27/52

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas.  We did!

On Saturday we celebrated with my Dad's side of the family.  It's almost all of them - a few of you wonderful people are missing! It's a lot of people I don't get to see often, so I'm glad that we do this every year. :) 

Front Row (L - R): me, Gia, Bella, Mike, Dylan. Second Row (L - R): Emma, Katie, Teri, Jennie and Lily, Luke and Brian. Third Row: Abbi, Alexis, Val, Rachel and Aidan, Shirley and Isaac, Marcy, Jacob and Kim. Back Row: Mike, Kari, Drew, Mike, Grant, Ian and Nathan.

As we wind down 2015, I am amazed at how fast the year went, how much the kids grew, and how much has changed.

I am more confident with my photography. I am a certified Pound Instructor.  I am 17 pounds lighter and several pants sizes smaller than I was this time last year. 

I am faster. I am stronger. I am healthier.

I am surrounded by wonderfully supportive family and friends (not that that is a big change, but it's amazing how much love you can feel when you open yourself up and let people into your world).  I've never been much of a new year's resolution kind of person.  I'm terribly impatient and so if there is something that I want to change or do - I have a hard time waiting until January 1 to do it.  But I get it if it's something you may be dreading - losing weight, eating healthier, working out more, managing your money better, giving back, etc.  Because even though there is something great at the end - there is this perception that you have to give something up to get there or that it's going to be a challenge to fit it into your already busy schedule or that it will be painful.  I won't lie, all that is completely true.  If you are making a new year's resolution to manage your money better, you won't be able to buy every single thing you think you want.  If you want to eat healthier and lose weight, convenient store snacks and candy won't get you there.  And if you want to be stronger, it won't happen unless you make the time to do weight training.

But I do find that we can be very good at making excuses or making things more difficult than they need to be.  This can happen for a variety of reasons - but we can talk about that another day.

While I may not be a new year's resolution person, I am a goal person. Not much different I guess - other than what date you start.  But you have to have a goal, a resolution, a destination.  I love this quote from the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland:  "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." 

We can spin our wheels and be really busy doing stuff, but we'll get no where if we don't know exactly where we are going.  And sometimes we can start with a goal in mind (losing X amount of pounds), but then we realize that isn't really the goal we want. Maybe what we really want is to be healthier or to feel better about ourselves.  If we can achieve that without losing X pounds, we still win!  So it's okay to revise the goal once we get started.  It happened with me!  The first time I wrote out my goals, I wrote that I wanted to get down to 120 pounds.  For those of you that have seen me recently, the 17 pounds I have lost is pretty noticeable.  I think my goal was really to feel better about myself.  To like myself in pictures.  For me to lose another 13 pounds - to get down to 120 would probably make me look unhealthy.  So even though I'm not 120 pounds, I feel like I've achieved the goal of feeling better about myself because I'm stronger and healthier.

About 6 months ago, I created several goals for myself. Some of them I have accomplished.  Some of them I am making progress with.  And a few I haven't made any progress at all on.  Of course, I tend to focus on the ones I have failed on and grade myself on that...

But not today.

One of my biggest goals: This weekly photography blog.  Aside from a few delays, I've stuck with updating this blog every week.  Not only has it forced me to pick up my camera and practice, but I've gotten the opportunity to write and tell you all my story.

Another major goal: To become certified to teach Pound and lead classes.  I'm a certified Pound instructor - and I now teach 5 classes a week.  This has several benefits:

• I don't get to use the excuse "I don't feel like working out today."  People are depending on me to show up - I don't want to let them down!

• I have met so many wonderful friends through Pound - other instructors and ladies from my classes.  Their enthusiasm is contagious!

• I'm earning money to pay off some old credit card debt.  And getting rid of that debt is another goal I have.

• Every workout is a mini therapy session for me.  I'm sure you've heard that there are benefits to exercise.  Ever feel so frustrated with a situation that you feel like you need to hit something (or someone - LOL)?  I feel better and think better after a workout.

Another goal: Run two races.  And I did them both in October!   I did the Zombie Run with Brian and then ran This Run's for Jack.  I'm not a huge fan of running, but like with Pound, I always feel so much better after I do it.  And with anything you practice, you get better.  Maybe one day I'll like it.  Maybe. 

The last goal I feel I was pretty successful with was spending time with those that matter - my family and friends.  Date nights, girls nights, birthday parties, family gatherings - we did it all! And we're already planning all kinds of fun for 2016!
 

What are your goals for 2016?  Create a google account (or sign in) and comment below! 

26/52

Wow.  Week 26.  The official halfway point of my project - to post once a week for a year.  I can't believe it!

Every other year, my brother and I give my mom a special gift.  It's now a tradition.  We do a photo that includes both of our families. It's our goal to make her cry and it works every time.

The first one we did was back in 2006.  We went to Sears and decided that we would color coordinate with the black, gray and white.  In the end, I didn't actually love how that turned out.  I've seen color coordination work well, but this was not a very good example of it.  LOL

Isaac was only 6 months old and Luke was only a couple weeks old - and if I remember right, he slept through the entire photo shoot.

Somehow we missed 2008 (maybe because my family had just moved?), but we had my cousin, Melissa, take our picture in 2009.

Because sometimes cute little boys need to wear matching shirts.  

As we were scoping out this location in Schaumburg, there are some artistic elements to the park.  One of them is a statue of a woman laying in a hill - and her foot is sticking out. We couldn't resist.

Our very first silly photo

In 2011, we went back to Sears.  We had a great photographer!  He shmushed us all together to fit into this picture.  But I suppose we're a close family, and that's the way we like it. 

This photographer introduced us to the silly face photo we now do every year.  I remember the kids looking at us parents behind the photographer like, really, we can make a silly face?  Are you sure it's okay? They were so unsure. But then it didn't take long for them to love the idea.  And this is one of my favorite photos of them ever. 

In 2013, we had planned to take a photo outside near our house, probably Peck Farm.  But there was a storm that kept us inside, so we improvised in our family room.

Abigail insisted on wearing her new cowboy boots.

My brother, oh brother. 

And then it's time already to take another family photo this year.  We had gorgeous weather.  Everyone was having a good hair day.  We rearranged the furniture at the Cantigny garden and stopped traffic for a few minutes so we could take this picture. 

Tell me it doesn't melt your heart to see those two little boys!

We look so proper in that first picture!  Hands folded, ankles crossed, smiles all around.  A mom and grandma would be proud.  But I'm telling you that my mom is no ordinary mom and this picture below will be the one she shows everyone with pride.

So silly we are.

Taking a family photo like this every two years really shows that time flies.  The kids have all changed and grown so much in the last 9 years.  Those little girls are now in college.  Preschoolers are now in middle and high school and figuring out their passions in life.  And adorable little baby boys are thinking about what they want to be when they grow up.  But I'm glad we have these pictures to remember how cute they were back then, how much less they talked back, and how easy it was to have them sit on our laps.

I can't even imagine what the photo in 2017 will look like.  But I can't wait.  Well, maybe I can. 

25/52

I'm a bit of a mess this Christmas.  I don't know why I'm so behind.  It's not as if I don't remember that Christmas is coming; it's the same day every year (unlike Easter that moves around on the calendar and can sneak up on you if it's in March)!  But I do think that I need more than just the four or so weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas to prepare.  So for all of you scrooges out there - I need more time!  Yes, I need to start getting ready after Halloween!  It's not that I don't love Thanksgiving, but it's kind of a breeze to prepare for compared to Christmas (my mom and Papa make most of the food, maybe they disagree).

So we just put up our Christmas tree this weekend.  If you check out week 23, you'll see that we love our personalized ornaments.  And the kids have a lot of them.  So decorating the tree is quite a process in our family.  The Christmas music plays in the background, Brian assembles the tree (oh maybe one day we can have a REAL one) and strings the lights - making sure there are no holes and that the tree is evenly lit.  I unwrap and hand out the ornaments for the kids to hang.  Then the family room lights go out and Brian turns the Christmas lights on.  Commence the oooo and ahhhh - like we are watching fireworks on the fourth of July.  

Apparently the eye for hanging ornaments on a tree comes later in life. After the kids decorate it, I usually make a few adjustments (really?  Three ornaments on the same branch when there are several branches with NO ornaments?) - but not this year.  Who do I have to impress?  The only people coming to my house for Christmas this year is my family and well, they know that my kids are crazy!

Emma fought to hang the Zoey ornament.  Apparently Abbi hung it last year.

Abbi - hanging ornaments from her ear.

Isaac - with the coveted High School Musical locker ornament.

 And then after the big Christmas tree reveal (well, big is maybe a little overstated), there was a big of a family wrestling match.  They were nice enough to pause and pose for me.

Oooooo, Ahhhhhh

And once all the Christmas tree excitement wore off, I walked back in the room to Abbi standing on the ottoman.  Do you see the pure Christmas joy in her face?  This is the girl that sings Christmas carols ALL year round.  Some days I forget that she is fifteen.  I kinda like that. 

Two silly peas in a pod.

And can we just acknowledge that Brian officially weighs less than he did when we got married?  He's been running since August when we started training for the Zombie Run.  And a couple months ago he decided to start training for a sprint marathon and started swimming too!  You look great!  Can't wait to cheer you on!

So Christmas is next week.  Next week!!  There's still a lot to do, so I better go now...

24/52

Have you ever stood in one place completely frozen and paralyzed by your emotions?  Fear, anger, confusion, sadness, loss, anxiety, depression?  Something else you can't quite put your finger on? I'm talking about the kind of emotion that consumes you and every one of your thoughts for every minute of the day.  The kind of emotion that makes you feel like you are in the middle of intense fog. Where, from where you stand, you can't see into the distance.  You have no idea what lies beyond the fog.  You don't even know which direction to go because you can't see past a few hundred feet.  You look all around you, hoping for something to shine from the distance, hoping for some clue to let you know which way to go.  And when you can't see anything you turn in circles, making yourself dizzy - and getting nowhere. 

We've had foggy mornings for the last few days.  After I dropped Emma off at the barn on Saturday morning, I ran over to Peck Farm Park with my camera in hopes of getting some great pictures of the fog. 

Peck Farm Park fog

We should add silos to the crazy list of things I love to photograph. This silo actually has an entrance with stairs and three observation decks so that you can see off into the distance.

There are stairs on the outside of this silo.  I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I...

This silo actually made it's first appearance in the background of my niece, Alexis', senior pictures.  She's a little crazy, but a lot of fun - and she has the best laugh. 

This is the barn you can see from one of the observation decks in the silo. From the ground, you see only the top two-thirds of the barn.  It looks like it's the only structure here, doesn't it? 

The view of the barn from the ground.

From the second level of the silo, here's what you see. The observation windows aren't the cleanest, so the camera tried to focus through the dirt and water spots (and I don't know that I'm supposed to, but I like how this turned out).  But here, you see more of and notice different things about the barn.  There is a pretty white back deck.  And you can see that there is more beyond the barn.  But not much beyond that fog. 

The view from the second level observation deck.

My camera fought with me and tried to focus on the dirt and water marks on the observation window.  It made the barn hard to see.  You can sort of tell there is a red building there, but the details are missing. 

When was the last time this window was cleaned, do you think?

This spiral staircase is how you get to the three observation decks inside the silo.  I was the only one there, so they felt sturdy and easy to navigate.  But I've been there before when there have been other people and then the stairs can feel a little shaky.  If it's crowded it can be sort of a dance when you are going up and they are coming down.  You're trying to figure out who is there, where they are going and if you need to get off the stairs completely or if you can just scoot to the side and let them through.  And let's just add stairs to the list here.  They are pretty.  I like the lines.  I like that you can't see exactly where they go, but you know they lead somewhere.  Somewhere fantastic probably. 

Stairway to....

But getting on those stairs takes faith in a way, doesn't it?  They can be scary.  And it's a million times worse if you're afraid of heights.  Especially if they don't look solid and stable.  Add in other distractions, like people, and it can be difficult to get anywhere.  And then there's that whole not-being-able-to-see-exactly-where-you're-going thing.  But if you know you can't stay where you are, you'll have to face it, won't you?  You'll have to take a step.  The first one can be the hardest, but then it gets easier. 

A different perspective of the barn.

And as I got down those stairs and walked out of the silo, I noticed the barn looked a little different from this angle.  I did have to climb up a couple rocks and a wall to see it exactly like this, but somehow, the barn looks more beautiful from just right here.  Maybe it's how the trees stretch through the picture.  Maybe it's the stonework that frames the foreground. 

But here's where I'm going with this.  The fog can make you feel like you can't go anywhere without getting lost or maybe even that there is nowhere you can go.  It can freeze you in your tracks not being able to see a destination beyond the next hundred feet.  Sometimes a little faith and changing your perspective can help.  But even getting to that change in perspective requires you to do something, to move, to think differently.  And the uncertainty of change can be terrifying.  But it gets to you to see things you didn't see before.  Maybe even realize there is beauty in what you can see in the nearest hundred feet.  Taking a step back can help you to see the big picture.  Or taking a step closer and climbing up a bit can give you a perspective you've not seen before.  And every step you take can reveal something more.  Because if you only focus on what is so very in front of you, from a dirty window, you won't be able to see the beauty that can lie beyond.  Fog or no fog.

23/52

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We did.  Our family expanded last week.  My cousin, Lissa, and her husband, Wayne, had their first baby - Tiffany Mary!  She's absolutely adorable.  I hope to get to show you all sometime soon.  :)

My favorite part of Thanksgiving is the ornaments.  Yes, I said ornaments.

My mom has this Thanksgiving tradition with her grandkids.  Each year, they get a personalized ornament with the year on it. She works hard to find ornaments that reflect an interest or important time in their lives.   I will tell you that these ornaments are THE highlight of my kids' Christmas tree decorating experience.

Isaac is obsessed with Pokemon.  He pours over guides that provide stats and moves and all kinds of things that don't make sense to me.  Emma's ornament has the name of her second home, Escapar Farm.  And Abbi's reflects her love (so far) of high school.
 

This year's ornaments

In 2011, Isaac started to fish with his own fishing pole and he loved to fish with his Papa.  Oh my gosh, I need to tell you this story.  We were up at my Aunt Jackie's lake house.  Papa was talking to my Uncle Jim while Isaac fished off the pier.  Isaac was doing a great job on his own for quite a while.  Then he reels it in and discovers he hooked a whole bunch of seaweed.  Isaac turns to Papa, interrupting his conversation, and says, "Hellooo?!  We have a situation!"  (Is that funny to you?  Or is it a you-had-to-be-there thing? You probably have to hear how he said it.) I'm pretty sure that story is getting told on his wedding day.  Emma started to get serious about riding and competed in her first horse show in 2011.  And Abbi swam for the first year with the River Rats - and rocked it!

2011 Ornaments

Speaking of Abbi's time on the swim team, we just found this picture.  I have quite a collection of colorful Sharpies and we would decorate the girls like this before every swim meet.  (Did you know that you can get Sharpie off your skin with spray sunscreen?  You're welcome.)

Okay, back to ornaments.

A couple years earlier, Isaac was obsessed with fire trucks - well, all kinds of trucks.  And yes, he was really obsessed - like most young kids who find something they like and then nothing else in the world matters.  Emma tried skateboarding and took lessons.  It was cool to see her hang with the boys - and in some cases even outskate them.  This same year, Abbi tried softball.  It turns out it wasn't for her (there was too much yelling from the bleachers to stop playing in the dirt), but it was a fun experience for her (she really enjoys playing in the dirt).

2009 Ornaments

Isn't she cute?


Yeah, that's probably why she stopped skating.


She doesn't like it when I say she looks cute.







A few of my favorite ornaments were handmade by my friends.  My friend, Liane, is gifted with the talent and the patience for cross stitching.  I love all these adorable ornaments she made for me.

My favorite cross stitched ornaments!

One of my other favorites is this ornament - made by my friend Jules.  A gjillion years ago, we had time to be crafty and we stamped all kinds of stuff.  The clear insert of this ornament was stamped with the super cute reindeer.  Then she used marker to color them in.  She added glitter to the inside to look like snow and viola - you have a really cool ornament.

Reindeer in a Winter Wonderland

Kids grow up fast and I've noticed that time flies - especially as I'm getting older.  These ornaments spark conversation each year.  "Remember when...?" Without these ornaments to remind us of these neat experiences and exciting interests, we may forget about them and the funny stories that accompany them.  If you're looking to add a family tradition to your holiday, might I suggest personalized Christmas ornaments?