joy of love (portrait)

I'm kind of behind in the joy of love assignments,

but had to get this one in.

Portraits are probably my personal favorites as far as pictures.

It doesn't matter how many I've taken

of my children in the past.

Every one of them is different in feeling and mood.

And a glimpse of their spirit and soul.

Taken Sunday afternoon of my favorite 8 year old in the whole wide world.

The little girl with the Mona Lisa smile.

Our Grace.

joy of love - portrait

8/52 - snapshot

Number 8 of my photo a week project.

These 4 mean the world to me...

They are best friends to each other,

 and their moms are too.

Happy Friday.

I for one will be happy that February is leaving soon...now if the snow would too!

joy of love (hands)

Little boy hands.

Here he's playing with his beloved Buzz Lightyear.

Will's hands are square, strong and still have a little bit of baby chubbiness to them.

Which I love!

joy of love - hands

black and white Wednesday - the boy who loves water

I always wanted to be Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up.

I can't fly, but swimming is the next best thing.

It's harmony and balance.

The water is my sky.

 ~Clayton Jones

(singing) Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.

What do we do?
 We swim, swim..swim.

~ Dory in Finding Nemo

There's something about water that brings

out the fish in 5 year old Will.

It can be bath, pool or ocean water.

This boy loves to swim.

There are days he asks to take a bath twice...and I get the water ready for him.

He hasn't had swimming lessons yet.

What we've noticed is how well he floats.
He's on his tummy in the tub, goggles on with eyes open and playing with toys.

I do think he looks extremely cute in goggles.

Taken last weekend at a China travel group get together...

the kids wouldn't get out of the pool.

And swam the following morning too.

Fun times!

You can see many more black and whites
at The Long Road to China.

joy of love (staying in)

Well we're pretty much experts in the 'staying in'

department, since we live in the frozen tundra.

We make the best of it...because we don't have much of a choice.

Our Wii gets a good workout with both littles.

Will loves his Lightning McQueen game

but the current fav for both is 'Lets Dance Kids.'

Will adds a few signature moves of his own every time

they play.

Besides our daily arts and crafts time for Grace,

both kids love imaginative play, Grace reads to Will, they make up puppet shows,

play Barbies (yes Will does too), and

race around our basement that has plenty of open space and a small trampoline to jump on.

Even though we got another blast of Winter today, I can tell Spring is coming

...our daylight is lasting longer. :)

Grace's beautiful art set was a Christmas gift from her Grandma.

As I remember it was purchased at the Art Institute of Chicago's museum shop.

I don't see it in their online catalog presently.

joy of love - staying in.

7/52 - Winter scene

I drive by this beautiful park with it's ponds and bridges about once a week.

It's near the university and Lake Mendota in Madison.

Sunday afternoon I took a drive and then walked this lovely park in the snow.

I captured these families having fun, it was quiet except for the sound of their blades on the ice.

I find that sound familiar and like it very much.

The wild thing is that in the 5 days since I took this picture,
 we've had a huge thaw and a great deal of our snow is gone...

And I'm sure not complaining about that. :)

joy of love (kiss)

Day 15 of joy of love was all about kisses.

We are a family that loves to kiss, hug and tickle so this was an easy assignment.
Oh...and obviously giggle.

joy of love - day 15

black and white Wednesday - by the sea

Lately we've been dreaming of warmer weather,
 and how nice it would be to add some sun and sand.

I found this image of Grace taken 6 months ago on our vacation to Mexico.

As I recall it was the last night of our trip, the sun was setting
 and had just dropped below the horizon (behind me),

the light was low but there was still a little bit left.

I love this one because of her pose (entirely her idea) and expression.

Makes me feel like I'm right there again with my girl. :)

For many more black and whites, hop on over to

The Long Road to China.