January's 10 on 10

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month (Wednesday).

{Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day! }

Yes, I am.

The aggravating I-missed-the-bus call, changing my morning's schedule without warning.

We walked quickly to school this morning...it was colder than we thought.

Amanda left me a sweet little note last time she was in my office. "win today"!

Strawberries were on sale...two pounds lasts us approximately two minutes here.

While the kids were changing and starting on homework, I threw together dinner for us and another family. For so long we were on the receiving end of meals so its a blessing to be able to give.

 Pretty, pretty.

Happy to be sitting watching a game together...we're in the countdown for when that won't be possible.

First game of the season for the girl's school team.

During halftime the ref came over and let Gavin hold the basketball, which pleased everyone. :)

(also, my family will be interested to recognize the ref, my brother's basketball coach in high school a couple years ago :).

Avery, J and I went to church for a special Night of Worship. It was an incredible service. And I got to get hugs from Renna. :)

Project 365, Week 1

Another edition of Project 365, Volume 9!! Even though I'm posting this on Monday, I've decided to go back to a Monday-Saturday week, hoping to mostly post on Sundays. I think it will be easier for me, even though it splits up a weekend. Probably I'm the only one who will notice or care anyway.

For those of you who follow along faithfully or hop in once in a while to check on us, thank you. It means a lot and its always humbling to hear that it means something to you. Here's to another year of being blessed, whatever that looks like in 2018!

January 1

Our annual New Year's Day with Grandma, a place where the kids can do no wrong. :)

And afterwards, there is usually an emergency Lego creation time.

January 2
Silly girl.

January 3
I dropped some of Shaun's pants off at the tailor's because the only needles I deal with in life are medical-related. ;) I loved the feeling of stepping into a different era.

January 4
For forever, I've taken down Christmas decorations on or before New Year's Day but this year the kids begged to have the tree up longer. Since it was a snow day, I thought it would be a good chance to get it all put away. The girls did it all on their own.

Apparently there was too much fluffy snow in the yard, so the kids went onto the street. Lucky us, we live in the "hill section".

January 5
Second day of no school because of snow (and cold!!!). The kids are fine to be at home alone, but it works much better for them when we bring just one child (who will remain nameless) with us to the office. It works out for her, too. She got to watch Barbie, Life in the Dreamhouse and eat dumdums. ;)

We braved the cold to go look at a house. It was incredible, so...us. I don't know if it will work but we sure did fall in love with the property.

We took the littles out to a new-to-us restaurant while the girls were at youth group and roasted marshmallows over an open flame while we talked and dreamed about the house.

January 6
R and his new girlfriend are expecting a baby. :( They had a gender reveal party and discovered they are having a boy. It was a difficult time for me, but it clearly meant a lot to R that I was there.

Project 365, Week 52

Isn't the week after Christmas such a lovely time? It is for us at least. Its low-key and deliberately slow and together, knowing the next 3 1/2 months will not be. We all agreed the week was nice speed

December 26

Conveniently, the kids were still in their Christmas pajamas the day after, so I snagged the annual in-front-of-the-tree photo. :)

December 27
K's 18th birthday! Our family, along with her boyfriend, took her shoe shopping, went to a hibachi restaurant for dinner and a drive-thru lights display in Hartford.

December 28
Its cold, cold, cold here but the kids still went out to try their new snow equipment. They were mostly sledding on ice, and Aiden has the scrapped chin to prove it.

Warm and cozy inside, perfect for doing puzzles and playing games.

December 29
Our foster care agency holds an annual bowling day. Free bowling, pizza and soda. H was there, so he joined our group and we got a couple hours to catch up and enjoy hanging out. He seems to be doing ok, the only kid in a household with just one single older woman.

We stopped at the office to do a couple things. I caught Shaun and Aiden talking stocks. :)

December 30
Second Christmas puzzle done!

We had some friends over combined with fresh snow...perfect!!

December 31
Different day, different cousins, same sledding hill. :)