Day 30 ~ Smiley baby

Today I took the day off to watch a close friends three month old little boy. Unfortunately, he slept most of the day. When he was awake we layed on the floor and "talked" and smiled. I took tons of pics but I think this might be my favorite - all the smiley ones are slightly blurry cuz he moved around when he was "laughing". Sweet baby

Day 29 ~ Crazy Girl

No sooner had a posted on facebook a note that included the line: "I think I passed on my aptitude for weirdness on to my daughter" than my daughter came to me and continually did a windmill type action with one of her arms while laughing....not only was that odd enough she got my camera for me and continued to do it so I could capture the moment! :)

Day 28 ~ HA HA HA

Probably not an obvious depiction of what happened but during family dinner tonight, one particularly funny thing caused my daughter to snarfel her cola. A little came out her nose and the rest out of her mouth despite a hand over her mouth trying to keep it in. She actually had a drip off her chin that you can't see in this picture. I told her she should be glad she had just finished eating!

I'm thankful we can have as many meals as we do sitting together as a family and for the times spent around the table enjoying each others company and laughing. These are the memories I want my children to take with them into adulthood.

Day 27 ~ Never a dull moment

Tonight as I sat on the couch blog surfing and watching the Biggest Loser, having banished the kids to get ready for bed, my son appeared abruptly at the bottom of the stairs ... the pic really says it all. Who knows what he was thinking that made him do this but he's always had a good sense of humor.

Day 26 ~ Rays of Light

As I left work yesterday I noticed one large ray of light shining down thru the clouds. It was beautiful...but the farther I drove the more the light and clouds shifted and this is one of the pics I took on my drive home.

Day 25 ~ Go Spurs Go

The two men in my life left me home alone just a little while ago to go and watch the Spurs game at a local sports place. I couldn't resist making them pose for a picture in their matching Duncan jerseys before letting them leave.

Day 24 ~ Little Handy Man

Ok, so he's not so little, but my son definitely takes after his father. If something is broken he will not hesitate to get right in there and attempt to fix it. Someone recently broke a button on a radio of his and last night he made it his mission to fix it. I found him in his sisters room doing the repairs because that's where the dog we were dogsitting was. :)

Day 23 ~ Ride 'em Cowboy

Whenever we tell someone in our area where we live, specifically which neighborhood, the typical first response is, "Oh, that place with the cows?!" We have many very large Longhorns adorning the entrance to our neighborhood. We also have a cowboy on a horse that was apparently in place very a long time before I noticed, or so my kids say. Many times we've seen people taking pictures on these steer but today was the first time I've ever asked my son if he'd want to stop..of course I didnt have my camera (this is RARE) so I took a mobile pic. Pretty nice sunset too.

Day 22 - Dogsitting

Today we were asked to keep my father in laws dog Banjo. The kids really enjoyed having him in the house and I must admit...he's pretty cute.

Day 21 ~ Poor Baby

Today a couple of hours after arriving at work my daughter called from school to say she just wasnt feeling well. Diligent work-a-holic and non-worrier that I am I asked the standard questions: fever? no, vomiting? no, diahhrea? no. Ok, then do you think maybe you just need to eat since you didnt eat breakfast? "Maybe" Well, why don't you wait the hr until lunch and see how you feel? Fastforward 2hrs and I was on my way to pick her up. She lounged around all afternoon not really doing anything or eating. Her brother fixed her a sandwich early in the evening and shortly there after she kissed me and went to bed...I didn't think she would have fallen asleep 2hrs before her bedtime.

I hope, for her sake, she wakes in the morning feeling better and this isn't the beginning of something worse.

Day 20 - Sweet Girl

I love my kids and never could have imagined just how much my heart could swell for a niece. I came home tonight after a very long day at work to a loving little girl who is as sweet as can be. "Look at me, I'm so sweet" :)

Day 19

Today as I came into the neighborhood on my way home from wk I ran across a hitchhicker...and her friend.

Day 18 - Sweet Surprise

On this day my son woke after I had completed my Wii Fit "workout" and had subsided to watch the remainder of a movie on the couch upstairs. He disappeared downstairs to eat breakfast and appeared a while later with a tray and breakfast for ME! :)

Day 17

Today was my daughters first volleyball fame of the new season. She did pretty well to include this good volley...

Day 16 ~ Movie Night

Friday night my children and I spent the entire evening in our Pajamas, on the couch and watching movies. We all made it through two movies and my son made it almost all the way through the third. We had a good night that included lots of snuggling, laughing, some pizza & diet coke cake.

Day 15

I'm surprised how quickly I found myself unable to actually post the picture daily. Here is Thursdays picture ~ my son has spent many hours already this year playing with a simple Nerf ball & hoop on the door of our downstairs bathroom. I'm kind of surprised how long he can spend each night finding different ways to put it to the net.

Day 14 - Up Close & Personal

Today, my son, who typically hams it up for the camera decided he would try his hardest not to allow me to take a decent picture of him. It actually turned into quite a fun time as my daughter and I ganged up on him trying various tactics to get even one decent picture. I wish now I hadn't already deleted some so I could say just how many I took. Here are the only three that show more than an ear, chin or hand and are clear...quite amusing.

After it as all said and done he ended up letting me take a picture with him (no force needed) Its not the best picture but he didnt fight it. :)

Day 13 - They grow up too fast

I can't believe my baby girl is 11yrs old, answering to the day to day cruelty of 6th grade girls. She is so sweet and kind. She has a generous heart and a loving soul. I am amazed daily at how she has grown into such a beautiful young lady from the curly headed toddler she was just yesterday.

Day 12

Another picture that is proof of changes in our lives in 2009.

Mom does the cooking so when mom is eating right the rest of the family is eating right. Mom also wants to get more organized and spend more time with the kids in the evenings so planning meals is helpful, using the crockpot even more so. For the cost of just a little bit of planning I will come home tomorrow night to a healthy meal ready to eat, no figuring out what to make, prep or cooking. Just sit down, eat and enjoy time with the kids. Maybe this planning ahead thing isn't so bad afterall. :)

*ingredients shown when placed in the crockpot over 3 frozen chicken breasts and allowed to cook for 6-8hrs makes for a really good meal.

Day 11 - A sign of change

I was fortunate enough to find myself a Wii Fit on New Years Eve, you know, at the same time as resolutions to eat healthy, exercise more, lose weight etc. I had no idea how much fun it would be for the entire family nor how sore it would actually make me from such things as hula hoop, boxing, & balance games. I look forward to much more family fun the remainder of the year.

Day 10 - A different Generation

The significance of this photo is known mainly to those who know me well . . . and the fact that this is my daughters drink.

I do not drink coffee...ever. I don't like anything with even a hint of coffee flavor. The only thing I like about coffee is the way the beans smell. You might even say I love the smell of coffee but it ends there.

The giant Starbucks has had the privelege of my patronage exactly three times. Twice during a conference when it was the only place to get breakfast in the convention center I was working (they really do have good breads) and once when it was so cold outside that I joined the other team moms who were getting mocha-frappa-something or others and I got a raspberry hot chocolate so as not to freeze watching our team play baseball. (Shall I also mention that my husband even questioned the charge to Starbucks when he saw it on our bank statement? He doesn't drink coffee either - heck, we don't even own a coffee pot/maker.)

All of that said, today my eleven year old daughter went in with her friend and split this drink tha they told me cost $5. I can't believe the child that is so much like her mother would be so incredibly different!

Day 9

Yum! Chocolate No Bake cookies. These are the favorite of a co-worker who today worked his last day at my company after 14yrs. He and his family will be starting a new adventure in another city 5hrs away. I truly enjoy cooking and love to bake so it was only right that I make him a batch all for himself. (ok, so I ate one -but only for Quality Assurance)

Day 8

I know this may seem like an odd picture but its one that makes me feel really good. As we were having our house built I commented to my husband how much storage space we would have it was open under the stairs from the hall closet...well, he did it! He opened up the back of the closet, framed it out and WOW! We fit ALL of our Christmas decorations in that area (no that's not all of them, I took the pic before it was full tonight) and even now that its all in there we could still put more stuff! This makes me happy because its all in one place AND we have more space in the garage now.

Day 7

I thought I'd add a picture of the bracelet I made on a whim in December. I made it to match the necklace & earrings that I already owned & now I want to actually learn to make necklaces & earrings etc. I hope to add more pictures of other items throughout the year and it all started to with this.

Day 6 - Someone to watch over you

Today as I sat at my desk and worked I was being watched over by an angel...the more I looked up and found her staring back at me (well, with the sunglasses who knows what she was looking at) None the less, at the end of the day I realized that this angel earned a spot in my year of pictures mostly because she is not your typical angel...more like a fallen angel that sat atop our tree at work. Kind of a twisted angel...

Day 5

I pass these mailboxes almost daily on my way to pick up my son at school after work. Sometime during the school holiday the silver barrels showed up on what was just black guns...kinda funny. Wonder how the mailman feels when he delivers the mail?

Day 4

I must admit I stole this idea from a friend of a friend. The thought is that an odometer reading now and toward the end of the year will show the number of miles covered over the year. We do have a couple of long trips planned and so I know those will rack up the miles but so will all of my back and forth driving in town.

Day 3

Today I had the pleasure of watching my niece. She is a real stinker about pictures..I tried to no avail to get/sneak a picture of her but most just caught her saying "No" or "Don't". This is a sweet picture of what appears to be a sleeping toddler...except she's not sleeping...at one point she stopped avoiding the camera and simply shut her eyes everytime she saw it. Stinker. I like the pic none the less.

Day 2

Only two days into the new year and already a double post. I found mine when I entered the rm after my husband had announced he had taken all the ornaments off the tree....I didnt realize that he had just just and only that, not packed them etc. I found it oddly interesting to see them all grouped on top of the table.

Then as I went to take my New Years Day pic off my daughters camera I found the second picture. One she took of her friend today as they wandered the neighborhood. Pretty interesting and artistic for an 11year old, or so I thought.

Happy New Year!

I decided I would start a blog for other reasons and saw some of the other "One a day" picture blogs.....hmmm, this might be just the right fit for me. I already take so many pictures why not?! So, here I am! Sadly, my picture for today is on my daughters camera and she has gone to spend the night so it will be posted at a later time. Ironically, I had already decided that taking a picture a day would be the project not necessarily posting it. I anticipate times when posting won't be easy or perhaps possible.
Todays photo was inspired when I went to the home of a relative for their annual New Years Day get together (which I've been invited to many times before and never made). It was hosted in their backyard and "shop" area. In the shop were stools he had made by welding old tractor seats onto posts. I really like them and so they were my first pic of the year. Let's hope I can get it posted soon.

**picture added 1/2/09