I think I'm more sad than them!

So, as every spring and start of summer, we've had kids playing ball.

One baseball player. One softball player.

I've been to almost all of their games - only missing a couple when they both play on the same night (and husband and I have to split games). I missed a few from not feeling that well. But I've been to almost every single game.

This year, I've also had the pleasure of taking pictures of them playing. Actually, the whole team. Both sets of coaches allowed me to stand on the sidelines of the field and shoot the whole team. And so more game than not I shot anywhere from 800-2000 pictures.

I learned more about my camera during this season than I have since I got it. I was proud of some of the pictures that I took. Every once in a while I get a picture that is just phenomenal and I'm shocked I took it! 

But taking pictures of all these kids, I feel invested in both of their teams.

My husband has been coaching for many years and I think I finally understand how he feels about coaching. I got to really know the kids on the teams this year and it's been a good thing.

But I haven't just gotten to know the kids, I've gotten to chat with a lot of the parents. These might be the best team parents I've had the pleasure of interacting with - not to say past teams have been bad! Because we've never been on a bad team (thankfully!)

I know I've talked about this before, but I struggle to meet people, to make friends, to feel a part of the group.

This year I felt that. I felt a part of the group.

It's been heaven.

Both my kids have either one or two games left.

And I think I might be more sad that the season is ending than my kids are. It's been such a fun season. In a perfect world, we'd stay with these teams for, oh, ever!

If we're lucky, we'll see a few of these kids on our team next year, but it's not guaranteed. And I hope that we can just get together after the season ends - both kids and parents - to keep the friendships growing.

Because it's been a good year. And I'm going to miss it!  

Because life is too short

Life is too short.

I say this a lot. Because mostly, I think it's true: life is too short. None of us can live forever. And when we are surrounded by loved ones, family, and friends, life is always going to be too short. Is 100 years enough time with those you love? I say no. And yet, if I get 100 years, I'll be feeling pretty blessed.

March, as I've said was a rough month.

There was a lot going on here at home. At the start of the month, my time was split between taking care of my kids and granny. There wasn't enough time to do everything and so many balls got dropped. There was no time to take care of my husband (not that he needs to be taken care of, just not enough time to spend with him). And there certainly was no time to take care of myself. A shower, a change of clothes, and food on a mostly regular basis were about all I could do.

And then Lisa passed away. Not that long after Ginnie passed away. And during all of that a friend had to pull out of a cancer trial she was in because it stopped working.

I was an exhausted, emotional wreck at that point.

As I often did, I checked the camera I had been saving up to buy. I liked to watch the price just in case. It paid off. The camera was on-sale.

I went to my envelope (yes, I stuck money in an envelope as I got it) and I counted: 15 months of saving and I had enough to buy it at the sale price.

I thought about it. I thought some more. I hemmed and hawed. And in the middle of sitting at respite care with granny, I decided it was time to buy my new camera. You know why? Because life's too short.

It was still hard for me to decide to buy it - it was a lot of money. Even though I had saved, picked up extra jobs to help save for it, it was definitely a big splurge. There were plenty of other things to do with that money: summer wardrobes for the kids, music lessons for the kids, landscaping in our yard, put in savings towards a new vehicle. I mean, I could go on and on with all the things we could have done with that money.

But life is just too damn short. I saved, and I worked. The kids knew I was saving. They knew I wanted this camera. And there has to be a lesson in there for them, right? I wanted something nice for myself that I didn't need. So I worked and I saved. And I watched the price on it. And I researched and researched. And when I had enough, I bought it.

There's a small part of me that still feels guilty, but mostly I'm very happy. I love my new camera. I pretty much take it with me everywhere. No really, I do. Ask my family and they'll you. I take it with even when they say things like "Really, you're bringing your camera with for this?"

Oh yes, I'm bring my camera as we walk around the block - you just never know what you'll see.

I know I'm not a professional photographer. This isn't a potential career for me. It's a hobby. It's something to do for fun because I enjoy it. And I couldn't be happier.

I'm not saying I'm going to spend us into high amounts of debt and make huge purchases all the time. I'm rarely make purchases this large (the last one was the serger sewing machine I bought myself after working a part-time job and saving like 6 years ago). But every once in a while, I give myself permission to splurge. Because life is just too short. 

2015 Goals

In years past I've set resolutions.

I've picked words to guide my year.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Because sometimes I'm more motivated and sometimes I'm not. And sometimes things happen that change plans.

And yet, this year, I'm ready to go again. So I've set a few goals for the year. We'll see how it goes. I want these goals to be fun, help me grow, etc. So if they become a burden, then I shall re-evaluate.

1. Make a granny square every weekday of 2015 - yes, I said every weekday. The weekend will be a break or a time to catch up should I need it.

2. Read 40 books, with 30 of them being from the Rory Gilmore Reading List

3. Organize three years worth of digital pictures - bonus if I can get through more, but I'll be happy with just three years. Basically this means I delete the bad ones, tag faces, tag locations and leave any stories behind the picture if it needs to be

4. Organize scrapbooking items/keepsakes - I have boxes of scrapbooking things and of keepsakes. I need to get things organized and in proper boxes. I also need to weed through things and probably get rid of things. When we moved, this part of looking through things was just too daunting, so all of these boxes were just stacked and moved. It's time to delve in. Since there is no move this upcoming year and a lot of other things were done before the move, I should be able to focus on this.

5. Finish a train embroidery project - I've been working on this for too long. It's time to finish! Of course, once it's finished, I have other projects waiting in the wings ready to be worked on too. But, for now, I'll focus on this one and call it a day.

6. Make money from my knitting - I don't know how this will work or if it will. But I'd love to bring in an income, even a tiny one. And I love to knit so it seems like a good fit? We'll see.

7. On the blogging side of things, it's to blog twice a week. I feel like that should be doable, though I don't always average that. Though I want to make sure I'm not blogging nothing just to get a post up.

8. Also related to blogging, I need to be a better commenter on other blogs. I love getting comments. I assume others do as well. So I shall try to spread the love better and make sure I'm not just writing here, but reading other blogs as well.

8 goals. It may not seem like much, but there it is! I'm ready to go and tackle things. I've got quite a few plans in place to get things done. I've got the month of January done in my bullet journal and most of February done as well. Many of these goals are in the book already - nothing will get done in month one, but I should make some good progress in January. And hopefully in December I can come back to this list and say yep, finished that; yep, finished that; oh, cross that one off too!

What about you? Have you set any goals or resolutions or picked a word (or a few) to help guide your 2015? Share! 

Vacation Photos

So I know we went on vacation 2 months ago, but I've been meaning to share some pictures from our trip to New Hampshire, and, well, tonight seems like a good time! So buckle up ... there's a lot of pictures here!

 So, first up was The Beach. Yes, with capital letters because we live smack in the middle of the country. We don't see oceans and beaches and waves for as far as the eye can see! So, getting to head East and get on a beach is an awesome time for us!

The kids did some boogie boarding and LOVED it! I think the 12yo enjoyed it more than the 8yo, but she was also willing to go farther out into the water and I think that helps!

I stood up for a few minutes, took some pictures and then sat my butt down and relaxed. And knitted. Because I am me. Keep in mind, the 8yo and I had left Chicago at 9pm Friday night. Got into Boston at 1 (or 2? can't remember) am Sunday morning, got up and hopped on another train at 9am Sunday morning and met up with the others just after lunch time. We practically headed straight to the beach so to say I was a bit tired might be an understatement!

So basically, the beach was just lovely! 

I think if we lived near a beach, I would spend a lot of time there. It is always so relaxing.

Quite a few years ago we traveled to The Beach as part of vacation (on the East coast, but not to the same spot) and I slept outside one night. It was lovely. And sunrises over the beach? Lovely.

This vacation was just a day trip to the beach, so there was no sunrises to watch, but the few hours were there, were so wonderful! 

 Two of the days I was out there we did some hiking. One was pretty uphill and up a mountain. The mountain was HUGE.

Okay, okay, it wasn't really huge. But I've lived my whole life in the midwest. You know what is considered mountains out here? Things that would make people in New Hampshire laugh. Because they aren't very big.

So, yes, we climbed a huge mountain - that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Just don't ask my in-laws to collaborate that because they will tell you the hike we took up the not so huge mountain was rated as easy in their Hikes to Take Your Children or Your Daughter In Law Who Don't Really Know What a Tall Mountain Looks Like But Thinks Little Ones Are Huge book, or something like that.

It was fun. No, really, it was fun. It was also painful. And when we got home from this hike up the world's tallest mountain, I immediately just fell asleep.

But, for real, it was worth it.

The view. I mean the view from the top (that wasn't technically the top of the mountain, but do I look like a mountain climber? No. So this was good enough!) was gorgeous! And it was just gorgeous for miles around.

It was seriously beautiful. We live in a very urban area, and we have forest preserves and places to hike (without mountains), but they aren't very big areas. Well, some are. Comparatively. But I'm always amazed when we go out to New Hampshire, how much space there is. Of trees and forests and mountains and streams and rivers. You turn 360 degrees and just see nature. Everywhere. It is fabulous. 

The next day, we decided to take an even easier hike. There is this great area where you can go and dig for fossils and granite. Now, my 12 year old loves rocks and minerals so this was specifically picked for her. My 8yo just loves digging and fossils, so he was equally excited.

Except our little hike turned into a 40 mile-not-sure-where-we-were-going-and-thinking-we-might-need-to-be-air-rescued-and-saved.

Alright. Much like my HUGE mountain, I might be stretching the truth a bit. We probably walked for about 4 miles. And we figured out part-way we were on the wrong path, but we were on a path none the less, so we weren't really lost. And we didn't need air rescue. Or ground rescue. Or any rescue.


And it was fun to not know quite where we were. And it was exciting that there was a 0.000000000001% chance we were lost!

Okay, it wasn't. I lied. I kept thinking my husband is going to kill me if I die out here in a forest with two-thirds of the kids just the day after being so accomplished and hiking the world's tallest mountain ever! Thankfully, we made it back to the beginning.

And amazingly, we were able to find the right path. And walk another milish and get to the dig site.

Which was actually fun and exciting. And the kids had a great time. They each took a few bits home with them (it was allowed - I promise we were very respectful of the forest). And it was so fun.

I would absolutely do all of this again. But I might not do two hikes on two consecutive days! Because I had to sleep for like 3 days straight to recover from all that hiking. Not that I was actually able to sleep for 3 days straight, but boy, did I get a lot of good sleep for the next few nights! ;-)

Anyway, just some fun from our trip. The kids and I had a great time.

And They're Off

The entrance

A few weeks ago, the kids and I were invited to Arlington Park.

Having lived in the Chicago suburbs for essentially my whole life, I always knew Arlington existed, but I had never been! The kids had been with my husband before, but I had never been. So when invited, I decided we would go. Which, turns out, was a fabulous decision!

Mister Man watching a race

First a little history. We have family ties to the racetrack. My husband's great grandfather was the head electrician there for over 20 years. His grandmother has stories about being there as a child. She also worked there as a young adult. We have tables in our shed that came from the racetrack. They were given to my husband's grandfather, after as a firefighter he helped fight a fire there.

Hanging out at the table

All of this to say, that there are some strong family ties to the track. And while the family talks about the track on a fairly regular basis, I had yet to actually go there. So it was kind of exciting to be going there for the first time! 

Pre-race Parade

Fridays, the admission price is discounted, and you are allowed to bring your own food in. We did bet a little, but of course, that isn't required. I could have spent 5 hours there, with the two kids, for $12 whole dollars (assuming I brought my own food and didn't place a bet). Definitely, a fun time in my price range!

We found a great little table to hang out at between races. It was close to where they do the pre-race parade. Which was nice because we'd walk over, see the horses, place our bets (a whole 2 dollars on each race. I'm telling you, I'm a big spender!), then go walk by the finish line to see the race. For one race, we went up to the grandstands to see the race. Mister Man liked being up there the best, but the rest of us preferred to be down by the finish.

The horses are gorgeous! If I say they are positively majestic, will that sound too cliche? Well, even if it does, they were majestic. Miss M was also very thrilled to see quite a few female jockeys. Okay, okay, me too!

The start of the race is fun to watch. As they get all the hoses into the gates. Once that last horse is in though, bam, that race starts without hardly a pause! The first few races started at a point very close to were we could stand. The rest started at other spots (because the races are different lengths and some are on the dirt and some on the turf).

But let's be honest. The real excitement is at the end. You can get pretty close to the finish line too. For almost every race, we were down there as close to front and center as you can get. I should specify here, this is for the races on the dirt. The races on the turf were on the inside track, and we didn't have the ability to cross the dirt track to get there!

View from the grandstand

Some of the races were REALLY close. Some weren't. In one race, one horse was disqualified (or something. I'm not going to lie, I didn't really hear what happened) other than at the end of the race 3 horses were first, second, third and 5 minutes later, a different horse was third place.

There were lots of people in derby hats. Some people dressed up. We went in very casually dressed. Which was fine too. I wanted to get a derby hat - some of them are so pretty - but couldn't find one I liked and could afford. I did try a bunch on though and that was fun!

All in all, we had a great afternoon at the racetrack. I'm anxious to get out there again at least once more this racing season (maybe twice if it's in the cards!)

As a side note, while we were at the track, I shot all my photographs in manual. I still don't have down 100%, but I am pretty proud of how a few of my pictures turned out!  

3 on 3

I decided to start a new tradition around here. Every month on the third, I'm going to snap a shot of my three kiddos - 3 on 3.

This is not an idea I thought of on my own. I've been watching for years as Stephanie over at Adventures in Babywearing has been doing pictures of her 4 on the 4th. I only wish I would have started it when I first saw her doing it, because think of all the pictures I would have to look back on now?

But you can't go backwards, only forward. So here you go

Yes. I took that picture today. Yes, we live in Chicago-land. My kids are standing outdoors, in December and not freezing.

It was a beautiful day today, so I dressed them all up and headed to a farm to take some pictures of them. Okay, maybe more than some. Maybe about 350. I took pictures of them together, apart, sometimes two of them. I got a few I really like. I'm excited and hopefully I can actually get Christmas cards done this year.

3/365

2/365

1/365

So, I'm beginning a 365 project. Basically it's to take 1 picture every day for an entire year. I figure now is as good as time as any! {I may change this to 315 - which would be 6 days per week. And also, most will be self-portraits!}

Picture the Holidays: Dec. 1&2

Just wanted to share =)

Time ...

Time is positively not on my side these days! There's just too much to do and not nearly enough time to do it all! But, I am trying to remember to breath, to enjoy this season because it's supposed to be fun! And it is. It's just that it can also be stressful and full of a lot of to-do lists that are just impossible to finish, unless I decided to skip sleeping until December 26. And well, I might push the limits of staying up very late, but I can't give up sleep altogether =)

Anyway, things aren't going all that badly, but as each day passes, I worry about the projects left to finish. And a few things I've changed just knowing time is short. (Seriously, I think for next year I will have to start December 26 this year LOL!) But really, things are pretty good and after changing a few things, I'm not as nervous as I was a few days ago. And today, I got a massage. And that helps. A lot! I think I absolutely need to get a massage every single December. Well, okay, maybe every month ;-)

Also, this month I joined a photo class (not so much a class as a prompt a day to help inspire you to take photos) and I'm loving it! It's over at Big Picture Classes and I'm loving it. It's called Picture the Holidays. I think I will also sign up Picture Winter - which is similar. I do also wish I could take this Mastering Manual Mode class too - however, that's not quite in the cards for me yet! (And no, I'm not a paid spokesperson, I am just really enjoying the class so far!) I'm going to be posting my pictures here I hope - but I always say I'll share, and then never remember to do so. I hope not this time. Some of the pictures I'm actually proud of ;-)

Also, my baby turned 5 on Saturday. This led to a lot of excitement and happiness in our house. But, me, I'm a bit sad too. Because he's growing so big and independent. And while I love all of that - I truly truly do! I'm not above admitting that it is kind of a bit sad to be needed less. Although I'm not sure I really am, I am just needed in a different way I suppose and I am having a hard time transitioning. The kids, though, they are fine with it all!

It seems like a blink of an eye he's gone from little baby to a big boy

Happy birthday my little booga boy =)

Family Photos

So Sunday we headed out to get some family pictures done! And so I thought I'd pretty them up a bit and share.  Enjoy =)

New lens ...

Earlier this year I was generously gifted an amazon gift card - for which I was very grateful for but struggled to spend it (because I'm strange and I've always had trouble spending gift cards often because I have too many things on my wish list and can't figure out just what to get LOL!)

But last week I read this over at Joyful Abode and kind of fell in love with the idea of her new camera lens. So I hemmed and hawed. And hawed and hemmed. And then I ordered the camera lens =)



And I love it. I've been wanting an actual macro lens for a while now (and was this close to purchasing one this summer, but held off because it just felt like too much to spend with our vacation and everything else). But I think this will be a nice filler. I can get closer with this lens than I can with my other lens. And so it will keep me happy for a while!



(Just a fun spur of the moment pic I took with it to see how it does with little things. Not bad I'd say!) I imagine next spring/summer, I will have a blast photographing flowers and other such summery things with this lens. Not that I plan on not using it until then - oh no. I will be playing and testing it out.

Photo ...

Just popping in to show you one of my fav shots from vacation (that doesn't have people in it!). I took this one night and I personally love it. I really do!

So anyway .... I really do love it a whole lot. I suppose it's because I took it and I've never done anything like this before. But I'm pretty sure I would love it without those two factors LOL!

So well, maybe, just maybe someone else might like it to? Maybe not - but I'm trying anyway and entering this in Greeblepix. I have low expectations - but I figure it doesn't hurt to try, right? So I'm trying! Anyway, head on over and see the other entries because they are all fabulous! =)

Jump in!

Greeblemonkey is hosting a photography contest this month and the theme is inspiration. Normally I don't enter these sorts of things - a photographer I am not. But this contest is unique in that for every entry, $1 will be donated to UNICEF. So I'm tossing this photograph into the mix because how could I not!

So my picture is Jump In!

Because I love how kids just jump into a pile leaves, with all their might and strength and joy!! It's awesome! It inspires me to jump into life with the same vigor!

There isn't much time, you have to enter by 10pm mountain time tonight! Which is only about 6 hours from now! So hurry over, find a picture, and jump in and enter it. And who knows, maybe you'll be picked as a finalist! =)

Alive but busy!

So many things to say and things to share tonight! I'm alive, but I have been keeping busy for sure! So today will be a list of things!

- For father's day (and yes, I stole this from another blog but can't remember which one to link to right now) we did pictures of each child with a letter to spell dad. Here are the three he got:

- I made some very delicious banana bread

- I baked chocolate chip cookies. I was rewarded with my 8 year old telling me "Mom, you should quit your internet job and become a baker because these are so delicious!" Made me feel good, but there will be no baking job in my future LOL

- We ate from our garden for the first time yesterday (lettuce - 3 kinds that included buttercrunch and kale)

- I did my first hot water bath canning and made 7 jars of strawberry rhubarb jam. Up next I think I will try strawberry kiwi but I need more strawberries! Amazingly enough, all the lids were sealed properly which I wasn't expecting on this round!

- I finished one UFO up. What was supposed to be one oven mitt (that wouldn't have worked and would have only been decorative) but I turned it into two pot holders - no pictures yet, but maybe soon!

- lots of softball and my 8 year old pitched (first time this season) and actually wasn't bad at all! Last year she couldn't even get the ball over the plate, so the fact that she did this year and threw some strikes as well is just awesome =)

- I am decluttering the house. I am serious this time (yeah, yeah, I know I've said it before but I really mean it this time). My goal, which comes from a conversation over at The Motherhood, is to purge 1000 things by the time summer ends. So I started tonight and nerd that I am, I counted most of it and am at 65 things. Not off to a bad start I don't think! Of course, I am not counting the children's toys and the other day we purged those. I'm gonna guess we got rid of a couple hundred things then. We filled 4 45 gallon trash bags of toys and still have plenty left. For a few hours last week, my living room looked like this:

Boy, did that feel good!! I'm not sure about this whole 1000 things though. I really hope I can do it, but am nervous. My first thought was to do only 100, but that wouldn't be much of a challenge really. It will be good to do though. We simply have too many things and need to learn to do without and really toss the things we aren't using.

- My husband finished making my composter and we've already begun to put things into it. I am thinking we might fill it up faster than we originally planned - but that's okay =) I'm so excited to finally have it and be able to put things into it! Yeah!

Other things:
- I still hate my hair (I told you I'd talk about it a lot!!)
- I am working very limited hours on my weekend job now - which kind of stinks because smaller pay check, but it is nice to have more hours as a family
- I will babysit for 2 (very lovely) girls from this Wednesday to next Wednesday so I'm sure that will keep me busy!
- The kids are currently undergoing 3 separate reading challenges so there is a lot of reading going on at our house - but that's a good thing =)

- Saturday we are having the softball team over to our house for a little party
- Piano with the kids is going well. They still like it and are excited to practice!
- Met the new neighbor the other day. She seems so nice and I hope we can become friends!

I think that wraps it up for here for now. Hope everyone else is well ... I haven't been doing a good job of checking blogs lately but hopefully next week I can get a chance to peak in on everyone - right before we leave for vacation!! Woo-hoo!!

Not much to say ...

I am feeling really sick. The kind of really sick that makes you just want to rest and relax and not do anything at all.

So since I have nothing to say at all, you must click this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/
The library of congress is putting pictures up at flicker and I think it is SOO neat. There are some incredible photos there. I haven't looked at it much, but what I have seen is so awesome ... really, go look!

Randomness ..

Earth Chick Knits is having a contest about inspiring creativity in children ... she is giving away 2 fabulous gifts (yarn and a book), however, go read the answers! They are fabulous and I agree with all the ones that I've read so far!

Second, I put something up on my Etsy shop - a crayon cozy - because I took a poll here and a couple of you said you would consider buying it. So it's up, and if you like it, buy it! And if you leave a comment here and order it from me, I'll even knock off 1.00 because I LOVE my blog readers! And let's pretend it flies off the shelf quickly (so to speak), let me know ... I can whip up another one just for you!

Thirdly, I made a light box tonight!



We'll see if it can help my pictures look better. Dh says they look pretty good in it - of course, I'm not anywhere near professional (I'm not sure I count as amateur even) so they won't miraculously get good overnight, but I think it will help a bit anyway! =)