89/365 Strawberries

When I started this 365 project, I read somewhere that many days, you will realize at 9 p.m. that you haven't taken a photo yet and then it will be too dark inside to take a good photo, so you will end up with some photos that are less than inspired.

I feel like I have had MANY of those days...by the time my kids come home from school, it is too late to take photos of them (or they don't want photos taken of them)! So today was one of those days and this is my 365 offering...strawberries macerated for dessert for a special dinner with my dad.

88/365 She Does Windows

Well I couldn't get up there, so what was I to do?

87/365 Out of the Box - Tickle Me Pink

Tickle my heart and tickle me pink!



You can see the other entries for this weeks color at:

86/365 Maple syrup fest

85/365 Earth Hour

Sitting in total darkness, save a few candles and a fire in the fireplace, playing board games during Earth Hour 2011.

82/365 Spelling

What does Lily do while I spend my time helping other children find and purchase books?

Apparently, she's learning to spell.

81/365 Book Fair

This week, I'm volunteering at the school book fair. It's uplifting to see children get so excited about books--not so uplifting to see them spend $20+ on pencils, pens and erasers :0

It also makes me a bit sentimental to think about my children picking up a Kindle or a Nook instead of a book someday. I feel as if it is inevitable...

80/365 Out of the Box - Scarlet

Like lavender, this is not the scarlet I would have expected. To me, scarlet is red--shocking red. But scarlet from the box of 64 crayons is an orangey-red.

Here is my contribution for scarlet!

(Oh, and I did not make this cake--this cake was made by the mom of one of Lily's friends.) I wish I could make a cake like this!

79/365 Bored

Apparently, this is Lily's "I'm bored" face.

78/365 Basketball season ends

And they were the team that won the most games!

77/365 - Tulips

76/365 Rainbows

They say there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow...we just found a cupcake at the end of our rainbow!

75/365 She's Got the Whole World in Her Hands

74/365 A Girl's Best Friend

When Lily gets home from preschool, Izzy jumps all over her, licks her and basically just gives her all kinds of love. Lily speaks to Izzy in her own version of "mother-ease--" a voice that is so high, it's almost out of the range of human hearing.

I just love the friendship these two have together. Today, Lily happily announced that she and Izzy were the only two adopted children in the house!

73/365 - Out of the Box - Plum

This is a plum-colored pinwheel in action!

See the rest of the Plum entries at Project 64

72/365--Bingo!

70/365--Cookies

I'm so glad I can bake again with my kiddos!

69/365 Piano

68/365 Lent

Thank you to Kim at 3 Peanuts for sharing this idea for a Lenten Sacrifices jar. Each morning, the kids pick out something they can do that will make them a better person and bring them closer to God. Today, Sam picked "choose a toy that you can give to a child who doesn't have many toys." We make lunches for the homeless once a month, Sam decided he will take some of his little toys (from birthday parties and such) and put them in the lunches for "the guys" as we call them. I thought it was a sweet idea. It might just makes someone's day!

67/365 Out of the Box - White

I took lots of fun white shots...then I saw that the added challenge was white on white!

66/365 Max and Ruby

We enjoyed our three-day mid-winter escape to a waterpark resort, but let's face it, at some point, you need to get out of the water. We don't subscribe to cable at home, so my kids LOVE going to hotels to see the shows all of their friends talk about at school!

This time, however, we found the first Star Wars on t.v. and we all got engrossed in it as we (literally) tried to shake the water out of our ears. Lily, not so taken with Star Wars, watched an episode of Max and Ruby on our portable DVD player.

Within minutes, all three kids had drifted from Star Wars to Max and Ruby. And they stayed there until it was time to go to dinner.... Sometimes, a couple of cute little talking bunnies can really help you to relax!

65/365 Waterpark

64/365 Guess where we are...

63/365 Heads

61/365 Dr. Suess

Today is the birthday of Dr. Suess.

In this house, we LOVE Dr. Suess. We read a LOT of Dr. Suess books.

When I discovered that behind all the rhyming and silly words, many of his stories (usually the larger-sized books) contain lessons in social justice and personal growth, I started collecting them for my kids. Every Christmas, I buy a new book to add to our collection.

Most people know that "The Lorax" is a book about protecting the environment (Dr. Suess was SO ahead of his time!). And many students receive the book "Oh The Places You'll Go" at graduation time. We all know the story of the Grinch. And, of course, "Horton Hears a Who"teaches us that EVERY being matters.

But did you know that "Yertle the Turtle" is a story about freedom and dictatorship?

"Solla Sollew" helps us understand why it is important to love what you have and not always look for a a trouble-free life somewhere else.

And finally, "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?" well, the title sort of sums that one up.

Just tell yourself, Duckie,
you're really quite lucky!
Some people are much more...
oh ever so much more...
oh, muchly much-much more
unlucky than you!

60/365 Peace Corps

Today, the United States Peace Corps turned 50.

I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica 23 years ago.



My experience in Costa Rica changed me as a person forever. The lens through which I look at life is different.

As a newly-minted college graduate, I thought the people I would meet during my experience in Costa Rica would be different from me, my family and my friends. I wanted them to be different. I wanted to experience something radically different from the life I had experienced up until then.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that we were much more alike than we were different. And that simple fact is what has changed me forever.



Today, I was invited to a 50th Anniversary Peace Corps house party. We ate dal from Nepal, dolma and brandy from Armenia and patacones from Costa Rica. We shared lots of stories about life in these three countries and life in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We laughed about our language slip-ups and cultural mis-steps.



As our hostess so eloquently summed it up at the end of the night, Peace Corps is simply one of the best things our government does!