52 Week Photo Projcet

  For the record I have not been neglecting my 52 week photo project. I just haven't been posting the pictures on both blogs. So if you are interested here are links to each week's posts:

Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13 (I still need to take a picture of one of my kids at their worst)
Week 14: Easter (picture shown)

52 week Photo Project: Week 8 - Something Red

I didn't look ahead to next weeks topic and the pictures I took for this week would have been perfect for next week. Oh well I am going to share anyways. Just over 8 weeks ago I sat down and put together an 8 week menu. I don't repeat a single meal and yes it is color coded based on the kind of meat in the main dish. It has seriously been the best thing EVER! I hate coming up with a menu and then making a grocery list and then going grocery shopping. This way the menu and list is already made and I just grab the shopping list (already printed) cross off the things I already have and off to the store I go. I love that I know what I am having for dinner each night and don't have to ask or think of something. My family has been eating better, a bigger variety of meals, at a more consistent time and we eat out less. It has seriously been life changing. So what does that have to do with the color red? Well for dinner yesterday we had Chicken and Black Bean enchilada casserole with green beans. (click on the link to see the recipe) The enchilada sauce is red. ;)

52 Week Photo Project: Week 7 - Someone you Love

  I just realized I forgot to post this week's photo on my family blog. The theme this week was "someone you love." So of course I picked the most important person in my life - my amazing husband Jason. He is surely feeling the love after this post and his birthday post. Jason is an extremely hard worker and provides a comfortable life style for us. He works full time and then after work he either comes home and helps with the kids and family life before heading to his office to freelances or after work he head over to the local tech school to teach some night classes. This is Jason in his office working away. Thank you Jason for all you do for our family!

52 Week Photo Project: Week 6 - Kid's Room

  For this weeks assignment, Kids' Room, I wanted to share a picture of my son and what I find him most often doing at night in his bedroom. Brock is an avid reader like his mother.  We both have a really hard time putting a book down and going to sleep. If we would let Brock, he would read late into the night. Sometimes on weekends we do let him read to his heart's content. Right now Brock is reading "The Fire Eternal" by Chris D'Lacey. It is the 4th book in the Last Dragon Chronicles. 

  What I really like about this photo is that I captured not only him but his shadow on the wall. I thought it was pretty cool and unique.

Join the 52 week photo project! Post your picture and link here. 

52 Week Photo Project: Week 5 - Bathtime

  We have reached the wonderful milestone when all the kids can shower! My role on "shower night" consists of  deciding who goes first and timing showers (so there is enough hot water for everyone). Jason's job is brushing out all the hair. Brock and Mikele brush their own hair but Kassie and Allie still enjoy having Dad brush out their hair for them. It also gives us the opportunity to make sure that they got all the soap rinsed out.
  Each of my girls have such different heads of hair. Mikele's hair is really fine, thin, curly and a dark brown color. Kassie has the hair we all covet - blonde, thick, straight and long. Allie's hair is also blonde but is still pretty fine baby hair. I think her hair will be more like Mikele's hair and really fine. Allie also has a little bit of curl but not near as curly as Mikele's. I don't want to leave Brock out. His hair is turning more brown, straight, thick and grows really fast. He is always in need of a haircut.

This post is part of a 52 week photo project I am hosting on my business blog. Check out the details about the project here and if you would like to join post a link to your picture here.

52 Week Photo Project: Week 4 - Something White

  When the new ipad minis came out, Jason bought me a white one. I have LOVED it. So has Allie. She loves the smaller lighter size and often steals it from me. If I can't find my ipad mini I just need to find Allie. Her favorite app is probably the PBS kids app. She loves watching videos on it. She also likes to play games on it. The great thing about the itunes store is there are plenty of free educational games for her to play.  I do keep it locked down so she can't delete things. She has a habit of moving apps around and even deleting apps.
  Allie is not the only kid in our house with their own high tech gadgets. All of my kids have their own ipod touches. I had to warm up to the idea at first but honestly they love them, they play games together and the 3 older kids have apps that help them track their daily jobs. It is also nice that the kids can text us as long as they are on a internet network.
  Kassie recently discovered the wonderful world of face time. She loves to face time with Jason at work. She also is obsessed with taking pictures and videos with her ipod.

  This post is part of a 52 week photo project I am hosting on my business blog. Check out the details about the project here and if you would like to join post a link to your picture here.

52 Week Photo Project - Week 3 Nightly Routine

Tuesday Night is our crazy night! I thought it was a good idea to have ALL the kids' extra curricular activities on the same day. It actually is nice the rest of the week but Tuesday is a little intense. Especially this last Tuesday.  It was my turn to teach preschool in the morning. If I am not teaching preschool then I am volunteering in Mikele's class. That afternoon, as soon as Brock gets home from school, I take him to his guitar lesson. Kassie and Allie sit in the car with me and Kassie does her reading and homework while we wait for Brock. Then we race home and Kassie gets changed for ballet and Mikele gets ready for tumbling. Mikele has arrived home from school while I was at the guitar lesson. We head out again, pick up the neighbor girl, and drop Kassie off at ballet. We have a little time before I take Mikele and her friend to their tumbling class. I don't get to stay and watch Mikele because I have to race back over and pick Kassie up from ballet. Then I head home. (Mikele's friend's Mom brings them home from tumbling). Jason is in charge of dinner on Tuesday nights because I don't get home until after 6:00 and Jason and Brock have scouts at 7:00 and on this particular Tuesday I also was teaching my scrapbook class which starts at 6:30. By the time everyone is home and tucked into bed I am done for the day.

52 Week Photo Project - Week 2

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.

Thomas Jefferson

This week's theme is the Family Room. What makes any family room special is not the furniture or decor but the people who fill the room. Our family is a little crazy and our family room tends to be very chaotic but at the end of the day I am grateful for each member and what they bring to the chaos.

For this week's photo I captured some of the chaos while the family was playing a new game we received for Christmas called Headbanz.  The idea of the game is that everyone has a picture on their forehead and they have until the timer runs out to ask yes/no questions to help them figure out what the picture is. Allie liked to be in charge of the hourglass timer. The only problem was that she would let it start running then quickly flip it over so it would run out faster.

52 Week Photo Project - Week 1

1/3200 sec at f/1.8, ISO 100

  It is week one of the 52 Week Photo project. I am so excited about this project. The theme for this week is 52 steps from your front door. I did take more then 52 steps but this is a sign just down my street that I have always loved and wanted to photograph so it was the perfect subject for this week's theme.  Jason like the sepia version and I liked the color version so I posted the sepia here and the color version on my business blog post where you can add links to your photo. I can't wait to see what everyone else photographed!
  If you would like to join the 52 week photo project here is a link to the details and themes for the year and and here is a link to the post on my iotamaker blog for adding your link to the post.

52 Week Photo Project

Last year I thought it would be fun to participate in a 52 week photo challenge. {A 52 week photo challenge is when you take a picture and post it on your blog every week. There is usually a theme for each week's post} The only problem was that I didn't stick with it. Which I regret because the pictures I did take I loved. So this year I am recruiting my friends, family, acquaintances and anyone else who wants to participate to join with me. You can all hold me accountable and I you. Why should you participate?

1. If you are like me you take fewer and fewer pictures of your kids, family and everyday life and want to change that.
2. If you are like me you have become a terrible blogger and where my blog is my family journal that means I am also a terrible journal keeper so taking pictures and posting them every week will help us accomplish two goals at once.
3. You want to improve your photography no matter what kind of camera you use and the key to being a better photographer is PRACTICE!
4. It will just be fun and you will have a treasure of photos after the 52 weeks.

I have put together a 52 week schedule (bottom of this post) and I am setting up a weekly post on my business blog where you will be able to post a link to your blog post each week. This way we can all see what everyone is doing and hopefully this will help keep us motivated. Here are a few more details that will hopefully answer any questions you might have:

• Do I need a fancy DSLR camera to participate?  -  Of course not! You can use any camera you want - iphone, point and shoot, DSLR etc. I don't care what you use just make sure it is your own work. 
• Do I need to stick to the weekly themes or prompts? No.  I have put together a schedule with weekly themes that are merely suggestions and to help get the creative juices flowing. You are welcome to pick your own topic or just post a favorite picture from the week. The point is to document your life and what is most important to you. Having a topic or theme will hopefully add variety and encourage creativity.
• Be Creative! Not only with the topic or theme for the week but also how you take the picture. Consider shooting from different angles - high, low, close up or even far away. Ask yourself "How would I normally take this picture?" and then try shooting from a different position.
• I will have a weekly Friday post sharing my photo and you will be able to add a direct link to your blog post with your weekly photo. I would ask that you link back to my blog post from your post so that others who want to see what we are doing or join in the fun can.
• You can post on your own blog whenever you want but as far as the linky submissions form it will be available Friday through Thursday. If you miss a week don't give up and just start again on the next week.
• I encourage you to check out other people's posts and share some comment love and words of encouragement.
• I reserve the right to delete any submitted entry from my blog post that I find offensive. I doubt I will actually have to do this but you never know. We live in a crazy world.

We will start the first week of January with your first post scheduled for Friday January 4, 2013 and the theme is "52 steps from your front door." 

To be clear on the dates here is an example of week 1. Ideally you will take your picture between Sunday December 30th and Friday January 4th. Post your picture on your blog on Friday, January 4th and then add your link and thumbnail to the blog post on my blog. If you don't get your picture taken and posted on Friday, January 4th don't despair. You have until Thursday, January 10th to link your post for week 1. Clear as mud?

If you would like to participate or if you have any questions please  leave a comment on this 52 week blog post.  I am excited to hear who will be joining me on this journey.

Family Life 52 Week Project - Week 5

When you are the best Dad in the world . . . 

you get on the floor for an exciting game of Memory with your little girls.  

When you are the wife of the best Dad in the world. . .

you take pictures of the before mentioned game. 

53 Week Family Life Project - Week 4

  Kassie has been obsessed with Ballet ever since the ballerina came to story time last November. Acutally she has wanted to take dance far longer then that. We took her to the Nutcracker over Thanksgiving and that just added fuel to the fire. I decided to look into Ballet classes.  When I told her I was signing her up her first response was "Will it interfere with my school schedule?" HOW OLD ARE YOU?  Stop being so responsible! Ok I am kidding. I like that you are responsible. Anyways it doesn't interfere with her school schedule.  After we resolved that concern she was very excited!  We took her to the Dance Shop and picked up her ballet slippers, leotard, and skirt.  Our friends own the shop and gave her the cute dance bag to hold her ballet slippers.
  The day finally arrived for her first class.  It was AGONIZING to wait ALL day for the class. (note first picture) She was ready hours before it was time to leave. Finally it was time to go (note bottom picture). Honestly we left early and were there about 30 minutes before the class. I just couldn't make her wait any longer.  The class went great. In fact, she was invited to join the performance group as well.  (Maybe they say that to everyone but I am going to pretend that they don't and the my daughter is just amazing)  She declared after the class that today was the BEST DAY OF HER LIFE!!! To bad we have to wait a whole week before the next class.

Family Life 52 Weeks Project: Week 3 - 3

We are just a techy family. What else can we say?

Family Life 52 Weeks Project: Week 3 - 2

I have been really enjoying my Family Life 52 Week Project. The kids were out of school on Monday and I took the opportunity to take some pictures of my oldest daughter in her new vest.  She found the best a few weeks ago while we were out shopping. She really didn't need it and frankly I had spent a lot of money on her in the last month with her birthday, Christmas and baptism so I told her if she really wanted it she would have to earn it by cleaning out the dishwasher and doing all of dinner dishes for a week to earn it. She enthusiastically agreed.  I need to find something else she wants so she will keep doing the dishes. ;)  Anyways she finally earned the vest so I thought - perfect opportunity to take her picture.

Family Life 52 Weeks Project: Week 3 - 1

I mentioned last week, I do really have two other children. I just don't take pictures of them as much because they are at school all day. Well with the long weekend I took the opportunity to capture my oldest child and only son at play.  For Brock, having 3 sisters means that there is always excessive amounts of pink and girly toys including this doll house that Santa brought the girls 2 years ago. Now you might be fooled into thinking that doll houses are only for girls to play with. Apparently that isn't the case. It also makes a great sling shot. Especially if you wrap a rubber band around the four post at the top of the stairs. 

I love seeing my kids all play together. It has always been a huge priority for me that my kids are best friends with each other first an foremost. Friends come and go but family is forever.

Family Life 52 Weeks: Week 2

Ok, this is the first picture I took after I committed to doing this project. The girls were sitting in the hall and I loved the lighting and moment.

I thought I would add a few rules that were created specifically for this project. I think they will help keep the moment real.


You may not quickly change your child into matching clothes right before you take the photo because it's going to actually be printed and put in an album. Whatever they're wearing goes.
You may not rush around and pick up all the toys on the floor and put away the jackets, shoes, whatever is lying around before you take the photo. Whatever your house looks like at that moment goes.
There will be the occasional prompt that requires you to be in the photo. You may not skip over those ones. Obviously your kids know that you're there every day, but 10 years from now will they see it in the photos?


Here are a few more I took this week. 

This picture cracks me up because Allie always pretends to be asleep whenever you open the van door to get her out of her car seat.  She thinks it is so funny so I was excited to capture her "I fell asleep" face. 

My goal for this next week is to take some pictures of my other two kids. They are just at school all day and not as accessible. 

Family Life 52 Week Project: Week 1

I have been thinking a lot about my life and how I am "enjoying the journey" or "savoring the moment." It as caused me to have a strong desire to capture the everyday moments and relationships of my family's life. I couple of weeks ago I pulled out my camera and captured these photos of Allie and Kassie.  They are becoming such good friends. Today I was reading one of the many blogs that I follow. Brooke Snow is a photographer and teacher who I took some classes from and admire. She shared that she was going to do a Family Life 52 week project.  With different prompts she is capturing her family in a photo each week.  Of course you can take more then one but to capture at least one everyday moment each week.  This was perfect! What a treasure I will have after 52 weeks to pass on to my kids. I am discovering more and more that my style or what inspires me is when I capture a relationship. These type of photos speak volumes to me. Join me! Leave a comment if you want to participate and we will encourage each other.

These next couple were actually taken first. The girls had just finished their baths and were getting ready for the day. Allie looks up to her siblings and mimics almost everything they do and say.