Day 181: Half way there!

I am now officially half way through my 2010 photo-a-day project. I'm still enjoying it, and most days don't have a problem finding something meaningful to photograph. In fact, I already have plans for next year's project!

Day 180: Ready for potty training?

Well, not quite. This morning Edward wouldn't let me put a dry diaper on him, so I got the potty chair out and made him sit on it. He did a great big pee! So I tried putting him in big boy underpants, and tried to get him to pee on the potty again, but he just ended up wetting himself three times. By then I decided to abort and try again another day.

Day 179: New TV

Long story, here we go. A few months ago we got a new portable DVD player. It's nice to have one when we travel for long car trips and for use in hotels. The kids also use it at home when they both want to watch something different in the evenings. Well, a couple of weeks ago, the new one broke. It's the 3rd one that's broken on us in about 6 months, and that likely has a lot to do with the way they were treated by the kids. Fortunately I got a service plan with this one, so we were able to get it replaced no problems. However, we didn't really want to let the kids have access to it at home again, to try and prevent it getting broken again! So I suggested we get a TV for Elizabeth's bedroom instead. She currently falls asleep watching TV in Dave's bed, so we thought she might as well do it in her own bed (yes I know that's very frowned upon by perfect parents, but that's just how it is in our house, deal with it). So after a bit of shopping around we got this one yesterday in Costco. We also got a new DVD/VCR player combo to go with it. Now Elizabeth has the best TV in the house, and so far it's been a big hit!

Day 178: Fr Jerry's Retirement Mass

Today our church had a mass to celebrate the retirement of Fr Jerry Kennedy. As I've mentioned before, he's the priest who baptized Edward before his surgery, so we feel quite close to him. The mass went on for two hours, but it was nice. One of the retired bishops in the diocese also attended. I was only planning on taking one or two shots to get something for my blog, but there were several other people there taking pictures, so I ended up taking quite a lot. I was even asked by one of them to email my pictures to him for their website! There was a reception afterward which we stayed at for a while too.

Day 177: Loaf

This is what you get when I don't remember to take a picture until 11pm! I got this little guy at Goodwill last year. He pulses different colors and has a few different settings. Most of the time he just sits on top of the TV turned off though. It's called a Tude Beam, and his name is Loaf.

Day 176: Creek

I passed this little creek when I was out for a walk today with the kids. I had to pick up the new book my bible study group is starting next week, and the lady who had them only lives about a mile away, so I decided to walk. I saw the creek and thought it would make a good picture. I didn't realize until I got home though that I had my camera on totally the wrong settings, so the picture came out very blue. After a lot of playing around in Photoshop I think I finally got it looking as close as possible to the real thing again though.

Day 175: The perks of being a Company Wife

My husband works for Tria Beauty, and whenever they launch a new product he gets a complimentary one to take home. I've had the laser hair remover for a couple of years now, but I gave up using it because I didn't have the patience. But after reading a really good review for it, I decided to give it another try. I've had the acne device for about a month, but I've only just started using that too. It would be nice if they both worked wonders!

Day 174: Fun at the gym

So last night I went to the gym, and today the kids got a workout. We joined Kristin and Max at the children's gym again this morning. Both the kids had a great time, and Edward was a lot more adventurous than last time. Elizabeth missed her friend Lindsay though (she's on vacation). We'll probably try and make it a regular thing.

Day 173: Time to start getting fit again

I've finally started making regular trips to the gym again. So far only once a week for the last 3 weeks, but it's a start. Dave and I joined this gym about a year ago, as they had a really good offer. For about 6 months we both went several times a week. Then we all got sick, then we had visits and holidays, and eventually we just never went back. I lost 14 lbs last year, but I've put about 10 of them back on now, so I want to try and get fit again. I had a really good workout tonight, I alternated running and walking on the treadmill, and I can really feel it in my legs now. I'd like to start going two or three times a week again, but it depends on what time Dave gets home from work, and what else we've got going on.

Day 172: My Reading Pile

This is my reading pile. Seriously. I really need to stop buying books and get some reading done instead. I think I am slightly addicted to buying books. I can't resist them, I am seduced by them. Any time I pass anywhere that is selling books I always see something that catches my eye. I have a huge wish list on Amazon, but I really want to try and get through some of these before I get any more!

Day 171: Father's Day Speech

Dave was asked to give a speech at church about being a Catholic father. He was a little nervous about it, but he spent a week working on his speech, and it turned out great. He got a big round of applause afterward, and several people came up after mass to tell him how much they liked it. I think he was especially moved by the guy who was sitting behind us - his wife is pregnant with their first child, so he is getting ready for fatherhood, and he said Dave's speech really inspired him.

When we got home Dave opened his presents and home-made cards from the kids. I made him a photobook of all the pictures I took of him with the kids last year. I got a special offer from MyPublisher to have a hardback book with unlimited pages printed for only $20. I think he really liked it. I also had a t-shirt printed with one of Elizabeth's school drawings on, and got him a DVD that was on sale that I thought he would like. We didn't do anything else special today, but Dave cooked burgers on the grill for dinner.

Day 170: Cookies for Father's Day

Today we made cookies for Father's Day. I found a recipe on the internet for some simple sugar cookies, so we made them from scratch. They didn't come out too bad. I think with all the frosting on they will taste okay. We had fun making them, that's the main thing.

Day 169: Working hard on Daddy's card for Sunday

Today we are making our preparations for Father's Day. Elizabeth and Edward made cards, and she helped me wrap the presents. That's all I'm going to say for now, in case a certain someone is reading this, because we have a couple of surprises planned!

Day 168: Second writers group meeting

Tonight I attended the second meeting of our new writers group. We had all submitted a piece of work by email during the week, and tonight we went through the comments we had on each others work. I submitted the first 6 pages of one of the novels I'm working on, called Finding Rosie. It seemed to be quite well received, and I got some great feedback and constructive criticism on it. I'm excited to go back and edit it based on the comments, and to get the next sample ready for next week.

This week we met in Peet's Coffee, but we didn't realize they closed at 8pm, so we had finish our meeting outside, and it was a bit chilly! Next week we'll be meeting somewhere else.

Day 167: Monkey reunion!

Today we were invited to a play date with Elizabeth's friend Lindsay at their country club pool. There were also three other monkeys there from her old class, so it was lovely to see everyone again. The kids all had a great time. Elizabeth hardly got out of the pool, but Edward was a little more wary. The pool was great because it didn't get too deep so Elizabeth could play quite safely. Plus there were some older siblings in there playing with the littler ones, and a life guard was on duty most of the time. I hope we get to go again, it's really nice there.

Day 166: Buzz Buzz

I went outside today to see if I could find anything interesting to photograph for my picture of the day, and ended up getting a lot of pictures of bugs. There were flies sitting around in several good spots, so I put my macro lens on and had a go at hand holding the camera. Usually this ends up with lots of blurry pictures, as it's hard to keep the camera still enough for macro shots, but I got some good ones today. I got lots of nice close ups of the flies, but I also got some nice ones of some bees that were collecting nectar in one of the bushes. This was my favorite of the bunch.

Day 165: Flag Day

It's flag day today, so the flag is up again. I tried to get a picture of it that was a little different from the one I took on Memorial Day. I took several through trees and other bushes, but this was the one I liked the best.

Day 164: Olivia's birthday party in the park

One of the moms I met through the MOMS group, Olivia, has her birthday next week. She celebrated with a party at our local park, and invited us to join her as we live so close. She's really nice and friendly. She gave me a beautiful bookmark for my birthday when we had our MOMS reunion dinner last weekend. The party in the park was lots of fun. There were lots of people there, and lots of kids for Elizabeth and Edward to play with. One of the other moms from MOMS, Monica, was also there, as she also lives very close. She has 2 boys that are about the same age as E and E. We had food, margaritas (very nice!), and the kids got to play in the water too. It was beautiful weather, about 100F but a nice strong breeze, just perfect.

Day 163: Knights of Columbus retirement dinner for Fr Jerry

One of our parish priests, Fr Jerry Kennedy, is retiring next month. He is the chaplain to the Knights of Columbus, so they threw him a retirement party this evening. He is the priest that baptized Edward right before his surgery, so we have always liked him. He loves the kids too. They were the only ones there, I guess everyone else got babysitters. All the priests were happy to see them though, they all love kids. Fr William sat at our table, and he and Dave talked a lot. We also got to talk to Fr Jerry for a while, and the other two priests. When Dave was helping to clear up at the end, Fr Padraig grabbed him and persuaded him to give a speech at the 11am mass on Father's Day, about being a Catholic father. I think he's a bit nervous about it, but I'm sure he'll do really well.

Fr William took this picture. I asked him to do it as he has a similar camera, and seems to know what he's doing. In fact, I think he did a better job that the official photographer!

Day 162: Happy birthday to me!

Yes, today is my birthday. I'm 21 again ha ha! I had a relaxing day with the kids. Dave got me a bunch of stuff that I wanted, books, DS games, and some Godiva chocolate and some bath smellies. I don't think we'll bother going out or anything though, as we have a busy weekend ahead anyway. I took this picture in the back yard on the swing seat with my remote, because I wanted to get a nice picture outside before it got dark, and Dave was late home.

Day 161: Proof reading

After the success of last night's writing group, I decided to read through one of the novels I am working on to see if it was suitable to be submitted to the group for critique. I was only going to read the first 50 pages, but I really enjoyed reading it and ended up printing the whole 200+ pages out! It's still only about 3/4 finished, but I haven't worked on it for about a year, so it was really interesting to go back to it. I was encouraged that I found it so readable, and got excited to read what I knew was coming up. I hope that's a good sign! I went through and edited the obvious typos, and a few other things I know I want to change. I think it's almost ready to send out for critique. That's a little scary!

Day 160: First Writing Group Meeting

This evening I attended my first ever writing group. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it. There were seven of us there, and there is a wide range of backgrounds and writing levels and styles. First we all introduced ourselves, then we each read a piece of our work that we'd brought with us. We talked about what we want to get out of the meetings, and how future meetings would go. Our next meeting will be next Thursday, and we're each going to bring something for everyone to critique. I'm really looking forward to it!

Day 159: Dead

I found these two dead flies on the swing seat a couple of days ago. I was about to sweep them away, when I thought they might make a good photo subject. So I saved them, and today I took some pictures of them with my macro lens. They came out pretty well I think.

Day 158: Edward's annual checkup

Two years ago, when he was just 3 months old, Edward had to have surgery to open up his skull because his soft spots had already closed up. You can see some pictures here. He was only in the hospital for two days, and he made an amazing recovery. Today you would never know what had happened, other than a faint scar on his head that you can't really see unless his hair is really short. He's been getting annual checkups to make sure there were no more complications. Today's checkup went great, and we were told we do not need to go back again. So all clear! His doctor's name is Kahn, which always elicits a bunch of Star Trek quotes from Dave :)

Day 157: MOMS reunion dinner

This evening we had a reunion dinner for our MOMS group. Our pastor, Fr Padraig also attended. It was a lovely evening of food, fun and conversation. I think we should do it every month, and I'm going to volunteer to host the next one.

Day 156: Two crazy nuts in a bed

My 2 kids love to play with each other, and they love being silly. Edward copies everything Elizabeth does. It's cute, most of the time!

Day 155: Chex Muddy Buddies!

Today Elizabeth and I made Chex Muddy Buddies while Edward was napping. A friend from my MOMS group turned me on to these. They are super easy to make, and very yummy! It's very hard to stop dipping in to them!

Day 154: Is it my birthday yet?

Every day Elizabeth asks if it's her birthday, and doesn't seem to get the concept of 6 more weeks. So today I made her a chart, and she gets to cross a day off each day, and hopefully she'll start to understand how much longer it is to wait.

Day 153: Make your own alphabet

I have been collecting all the artwork and projects that Elizabeth brought home from school this last year, and now that the school year is finished I wanted to thin it down a little so it would all fit in the box I got to store it in. So I decided to pull out all the letters of the alphabet that she made and put them up around her bedroom wall. There were 5 missing, so we made those ourselves. I still had too much to fit in the box, so I had to throw out a few other bits that weren't really worth keeping. There are also still a few things up on the walls of the living room and her bedroom, so I might end up getting a bigger box anyway.

Day 152: New stroller

This is the stroller we got on Sunday. The back seat can be removed so the child can stand up or ride on a little seat instead. The front can also accommodate an infant seat from the same brand. We took it out for a walk today, and they both seemed happy in it, no fighting or complaining! I'm going to try and get out for a little walk every day.