Project 365 - We've Arrived at Week 52!

WOW!  A whole year has passed since I started my 365 Photography Project.  What started out as a way for me to learn about my new DSLR Camera, became this experience in seeing the world differently, capturing it in artistic ways and photo-journalling through our year as a family.

I so appreciate all the kind comments you've left me, encouraging words and the ways you've come to know me and my family better.  So many of you have asked if I'll be doing 365 again this year.  I've gone back and forth on that one.  While I've loved doing this, and still have so far to go in what I know about photography (so I could use the practise!), it's also a big committment to plan for photos every single day.  And with this year looking a little different for us in our schedule (I'll have more on that in the next few weeks), I'm not wanting to tie myself down too much either.

So, I've decided I'll do a photo of the week.  Some weeks it just might be 7 photos, some weeks it might be 1.  It just depends on what I have time for!  One of my goals for the year ahead is to take an online photography course (any good recommendations out there????).  So this will still give me a chance to practise, especially now that I have 2 great new lenses. :)  Sound ok to you?

I love when you can catch natural expressions on your kids, and it's not easy to always catch them!  Our daughter was laughing about something and I love the expression on her face.  And then, look at all that hair!  It's pretty much to her waist now.  She has such beautiful hair.  

Anticipation.....My sister-in-law plays this game with her kids where she touches their tummy and says some rhyme in Ukranian (from her childhood), all leading up to the tickling phrase.  You can see the kids just waiting for it.  :)

And here's the tickle giggles!  

Star Wars Exhibit....after I got over that blechy stomach flu we took the kids to do some fun things with what was left of their Christmas vacation.  One of the things we did was go to a big Star Wars Exhibit at our Space and Science Center.  To say that I was a bit of a hard-core Star Wars fan growing up would be an understatement.  (The originals mind you).  But ...be still my heart, Han Solo???? Yep, he was my teenage crush.  The exhibit was really fun, so interactive, and TONS of cool Lucasfilm costumes from the movies that the actors wore, plus many many props, models they used in filming and original story board drawings.  It was really awesome.  All that and you got to create your own Star Wars Character based on your identity.  

The Millenium Falcon.  The detail on these is amazing.  Really a treat to take the kids.  Taken through a glass barrier (temperature controlled and everything  - so that explains the red reflection).  

So that's all I have for you this week!  Look forward to catching up more as the week goes on.  Back to work, back to school....

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Project 365 - We've Arrived at Week 52!

Project 365 - Week 51

Only a few more days left in my year long photography project. I'm really not sure what I'll do next year, if I'll continue or not.  I was gifted with 2 new lenses this Christmas (yay!)  so I've just started playing with them and that's been very fun.

I have a number of Christmas shots for you and then shots from my Dad's big 75th Birthday party that we threw him.  You can click on any of these you like to make them larger.  Enjoy!

One morning before the sun was up I took a shot of the tree, with just the lights from the tree as illumination.  

This is our family right before we left for the Christmas Eve Service.  All dressed up :)  Each of us had a job that night, our daughter was playing flute, our older son running the spotlights, our younger son handing out candles and lighting the Love candle and my husband and I doing the narration.  

Love this precious shot of our son at the Christmas Eve Service.  This is the last Christmas Carol where we take the light from the Christ Candle and then light everyone's candles from it,  then we sing together.  It's such a precious moment each year.  He's holding my candle so I could get the shot.

This is after the Christmas Eve Service at my parent's place.   We always open gifts Christmas Eve (German tradition), then have a big meal following.  

Playing with one of my new lenses and my mom's tree.  She has really pretty ornaments.  

This is on our tree at home.  These ornaments were crocheted by my husband's Great Aunt when she was still alive.  We treasure them.  All those tiny stitches she put into them.  Dipped in starch and water to make them stand firm.  They're so pretty!

My daughter and I had the task of making sugar cookies for my Dad's BD Party.  So we tried to fancy them up as much as we could :)

Love this picture.  It's at my Dad's party with our nephew perched between his two grandpas.  My sister-in-law's Dad and my Dad.  

Grandpa and the little guy blowing out the candles.  I love the sweet look on my nephew's face.  

My depth of field was too shallow with this lens for this shot, but kind of like how the focus goes from my niece to the fuzzed out look with my kids.  My Dad is a proud grandpa and it was a good day to celebrate him.  

There you have another week in our house.  Thanks for sharing your time with me today!  

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Project 365 - Week 51

Project 365 - Week 50

Hard to believe that I've been doing this project for 50 weeks!  Thanks for sticking with me!

Christmas Program at Church.  The Christmas Choir and Kids program was last Sunday.  They did such a good job.  Our youngest is on the far left in the argyle sweater.  We tease him because he's always so serious on stage.  He says he can't smile and sing at the same time :)  

Sunrise.  It was just gorgeous right out our kitchen window.  With the sun getting up so late right now even I can see the sunrises!  :)

Gift Baskets for Ronald McDonald House - Each year our staff puts together Christmas baskets for the families at Ronald McDonald House.  For those of you who don't know, it's a home in many cities around North America that houses families who's children have to come into the city to be in the hospital, having treatment, or who are very ill.  Our RMHouse is close to the Church we work at so we often partner with them.  Thinking that families are away from home at Christmas with a very sick little one made us want to make baskets for each family.  This year we made 32 baskets and delivered them the day of our staff party.  

Packed Gift Baskets.  These are the amazing people I work with and all the baskets we packed.  

Here we are at Ronald McDonald House.  Talk about an amazing facility.  It's really a privilege to be able to help them.  

Check out those icicles on the second story!  

Curling!  After our Christmas lunch we all went curling!  How fun :). One of our staff members is legendary in curling.  She was actually part of the Canadian National Championship team back in the day, winning the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.  She got such a kick out of teaching us and watching us play.  Really an honor to be on the ice with her.  What a hoot to play too.  I did not too bad actually!

Almost Christmas Friends!  Blessings on you as you get ready to celebrate.  For us, this time is so precious as we celebrate Emmanuel....God with Us!  Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace to you!

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Project 365 - Week 50

Project 365 - Week 49

A very busy week around here.  And next week looks to be equally so!  I'm sure you're all probably finding it that way too.  If only I could have managed to start my Christmas shopping before this week. I hope to be done early next week!  How are your preparations going?  

Decorated for Christmas.  We finally got around to getting the Christmas decorations up.  Looks cozy :)  

One of my favourite decorations is this pretty manger scene.  This was carved out of a tree and the pieces slide in or out like a puzzle.  One of my former students brought it back from her time in Germany or Austria.  

A little more snow, to add to the already large pile of snow.  I was trying to capture the flakes as they were falling, but it's so hard to get the focus when it's on your own arm and they melt quickly.  

My husband bought me some really pretty roses, and the afternoon light was so warm.  Our days are getting so short right now.  The sun doesn't rise till about 8:30 am, and sets just after 4 pm.   

Women's Gala.  We had a ladies event at Church and us women Pastors (there are 2 of us), and the wives of the guy Pastors sang together.  Always fun to do, we sang a Chris Tomlin song called Rejoice in the Hallowed Ground (Emmanuel).  

Baking Day.  Finally did some Christmas baking, 140 Sugar Cookies done, icing them next week.  :)  

Enjoy your Sunday!  

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Project 365 - Week 49

Project 365 - Week 48

A taste of our week here...

 

The fabrics came for the redo of our daughter's room.  Aren't they gorgeous?  I love all the colors and patterns.  And my mom's already finished sewing all the bed items, the duvet cover, bed skit and shams.    Can't wait to see it all!

Let me let you in on this dialogue between my husband and our oldest son at a family BD party. 

"Son, stay here and take a picture with us...."

"No Dad, I don't want to be in the picture, I'm going to go get a chocolate."

"Here son, let me grab you so you stay in the picture"

"EEE!"

"Here son, let me tickle you so you can't leave"

"NO DAD!  Ahhhh!"

"Here son, stay with me"

"I'm only grinning, and holding your hand so you won't tickle me anymore!  Take the picture quick mom!"

Our youngest and his little cousin love to build forts or tents out of blankets, chairs and pillows.  This was inside of one they constructed the other night.  

Each year our Pastoral staff and spouses go for a mini-team building retreat in the mountains in early December.  The house we rent can sleep 16 people, and it's amazing. This is the beautiful view outside.  

On the day the boys went skiing, we girls went for a mountain walk.  It was gorgeous.  

The mountains in the background are called the Three Sisters.  They all even have names :)

These ladies are awesome people in my life.  

And just look how spectacular the view is.  Sigh.  One of my favourite places in the world.  

Have a great Sunday people!  

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Project 365 - Week 48

Project 365 - Week 46 or 47?

Back for another round of photos this week.  I think by my counting that somewhere along the way I've lost a week, as it should be week 47 of 52.... :)

The new smile - our goofy little guy finally had his front tooth repaired! It was the one that was broken so badly in Mexico City this past summer.  So, he's showing off his one front tooth smile.  The other front tooth still hasn't grown in, but at least now he has one!

Poinsettias - We had friends over for American Thanksgiving and they kindly brought some festive poinsettias for us.  Good thing too, it's the ONLY Christmas decoration I have up so far.  Way too busy to get the other decorating done!

Symphonic Concert - Our daughter in the middle above had her symphonic band concert this week (it was amazing!).  These brothers are friends from Church and school that also play in band.  One brother is just older than her, one is just younger.   Aren't they handsome?   Their concert attire so sharp and professional.  And they are such great young men too :)  Our daughter is very blessed to have so many great guys that we really like as her friends.  There's five in her small group alone that are awesome.  

1/2 Birthday Gingerbread - in our house we celebrate half-birthday's of the kids.  Our middle son turned 13 1/2 this week.  On their 1/2 birthday they can choose what they'd like for the supper meal.  Afterwards I had him make this gingerbread mix I had sitting in the cupboard.  They're such cute little men, but the funny thing was, the mix was stale and so the cookies turned out awful!  You'd never know it to look at them :)  But this picture will always remind me not to leave things in the cupboard too long!

It was a big week for me as we had a very special event for our JH/HS Girls on Friday, it was a Father Daughter Date Night. We made it a very special night for the girls and their dads, and some of my leaders and their dads too.  It was so special to see these dad's and daughters invest in their relationship.  This is what the tables looked like for each pair (or trio, as some of the dad's have twin daughters!).  It was such a touching and precious night.  And one reason was because my husband could participate as a Dad this time around :)  He bought our daughter a corsage and they came in arm and arm.  Touched my heart.

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Project 365 - Week 46 or 47?

Project 365 - Week 44

Not a full line-up of shots this week.  To be honest, I didn't have the energy for more shots.  I am the Mom to 2 teenagers, and one of those teenagers (who shall remain nameless) is giving me a run for my money.  Now, said teenager is still a great kid on so many levels, but has been very challenging to have a positive relationship with lately.  Sigh.  You'd think that because we work with teenagers every day I'd have the inside track, but nope, it's a whole different ball game when it's your kid :)  We'll make it through, I know we will.  Hopefully better for it all ....eventually :)

Fuzzy Peaches.  These are our youngest son's favourite candy treat.  After Daddy had eaten some of his  fuzzy peaches finishing off what was in the little guy's bag....he was so heartbroken that they were gone.  Daddy sheepishly bought him some more.  :)

PD Day Shopping with Grandma.  I love this picture of our daughter and my mom.  We went shopping  on a day off from school - for paint and fabric for our daughter's new room, with a nice lunch in-between.  

Snow Fort!  This little guy loves playing in the snow after school.  He's built a great fort in the yard to play in.  This picture SO captures his personality...and you can see his broken tooth from falling in Mexico this summer.  Soon to be finished repairing we hope!  

This shot isn't so photo-spectacular but it has a funny story.  My husband and I were sorting through the linen closet and pulled out this old Pooh Bear towel and we both were flooded with memories :)  This used to fit this little guy to the floor...it was the towel we would wrap him in after baths or even at the pool after swimming.  So cute...and how much he's grown!

Volleyball - our middle son was cleared to play volleyball again after his thumb injury (he's the one crouched in the middle waiting for one of the coaches to pop him the ball), I love the intensity he approaches every sport with.  He's all in :)

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Project 365 - Week 44

Project 365 - Week 43

 Making up for a few weeks of less than 7 photos today - with a few extras :)  There were some good opportunities to take some shots - especially as you'll see with the extreme weather we had.

The weather heated up on Sunday and everything was melting so I took a picture of our maple seeds on the tree dripping.  It was such a pretty blue sky that day.  

With the leaves not having fallen off the trees yet, the frost looks so pretty on the hedge.  

Sauteeing up some pretty colors of vegetables for some soup I was making.  

Our poor son.  Gets better from a stomach virus only to go to his Volleyball Game, play, and then have a trip to the ER.  It doesn't appear that it's broken (though the xrays were inconclusive), but there is some ligament damage.  So they casted it and we'll see the Dr. again this week for more news.  Could mean the end of volleyball - but he's hoping it won't prevent him from playing basketball too!  

The Blizzard.  You'll have to click on these photos to see them more closely.  This was the day that 12 inches fell, and it took me 90 minutes to get to work rather than 25.  As much of a pain as that was - wow, it makes everything so beautiful!  Our own little winter wonderland!

A little snow on the bird feeder.  Though it's sheltered on our porch,  the snow blew in.  It continued to snow for 3 days, I'm not a big fan of the cloudy grey skies :( .

And how fun does this look?  It's our indoor waterpark.  Our Church rented out the facility and then sold tickets as a fundraiser for a family team that's going on a Mission Trip on Spring Break.   It was really fun.  And much warmer than the snowy temperatures outside.  That's a huge wave pool in the forground and then some of the larger slides in the background.  

And finally today - sunshine!  This is what we're known for in Sunny Alberta.  You can see all the snow on the tree in our backyard.  Everything is heavily laden with snow.  It is really beautiful.

And there's another week in photos!  Thanks for coming by!

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Project 365 - Week 43