Project 365 - February 26

February 26 - Here are some of my favorite pictures from my time this afternoon with Maggie. Is she not adorable? Melanie and I had so much fun!!

Project 365 - February 25

February 25 - Bruce and I thought that our Star Magnolia was not going to bloom this year, but it finally popped out. It must have gotten a late start due to the hard winter! I am sure you will see more pictures of them soon as they go into full bloom.

February 24 (Part 2) - We had a lovely dinner out with Michael, the pastor from Flitwick Baptist Church, the church in England that Bruce and I worked with on a mission trip this past summer. I think Michael enjoyed his first fried pickle, or as Nan would call it, his first "funny little Southern treat!" :) It was a great night of food and fellowship with Michael, Rob, Nan, Rob, Melanie, and Maggie!

February 24 - I played around and got a couple of pictures of Cock of the Walk, the restaurant we ate at tonight with our England mission trip team from last summer.

February 23 - This is something I made for a sweet fifth grade teacher and her baby girl, Emma Vaughan, who is due in just a couple of weeks!

February 22 - I have never been so happy to see my car! After having been at the body shop for close to three weeks after my wreck, I got to pick up my car this afternoon.

February 21 - I set up my new tripod tonight and played with it a little. By the way, the weather has been magnificent lately!! I pulled out my sandals this weekend and hope they are out to stay. My toes love freedom! :)

Project 365 - February 20

February 20 - Maggie Hataway, the sweet baby girl of our dear friends Melanie and Rob, got dedicated at church this morning. We were invited to eat at Melanie's parent's home after church, and I got a chance to grab some pictures of Maggie in her beautiful gown! I can't wait for our next photo shoot this coming Saturday. She is such a happy baby!

February 19 - This beautiful afternoon called for some Berry Berry Good Frozen Yogurt. As you can see, mine is berry, berry gone!! :)

February 18 - We have this one bunch of paperwhites that are different than that rest. I love them because they stand out in the crowd!

February 17 - This is part of an "elephant family" that was given to us from some missionary friends serving in Africa. They stay on our mantle and always remind us of those serving our Lord overseas.

February 16 - I actually did not take this picture. My great friend Emily did, but it is of Camryn putting coins into the Haiti house fund. They took her picture at church tonight, and it will be on the big screen Sunday morning! On the way home from church tonight, we were singing "Big, Big House." She made sure I knew that when it said "my Father's house" it was talking about God's house. Then, she talked about how God was everywhere, even on top of the car. She proceeded to ask me how many "Gods" there were. I told her there was just one. She said, "Of course, because no man can serve two masters." Oh, how their little minds soak up so much!!!

February 15 - I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take this picture of the sun behind the clouds when I drove up from school. It was too beautiful!

Project 365 - February 14

February 14 - Happy Valentine's Day - I dipped pineapple slices in chocolate for Bruce! I don't eat pineapple, but he said that it was an interesting combination!

Flowers finally.....my favorite thing to take pictures of!!! In general, they have wonderful natural light and they just sit still for you to get great shots!! :)

These are some pics of the paperwhites that are in front of our house. The bulbs came from my Papa. Originally, there were in his yard when he was a child. As the bulbs multiply, he has given many away and has taken some each time he moved. I am proud to have some and so thankful that Bruce planted them a couple of years ago!!

Project 365 - February 13

February 13 - Last night, my parents, Chad, Camryn, and Caleb came over for dinner, hot chocolate, and cookies. After they left, I told Bruce I was going to make some "candy." He was a bit worried, because he knows that has the potential to be a very messy and long process. However, this was pretty easy and clean! :) I dipped and drizzled pretzels for Valentine's Day. I don't know who will eat them, but they sure were fun to make!!

Project 365 - February 12

February 12 - I couldn't just put one picture up for today. Mom, Chad, and I took Camryn and Caleb to the Children's Museum this morning and had a great time filling up a couple of hours until Pops flew into town.

You might not can tell it here, but Caleb is looking at Mom in the review camera in a car that was at the museum. He thought this was so much fun!

You just can't beat this smile!!! :)

Camryn was a bit too small for the velcro suit. She didn't like it too much, so Nana went to the rescue.

Camryn spelled out her name with the Scrabble tiles, even though I only got the last half of her name in the picture. Oops!

Toward the end of the time at the museum, Caleb and Camryn wanted to see the pictures I was taking, so they were having fun posing. It worked out great for me because they wanted me to keep taking their picture!!

Project 365 - February 11

February 11 - Most things melted today, but I knew this fountain in my neighborhood would still be frozen, so I stopped by on the way home from school and grabbed a quick shot!

February 10 - ANOTHER winter weather day! My mom is in town, so I spent the day with her! I also got to play a little with my new toy. Bruce got me a tripod for my birthday, so I played around, trying to figure out all the buttons and wheels!

February 9 - Can you guess which one is NOT a rodeo queen? :)

February 8 - Tomorrow, three rodeo queens are coming to visit and talk to my fourth graders, so I had my students draw boots focusing on lots of details. This is mine! I'm so glad I have a job in which art is part of my curriculum! :) Anyhow, I have a student who is very involved in showing goats. Her dad is the one that contacted me about having the rodeo queens come and visit. I am excited!

February 7 - I had a little fun playing with the editing options in Microsoft Word. I don't have Photoshop, so I can't do much, but I cropped this off of one of my birthday cards and just played around a bit.

February 6 - One of the angels in a small angel collection that I have - this was another night that I had not taken a picture and it was around 11:30 and I had to find something to take a picture of!

February 5 - Bruce and I ran errands today that took us to Bass Pro Shop. I thought this reflection in their creek was quite nice!

Project 365 - February 4

February 4 - Today, Bruce and I both had off for another "ice day." Of course, there was less ice this time that our last "ice storm" a couple of weeks ago. I don't want to have the make the day up later in the year, but I won't complain about a day off! I could really get used to four day weeks!!!! :) Bruce and I got the whole house cleaned and even had time to just sit and relax. Tonight, we went out for an early birthday dinner for me!!! We had never been to Monte's, and we like to try new places, so this is where I chose. We give it an A+!! We got cheese fritters for an appetizer - four huge hush puppy looking things with six types of cheeses melted inside and a marinara sauce for dipping. How could that be bad? :) I got a filet mignon covered in bearnaise sauce for my main course, and Bruce got a ribeye covered in seven jumbo fried shrimp and a Cajun cream sauce. They were both delicious!! We would defnitely head to Monte's again for a nice night out!!

February 3 - I forgot to take a picture again today, and today would have been a perfect picture day. I had a fender-bender on the way home from school, but I obviously wasn't thinking because I didn't get 1 picture! :( Maybe it was the fact that it was FREEZING and misting outside that made me not think!! Bruce and I went to the body shop the next day and got everything out of my car, so I got some pictures then. You can't tell from this picture, but my muffler is dragging on the ground, and the white stuff in the muffler is foam from the other driver's front bumper. His car was in much worse shape than mine, because his little car sort of crushed right up underneath mine. I know my CRV is not huge, but I am thankful it was bigger/taller than the car that hit me!! Of course, when we opened the trunk, the whole floor was buckled up...poor Patty (that's what we call my CRV!).

February 2 - I actually forgot to take a picture today, so I backtracked and took a picture of what happened today. Two weeks ago when I was sick, they took a chest X-ray to make sure I did not have pneumonia and found some calcified granulomas (which are harmless) on the X-ray. The doctor wanted confirmation that that is what they were, so I had X-rays done again today that had to be read by a radiologist. I actually had to have it done at River Oaks Hospital. Good news...everything looks normal!!! I have talked to a couple of doctors, including Cathy, in the last two weeks, and they say that pretty much everyone that grows up in this area of the country probably has calcified granulomas. You just don't ever know you have them unless you have an X-ray done, which is usually done for another reason.

February 1 - I guess if I am going to become a better photographer this year, I should probably get these books out and read a little, huh? They were a Christmas present a few years ago from Chad and Cathy, my brother and sister-in-law. I have looked at them. But maybe it is time to study them a bit more!