We had a quiet but fun new year! The girls went to bed on time so we had their "party" before the boys. After dinner I made chocolate fondue and the girls got to dip pretzels, marshmallows, strawberries, and graham crackers in it! Then we played Memory. We adapted it for Oksana and even more for Anya but they had fun.
After we put them to bed we put the fondue together for the boys and we all watched Batman Begins while we gorged on chocolate! After that we played Heads Up. If you haven't heard of that it is an app game that was created by Ellen Degeneres. It's one of those games where you put the phone on your forehead and it has a word on it. The other people have to act it out or use words to describe it without saying the word or anything that rhymes with it. There are a number of categories and we had an absolute blast. We laughed so hard and it did a great job of keeping us up until midnight. One of my favorite Heads Up moments was when Evan had the word France on his head. We said "It's a country.....the capital is Paris......the Eiffel Tower is there!" He yelled "Pennsylvania!!!" We died laughing! At midnight we turned the TV on to see a countdown and then despite being wired from the game we all went to bed.
I'm not a resolution maker but there are a few things I am doing with a fresh start. The first is that I joined a 365 Photo Challenge. My friend started it. Basically you take a picture every day and post it on the Facebook group. I'm not a photographer but I do want to be using my camera more so I figured this would keep me accountable to be taking pictures. I am really bad about that. So far I am enjoying it so much! I've already learned 2 new things about my camera (I'm just using my iphone) and I'm thinking a lot more about documenting things that happen. Here are my first 3 pictures:
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| Anya's eyes |
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| Stretching Oksana |
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| Movies with Clayton in reclining leather chairs. My new favorite theater! |
I also signed up for a new Bible Study this year. I have been horrible about studying, and haven't done anything organized since May. It's time to get back so I signed up for a study of Nehemiah starting in February. I'm also doing a book study with some other adoptive moms of a book called A Place I Didn't Belong. There's a long description, but the one sentence that grabbed me was "It's about reclaiming ourselves as women when adoption dreams shatter." I hope this will continue to be a year of healing for me as we walk this journey.
In my next blog I'm going to tell you about Larry's birthday present. I can't wait to give it to him!
3 comments:
I have always wanted to do a 365 photo challenge, but never really found one to do -- I don't even have a Facebook. Sounds like a lot of fun and I hope you really enjoy doing it. I just mentioned to my husband today that I would like to do the 365 challenge and he said I probably wouldn't finish it -- he is probably right. But, I think it does help you become a better photographer. Hope you post some of your pictures on your blog -- I enjoyed the ones you posted this time. Have fun taking pictures and I enjoyed your post.
I am looking forward to seeing your pictures too. I just got a new phone for Christmas, and I took some pictures of my daughter with her presents. I was not happy with how they looked, and I kept taking more, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. My poor daughter eventually had enough, and I don't blame her! Later on, I went online to read about other people's tips for using the camera on the type of phone I have. As I was studying the actual camera, I saw something like a scratch on the lens. It turns out that I had not peeled off the tiny piece of clear sticker they must place on the lens in the factory. Ugh! Even though it was clear, it made all my pictures look like I was shaking the phone while taking the photo. A side note... I found a 3 piece lens kit that fits most camera phones, and it allows you to take even better pictures. I has a micro and macro lens, and something else, but it had very good reviews. I can send you the link if you like. Happy New Year! :)
The 365 photo challenge sounds like fun, but would be a real challenge for me. I have trouble committing to a 30-day one at times, LOL! But I know you can do it. Just have fun with it!
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