Happiness Week 18

18 weeks, WOW! Did you know I have a thing with the number 18? My husband and all three of my children were born on the 18th of a month. Not just that but my birth father, one of my sisters and some friends. And the 18th week of 2012 was a pretty good week.

Back to 18 weeks. I am an idea person. I come up with a lot of good(so I think) ideas, but I do get bored easily. Often I leave a project incomplete, or bounce from one to another. So I think it's pretty amazing that I've kept with this one. Unlike the quilts for the kids Webkinz that we started 4 years ago, the bathroom curtain that still isn't hemmed, the baby albums that are still empty and the list goes on. That's the benefit of telling the whole world you're going to do something. Accountability. Maybe I need to do that with everything and I'd finish more things. This week I'm going to do my filing, clean off my desk, insert X, Y, Z. You get the idea. Anyway....here are the photos.

Daily Happiness Photos - Week 18

04/30 Ferns

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Remember my gardening philosophy? If it doesn't kill it, it will make it stronger. Even though the timing wasn't ideal we cut back the ferns. Turns out it was the right thing to do. I love the look of them as they unfurl. I'm lucky to have so many great well established plants in our new yard. Including this very large and beautiful fern plant. 

 05/01 Ainsley's First Art Project

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Often Ainsley comes home from school with art projects. Most of which she's received so much help with that I don't really consider them hers. But she's doing so much more herself these days and our nurse made a point to tell me that this art project she did mostly by herself. So let me brag a little. The class has been learning about the life cycle of butterflies. Ainsley colored the pictures and cut them out all by herself. Then she placed them in the correct order for gluing. I take pictures of the kids' art that I don't have space to keep. Especially anything 3 dimensional or with glitter or macaroni glued to it. It makes it easier on the kids to part with their masterpieces.  But this one is a keeper and I took this picture just to show you. 

05/02 Freckles

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The (big) kids came home from school and went out to the swing set together. They were so cute, and being so goofy and I loved the pictures of them together. Adrian dove onto the swing and swung like Superman and missed once, and I caught it on video as he went heels over head (and that's not a typo). Ultimately though there is something I loved more about this picture. Freckles. I love the little sprinkling of freckles across a nose. Freckles are cheery and make you happy don't you think?

05/03 Crayons 

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Ainsley has finally discovered crayons. They're such a normal icon of childhood it can feel a little sad when your child has no interest in them. Now she will ask for them so she can "draw" and that makes me very happy.

05/04 Crazy Art

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I love art of all kinds. Let's face it, art is what makes life worth living. Imagine empty walls everywhere you go. No sculpture. No music. No dance. No photography. No movies or theatre. I wouldn't want to live in a world like that. I love the creativity that fuels art and I think it's fascinating that people come up with crazy new art forms all the time. Artist Suzanne Tidwell installed these knitted tree socks at Anderson park in Redmond recently. I was excited to finally get to see them in person.While I'm on the subject of crazy art you MUST follow this link to watch this video.  (It is not just a music video, hint it's made of something yummy.)

05/05 The Moon

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The moon is one of those beautiful things in life that is so easy to take for granted. It's there every night but we often forget to look. Tonight was the Cinco de Mayo Supermoon! The moon was bigger and brighter because it was as close to the earth as it gets this night. So it was great night to marvel at it's beauty. If you've ever tried you know photographing the moon is tricky but this wasn't my first attempt so, this time, I got several shots I was very happy with. That made it a tough decision to pick just one. There were ones with the birch trees I love so much but the moon was small. There were the shots with the craters of the moon visible, but then you don't get the atmospheric sky and trees. And then there were the ones of Evie and her BFF out moon gazing in their pajamas. It was a very fun night.

05/06 Glass Jars

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I recently read an article about the bad health effects of BPA particularly from canned foods. I grew up eating home grown organic foods and was a vegetarian for much of my 20's. Throughout my life I've always had a lot of bulk dry goods. I grew up with it. Recently though convenience has come first.  Mostly because I'm not always a good planner, and having 3 kids (especially one with special needs) means you need to be organized with your meal planning if you want to eat fresh and dried foods. After thinking it over I decided it's time to try again though I'm sure I'll still use some canned foods. I refreshed my old glass spring lidded jars with new seals that I bought at the PCC and a good thorough washing. At the new house I have the perfect cabinet on the backside of my island to store them. It's one jar deep so I can see everything. I've been noticing that I had fewer jars than I remembered but then I suddenly recalled that I'd packed some up. I'd hoped we saved them and luckily Steve was able to find them today. These type of Italian glass spring jars are hard to find these days and we had a bunch so I was very happy. Hopefully there will be a lot of good food coming from my kitchen soon.

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This week I will be picking up and trying out Ainsley's new SMO's, possibly getting her new Nova 7 communication device which shipped out to the SLP, and trying to keep her well for our big "airway trip" to Cincinnati which is coming up fast on 5/20.  I hope you have a great week whatever you are up to.

To view a slideshow of the entire Happiness Photo Project click here. Confused about what this is or why I'm doing it? Click here for an explanation of what it's all about.