More shots

 Jan. 20. Kyle, James, Samuel at Crystal Hot Springs. The setting sun and steam rising from pools created magical silhouettes.

Jan. 21. Emma waits in the driver license division. Yee-haw!

 Jan. 22. James salutes at Pack Meeting.

Jan. 23. Samuel.

Jan. 24. NO PARKING. Unless you're a space shuttle. Carry on.

Jan. 25. James' shot.

 Jan. 26. Jeff greets me with dinner ready to serve. Sundays are NOT a day of rest for me, but Jeff does so much to help them go more smoothly. By the time I had made it home from church dinner was on!

 Jan. 27. Plant along sidewalk.

Astro Camp

Elise at Astro Camp. Friday, Jan. 24.

Elise's 6th grade class got to launch the space shuttle! As commander of the mission, Elise's pink flight suit came out of the laundry basket and her only head protection was a green scrunchie. She never left the cockpit and the cockpit never left Earth. The launch was imaginary of course, but the nerves, concentration and ultimate triumph were the real deal.

Odyssey Elementary, with that cool shuttle sticking out the front, is the setting for Astro Camp. Armed with headsets, monitors and control consoles, the students take on specific roles to get the shuttle ready to launch. (Think of the movie "Apollo 13.") They voice commands, analyze data, press buttons. Students follow page after page of procedure code, with unscripted Houston-sized problems thrown in to test their mettle. 

I like how director Ed Douglas emphasized the teamwork aspect of the exercise. All roles on Friday were different. Some had more speaking parts, others more buttons to navigate. One student had to pick the best landing site based on real-time weather data from Cape Canaveral, Edwards Air Force Base and White Sands, New Mexico. Other students, while they may have not had a defined duty on Friday, helped run classroom rehearsals. Individuals contribute, but success is measured as a group.

I loved this field trip! It was so fun to see Elise shine. She had been nervous, but the entire class did fabulous. Best of all, they felt good about themselves. That is always a joy to see.

The class was so well-behaved that I don't really think they needed me or the other parents to be there. I even felt a bit guilty. You see, I was jettisoned from the school that morning after an aide saw me struggling to get Samuel down the sidewalk. The last few days, his resistance to school has been painfully, NOISILY, VISIBLY intense. The aide was outside at the front crosswalk. She radioed the counselor to come out and help me. Together the counselor and I dragged Samuel into the building. "I'll take it from here, Mom," the counselor said, urging me outside. I was supposed to meet in Elise's room for field trip instruction, with the bus set to leave right after first bell. I dared not even go down the hall, should Samuel see me, but I also didn't want to leave him in crisis mode. I was in a tough spot -- if I went on the school bus and Samuel's difficulties escalated, I couldn't come back for him. So I had to have faith the school staff would handle it. (They did.) I must say, once I made my decision to go, that boisterous bus ride was unexpectedly soothing. Besides, I had been asked to attend a PTA meeting that morning. Volunteering on a field trip instead was about the best airtight alibi excuse I'd ever conjured! :)

The back of the shuttle

The commander console. Elise is actually in the nose of the shuttle replica.

Elise looks at countdown clock on opposite wall after launch sequence is complete. (Monitor shows boosters lighting up.) The group had 45 minutes to run procedure. They finished with 12:21 left.

A newspaper photographer captures the scene.

Director Ed Douglas points to the Apollo 13 crew.

Another week

Samuel appears in many shots this week, which is appropriate because he consumes most of my energy (that, and he's more willing to be photographed than Kyle, the other energy zapper.)

 Jan. 12. New snow.

Jan. 13. I was invited to a baby shower that began early Monday evening. So of course I didn't start this crochet project until Monday afternoon. I held the yarn on my lap and crocheted between songs at the school program rehearsal. Why do I do this to myself? But I finished!

Jan. 14. Full-body glissando. It sometimes seems like I'm on a downward slide with this boy, not knowing how to best help him. It was a rough week getting Samuel to go to school. On this day it took the entire morning of coaxing; he made it after lunch.

Jan. 15. Ah, but look how cute he is at school the next morning (a better one!), taking his chair into the gym for the fifth grade program. I played the piano for it.

Jan. 16. May the force be with your homework. 

Jan. 17. Moon at dawn.

Jan. 18. Elise leaps onto boulders. The four youngest and I enjoyed a glorious sunny, warm day at the park. It was rejuvenating.

Jan. 19. James gets into new game of Headbandz. ("I am a bathtub.") After the first round, the kids learned the futility of playing the game in a room with a mirror. 

Snowballs

One of our kicks knocked over the hat.

One unsuspected benefit of my trying to do more photography is that I'm playing with my children more. On that Friday afternoon I was still buried in laundry in the basement. When someone came downstairs searching for a good snowman hat, that made me emerge from my blanketed, toweled, socked cocoon -- you, know, so I could capture my daily shot. Then, because I was outside Samuel invited me to play soccer with him. My mood soared with that soccer ball. I couldn't believe how much I needed to play.

Oh, this is rich

The class in which that paper was due ended at 11:06.

Snapshots

This photo-a-day project is proving harder than I thought. One, I live a pretty dull life. I don't make it out much. Two, I'm by myself most of the day; no one else here doing anything to photograph. Or if I am with my children, they balk at being photographed. Three, when I do go somewhere, it's because I'm DOING something that requires my full attention, like volunteering in the school or doing story time at the library. I haven't had time or the inclination to go on walks or drives just to take pictures. 

Aargh! I hate throwing ideas out there just to give up, so here's a look at my week anyway.

 Jan. 4. Samuel and Elise play board games.

 Jan. 5. Jeff steals the cookie dough. These are his "Downton Abbey" premiere snacks.

 Jan. 6. Poinsettia.

 Jan. 7. Fifth grade program rehearsal. (That's a student donning his Colonial wig.)

 Jan. 8. Kyle's passenger.

Jan. 9. The one posed shot in the bunch. Elise's teacher required a note saying she studied with someone. Emma wrote, "Elise is a weirdo, but she studied for the test."

 Jan. 10. Samuel plays soccer in the back yard.

Jan. 11. Kyle turns 18 and blows out the candles one by one.

One last look

Samuel, Jan. 3.

Bye bye, Christmas books. See you next December.

Crossings

Sunset from front porch. Jan. 2.

You may have noticed my lack of timely, illustrated posts lately. Our camera died -- boo hoo! -- right after I took pictures at the girls' ballet rehearsal in June. I can't even retrieve those shots. Sniff. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed taking pictures and using photography to accompany my thoughts here, until I no longer could. (My cell phone is one step up from a Cracker Jack prize ... ok, maybe two steps ... but sorely lacking in the photo department.)

Jeff surprised me with a camera for my birthday way back in November. It's taken me this long to accept that I deserve such a big gift, but even now I'm not so sure.

I want to make the most of it, however. Is it too hokey to launch a photo-a-day project for 2014? As always, my January 2nd timing is impeccable. Oh, well. You get what you get.

Here's a little about today's shot. I could tell, from deep inside my kitchen this afternoon, that the sky was a quickly cooling pan of coals. I never tire of the winter sunsets here. They remind me of taking a stick to a doused fire and the surprising discovery of red-hot embers in the ash. I wanted to watch this one in person.

From my kitchen I couldn't see the diverging airplane trails, but I like them. A lot.

I think it will be fun to look back at a year's worth of daily snaps (mixed with other posts).  Sometimes the single photo will be of my family, sometimes my home, sometimes what I find quirky or beautiful that day-- but always, I guess, a little bit of me.

Yikes.

Cookies for Santa

Elise, 12; James, 9; Samuel, 6. Christmas Eve 2013.

This is how Emma helps the others make sugar cookies for Santa:

1 part creativity

1 part relaxing evening

3 parts willing participants

And to think no one is ever game when Mom has an idea!

Seriously, this little show of sibling collaboration made my Christmas.

SANTA!
SANTA!
SANTA!

Checklist
• We've been SO good this year!
• We do our homework
• We're nice to each other (most of the time)
• We brush our teeth!
• Sometimes we even floss!
• We love each other!
• We're good to our parents
• We go to school (not forced)
• Sometimes we let other people watch T.V.!
• We Brush our teeth! (sometimes)
• Christmas is our Favorite!