Changes coming.....

Hoping to save time.....take more photos....post more pictures....and keep the family updated in all that goes on...this blog will now be incorporated with the ramblings you can find  at  Simple Joys.  I will be deleting all photos from this site within the next month.    Thanks for visiting...and if you want to follow along with us, join us at Simple Joys.  

Week 11

Hungry black squirrels and stale loaves of bread....chubby angel faces in unexpected places......birds in pairs, watchful...careful...faithful........thick crisp tulip stems, poking their green shoots out of the rich, black dirt....red buds swelling on brittle tree limbs....bright red birds growing braver..and louder...the sights and sounds of March in Nebraska!  And a lesson for the taking.....some days you're the pigeon...some days your the statue!  Project Life as we know it....2011!

Week 10

I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful.  

Author Unknown

 Birthday balloon releases over mountain tops...a real deer in the headlights look....little girls on Grandpa's lap....sharing  the end of the story at Abiding Hope....a very creative squirrel....an unusual bird feeder......and spring glory in a golden crocus....sights and sounds of life in March!  (and..for those interested, Joe thought he'd try out a new method to feed the birds....once again, foiled by Sam and his gang of hungry squirrels!  But oh, did we laugh at their crazy antics)

Week 9

There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds,

the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring.

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature...

the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

Rachel Carson 

The rare sight of an eagle on a cloudy winter afternoon....cranes dancing in the corn fields....waves of snow geese, undulating in the late winter sunshine.....a stubborn, sturdy steeple, determined to stand long after the barn crumbles around it....a funky black elephant with snow on its feet.....a lazy longhorn, napping in the sun...and a gaggle of giggling geese skating on the thin ice of February.....sights and sounds of week 9 in 2011!

To Our Birthday Girl....

 All you need is faith, trust...and a little bit of pixie dust!   

Walt Disney

To our own  little Tinkerbell...  three short years ago, life gave us the gift of you!  And what a gift you've been!  Happy Birthday, Koko Mimi!

Week 8

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.

George Iles

February, 2011.  Days filled with glimmers of hope.  Purple crocus peeking through fluffy blankets of snow.  Open water dancing in the sunlight.  Dripping icicles.  Birds in abundance.  Sunshine moments.  Jacket afternoons.  Faith holds out its hand and hope springs up in the chirp of a robin...spring is just around the corner.

Week 7

Love is the flower you've got to let grow

John Lennon

This week in February....love grows outside our backdoor!  Warmer days.   Shorter nights.  Singing birds.  Robins.  Leftover dandelions.  Handmade wind chimes.  Handpicked Valentines. A gaggle of geese.  Weeping willows.  Third grade concerts.  (photos to come)    The mixed up days of February.  Week 7.  Project Life. 2011

Week 6

Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house

as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.  

~Author Unknown

February....snow piled high.  Birthday sleepovers.  

Long nights.  Short days.

Snow.  Snow.  Melting snow.  Dirty cars.  More snow.

 Filling bird feeders. Knitting.  Planning summer. 

Eating pizza! 

February fun times! 

Eleven years ago...

Birthdays are natures ways of telling us to eat. more. cake!

Happy Birthday, Keegan.! 

(When should we show up for the cake?)

Love ya, Keegan !

one month ago...

Cameron turned 9!  And for Cameron, (a little bit late, sorry....)  the birthday rules to remember:

Stay cute.  Wish big.  Never let anybody count your candles!

Love ya, Cam!

Week 5

Coconut shrimp and clams.  Below normal temps.  A snow day.  And another!  Patches of brown in a sea of white. Little red finches on a newly hung feeder.  Back lit grass at sunset.  Antique bells with a unique sound.  Thigh high drifts.  Late January.  Early February.  Days best spent in a rocker with a quilt and a new book!

January: Week 4

Our favorite coffe.  New stores: Trader Joe's!  Crazy squirrels.  Snow days.  Snow.  More snow.  Frosty sunsets.  Icicles on pine trees. 

Coming home.

Sights, smells, sounds of January: Week 4

Sing out loud!

Short and sweet.  Once in a lifetime.  Probably won't EVER see it again....but we saw Nathan sing!  And if you look closely here...you can even see him smile!  (We think he might have had fun...but he'd never admit that to anyone!)  Thanks for the concert, buddy....sure wish those had been real snowballs...Grandpa would have thrown one back at you!

January: Week 3

White.  Cold. Snow. Icicles...everywhere.

Gray days.  Frosty windshields.  Lonely swings.

Softly singing birds.  Warm trucks.  Hot coffee.

The sights, sounds and smells of January:  Week 3.

January: Week 2

Snowy days.  Frosty beards.  Iced dogs.

Giggly girls with cell phones.  Sweaty boys with basketballs.

Unexpected peace in a winter garden, lights twinkling.

The sights and sounds of January....week 2.

In January..Week 1

My project: life!

Capturing life, a photo at a time...52 weeks of memories.

The first week of January, 2011 found us tasting the last of Christmas candy, watching Tyler and Nathan play basketball, curled up in the warmth of our country home, longing for the return of our wrens, capturing the colors to be found in winter....and sharing a silent sunset in January.