59/365 Amazing Day...Dumb Picture

So somebody must have prayed for me or something, because after getting several outrageous quotes for

data recovery.  I decided to go through the drive again to see what was on there that I didn't need recovered

and it started up, with all the files intact!  Amazing, I wonder if that car drive underneath all the school back

packs wacked it back into shape probably not, but who cares!  I have my stuff back and a second chance

for those back ups! Yea.  I ran directly to the store and purchased my new "toys" then came home and got

to work.  It took until bed time but everything is now backed up and should automatically back up at least

daily!  Great day, since I was so busy freaking out I didn't get time for a good picture.  So here's what I

took, it's not pretty but it's a beautiful site to me.

58/365 Bad Day...Pretty Flower

I had a crappy day today.  The hard drive that I store everything on, and haven't backed up since who

knows when, was corrupted.  I believe I lost a good portion of all the pictures I have taken for the past

year.  I'm afraid to even look at the back up files, because I'm pretty sure I'll be sick.  Not to mention the

yearbook pictures that are gone.  But life goes on, I've been meaning to back up for a while now, I guess

this means I need to stay more on top of that.  But I do have a beautiful flower in my front yard that

needed a picture taken of it.  I learned a few tips about taking really close up pictures from a friend of

mine and wanted a chance to use them.  I think they worked!  I actually love this picture.  So I guess not

everything is bad today.

57/365 Just for the hail of it

So today it was raining until well into the afternoon, then it let up for a while, then we got a sudden 

downpour of hail.  When it stopped it was completely sunny outside, the girls ran outside to gather the 

"tiny snowballs"  but they were pretty much all gone.  Bummer.  Sadie found one on the golf cart seat so 

here it is!  Then Maddy decided to tickle Sadie until she dropped it.  Another great day.

56/365 Little Things Make Me Smile

I took this picture, and it's not in focus (I wonder why?) but I just love it anyways.  I decided I'm posting

it anyways.  It just screams Sadie to me!  She's running away from me but she wants me to catch her!

55/365 Just Because

I love how well Sadie and Madison get along.  Sadie look up to her and just thinks she's awesome, which

of course Maddy eats up.  And Maddy in turn thinks she's not only cute but hilarious.  It's fun to watch

them together.

54/365 In the Weeds

Here is a picture of the girls and I...just kidding.  Sort of weird posting a photo of a friend of mine with

my girls but it's the best one I got today so I'm posting.  We went to my friend, Kristin's house so she

could do me a favor.   I needed a picture, so I took one.  Since the kids were so excited to hang out with

her kids, and I'm a little slow on the draw yet, most of my pictures came out blurry or overexposed.  This

was the one I liked best.  I also got a new action I'm playing with.  I probably could have gotten it a little

better if I had millions of hours to spend on this.  But I didn't..so there!  I also most likely over processed

too.  Ha!

53/365 In the Eyes

I had to take a macro picture for my class yesterday, I didn't post that photo, but I did learn some tips on

making them better!  So I tried again today...so here are really close up pictures of Sophia and Madison's

eyes.  I made a mistake on Madison's but I decided to post it anyways.  It's really cool to see the

differences in their eye colors.

52/365 Day's Off With Friends

Today we had no school, yea!  Sophia had a friend come over and we went bowling at the new Tavern

Bowl at North County Fair Mall.  We had a great time, the girls bowled with their friends and we had a

great time.  I needed a picture with something framed for my Monday class, so I got this one with her

and her friend.  They were so nice to stop playing the wii and took this picture for me in the backyard

with no complaints, thanks ladies!

51/365 Phone's, Christmas Trees and Disco Balls, Oh My!

I went to the Long Beach Flea Market today.  It was so much fun.  They have the strangest and most

wonderful things for sale there.  I bought a chair, a window frame, a picnic basket and a metal basket.

There were some very good deals there as well as some not so good deals.  I decided we got all the good

deals.  I went with Megan and Kristen.  We had to leave by 5 am to make sure we didn't miss the good

stuff.  It was a great Flea Market and I will definitely go back there!  Plus there are so many great things

to take pictures of.

50/365 Being Silly

The girls were sitting around watching TV and having an all around relaxing weekend while waiting for

us to go hang out with some friends of ours tonight.  I love it when they are having fun together!

49/365 Yogostash

Some friends of ours have been working on a huge remodel and are finally living in their "new" home.  I

am so excited for them.  I invited myself and the kids over to check everything out, and they were nice

enough to have us all over for dinner.  We had a great time, especially the kids!  Thanks.  I got a great

picture of their daughter, while she was drinking some yogurt.  Look at those eyes, I love her yogostash!

48/365 Do Over!

So, I had more light today (No Rain!) so I took Fia and Sadie out on the lawn to get a couple face shots.

I need a full frame picture for my group on Monday.  I may use this picture of Fia...maybe not.

Anyways.  I love that my girls are (usually) happy to take a couple picture for me.  I'm sure they get

pretty boring for everybody else, but for me, never bored with my ladies!  By the way, silly Sophia is for

some reason stroking her imaginary goatee in this picture.  I love that they take me so seriously!

47/365 Big Eyes - Little Smile

Little miss Sadie posed for me in front of the pantry door.  She wiggles so much, it's so hard to get a still 

picture of her and even harder to get one in focus.  I want her to stop that!   Especially in low light, why 

doesn't she understand it's all about the light!  I want to get this exact same picture, but in better focus...so 

for now this picture this focus, and she's still beautiful wiggles and all.

46/365 Juicy

This weeks assignment is a bunch of stuff...I'm not really sure I got them all.  But I do know some of 

them have to do with really close up photos.  I will probably be taking some up close photos trying to get 

the ones I want to use for Monday night.  Today I was taking some pictures of flowers but I figured 

everybody would turn in flowers, so I grabbed this lemon.  I love, that I can see the little individual bulbs 

of juice.  

45/365 Pink and Fluffy

Happy Valentines Day!  I didn't get a picture of what I wanted to today.  I wanted to take a picture of the

cute Valentines gifts that my wonderful husband put together for our three girls.  He put a tulip in a tiny

vase for each one, got them a heart shaped box of chocolate, and a tiny teddy bear.  Then he made a little

card for each one with their name on it.  It was so cute.  I love my wonderful and thoughtful husband, he

also bought me gorgeous tulips and lilies as well.  I appreciate him so much.  The reason I didn't get the

picture, was because was uber busy!  I made some cupcakes for my class tonight and they were pretty

pink and fluffy!  I got a picture of them.

44/365 Creation Picture...Cluck Cluck

I am taking a Bible Study/Photography class for fun a friend of mine, Kristen Brown, is teaching it.

Creation is our assignment for the week.  I wasn't feeling too inspired for the creation picture for some

reason, but I do have a friend with a couple baby chicks.  So this said creation to me as much as anything

so I went for it.  I will admit this did remind me of God holding us in his hands.

43/365 I Scream You Scream...

Grandma got the girls the coolest Popsicle maker for Valentines Day!  You can do the neatest stuff with 

it.  I'm sure we'll have many more popsicle pictures with it.  So far we have made a chocolate malt ball 

popsicle with Whoppers inside. And a lemonade bar, that I stuck a lemon in for cuteness!  Then of 

course I took a thousand pictures while they were eating them!  We had lots of fun, I can't wait to make 

the 50/50 bar tomorrow! By the way, Madison is wearing a helmet because they were riding their 

scooters all day, not because she's "special!"

42/365 Good To The Last Drop!

I love the nostalgia of old packaging, especially metals.  In this day and age of plastic disposability.  I miss the coffee "can," a tin of anything especially band-aids, a bottle of milk, a bottle of pop.  Yes I said it Pop!  The endless glass jars and glass things we used to drink from!  The wine cork, is slowly being replaced by the twist top, the bottle cap is a novelty.  Those wooden spools of Mothers thread...clothes pins,  I miss the garbage we used to have...and I'm not sure why!

41/365 A Million Little Reasons

This picture reminds my of the endless little reasons I love and appreciate my Mother.  What you first

have to know is that this is a picture taken from the escalators at Neiman Marcus at Fashion Valley,

anyone who knows my Mom knows that this is in a small way appropriate piece of homage to her.  I

spent the day there today shopping with my Mom.  I am so blessed to have such a thoughtful, wonderful,

fun (this list could go on and on like the strings of butterflies) Mother.  I am so thankful for her example

and presence in my life.  One million little expressions of love to you Mom!

40/365 I Love Spelling Words!

Tonight I decided to share Sadie's daily digression during homework time.  She starts out diligent and 

thoughtful, the good student then turns in to a raving lunatic!  The funniest thing about this is this only 

takes about 8 minutes!  I took the first photo at 6:45 and the last photo at 6:48.  Good work Sadie!  Spell 

those words.

39/365 I Love a Good Kid Brag...

OK so they are not the best pictures I've taken,  I'm not really good with my flash yet.  But I was so 

proud of my girls I had to share.  The Calvin Christian Fine Arts Festival was tonight.  My girls were so 

good!  Sophia sang in a group of six 6th graders, they sounded great!  She also did a duet on her sax 

with her friend who plays trumpet.  They were awesome!  I thought she would sound terrible from what 

I hear at home.  But they were great.  (Totally bragging about my kids here!)  Madison, played in an 

instrument ensemble, did a baritone solo, sang in an ensemble, and sang a solo.  She was also amazing.  I 

had never heard her sing before and I was so proud of her.  She was super nervous and quiet, but 

beautiful.  She sounded lovely in all her other events too!  Sadie even had a piece of art entered in the 

artwork portion.  So she get's a little shout out too!

38/365 Finally A Plant I Can Keep Alive

Day's after the unfortunate death of my beautiful daffodils, I am having an appreciation for the succulent.

They are not quiet as beautiful but I have had this particular plant for almost 9 months.  Most likely a

record for me.  My guess would be that this plant has lived about 8 months longer than anything else I

plant!  So I have decided to celebrate it's beauty today!

37/365 Super Day To Start A New Project

I decided to start a new quilt, because I saw a quilt pattern that I am dying to try but I have so many

projects here at home already that I can't justify purchasing any new fabric until I get at least two quilts

finished, that I have the materials for already.  This reflections quilt will be the first then I will make the

other sugar pop quilt that I have the materials for.  I also have a third quilt that I need to work on, but I

can start that one after these two are finished and I am waiting for my new materials to show up, right?

This "Reflections" quilt is one I have made before and given to a friend as a gift, I have the same idea in

mind for this one.  Let's see how it all goes.  This is just one of the first few steps, and the initial sewing

and cutting of this quilt should take me a few days.

36/365 Let's Go Fly A Kite!

Sophia had to make a project for her fifth grade class.  Since I had been wanting to try making smaller

fabric kites to see if they would fly, I let her be the guinea pig.  I helped her and her friend Heidi cut and

sew the kites.  It was a lot of fun but, I think the kites may be a little heavy so they may need an extra

dose of wind to get off the ground.  Since we didn't have any, she did a lot of running!

35/365 My Silly Valentine

Sadie posed for me this morning, and the girls helped me hang these hearts before I had to give them

away!  Don't you just want her for your valentine!

34/365 Feeling Good

Feeling all back to normal now.  Yea!  I had some time today to do some laundry (Jer will love that!),

clean up the kitchen, craft room, and family room.  So things look less crazy around here.  I even had

time to edit my photos and catch up on all my posts today, without having to feel like I needed to hurry

them up!  I love sitting down and "playing" with photos.  It does get me into trouble when I over edit

them.  Especially since I don't really know what I'm doing.  Yahoo!  Flying by the seat of my pants

again.  Back to my point, I felt so good today that I decided to decorate for Valentines, I've never really

done that before, but I have some red stuff and I have some pink stuff so voilà, Valentines decor!  I had

to take a picture 'cause it made me happy to look at it.

33/365 The One Handed Sandwich

Everybody seems to be back to their normal antics.  I keep telling my girls that if they chat less, fight less 

and concentrate on getting ready for school in the morning we'll all be less cranky, especially me.  Cold 

mornings they are the slowest because the only have one hand to do anything.  Because they all insist on 

holding a fleece blanket around them like a shawl.  They look ridiculous!  And have you ever tried to make 

a sandwich with one hand?

32/365 Get Up, When You're Feeling Down

I am so sick today, I have a fever and I have been driving Madison all over town to doctors 

appointments and tests, when all I want to do is climb under 5 blankets and fall asleep while watching 

last night's episode of the bachelor.  So just before I lost enough light, I saw my flowers by the window 

and thought if somebody could just bring me my camera, I could get up long enough to take that picture.  

Sophia was happy to help.  After I got the picture, Fia put away my camera and then checked on us 

every half hour or so to make sure we didn't need anything.  She is such a sweetie.  She will make a 

great mom someday.  From now on, I am going to try to avoid getting sick, unless she will be available 

to take care of me.