Project 365...days 7-14

Call your bookies and cancel your bets. Week Two photos are in before the next week has completely passed us by. And, yes, I'm totally cheating by changing the post date. I'll warn you. I wasn't thrilled by any of my photos this week, accounting for my complete and total procrastination in getting them posted. I'm telling you, the ISOs on my camera are going to be the end of my sanity. I can't take it much longer.

January 8...the day before Caroline's birthday, we baked strawberry and french vanilla layers for her princess castle cake. Caroline, a self-professed junkfood junkie, can barely contain herself when the mixer comes out. Before we've added a single ingredient, she's already campaigning for a taste...just a little lick...one spoonful...whatever she can get. Which defines her joy in getting the entire batter bowl all to herself on this particular Friday night. She barely noticed my camera in her face.

January 9...if you've been on facebook, you've already seen a couple of shots of the birthday girl. I'll do a little post on her big day and save the traditional shots for that. I couldn't resist sharing this one, though...the girl is wicked funny on that Wii. The boxing just about puts us all under the table laughing. I grabbed this shot of her virtual boxing in her brand new tutu and birthday crown. I love the intensity of that look on her face. You should hear the soundtrack.

January 10...have you noticed that planning ahead isn't really in our handbook? We've had an annual pass to the Children's Museum for almost a year now. We've been a few times and thoroughly enjoyed every visit. It's a treat because we haven't had a membership in several years, and it's pretty pricey for a day's admission, especially with six of us! And every year, my kids lament about missing out on Jolly Days. This year, we were sporting that family membership. There was no way we were gonna miss out. The big draw has always been the Yule Slide, constructed over the main staircase of the museum every Christmas. I'll admit I've had a few runs myself, and it's pretty darned fun. So guess what? Christmas break came and went, and we couldnt' find a day when our entire family could go. So we waited. And we still ended up with only two kids. On the. very. last. day.

It's hard, this letting go thing. The older kids are getting, well, older. It makes this mommy a little sad sometimes to realize that we aren't always going to all be together. Abby had guard practice, and Mindy spent the afternoon with Alex before he left to go back to school. So off we went with the younger two, in search of white slopes...the dry, warm, plastic type, complete with static. You can't tell in the photo, but Caroline's hair was standing up on end when she was done!

January 11...a forecast of warming weather and melting snow later in the week prompted me to hustle the kids out the door for a little sledding after school. Of course, Abby couldn't go because she had a guard practice again! This time it was an unscheduled practice. Grrr. This world guard schedule is sucking the life out of me. Imagaine what it's doing to Abby, and the rest of the team, for that matter. Anyway, we loaded up the sleds and drove across the road to a popular sledding hill at a church. The hill is topped with three crosses and makes a dramatic statement during the Easter season, especially. It makes a nice snow-covered statement in the winter, as well. Up and down the kids went. Caroline insisted on riding down by herself and dragging the sled up the hill. After a while, though, she figured out that the older kids would drag it up there for her!

In this picture, Mindy had just told her to run and belly flop onto the sled. Remember that book, The Berenstein Bears' Christmas? Yeah, well, I didn't think she'd actually do it! But she did, and off she went, howling with laughter all the way down the hill!

Did I mention I am not in love with my camera right now? It was just dark enough that I had to crank the ISO way up, and my Speedlight did not want to fire. I guess the batteries needed to be replaced, and it was ridiculously cold outside. Most of my pictures from sledding are just horrible. It had better snow again!

January 12...we got a Wii for Christmas, obviously...by far, some of the best Christmas money Santa has ever spent. We've had a lot of fun with it, and I really like that, for now, its home is in the living room where it becomes more of a family activity than a video gaming system. And I've gotten a little sucked in myself. Jon brought home a crossbow game, and giving it a try made me a little manic. I managed on this infamous day to score a pretty high score on one of the levels. Mindy suggested I take a photo to commemorate the moment (note to self...taking photos of a tv screen are not all that satisfying). And then the next day she blew my score out of the water, thus preventing my name from ever being on the screen again. Nice. By the way, don't you just love my Mii?

January 13...we kind of did Caroline's birthday backwards...had grandparents over for cake and presents in the afternoon and then went out to dinner later. Jon ended up having to work most of the day, so by the time he got home and we got the party started, it was dinner time. We opted to do cake after dinner. By the time we got home from dinner, we were too full to even want cake. We did light the candles, sing Happy Birthday four times and sample a cupcake. We were gone most of the next day, and, by then, it was just too pretty to cut. Lame. I know. So Jon finally broke off a rice krispie turret on Wednesday night. It was, not surprisingly, a little stale, and most of the cake ended up in the trash by the end of the week. I'll be baking another one for her "girl" party soon, and we'll be eating that one, for sure! I do have to say that making the cake and seeing Caroline's face was well worth it.

January 14...the beginning of the January thaw. I hate it. As much as I hate being cold, I love the coziness of winter days. When it's cloudy and overcast and cold enough to not want to be outside but not cold enough for snow, it's just depressing. As I type, the weather continues to be in the 40s. The snow is pretty much gone. The cars are filthy. The yard is soggy. It's like March, forever. Bah.