I'm participating in Ali Edwards' annual Week in the Life documentary project, and here are a selection of photos from Sunday!
Sunday was the last day of my Week in the Life project and as the day got going (late, overslept) I didn't expect to end up with all that many pictures—mostly because I was running around getting ready for company, and I am not good at holding a camera while vacuuming/preparing lunch/directing children to do their jobs/taking a shower 40 minutes before said company is scheduled to arrive.
But I did take a few. And then more, to include one of my favorites of the week.
I am not good at waking up on time when it's cloudy outside. This was the first day since we've lived here that the mountains were totally obscured by haze—sadly, from all the forest fires in the west.
Lunch prep for our two guests: salad, lemonade, lasasgna, and brownies. I made Pioneer Woman lasagna for the first time because if there's one thing I've learned in the kitchen, it's that you can never go wrong with a Pioneer Woman recipe. I will never make another variety of lasagna again. It was impressively good. And made with cottage cheese!
And here it is: by far one of my favorite photos from the week, and maybe one on the all-time favorites list. MT was our beloved baby-neighbor in Montana, and now he is a grownup and worked at Philmont Scout Ranch all summer. This is what happens when you blink—especially when you blink as an Air Force family... the babies you knew grew up. We saw the rest of MT's family and another beloved family we ran with when we lived in Montana before we moved from Alabama this summer, and it was the best.
This is the third time I've seen MT's mama this year (after not having seen each other for the previous 16 or so) and man, few things can make a Dillow in a better mood than an afternoon with her. She is my consumer hero (I'm certain I've mentioned her on this blog in the past) and though it sounds sappy, one of the people who I learned how to be a grownup from. If the stars align properly, we might get a fourth visit in the books in 2015.
Bridget discovered the pear tree in the back yard was good for climbing. More on that shortly.
When I talked to my parents I counted at least 25 hummingbird visits—much to my poor father's chagrin, who is having a hard time getting them to land in their beautiful, lush backyard.
Maddie took a bunch of lovely photos of Ellie. The girls don't seem to be interested in using their little Kodak EasyShare cameras, only my Canon. Hmm.
Bridget spotted a soccer ball up in the tree so ran into change so she could climb properly and retrieve it... I said she could, but then she was up there for a long time—I'm pretty sure she was way higher than I would have approved of because that ball fell a long way once she reached it. However, as a former tree-climber myself, it was hard to get after her about it.
Gracie made a lot of progress on her scarf. She is getting pretty good.
I hate forest fires wherever they may be : ( It was super hazy all day. I think the condition of my Otter Box also needs an alert. Ick. I'm trading in this one for a new phone in November.
Gracie declared we were 'fending for ourselves for dinner because of the giant lunch; she made herself a strawberry parfait that she was especially proud of.
I love matching games, even though I cannot beat my children to save my life. Gracie trounced us both times after dinner.
Final storytime shot of the week. I loved taking this one each night.
Finally...
...It may have looked as if I had Matt locked up in the utility garage during this entire project, but instead, he was in Italy for the week inspecting nuclear things and under strict instruction to take some photos to add to the collection.
Lucky him : )
Photo projects are the best, whether they last a week, a month, an entire year. I love being able to look through and remember the things we were up to; the moments I photograph are moments I remember in exacting detail, even years later. I took around 800 photos this past week (!!). I'll delete the shoddy ones and narrow down the rest for doing something with—to be determined—and it will become the record of how we were learning our new geography and routines, with lots of constants built in.
