March 31

We don't really have a lot of the typical signs of Spring around here (no flowers or tree buds!). There are, however, some big local events that mark the fact that Spring is arriving. One of those is playoff hockey season! The University of North Dakota is located in Grand Forks - Home of the Fighting Sioux (a nickname that has a great deal of controversy surrounding it right now!). The hockey team is very important to this community (hockey, in general, is important to this community). Anyways, our team played in the Midwest Regional Final this weekend and won!! So the Sioux are going to the Frozen Four in two weeks in Denver. YIPPEE!!! It's very exciting!! Here are the headlines of our paper today. This trip to Destination Denver will receive a lot of press for the next couple of weeks!

March 28, 29, 30

Playing a little catch-up again. Why is it harder for me to keep up with these postings on the weekend? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

A few shots from the weekend. First, Kate lost her other top tooth. Please excuse the squinty eyes (she claims the sun, which was covered with clouds, was hurting them!). The next is my favorite thing about the weekend - running errands and spending time with my husband. Finally, a shot of American Girls shoes. Meg and Kate spent most of the weekends playing with their dolls/babies and had all the shoes and clothes lined up and sorted!

March 27

Abby and Meg had their piano recital this evening. Both did a terrific job! It seems so early, but kind of nice to have one of those "year end" activities out of the way. It's amazing how much they have both improved in the past year. Meg also played a song with two other girls and they were so cute! Not really on theme other than the fact that the recital was at our church and there are stained glass windows in the background. Does that count for "faith"?!

March 26

I'm sure that quite a few of you have read this book already. I just started it, and am really, really enjoying it! It definitely fits in with the "faith" theme, don't you think? Can't wait to read some more tonight!

March 25

WARNING: this might be a rambling post! I posted my running shoes today as my "faith" theme post. I posted them for several reasons. First of all, I MUST have faith that the weather will start to improve (melting that darn snow in the background!) and that spring will come. I know I complain a lot about North Dakota. It really is a wonderful place to live, but this is the WORST time of the year. We don't really have spring - we jump from winter to slushy mess to summer. March and April can get really long! But I have faith that the temps will increase, the snow will melt and green will appear. I am so anxious to be able to get back outdoors walking and running and relaxing in my back yard!

These shoes also represent the faith that I have in myself for some goals I have set. It was nice to have a 5 day break this past weekend. It gave me some time to get things organized around my house as we begin the final 9 weeks of our school year. It also gave me some time to do some reading and relaxing and refocusing. I really needed to take time to reflect and re-focus on some goals I have for myself. It was a nice boost! So, these shoes are a symbol of the faith that I have in myself to work towards those goals.

March 24

A few snapshots of Easter at our house. We had a great day, other than Kate and Brian getting the flu! Yuck! Went to see "Horton Hears a Who" this afternoon - very cute movie. Be sure to check it out!

March 23

Happy Easter!

March 22

I met up again today with Angela who talked me through my first digiscrapping layout! It was so much fun and I learned a lot about Photoshop in the process. Thanks for the fun morning, Angela!

March 21

Meg and Kate went to decorate Easter Eggs with my Mom today. She pulled out these old hats she made a while ago out of melted down styrofoam cups. Don't they look cute on the eggs? The last picture is of Abby and Kate getting ready to sing together in church tonight. They were so cute! When I opened this picture I couldn't believe how much "bigger" Abby is than Kate - she looks so grown up!

March 20

It's so nice to finally get outside. Brian, Abby and Kate went out to shoot hoops tonight and I, of course, grabbed my camera!

March 19

Not really anything to say about this photo other than it made me smile when I opened it up. Meg has such beautiful eyes and such a terrific smile. She's generally pretty quiet and soft spoken - so pictures like this remind me of her sense of humor and joyful spirit.

March 18

A few other shots to share. The first is one of Kate with her tooth missing! She lost another tooth this weekend and was very excited about another visit from the tooth fairy! The next two are a cake my mom made this weekend. Isn't it a cute sunflower? The last is the cell the Abby had to make for school. It was a great father-daughter activity! :) I wasn't much into this assignment so was really glad her dad helped!

March 14-17

More gymnastics. Our meet was at home this weekend - so nice to not have to travel! Both girls did really well. It's so fun to see them doing well and all their hard work paying off! I do have non-gymnastics photos, but gymnastics is what I'm posting tonight. Hopefully I'll get the others downloaded for tomorrow to share! Here are a few of Meg ....

March 13

A few shots of Kate at the end of the day......she melts my heart!

Edited: used Christy's Simply BW action for these. All shot with 50mm lens, ISO 200, manual mode, f 2.0

March 11 and 12

We had a beautiful day here in North Dakota! After work it was still near 40 degrees outside so I went running - my first outdoor run since Thanksgiving!! It was WONDERFUL!!! Then the girls and I put on boots and went stomping through the melting snow piles and puddles with Jet. Also put a quick snapshot of Kate's new haircut - with bangs!

March 8, 9 and 10

My goal for the week is to get outdoors with my photography and get a little more creative! Definitely in a funk lately. Hopefully the additional sunlight after work will help! Here are a few for the weekend. It's been really nice reading all your compliments about the girls' gymnastics this year. It is, obviously, a big part of our life - especially in the winter while they are in competition season. Several people have asked about Abby's favorite event - she would say it is the bars. The beam is probably the event that she struggles with the most - she can do the skills, but the pressure of staying on the beam really gets to her at meets. This has been a pretty big year for her as she's learned a lot of new skills. Meg has also done well this year. She always seems so timid and little to me! She really loves being with the other kids on her team. Both girls have qualified for our state meet. It's just a few weeks away - hard to believe! Although it is an exhausting time, it has gone pretty quickly. The girls are definitely ready for spring activities and getting outdoors.

March 7

After being very frustrated with the strange world of Lightroom, I decided today to download the free trial of PSE6. I'm happy to report that I'm much happier tonight and have hope for the future (a little dramatic, but I really am relieved that life will go on after PSE5!).

These are brownies that I made for my "birthday treats" for work. I got the recipe from my best friend, Amy, and they were a HUGE hit! They are very simple. Just use a brownie mix for a 9x13 pan. Make as directed and pour half on bottom of pan. Then layer 3 Symphony bars (the big ones) across the pan and pour the remaining batter on top. Bake according to the package directions. So easy and SO YUMMY!

March 6

So yesterday I went to download my weekend pictures and my photoshop is gone. Missing. Not there. Won't open. Can you say panic city? Fortunately, I had backed up my pictures just last week, but I cannot open them on my computer AT ALL!!! How frustrating! Tonight I downloaded a trial version of Lightroom. It's so different! I miss my actions and knowing what I'm doing. But I figured this was a good time to play with it while I try to work with Adobe and figure out what happened. These pictures aren't great. I took quick ones of Kate with an art project so that I new photos to play with for today's POTD. The top is the edited, second is SOOC.

March 5

Kaitlyn is Kate's best friend. She is the sister of Meg's best friend, Lexi, that I posted pictures of a few weeks ago. Kaitlyn's sisters and my girls all do gymnastics together and their family has become our very good friends. Between kindergarten, gymnastics and our weekends of travelling, these two spend ALOT of time together. And they are very bright, determined little girls. Watch out - they could probably take over the world if given enough time alone to plan how to do it! :)

March 1, 2, 3 and 4

Another weekend out of town so I'm posting a few photos to catch up! These are all pretty random. Just ones that I liked(and had time to edit!). The ones of Abby are from dinner on Saturday night. She has been begging to go to Oceanaire and since it was our last Minneapolis trip for a while, we decided to bring them. I'm not sure what Abby's faced are all about - she looks like she hates her meal. But, in fact, she really loved it. Why am I not surprised that she really loves seafood? That's very convenient when you live in North Dakota! :) The last two are my on theme "cropping" photos. I end cropping a lot for gymnastics because there is always so much going on in the background and people standing around.