I started a project this year, called project 365. A friend of mine introduced me to the idea and I just fell in love with the concept. I am taking a picture a day, and then
journaling about it. At the end of the year, I will have an entire album of just our regular, everyday lives. It has kept my mind busy and consequently, I have been terrible at posting the same stuff to my blog. So here is a peek into our January.
On New Year's Day, a friend (and fellow Boy Scout Leader with Andy) was going shooting with his family and invited Cameron and Andy to go along. Cameron has this superhero complex as it is and shoots at everything in sight with whatever is handy. So this was likely the most exciting day of his young life! Andy said he was trigger-happy and giddy as the clip emptied. He was so excited when he got home telling me all about the cans and targets he got to shoot at!
One morning I came to check on the girls' progress in getting ready for school and found Logan in this chair "reading" to himself. It is always freezing in our house ( a result of plaster walls and no insulation). The girls' room faces east and so the morning sun shines right in their window. Logan was basking in the heat, defrosting after a freezing night!
Every so often, the winds switch direction and come from the east and straight out of the desert. It is wonderful during the winter because we go from the regular January chilly temperatures to a beautiful 75 degrees. In the middle of this month, we had a few such days. We spent quite a bit of time outside at the park and the beach.
So I was freezing wearing my sweater, but the kids were in the water nonetheless! Though I remember as a kid going to Santa Cruz and not feeling the cold either as my mom was all bundled up.
The boys and I, while the girls were at school, took advantage of the wonderful warmth and spent some time at the zoo. The giraffes and elephants are the most important animals to visit.
Among my favorite things of our "
faux spring" (when the winds come out of the desert) is the feel of the sun on my face and the smell of freshly cut grass. When I see this picture, the aroma of the grass is fresh and I can feel the heat of the sun on my face. It probably
deosn't do the same for you, but I love this picture!
So the
inauguration this month, this event of enormous historical significance, came and went without my concern. The girls came home from school explaining how they watched the
inauguration at school, and a friend of mine asked if I had watched it. Nope. Emma brought this picture home from school, and I waited until she went to bed and then threw it away. I didn't hide it well enough, because the next morning she came to me in tears wanting to know why I had thrown it away. I then had to explain myself. I had to break it down to her level why I did not vote for
Barak Obama. Not an easy task. After explaining one of his political views that absolutely horrified her, she understood just a little bit and I was off the hook (though not for throwing away her picture!)
After our
faux spring, winter returned for a day or two and we saw some rain. Cameron has this thing he does EVERY time it rains and it cracks me up. He gets a bucket and a washcloth. He fills the bucket up in the bathroom sink and takes it outside. He then brings his bike under the roof of the back deck and meticulously washes every inch of his bike. When he is finished, he puts it up on the deck to protect it from further rain!
It is a funny thing to watch the boys grow up under the influence of 2 big sisters. The other day Logan and I were eating lunch. He demanded a drink of my water and promptly received "the look". Immediately he changed his tone of voice and asked me for a drink, though he forgot to say please. So I asked him what the magic word was. He looks straight at me, and very seriously replies, "
Bibidi,
Bobidi, Boo." I nearly died laughing!
Cameron comes running in the house the other day, yelling at me to come see his creature in his pond. Afraid of what I would find, I reluctantly followed. Coming outside behind him,. he turns to me and said, "Mommy, look! I built a pond just like my daddy!" Absolutely precious! He had filled his wagon with rocks and tiny plants from the pond. Then he added water. And he actually caught a little fish (the silver mark in line with his nose in his shadow) with his fishnet. It took Logan all of 5 minutes to catch the little fish in the wagon, squish it and throw it in the bushes, much to Cameron's dismay!
I finished hemming it this morning before church, and Briley wanted to wear it. She received many comments from friends at church about how lovely her dress was and that she looked like a princess. She was glowing! She did make sure that everyone knew that her mommy made it! Apparently she was rather proud of her dress and her mom!
