Day 29

Can you see the anticipation? Off to Target with purses loaded with CNY money, tooth fairy money and Target gift cards!

Day 28

Husband and C. are HUGE Ice Breaker fans. I found these cute heart shape ones for Valentine's day and surprised all three of my sweeties with their own little round boxes. I've already gotten two days worth of thank yous from C. Hard to beat that!

Day 27

So, this blog isn't about journaling but this photo is so bear with me. My father died 14 years ago this past November. We were very close and I miss him terribly. 13 years ago, I went to leave flowers on the anniversary of his death and all I could find was a Christmas cactus. A little thing with no flowers but I had to leave something so in early November, I left it at the cemetery. The cemetery is supposed to throw out the flowers and all decorations every week but six weeks later, when I went to visit at Christmas, I found this same Christmas cactus in full bloom. I think this was the last gift my father gave me and I still have it all these years later. It blooms every winter and reminds me of the love we will always share.

Day 26

T. dressed herself today - what do you think? Gotta love toddler fashion sense!

Day 25

Homework is done, dinner is being prepared and this was what I saw when I came home from work tonight - the girls sitting (is that sitting?) and watching some television. Ah! Home!

Day 24

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year. Here C. is receiving her red envelopes from Mama! Happy Year of the Ox!

Day 23

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Ox and I had a lot of cute photos to choose from today. We had a fun little photo shoot before going to a CNY dinner with friends. I also have some photos from the dinner itself (and some OF the yummy dinner) but in the end, I really liked the effect of this shot.

Day 22

Today we celebrate ten years together, eight of them married. Photography courtesy of Cleo.

Day 21

Cleo's first driving lesson. This wasn't the best photo - my battery was super low and everything was blurry but with a little processing - walaa! Artsy. Hee. Love the look on Cleo's face.

Day 20

Oh, PLEASE go to SLEEP!

Day 19

We need rain so bad, even the little bitty sprinkles today are a welcome visitor.

Day 18

Was there really a different photo for today? We all sat in bed together and watched this historic moment.

Day 17

If you asked T. to describe paradise, this might just come close! We went bouncing today with some friends and this was the hands down favorite. Big transition, she went from dropping down on her tummy, feet first to sliding down sitting up, facing forward on her bum. She was very proud!

Day 16

Morning after the birthday - I found this interesting balloon garden had sprouted from the floor overnight - but the true treasure was the glorious ice cold diet coke, sitting waiting for me in the still frozen ice chest - yum! My absolute favorite!!

Day 15

What more could you want? Can't you just see that in his eyes? We celebrated Eric's birthday tonight with a gigantic cake and the girls each blew out one of his candles. What a fantastic birthday to have both of our girls home with us this year!

Day 14

Happy Birthday to our Daddy! We took the birthday boy to our favorite tepanyaki restaurant for a yummy dinner. They have a tradition for birthdays that includes these crazy candles and then fresh pineapple. T. got in on the act and assisted with the candle blowing.

Day 13

Thursday is swim day in our house - C. has been swimming for three years and she is quite the little fish now. T. just started and in the first three weeks earned her first ribbon. They both love the water and look forward to Thursdays - especially T.

Day 12

We were late for Kindergarten today. Some mornings, the girls just take longer to get ready. This morning was not one of those days. This morning, C. offered to clean her room, not just her things, but her sister's things too, instead of watching a tv show while I showered. And she got dressed with only minimal complaining and she was so smiley and just a really pleasant, helpful girl. SOOOO I took some extra time to braid her hair upon request and then another minute to grab a photo of it - not really for the braid, but for the happy morning that gave me a few extra minutes to braid my girl's hair. I love days like today!

Day 11

So nothing Earth shattering today. Just was walking through the house and came across these parked right in the middle of the floor tonight. How cute are they! Do you see the little tiny tires? T. was SO thrilled when she saw these and while they are a little bit big they are so darn shiny and sporting her favorite, number 95!

Day 10

We have had a visitor with us the past couple of weeks - I give you Flat Mickey! He was a Stanley but I reinvented him to give him a more local flair. I am getting ready to pack him off to the second grade classroom in Mo. that sent him to me. I've really enjoyed collecting brochures and postcards and taking photos for their project. Here he is with C. in her classroom.

Day 9

Bubble Glasses! The kids came back from a night at Nana's with new bubbles so we started playing outside. I got out a bubble gun and T. had a blast chasing the bubbles that Daddy made. Got this shot by accident - isn't it fun?

Day 8

5:50am - my car in front of my hair salon. No typo, I get my hair cut at 6am. Its wonderful, I'm the first client in the chair, no one else around and I'm generally on my way home by 8:00am. I was very tired today but I remembered my camera!

And I'm already breaking the one photo rule. I took this photo for a photo challenge at SPD - photo of me with my camera so thought I'd throw it up here as well.

Day 7

So I thought I was going to do some cool still life - I have been admiring all of the other 365ers and I was all set to go do that, but instead, my sick little monkey bloomed back into the crazy little joy that we know her to be...SO...here she is in full delight! I had some other "artsy" kind of photos, but seeing her just laughing again after 3 days of feeling punky, it really warms my heart!

Day 6

Today is Mabel day. =) This doesn't even begin to do her cuteness justice. Mabel is my ball of total and continual love. No matter what kind of day I've had, she always makes me smile.

Day 5

Sick! My baby was sick sick sick this morning. She perked up mid day but was crashed out by 7:00pm which is WAY unusual for her. Poor little thing. She was hanging on the sofa in her beloved green crocs.

Day 4

I met Susan for dinner at our new favorite place - Little Madfish. We meet every other week for dinner on my way home from work. We used to always go to this great Chinese place that was in the same building and were so bummed when they closed up. Little Madfish has been a great replacement though and I love hanging out with Susan, catching up and eating sushi!

Day 3

I didn't have to wait for this photo! C. lost her first tooth last night and here she is with her pay off from the tooth fairy. The lighting wasn't great in her room, so I grabbed this pink transparent box she had and used it for a defuser which gave it this weird pink cast that I played with in photoshop. Doesn't really matter, its all about that priceless smile!

Day 2

Zipline! We went to a birthday party today and I had a lot of fun shots to pick from, but I liked how unusual this one is - she's hit the end of the line and is rebounding. Just kind of different. =)

Day 1

I took this photo in her bedroom using my 50mm and the natural light of the room. I did not retouch the photo. I love the results from this lens. Its really hard to get a natural smile out of her for a photo and she always does this head tilt thing, but I like the soft expression on her face. We were getting ready to go to the movies and stopped for an impromptu photo shoot.