Project 365: Day 31 (January 31)

Home. A gorgeous winter day in Ohio.

Bonus pictures:

Project 365: Day 30 (January 30)

Panera on the Strip. I was able to enjoy a very rare night out without the boys. I met up with some of the ladies from our small group for a little Panera goodness and girl talk.

Project 365: Day 29 (January 29)

RiverTree Christian Church. We usually go to church on Saturday nights, where Niels often runs lights and I serve in the nursery every other month. Tonight there was a little hiccup with the lighting board so they called in the expert to fix it.

P.S. Happy 42 Month-aversary--aka 3.5 years!--to us!

Project 365: Day 28 (January 28)

Home. Niels and I were far too excited to go to bed an a decent hour last night, due to visions of a dream house dancing in our heads. Which meant that D and I had a quiet PJ day at home today. He spent a good amount of time today entertaining himself with the light switch.

Project 365: Day 27 (January 27)

Home. Big night! After 3 1/2 years of stalking our builders, we were finally able to sit down with them and our mostly-finalized floor plan (which they named "The Daniel" *swoon*) to discuss costs and a start date. Hopefully, we'll break ground by May.

Project 365: Day 26 (January 26)

Belden Village Mall food court. Big day! Daniel and I ventured out to my nightmare place: the mall! But Ava's 5th birthday party was worth it. (Shes the sweet girl in pink standing up and drinking her milk). Daniel was the only boy, and clearly, too young to appreciate the ratio. He did really well, despite it being nap time, but he was too tired to join the girls for build-a-bear.

Bonus pictures of the big party:

Daniel's been working on his smile for the camera.

The birthday girl served cute bear cupcakes.

Daniel like the frosting the best.

I love how "oops" pictures look better in sephia.

Project 365: Day 25 (January 25)

Home. When you start off the year with more bad brain days than good, it's not a great way to start off your fitness goals. D spent a little more time playing in his crib as I finished Julia Child's "My Life in Paris." We both felt better after our three hour naps.

Project 365: Day 24 (January 24)

Home. One of our favorite things to do is call Gramma Chi on Skype. Today they shared a snack of "hagelslag," (Dutch chocolate sprinkles). Oma and Opa brought Grampa Chi a box when they visited in November.

Project 365: Day 23 (January 23):

Home. Watching the Packers and Bears battle it out for the NFC Championship, and Daddy and Daniel battle it out for the sippy.

Project 365: Day 22 (January 22)

Home. Bailey dog. As a nine-year-old Shih Tzu, she has no problem staying inside all day, Perfect for a bad brain day. And we're both due for a hair cut.

Project 365: Day 21 (January 21)

Home. Seven years ago, I was taking a break from work, slipped on some ice and hit my head on curb similar to this step. So now, every January 21, I stay home and surround myself with soft things.

Project 365: Day 20 (January 20)

Green Public Library. Finally feeling well enough to venture out a bit, so D and I headed to the local library, a happy place for both D and me!

Project 365: Day 19 (January 19)

Home. Another quiet day at home as my brain continues to recover from our long day on Monday. I can usually tolerate most headaches, but the spinny/dizzy/nausea is harder. I took this picture through the old mirror set against the wall because it gives a peek at how fractured my vision feels today. Also, you can can see the utter mess my sweet boy made. At least he was happy and quiet.

Project 365: Day 18 (January 18)

Canton, Ohio. Didn't do much today as my head is still spinning and throbbing from the long day yesterday. However, D and I did drive down to the SSA office to give our bank info. It was just far enough that our car did this.

Project 365: Day 17 (January 17)

Reading, PA. This was a very long day, as we drove 6 hours away to pick up our new car, another Black Ford Fusion. I tried to be creative to show our happiness about finally having two cars again. Sorry, Niels, you should have let me take a few more pictures!

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mom!

Project 365: Day 16 (January 16)

Giant Eagle in Green, Ohio. Once my birthday is done, the holiday season is officially over. Today we got back to our regular routine, which today, includes a trip to our local grocery store. Daniel is obsessed with the big boy carts so he was quite happy to see this one.

Project 365: Day 15 (January 15)

Day 15 (January 15): My 39th birthday! I had a fabulous day, spending time with my boys during the day, and celebrating with my small group (Bible study) at night. Growing up in Minnesota, many, MANY birthday parties were cancelled due to weather. This is many the 5th time I celebrate on my actual birthday.

Project 365: Day 14 (January 14)

Home. Nearly seven years after my brain injury, and three years, two months, one week, and six days after I applied, I finally received this letter from SSA. I am happy, grateful, relieved and a bit sad. I'd rather have my health, but this helps.

Project 365: Day 13 (January 13)

Dr. Cortesi's Office in Green, OH. Joe Cool gets prepped for his first visit with the dentist. He giggled all through the cleaning with "the tickler," then cried when the dentist counted his teeth. And yes, he'll need braces and his frenulum lasered. Better start saving...

Project 365: Day 12 (January 12)

Home. Mommy's little sous-chef has very definite ideas about what we should cook. No matter how many time I tell him that the pantry is "Mommy's toybox," he can't keep himself away.

Project 365: Day 11 (January 11)

Home. Daniel watches the snow come down. He's very attached to his sippy and always drinks his milk this way.

Project 365: Day 10 (January 10)

Home. Our first day home all day without Daddy. Daniel is all about trains. Here's his set on a rare break from play.

Project 365: Day 9 (January 9):

Home. Normal life starts back up again tomorrow, so today was a PJ day for all three de Jongs. Here, Daniel wears his rocket jammies, eats breakfast out of his new rocket bowl, and watched the airplane video with Daddy.

Project 365: Day 8 (January 8)

Home. After two years and many, many trips, Daniel's diaper bag smelled like something died in it. So, we shelled our $3.75 for a new one. Daniel was very excited because we put the blue Eiffel Tower keychain from Auntie Ashley on it.

Project 365: Day 7 (January 7)

Home. We are a sad, sick, jet lagged family.

Project 365: Day 6 (January 6)

Home. Let the unpacking begin. This picture makes me look organized. Don't be fooled, it was jet-lagged chaos for a few days!

Project 365: Day 5 (January 5)

Helmond, NL to Brussels, BE to Washington, DC to Cleveland, OH to Green, OH. It was a very long, thankfully uneventful trip home.

Project 365: Day 4 (January 4)

Helmond, NL. Packing up the goodies for the long trip home. I bought lots of Dutch baking supplies for my pantry.

Project 365: Day 3 (January 3)

Paris, France. Niels took me back to the spot where he first proposed 45 months ago.

Project 365: Day 2 (January 2)

The Louvre in Paris, France. Daniel finally takes his first nap in a stroller. Apparently the art didn't impress him as much as it did us.

Project 365: Day 1 (January 1)

Helmond, NL. Daniel "helps" in Oma's kitchen. I spent most of the day in bed nursing a doozy of a headache.

Project 365

In a few weeks, it will be seven years since I sustained my brain injury. Since that time, I have almost always had a camera with me--either my regular camera or the slightly-more-subtle phone camera. One of the tricks I learned in therapy was to take pictures of things as a way of making up for my shoddy memory. I've had many, many strange looks over the years as I've taken pictures of items at the store, signs to help me remember where I parked, and other random things. Once Daniel came along, it seemed more acceptable for me to take random shots, so I felt free to take more pictures.

Over on Facebook, I noticed several of my friends mention something called Project 365. In a nutshell, Project 365 is a photo challenge where participants take (and post) a picture a day for a full year. The idea is not so much to take posed pictures, but to instead capture random, candid shots that give a view into one's everyday life. Needless to say, I love this idea because it makes my clicking habit seem more normal.

I've started posting my pictures on Facebook, but for those of you not there, and hopefully, as a way to get me blogging again, I'll repost my pictures here.

Oh, and Happy 2011!