It's A New Year...

Wow! We have been so busy living life that we have forgotten to write about it. Things are going 100 miles per hour around here, and I don't even know where to begin!

I'm still working diligently on my Photography degree... my GPA is still a cat's whisper below a 4.0. That A- really bummed me out, but it kept my sanity when I needed to let something go. In the end, I was able to keep my hair on my scalp and I'm still able to proudly proclaim that I am a straight A student.

I was supposed to be taking Studio Photography this session, but poor plumbing got in the way and I'm taking Ethics. I have the gear I need for Studio Photography, and fully intend to scour the internet for some great tutorials on what the heck I'm supposed to be doing with these amazing lights so I can feel better prepared when Studio Photography comes back around.

I'm training for my first triathlon this year. Josh was able to conquer his own hurdle last year by going from couch potato to 70.3 in under half a year, and that totally motivated me. I'm not quite ready to take on a half-distance, so I'm working toward a simple Sprint Triathlon. The girls keep me motivated these days by requesting we ride our bikes to the library on Wednesday mornings (which is about 2 miles away from our house, so 4 miles round trip). We have also added riding bikes to Child Wise (a mommy and me play group for the girls on Tuesday and Thursday mornings) which is just under 2 miles away from home.

Since Josh sold his car, we are now officially a one-vehicle family. This has proven to be quite entertaining at times. He works 2 miles away from home, so often times he can be seen running or biking to and from work. In the case of poor weather (like the marble-sized hail we got yesterday) the girls and I will go pick him up, or a coworker will have pity on him and give him a ride home. We are definitely communicating our schedules in a much more efficient way now... when somebody needs the van, we do what we can to share. Yep... Josh is now a minivan driver. I think this may make him ride his bike more.

Samantha Jadyn is rocking her school work like a pro these days. We chase more rabbit trails than I ever thought possible ("Mommy, why do trees have roots?" "Will I swim faster on top of the water, or under water?" "Why did Miss Rosa Parks not want to sit at the back of the bus?"). Sometimes I feel like we spend more time answering these amazing questions than we do reading the books in our curriculum. Thank goodness I have some amazing homeschooling moms in my life who remind me that these are all very educational questions, and if she's asking them then she's ready to learn the answer.

Sometimes, the girls and I will decide that it's simply too beautiful outside to be cooped up inside. In these instances we'll lay on the trampoline and read our books, go on a bike ride to get the wiggles out (yes, even in 40* weather), or just grab our cameras and photograph what we see.

They aren't half bad behind the camera... just getting them to capture something other than their sister is sometimes a challenge.

She's big stuff these days. She gets to use my backup camera, and Christina gets to use my point and shoot camera.

Here is an SJ original:

Hopefully, I'll be able to post about our crazy-busy life more often! I hope you're finding some fun and happy things to do every day.