Photo-A-Day

I have been taking pictures every day for my photo-a-day challenge in January (okay, almost every day; I did a little catch up today from the weekend).  I keep them in a folder, and I need to go ahead and blog the first {almost half!} of January.

January 1: Today
This really could have been of anything!  We went to my grandma’s house, and James grabbed the toy camera she has.  He kept coming to me and saying he was taking a picture of the Christmas tree.  I have NO IDEA where that came from.  :)

January 2: Something new
I ordered Joanna several new long sleeved tops from the Children’s Place.  They were a very very good price with free shipping.  I couldn’t pass ‘em up, and they’ve been very handy!

January 3: Heart
This sweet girl IS part of my heart, but you’ll also notice she has hearts on her pants.

January 4: The view from here
We played at Lisa’s one day – future girl band right here!

January 5: Movement
Of course I took a picture of my Natalie twirling!

January 6: Mine
I pulled this guy out of the girls’ closet when I was cleaning out.  He was in my Easter basket from my dad one of the Easters not too long after my parents got divorced.  He was part of the several animals I carried around a lot for many years.  I took some pictures of him because his foot is all torn up and I intended to throw him out.  He was absconded with before I could do that though.  :)

January 8: Something beginning with “T”
Natalie’s toes!

January 7: Street
This is one I kept forgetting to take, so I finally just went outside one night.  I was too lazy to set up my {really crappy awful} tripod, so I held as still as I could with the shutter open for like a second and half.  You can see it’s a bit blurry, but I think I did okay!

January 9: Paper
Natalie’s birthday tree!

January 10: One o’clock
I had to set a timer for this one!  The big kids were all at school so I had a chance to do some crafts.  Laura was home, but she isn’t mobile enough or tall enough to mess with my table so I could leave my stuff up for a few hours.  She was sleeping at 1:00, and I was making a banner.

January 11: Water
Even though I’m sure there have been plenty of times I could have shot some water over the last few rainy days, I went in to where the kids where having a bath and took this picture just now.  :)

January 12: Surprise
I couldn’t quite manage to wrap Natalie’s present on her birthday, so we gave it to her the next day – surprise!

January 13: Circle
That would be my wedding band.  You can see the little line on my finger where I wear it.

January 14: Something yellow
I was holding Laura, working on catching up on my pictures.  I told her “I need to find something yellow for today.”  She told me “Hey Miss Jessica, I’m wearing yellow.”  {Okay, she doesn’t really talk, but you get my drift.}  She was a good little model for me!

Photo Challenge–wrap it up for December!

December 28: Words

December 29: Sky View

December 30: Your Winter Wonderland {Ha!}

December 31: Fun

If you click here, you should be able to see all the photo-a-day posts in one spot.  I had fun with this little challenge, and I found the last couple of days that I missed looking at the list and figuring out what to take a picture of, sooooo I’m going to continue on in January!

Photo-a-Day Challenge: Days 24-27

While I didn’t completely forget about the challenge during the Christmas hubbub, I kind of forgot to pay attention to what the assignment was each day.  That said, I took soooo many pictures that it was pretty easy to find one each day that fit.  :)

December 24: Favorite Part of Christmas Eve

I loooooooove going to church on Christmas eve.  In fact, it doesn’t seem like quite enough to just attend one service.  I love looking around the full sanctuary, lit by hundreds of candles and singing Silent Night with my family.  It’s just beautiful.

December 25: Morning

I think this just about captures that “Christmas morning” smile.

December 26: Grateful

The list is super-long of things I’m grateful for.  This little one is certainly on it, but I’m also very thankful for a few chilly days!  It’s so nice not to feel like I need to turn on the A/C and also to be able to wear some winter duds.  Love!

December 27: Night time

What more can I say?  These girls are so sweet!

Photo-a-Day Challenge, days 16-23

December 16: Outside Christmas Lights

This was the day we went downtown to the Really Really Big Christmas Show.  I remembered on the way home about taking pictures of lights.  I ended up with a few shots, some of which where not blurry and in focus, but I like this one the best!

Day 17: Present

One of Matt’s co-workers sent this home for us to do!  I like that I don’t have to build it, just decorate!  We’re planning on that for tomorrow morning.

Day 18: Stocking

Day 20: Tree Topper

None of our trees have toppers.  {Really, I will eventually fix this!}  This one was part of the gift exchange at our Sola Gratia party.  Very pretty!

Day 19: Candy Cane

I cheated a little bit and took this a day late.  I think I forgot.  Or there weren’t any candy canes in the house.  Natalie made me this card!

Day 21: Peace

What is more peaceful than a sleeping baby?!

Day 22: Tradition

The kiddos singing “Happy Birthday” to baby Jesus at our Home Group Christmas party.

Day 23: Scarf

I really cheated on this one.  Not only did I not take this picture (obviously!), but it was taken on Thursday.  Today is was too hot for a scarf.  :)

Photo Challenge, Days 10-15

Day 16 is today, but it’s still on the camera.  Let’s get {almost} caught up, shall we?

December 10 – Wrapping paper

I’m a pretty “green” wrapper.  I reuse gift bags a lot, including actual reusable shopping bags.  I probably won’t ever buy wrapping paper again, except maybe a roll of butcher paper that the kids can decorate.  I do have bits and pieces in the closet, but one thing I like to use to wrap small things (especially for grandparents) is artwork that the kids have done.

December 11 – Green

So I could have taken a picture of something actually green, but instead I chose this basket of rags that help us live a bit more “green.”  These are mostly cut up old t-shirts, but we use them as handkerchiefs!  Somehow we got stuck on calling them nose-wipies though.  I should probably work on switching over to handkerchief.  It’s such a nicer word.  :)

December 12 – A beautiful sight.

I was on the hunt all day for something that truly struck me as aesthetically beautiful, but either nothing did, or I couldn’t capture it fast enough.  But at dinner, I thought it was beautiful to watch my big daughter eat her first “whole” half of a grapefruit.  I’m not exactly sure why, but it just seems like such a milestone and such a big girl thing to do!

December 13 – Family

I slacked quite a bit this week and forgot to take many of the pictures until the evening, when all the good light was gone.  I need to be better next week! In the above shot, Joanna is reading the books she brought home from school to the family!  What a wonderful thing to behold!!

December 14 – Christmas Tree

This came home all wrapped up in a decorated piece of butcher paper for Matt and me.  I wanted to put it under the tree until Christmas, but Joanna could barely wait until Matt got home from work for us to open it!  I’m glad we opened it early because we can enjoy it as a decoration longer!  (And for full disclosure, I took this picture a day late.)

And finally, a day when I didn’t wait until the very last minute to take the day’s picture.  Pretty light!

December 15 – Favorite Holiday Song

I most definitely have several favorites, but this is for sure one of them.  And it was so easy to take a picture of the title!  I like all the classic Baby Jesus songs.  I’m not a fan of anything very secular, (think Santa and Rudolph here) though there are a few catchy ones!  One song I heard for the first time this year (not sure whether it’s new) is To be with You by Sara Groves.  It makes me tear up every time.  I downloaded her Christmas album, and I pretty much love everything on it.  It just sits well with me.  I’ve been singing her version of O Holy Night all day.  Normally I don’t really like covers of the classics that change it up too much, but I simply love this.

Photo-a-day challenge, days 4-9

I’m purposefully, thoughtfully taking pictures every day for the challenge, but I’m not going to post everyday.

December 4: Joyous

It was Tuesday, I was tired (this is a theme for me recently!), so I stopped on my way out of the church parking lot for a Pibb from the vending machine.  It made my afternoon so much more joyous.  :)

December 5: Today’s Temperature

I did take a picture of the temp display on the weather app on my iPod, but then I decided to do something not so straightforward.  It was cool enough to drink tea so I thought I’d take a picture of my tea cup.  Natalie saw me struggling to hold the cup in decent light and take the photo so she suggested I put it on the floor.  (She’s so smart!)  My floor right there by the good light was kind of cruddy, so I asked her to hold it for me instead.  She and James looooove to smell my tea and touch my tea cup, so she was happy to oblige.  She’s much prettier than the floor.  :)

December 6: Shopping

I think this only barely qualifies as shopping, but Joanna and I went to Chic-fil-a after early release on Thursday.  What a fun date!

December 7: Bright

I sent Joanna in when her brother woke up from his nap on Friday to sing to him.  She’d turned on the lights of the tree, and they were in there singing Christmas carols.  It was a very sweet moment.

December 8: Ornament(s)

This was the very first ornament Joanna made for me, and I treasure it!  I use the term “made” very lightly as she was only about 10 months old, but her teachers took pictures of her sticking the stickers on while sitting in the high chair.

Day 9: Something you’re reading

I’m reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  It’s historical fiction and the first one in a series.  I like it so far.  I always feel like I’m learning something when I read historical fiction, except it isn’t boring.  :)

Photo-a-Day Challenge

I saw this list on Pinterest of 31 photo topics to do in December, one each day, and I decided to do it!  I decided it over a week ago, however, and plum forgot once December actually rolled around.  So the first couple of days I had to go back and find pictures I’d already taken that worked for the day’s assignment.

December 1 – “Your view of the day”

This one rather worked out perfectly.  It was dress rehearsal for the Pageant, and I had my little camera with me up in the Chancel.  (I was shepherding my choir.)  This was my view of the action.

December 2 – Favorite Holiday Movie

This one is a stretch, for sure.  :)  I think my favorite Christmas flick is “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown.”  There’s a Christmas pageant in that movie, which really works out well, timing wise.  But I had to use a picture I took, not a picture Matt took of the actual pageant.  Since I was in it, I only have the pics I took before.

{Which reminds me, if any of y’all have pics of the Pageant with especially Natalie in them, I’d love you to send them to me!  Matt got some of Joanna, but not really Natalie.  And if anybody videoed it; I’d LOVE to see it!}

I’ll do a proper post of Sunday’s pictures soon, but I wanted to get the first few days of my challenge up before I forgot again!  And I haven’t finished going through them yet.

December 3 – Red

I took this picture “on purpose” since I remembered the challenge this evening.    I didn’t have a ton of choices since the children had already gone to bed and it was dark, but I like this one!  Matt’s little red cars on the train tree.