Project 365, Week 20

Do you ever have those weeks that are just too boring and too long and you wonder what you've done with your life, only to look back on the pictures and realize how really wonderful your life is?

That's how this week was for me.

I know life is good and sometimes, boring is a blessing.

However, last weekend was anything but boring.  

I drove to Maryland and back to take Quincy and some friends to Key Leader camp,

I got to visit an old family friend while I was in MD,

and when I was home (May 14), I attended my son's JROTC's end of the year awards.

He did well, I tell ya.

May 15

The week was full of rain, rain, rain and more rain.

Watching it fall was a good quiet activity.

On May 16th, a blue-tailed skink thought that my house might be a nice safe and dry place to hang out.

We told him that we weren't taking any boarders and that he had to go back out on the streets... 

so sorry.

May 17th brought us more rain, but apparently, May showers bring May flowers.

Kevin usually gets a ride home from school with a friend, but May 18th found me waiting outside in the car for him to be released from Drill team.

On May 19th, we declared it "Sander skip day" and I took all the kids out of school so we could get together with some friends, but we managed to get home in time for riding lessons.

And finally, on May 20th, we did pretty much nothing special, but I did get a pic of Julia while we were playing outside.

A beautiful week...

Okay, well, other than the whole blogger snafu, 

(ACKKK!!!)

this week has been quite good.

Beautiful weather and lots of outdoor activities = awesome.

Saturday, May 7th:  Kevin and Natalie are off to the prom in full Hollywood style. 

Sunday, May 8 Mother's Day:  The kids took me out to dinner at the local Mexican restaurant and they let me pay!  Aren't they sweet?  I gave myself a present and didn't take any pictures.  I just relaxed and soaked it all in.  But I handed the phone to Quincy and said "take a picture of that for me", and she did, and I did the quick edit using instagram, and I'm happy.  ;)

Monday, May 9:  Another one of those "Quick!  Take a picture!" days.  So I did.

Tuesday, May 10:  The kids and I discovered some nice hiking trails nearby.  We went there three days in a row, they enjoyed it so much.

Wednesday, May 11:  Lily pads.  Not my favorite shot, but the best of the five that I took that day, so here it is.

Thursday, May 12:  Hiking... biking... did I mention that the weather was perfect this week?

Friday, May 13 Nope!
Thursday, May 12, part two:  True confessions... I didn't take a single picture on Friday.  And I didn't even realize it until 11pm at which point I could either take some lame photo of my computer keyboard (I've done it before) or just accept the photo-less day.  I chose option #2.
Besides... I had more than one fun photo from the day before that seemed worth sharing.
(This was taken with my cell phone using the hipstamatic app.)

How was your week?

Don't these weeks just fly by??

Every week, as I sit down to put together my collage for the week's photos, I think,

"Where has this week gone?"

It's flown by so quickly.

And what have I done with this week?

Fortunately, the photos help me remember the answer to that question.

I got outside and enjoyed the weather.

However, if my pictures were to really represent what I spent most of my time doing this week,

there would be seven pictures of my computer screen,

like this one...

 There would also be one of Tripadvisor... 

I rely on this website for hotel reviews and recommendations of fun things to do in the area.

And definitely a pic of the Bedbug registry...

'cause they freak me out.

(You know... when my dad tucked me in at night with the loving phrase,

"Night, night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite"

I had no idea that those things were real!)

Picture found here where you can buy one of your very own... I only wish they really were so cute.

I have my hotels and general itinerary figured out up to Bismarck, ND

after that... well, I guess I'll work on that next week.

365/ week 17

I have no idea how this week flew by so quickly!!

Crazy!!

And not only has this week flown by, but the month...

Here we are at the end of April!

And you know what May is???
Nearly Summer!

Spring is in full swing!

There are actual leaves on all the trees.

The stink bugs are out in force... yuck.

I was able to convince the kids to pose together for an Easter picture.

And we watched a royal wedding from the comfort of my bed.

How we spent our Spring Break...

One of the best parts of this 365 project is being able to look back on each picture 

and know exactly what was going on that day and that week. 

I look forward to looking at a whole year's worth of these pictures.

Never has a year of my life been so well documented!

:)

This week was Spring Break, so we ignored the gas prices and hit the road.

(I'm trying to get in as much time with my extended family as I can before we head west.)

We spent Saturday celebrating my niece's 9th birthday. (106)

My favorite moment of the whole day was when both my sister and I got a good look at the group of girls that were attending the party.  

I think we were both surprised to realize that these were little girls, but a group of pre-teens!  

They all looked sooooo old.

Took pictures of men in skirts on Sunday, (107)

but this little guy totally stole the show!

Too cute!

We got lots of cuddle time with Delilah. (108)

But maybe not enough...

I got to take pictures of someone other than Julia. (109, 110)

Now we're back home to our normal routine which, thankfully,

includes wonderful things like horses and popcorn.  (111,112)

 And blogging....

Week 15!

Gotta make this quick since I'm visiting my sister and we're heading out for a birthday party soon.

You know I'll be taking all sorts of pictures this weekend now that I have my nieces and nephew to follow around with my camera.  :)

    Day 99

   Day 100!  Deep conversations

    Day 101:  When will I get tired of taking pictures of the moon?  The world may never know.

   Day 102:  Hey, Julia go climb a tree so I can take your picture.

   Day 103:  Dogwood taken with the iphone using instagram... love it!

      Day 104:  The sun really does shine....

    Day 105:  Traffic in DC???  Say it ain't so!

My week in iphone pictures

I've been learning to love my iphone,

so I thought it would be fun to do something a little different with my daily pictures.

 

                                92: Sunset

                                

                                93: Rainy day activities

                               
                                94: Warm days and picnic dinners

                                95: Gray skies go away

                                96:  Tell me again why I decided to clean out my closet?

                                97: Old fashioned fun

                                98: A late night trip to the mailbox

No... the quality isn't the same as it would be with my "big" camera,

and I most certainly haven't gone totally to the "dark side",

but it is fun to play with.

:)

Week 13 of Project 365

After 13 weeks of playing along with the 365 project, 

I still haven't figured out how I want to display my pictures.

This seriously wastes more of my time than it should as I sit and stare and try to decide.

I need a life.

:)

Day 85, Saturday:  I bought this game, Settlers of Catan, a month ago and we've played it pretty much non-stop.  It's become a bit of a family obsession.

Day 86, Sunday:  I had hoped to get into DC for the cherry blossoms.  I had hoped to find a warm sunny day too, but I only got half of my wishes.  My amazing husband (who was home for 10 days!!!) took me into DC and we braved the 30 degree weather and the snow in the hopes of getting a good shot.

My pictures were underexposed and overexposed all over the place, not a single one turned out the way I hoped it would, but I had fun and learned a thing or two while I was at it. 

Day 87, Monday:  Previously mentioned amazing husband had to get on an airplane and go back to the ship on the West Coast.

  Not really in a picture taking mood at all.

This is a sponge that we found last year on the beach in Cuba.

Day 88, Tuesday:  Still not in a picture taking mood, but it was bright and sunny so I got out there anyway and I'm glad I did.  

Love this picture and the others I took as I wandered around my yard.

Day 89, Wednesday: Gray days make for difficult pictures, but I had Quincy stand just inside the doorway and used what little light I had.

Day 90, Thursday:  I love this picture.  Love it, love it, love it.

It was taken with my iphone, just a quick shot, 

but a pretty accurate representation of what my school day looks like.

Day 91, Friday:  All the formals that the kids go to give me an excellent excuse to take pictures.

And it's one of the few times that Kevin is willing to stand still and smile at the camera.

Project 365: Week 12

This week was rather light on the creative picture taking.

But I got a shot of the "supermoon"

Recorded our first cook-out of the season.

Found some newly formed leaves.

Took iphone shots while bowling and doing laundry.

Got proof that Quincy really does work hard on her Spanish homework

(not that there was ever any doubt.)

And... hmmm....

Got a picture of a picture that wasn't on the camera just reflected in the screen.

(???)

Week 11 of my 365

This has been such an easy week to keep up with the "picture a day" thing.

The weather has been wonderful and warm.

We've been able to play outside.

And the very first flowers are starting to bloom.

It's a good week.

Day 71 (Saturday):  One of our first real warm days that was dry enough for us to get out.

I took Julia location hunting and found a great new place to take pictures.

Not that you can see it here, because my favorite picture is this close up of her face.

Day72:  Bubbles!!  We spent a good portion of the day hanging out on the back deck blowing bubbles.

Day 73:  Julia found some fun pi day activities to do around the house.

Day 74:  Some days need big erasers (not that this one was so bad, but it's the only picture that I took.)

Day 75: We celebrated St. Patricks day a day early with a little shepherds pie.

Day 76:  The first Daffodils! and sun!

Day 77:  Faithful forsythia letting us know that Spring is here!

Normal is good...

This week has been pretty "normal" to the point of being boring,

but as I look at all that happened in Japan yesterday

I find myself quite grateful for normal and boring.

I cannot even imagine how long it will be before they reach any sense of normalcy.

Saturday (Day 64) was one of the more exciting days.

It was the first time that I got to watch my son and his friends compete in a drill competition.

They did awesome!

Day 65: Julia hamming it up for the camera.  This is the best picture I got that day.

  All the others were pics of Q-tips... 

seriously...

Day 66: A little school work while sporting an awesome level ring.

I got soooo many comments asking where we got the ring.

We bought it at a museum gift shop, 

but lucky for you, there was a website etched into the side of the ring.

Here it is...

Carolyn Forsman Conversation Piece Jewelry

Day 67: The best cut flowers ever!

These alstroemeria last for weeks!

And they come in lots of great colors.

Day 68:  A very gray day, so I took gray pictures.

Day 69:  Spring rains!!!  

That was a serious downpour, 

but so worth it for all the green grass it left behind.

Day 70:  A brief blue break in the clouds and lots of pretty buds on the tree.

So... what did you do this week?

We kept ourselves pretty busy.

On Saturday, while Quincy attended an art class in DC, Julia, Grant and I visited a few museums.

Dorothy's ruby slippers are pretty and all, but those red shoes that I tried on a couple of weeks ago are far cuter!

(Although, probably not appropriate for a little girl who wears gingham dresses.)

On Sunday, we found some signs of spring popping up. 

Yay! Spring!

The clouds rolled in on Monday, but the weather was so warm that the kids didn't want to come inside 

so I let them run around in the mud and the pouring rain.

On Tuesday... more spring!  

Yay! again!

I didn't have much time to take pictures or enjoy the weather on Wednesday because we were cleaning, cleaning, cleaning!!

Except, of course, I forgot to dust the one thing that I took a picture of!

Geez...

The cold weather came back on Thursday, just in time for riding lessons.  

The girls don't mind much, all of that hard work keeps them warm, 

but just sitting and watching the lesson is cold!

And finally, on Friday... we played Settlers of Catan with Natalie.  

Julia won. 

:/