Day 27 - Jan 27th

Two pictures today. I was photographing Jill cutting Kiwi's when Sophia came down the stairs very happy. So I'm showing both.

Day 26 - Jan 26th

I've always liked the view out our master bedroom - both in light and at night. So I took a picture of it tonight.

Day 25 - Jan 25th

What is this, you ask? This is the temperature gauge for my grill. We paid $500 five years ago for this nice Weber Genesis Gold C grill. But it's been having a lot of trouble lately - the igniter is stuck, half the burners no longer work. I was considering buying a new one - we just put four models on clearance at FM and they are fantastic prices. But I decided to search online for the replacement parts to price compare to determine: repair or replace.

Except I couldn't find my manual. So I called Weber to see if they could send me an electronic copy or give me the part numbers. And BINGO! When I had purchased the grill, I had registered it with them. And it has a ten year warranty. The only part I needed not covered was the igniter. So for $19, they are sending me new parts to get it up and running.

A LOT better than buying a new grill!

Day 24 - Jan 24th

I was at Fred Meyer and Jeremy and I needed to go out to the trailers out back to begin unloading patio furniture. The grocery delivery guy had dropped this in the middle of the road and left it! It's really dark back there - this is a time exposure with me holding my iPhone against one of the trailers so it didn't get any shake. Fortunately, it was a low traffic night. Cars sometimes blaze around the corner and if one of them didn't see that in time - it would've been unpleasant. Jeremy admonished the driver to put it to the side next time.

Day 23 - Jan 23rd

This is the door hardware in our home. I love them BUT when one falls off, I'm left scratching my head how to attach it again. Someday I'll figure it out.

Day 22 - Jan 22nd

Lydia!

Day 21 - Jan 21st

We had guests over for dinner Thursday night and this was what was left :)

Day 20 - Jan 20th

Lydia snapped this picture and I really liked it. This is the one I snapped for today, but hers is better.

Day 19 - Jan 19th

It has been so temperate here lately. I took a walk over lunch because it's in the 50's with a light breeze. Beautiful weather. Unfortunately, the several hundred bulbs I planted in the fall did not get as long of a dormant time as they needed and are all coming up. I hope they survive! These guys shouldn't be blooming for a few more months and instead are going to expend all their energy in January!

Day 18 - Jan 18th

I was going to the second job and saw this cute car in the parking lot. I haven't seen too many of these in our area! It's a bit blurry, sorry about that.

Day 17 - Jan 17th

It's tough sometimes to get Sophia to sit still. She has a six year olds energy and likes to move. I asked her to stand still while I snapped her photo as she watched her brother playing Indiana Jones Lego on the Wii. This was the "stillest" photo I got!

Day 16 - Jan 16th

Raindrops on an evergreen.

Here's a fact. When I was in third grade, I wrote a story called "If I were a raindrop". It got published in Wee Wisdom magazine. I still have the certificate and copy of the magazine somewhere...

Day 15 - Jan 15th

Jill had another eye doctor appointment today. It was in Dr. Barnebey's new office which was very tastefully decorated by his wife. This nifty centerpiece greeted you on entrance. Jill's infection seems to be gone, but her pressure is still way up. I'm keeping my eyes on her eye, though, because we thought her infection was gone before and it came creeping back.

Day 14 - Jan 14th

Tonight was the annual weighing and measuring. Here are the stats:
Maranda grew 14.5 pounds and 2-1/2 inches. Teenage growth kick in! She's about 4 inches shorter than Jill.
Lydia gained 3.5 pounds and 2 inches.
Alexander gained 1.5 pounds and 2 inches.
Sophia gained 5.5 pounds and 2-1/2 inches.
Peter gained 3 pounds and 3-1/4 inches.

Day 13 - Jan 13th

I've been super busy this week - doing multiple trainings of clients per day. In between I'm also helping out with a friends laptop. I think I can fix most of it's issues but some are hardware driven and are a lot tougher to do anything about. Meanwhile, I can try to clean up the software portion. She wants to know how much I'll owe her and I'm really terrible about that end of things!

Day 12 - Jan 12th

I would love to have a big, huge green house. It's a dream of mine, truthfully. We sell this one at Fred Meyer and more than once I've ventured outside into the back yard thinking "where could I put it......?"

Day 11 - Jan 11th

I got a little behind, so I'm playing catch up. On the 11th, Jill had a friend over and Maranda was watching the baby. Since the baby kept giving me odd looks, I decided to record it!

Day 10 - Jan 10th

The kids are playing outside because of the beautiful day we are having. I liked this photograph of Alexander.

Day 9 - Jan 9th

I was taking down and putting away the Christmas tree when I got the inspiration for this photograph. Jill's folks used to live and work in the Washington, DC area and in 1997, began giving us the White House ornament of the year and they've continued to do so every year since then. They are beautiful, delicate ornaments with a historical insert that always teaches us something. It's become one of those traditions we look very forward to each year! These beautiful ornaments are treasured by our family.

This years ornament celebrated the second term of Grover Cleveland - the only President to serve two non consecutive terms. His second term saw the first time a Christmas tree sported electric lights in the White House.

Day 8 - Jan 8th

Today's picture is a little different than I've ever posted. Some people know that for years - almost a decade now - I've done side work of taking product photography. A friend of mine, Jason, started a business in 2009 focused on two of his passions - which are reflected in the name of his company "Zombies & Toys". Jason recently came out with his first exclusive - a set of red glow in the dark little zombies from October Toys. He asked me to photograph them for him and I was happy to oblige. Then I created a four picture collage to show all their aspects. Glow in the darks used to pose a huge challenge to me until I experimented with manual focus, +2 exposure compensation, F8, 100 ISO and a good black light.

Day 7 - Jan 7th

I snapped this quick picture of Peter eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich. There was a lot of sticky fingers. I loved the natural lighting on him. It was a beautiful day today in the Northwest.

Some cute Peter-ism's lately - he calls the Merry Maids the Mermaids. "The Mermaids clean everything!" Unfortunately, Jill canceled them in December because of upcoming braces expenses. Peter also has a unique line for a Christmas song. He doesn't grasp what a Pear Tree is, but he knows something else. "And a partridge in the pantry!"

Bonus picture - one of his siblings took this cute pic with Jill's camera earlier. Our little boy is almost four!

Day 6 - Jan 6th

I took this with the iPhone at Fred Meyer. Our kids love Schleich's. The older two make a bee line for that section whenever we go there. And, of course, horses are their favorite. They know which ones they have, which ones they need, what the names are, their attributes, etc. They have...a lot.

Day 5 - Jan 5th

I took down the exterior decorations but haven't had a chance to put them away. I've been working too many hours. But here are some of them, coiled up on the front porch.

Day 4 - Jan 4th

Jill's eye is reinfected now. And her pressure is way up. I took her in to see her wonderful eye doctor, Dr. Barnebey, in downtown Seattle and we brought the three youngest with us. Alexander in particular was fascinated by the building under construction to the North. Peter was organizing the Little Golden books by the colors of the back cover. He put her back on the eye drops, except cut down the steroid one, since that's the main culprit in the pressure build up.

Day 3 - Jan 3rd

My dad came up to help my sister with some cabinet work in their house over the weekend and they got to come over on Sunday. Hadn't seen my dad in too long. I don't get to see either of my parents very often. Anyway, the kids enjoyed talking to him - especially after I revealed that Grandpa Phil used to work in a zoo. THAT got their attention.

Day 2 - Jan 2nd

Jill's folks gave us a Costco membership for Christmas. I haven't been in a Costco in a long, long time. The one nearest us is well built with wide spacious aisles but not nearly enough free samples on a Saturday :) We spent...a lot. But got a lot. I tell you, those packers at the register know how to Tetris in your packages so they all fit in your cart really well. Why is Jill shielding her eyes? See day 4.

Day 1 - Jan 1st

I decided to continue it. I was debating not doing a 365, but rather a 52 - posting once a week with highlights. But I then realized that the days just go by and chances were high that on Saturday I'd realize I hadn't taken any photographs. Besides, my family wants me to continue. I got two nice comments on Facebook and two from the blog encouraging me to continue. So...I will.

On Jan 1st, my sister, Laura, and her husband, Karl, came over. It was a great visit. They had their dog, Henry, with them. But I snapped this picture to show that Uncle Karl is significantly taller than our kids :)

Day 361 - Dec 31st

This clever little bird was walking along and when he felt something, he'd dig in his claws and give a quick hop backwards - digging up the rubber mulch in hopes of catching whatever was down there. Eventually he ate something.

Day 360 - Dec 30th

Jill's eye got re-infected so we had to get her to the doctor right away. It was really red and super light sensitive. We have to go back on Monday for a follow up. Since we were a squeeze in at the last minute, we had to hang out for about 2 hours in the lobby.

Day 359 - Dec 29th

I was wondering around thinking what to photograph when I saw one of Alexanders creations. He's really quite good at taking Lego pieces and creating something unique.

Day 358 - Dec 28th

I got home late at night from the second job and realized I hadn't taken a picture. I saw the Christmas tree in the dark and though I'd try an iPhone picture of it. It didn't turn out that well, but it was the only pic I took on my Uncle's birthday!