January 30 (Day 37)

So the calendar at the end of the month (well tomorrow is end of month, but who knows what photo opportunity will present itself tomorrow). Not one of my better months, however I am ok with this. We spent two nights in the hospital with Griffin, my travel schedule was as sporadic as it gets, and both the kids have been pretty well sick the entire month, I realize reality gets in the way of goals. My goal is most days of the week...which I only hit one week, the rest of the weeks was three days a week. I did manage to log in a 6 mile run (well run/walk) today, so on schedule for the half-marathon I want to run in March. And comparing to my 5 mile run a little over a week ago, I am improving my pace as well.

January 29 (Day 36)

Honestly a week ago it was below freezing. Today it was 75 degrees, so me and the kids took advantage of the weather with a picnic and an hour long "hike" (It is North Texas, hard to call it a hike when its just a flat trail). Self portrait of the three of us courtesy the timer on the camera.

January 28 (Day 35)

Kids fell asleep on our bed. I hated to move them...

January 27 (Day 34)

Back in Louisiana again..for a day, literally, I flew in at 6 am and flew out at 3 pm. I had a meeting in Natchitoches (one of my favorite places...great for weekend get a ways, and the location where Steel Magnolias was filmed). I was able to grab lunch on Historic Front Street and literally snapped this picture while getting in the car for my hour trek back to Shreveport. This is in front of the Red River.

January 26 (day 33)

Phoenix' s baton group won first place in one of their Christmas Parades for Marching Group. They are building quite a name for themselves. Baton in not popular here in North Texas (actually we are the only group in all of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, and beyond, there are even no Majorettes in the high school marching bands). Each girl gets to bring home the plaque for a week...it was Phoenix's turn.

January 25 (day 32)

Phoenix's science fair project,in mine and Chris's room. She is observing the effects of an oil spill on aquatic life, amongst other things.

January 24 (day 31)

My esteemed (trying to hold a straight face here) Louisiana Collegues indulged me in a Picture of the Day after our meeting. Gotta love them...despite their flaws.

January 23 (Day 30)

Normally Pugsly the dog is not allowed on furniture, however we had life team at our place and our fellow life team members are dog lovers, so Pugsly the Dog was definitely spoiled this night.

January 22 (Day 29)

Griffin (goofing off) and a friend at lunch. Precious!

Project Life

Becky Higgins has a great little product called Project Life (you can get it at amazon). I bought last years version last year when I started this project, and never used it. I had in my head I was going to use my scrapbook paper and make my own scrapbook of my daily pictures..Yeah right! By April I had not lifted a finger to scrap even one photo, and felt overwhelmed and gave up the project all together. This year, I vowed to not only complete, but in an effort to encourage me to complete, put the photos and journal them in an album ASAP. Yesterday I had my first two weeks of photos in hand, and I went to work. I did the cover page, as well as the first two weeks, and I can already tell that using this product on a regular basis and getting the photos (and the journalling) int he book is already going to make a difference in my keeping up. So cool seeing the pictures come together in book form, and the journalling is fun. I used this blog to refer back to to journal, and the system is going to work out for me just fine.

Here are some photos of the cover page and the 2nd week of photos.

In the smaller pockets of the cover page I put a foldable journal card (included in the album kit) for each member of the family and I wrote stats. For example, on Phoenix's card I put her age, grade, height, weight, favorite color, BFF, favorite food, favorite music artist, favorite song, size pants, size shoes, and things she loves. For mine, I put similar stats (like hobbies, etc, but I also put some of my goals, like losing weight, and recorded my current weight. I intend for the last page of the book to have a new family photos, and he same info on the journal cards on the week the project ends, so we have recorded what has changed through the year.

Although I love this product, my point is to find a system for you that works, because this is my third attempt at completing the project, and the two times before I definitely failed due to lack of organization and getting these precious memories in a book format in a timely manner.

Cover Page

1st page of 2nd week.

2nd page of 2nd week

January 21 (Day 28)

My poor little guy. He had a sever asthma episode on Thursday (after a year of none) and is now back on his every 2 hour breathing treatment regimen. This after a hospital stay last weekend for a intestinal viral infection. When I loaded him up to take him to the doc he looked at me with those sad puppy dog eyes and asked "I am not going to have hand surgery again, am I"? I was a little confused and said hand surgery, and he said yeah, like int he hospital. OMG I bust out laughing, he was referring to when the put the port in his hands to take his blood and give him medicine and fluids. I told him he did not have had surgery and to quit ebeing such a drama queen, too funny!

January 20 (Day 27)

My feet after a run. Love these socks! Thanks Mom!

PS...the macro shot was the water faucet handle in the master bathroom.

January 19 (Day 26)

My boss retired after 36 years of public service. This is our division, Jack is behind me, back row, suit, tie, glasses and red hair. Sad day. He impacted an untold

number of peoples lives for the better (and they have no idea) . Sad Day1

January 18 (Day 25)

Macro Monday....can you guess what it is? I was rather pleased with the way it turned out.

January 17 (Day 24)

I had a whole other picture for today, but I heard Griffin giggling from his bedroom and walked in to find him and Pugsly the dog playing and could not resist. I love how I captured Pugsly the dog kissing Griff on the chin.

January 16 (Day 23)

Dear Husband shaved his head bald. Not my favorite look, but he likes it and hair grows.

January 15 (Day 22)

So the goal is exercise most days of week, which is technically 4, however I like to be active 5 days a week and am usually successful, but this week this picture definitely is a good lesson in do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today. I always exercise when out of town, it is a no brainer, no kids, no hubby, not guilt for leaving for an hour to exercise, however, getting home late, and then wanting to spend time with family makes not going easy, especially when you only have 1 day to make the most days of the week goal, until the last day you actually have to exercise you end up at the Children's hospital with a very sick 6 year old. Oh well, there is always next week. It is the first week since I hurt my knee that I have not made my goal.

January 14 (Day 21)

I arrived home to my new toy!

January 13 (Day 20)

Two shots snapped hastily on my last day on this trip to New Orleans. IT was too darn cold on the river to go out and do any proper photography. Both shots captured from rent a car on my way to office in morning. One on a street corner in Downtown New Orleans, and the other one as I was driving across the Mississippi River Bridge.

January 12 (Day 19)

Arizona Memorial Service...a moment captured from the TV.

January 11 (Day 18)

Empty Hotel Room = lonely mommy and wife.

January 10 (day 17)

My coworkers, in my office..err..cube..humoring me for my picture of the day

Jan 9 (day 16)

Could not pick one....
First snow came while at church, Phoenix immediately went home and got out the china tea set she received for Christmas and hosted a hot chocolate and pizza party.

The day ended with snowman making in the dark.

To 6 and 8 yeor olds... a perfect winter day.

January 8 (Day 15)

My very crude, yet rewarding way to track my exercise during the week. Simple, engage in 40 or more minutes of vigorous exercise and earn a smiley face. Goal...smiley face most days of week (technically 4 or more). Sure feels good at the end of the month when you see all those smiley faces.

January 7 (Day 14)

It is wacky winter wear day at school. This is what they came p with.

January 6 (Day 13)

Griffin making his breakfast before school.

January 5 (Day 12)

Random shop taken from above of my lunch in a bag ready for me to grab on my way out int he Morning. Chris makes my lunch most mornings.

January 4 (Day 11)

Unpacking from the trip, and truth be known this little guy hardly ever gets 100% unpacked, and it is always out against the wall in our bedroom, ready to be filled for the next trip...but I really need a new one.

January 3( Day 10)

Did not take long for me to have to make my first business trip of 2011. Off to Alexandria to talk about their de-certified levees (I am not a popular person in much of central Louisiana due to their levees).

January 2 (Day 9)

Griffin is reading one of the three chapter books he received for Christmas, Beastquest, Book 1. He reads every night before bed.

January 1 (Day 8)

the kids and I sat down to play scrabble slam. Griffin snapped this picture...

December 31 (Day 7)

Not very New Yearsy, I know. We hung around the house, roasted marshmallows around the fire pit, and generally fell asleep before midnight. I do not get many pictures with Chris, which is why I chose this one. Welcome 2011