January's 10 on 10

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

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

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love.

Avery and I were up much of the night with her stomach bug.

I walked the kids to school and Amanda screamed/cried the whole way, Can we please take the car? I'm SO cold! Can we please take the car? I'm SO cold! Can we please take the car? I'm SO cold! Can we please take the car? I'm SO cold! My legs are burning!

Later when I got in the car to go to work, the temperature read 4 degrees. Oops....we probably should have taken the car to school. :(

Pretty scene on my drive.

So much to do!

A teacher called me from the high school, clearly just moments after the incident with H had happened. I could picture that her neck was still red and veins were popped out as she was relaying the events in the classroom. (she called me at work, I took the picture later...at 3:26, to be exact ;)

Back home with my girl, who was feeling much better.

And lucky girl, her siblings brought her homework home for her. :)

Sweetest Lego guy, who craves alone time just as much as his mom and dad.

Amanda found an empty photo album and got to work selecting pictures she'd like to print. "Mom, there aren't any good ones here." (in the 10,000 she was looking through ;)

After a heart to heart with H, sandwiched between basketball drop off and pickup, I felt it would be good to play a game together. Aiden got some help when his dad came home from work for the last bit of the game.

Life is messy and hard and full of blessings. At one point in my conversation with H he said "I wish life was easy".  In my head I said bah!, out loud I mentioned a verse found in the Bible and it was also referenced in church last night during a special service.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Project 365, Week 2

We're trying to love January, with its cold days and shoveling chores. Its taken me this long to post because my arms were too tired to type. :) This week was getting back into our routines after Christmas break.

January 2

New Christmas toy and old friends.

January 3

One thing nice about the cold, dark days of winter is there is more time devoted to snuggles and working on our read-aloud book. Such a special time, for all of us, I think.

January 4

More often than not, these two have been getting along recently. Two common interests that bring them together are Legos and "spies".

January 5

We are not huge animal people and having one dog to care for just about maxes us out. Still, Amanda systematically wore me down, convincing me that we needed to add a fish to our crazy. With the promise that she'd be solely responsible and would use her own money, we finally stopped at the pet store.

January 6
We were all genuinely surprised the next morning to find the fish, "Flow" was still alive.

After their half day of school, the kids got right to work doing what they do best. Playing. :)

January 7
And then snow all day Saturday.

H got a new snowboard for Christmas and this was his first chance to try it out. Amanda was giving him lessons, which could have turned out a couple different ways, but it ended up being a good thing.

January 8
Cozy jams x 3.

Project 365, Week 1

Happy New Year! I'm kicking off this 2017 Project 365 (my 9th year doing P365!) with a whole lotta photos. We spent the week doing many family events for the holiday week.

December 26

We said goodbye to our New York/CA family and said hello to "D", a respite placement who we had for the week. We gave him a quick tour of the house and we were off to a Christmas luncheon with Shaun's family and an evening with my two sisters and their families.

December 27
Thankful for slow mornings!!

And...family time!

December 28
Slow mornings. :)

We attended our foster agency's annual bowling party.

December 29
The girls spent the afternoon with Grandma so the boys and I went on a little walk. Ginger didn't seem to notice that the water was ice cold.

December 30
We got to celebrate my SIL's 40th birthday. She's been a good friend for many years and I'm so thankful for her life.

While we were there, the kids were in Boston with Pop and Kiki. They took time to celebrate good news from the doctor.

December 31
I like the idea of doing something fun and special for New Year's Eve, but I never have the heart to put anything together so close to post-Christmas. We had a quiet evening at home...watched a family movie and then I went to bed while Shaun and the kids stayed up playing videos games, waiting for the ball to drop.

This was a fun little collection of my top "liked" Instagram pictures for 2016.

January 1
We went to the noon service at church, which we almost never do, and it was a nice way to start the New Year. Loved the reminder of God's faithfulness....its truly overwhelming.

Standing on this mountaintop

Looking just how far we've come

Knowing that for every step

You were with us

Kneeling on this battle ground

Seeing just how much You've done

Knowing every victory

Was Your power in us

Scars and struggles on the way

But with joy our hearts can say

Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone

Never once did You leave us on our own

You are faithful, God, You are faithful

In keeping with tradition, we spent the afternoon with Shaun's grandmother. She made a delicious meal and had presents for all the kids.