Day 120

I was driving to work this morning, and I saw the sun slicing through the rain clouds. I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. I'll let you decide if I pulled over first.

Day 119

My parents' house is a lovely place to be this time of year. They have a group of Azaleas that have grown into a shrub that produces the most vivid red blossoms. This morning I captured the rain on the flowers as I was dropping off my youngest.

Day 118

I am a cloth diapering momma. About six months into my pregnancy with Matt, I decided that I was going to follow through with what I had been saying for years. If I had another baby, then I would probably do cloth instead of disposable diapers.

I am not an earthy momma. Now I love the Earth, and we should all do our part to conserve our natural resources and harm as little as possible in our short stay here. But my cloth diaper decision was based solely on the fact that my oldest would get these rashes on his bottom that were clearly a reaction to the chemicals in his diapers. I decided that I would try to avoid that situation if we were to have another one.

I am a cautious momma. I was honestly quite concerned over the "yuck!" factor associated with cloth diapering. Life is a lot easier if you can just dump these things in the trash and be done with them. I got over it, but also, it wasn't as yucky as I feared. We've worked into a method. I've also had less "yuck" with blow out diapers and wet through outfits. Not that it hasn't happened, but it seems less frequent than it was with the "superior" disposables.

I have become a no-thank-you-Velcro momma. I didn't understand why anyone would want to go with snaps. Who knows where to fasten? How can you really get the best fit? Isn't that a little too "old school"? But when I kept pulling daisy chains of diapers out of the dryer and my little one was falling out of diapers due to lint-filled Velcro, then I knew it was time for a change.

I am now a snaps only, cloth diapering momma. There is a new diaper out that is still the one-size that I loved about the Velcro diapers, but with way more adjustments. The inserts are softer, the color choices are much better, the snaps are so much simpler than what I've seen before. So I took the plunge and ordered an assortment. I'm going to be cleaning up the Velcro and sending them on their way.

The picture today is of our new diapers before heading to the wash.

Day 117

My parents have a Flowering Dogwood in front of their house. It's starting to get quite a few blossoms. Here is a picture I took as I was dropping the boys off this morning.

Day 116

In a relatively spur of the moment move, we joined our friends for an evening out to see some Christian comedians. To be perfectly honest, I really didn't expect a whole lot, but it was a fantastic evening!

The group was the Apostles of Comedy and their mission is to prove that you can enjoy comedy without vulgarity, foul language, and sexual innuendo, and they did a fantastic job of it! My only regret was that they were not in town for more than one night. As I was sitting in the audience, I could think of so many people who would have enjoyed this as well.

Day 115

I'd been planning to do this for a while, but I was waiting for a really good menu. This morning, my good friend and I went to Dinner's Ready and made 20 meals. The last time I did this was well before Matt was born.

It's really nice to have some pre-made meals hanging out in the freezer for those nights when I don't have a lot of time or a lot of inspiration. It's not cheap, but there are almost always leftovers for lunch the next day and it's a more balanced alternative to grilled cheese sandwiches or frozen pizza.

The best thing is that this many meals will fill in the gaps for us for probably at least 3 months. We really enjoyed our Yakisoba Stir Fry with Pork for dinner tonight.

Day 114

We went to dinner tonight at the mall and I noticed this wall behind the boys that I thought was a pretty interesting pattern. It's made out of glass tiles, which is one of my favorite tile materials. I hope to get to use some one day, but probably not in these colors.

Day 113

I was able to install the new case I bought for my iPhone from one of my favorite techy, gadget shops tonight, and I love this new case!

The reason I bought it is because it has this lens in the case that allows you to take clear macro photos. And it works awesome! I generally stick to the one-photo-per-day rule but today it just wouldn't make any sense without two photos.

This is without the macro lens

This is with the macro lens

Sorry I didn't manage to figure out anything more creative to take a picture of, but this little dime was on my desk. (Not sure how it got there, and I'm pretty sure it will not last there much longer.)

Aside from the cool macro lens, the case also comes with a touch screen protective film, which I've wanted since I bought the phone. With two small children, and well, my complete lack of coordination, it's a must have. I can't even begin to understand why the touch screen still works with the film, but it's still great.

And probably the best thing about this case is that it was $5 less than my first case, which had absolutely no features other silicon buttons that eventually pop out and go missing. Definitely a great buy.

Day 112

I've had a couple of old pictures of Paul on my desk at work for a while. I'd been meaning to switch them out for a picture of each of the boys. I realized this morning that I still had the pictures from my class last weekend in my bag. In just a few minutes I had an updated picture frame on my desk. I loved looking at them all day.

Day 111

I was looking at this tree in our back yard this afternoon, and noticed that there was a snail hanging out among the branches. I didn't know that snails climbed trees.

Day 110

When I left for work this morning, there was this fantastic fog in the valley. Of course, I had to grab the camera and snag a pic before taking the boys over to grandma's.

Day 109

I had a hard time figuring out which picture I wanted to use today. While I like the composition on one quite a bit, I thought the exposure is a little washed out. The other one has the opposite problem. I'm going with the one that has the better composition.

There are so many fantastic flowers out in bloom right now. One of my favorites is this bush, and to be completely honest, I have no idea what it's called. But I love the sweet fragrance these little flowers give off. This particular shrub has huge bunches of these flowers.


If you're curious about the other picture, then feel free to check it out.

Day 108

I was going to try to refrain from using this picture in my 365 today because I wanted to wait until I had completed it in a way I'm more excited about, but the reality of my life is that might not happen for several months. And, this is also by far the best thing I did today.

For the first time in I think probably about nine months, unless I'm forgetting something, I was able to take a jewelry class. My jewelry making partner in crime and I took a soldering class. I've been very interested in learning this technique for quite a while. It was really fun to learn, and while my finished product is not perfect, it is very organic. I'm looking forward to getting a chance to try this out again and incorporate it into some of my future jewelry pieces.

This particular pendant features my two boys - one on each side. The soldering process marred the photos I used a little, but I think it adds to the organic feel of the piece.

Day 107

We were in the area of our old house today, and I thought I'd drive by to see if it was looking any different. When we sold the house it struck me as kind of an odd experience because I'd never really had a situation where I'd moved and was still close enough to visit my old home. My experience growing up had always been to move across the country. I've done quite a bit of moving from apartments since I've been married and those pretty much look the same when you go back.

The story of our house is actually kind of sad to me. A month or so ago we discovered that the couple who purchased our home back in September were in a re-selling situation where it's fairly apparent that they were no longer able to make payments. While I had nothing to do with their financial decisions, it still makes me oddly feel like somehow we should have known not to sell to them.

It makes me sad in a different way as well because I knew that they were so excited to one day turn Paul's old room into a nursery. Part of the selling agreement was to keep the curtains and closet coverings in place, and the new people were so excited to have them. In a way, I was okay with it because I could start over in the new house, but I was also sad because they were part of my first baby's nursery. Now I'll never know if the first thing the newest people do is take those decorations down.

As for the house, it looks quite a bit the same. The new people took out all of the plants in the front and added one new bush off to the side. I can only assume that they had a master plan that didn't work out. One of the first things we did when we moved in was plant all of the bushes and flowers that they were so quick to remove.

I guess it's just hard not to be a bit sentimental (and a tad critical over any changes) with your first home.

Day 106

Paul comes home with a preschool project of some sort nearly every single class day. There's just no way we're going to be able to keep all of these projects, and often they end up so well loved that they're not quite the same as when they first came home.

I've taken to trying to snap a picture of his projects as a way of keeping them without having to find a place to store them. I haven't been as good about it as I could be, but I'm working on it. Today he brought home this cute little boat, and he's super excited to try it out tonight in the bath.

Day 105

When I got to my parents' at lunch this afternoon, Matt was sound asleep in grandma's arms. I forget sometimes that he's still such a baby. It just reminded me of how little he still is seeing him all scrunched up and sleeping completely content on grandma. Those moments pass so quickly.

Day 104

Daddy came home today after being in Europe for 11 days. The boys (and momma) couldn't have been happier.

Depending on how often you check my posts, you might have noticed a different picture earlier, but I decided to change it to this one. The other will show up on the boys' 365, but looking back, I liked capturing this moment of Paul with his hands behind his back. This was his patiently waiting for daddy to come up the escalator.

Day 103

As I was driving home yesterday, I idly noticed the pattern of the dark evergreen trees mixed with the lighter pale green of new growth on the deciduous trees. I decided to turn around and try to get a proper picture from within the comfort of my car. I think it turned out pretty okay.

Day 102

As promised, I have a picture of me in my Easter dress I picked up the other day. With two little boys who were entirely uninterested in getting a picture, it's a bit surprising that I even have one photo. I think this one was the best of the bunch.

I just realized that you actually can't see much of the dress, oh well.

Day 101

Before going to bed tonight, I put together the boys' Easter baskets. We've never done them in the past, but I thought with dad out of town, it would be a fun treat. Nothing very exciting for either of the boys, just a few odds and ends I picked up mainly at Target. I got the baskets free from a co-worker years ago and for now they are the perfect Easter baskets.

Day 100

My littlest one decided that he was not interested in a nice, long afternoon nap like older brother was, and he wanted to be up to play with mom. So while I was playing with him I decided to grab the camera and explore some settings, angles and zooms.

I liked several shots for various reasons, but at nearly midnight, I'm deciding to go with this one. I'm drawn to the bold colors, and you can see a fuzzy Matt in the background.

Day 99

There were some storm clouds brewing this evening, and I caught this one with the sun trying to peek through.

Day 98

Paul spent the day with his "Barb Grandma" today and while he was showing us what he did in the woods, grandpa pointed out some wild Trillium that was blooming.  I had to get some pictures.

Day 97

All day long I had various things I was going to use for my picture - what the boys and I did today, what I made for dinner, the neighbor's plants. But it was in the early evening as I was sitting down with Matt that the winner for the day became clear.

Day 96

As a Lutheran, we follow the church calendar and observe the season of Lent, which is that period of time between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Most everyone knows that Lent is for 40 days, which is a common number in the Bible - 40 days and nights of the flood, 40 years the Israelites wandered before reaching the Promised Land, and Jesus' 40 days of fasting in the desert followed by the temptation by Satan - just to name a few.

Often, people will choose to observe Lent by giving up something for those 40 days. I've never observed Lent in that manner before, but had often considered it. This year, I decided to give up chips for Lent. To many this might not sound like a big deal, but I love chips. I very much like salty things, and chips are perfect! They're also very convenient and require no preparation, which is fantastic with little ones.

I started the 40 days without a whole lot of planning, so until I made it to the grocery store, I spent a lot of time contemplating the staleness of various crackers in the pantry. I did make it through the entire 40 days without breaking down.

Of course, you might be looking at your calendar and noting that Easter is a week away, but I assure you that it's 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday. Another way of observing Lent is to take Sunday's "off". I think I might try that method next year if I decide to do this again.

Now, to crack open a bag of chips.

Day 95

I'm kind of starting to realize that I like macro photography. I like to try to get a close-up shot and hopefully take a little bit of a different angle on it too.

We went for a walk this evening, while out at my parent's for dinner. We were surprised to pass by a holly tree with bunches of berry fruit on the branches. Either it didn't get the memo that spring is here, or it's been too cold lately.

I thought this picture had a great contrast of color.


You can also view one of my other photos that didn't make the cut today.

Day 94

I took the boys to the park today to get some time out of the house and burn off some energy. We went to one of our local parks that has farm animals, swings, and lots of walking trails. There is also a kind of silo that has an upper section where the kiddos can go and run around.

The first thing Paul wanted to do was go up the stairs to look out the windows. I took this picture through the fencing protecting the kids from the open window. I thought the darker edges picked up from the fence while shooting through the open holes were kind of cool. It's also nice to see the evidence of Spring.

Day 93

I am so excited to share that after several weeks of searching, we were able to find some new dressers for the boys that were delivered this afternoon!

We bought Paul a big dresser from Ikea a year or two ago and we had a lot of frustration with getting the drawers to stay together after the move. We were frustrated with the assemble-it-yourself furniture and opted to get some quality, pre-made dressers.

I didn't want the exact same dressers for each boy, but I did hope that they would at least coordinate with each other. We bought two pieces from a bedroom set. One is a tall and more narrow dresser and the other is wide and short. The taller dresser is for Matt and the wider dresser is for Paul so he can get access to all of his by clothes himself.

Before Matt only had a small, very narrow dresser, which was perfect for our last house with the smaller rooms. Now that the boys have larger rooms, I think I'm most excited about Matt having a full-sized dresser.

My next project is to go through all the bins of clothes that I've been waiting to look at until I had a place to put them. I'd like to put out the boys' spring and summer clothes even though warmer weather is probably months away. Matt has stuff in his old dresser that hasn't fit him in months. The challenge now will be finding the time.

Day 92

I had some bacon left over from the stew I made a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want it to go bad, so I looked up a crustless quiche recipe and it turned out fantastic!

I hadn't made a quiche in years because hubby gave the impression that he really didn't care for them. This one had lots of bacon, mushrooms and cheese. It was such a hit with the hubby that he had to stop himself at three pieces because he was afraid he'd get sick.

Now the kids on the other hand were a different story.

Day 91

I talked about getting this out of the box a while ago, but in the last couple of weeks I've been using it probably six days out of seven. I'm really enjoying it.

I am completely unbalanced, which I'd always known, but now I have a computer to tell me too. I'm having fun with the aerobic exercises and the balance games. I've also been pretty proud of myself for using it consistently.

Of course, now that my hubby is leaving in a few days, I might not be as faithful for a while, but I can still try.