More frozen beauty.

The many faces of Luke.

I love to snap pictures of Luke. I love the looks of distress on his face because I am forcing him to sit still for a half a second to get a picture. He gets so squirmy and suddenly has something extremely important that he needs to do. Its almost like its painful for him. Maybe its torture? I don't know. Its the kind of "torture" he's gonna have to live with having me as his mother. If forcing him to sit still for twenty seconds to snap a few pictures is as bad as it gets for him then I think he can consider himself fortunate!!

How can I resist trying to capture his eyes??!!

Another snow day.

First things first.

Pancakes.
Then snow play.
Then cookies!
Before bath time the view from my upstairs hallway window looked like this.
...then we wake up to a two hour delay this morning:)

Boy stuff.

Jessalyn pretty much keeps all of her "girly" stuff in her own room, knowing that it is likely not safe anywhere else in this house. I find myself giggling at all of the random 'boy things' that I find spread throughout the house. One of my favorite little toys is this magnetic Spider Man. The boys go around and find the most random places where he will 'stick'.

If you were to walk into our house it would be very clear that we have lots of boys. Because Jessalyn keeps her stuff so well taken care of you may not even know that a little girl lives here too!
(Disclaimer: This ginormous Yoda Pez dispenser has been placed on the top of a tall cabinet. I had to climb on the couch to take a picture of it, which was when I realized just how dusty it is up there!)

New Beginnings.

Everyone loves the New Year for its potential of what is new to come! We all set out to live life better making changes big and small to attempt this overall goal. Sure, we all start slipping away from these 'resolutions'...but that is why we get a New Year EVERY year! Imagine if nobody even tried to make changes in their lives.

What a better way to think of New Beginnings than a new engagement! A week ago, my sil became engaged. I couldn't help but steal her ring for a few minutes in hopes of capturing its beauty. Unfortunately, none of these photos do the ring justice. It is truly a BEAUTIFUL ring.




It is fun to sort of re-live the excitement of becoming married. I don't envy the work that needs to be done before that moment....but the excitement of their lives to come is, well...exciting!!

Mornings.

Some mornings are better than others. It seems like some days we are running around like crazy trying to get ourselves together in time to get Jessalyn to school on time. It also seems like the rest of the day follows the pattern of the morning.

Some morning are much more relaxed. Fortunately, this has been more of the pattern for us these days. Its nice to be up and have breakfast ready for Josh and Jessalyn so that they can do their devotions together. I like having most of the morning 'chores' done before we even leave for school. Our day flows better, the kids behave better.....I behave better.

Its not every morning that we have time to snuggle up with our siblings and play the Leapster before heading out the door.

Cold Days

As much as I hate ice buildup like this on our windows, I have to admit to the beauty of it. The designs on here are much like snowflakes.

Its on days like these when we have to be more creative in how to entertain ourselves. Jenga has become a recent favorite.

One of my new favorite sites to check in on daily is Shutter Sisters. I find it hard to go there and NOT come out with some sort of inspiration. Today's post over there was about photographing hands. Obviously, hands have been already focus for me and my 365 blog...but it has only been my hands. I had a couple of opportunities to snap a few other hands today.

(if only he didn't have that big scratch on his nose)