A year in pictures


January



January's highlight was a visit from my big brother Jim.
I was feverishly learning the photo editing ropes.
Lightroom and PS3


Pioneer Woman wrote me the most surprising email of the year and I secretly began to write tutorials.


February






February brought very cold, snowy weather, Children's Theater classes for Katie and the discovery of Ian's.



And a living room photoshoot.

March



Lynn and Chad cooked Pad Thai and starred on the blog.


Brett retired.

I became famous in a make-believe way thanks to MinnMom :o)


We traveled to Nebraska for Easter.


Katie's hair was clean.

April



I bought a wide angle lens and the snow started to melt.



Finally went to the Audrey Woulard workshop....and met Courtney in person!


And walked along State St. in Madison.

May




Heather and her family let me practice on them.
She welcomed baby Quinn.



Pastor Daniel came to visit and some hot tasty Indian food was prepared.



The girls and I dashed to Omaha for the day to spend a brief moment with Patrick Jr.
The boys were attacked by a territorial bird on the other side of this pond.




I had my first official photoshoot with a "stranger".





June




And I took the one millionth picture of Katie.




And Carrie and her family (Amy J) moved away ;o(


I met krg and we had the most wonderful time taking pictures of her family.


July



In July we visited the fair,



and a concert on the square.


Then the blog experienced the Controversial Mustard Incident.



Emma helped me find some cool locations for Photoshoots.


And sister Cindy and I had fun in Chicago.

August




In August I fould my old pictures on the computer that I thought were lost.
What a wonderful relief.


Visited Lynn's garden.





And met her wonderful sister and nieces.



We took Emma to college. She was not very happy at first, it turns out.


We took Katie to school too. She was very happy.



September


(I think it may take me a year to do this post! Yikes. And to read it!)









October




I picked up the knitting.


And had a fun visit with Nancy.

November


It was a very beautiful fall.


And Katie made us laugh.


December



It snowed a lot.



Sweet hubby let me take his picture!




And we all lived happily every after.....






Join the fun.

A year in pictures

Encourage one another,
Donna

Happy New Year!!!

The Christmas Miracle

Living and driving in Wisconsin can be treacherous and nerve wracking. Driving Katie back and forth to school
has been difficult in our record breaking snow-filled December. Even with new tires my anti lock brakes scream and wail and they wheels spin and flail.
My shoulders and back are tight and my neck is sore from the stress of it all.

So on Christmas Eve afternoon as we headed to church for choir practice with the children's Mass to follow I yelled at the car for being so lame. (I tend to yell at inanimate objects)

My husband, who was merrily riding along in the passenger seat says,

"Here. Push this "W". For Winter driving."



He pushes the "W" and an arrow appears on the dashboard.

"That does not mean winter!" I say. "Where did you hear that?"

"I think I read it." He laughs.

"Are you kidding me? That does not mean winter!"

More laughter.

"I think it does." He says.

"OH MY GOSH! I have been driving around the country for four years, cursing and sliding and being in fear for my life and
all along this car has a button!!! It IS much better. The car feels heavier. Like a tank."


Patrick searching and not finding the Volvo manual says, "Uh-huh."

"Why didn't you ever tell me this?"

"I forgot."



"It's a Christmas miracle!!!" I declare.


And it was.

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.
~Albert Einstein

Encourage one another,
Donna

It's been all sparkly and beautiful looking outside.








Today starts my little holiday from my new routine.

I expect to have a quite week of putzing around the house and getting everything back where it belongs.

I really love not having to dash out the door, so I will be thankful.

I need to plan for Katie's birthday bash.

She would like to invite 18 friends.

This freaks me out. Eighteen. Oh boy.

Katie is like me. She does not want to leave anyone out. She would like to invite all the third grade girls and some second grade girls, too. And her homeschool friends.

She would like a Karaoke party.

Oh my gosh.

I can only think of how it can all go wrong.

Katie has been planning and making invitations and dreaming about this party for over a month.

I better get on it.

Help!






Encourage one another,
Donna

I am starting a new project. I have been pondering these mittens for over a year.

Lynn is making a similar pair. Her's are looking beautiful.

It took me a little longer to get my stuff together because I am a total copy cat.

I saw the most wonderful mittens at Hello Yarn website last year and I just had to copy her.

She used this yarn for her pair.

Harrisville Yarn
Oatmeal/Red


Harrisville Designs

Ms. Hello Yarn used this book;

Selbuvotter:Biography of a Knitting Tradition





So I bought it.

When I paged thru it I knew what I would try first.

A sweet pair of mittens called my name.




You will have to wait a day or so to learn the mystery of the mittens.

While I was photographing the mittens....




Katie sat next to me.

And well....you know what that means. :o)


****

We took the kids skiing last night.
They had a blast.

Matthew landed on Katie's head and we are all thankful she had a helmet on.

I'm making a turkey for dinner tonight as it is Matthew's favorite.

I hear football behind me as I type and four very rowdy Game of Life players.

Life is good.


Encourage on another,
Donna

P.s. I sure am sorry about the comments being so stupid.
I have not heard from the support staff.