March 9th???

Say what??!?!  I have been telling myself for days that I was going to get on here and post the rest of my February photo challenge pictures.  Project FAIL.  I've also been telling myself that I am going to get on here and finally post about our church launch that happened on February 12th.  Yes, a whole month ago already!  Post FAIL.  And don't even get me started about Lilly's 5-month post.  Yeah, we're zooming into month six and with Jake's second (can you believe he's two?!?!?) birthday next week, so I'm pretty sure that second child syndrome is going to kick in since he will soon take over the blog again.  Then today, I sat down at my computer and a reminder to link up with other ministry wives over at Kelly's Corner popped up and I thought to myself, isn't that supposed to happen in mid-March?  And then I checked the calendar and realized that somehow the first week and a half of March has gone by and I really have no clue how I missed it.  Life in the fast lane... it really will pass you by if you don't stop and look around once in awhile. Thank you, Ferris Bueller, for that gem.  Apparently my rock-star blogging pace did not follow me into March.  Soooo.... with so much to post (and so little time) I'm not sure which one of the many half-written posts to finish, but I guess I'll post the rest of my February photos since I would hate to leave a project incomplete.  Remind me next time I sign up for something like this, that it might not be the best idea for my scatterbrained lifestyle.  But here goes... days 22-29:

[22 - Where you work]

This could go one of two ways.  Technically I work here:

 

Beautiful, right?  This is the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, Florida.  And believe it or not, as of last week, we have officially been purchased by the Trump organization.  As in the Donald himself.  I'm not sure what that means as far as my job will go, so these next few months should be interesting.  As long as I can still work from where I actually work, we'll be all good... which is here:

Yep, I am a lucky woman who gets to work from home.  Our office needs a serious makeover, but it was Josh's until about two months ago so I just moved in recently.  Notice the breast pump on the floor and the rubber duckie on the desk, which proves that my "real" job in life is mommy.  That's the one I like best anyway.

[23 - Your Shoes]

These pretties and I are getting acquainted.  I'm looking forward to doing many miles together.  We are signed up to do our first half marathon (after a VERY long hiatus to have babies) in May.  I hope they are kind to me.

[24 - Your Bathroom Cabinet]

I almost protested this one.  There are just some things that should stay private and this is one of them.  Not because we have anything to hide, but because, well, I am a really clean person and this is one area of my house that is not.  And my house is clean because I use places like this to stash.  Yep, I'm a stasher... my husband is amazed that I know where things are even though they are hidden in the most obscure places.  I just hate clutter.  So instead of taking a picture of one of my stockpiles, I took a photo of the bathroom cabinet in the kids' bathroom.  Which now makes me realize that I have a brand new stashing spot that I need to take advantage of!

[25 - Green]

How could I resist?  Lil is going to look adorable on St. Patty's Day!

[26 - Night]

This doesn't happen often, so I'm glad Josh got a picture.  Falling asleep on the couch while watching a movie is one of my most favorite things to do.  Falling asleep on the couch with my two little ones is even better.

[27 - Something You Ate]

Your hand WILL get slapped if you reach in for a bite of this.  Jake is the only exception, and he loves it just as much as his mama.  Our afternoon snack is one of my favorite times of day.

[28 - Money]

This is where our spare change goes... Lilly has the pink pig and gets all of the quarters and Jake has the brown pig and gets everything else.  One day I'll count and make sure my system is not making one kid way richer than the other.  Then again, girls are more expensive, so this might just work out perfectly.

[29 - Something You're Listening To]

My Pandora stations... such a random mix I know.  Generally I shuffle through all of them until Christmas and then listen to holiday tunes 24/7 for 2 months.

I DID IT!  Granted, I'm 9 days past the end of the project, but who cares?  I DID IT!  .  As much as I enjoyed doing this (and I really did!) I think I'll pass on doing it every month.  Taking the pictures is no problem, but I am not a person who can just post the picture with no description so it's just not for me.  Because every picture really does tell a story.

So what will I do in March, you ask?  Well... even though I told you not to let me do any more of these kinds of things, I'm totally going to join in the wedding season link-up over at Fresh & Fancy.  I may not do all of the days, but I'd definitely love to share my wedding memories since I started blogging right after our big day.  For those of you looking for something to blog about in March (aside from the usual), you should totally join in, too!  Who doesn't love to read about and look at wedding pictures anyway?

Happy March, everyone!  Hopefully I'll do better from here on out... but I won't make any promises!

February Photo Ops: Day 15 - 21

I was so proud of myself when I started this project!  I thought, "look at me keeping up with my daily photos!  Yes, I am the world's greatest blogger." Ha!  Old habits die hard, friends, and finding the time to squeeze in postings is tough, but alas, I am back for the next installment of February photos.  What I do like about this project is that even though I don't post my pictures everyday (and sometimes it's ten at a time like today), it definitely makes me use my camera throughout the week and once I'm snapping away for the daily challenge, I usually grab a couple of the kiddos as well.  So this past week I have a lot more just everyday photos of the kids than I would normally have, which I love.  Plus, it keeps my blog at the forefront of my mind, so I'm more likely to come up with new ideas or stay up late to put one on "paper." We will have to see if this posting trend continues... I make no promises, friends!  But back to the subject at hand... my February photos!

[15 - Phone]

Because I use my beloved iPhone to take these pictures, I snapped a shot of its ugly stepsister- my work phone, which I used to love until all things Macintosh stole my heart:

[16 - Something New]

I feel like it's been ages since I really splurged and got something new for myself.  And for my birthday, I got mostly gift cards and money, neither of which I've had time to spend yet, so it was a challenge to find something to photograph for this.  But then I realized that instead of using it for "time," I could post a picture of the fancy-schmancy "lead pastor" watch I picked out for my husband as a launch day gift from our whole crew.  He's worked so incredibly hard over these past few months... he so deserves it!  She's a beaut, right?

[17 - Time]

It's official... I am back in training again to run a half marathon in the spring and hopefully a full in the fall (although I need to pick a new fall goal since my original plans of running Chicago went out the window since it filled up so fast!).  So this is the kind of "time" I've been focusing on lately:

PS - Make sure you stop the treadmill before snapping a picture of it.  Lesson learned.

[18 - Drink]

I love my mother-in-law for many, many reasons.  But introducing me to this is one of my favorites:

YUM!  Can't wait to share a bottle with her soon!

[19 - Something you hate to do]

At first I thought this would be difficult to narrow down.  I mean, there are tons of things I hate to do... take out the garbage, clean toilets, get out of a warm bed, cook... the list goes on and on.  But then I realized that hate is a very strong word, and I can't say that I actually hate any of those things.  Sure, I dislike them, but at the end of the day, I really don't mind them all that much.  So I thought long and hard and realized what I hate to do is something that I no longer have to do anymore, thankfully.  Because this chick hates to sit in traffic:

[20 - Handwriting] 

It's nothing special, but it's mine.  This is one of the many "To-Do" lists I make for myself for work.  There is nothing that makes me happier than crossing something off with a highlighter:

[21 - A fave Photo of You]

This one will forever be one of my very most favorites, thanks to the very talented Jan Scott.  Just me and baby Jake... before I got to meet him in person:

So as it turns out, I'm still a couple of days behind on this, but that's all I have uploaded so far so you get what you get, okay?  Hopefully I won't wait an entire week again to catch up!

And although it's completely off-topic, I would like to wish a very happy (day late) birthday to this man:

We love you, Dad... (and Grampa)!  Come visit us again soon!

February Photo Ops: Day 10 - 14

Two posts in one day... say what???  Who is this person and what has happened to the real Kim?  I guess this photo challenge is keeping me from disappearing like I normally do mid-month.  Or maybe it's because the stress of the launch is behind us.  Who knows... but I think I like it!  So continuing on with my pictures this month:

[February 10 - Self Portrait]

So here's the deal... I forgot to take this on the 10th, so I actually took it on the 12th.  After our church launch, we had made plans to go out to lunch with a big group of people.  The restaurant misled us a bit and we thought we'd be seated much sooner than we actually were.  Jake had fallen asleep on the way over and so rather than waking him up, I just sat in the car in the parking lot while the rest of the group waited inside.  I was out there awhile and started getting really bored.  I caught up on Words with Friends, checked Facebook, and then started taking random self-photos.  Then I sent this to my sister (who was waiting inside) with the caption "Just in case you're missing me in there":

Apparently it made her laugh out loud and so she had to share it with everyone else.  In return, my sisters, mom, and nephew took a picture of themselves and sent it back to me with the caption "Wish you were here."  Yeah, my family is totally awesome.

[February 11 - Makes You Happy]

There are a zillion things that I could've taken a picture of for this!  My husband and kids (duh!), my family and friends, a clean house, the babies at bath time, my bed, my running shoes... the list goes on and on.  But I chose one of life's simplest pleasures... a latte from Starbucks always makes me happy (minus the price tag)!  Plus, I'm loving their Valentine's cups:

[February 12 - Inside your closet]

Since I am ridiculous and posted an ode to my closet when we moved into our house, I thought I'd take a picture of the kids' closet instead.  I am quite proud of the organization, and who can resist seeing tiny clothes hanging up everywhere?

1. 

By the way, I think every closet should have a window in it.  Sure, it takes up wall space but it's so nice to go pick out their clothes in that light!  Their closet is actually so big that it's become a bit of a playroom, too.  Can you find Jake in this picture?

Naptime doesn't always happen in his bed these days.

[February 13 - Blue]

My original plan was to take all new photos for this challenge, but when I think of blue, only one thing pops into my mind:

My Jakey has the most beautiful eyes... and they have been that color since he was about 2 months old.  Here's my cutie-pie when he was just a wee bit older than Lilly is now.  These days I can't get him to sit still long enough to get a picture of those eyes... I'm hoping it's just a phase.

[February 14 - Heart]

I did this one a day early, mainly because Lil was dressed up for Valentine's Day before Gramma had to leave town.  Who can resist a little ruffled-bum at nap time?

That sweet girl has my heart... big time.

Well that wraps it up for a few more days.  I hope you're enjoying these as much as I'm actually enjoying taking them!  It's just a little glimpse into our day to day world here in Mauneyland... nothing too exciting, but to me, it's perfect.  I wish you all a happy Valentine's Day tomorrow, too.  Josh and I really don't do anything to celebrate, since he knows I'd prefer flowers and a date night on a random Thursday instead, but I hope you all know that you are loved tomorrow and everyday.

February Photo Ops: Day 7 - 9

[February 7 - Button]

I didn't realize how many buttons there were to choose from until this topic came up.  There are phone buttons (many of which are now touch screen), remote control buttons, buttons in the car, all over the kitchen, etc.  And then there are buttons on clothing, furniture, etc.  For this challenge, however, I chose this button:

Ohhh Disney World... how I miss you so.  I spent many a-weekend there with my girlfriends before getting married and one of those weekends fell on my birthday.  In a word, it was perfection.  Mostly because if it's your birthday, you get a "free" button.  That only costs the price of your ticket.  Yes, I am a sucker.

[February 8 - Sun]

This side of Kentucky did not see the sun once yesterday, which is odd since it had been sunny all week.  I'm cool with the dreary weather as long as that means it will clear up in time for our church launch this Sunday.  So instead, I took a picture of the little plastic sun that I hung on Lilly's bouncy seat:

Well, now that I look at it, it looks more like a flower.  Po-tay-to Po-tah-to.  And yes, those chubby cheeks belong to my own little ray of sunshine.

[February 9 - Front Door]

Ummm... nothing special here.  Just a blue door that's not even decorated.  Me thinks I need to step it up.

Seeing this makes me miss this door [sigh]:

Which reminds me... have I mentioned that we sold the world's greatest house?  It was one of the saddest happiest moments of my life.  And it is proof that God's timing is perfect.  When setting out to plant a church we had budgeted up until this month to cover that mortgage.  I surprisingly did not stress like I thought I would and as He always does, God was faithful and stepped in when we needed to.  It reminds me to never be surprised, but to always be amazed by Him.  

"Now glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."

(Ephesians 3:20)

February Photo Ops: Day 4-6

[February 4 - A Stranger] 

Okay, I'm not going to lie, taking a picture of a stranger nearly brought on a panic attack.  I know that may sound a bit extreme, but I felt like a major creep-o trying to take a picture without the stranger realizing it.  Soooo... my picture came out blurry, and that's totally okay with me.  The challenge was just to photograph a stranger, not necessarily a clear image of one!  But what you can't see is that the stranger I was targeting looked like my cousin, Tommy, which is why I picked him.  I don't think I've ever written Tommy's story on my blog, but I probably should someday, since thoughts of him make me smile.  We lost Tommy in a motorcycle accident a few years ago and to say that he is missed is an understatement.  And he sure was handsome, which you would be able to tell from my stranger picture if it was clear, but it's not.  See?

So yes, that's my stranger, who looks like Tommy.  And, well, now I'm just going to go ahead and post a picture of Tommy so you can see what my stranger looks like.  I know it's not part of the challenge, but hey, it's my blog so I can post it if I want to... and someday I will have to tell you all about him:

So that's him... with my Aunt B, who is also one of my happy thoughts.  She passed away two years ago, and is another one that we miss dearly.  Oh but I digress... let's get back to the photo project before I get all misty eyed on you.

[February 5 - 10 am]

I must admit, I was so happy that this topic landed on a Sunday.  Why?  Because it means that I can post this:

10am from here on out means that you can find me at TurningPoint Church, the church that Josh and I are planting.  Pretty amazing and I will fill you in on all of the details after our launch service on Sunday.  This photo was taken at our "preview" service, which was a full service that allowed us to basically work out the kinks.  I get goosebumps thinking about 10am this coming Sunday... it really will be a dream coming to life.  Again, I'm about to get misty eyed.  Moving on...

[February 6 - Dinner]

There was a part of me that wanted to actually cook dinner so that I could take a picture of it.  Ha!  If you know me well, you know that cooking is not something that I really enjoy that much, so a hot meal on the table is few and far between.  I wish it weren't so, and it's something I need to improve on before the kids get much older, but if it were up to me, we'd have a bowl of cereal every night.  Tonight, however, Josh came home from work and had skipped lunch, so he frantically searched the kitchen for something to eat. He cooked up some chicken and instead of taking a picture of it, I took a picture of him eating dinner, mostly because of the company he keeps at mealtime:

An unimpressive dinner is always tastier when you have that sweet face staring back at you.  Thankfully God blessed me with a husband who doesn't mind cooking, and who also doesn't mind that I don't cook much!

So that wraps it up.  I'm not sure if the intent of this project was to have such lengthy explanations of my photos, but I am kind of enjoying adding the backstory... for now.  We'll see if I can keep it up!

February Photo Ops

I saw that a friend of mine is doing this and think I'll join in the fun.  I'm a failure at Project365, but surely I can take one picture a day for a whole month, right?  Especially since I've been given a topic and have my iPhone on me at all times now!  So here's the challenge, originally brought to you by Chantelle:

I'm not going to post them daily, but in spurts since that's kind of how I roll on this blog anyway!  So here are days 1-3:

[February 1 - My view today]

For a lot of my day, I sit in front of my laptop as I sell golf trips to a resort in Miami.  Pretty random for a gal who lives in Kentucky, right?  But it makes sense if you know the whole story!  Notice the jump-a-roo in the background... baby gear has pretty much taken over every room of the house!

[February 2 - Words]

For the first time this week, I started my day off with THE Word... which is always the favorite way to start my day.  Even though I hate getting out of bed early, I love being up early.  And when I do this and spend the first part of my day with Him, I feel like He rewards me with more time that day.  Weird I know, since every day has 24 hours in it, but somehow He makes it work.  [As a side note: I have no idea why this uploaded upside-down much less how to fix it!]

[February 3 - Hands]

I love photos of hands.  I have no idea why, but I feel like they can tell so much.  We have three separate pictures of just hands hanging on our dining room wall.  I didn't even realize it until I put the third one up, but they really do tell a story.  The first is a picture of mine and Josh's hands on our wedding day, the second is our hands on my Jake-belly bump, and the third is a picture of Lilly's tiny fingers clutching her daddy's hands just moments after she was born... quite possibly my favorite.  So as I said, they tell the story of our family.  But in this project I am committing to taking all new pictures, so here are my favorite pudgy fingers in my life these days:

I know we're three days in, but it's not too late to join up!  I think it's a fun idea and you can link your blog to her blog if you participate.  Tomorrow's does make me a little bit nervous as I feel a bit awkward taking a photograph of a stranger, but I'm sure I'll figure something out!  Happy Friday everyone and here's to more more blogging (I hope!) this month!

Project365: September 12th - 18th

I did much better this week with the whole picture taking bit. Granted, I have already forgotten to take one today so I'm already behind for next week, but I'll worry about that then. And I guess if I really wanted to I could take a photo of something random in the house tonight before bed. But anyway, here was our week:

Sunday, September 12th... I took many pictures of this spider web, most of which are not worth sharing. I did enjoy playing around with sunlight just to see what it would do. For this one picture, there are about twenty others that did not come out at all! Learning is so much easier with digital film!

{Nikon D3000: ISO 100, 55mm, F/6.3, 1/320s}

Monday, September 13th... See Josh's birthday post below. These two pictures were just taken with my Sony Cybershot which stopped working later on in the week.

Tuesday, September 14th... My mom will recognize this gal. Meet Lindsay. She and I were the best of friends when I lived in Mexico City in 10th and 11th grade. You heard me right, we lived in Mexico City. I forget that a lot of my new friends don't even know that about me. Anyway, it has been seven years since we last saw each other and she would be passing our exit on her way from Iowa to Wisconsin for a business trip. The visit was only an hour long, but it was so wonderful to see each other and catch up. If you had been there, you would have thought that we had just hung out last week. That's what I love about her.

{Nikon D3000: Automatic. Thanks to my father-in-law for snapping the picture}

Wednesday, September 15th... I snagged this picture from my friend Kristie (thanks!) because Wednesday was when I realized that my Sony point and shoot was not working. I really wanted it to work, too, because we went and saw the Power Team and it was awesome! I had never heard of it, but it's a group of men and women who perform amazing feats of strength and then preach the Gospel. If you ever have the opportunity to see them, make sure you don't miss it. It's well worth the trip!

{Whatever camera Kristie used. Great shot!}

Thursday, September 16th... I can't go a week without a picture of my favorite little guy! He has recently started smiling for the camera. I'm loving it.

{Nikon D3000: ISO 1250 (auto), 34mm, F/5, 1/30s}

Friday, September 17th... Jake and Ollie's second date. Jake definitely leaned in for a few kisses. She definitely pulled his hair and smacked him in the face. I think it's love.

{Nikon D3000: Automatic mode}

Saturday, September 17th... Jake enjoyed some couch time while watching football with his daddy and Pawpaw.

Another week gone by... where does the time go? This week should be pretty uneventful so the photos will probably be a bit lame next week (that is if I remember to take any each day). Sometimes uneventful weeks are the best kinds. I hope yours was as good as ours!

Project 365: August 29 - September 4, 2010

So I'm still not completely on top of this whole Project365 thing, but at least I have a post this week even if it's not every day. It's progress. And don't judge me that some of these pictures are not even from this week and that on 2 days I couldn't pick just 1 picture. It's my project, so I can do it how I want it. Right? Right??? Work with me here, people.

Sunday, August 29th... Actually, I have no photo for this day, but I have two from the previous Friday (8/27). Again, it's my project so I'll do it my way.

We took a family trip to the Home Depot. It was Jake's first time riding in the seat of the cart as well as his first (and probably last) time in his cute little boots. Looks like our little beefcake is already outgrowing his size 3 shoes!

{Sony Cybershot}

Monday, September 30th... Jake loves his new swing that Daddy bought for him! I was only going to post the second picture (what is it with me and pictures of his fee today?) but I loved his face in this first one so much that I just couldn't leave it out. Again, 2 pictures... and again, I know that's breaking the "rules." I think I just threw the rule book out the window.

{Nikon D3000: ISO 400, 18mm, F/4.5, 1/320s}

{Nikon D3000: ISO 400, 42mm, F/5.3, 1/200s}... LOVE this!

Tuesday, August 31st - A sweet family from church gave us a bike and a trailer like the one we used when we were out in Colorado. This time we tried it without the car seat. He's still a little too small, but we took a short ride and he seemed to like it alright. It's a nice alternative to walks in the stroller and next year we'll be able to take this one with us when we go to Colorado.

{Sony Cybershot}

Wednesday, September 1st - A beautiful butterfly was stuck in our kitchen all morning. I tried to shoo it out, but it just fluttered around this window. I had lots of fun taking many (good and bad) photos and trying out some tricks.

{Nikon D3000: ISO 400, 55mm, F/5.6, 1/30s}

Hmmm... apparently after Wednesday I just totally forgot to take any pictures. Oh well. At least I had a couple of days with double doses to make up for it and at least I did a post this week. Hopefully I'll improve, but I am enjoying the fact that this makes me unload my pictures every week and file them. I need to move them all to a thumb drive by date and start on a book for Jake. He's going to be SIX MONTHS OLD next week... where does the time go??? On an exciting (for me) note, I'm signing up to take a Photoshop class at the community college here. It's only the basics, but it's long overdue since I'm not smart enough to figure out all of the effects myself, which is rare for me and a computer program. I'm still not going to edit any of my Project365 pictures, but hopefully I'll be able to use some of the things I learn to make my photography even better. So far it's probably the favorite hobby that I've ever decided to pick up... especially now that I have such a cute subject available everyday!

Project365: August 8-14

It's been a busy week in Mauneyland (as usual) so here are some of the highlights:

Sunday 8/7 - We went to the Refresh Event at the campus up in Freeport. Josh baptized a couple that he had the pleasure of marrying back in June as well as a few others from our campus. This is the same event where I was baptized last year.

{Sony Cybershot}

Monday, 8/9 - Someone LOVES cereal! Yum!

{Sony Cybershot}


Tuesday, 8/10 - It won't be long now! Last year our apple trees were never sprayed, so our apples weren't any good. This year we'll have more than we'll know what to do with! I hope we have some friends who love apples!

{Nikon D3000: ISO 200, 42 mm, F/7.1, 1/30s}

Wednesday, 8/11 - This is something that should never be in our house. Somebody needs to stop me!

[Nikon D3000: ISO 800, 24 mm, F/9, 1/2.5s}

Thursday, 8/12 - A little rawhide seems to keep her in the yard!

{Nikon D3000: ISO 400, 40 mm, F/5.3, 1/125s}

Friday, 8/13 - Both of my boys love their SportsCenter

{Nikon D3000: I cheated... Automatic (no flash) Mode}

Saturday, 8/14: Jake loves weekends because he gets to flirt with his girlfriend, Ollie, in the church nursery. Hopefully he'll be okay with an arranged marriage.

{Sony Cybershot}

So that was our week in a nutshell. Next week should be interesting... expect a lot of photos (and an additional post I'm sure) that involve our impromptu Extreme Home Makeover project.