90/365: Beautiful Day Sunshine

Today was an amazingly beautiful day with blue skies, lovely sun and it felt like a perfect Spring day.  We enjoyed lunch outside with Grandma, Grandpa and Great Grandma the some fun playing at the park.  Poor Miss Em even got a little sunburned! 

Beautiful Day Sunshine:

88/365: Growing Up Sunshine

I see this image with her hair pulled back and I no longer see my baby as a baby.  She is growing up, nearly 3, and although it saddens me a bit that I no longer have a tiny baby it's exciting as I see her learning and growing. 

89/365: Reading with Great Grandma Sunshine

Love this shot of Miss Em reading with her Great Grandma...

87/365: A Prince for a Day Sunshine

Our little Prince playing with his LEGOS...

A Prince for a Day Sunshine:

86/365: Sunday Self-Portrait Sunshine

Working this week on filling the frame...with me!  Aack!!!

85/365: Chatting on the Phone Sunshine

I came home from a photo session to find both the kiddos in the office, each with a phone to their ear, chatting away.  I think it might have been Grandma on the other line. :)

Chatting on the Phone Sunshine:

84/365: New Bedding Sunshine

I've had my eye on some new bedding since December and have been waiting for it to hit just the right sale price.  I had some criteria the new bedding needed to fulfill (had to make our blue blinds not look so obvious and out of place and needed to be able to camouflage any dog hair that may be left on the occasions we let Ben come up on the bed).  This quilt was perfect the moment I saw it and I can't wait to paint our bedroom, get a new valance and really put our master bedroom together to be a lovely and relaxing room for us.

New Bedding Sunshine:

83/365: Clean Out Sunshine

I'm participating in an online clutter clean out challenge and this week the "hot spot" is kids toys/closets.  I recently cleaned out their closets/dressers already, but still found a couple of bags of clothes and some toys and books to pass along.  Best of all it gave me a chance to organize the toy storage a bit.

Clean Out Sunshine:

82/365: Bubble Chasing Joy Sunshine

It's been raining like crazy this week here!  We had a few minutes without rain so the kids and I ran outside for some fun with bubbles.

81/365: New Toy for Mommy Sunshine

I've been wanting this for a long time.  I've "made do" for a long time.  Today I finally bought myself a second lens, a "prime" lens and I am SO excited!  I only took a few shots tonight while Daddy & McGee played with Lego army men so please forgive the ISO 2500 grain, but I am in LOVE with my new 50mm!

New Toy for Mommy Sunshine:

80/365: Gatorade + Rest + A Husband Who's the Best Sunshine

All afternoon and evening I felt a rumbly in my tumbly and then 4 am this morning I ran for the bathroom.  The stomach flu...food poisoning...whatever it was it knocked me out for the day.  Literally.  I stayed in my bed until 3:45 in the afternoon and slept most of the time with a few minutes here or there of reading.  

Thank the Lord for me that my husband had already planned to take the day off and was able to take over with the kids.  Unfortunately for him (although he says it was fine and a great day for he and the kids), instead of a day of rest, lunch with friends and hanging out with the kids, his day consisted of taking care of the kids full time, pre-school drop-off/pick-up, errands, a "fun" (his word, not typically mine) trip to Target with Miss Em to pick me up Gatorade and 7-UP and taking McGee to the doctor. 

Gatorade + Rest + A Husband Who's the Best Sunshine:

79/365: Self-Portrait Sunday│Slipper Sunshine

We went up to my parent's and in-law's church today in the foothills (my husband was asked to lead worship for today) and were pleasantly surprised by it snowing most of the day.  Walking around in the snow in my cheap, patent flats from Ross wasn't the smartest thing to do, so I was happy to borrow some of my MIL's slippers when we arrived at their home for lunch.  These were knit by my husband's grandmother and I have a few pairs like them of my own as well.

Slipper Sunshine:

78/365: Creativity Sunshine

My husband (an elementary school teacher) and I are often concerned when we see how many children have lost the ability to be creative, use their imaginations and think outside the box.  In fact, I just read a good book that mentions how society and the media have played a pivotal role in that decrease of creative play.  One example they explained was how cartoons are created, watched by the children and then a plethora of toys from that cartoon are created, heavily marketed (and desired by the kids) and sold, telling the children exactly how to recreate the play found on the cartoon rather than letting the children try to recreate that play on their own.  I found it all very interesting...

Anyway, we try to encourage our children to use their imaginations as much as possible (I remember how vivid and enjoyable my imagination play was) and have tried to have a "no video game" policy for our home.  Our oldest is only 4 so this has been relatively easy so far since Leapfrog's Leapster is about the only system out there marketed for his age, but I'm sure we're going to run up against some struggles as he hits the preteen and teen years.  I'm not trying to be on a soapbox, so please don't feel judged if your child loves their video games, and I can definitely see how some video games (ex. Wii games) could make for super fun family time and some are supposed to be very "educational".  Okay, okay, I'll really stop now.

So when I came home from a ladies tea yesterday it made my heart happy when McGee came to me so excited to share "Ben" (our dog) that he had made from some of the large-sized Legos (not the small ones sold in sets that are most popular).  It may not be the most creative thing in the world, he didn't build it from sticks and mud found in the backyard and it does look a bit more like a reindeer or elk than a dog, but I still felt overjoyed that he had worked out of the box and figured out a way (without picture instructions) to CREATE our dog out of Legos.

Creativity Sunshine:

PS:  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure we have plenty of non-imagination producing toys and I do let me kids watch some cartoons, but I still hope we're giving them plenty of room to use their imagination as much as possible.

77/365: Jumping in the Rain Sunshine

What little boy doesn't love getting muddy and wet?  After lunch today the call of the rain and puddles was just too much so McGee ran out and started jumping, and splashing, and kicking....

Jumping in the Rain Sunshine:

Of course that needed to be followed up with a nice warm and sudsy bath...

76/365: Little Mommy Sunshine

Girls and boys really are quite different.  I'm so blessed to have one of both and be front and center for experiencing the differences that are innate for their gender.  Case in point?  Maternal instinct.

I was a tomboy, didn't like the color pink until college, played sports year-round (although I did dance through junior high as well) and would never classify myself as a "girly girl".  My daughter however, through no influence of mine, seems to be a definite "girly girl" - loves everything pink, has definite opinions over what she wears and the part I really love...she has this deep and oh so sweet maternal instinct and loves to take care of her "babies".  She loves to hug them, feed them, take them for walks and put them down for bed...complete with an oh so angelic little lullaby.  You may not see it here in her expression (I was SO upset when I accidentally erased the other two shots before this in my camera where she had her GIANT smile over her babies instead of this tired and bored look), but this girl loves to be a "Mommy".

Little Mommy Sunshine:

**Oh and no, we didn't do a thing to celebrate St. Patty's Day.  We had too many leftover already in our fridge to eat up and saved our Corned Beef for Friday night.

75/365: A Little Extra Time Well Spent Sunshine

Thanks to carpooling I had an extra hour this morning and was happy to fit some exercise into my day.

A Little Extra Time Well Spent Sunshine:

74/365: Partners for Life Sunshine

I watch a lot of crime drama tv shows and all include some sort of crime fighting partnership.  In these the partners are there for one another.  Always.  They help each other out, encourage one another, read each others cues, and strengthen one another.  Generally speaking, alone they're good but not great, but put together, they make a fantastic, unstoppable crime solving team! (aka Brennan & Booth in "Bones", Bailey & Stark in the recently deceased "The Good Guys" and Sam & Callen in "NCIS: Los Angeles".

I'm so glad God gave me the perfect partner for life.  That with my husband on my team there is nothing we can't conquer together.  

But tonight I'm thankful that when our daughter is crying and needs me, he can take over and make us dinner, even though he needs to leave for practice and won't enjoy dinner until he microwaves leftovers hours later.

Partners for Life Sunshine:

73/365: Running Errands Without Kids Sunshine

I love my children, I really do, but I have to say when given the chance to run errands without them I will JUMP at it!  

Running Errands Without Kids Sunshine:

72/365: Self-Portrait Sunday │My Little Ragamuffin

So it's not a photo of me...sorry.  I know you're incredibly disappointed. :)

It is, however, my little ragamuffin girl having fun dressing up and hiding in mom and dad's bed (yes, we ran out of clean pillow cases and had to borrow the vintage Star Wars ones of our son's).  Hmm...those may become a post one of these days. 

 My Little Ragamuffin Sunshine:

71/365: Celebrating Grandma's 89th Sunshine

My family was so blessed to celebrate my grandma's 89th birthday with her today.  Such a lovely day together including taking a walk around the property like we did hundreds of times with her when I was a kid.

Celebrating Grandma's 89th Sunshine:

70/365: Cleaning Out the Closet Sunshine

I'm taking part in Simple Mom's "Project: Simplify" and loved the feel of a well cleaned out closet!

Cleaning Out the Closet Sunshine:

69/365: Rice Box Sunshine

Oh the fun that can be had with a tupperware box full of rice!

Rice Box Sunshine:

(sidenote - I love the baby chub of her hands still and will be so sad when this goes away!)

68/365: High Speed Car Chase Sunshine

When we lived in Southern California high speed car chases were a dime a dozen it seemed, but here in Northern CA they aren't nearly as common.  Yesterday though that changed as a parolee took off and created quite a stir along the freeway near my son's preschool.

High-Speed Car Chase Sunshine:

67/365: Child Labor Sunshine

Nothing wrong with putting them to work early is there?  

Child Labor Sunshine:

66/365: Dreaming of a Vacation Sunshine

The image may not be clear as it was taken with my quick little pocket video camera, but the dream of a relaxing vacation could not be more crystal clear.

Dreaming of a Vacation Sunshine:

65/365: Self-Portrait Sunday

Technically this photo was not taken on Sunday, but at my niece's party on Saturday, but I'm using it this week as I don't get too many pics of my hubby and I.  Don't be teasin' me on my classy white t-shirt - white tees were available to all who wanted to protect themselves from the paint and I needed to protect my favorite black GAP sweater from my clingy daughter's Cheeto covered hands.  I'm sure you understand. :)

64/365: Painting Birthday Party Sunshine

My niece Addie turned 4 on Friday so to celebrate this little artist her parents cleared out a wall in their bonus room and covered it with a couple layers of butchers paper, covered the floor in drop cloth and left the paint and brushes out for all to come together and create to their hearts content!  My kiddos weren't into it at all during the party, but once all the other children left little Miss Em became quite the Picasso!  Even McGee got in a bit on the painting action. 

My husband enjoyed creating a special door hanger for Miss Em and both Papa's were on hand to enjoy in the fun as well!

Happy Birthday Addie - thanks for having such a fun party!

63/365: Early Morning Swinging Sunshine

I took Miss Em out early this morning to scout out a park location and we made it a very quick mini-session for her and then gave her some time on the much-loved swings. 

I tried a couple of edits on this - which is YOUR favorite?

Early Morning Swinging Sunshine:

62/365: Raise Your Hands Sunshine

Shot with my P&S, we were riding with some friends to run errands and her son Noah (blue striped shirt) was saying, "Raise your hand if you like In-N-Out!  Raise two hands if you want to eat lunch at In-N-Out!"  Those are my two in the way back very excited at the thought of a cheeseburger, milkshake and fries!

61/365: Filling Hands Sunshine

So my title actually should say "Fill in hands" because this image is from yesterday and is a "fill-in" image since I didn't take a single image today!  Crazy!

I do love this though of McGee's hands filling up the play-doh toy.

Filling Hands Sunshine:

60/365: Working Mama Sunshine

Mama had to get some paperwork done today....

...so the kids enjoyed some messy Play-Doh fun in their jammies (well, shirtless was how Miss Em preferred it).