Black and White Beauty

Simply Tuesday

Outside my window... mountains of snow on top of layers of ice.


I am thinking... that I really need to be better about doing yoga so my back doesn't hurt all the time.


I am thankful for... a doc who would call in a prescription for pink eye without having to see Julia first and that she's on the mend from Influenza A after five days of being lethargic. I'm also thankful to be 21 weeks and already have seen the good news that BabyBear's cyst is gone. You can read more about how we found out the gender here.


From the kitchen... oranges and grapefruit. Can't get enough fruit these days. Oh and fresh baked bread...or what's left of it. I'll be popping another loaf in the oven for lunch tomorrow. Yum!


I am wearing... black yoga pants, black thermal shirt, and my park* socks

*When we worked for the National Park Service we were given a clothing allowance to purchase uniform pieces. I always ordered extra socks because they are super comfy and last a long time. I've had this pair ten years!


I am creating... a 320 page blog book for a client in Colorado.


I am going... to the chiropractor tomorrow if I can get in. I only go every two weeks even though I could easily go once a week.

I am reading... The Power of Praying Parent and whatever book in the Bible I happen to open up each day.

I am hoping... that nobody else comes down with the flu.


I am hearing... Sam making gun/shooting noises from his room. It's his normal bedtime sound effect ritual. Boys!

Around the house... it's actually not all that messy! I cleaned a bunch on Saturday and it hasn't had time to clutter back up quite yet. The cat is yowling from the basement. Apparently she's in heat. I have Google to thank for the answer to her strange behavior lately.

One of my favorite things... the video I took of Julia singing the Whinnie the Pooh theme song tonight. I wish I could find it on You Tube where supposedly my phone uploaded it to so I could share it with you, but I didn't have any luck. She still sounds like she has a cold, but she's in tune and so sweet!

A few plans for the rest of the week: Chiropractor, work, grocery shopping, and renting skis over the weekend thanks to all this fresh new snow from the weekend storm. (grumble grumble)


Here is picture for thought I am sharing... This winter has been awful
as far as getting outside to play in the snow. This photo was taken two weekends ago on the ONLY day I could take the kids skiing. Sam went with Daddy early in the season once, but it's been too cold otherwise.

Julia was on real skis for the first time and did great!

For more Simple Woman's Daybook posts, click here.

The end is in sight

The mountains of snow in our park have been available for winter fun since mid November, but it's been so darn cold we're lucky if the kids get out once a week. Thankfully February is flying by and before we know it we'll be tapping Maple trees and pulling out puddle boots. I know we're suppose to make the most of every day, but this has been the worst.winter.ever and I am so glad the end is in sight!

"Wow"

I say it every day. Why? Because she wows me with her artistic ability on a daily basis, that's why. This winter will go down in Bear Family history as the one where Julia's artistic abilities emerged full force.

First it was crayons and coloring books.
Then it was coloring books and markers.
Then it was white paper with a combo of markers and crayons.
From there she's moved to cutting out her creations, like this one:

I consider myself a creative person, but this kid has more creative juices in her pinky than I do in my entire being. Love that. I even love Sponge Bob. Never thought I'd say that in this lifetime!

Alphabitty Moments - The letter S

So many options for the letter S but I settled on Snow Angels for this round of Alphabitty Moments. Julia will often just fall over backwards when we're out in the snow and start making a snow angel. It's the cutest thing. I love to watch her face when she gets up and admires her work.

What S moment do you want to remember this week?

Wordless Wednesday - Skiing By Candlelight

What are winters made of?

What are your winters made of? (If you do a post about it will you come back and let me know? I may be 375 posts behind in my Google Reader, but I can make time to click over from a comment.)

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

....a beautiful day for skiing.

Here's hoping the upcoming weekend is just as beautiful! I'm looking forward to lots of family time spent outdoors and plenty of snuggles inside in our jammies. What do you have planned for the weekend?

Wordless Wednesday - white as snow

note to self:

Don't bother to put out our pair of reindeer next year.


Written any notes to self lately? Mentally or literally....do share!

Whispers of Winter

Winter whispers...

Put your skis on & listen.


Winter whispers...








I am so much more than snowy white.




Winter whispers...










Sometimes less is more.



Winter whispers...

Enjoy me while you can. My time here goes faster than you think.

Wordless Wednesday - {big} boys will be boys

Wordless Wednesday -walking in a winter wonderland

*alternatively titled, "Bedtime Shmedtime"

Hat Heads

If only Mommy could look as cute in her winter hat.....

i heart faces - (not my) family

One of the downsides of being a photographer is that I use up most of my creativity and time for that matter, photographing other people. The thousands of photographs on my hard drive can attest to that fact. Browsing through my pictures from the last year, I only have a handful of shots of my family. I get sad about that fact this time of year. It's nothing new. It happens every winter when the chance to take well lit portraits is almost non existent.

Here is how winter happens here in BearCountry: By the time we have enough snow to go outside and play it typically gets so cold that we can only be out for a few minutes and even if I did snap a few pics, the snot running out of noses pretty much negates any chance at getting 'the one' (hence why I didn't enter last weeks challenge) Now that our temps are now above zero, the snow we have is dingy and dirty - not exactly the makings of a great background. I'm shopping around for a 85 mm 1.2 lens (know anyone selling one for under a grand??) and then I will be able to blur out that ugly snow and just maybe I'll be able to add more than a couple of folders of winter shots to my hard drive in 2010.

Enough talk about winter....I'm ready for Spring! I'm ready for green grass....something like this maybe?



You can click on the spiffy new badge to see other entries in this week's challenge at i heart faces....

Our work

here


is


done.


And so is his.

Go tell it on a mountain...

a snow mountain that is. We have six of these right outside our front door. These pictures were taken on the 26th before another 2 inches of snow fell. If you are turning green with envy let me remind you of this post and share the fact that in order to make these big snow mountains, plows and a Bobcat have to scrape all the snow from the park roads and our driveways at all hours of the day in order to build these big piles.

Wordless Wednesday - Target Practice

Sweet Revenge...

Random Picture Challenge #4

This week Brittany challenged us to go to the 3rd folder and then to the first picture with brown in it.
My picture isn't that old because for some reason the pictures from my point and shoot camera go into a folder from 2005 - even if I took them yesterday. So, this is my third folder. The brown can be found in that tasty little treat on Grandpa's knee -otherwise known as Sam' s greatest weakness. (Most people call them cupcakes.)


PapaBear took this photo of Sam's first time ice fishing this year. His very first time on the ice last year, I went with to take pictures.

It's fitting that part of the picture challenge this week is to find something brown because really, those cupcakes was the reason Sam went fishing.

Grandpa? Are you going to eat that last cupcake?
(a minute later)
Hmmm....That cupcake looks lonely.
(a minute after that)
Do you think someone should eat that cupcake? To which Grandpa replies, "Sam, would you like to eat this cupcake?"

And as if the thought had never crossed his mind, Sam replies, "Oh Suuuuure. I can eat that cupcake!"

Thanks Brittany for a way to document a silly Sam story! To see more participants entries, click here.

See Ya!

Goodbye Winter!



Hello Spring!


Today may be the first day of Spring, but here in Bear Country we're at risk for snow well past today. Remember the first day of Spring last year? This is what we woke up to Easter Sunday.