Magic Moments

I've spent all week trying to capture the perfect shot in the perfect moment for my photo project, yet I still haven't come up with anything I'm satisfied with. Good thing I have one day left! With all the picture taking I did I managed to get a couple moments on camera that are sweet. They are my favorites for this week. Reading with Daddy...Peter and the Shadow Thieves is a page turner, so I'm told. Play. I love it! Breakfast with math on the side. Sage's best friend. This was his idea and his moment. Precious. Fun Friday included camping in the basement this afternoon with oven s'more dip, sleeping bags, a story lantern, and stories. Snuggling with Penny in the late afternoon sunlight. Sage kept saying, "Sun! Warm and nice!" Sage kissing Penny. This picture makes me wish I was a professional photographer. Had I been holding the camera straight and taken the photo a second earlier AND maybe had a different le...

My sweet baby Sagey is quickly becoming more independent and more sure of himself. In fact, you can't get away with calling him a baby anymore. Yesterday I heard Aiden say, "Sage you have to be careful, you're still a baby." And Sage quickly replied, "I not a baby! I Dage!" His sweet words are so cute and I frequently hear him singing his 2 year old rendition of "Jesus Loves Me" or "Wheels on the bus." He reads to himself too and he'll repeat the parts that he has memorized. Max Lucado has a couple cute board books published for kids and tonight I heard Sage retelling his version of the story. "I love loo (you), Hermie. I not tinished (finished) wit you yet." Sage was driving his car around yesterday and he kept me informed as to where he was going. "Mama! I takin' boo (blue) puppy to turch (church)." "Mama! I takin' boo puppy to bible tutdy (study)." This made me realize that Bible Study and...

There are 4 days left in January, but who's counting? Today feels like a let down after a very fun week with Tom home. We had lots of time at home with the boys during the week and we had a date night too! Pappy and Marme kept the boys and Tom and I spent Friday shopping, hanging out, having dinner and drinks at the Aster Cafe, dessert for Ally's 18th birthday at the Cheesecake Factory, and a lovely and relaxing night at a hotel downtown. On Saturday we had brunch at Good Day Cafe before we went back to the cabin for the rest of the weekend. And yes, it did sort of feel like we ate all weekend. ;) Today we are back to school and work and this morning the feels like temperature was -45. So, today is more of the same story that the previous 26 days of January has told. We're trying to entertain ourselves. We are going nowhere...just sticking my hand outside the door to grab the mail was painful. The good news is that since we are at home still doing school we are scheduled to...

This week's theme is...window light! The photographer choosing the theme and teaching us all a thing or two said when capturing photos inside she depends on window light...the best light in the world for photos. With a few simple instructions she set us loose with our assignment. This theme was fun because instead of capturing a specific event or emotion, there was a technical side to it and therefore was somewhat challenging. I did some reading, took a bazillion pictures to practice, and finally settled on a couple shots. I would have liked to spend more of the week practicing, but we have plans the rest of the week so today was my day. The picture I managed to capture of Aiden is, technically speaking, the better picture of the two. He was also willing to pose so my job was easy. But I love that he's happily smiling on my bed. It kind of makes me want to snuggle up in my bed with him. And the sky light above him provided the perfect light. I love the picture of Sage too becau...

This week's theme was Learning. Could there be a theme more near and dear to me? Choosing one photo to post to the Facebook Album was difficult! Here on my blog I get to post more than one. YAY! I had hoped to capture our time at the breakfast table. School starts for the day at breakfast and it's where we do our devotions, Bible History, and the bulk of the reading we need to do for the day. It was a schedule born out of functionality, but quickly became the favorite part of my day. However, it's difficult to take a picture when you are in the picture. Tom snapped a few one morning, but the pictures stink. But, to log our life I 'm posting it anyway. School includes time that looks like pretty traditional learning with sitting at a desk and starring at a paper and using a pencil. Thankfully, it includes time that is more laid back and hands on too. Here is just a tiny glimpse into our learning time. My prayer is that my boys love to learn, that they are life long learn...

Two of my favorite conversations for the week: We were out to dinner last week and we brought Sage in undies (not a diaper) since he was potty training. The dinner converstaion went like this: Tom: Did you put Sage in a diaper? Me: Nope. We are not turning back! Tom: That child is going to be a mess by the time dinner is over. I promise you. Aiden: Dad, you are NOT a prophet so you really don't know. Tom and me: Laughing! And....Tom was wrong. Sage did great and hasn't worn a diaper since, except for at night. And, night time is going way better than expected as well. :) Sage and I were at the mall the other night waiting for Aiden to be done at AWANA. As we were walking in Sage saw the moon. Sage: I would like to touch the moon, Mama! I would like to touch the moon! Me: Sage, if I could give you the moon I would, but I can't. Sage (as he's stretching his arms up as far as he can): I can reach it, Mama! I can reach it! And my favorite pictures for the week...

I'm at the beginning of the beginners stage of learning to work our camera. It's going to be a long, long time before I fluently speak "camera" and right now my head is spinning with words like aperture priority, iso, and f stop and I have to constantly re-look up the meaning of them and how they are measured. But, it's been fun to practice. The boys made a snowman and that gave some good opportunity for practice. Sage would not stop eating the snow. As you can see, he had to pull the pine needles out of his mouth since he kept taking big bites. The boys also thought they needed to make a snow couch.

I am doing a picture project this year along with some people that I know and it's called Project Life 2014. Our private group is on Facebook and each week there is a theme. The assignment is to take a picture each week interpreting the theme as you wish. I saw this done last year by the person heading up the project and I loved it. Her pictures told such sweet stories of her daughter. So, this is my commitment for the year and I WILL do it each week because at the end of the year I will have a fabulous collection of pictures of each of the boys to put in a photo album. LOVE it! And even though I am currently making do with my little Cannon point and shoot, I have a NEW DSLR camera coming my way thanks to Tom. I'm so. so. so. EXCITED! My other commitment for the year is to learn how to use the new camera. Since I have weekly pictures to take, I'll have plenty of opporutinities to practice. The boys will probably tire of having the paparazzi following them around. As you can...

These are just a couple videos of my kids from the past couple weeks and since I'm their mom I find them so so precious. Maybe the grandparents will like them too. ;) Aiden wrapping his presents....in his own world...concentrating on the task at hand...cutting (and ripping) a little here, taping a little here....all while singing Jingle Bells. LOVE IT! 20131222(153618) from Jenny on Vimeo . Sage blowing bubbles...it's the simple things in life. And, yes, you can hear Aiden in the background begging to be let out of time-out. 20140106(152248) from Jenny on Vimeo . Sage loves the hair dryer. This morning he came in the bathroom and said, "I like it, Mama, I LIKE it! My turn, Mama! My turn, Mama!"  It's so cute and his language is developed enough to where he is putting together simple, yet complete sentences. I'm sad to see his baby speak fade, but it's also really sweet to hear him try so hard to put the right words together. He's also my ...

We're keeping warm and staying entertained by science experiments like watching bubbles freeze. I cracked open the sliding doors yesterday and we blew some bubbles out the door and watched them freeze in just a few seconds. You could hold them briefly before they shattered. The fun activity turned into a lesson about solids and liquids, freezing points, and air. Today we've had lots of work with leaning place value to keep us warm. I'm not gonna lie, the bubbles were more fun. ;) Our frozen bubble right after it cracked. By the time we were done Sage's bubble container was empty. Most of it spilled on the floor and he even poured some down the heat vent to clean it. ;) Aiden explaining to me how the bubble got it's shape.

It's January and so hibernation season has started at our house, and rightly so since the forecast is calling for something like -50 below with the wind chill. Brr. With hibernation comes not much to blog about. We start school tomorrow after taking a 2 week Christmas break and for the most part our days will be quiet, predictable, and maybe a little boring. But for this week anyway, I'm ok with boring. We spent almost a week and a half at the cabin, came home for just a couple days, and then went to my Grandparents for Christmas this weekend. We came home just before the cold snap, we had fun so we are TIRED, and we ate too much sugar. I think tomorrow morning's routine will be welcome. January brings a field trip or two, a slower work schedule for Tom with some time off, lots of focus on staying warm and eating healthy, and being cozy. I've already read 3 novels this month so I'm off on the right foot for this period of hibernation.  I'll post pictures from ou...