Close-up pics

…are for the challenge of Day 26.  Here are ours:

A close up of J’s feet.  Why, yes, I do have lots of pictures of J’s body parts.  I really like them (as well as the person they’re attached to.)

S’s close up pic of the cat.  I wonder if the kitties are tired of being subjects of the photo challenge.  They haven’t said.

. 

A bunch of pics for the photo challenge

The theme for today is something pink.  Thanks to my little girl, pink items are not lacking around our house!

Here’s S’s photo for the day.  When we moved into this house, it wasn’t a big mystery who would get this room:

K’s room.  (In case you were still wondering)

S also got caught up on some pictures today, so here they are in no particular order:

Hands

Sunflare

Animal

Animal

…is the theme for the day’s photo challenge.  I call this one, “Are you really interrupting my nap for this?”

Protected: Is there a word for that?

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Hands and Sunshine

Well, technically a sunflare.  But the sunshine kept playing hide and seek all day! Thankfully it did peak out a little, and thankfully, there wasn’t three children screaming for my attention one of the minutes it was out.  So here is my sunflare picture:

Photo challenge Day 23:  Sunflare

I opened the door and took the picture of the sunflare with the door frame.  I didn’t even step outside.  There wasn’t much time, because a three year old and baby were heading my way fast!

Photo challenge day 22:  Hands

I took a few hand pics, but I liked this one the best.  Partly because of the angle of the hands.  And partly because my hand doesn’t look as old as it did in some of the pictures.  *Sigh*…that darn aging thing.  It’d be nice if it wasn’t so pronounced in pictures! 🙂

 .

Monday and gratefulness

Today is a blah day.  The weather is gray and I am tired.  S had a rough morning full of bad choices. J fought his nap like crazy and I lost a chunk of time because of it.


But I’ve been thinking a lot recently.  (Okay, my whole life I’ve been thinking a lot.  I’m part melancholy…it’s what I do.)  I want to infuse more gratefulness in my life.  I have so much to be grateful for! And when I choose to remember those things, the bad things seem so much smaller, if not trivial even.  On Pinterest there’s been a saying circulating, “What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today?”  Well, that’s a sobering thought! I can suddenly think of a few thousand things for which to be grateful!  I posted that saying on my fridge this past weekend where I could see that reminder frequently.


So I decided I’ll do a list today of ten things I’m grateful for.  That will definitely help with the blahs.  Why 10?  No particular reason.  4000 seemed too long, 3 seems too short.


So here goes:


1.  Health.  We are all quite healthy.  We don’t even have anyone in a cast anymore!
2.  Freedom.  There are endless examples here, but some on my mind today are the freedoms to drive, vote, and travel. By myself.  Without my husband, brother, or father.  In Saudi Arabia the king just granted women the right to vote (though not for a few more years.  Grr.)  However, they still cannot drive or travel out of the country by themselves. (I’m sure that is only the tip of the iceberg on how women are treated there.)  We take quite a bit we take for granted, don’t we?
3.  My kids.  Even when they drive me crazy (which is often.)  I can’t imagine life without them and I am enormously blessed to have them.
4.  My husband.  Even when he drives me crazy (which is often.)  I can’t imagine life without him and I am enormously blessed to have him.  Even with the silly redundancy, I am really grateful for my family.  We’ve been through the lot the last few years, and I’m thankful we’re surviving together.
5.  J.  Every time I hear about a baby in NICU or with health issues I remember what a gift our healthy boy is.  BTW, there is a little baby named Levi fighting for his life.  He needs his lungs to open up soon so he can breathe and stay alive.  I’ve never met this family, but I know some of their agony.  And I know they’d be so grateful if you said a prayer for their baby.  
As I write this I’m watching my three kids play.  Someone is about to fight/cry/scream/etc. And it’s a gift.  They’re together.  They’re healthy.  They drive me crazy.  And I love them.
6.  Clean Water.  I don’t spend all day hiking to get water.  I turn on the tap and clean, safe water comes out.
7.  A house.  Two to be exact.  We’re renting out our house in Michigan; Sheri and her family are doing a fabulous job with it.  We’re renting a house here and it has issues. Seriously, our ancient house in Michigan is more sound than this one.  But it’s a good space for us.  And it has space.  (Though usually the kids want to be right by me rather than in some of the other spaces of the house…which is a mixed blessing!)  Outside it just started raining and lightning.  I’m very grateful for this house.
8.  Music. Do I really need to say more?
9.  Plenty of food to eat.  I won’t even mention the millions starving right now.  Oh, I guess I just did.
10.  A hot shower.  It can soothe, revive, restore, and even get the stink off.


Speaking of food…I’ll bet my family would be grateful if I started on dinner soon!


What are you thankful for today?  Would you like to share?

.

Day 21: More self portraits

It seems like there are many self portraits in this set of challenges.  (Epsecially for those who don’t love self-portaits!)  Today was a ‘faceless self portrait.’

Here is S’s:

And mine:

.

Protected: Photo Challenge: Bokeh

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Protected: Photo Challenge, Day 19

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Protected: Photo Challenge: Day 18

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password: