Animals

Rosie chose to sit on Evelyn's bed this morning, adding to her collection of animals.

Taste of Winter

Quick turkey chili in my Pampered Chef deep covered baker.  A definite taste of winter for the Luster family. 

Best Invention

Books have been around for hundreds of years, so they're certainly not a new invention.  But in the Luster household, they are the best invention.  There is always a book within arm's reach of the girls, both in the house and in the car.  And Evelyn can't wait to see which picture books we have picked up for her at the library (she was happy to report that she was still alive after reading the book in today's picture).

Something I Bought

Julia has requested a tea party for this year's birthday party, and she wants each of her guests to have their own unique tea cup and saucer.  When Evelyn had a tea party birthday party a couple years ago, it took us about four or five months to find just six sets.  Remembering that situation, I started our tea cup quest today, three months before the party.

This afternoon, we went to a thrift store that's along the drive between our house and the Little Gym...and we hit the jackpot!  This store had so many tea cups to choose from, I didn't have enough cash to buy all we wanted.  We did buy three of the tea cups in this picture (two in front of Julia, one on the table behind Julia), and we will be back next week with more cash to hopefully get a few more.

Fun Stuff!

Swimming lessons at 1:30 on a Monday afternoon in January = fun stuff!

Window

Tracks

This afternoon we saw a raccoon lumbering through our backyard.  He criss-crossed our yard twice; on the second pass-through, he sauntered across the frozen creek into the forest east of our house.  We couldn't figure out why he wasn't sleeping...?

Polka Dots

One of my former students is spending a year teaching in Thailand.  She has mentioned a couple of times on Facebook how much she misses Reese's Pieces candy.  For her birthday, I jazzed up a simple gift with a polka-dotted padded envelope.  Here's hoping the sweet treat makes it half-way around the world!

Bedtime

A normal bedtime scene - Evelyn cuddling with Rosie, waiting for me to read to her/them.

Nice

It was blustery and snowy outside today, but Rosie was nice and cozy inside...

Blue

Forward rolls on the blue wedge mat totally deserve "ta-da!" hands.

Silhouette

The cloudless sky was very colorful this evening, shortly before the 4:43 p.m. sunset.

Breakfast

Chocolate chip waffle for Julia, plain waffle for Evelyn, banana-walnut waffles for Troy and me.  That was breakfast this morning - yum!

Happy Place

This afternoon, Julia went to a birthday party at an activity center...which is certainly a happy place for kids!

Hidden

Look closely, and you will see a bird of prey hidden among the branches (a Northern Goshawk).

Lined Up

This is how I found Julia's cars and blocks - all lined up.  They are getting newspapers from Andrew (according to my 5-year-old source).

Makes Me Smile

What makes me smile?  The girls having a big backyard to play in (building gnome homes in today's picture).

3 Things

How's this for a triple-threat?

Sun

About a half hour before sunset today (so, around 4:15 pm...the sun sets SO early up here in Massachusetts!), I looked out the front window and happened to see this - the sun shining through high, hazy clouds and uber-tall trees in front of our house.  

Colorful

What's more colorful than a 5-year-old's closet?  I love this picture because it's a combination of Evelyn's hand-me-downs and a few new frilly Julia-only pieces.

Manmade

Evelyn outgrew her old ballet shoes last month, which translated into getting new ones this week.

Natural

We woke up to a dusting of snow this morning, providing me with a natural winter picture of our backyard.

Looking Down

Both Julia and Evelyn take ballet on Thursday evenings in a building that is probably over 100 years old.  We have to climb three flights of stairs to get to their ballet studio.

Lucky Number

Evelyn helped me with today's photo...lucky number 7!

Upside Down

Today's picture was easy...

Happens Every Day

No matter the season, weekday or weekend, I always check on my sleeping "baby."

Found

Rosie found the perfect place to nap this afternoon.

Better Late Than Never

We usually made a gingerbread house in December, close to Christmas.  But this time we didn't get around to making a gingerbread carousel until January.

My Town

My hometown - the place I would consider "my" town - is Bellevue, Nebraska, which is 1,400 miles from where I currently reside.  So today's picture is of Norfolk, Massachusetts, which is my town right now.

Begins with G

Today's workout at the gym.

Lunch

Evelyn, PF Chang's, chicken fried rice, chopsticks...what could make for a better lunch?

365 in 2014

Once upon a time - last year, in fact - I vowed to take a picture a day and post my pictures on a blog.  I made it two months before waving the white flag of surrender.  The challenging thing for me last year was feeling the need to post a picture every day.  I just couldn't stick to that commitment.

I have a new plan for this year, and hopefully I will be more successful.  I will still take a picture every day.  I will still use Fat Mum Slim's blog as the inspiration for my daily photos.  But I will post my pictures when I have time.

I plan to post at least once a week.  But if my daily pictures are tucked away in either my phone or my regular camera, and if I cut myself some slack with daily blog posts, hopefully I can keep this up all 365 days this year.