2015

Well, I didn't take photos of my children every single day this year. In fact I took only a few of them the entire year. After my giant 365 project last year, I needed a break. They needed a break. They were getting tired of the big camera in their faces all the time. And that was fine. I had more photos of them than I really could do anything with. I did do something with all of them though, I had two giant books printed and I love them and pull them out to flip through pretty regularly.

I also occasionally will come back to this blog and look at the post from the same day the year before which is fun. I'm so very glad I did this project.

Now as 2016 is nearing I've been thinking about starting this project up again, although slightly different. I'm going to try to do 52 posts in 2016. One per week with either one picture of both or one of each. I loved the challenge last time so I'm looking forward to documenting a bit of our life these days, how my kids are different and older and still completely wild, precious and even a lil mundane.

For now, Here are a few of the shots I did take of my kids this year.

That's a wrap.

My 365 project is officially finished. Granted it was actually only 346 days, but hey, most of the 19 days that I missed were days I wasn't actually with my kids at all. So I think I'm calling it a success.

 It was an ambitious project really, bigger than I knew going into it. I wanted a challenge and that it was.

I was challenged on days when I just felt like I'd done photographed every possible thing that my kids do. And I would have to tell myself to look harder, find something new, find another angle on something, look again, tell a different story.

I was challenged to slow down on days when I was running around getting things done and I would hear them in the other room laughing. Stop. Get the camera. Watch them. Hear them. Enjoy them.

I was challenged on so many days to get up and do something with them, take them somewhere, get out of the house, get wild inside the house, be fun, pull over when you see something cool, be spontaneous, go on adventures.

I was challenged to remember. To not just take the picture of something I adore, but write down and describe what I adore and why. To save the silly things that were said, the little victories that were had. To celebrate the small, simply things.

And mostly I was challenged to be grateful. As I counted each day, as I pushed the shutter each time, I was counting my blessings. Counting the days and moments and saying Thank You, Thank You, Thank You as I looked through each days photos. Each frame framing the gifts, demanding gratitude to flow.

I am so glad I did this project. I'm so glad we have this year documented and capsulized forever. I'm so glad I am these two brilliant children's mother. I'm so glad I have this wild, precious and sometimes mundane life.

To see all the photos in one place visit: www.tekoarosephoto.com/wildpreciousandmundane

Below is a 6 minute video of all the daily photos. They zip by pretty quick, if you'd like to see them in a slower, longer (35 minutes!) version, click here.

December Runner Ups

Wow. 12 months. That went fast. December was a whirl of holidays and birthdays and parties and crafts and cookies and rain and cold and winter and well, it was December. Here are my runner ups from this month. Enjoy!

346/365

You perfect lil angel child. Well, at least you look like one. You wanted to wear your pretty dress after your bath and you even let me brush your hair. These are the moments I wonder if you're actually real or just escaped from a fairy tale.

More helicopter flight practice. Such concentration.

345/365

Oh lordy. Trips to the library. The idea of them makes me feel like one of those super awesome moms, the ones that have everything together and are fun, and encouraging their children's interests and teaching them things and just skip through life. Those moms. They are the moms that somehow all moms believe exist and yet, we all know that they don't really exist. Or if they do they are each of us only for a moment in time and in that moment other moms see them and think that all their moments must be like that, when in reality they're thinking the same thing about some other mom later that day. Anyway, today when I took you two to the library I was feeling good, we packed up all the books we'd already read through which filled two large bags, we drove to the library, found a parking spot in the parking garage, dug up three quarters to fill the meter while keeping Cora from wandering out of the empty parking space next to us. Then I couldn't find my phone, which I didn't REALLY need except that I usually set a timer for how long our meter has as to avoid getting a ticket. So I finally found it down between the seats. Then we head inside, Cora complaining because she's cold and Logan racing ahead wildly, me hauling the two heavy bags of books. We get inside to the book drop and you two start pushing the books into the little slots. We discover that somehow one of our own books "If you give a cat a cupcake," has stowed away in the book bags, so I try to put it in Cora's little backpack, which she does not like, and now refuses to wear. So I take it out, and stuff it into my purse, although that just feels weird, stuffing a book in my purse at the library. So now we've unloaded our books, we head inside and up the stairs to the children's department, hoping that the Discovery room will be open. It's not. The kids are of course disappointed. And being able to see all the cool undiscoverable stuff in the Discovery room through the dark windows makes it worse. So I try to distract them toward picking out new books which I'm not sure why I still try to get them to choose the books. They never do. They would rather throw all the puppets onto the floor and yell loudly into the play pay phone. So I put my empty bags down with my book bulging purse and now Logan's coat which he doesn't want to wear and try to gather new books while also keeping Logan and Cora from wandering off or getting lost among the crowd of disappointed children and parents trying to juggle books and coats and bags. I fill up one bag, then Logan wants to leave, so I find the Nate the Great books for him to choose a few from, while Cora decides she wants to lay on the floor and doesn't want to carry her empty backpack anymore. Add that to the pile of stuff I'm moving from spot to spot as I heard my two "louder than everyone else" unhappy children. We search on the comptuer for books about Leopard Geckos and write down the call numbers. We haul (well I haul) all our stuff over to the non-fiction section and search the 978 section. These are books about the Oregon trail. Not right at all. Cora is running to the 600's. I'm following calling for Logan to follow. Hey look, reptile books in the 600 section! Cora is hot, wants a drink from the water fountain on the other side of the library. I find the Leopard Gecko books, stuff them in my full, heavy bags full of new books and start heading for the water fountain with Cora. I get to the end of the row and turn back to see Logan still sitting in the 600's reading a book about snakes. "Come on, Logan! Bring the book and lets go!" We get water. We take the elevator downstairs. Both children lay down on the their backs one the floor of the elevator. The doors open, I convince them to get up and come help me check out the books. We get to the self check out, they both want to scan the books. I tell them they can each do one bag. Logan gets started. Cora is whining because there is no stool for her to stand on like there usually is. I scan the area for stools. No stools. So I grab Cora and walk a bit away from Logan who's still scanning. Ah ha! Stool! I grab it and come back to Logan who is finishing up his last few books. He moves over and Cora gets her turn to scan. Well, she can't really scan them, but wants to think she's doing it, so I scan them for her while also loading all the scanned books back into our bags. We're done, 42 new books. I convince Cora to put her backpack back on, I convince Logan to put his coat back on. I grab the bags and my purse and "If you give a cat a cupcake and head out the doors while praying we did scan every book in our back so that the alarms don't sound as we go through the censors. They don't! But my phone alarm goes off saying we've got maybe 2 minutes left on the meter. We trek back outside to the van and load back up. I get in the car and Logan asks if we can get a Frosty. I say no. We're going home. One trip to the library is all I can handle today.

344/365

We made an impromptu trip to Eugene today to see a friend. You were a tiny bit feverish but I was pretty tired of being cooped up in the house with sick kids so I figured, a lil fresh air would do you good. And your daddy got off early so we braved the 2 hours of driving.

The little remote control helicopter you got for Christmas has provided lots of great entertainment for all involved. You and your Daddy are both getting really good with it!

343/365

These days it is a constant cycle of finding something to entertain you for a while, then try to get something done such as the dishes or laundry, then find something else to entertain you. You're so curious and so active and so ready for more of the world. Play dough kept you busy for a maybe 12 minutes today before you were ready for the next thing.

All winter break you've been a lil under the weather. First it was a fever a few days before Christmas, then it turned into a knarly cough that just won't go away. Uhhggg.. it's really put a damper on your vacation plans. Not nearly as many play dates. Instead you're stuck at home with me. But at least the couch is here, and you put yourself down for a nap today which is a first. Poor lil precious sleeping boy.