I love it!  I spent the morning at a friend's house doing some sewing.  My project ended up not going quite like I'd hoped, so I stopped on the way home to pick up some more fabric.  I will try again with better measurements.  Hoping to have that done to share later this week.

Last week wasn't super eventful, mostly just the routine stuff, but it was a good week.  I completed a sewing project that I started almost a year ago!  The kids and I went for a walk on the bike trail on Thursday after school, but we didn't last long because it was COLD!  Saturday morning I attended our local Praise and Coffee while Doug took Alex to soccer.  I really like his new Monday-through-Friday-daylight-weekends-off schedule.  He can still work some long days and even an occasional weekend, but primarily he's off.  It is nice to be able to plan things again!

Anyway, here's a glimpse at what last week looked like around here ...
(can you say "last week looked like" five times fast?)  :)

Alex brought home this snowman artwork from school.  It is made from glue and shaving cream.  I took a picture of it and threw it away because the stuff was flaking off and getting everywhere.  :)

Speaking of Alex, I bought this hat for him from my friend, Laura, who makes custom hats. He loves it!  And the day I brought it home he just happened to be wearing his favorite sweater with a train on it.

Working on my sewing project.

I spent some time watching the birds that were visiting my feeder and saw this red-winged blackbird for the first time.

Honey is my shadow all day every day when I am home.  When I go do anything, she follows me.  

Keira learned how to do a fishtail braid this week and wanted to practice on me.

Keira also taught me how to do a French braid since I have never quite gotten the hang of it. I think it turned out pretty good for a first try.

Thanks for stopping by!  I look forward to seeing what you were up to last week!

Linking with Gina and Tamar for Project 52.

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Project 52 - Week 6 - Every day

Hello!  After having a bit of a cold and feeling not so great most of last week (mostly a raw sore throat), I'm feeling much better now.  Thank you for your well wishes!  Mom's aren't allowed to be sick, you know.  :)  However, my crew did pretty well.  They are getting big enough to fend for themselves sometimes.  Makes me feel less needed, but also I know that I've done my job, because I'm supposed to be teaching them to be able to take care of themselves.

Doug and I had a date night on Saturday.  We went out to dinner then to the symphony.  It was a great night.  We bought mini-season tickets for the symphony back in September ... a mini season includes four of the six concerts.  Two we have gone to alone and two we are taking Keira along.  We have one more concert in March.  Keira is really looking forward to going.

Part way though the evening, the man sitting a few seats down from me passed gas and used his program to fan it around.  I guess he wanted to share.  It makes me laugh now.  He does NOT have season tickets.  Thankfully.  :)

Anyway, despite not feeling well last week, I forced myself to pick up my camera.  I resolved to take more pictures of the kids doing their every day things.  I fail to document our every day stuff and I'd like to do that more.  (I included an every day photo of Alex in yesterday's Scavenger Hunt.)  So here's a glimpse into our every day stuff ...

When the boys got home from school, they went outside to do some tubing.  They had a blast even though we didn't have that much snow left.  I watched them from the warmth of my dining room window and captured a few shots of their fun.

Keira was using the family laptop for a school project and was only illuminated by the laptop and the lamp on the desk.  Normally I would avoid a low-light situation like this, but since I am in love with my 50mm lens, I figured I'd give it a go.

There once was a time when I had to ask and ask and ask Keira to practice her violin.  But not lately.  Now I'm asking her to stop playing because everyone is in bed or she needs to get something else done.  I'm glad she is so passionate about the violin though.  She just keeps getting better and better.  And she loves the music they are practicing for their spring concert.

Nick would have preferred if I left him alone while he did his homework.  :)

We had to get to soccer an hour early on Saturday for team photos.  After photos we had some time before the game started, so we went to the family center where Alex wanted to try the rock wall.  He didn't climb very far before Daddy had to help him down.  He was glad he tried it though.

Alex was anxiously awaiting for the ref to blow the whistle to start his soccer game.  His team lost but they had fun.  He told us on the way home that he wants to be on TV playing soccer some day.  :)

So that was our week.  Just normal, every day kind of stuff.  Hope you had a great week!

Linking with Gina and Tamar's Project 52.

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Project 52 - Week 5

I've started writing this blog post several times now and each time it sounds depressing since I'm not feeling well today.  I think I'm getting a cold, which isn't surprising considering a certain little someone has been coughing on me for the last week and a half.

So I'll just post a couple pics from last week and call it good.  :)

At the end of a very gray and gloomy day the sun came out and made the fog glow.

After a very competitive game of Scrabble Jr. -- which Alex is getting better at, I might add -- he got a little silly.  He wanted me to take a picture of him with the game and this is what he chose to do.

Other than these pictures and a few I took at Saturday morning soccer, I really didn't pick up my camera last week.  Still feeling uninspired, I guess.  We'll see what this week brings.  Hoping it's a good one!

Linking with Gina and Tamar's Project 52.

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Blue Jay

There have been a couple blue jays that have been visiting our back yard feeder lately along with all the cardinals, mourning doves, nuthatches, and chickadees.  I haven't been able to capture both blue jays together yet nor do I think I ever will, but I have been able to catch one or the other at various times.

His bright colors are a welcome sight in this season of colorlessness.  

Thank you, blue jay, for brightening my day!

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Project 52 - Week 4 - Sick day

Alex came down with strep throat last week.  We visited the doctor on Wednesday, which was supposed to be his first day back to school after the long weekend, thanks to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and an inservice day.  Did you know that the most-feared instrument at the doctor's office is the cotton swab on that big, long stick?  At least it is for Alex.  He was not happy about the swabbing.  Can't say that I blame him!

He was feeling better on Thursday but I kept him home anyway.   He hadn't started his medicine until about 8:00 Wednesday night when Doug got home with his meds.  (Long story on why we didn't get them until that late).  And I didn't want him to go to school and give his sickness to anyone else.  He didn't seem to mind staying home.  :)  And it was kind of nice having him home all day.

We went for a walk through our neighbor's woods and down to the pond.  It was very cold but it felt good to get out and get some fresh air.  And, of course, I took my camera along for the walk.

Honey joined us on the walk, naturally.  She loves to be out in the snow!

We tried a different path and came across this grassy stuff all covered in snow.  The way the sun was hitting it caught my eye.

Once we got down to the pond, Alex really wanted to try walking on the ice.  But I was concerned that it wasn't thick enough and he would fall in.  So we compromised by allowing him to sit on the "dock".

Even weeds can look pretty all covered with snow.

We have to climb a pretty big hill to get back up to our house and our legs are usually screaming at us by the time we get there.  So I stopped near the top to photograph this pine tree.  My legs were thanking me.  :)

These berries are about the only colorful thing around here these days.  But look at those thorns!  They hurt!

Once we got back inside and he had his cup of hot cocoa to warm back up, he asked if he could paint.  I don't have a lot of colors left since the kids have used most of them up, so he made due with what I had.  He painted a very nice picture and didn't even make a big mess.

Later we snuggled on the couch and watched a movie together.  I guess it wasn't such a bad sick day after all.

Linking with Gina and Tamar's Project 52.

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Project 52 - Week 3

I have to admit, I am being really lax about picking up my camera lately.  In fact, I only took pictures twice last week.  I guess I'm just not inspired.  Winter will do that to me.  This is the season I struggle the most. Most days everything is just so gray and blah.  Plus I've been diligently working on a photo book and doing two Lysa TerKeurst Bible studies, so my time has really be limited.  Anyway, enough excuses.  I do hope to get some inspiration this week.

Here's a glimpse of what I did capture last week ...

Honey and I went for a walk through our neighbor's woods.  I loved these icicles that formed from the run-off from the pond.  It took some effort to get to them, but I was determined.

Honey had her nose to the ground the majority of the time we were out.  I managed to catch her with her head in the air ... she must have just heard something.  But she still refused to look at me.

On Saturday Alex asked me if I would come take pictures of him with the train he put together.  How could I resist?

Especially since he's usually telling me "no pictures!"  :)

Poor guy ... I had to pick him up from school on Friday because he wasn't feeling well.  He complained of a tummy ache and the nurse called me about 45 minutes after school started.  By the time I got him, he had a fever of 102.9 (he didn't have a fever when she called me).  So we came home and he slept on and off all day.  He still didn't feel well on Saturday morning, so we missed soccer.  He was feeling a bit better in the afternoon, which is when he was playing with his train.  And he's fine today.  Still don't know why he had such a high fever.

The family was supposed to go to Seven Springs to go snow tubing today but it is terribly cold.  Like single digits cold.  Like below-zero-wind-chills cold.  So we scrapped that idea and are having a quiet {ahem} day at home.  Making chicken noodle soup for supper.  Yum!

Hope you are having a great week so far!

Linking with: Gina {Project 52} and 

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Project 52 - Week 2

First of all, thank you to all of you who voted for my December photo!  I won the digital goodies from Jessica Sprague thanks to Gina and Sarah!  Now to just pick one.  That will be the hard part!  :)

This week I barely picked up my camera.  I think I mentioned last week how I am enjoying the freedom of not doing a Project 365 this year ... well, I am.  I really, really am.  However, I think I will need to motivate myself to pick up my camera more.  It is feeling neglected after so much love.  :)  I believe it is harder in the winter too.  Especially when it is yucky and gray outside.  For me, anyway.

On Friday it was yucky and gray.  And it rained.  A lot!  But around 2:45 the sun came out and everything sparkled!  I knew I had to get outside to capture some of that sparkle.  

Honey still refuses to look at the camera most times.  She's a lot like my boys!  :)

Looks like spring!

If you saw yesterday's Scavenger Hunt, you already saw this photo of the rain drops on the pine needles.  But I really like it so I'm sharing it again.  :)

Linking up with Gina and Tamar's Project 52 challenge (still can't get that button to work) and the last photo with ...

 

Have a great week!

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Project 52 - Week 1

Since I was a day late posting my Scavenger Hunt photos, it only stands to reason that I should be a day late posting my Project 52 pictures, right?  It is a good thing that I didn't make a New Year's resolution regarding punctuality.  :)

Last week we enjoyed the last few days of Christmas break (although, in all honesty, I was counting the days until school started back up).  We enjoyed all that snow that we got the day after Christmas, which actually stuck around a while.  We brought in the new year relaxing in our living room in our jammies.  I enjoyed my new-found freedom from NOT having to produce a photo a day.  And I enjoyed sending the kids back to school.  In fact, I'm still enjoying both of those.  :)

Just an icicle hanging from the front of our house ... in the morning sun.  Taken through the window while I stood in the warmth of our living room.  :)

The boys, the dog, and I went for a hike through our neighbor's woods.  I was searching for some beauty in the midst of all this winter stuff.  These weeds aren't exactly beautiful, but they are something.  :)

The usually-elusive Nick laid (lay? lie?) down in the snow just long enough for me to grab a quick photo.

Alex, who has also been refusing pictures lately, asked me to take his picture while he sat in our neighbor's tractor wheel.  How could I say no?

I did manage to find this pretty fluffy stuff while on our walk.


Linking up with Gina and Tamar  (can't get the button to work)

and the last photo with ... 
 

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Project 52 - Leaves

I brought home some leaves from a local park so I could play around with macro photography.  Sure, I have leaves around my home but they are mostly brown and dead by now.  I was able to find some pretty yellow, orange, and red ones.  It amazes me how the same tree can produce so many different colors.

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Just because

Because it has been pretty busy around here preparing for Vacation Bible School ...

and because the kids and I spent today at the zoo in order to take a break from the busyness ...

and because I can barely keep my eyes open tonight (probably due to the fact that I woke up at 5:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep) ...

I bring you this simple daisy that I came across on my walk the other evening.

And that's all I have to say about that.  (Quick, name that movie!)  :)
                     

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Week 23 in Pictures

Well, school is officially out for summer vacation.  We don't quite get 104 days like Phineas and Ferb do, but we'll make the best of what we do get.  In fact, you should prepare yourself for lot of pool pictures since we got a pool yesterday and had the fire department come fill it up with water today.  The boys couldn't wait to get in the pool and jumped in while the tanker truck was still here filling it.  They didn't seem to care that the water was freezing cold.  :)  The fireman got a kick out of them.

We're also keeping busy raising our Monarch caterpillars.  Unfortunately we lost five to parasites.  (Well, four we know had parasites; one we're not sure how it died.)  So out of the ten we had, we are down to five.  One is successfully in chrysalis as of Saturday, one just got in to J form, and the other three are just doing their normal thing.  I'm really hoping we get to see them all become butterflies.

We also received our Monarch Waystation seed kit from www.monarchwatch.org.  Doug is going to till up a nice section of the yard for me to plant the seeds.  I don't know how much will grow this year, but most of the seeds are perennials so they should grow again year after year.  I'm excited to have some milkweed on our property instead of always having to search elsewhere for caterpillars.

Anyway, let's take a look at last week's photos ...

{Sunday}

I had been so busy with other things that our lawn was feeling (and looking!) neglected.  Thankfully now that Doug is on a normal Mon-Fri daylight schedule, he has time in the afternoons to do stuff around the house.  So he took care of the lawn this week.  
My "other's perspective" photo for Project 366 Rewind ... because this is how bunnies, chipmunks, and squirrels see my lawn.  Buckeyes and all.  :)

{Monday}

Keira received a High Honor Award at her school's seventh grade award ceremony.  High Awards are given to students with a 4.2 or higher GPA.  Way to go, Keira!

{Tuesday}

Alex's last day of afternoon Kindergarten.

{Wednesday}

To celebrate the start of summer vacation, the kids and I went out to lunch then spent a couple hours at our local petting zoo.  This young camel really wanted the carrot I was teasing him with in order to take this photo.  I gave it to him eventually.  :)

{Thursday}

A hot day spent playing on the slip-n-slide.  We probably won't be playing with it much more now that we have a pool.

{Friday}

The whole family went fishing after supper.  I think Doug was the only one who caught something - one small fish - which didn't make Nick very happy.  I was enjoying watching the boats more than fishing.  Because, let's face it, fishing is boring when you aren't catching anything.  :)
My "water" submission for Project 52.

{Saturday}

The kids brought this strange-looking caterpillar to me to identify.  We think it is a gold moth caterpillar.
My "small" submission for Be Inspired.

Hey, I actually managed to get each theme this week!  Yay me!  :)
Hope you have a wonderful week!  Make lots of memories and take lots of pictures!

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