Lifesong

Twelve on Twelve: December

If you know me, then you know I kind of have an obsession with documenting the every day moments of life. I already do an album for my photo a day, and at the end of the year I create a book with a year's worth of memories. But this year I also challenged myself to document an entire day with 12 photos, on the 12th of each month. It's a lot of photos for one ordinary day (and let's face it, most days are "ordinary") so I couldn't do it every day, but once a month I can handle.

So that brings us to the last Twelve on Twelve for this year! I have enjoyed doing this. This month threw me for a curve, though, as several unexpected things happened on December 12th. So, this months twelve is a combination of December 12th and 13th.

So here is December's Twelve on Twelve (slash Thirteen):

1. Kota kept trying to get in someones lap this morning while we were doing school in the living room, so Ansley grabbed a basket and put it in front of the fire. It worked like a charm, and Kota climbed right in and slept there all morning. It made me laugh!

2. Ansley signing to Avery that she wants more, and Avery dutifully gets her sister some water. How sweet!

3. Our ant farm. The kids are really enjoying watching them dig all their tunnels. I'm still freaked out by it. It gives me the shivers.

4. Ansley working this morning. It might look like she's frustrated, but she's not. It's just how she's holding her head.

5. Christian loves, loves, LOVES to create things when he's done with school. I find paper, notes, drawings and his creations everywhere.

6. We learned about nouns today, so we labeled all the nouns in the room.

7. Daddy and Avery.

8. Our family photo on 12:12 pm on 12/12/12!

9. Christian doing his schoolwork.

10. Avery pushes chairs over to the counter nonstop to get something she wants, or do something she wants to do. Here, she wanted to help me make cookies.

11. Isn't she sweet? She's such a cute helper.

12. A little cheat, I know, but in all the craziness I only got 11 pictures.

I'm just happy I was able to keep up with it all year! If you want to go back, you can see November or October here. It's been a fun way to document twelve ordinary days in our life this year!

Twelve on Twelve: November

It's time for Twelve on Twelve: November edition! If you know me, then you know I kind of have an obsession with documenting the every day moments of life. I already do an album for my photo a day, and at the end of the year I create a book with a year's worth of memories. But this year I also challenged myself to document an entire day with 12 photos, on the 12th of each month. It's a lot of photos for one ordinary day (and let's face it, most days are "ordinary") so I couldn't do it every day, but once a month I can handle. If you've missed them, you can see the October edition or the September edition.

On to November! Crazy that there's only one more left this year!

Today was an ordinary day at home, but it was not typical.

1. It started out with promise, with sweet snuggles on the couch, watching some cartoons before starting the day. Avery slept until almost 9 this morning!

2. I made an appointment for Kota, because she has been scratching at her ears so much they bleed. I'm wondering if it has to do with being out on the screened in porch, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the vet is coming tomorrow.

3. Avery in typical fashion getting into EVERYTHING. This girl goes through cabinets, drawers, anything she can get her hands on. You may also notice she has rediscovered her summer dresses. She really seems to have an obsession with clothes, which is quite amusing to me at one. Today I found her looking through a Hanna Andersson catalog for about ten minutes. Like most children look through toy catalogs.

4. But then it went downhill. Ansley and Christian were sick over the weekend, but I was hoping they would be better today. Christian's fever came back, and he spent most of the morning like this, because he was cold. No school for him.

5. But then he had a burst of energy, which is to say that he got up from his fireplace sleeping quarters. So I thought an art project would be fun.

6. This is Christian's turkey. I thought he was quite cute!

7. Ansley seemed okay, so she joined in the turkey fun too.

8. Here is Ansley's turkey. I did one, and Avery did as well, so we had a whole turkey line up. But then Ansley's fever came back at 102.5, and she was wiped out. No school for her.

9. My Mom stopped by and brought lunch for those eating (which means me and Avery) and then stayed so I could run to the grocery store (I didn't get a chance with the sickies, and I am getting a touch of something as well). I asked the kids if anything at all sounded good to eat, since they hadn't eaten anything, and Ansley said donuts. So I picked these up for her. HOLY COW they are delicious!

10. There was a lot of this today. Ansley would fall asleep on the couch, then Christian, and back and forth. It's quite a pitiful sickness. We are all hoping it leaves soon!

11. A book we recently discovered that my kids really love. We did lots of reading today, and My Father's Dragon was at the top of the list.

12. A little iPad time. It's hard to just lay around, it gets rather boring after awhile. Christian is really enjoying this Bible app. It's interactive Bible stories that really capture his attention.

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That's our ordinary day captured in November. We are all praying that the germs move out for awhile and everyone stays healthy and out of the hospital!

Twelve on Twelve: October

Here is Twelve on Twelve: October edition. This one is a little bit of a cheat, but just slightly. October 12 fell on a Friday, which was when John, Ansley and Christian left that morning to go camping. Mimi, Avery and I got lots of shopping done, went to lunch and I had a pedicure. But it was so busy and non-stop that I didn't take any pictures. So, I'm using a combination of a few pictures I took on Friday plus John's pictures from Friday and Saturday camping. So I'm just adding one more day's worth of pictures, but it still counts, I think!

1. Avery pitching a fit in the middle of the furniture store. Shopping with a toddler can be delightful, and then sometimes it can go very wrong!

2. Christian, Ansley and Hamilton enjoying the outdoors in North Carolina.

3. The campsite. In case you didn't know, camping with John is not like normal camping. It's more like resort-style camping. Don't know what I mean? Keep reading.

4. They made popcorn over the fire, which I hear the kids thought was really cool! They also made friends with the two girls in the campsite next door to them, and I heard that those two girls thought John and Mark were the coolest Dads ever because of all the fun stuff they had!

5. Mimi, Avery and I enjoyed dinner at Cracker Barrel, one of my favorite places. And Avery's, too!

6. Ansley playing in the creek.

7. Christian showing his fishing pole that John made him. (Not for really using, just for fun. Christian thought it was great!)

8. Ansley and Christian, exhausted in the tent after Day One.

9. Christian and Hamilton playing by the stream. Apparently a bear crossed the river just up from them, but none of them saw it. They just heard about it from people further up the stream!

10. John made Ansley a bow and arrow. Very Merida like, don't you think?

11. The campfire. John brought a Dutch oven and they made chili, cooked steaks over the open fire and sweet potatoes in the Dutch oven, and made biscuits. Resort-style, right? There's part of me that gets kind of excited about the idea of camping. But then there's another part of me - the bugs, no showers - that says I'm better off at home.

12. The three kiddos on a hike, exploring and having fun.

It was a super fun weekend for them, and very fun and productive for me as well!

Twelve on Twelve: September

It must mean that I'm turning a corner and life is getting easier since I've now managed to do nine of the twelves. Either that, or that my memory is getting better.

I somehow doubt that, though.

Anyway, here's September's Twelve on Twelve, where I take 12 pictures to document an entire day. I couldn't do it every day, but it's fun to look back each month and see what was going on. (You can see August's version here.)

1. Christian is learning about the moon in school, so today we did an Oreo moon phase game. The kids loved it, probably mostly because you got to eat the moons in the end. Who knew moons were so delicious?

2. We started this new read aloud, Mandy, by Julie Andrews (who knew she wrote books?!) and Ansley is LOVING it. We generally read one chapter a day, but Ansley begs and begs for just one more! So after reading it for four days, we are on Chapter Ten.

3. Ansley had a grammar test today. In the Fourth Grade, you learn about commas, apostrophes, semi-colons, quotation marks and where they all go and why and when. But never fear, I love grammar! Get away from me, division.

4. John and I have been doing Weight Watchers for about a month now. I am once and for all getting rid of my "baby" weight, even though I no longer have a baby. I am actually really liking it. I discovered this recipe for egg salad sandwiches, and I eat it just about every day. Even though my kids go on and on like it's puke on bread, I devour it all. And it's only 7 points!

5. Ansley got her first birthday cards in the mail today (she will be nine on Saturday) and she was quite excited!

6. I got my new pictures. I just love new pictures. I always debate, though, if I should replace old pictures or just add new ones. Eventually I would run out of wall space, but I can't keep every single photo of every child that I love. It's hard to be a picture lover.

7. Almost every moment of every day, you will find a chair pushed over to a tall piece of furniture. Avery is really good at this. She uses this method to get things off of counters, table tops, and pretty much anywhere else she sees something that she wants. Or wants to explore.

8. Ansley has dance on Wednesdays, and we leave around 3:45 so I usually have to wake Avery up a little early from her nap. Don't even think about suggesting that I put her down earlier, because I tried that once and let's just say it didn't pan out for me. So she goes down at the regular hour and just has a shortened nap on Wednesdays. She doesn't seem to mind.

9. Every single Wednesday, we eat dinner at Tomato Head, since it is right next door to Ansley's dance studio. John meets us there after her class, and Mimi usually joins us as well. It's a yummy, easy meal that everyone loves!

10. Ansley and Avery working on a masterpiece while we wait for our food.

11. Recently, we've discovered the library down here, and it is fabulous. So now after dinner, we head to the library so Ansley can pick out some books. This library is huge, with this massive play area in the middle of the children's section. They have live animals and doll houses on display, plus a gazillion books. Everything we need to keep all the kids happy!

12. The stack of books when we returned home. You can only check out 15 books at a time (our library here would let us check out 35) so we have to be selective. But since we go every week, we can easily get more. I let Ansley pick out some, and I pick out some for Christian, to go along with our unit study for the week. Ansley had finished about half of these before we ever made it home. Then, at bedtime, Ansley and Christian were begging me to read "just one more" chapter of the Fantastic Mr. Fox.

And that is a typical Wednesday in September!

Twelve on Twelve: August

It's been a very busy few weeks to say the least! That's my excuse for neglecting the blog. John was in South America two weeks ago for an entire week, and then my Mom had knee surgery and I was in the hospital with her all the second week.

But I did remember that Sunday was the 12th (thanks, Siri!) so I have stayed on top of my Twelve project. Instead of documenting the entire day, I decided to document one outing for my Twelve on Twelve this time. I'm not sure what I like better, but I was pretty sure that pictures of us all lying around staring in space wouldn't make a very fun photo collage. So here's what we have instead!

1. Isn't that a cool picture? Yeah, I didn't take it. But I really wanted to document the fact that we set our alarms for 2 am on August 12 and woke up Ansley and Christian. We headed out to the backyard, laid out blankets and stared at the sky, watching the Perseid Meteor Shower. It was really cool! If I knew how to take pictures in the split second that I needed it in a completely dark sky, I imagine it would have looked like this. The kids were SO excited, and were surprisingly chatty for 2 am. Definitely something we will do again next year!

2. Later that day, since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to go for a family bike ride on the greenway. Avery actually sat in the seat right behind John's bike, but we pulled this trailer for all our gear - blankets, a picnic, drinks, snacks.

3. Avery in her bike seat for only the second time in her life. She really enjoyed it!

4. The fam heading down the greenway. It's really pretty, and a fairly easy ride. Ansley rode her bike, and you saw where Avery rode, and then Christian rode on the tandem bike attached to mine. His bike is way too small for him, so until we get him another one, it's just too small for him to bike on.

5. Christian wanted to go over this huge bridge, so that's where we headed. You can see it off in the distance.

6. Here we are on top of the bridge. Avery had fallen asleep! She can't resist the wind in her face!

7. A pretty wooden bridge that we thought was pretty cool.

8. This butterfly landed on Ansley, and stayed with her for a long time. It just sat perched on her hand. She thought that was the best thing ever, of course.

9. Like I mentioned, a BEAUTIFUL DAY. It felt crazy similar to the fall - a nice breeze and low temps. It was the perfect day for a bike ride!

10. We found a shady flat spot and stopped for a picnic lunch. Everyone ate well, and the kids enjoyed running around.

11. Avery getting some playtime before we loaded back up, since she's the only one that isn't actually getting exercise!

12. This was the best self portrait I could take while riding down the greenway, holding my phone up to try and capture both of us.

A beautiful, fun day in August!

Twelve on Twelve: July

I did remember! It's just been a busy few days. Weeks, perhaps? I can't remember how long it's been since I blogged.

But here it is, July's Twelve on Twelve! (In case you have forgotten, I take the 12th of each month and document the day with 12 photos. I couldn't do it every day, but for one day each month it's been a rather fun thing to go back and look at each month's photos.) You can see June here. Or May here.

1. Sometimes I'm grasping at anything to get The Baby to stop crying while I am fixing dinner, cleaning the kitchen, or just generally doing something that means I'm not holding her.

2. The screened porch is consuming our days. It's been so fun to watch it go up, and we have gotten to know the crew of guys that has been working on it pretty well. My kids like to chat with them, and we take them cookies or drinks. They are really nice, and I love watching it come together!

3. Mimi came by for lunch today!

4. Avery flushed three plastic forks down the toilet (the kids inform us later). Needless to say, we had to call a plumber today, who happily unclogged our toilet in 10 seconds for $150. Seemed pretty steep to me - I guess I'll be watching that baby more closely from now on!

5. The kids still love plasma cars. Some days, it's what keeps Avery very happy at dinnertime!

6. Angelic or devilish? I'll let you decide.

7. I put Avery down for her nap, and when I come downstairs, I can't find Christian. I walk outside and see this. What?! What kind of silly, crazy boy walks in the driveway in the pouring rain with a mop? Well, this one, apparently.

8. It poured all day today. Just soppy, dreary, and drizzling all day long. But our neighbor, Paige, stalked our house, wanting Ansley to come out and play. (I said no, not in the rain.) But that didn't stop Paige - she literally rode her scooter past our house for hours, in the pouring rain. So sad, but I had to document it because that's what I do. Take pictures of other people's children stalking us in the rain.

9. The frame for the screen door went in today.

10. We picked up our produce from the CSA today. There was a yummy cantaloupe that didn't last long at all, as well as onions, tomatoes, and some other produce.

11. Ansley is claiming her cozy spot on the porch. Even though it's July, she had to grab everyone's favorite throw and cover up with it. They got the fans installed, so sometimes (although not in mid-day July) it can get a little chilly. Just a little. But Ans loves that throw, and this couch.

12. Ansley taught Christian how to climb up the doorway. He was so proud (and so was she).

That's our ordinary, typical day on July 12!

Twelve on Twelve: June

Am I allowed to be so impressed with myself for remembering this for six months straight? Because I kinda am.

This week our house is a whirlwind of activity. We have painters and contractors and people ALL over our house. I like the end result, but I don't like people all in my business. I know they aren't really in my business, but they are in my yard, and that's close enough to my business. I will be glad when it's all done.

I am still really digging the twelve on twelve concept. I couldn't do it every day, so once a month I take one day (ummm, on the 12th) and document the entire day with twelve photos. It's rather fun. And it also makes one photo a day seem rather piddly. I couldn't help but giggle when Christian said "Mom, why are you taking a photo of THAT?" and Ansley says "Because it's what Mom does, buddy."

So true. So true.

If you'd like to take a peek back, you can see May's 12 on 12 here or even April's version here.

Now, onto June!

1. This morning I dropped Ansley and her friend Avery off at Cheer Camp at our church. It is SO well done and they are having a blast! Ansley is LOVING it, and she's very excited to have Avery join her! We are looking forward to the show on Friday to see what they have been learning all week!

2. Toddlers have so many obsessions, don't they? I forget this stage of toddlerhood. Avery is obsessed with feeding Kota her food. She runs to the kitchen counter and goes "UH! UH!" and then when I don't respond fast enough, "UHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUH!!" So I give her a few kernels of Kota's food and she runs over to put it in her bowl. Quite cute. (Except for the "UHUH" sound.)

3. So it was a whole morning of just me + The Two. Christian ran straight for the Legos when we got home.

4. I found this drawy-thingy in the playroom closet, and thought why haven't I thought of that before? Avery would love this! Sure enough, she did, and drew on it for quite awhile.

5. This is how you know Avery has visited that room.

6. Avery also enjoys playing with Legos. And by playing, I mean knocking them all on the floor and giggling endlessly.

7. When Ansley got home and Avery was napping, the kids made rice krispie treats. And I do mean they - they stirred and mixed and got them in the pan and cleaned.....wait a minute! How did I end up cleaning up?! Hmmmmmm.

8. Then Avery's mom called and invited Ansley over to play. She was very excited, of course, but I'm always sad for Christian. He is younger, I know, but also it's probably partly his personality, but he just isn't into playing with friends. Yet he's very lonely when Ansley is gone. So I asked him if he wanted to help me prepare dinner, and he was very excited about that. I cut a bunch of onions from our garden for a roasted onion salad, and he was pulling them apart and drizzling with oil (he liked that part). But all of a sudden he says "Wow, Mom, onions make my eyes burn!" and then my help disappeared.

9. Ansley got home just before dinner, and Avery had just woken up from her nap, so she was cranky and it was a little chaotic and I was trying to get dinner ready......so I plopped my purse down and asked the kids to clean it out for me. They all contributed, some more than others, but it did keep them all happy until dinnertime.

10. Dinner on the table. We eat a LOT of fruit around here, and I made a broccoli and cauliflower casserole with my CSA veggies. And we had salisbury steak and roasted onion salad, but you can't see those.

11. This is one of my favorite kitchen items, ever. It's a chopper I got from Williams-Sonoma, and I use it to chop everything. I am a very inefficient chopper. I'm always envious when I see chefs on tv doing their fancy chopping of onions or carrots. But I just pull out my handy-dandy chopper and it goes twice as fast, and everything is in neat little cubes. I chop chicken for chicken salad, red peppers to go in green beans, onions, garlic....I chop everything! But it broke tonight. I'm quite sad about it.

12. All the kids playing in the yard with neighbors after dinner. We all enjoyed rice krispie treats, and then went for a walk around the block.

A very typical summer day around here, but now it's documented so we can remember what the Summer of 2012 was like.

Twelve on Twelve: May

May's version of Twelve on Twelve was very special because it is Mimi's birthday! JonJon and Missy came in town to celebrate, and it was a full day of fun! I definitely had WAY more than twelve photos to choose from for this day!

I'm still enjoying the unique documentation of choosing twelve photos once a month to capture an entire day. Nothing special - it could be a day we did absolutely nothing; it could be a day we took a special outing - but whatever happens to fall on the twelfth of each month, I document it by making a collage of twelve photos. I'm enjoying going back and seeing them anyway! (You can see April's version here.)

So on to May!

1. John smoked a bunch of chickens for Mimi's birthday dinner. Several years ago, he made beer can chicken and Mimi has gone on and on about it for years. So we decided to make it for a special birthday celebration!

2. JonJon and Missy brought a new Wii Mario game for the kids. They were VERY excited to try it out!

3. JonJon, Ansley and Christian on the trampoline. These two can constantly be heard yelling "JonJon come here!" "JonJon look!" "JonJon let's go....!"

4. Ansley "waited" on Mimi for dinner. She took her order, got her drink and delivered her meal to her. She has such a servant's heart!

5. Mimi's birthday dinner - beer can chicken, roasted fingerling potatoes and grilled veggies. Yum!

6. We all sang happy birthday and Mimi blew out her candles.

7. I made strawberry shortcake (biscuit style) for dessert.

8. This photo cracks me up.

9. JonJon, Missy and the kids having fun playing outside.

10. JonJon working with Christian on his tennis skills. (He is really enjoying his tennis lessons!)

11. Avery's not happy that JonJon isn't paying attention to her. Just kidding - some day I'm sure that will be the case, but not just yet. She was just very tired and ready to go to bed!

12. JonJon playing a game with Ansley and Christian to help them with their tennis skills.

We had a great day together celebrating Mimi's first birthday in Knoxville! We are so thankful for all that she is to our family. The kids absolutely love having her so close and getting to spend so much time with her - and so do I! And we always enjoy the extra fun that JonJon and Missy bring!

A very fun May 12!

Twelve on Twelve: April

It's time for the April edition of Twelve on Twelve. I seriously can't even believe that I'm remembering these. I guess I'm saying I'm pretty impressed with my memory and the reminder I set on my iPhone isn't hurting.

Here we go.

1. Avery got a little obsessed with ice chips. She loves them! And I'm still going a little light with her since I'm not sure what's going on with her little stomach.

2. Ansley doing her math on the computer.

3. This is called the Monster, and I love it. It quickly gets all the crumbs from my floors, AND the bonus is the kids love to use it, too!

4. The past few days, Ansley has become very interested in learning how to type. I found a free online typing class that she's been working on. She has also become very interested in emailing her Daddy and her Mimi. Good practice!

5. Mimi took Christian this afternoon because it was his turn to have a little Mimi time. Ansley wanted to make the cake from "The Seven Silly Eaters" book. We did this once before, when she was maybe five or six, but we LOVE that book. Ansley made the whole cake, and even cracked the eggs.

6. Avery woke up from her nap, and was NOT happy being on the floor while her Mama and sister worked on something she couldn't see. So, this is how she stayed super happy the whole time we worked on the cake (although we won't talk about my achy back!).

7. The cake. It turned out delicious!

8. Ansley and Avery playing together.

9. Of course, we had to read The Seven Silly Eaters while eating the cake. So cute. You must buy this book.

10. Mimi and Avery playing after dinner.

11. While I clean the kitchen. Doggone it, that kitchen never cleans itself!

12. Avery dancing before bedtime. She kept pressing a button on a toy that played music, and then going all baby-crazy around the room. Adorable!

A fun way to document an ordinary day in April!

What did you do today?

 

Twelve on Twelve : March

I've remembered for three months in a row! I feel like it's an accomplishment.

Here's the March edition, an ordinary Monday that is pretty typical of our days.

1. Plasma cars almost always start our days. This is Ansley's ingenious idea to get Avery to ride behind her - she wraps a blanket around the baby and ties it around her waist. It keeps her on and keeps her happy!

2. Avery took four steps today! We were all pretty excited, and once she saw how excited we were she started giggling and then fell on her hiney.

3. Mimi came by for lunch and brought the Chick. Yummmm. Love the Chick. Love having Mimi here!

4. Ansley was determined to get Avery walking, so she would hold her hands and lead her around and around the kitchen.

5. Even the flowers think it's spring.

6. I got matching dresses for the girls today. How I love shopping for clothes for them!

7. This boy LOVES to draw! I find him often sitting at the table practicing. He does a great job!

8. Our lettuce didn't bloom at all when we planted it last year, but now this one head of lettuce has decided to hang in there all winter and then sprout. I'm excited to eat it for dinner this week!

9. We tilled the soil this evening to prepare for planting. I love having a garden! The kids were very excited and helpful.

10. And this girl can almost always be found reading.

11. The snack time line up this evening just before bedtime.

12. Avery learned this evening that if she offers her bedtime snack to everyone else, we all laugh and think it's adorable. So sweet!