Day 365

Whoo hoo!! I did it!! I could not have done it without the amazing support and encouragement I received from so many of you fellow 365ers. I'm actually quite sad to close this chapter of my life. I am going to do another one next year but realize some of you are not. I will miss seeing your pictures daily and getting to "know" you. I feel as if I have made some sweet friends from this project! Thank you again! If you are doing a 52 week or another 365 please let me know! I would love to continue to follow y'all. I will be doing another 365 but at my Click it Up a Notch blog. Hope you will follow along for another year of fun!!

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Day 361

I know I really slacked off on my Monday Me but I couldn't miss the last one. I can't believe this is the last Monday in this Project 365.

I am trying to spend more time reading to the girls. I used to read to Kate all the time but Emma hasn't shown as much of an interest (maybe because I wasn't reading as much) I am making it part of our day now to spend time reading other then bed time :O)

In other news, some girlfriends and I got together tonight for a "Girls Holiday Party" with no kids :O) It was so nice and relaxing!

Also, I ordered my new lens today - a 20mm 2.8. Does anyone have one of these?? Do you love it?? I can't wait to get it!

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Day 352

We had another Christmas party to go to tonight!  We had such a fun time with the people Ian works with!  We even won several prizes and had to sing "Little Drummer Boy" in front of everyone.  I bought these super sparkly shoes for the other Christmas party we went to and luckily I got to wear them again.  If only I could wear them to the park or to gymnastics, I would be in Heaven :O)

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I Heart Faces - Self Portrait

The theme for this week's I Heart Faces challenge is self portrait. I took this one during one of my workshops where we had to capture a "reflection". Let's just pretend that I didn't set all of this up as if I was going to bake and then put it all away when I was done taking the picture. he he

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Day 329

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone enjoyed some relaxing time with family and/or friends. One of the many benefits of living on the same island as my sister is we are able to celebrate holidays together. We headed over to her house and enjoyed the best deep fried turkey yet! Ian did an amazing job!!! We ate, ate, and then played some board games. I am so stinkin' competitive that I didn't like the first game (I kept losing), but I liked the second game :O)

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Day 312 - Monday Me

I had a fun night tonight playing Bunco with some great friends! I love our once a month get togethers to hang out without the kids and eat some yummy food! I even won for the most loses, whoo hoo!!

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Day 309

I learned maybe I don't need to do my exercise class if I'm going to knead dough for 10 minutes :O) I learned I may need to ask for a bread maker for Christmas. I learned to use my remote with the timer option for the first time. One of my goals over the next year is to learn to make all our own bread. I'm taking baby steps to eat less processed food. Don't hold me to that though, if I change my mind :O) Hopefully this french loaf turns out well for dinner tonight!

Check out what others have learned at Click It Up a Notch.

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Day 307

I forgot to post my toes from Halloween!! They had a haunted house, ghosts, bats, and stars :O) I just went last week and was short on time and was informed that the design that I wanted, my toes were too small for. he he I like these because they are fun and funky.

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Day 300 - Tuesday Me

Day 300!!! Who can believe that I have stuck with this for 300 days!! I know I can't :O)

Because of the Typhoon heading our way and all the rain, we weren't able to go to the park. Instead, I headed over to Trisha's house to make peanut butter. Yes, I said peanut butter. Now I know all my friends are saying "who is this girl? running in 5ks and now making peanut butter". I am slowly learning to feed my family better and turn into an adult :O) Trisha just got a vitamix, so we wanted to test out making peanut butter. It makes me almost want to buy one. It was SO easy! Pour in peanuts and push the button. Crazy!! The funny thing was as she was using a wooden spatula to move it around the spatula broke right in half! It was hilarious! Obviously, more funny if you were there but we couldn't stop laughing :O)

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Day 274

Day 6 - The sun came out! We rode the train an hour and a half out of the city to see some shrines and one of the largest Budda statues. I loved getting out of the city to see some of the local community. I bought a beautiful umbrella (I know, I'm easy to please) that looks like the rice paper umbrellas but it is for the rain. We walked around some local shops and checked out the shrines and Budda statue. That thing was HUGE! I had high hopes of heading to the "Electric" district to take evening pictures of the city all light up, but I was reminded that life isn't always about what I want to do. Emma lost her mind on the train ride home that we had to just hop off at some random stop to get her to stop crying. Good times!! All and all it was a great trip!! We hope to go back once more before we move in a couple of years.

I know I'm cheating and posting more then one picture today but the sun had finally come out :O)

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Day 269

We had so much fun in Tokyo!! After our plane ride and an hour and half train ride to get to our hotel we headed out :O) Ian figured out we could buy these passes, which we could just load money on them to ride the train system. What a time saver!! Plus, we felt like such locals with our passmo cards :O) I was hoping to find this amazing park where people dress up in interesting clothes, but unfortunately, we weren't able to find it but we still enjoyed walking around the city.

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Day 266

Ian had the best idea for dinner, Subway sandwiches and a picnic! I love his ideas like that :O) It went really well and we left all smiling saying we would definitely do it again!

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Day 261

Shhh! Don't tell anyone I wore this dress again :O) Tonight was the Air Force Ball - Happy 63rd Birthday to the Air Force!!! I figured, I paid enough for this dress that I could wear it again :O) We had a great time and enjoyed the guest speaker, Dan Clark (the guy who wrote all the Chicken Soups for the Soul books) Thanks to my sister, Kathleen, for watching the girls so we could have a nice adult evening :O)

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Day 256 - Monday Me

A "reflection" shot I took for my RYC 201 workshop :O)

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Day 248

I realize it is not Monday and I know I have been slacking on the Monday Me part :O) The girls were playing around on our bed and I was hoping to get a picture of their fun but bad lighting and fast moving kids made for some blurry pictures.

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Day 226

We decided to venture back to Bios on the Hill so that Trisha, Kathleen, and I could go crazy taking pictures. Unfortunately, it is August on a tropical island and it is HOT!! The kids were troopers until they hit the wall from lack of sleep. We had fun and a lot of laughs, from the kids trying to take a goat on a walk to the adults trying to walk on stilts. I love how Japanese places always set up an area for a "photo op" :O) I have turned into a crazy woman and brought my tripod and remote with me so I could get a group shot...I mean I need to document this part of our life too. What you can't see is that there are 3 more kids in the stroller (Emma on top of one, and in each stroller is a 3 month old and a 2 month old) that is right 7 kids and 3 adults!

P.S. Do you ever have one of those photography brain fart moments? I did when I was setting up for this. I set everyone in the dead center of the photo (rookie mistake :O) There are more beautiful orchids above us. I guess that is the point of this project, to learn from my mistakes :O)

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Day 222 - Tuesday Me

Emma was never a snuggly baby but once she learned how to walk she is such a little love bug. I LOVE it!! She will come full speed at you and hug your legs or just tackle you if you are on the floor. She likes to be held so she can put her head on your shoulder. It melts my heart! She is also realizing that her screaming fits aren't working and those are becoming fewer and far between. I forgot how much I enjoy the 16 month toddler age. I wish I could bottle this age up forever!!

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Day 215 - Tuesday Me

Since I didn't do my Monday Me photo yesterday I decided to do a Tuesday Me :O) I know it's not the best picture but with bathroom lighting you get what you get :O) This is just a photo of what our typical morning looks like.

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Day 207 - Monday Me

It has been quite a while since my last Monday Me...well, it's back :O)

That girl's smile melts my heart. I feel terrible I am not able to spend as much time with her as I did Kate but I hope she knows that she has a special place in my heart!

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Day 206

My sweet friend, Jayne, posted an adorable picture of her family of 6. It was taken by her and only their heads are in the shot. I loved it and attempted to recreate it this morning. Not sure if I just don't have enough kids or what but it didn't turn out like I thought. I am super impressed she got that fun shot since her oldest is 6 and her youngest is 1.

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