BSM - Cozy Home

I don't go down into our family room much unless Keith is home. Keith games downstairs and whenever I nap or something he and Ella go down there. During the day, I usually stay upstairs with the kids because my laptop is here for work and then the kitchen for all of the kids needs. Seems I'm always getting a drink/bottle or its time to make lunch or a snack.

I went down there the other night to find this cozy little setting. Ella had taken my nest ornament, set it on a little bench and curled the branches of our tree around it. It's hard to see too, but she took Keith's little white matchbox car that he keeps on his desk and parked it just to the left of the nest.....making it it's own garage.

What a cozy little scene, I thought. Along with the nest and car were a few Littlest Pet Shop animals, so I know she was having a good time with it. Her creativity blows me away everyday. Surprisingly, I wasn't even bothered that she rearranged the ornaments and was playing with the nest. All I thought about was her being a child at Christmas. With how mature she acts, sometimes I forget she is just a little girl who wants to play, explore and have fun.


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BSM - Snow, Snow, Snow

Some of you may have heard that the Midwest got pummeled by a blizzard this past weekend. 17 inches was the official total I heard here in Minneapolis. We got so much snow that the roof of the Metrodome caved in (cool video) forcing the Vikings to move their game from yesterday to tonight and to play in Detroit rather than at home.

It was actually quite beautiful as it fell from late Friday night through all day Saturday. It seemed like it would never stop. And until the temperatures dropped to sub zero degrees with nasty wind chills, Ella had SO MUCH fun! Her little boyfriend down the street came trudging through the snowy roads that hadn't been plowed yet and the two of them frolicked carefree for quite some time. Barely seeing their legs as they played in the yard, building snow forts and eating the freshly fallen snow is what winter should be all about.



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BSM - Piggy's

Guess what Olivia had for Thanksgiving dinner? Yuuuuummmmmy!



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BSM - Needed

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BSM - Fluff

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BSM - Random Shot

Good Morning Grumpy! I get such a kick out of how his eyes portray a grumpy old toad like you would see in a cartoon. I am just waiting to hear him say, "Ribbit".



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BSM - The Delicate Details

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BSM - Hidden Messages

Coincidentally, this week happen to be about messages for me and over at Best Shot Monday. Sometimes they are obvious, like the message on Tracy's shirt. At other times, they are hidden and you have to search for them. I prefer the ones that are right in front of your face....and you just have to be open enough to see them.

Free. What could be better than feeling Free? I have a sense of that now that I am pregnant again. It has been a long journey to build our little family. Due to that, we have decided that having 2 children is our limit. We feel fortunate to be pregnant for a second time and feel that after I give birth, we are Free to move on with our lives and our family.

There truly is nothing better than being at peace with where you are in life and being comfortable enough to go forward.....Essentially, I am Free.



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BSM - Heaven Let Your Light Shine Down

A *fantastic* 60 degree Sunday in Minnesota! If I had any summer maternity clothes, I would have been in shorts and a tank top.

Alas, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, being barefoot and pregnant topped off my perfect day. Heaven indeed, let it's light shine down!



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BSM - Bubbles

The joy that children get from blowing bubbles is just amazing. Ella pulled out her bubbles about a week ago and has not put them down. Each and every day she has to blow bubbles....Inside, outside, out the back door to the deck, in my face, in Daddy's face, on the dog, up in the air, down on the floor, over the banister....and through the woods to Grandmothers house we go!

It must be some sort of internal clock she has, because it has been 40-50 degrees outside ever since she pulled them out. Even though March is supposed to be our snowiest month, it sounds like a sure sign of Spring to me!



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BSM - The Dead of Winter

This is the most I've got around here to take pictures of when I am outside. I envy the red berries people come up with at this time of the year. Everything is cold and bare here. Today was close to 40 degrees though, and I didnt wear a coat. I could almost smell the scent of Spring being right around the corner. Could've been wishful thinking......



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BSM - Thirsty

Oh, how I have been thirsty for some macro lately.

I love the delicateness of the details when you get up close. How fragile and crisp everything looks from such a short distance. How the 'big picture' isn't always the best way to look at a situation. Sometimes if you just peer in a little closer than normal, you find something spectacular...Something different....Something unexpected....Something beautiful.



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BSM - What Are You Made Of?

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BSM - Brilliant

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BSM - Heart On Her Sleeve

This was one of the shots that I did when shooting for the new Team Up Thursday challenge. I ultimately went with a different shot for the challenge but this one was too precious to me not to post. I am calling it my Best Shot for today.



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BSM - Macro

Not quite in my own back yard, but if it was spring/summer it would have been. This whole winter season has brought my creativity down, down, down. That led me to the flower shop to get some flowers to shoot. Wishing I had some sunlight and greenery around right about now.....


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BSM - Crazy Lady

I know some of you know what I mean when I say that it seems that when I am behind the camera, nothing much matters at the time but the subject I am looking at.

After I brought Ella to school one cold, cold day last week (I'm talking -10 degrees), I noticed these frosty snowflakes on top of my garbage bin outside the garage. What would you do? I ran inside, attached my macro lens to the camera, grabbed my tripod and ran back out. I knew once the sun came up and it was time to go get Ella from school, that these little treasures would be gone. What a weird neighbor I must have looked like standing there with my camera and tripod....shooting my garbage bin! You just know that these spiky little snowflakes were not on any one's mind if they saw me. You know they were thinking.....

There's that crazy lady who, while taking pictures of her daughter all the time, is rolling around in the dirt, laying in the middle of the road, hanging upside down from a tree and doing back flips. Now she's staring at her garbage bin?! What's next?

It's thier loss. They didnt get to enjoy the beauty of these fantastic little creations of nature up close like I did.


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BSM - Let's Just Cuddle

Something really weird has happened this holiday weekend. We've had a lot of things going on. Bouncing in and out of the house to see family. We really havent been home much. I always wanted to stay home on Christmas day so that Ella could just play with all of her toys. Isn't that all kids want to do once they open their presents?

Not mine. Could it mean she got boring gifts from Santa? It crossed my mind....but I don't think so. Since we have been out and about, by the time we get home, or in the morning after she wakes up (which has been later and later every day...Yahoo!) all she wants to do is cuddle up with someone, her blanket and watch Christmas specials.

I think that she has been so exhausted from all of the holiday cheer that she just wants to veg for a little while. After the relaxing is done, she does go downstairs and pick out a toy to play with, but her energy must be regained prior to doing that. That being said, she still has this awful cold that leaves us blowing her nose 20x a day and a cough that sounds like she's a smoker. I did bring her in to the doctors before Christmas and they said it was just a cold running its course.

So here she is, in one of my sweatshirts, laying on the floor, head to head, wrapped up in our dog Lulu's arms watching cartoons. She said that morning as she got on the floor, "Lulu, lets just cuddle." The willing accomplice complied.



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BSM - Camera Fixed?

This is the first shot I took once I got my camera back from Nikon. Gosh how I have missed shooting that little face!


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12 Weeks

How sweet the sound. The magical week that women get to and feel confident enough to announce their good news. Nausea has taken over my life for the last month or so leaving me to want to sleep all the time. I think I have doubled our grocery bill over the last few weeks too. It seems to be the only way to keep me from not vomiting. Weird, I know. By the time this kid comes....I will be nicknamed "Two-ton".....Considering I am already in my maternity clothes that I didn't even start wearing with Ella until 5 months!

This is most of the reason why I have been so sparse blogging lately. The last thing I have felt like doing is looking at the computer screen. So I apologize that my posts and comments have tapered off. I have been keeping up with everyone still. Sometimes making more comments on several posts at once instead of after each time you post them. Mostly I have just been lurking until I feel like sitting on the computer. Along with my camera being at Nikon for repair right now....(*Note to self* Really bad time to send your camera off. How am I supposed to take pictures of decorating the tree?!) I hope when I get it back I will start feeling like myself again.

Besides all that, it is a huge blessing for us and a long journey to get here. Believe me...you don't know how long I have been saving this picture for this post. To me, the simplicity of it epitomized life in the womb.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am sure we all have so much to be thankful for!



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