Day 31

Yipppeeee!! We made it, one whole month! Thank you to everyone that has commented here, it really is motivating to see what everyone is doing and to read your thoughts. Congrats to all of you who have completed this month, what a milestone!

This morning I was watching Lucy entertain herself. It is so much fun to see her move from activity to activity and absorb it all. She sat in a big pile of books looking carefully at each page, touching the pictures on each one, then she saw her flash cards. It brings me such incredible joy to see her at age 2 1/2, pull out flashcards with so much excitement. She starts yelling "Open! Open! Peeeease!!! Pitty Peeease!!!" She is learning so much so fast, it's just the most incredible thing.

Soft and Faded photo action by Pioneer Woman -

Day 30

So I personally, am not a big fan of Doritos. I try to limit that kind of stuff for my kids too - but sometimes I give in. Today was that day, Kate and I stopped at the store after school and we were both starving, I bought a little bag of Combos for myself and Kate wanted this monster bag of doritos... My question to all of you now is ... how do they make radioactive orange cheese powder? Seriously, is this even safe? lol! (I was tempted to run a pop action on it just for fun, but was afraid I might lose my eyesight...)

Day 29

I know I've posted Smithers recently, but now he's got a new collar. I think it will help establish his street cred... or backyard cred... whatever, he looks tough. Doesn't he?...?

Day 28

We went sledding today, I thought this pic summed up the event perfectly. Dad, dragging one girl up the hill while carrying another and me at the top behind the camera :) I hate the way the light splits the photo, but it was the one that told the best story, lol!

So I was tagged today by Lilja :) I'm supposed to post the 6th photo from the 6th folder in my photo folder and tell a bit about it.
So this sweet pea is Bella, she's my Brother and Sister-in-law (and niece and nephews') golden retriever pup. She was so irresistible, I had to take her picture (about a million times!)

So I challenge these wonderful girls...
Chantal
Marleen
Beth
Teresa
and
Sarah
Just do what I did and tag on!

Day 27

So Kate made this little guy. I just love his expression - he's got so much personality for a turtle (at least compared to those I've met...) Isn't he great? Kate made him in my classroom after school one day (she goes to kindergarten at the school where I teach art). I didn't help her or give her the idea. I just love her work :) Sooo proud!

Day 26

We have bigger Chinese New Year plans with friends this weekend, but tonight we had some Chinese food (lots of long noodles for long life!) and the girls got these adorable Mushu's that I found at the Disney store. I loved this pic of them having a giggly time :)
Happy Year of the Ox! :)

Day 25

Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year. I wanted to send something to school with Kate as a treat for her classmates, so I bought Hello Panda cookies. So these cookies are pretty tasty, I found bigger boxes with individual packs of chocolate ones for her class and these strawberry ones are for Kate and Lucy.

Day 24

So I've always had this thing for Sock Monkeys- they are soo quirky and so weirdly adorable. But, I've never had one (yes, it's mine, lol!) The high point of my love for these guys was the movie Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium - if you haven't seen it, you so have to! It's such a fabulous family movie about the wonder of a child's imagination and how it should never go by the wayside. Anyway, there's the sweetest Sock Monkey in the Emporium that just needs a hug. It made me cry, I'm weird that way. So my mom made this one for me, he doesn't even have a name... but he smiles at me every day - I'm going to go give him a hug.

Day 23

We took the girls to the Art Museum tonight with some friends, they were so much fun to watch! they took it all in and walked around the whole time holding hands. They oohed and aahed and whispered quietly as they explored.

Day 22

So do you have a snack that your kids love and you secretly love more? For me, this is it. Annie's Cheddar Bunnies, they are so darn cute and they kick Goldfish butt. They're so crispy and wonderful... yummm! (I was trying to play with the focus, choosing the bunnies on the table rather than the box, I hope that comes across and it doesn't just look like a horribly focused photo!)

Day 21

So I'm a tiny bit late with the celebration since I was at work during the inauguration, but I figured this whole project wouldn't mean much if I didn't document the BIG things of the year along with the small ones :)

This seems to fit here, (actually I just wanted to find an excuse to add a quick video or two of my sweet pea) Lucy gave me a new nickname out of the blue one day...
Ni Hao & Zai Jian (Hello, Goodbye)...



(Yes, she calls me Barack O'Mama) Tell me that's not the funniest thing ever! She's so proud of herself!

Day 20

So today: my sweet boy Smithers. He's a retired racing greyhound, and truly such an incredibly good dog. He HATES having his picture taken though, when he sees the camera he rolls over on his side submissively and starts to yawn. Today, I stood there, camera in one hand and treats in the other. I guess he loves treats way more than he hates the camera, lol!

Day 19

So I LOVE these shoes! They are totally hand me downs from an awesome friend (thank you, Lib!) and easily, they could have been handed down to her as well- but wow! did I say, I LOVE these shoes? Could they be any cuter on those little feet?

Blog Award :)

What a fun surprise to be given this by Crystal :) wow! thank you!!

Now I have to post 5 things I'm addicted to...
1. Digital Scrapping
2. My Canon Rebel Xti
3. Diet Pepsi
4. "The Office"
5. Blistex "Silk and Shine" lip balm (honestly, a 12 step program may be needed)

I'm passing the award to these fabulous girls:
Kimberly
Beth
Chantal
Helen
Linda
(grab the award and do everything I did here :) )

Days 17 & 18

So my battery died in my camera so I couldn't post last night, but I'm up and running again today.
Picture one: It's almost the Chinese New Year (Jan 26th is the official date this year) and we were invited to a wonderful family party yesterday. My girls have outgrown all of their Chinese outfits so I decided to make them shirts. I created an iron-on in Photoshop, it's just the character for Fu, or Good Fortune. If you haven't used the ink jet iron-ons, they are so easy! Anyway, this is their "Fu Fashion Show" - what attitude! I think they are destined for the runway.

Here's a pic that shows the shirts a bit better...(you can click it to make it larger)

Picture 2: I woke up this morning and somewhere during the night I had been transported to "Webkin World". It's wonderful here, they have Wi-Fi and I never want to leave...

Day 16

So I've got a few Valentine kits I need pics for so I can scrap them, and due to the extreme cold (almost 30 below zero wind chill today) they canceled school - yea! - so I needed to and actually got a chance to take pics of my girls with daylight coming in through the windows - it was amazing! lol!

This was the pic of the day, without a doubt. Lucy's not crying, she's laughing her head off. She gets giggling and she tears up, it's hilarious and infectious. I had plenty of blurry shots because I was laughing too!

Day 15

So here's a curly hair shot - I really tried to get her pic from the front, but all of her curls were in the back. It's so funny because they bounce when she walks. She had fun showing off her "do" at school.

Day 14

"I did it by myself!" My youngest has this crazy, over the top enthusiasm about everything, it's one of my absolute favorite things about her. So tonight, she (only sort of) put her own pajamas on. I hope she never loses the ability to be proud of her accomplishments.

Day 13

So it was supposed to be a curly hair-do photo day, but (long story) I didn't get to take one. It's on my "to do" list for next time, though.

It was sunny today for the first time in forever, we've had a lot of snow and lots of clouds lately. I was excited to see this sunset through the trees this evening...

Day 12

We always want what we don't have.. isn't that the truth? My hair is very curly, I straighten it daily. Kate has gorgeous straight shiny hair and she loves it curly. So here's the before shot... we'll see what it looks like tomorrow!

Day 11

So we've got like 10 inches of snow. What a bummer for a teacher to have all this good snow wasted on the weekend! It is beautiful though. The pic for today isn't creative, we've seen a ton of pics just like it, but it was good photo practice for me, plus I'm trying to get the hang of LightRoom, so it was fun to play with.

Day 10

Just a quick one of my dd Lucy admiring herself in the mirror. I always sit her up on the sink while I dry her hair after a bath. She's too funny!

Day 8 & 9 too

I don't know yet if this happened to everyone, but blogger just wasn't working for me last night. It kept timing out and by that point, I was timing out too! zzzzzz....
first, My dd Kate with her winning smile - (it just makes my heart melt!)

and then onto Day 9 - not a beauty shot by any means... it's part two of my motivation to get off my rear end! bought some new exercise videos, they finally came, I'm actually looking forward to working out... tomorrow. in my new shoes. wooo. fun. yipppeee :)


Yea! it's the weekend! Have a great one, everyone!

Day 7

Took the girls for hair cuts today. We are so fortunate, my aunt owns a shop and does our hair for us. Kate's favorite part is to help shampoo - she couldn't resist getting soapy and helping her sister's hair get squeaky clean.

Guess I have hair cuts to photograph too - maybe tomorrow! Thank you all for your fantastic comments, I am so excited to read them each day. I'll be visiting your blogs tomorrow - it's been a long day!

Day 6

I got new shoes! Call them "get me motivated, get off my beeee-hind shoes"... (at least I hope that's what they turn out to be...)

Aren't they cool? I was so happy to find a dark pair that hopefully minimize the size of my gargantuan size 11 feet...

Day 5

Thank you all so much for the thoughtful comments! Who would have thought that this project would be a little like therapy! I appreciate your kind words so much, about my pictures and about my kitty. (Susan, thanks for asking - the girls are doing well - Kate was sad yesterday, I think it was more because I was, than being really sorrowful about losing Sam, Lucy is still to young to understand. Kate being sad though, made it so much harder on me though :( )

So on to day 5!
I really miss being able to take pics in the daylight! I didn't get home until after dark so I searched to find something interesting and bright - I ended up with Kate's art pencil/marker box. I love all the colors of the pencils together!

Day 4

I was hoping for a great ice skating pic for day 4, I took Kate skating for the first time today. Sadly though, we lost my wonderful, loving cat, Sam today. He was almost 19 years old, but you would never know it until recently. He had a tumor in his brain that affected his thyroid - he was finally beyond where any medication could help him. My heart is broken.
I so miss him sitting on my lap stepping clumsily on my keyboard as I type...

So my photo today, my wonderful vet made this print for me today and added this beyond perfect saying...

I just wanted to finish with a photo of Sammy and Kate... (click for credits)

Give your pets big hugs today :)

Day 3

So Kate got this Friendship Bracelet kit for Christmas - I just love watching her concentration. She's got really good attention to detail. She amazes me all the time too - the box said for ages 8 and up. I thought well, this may be too hard for her, I was... wrong :)

Day 2

Can you believe that I almost forgot to take a picture today?! I stink at this "commitment" thing.

So I'm calling this photo, "I Can't Believe it's Over Already" I decided that Candy Canes without a home (i.e. Christmas Tree) were another sad sign that the holidays are over. So these candy canes will sit on my kitchen counter until my kids stop begging for them and I finally throw them away...

Day 1

Okay, day 1... a self-portrait I took so I could create the blog header. The frame is by Andrea Rusky. Isn't it cool? The calendar pic I used for the header is by Hilde Vanstraelen at stock.xchng - thank you!