Keep It Simple

12 Pictures for 2009

Today I did something creative that was inspired by my friend Stacy Julian. On her blog she posted Sprinkle No. 13 - 12 Pictures in 12 Minutes. The idea was to document my 12 favorite photos in 12 minutes. I thought this was a great challenge since I took well over 5,000 photos in 2009. So I set my timer for 12 minutes, opened Picasa and turned the timer on. Though my 12 minutes had to be stretched over three hours I finally narrowed down my favorite photos to 73!! From there I got serious and wittled it down to 15.

I tried to remember what Stacy said, "To make this an exercise in intuitive creativity, you are NOT going to make this task hard. For example, you won’t make yourself pick one photo from each of the last 12 months–even though that seems like a good idea. You won’t play even-Steven and make sure all the people you love are represented in your collection. You won’t attempt to force a theme or look for a specific kind of photo."

I did my best to exercise my intuitive creativity and managed to remove three more photos and here is my result:

 
I must admit this stretched my creative muscles since I would have been one  of "those people" who pick one of each family member and/or one from each month. In the end I had a few photos that aren't even family members but they are photos that are super special and capture what 2009 was all about. 

Every one of these photos I truly love. Some take my breath away, like the one in the bottom right of Delaney. Others make me laugh, like the one of Stacy in her "cold storage". Other photos have the perfect lighting and angle, like the top right of Kevin and Collin and bottom left of Delaney. The photo in the middle gives me chills to think I got that close to Lance Armstrong and managed to take a magazine worthy photo of him! And still others make me realize how time is flying by.

I hope this inspires you to rummage through your 2009 photos and find your 12 photos in 12 minutes.

Happy New Year!

December Daily - Day 13

 
Lights! Camera! Reindeer! Action!

Decorating the inside of the house may be my thing, but the outside is definitely Kevin's domain. The rain stopped Sunday morning so by the afternoon Kevin was outside with the lights, ladder and his helpers to put up this year McCarthy Light Show. The kid's declared our display as the best on the cul-de-sac. My photos turned out blurry so final display photos are forthcoming.

 
Daddy's Helper

This candy cane didn't last very long. Look at this innocent face... 

December Daily - Day 12

  

Our Christmas Tree

I may not have the photos of picking out this lovely tree but I'm good with that. If you recall we got the tree on December 6th and it took a week to decorate. Mainly since I didn't have enough lights for a 9 1/2 foot tree, or red poinsettias or gold ribbon. Once I got the required decorations, the kids helps put everything on. Our lovely tree smells heavenly and best of all it's waiting for presents to be put under it!
 

December Daily - Day 11

 
Gingerbread House Decorating

This tradition started years ago with three families; the Cohen's, the Hoff's  and the McCarthy's. Between us there are six kids and three adults and each of us decorates our own house. This is our chance to put our artistic abilities to work using gingerbread, frosting (lots of it) and candies. We had 52 assorted candies in all shapes, sizes and colors this year. 

 
Silly Monkeys

Look at these silly kids! They have been friends since the three oldest (all on the left) met in pre-school on September 11, 2001. Yup, our kids started their schooling on 9/11. Maybe that's one of the reason that we are still all friends. Though all three families go to three different schools we still get together every year to decorate our gingerbread houses as well as laugh and giggle as if no time has passed at all. 

December Daily - Day 10

 
A Surprise Visitor!

Kevin's Dad, Jim, surprised us by popping in for dinner! He was in town for meetings and it was a great surprise since we thought he was in Tucson! The kid's were thrilled to see their "Opa" and there was plenty of teasing and as you can see from the photo - matching hats!

December Daily - Day 9

 
The Great Battle

Can you see the huge fight going on? There is you know? Look really closely at Kelly (the white one) and you'll see that her head is resting on a bone. Kelly may look like she's asleep... but she's not. She's laying in wait for Bruno to try to steal it. It's all part of her master plan.

You see Kelly is old and can't move very quickly and Bruno has figured this out. Since Kelly isn't able to chase him around in a good game of keep away this has become their modified version. I love how Bruno has adapted how he plays with her. You can see the excitement on his face. In just a minute he tries to quietly take the bone from Kelly and she growls at him, he jumps away (tail wagging) to try another time. So cute.

December Daily - Day 8

 
The Christmas Card Assembly Line

My two elves hard at work getting our Christmas cards ready to mail. Such good helpers! And cute hats too!

December Daily - Day 7

 

Christmas Books

Every year Collin and Delaney each receive a wrapped Christmas book to open on Christmas Eve (along with Christmas PJs but that'll have to wait until Day 24). So we have a basket STUFFED with books. Some are great stories taken from the Bible, others have beautful illustrations, others makes us laugh and there are a few books that always make me cry (The Littlest Christmas Tree). Each night I try to read one or two. This year Delaney has been picking the books and then we sit in one of the kid's rooms and read them before bed. This is in my Top 3 Christmas traditions. I hope my kids take this one to heart with their own little ones someday - they'll each have a bookshelf full of classics by then!

Delaney and Bruno

Bruno is adjusting well to our household routine. You can find him snuggling with Delaney at bedtime. 

December Daily - The Photo Tragedy (aka Day 6)

 

Why is the photo frame empty you might ask? Because today was the day that tragedy struck. A photographer's worst nightmare - vanishing photos. I knew it was coming but I ignored the signs. The compact flash card started to have fewer space for photos but did I listen to my poor camera's cry for help? No. I figured I could just use the part of the card that was still good. BIG MISTAKE!! We lost all of the Christmassy pictures I took.

Sunday, December 6th was our day to "get some Christmas in" at our house. The kids filled out their annual Letters to Santa (I took some great artsy shots of those). Those photos are gone but at least I have the letters (until I mail them off to Santa that is).

Early in the morning, we headed to Home Depot to pick out for our BIG tree. Gone are the photos of my kids climbing over the trees. Gone are the pictures of Collin picking the tree ALLLLL the way in the very back of the pile and of course gone are the pictures of the kids checking the branches for freshness. Gone are the pictures of Kevin putting the tree on the car. Gone are all of the pictures of this yearly tradition. Some suggested we recreate them so I can photograph it all again, but truthfully in this crazy gymnastics, soccer, all-star soccer, basketball and triathlete family there just isn't time. This is the year we'll have to enjoy the photos of the final result - our great big, huge tree fully decorated with tons of presents underneath it.

I've come to accept it (though it's taken two days). 

So, onward and upward I say! There are still plenty more Christmas traditions to photograph and memories to make - after all there are only 17 days 'til Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

December Daily - Day 5

 
Monarchs Gymnastics - Level 4 Team - 2009 Season

This group spends over 12 hours a week in a gym together. We had a party to celebrate their first season of competition. They have a very special bond since they experienced this first  with each other.