Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

Day 25 of my 365 Photo Journal Just having some fun with windows and curtains with my girls. :) Clemi kind of doesn't look like herself here, but I still love her in her jammies and wild, messy hair. 

Day 24 of my 365 Photo Journal It's 42 degrees, pouring rain, and COVID is at an all time high...and it's also Trick or Treat night!! We've had some rough weather years trick-or-treating here in Ohio, but this one takes the cake. Still, we've been planning costumes for months and the kids are absolutely buzzing with excitement. This year, we have a bunch of grapes, a spooky vampire, the witch from Room on the Broom, and a ladybug. I have a fun photoshoot planned for each of them and we have some warm days coming up next week where I'm hoping to get them done!  This photo was shot with my iPhone in the garage. Not the most amazing quality, but it's what we managed to get on this rainy, everyone is ready to get going, evening!

Day 23 of my 365 Photo Journal We've had lots of attitude with this one over the last few months. She's hard to please and whines a lot. One of the things that makes her happy is sitting with Daddy (even though he's working) and watching the Wiggles on his phone. It doesn't matter that I already have the Wiggles on in the den, she HAS to be on Daddy's lap, watching his little screen. We love her to pieces and have so many happy moments with her and honestly, we'll probably look back on these work-time snuggles with Ben as good moments in our lives...even though they can feel exasperating while we're living them.  Part 2 down here - I just feel like it's really special to capture all four of the kids spending their time in the same space...especially when it's natural, since it's often not!  Also, I really wish I could be one of those moms who keeps a spotless house, but I AM NOT. This is something that I don't love about the photographs I tak...

Day 22 of my 365 Photo Journal She was so focused on this broken yo-yo in the main picture and I loved her look of concentration. But I couldn't not post her cleaning up the deck (bottom photo) and being such a big helper (hahaha). Honestly though, the star of the show there is those adorable little toes. And the tutu. :) Feeling pretty blah today and the weather seems to agree. It's cold and wet here and ALL of the kids are home, so we just stayed inside. Ollie and I did take a short trip onto the deck because she was going crazy while Ben was on a Zoom meeting. I took the opportunity to take a few photos of her while she was wandering around playing with leaves and puddles.  I don't mind the blah days so much, I just don't know how to take inspired photographs when we're just sitting in our own mess all day. Something to think about, because a lot of days are spent here, sitting in our own mess. 

Day 21 of my 365 Photo Journal I've been uploading three days at a time lately, which I'm not a huge fan of. It feels more rushed this way and my original intention was to carve out a little bit of time every evening to sit down, work on some editing, and get my post up. I guess that's just life sometimes and I've been very busy with transcribing, so there's not much I can do about it until work slows down. Also, even though I took a decent photo with my camera today...on ANOTHER walk around the block, I'm posting this iPhone photo that I took while me and Ollie were snuggling post-nap. It's special to me, because I just don't have that many recent photos like this. (We had family photos done yesterday by the awesome Brittany T. and I got to have the benefit of leftover makeup and hair today. I mean, it's not day-1, but it's not terrible!)

Day 20!!! of my 365 Photo Journal My camera battery died last night, so this was an iPhone photo. More walks around the block, this time with our friend Puppy. In our short half hour outside, we visited with 3 different neighbors and got to pet an actual puppy! 

Day 19 of my 365 Photo Journal (note the name change) I've decided to change the name of this little project of mine. I think that the pressure of needing to capture/feel/post joy every day has me feeling a little stressed out. I FEEL JOY daily, just not constantly. I have been blessed with more than I ever dreamed of and enjoy my life here on Earth immensely. However, I don't always capture the joyous moments. Sometimes I get the dull, the introspective, the...whatever...moments. Sometimes I'm not feeling joy when I take the photos either. Like when I took these!  It was pumpkin carving day; a day the kids look forward to for all of October...especially once we buy our pumpkins. I'm honestly kind of over it some years. The ages the kids are in make it hard for me to enjoy that time. It's a lot of anxiety about Jonas and Clem cutting themselves, lots of helping with designs and cuts and scooping out guts, lots and lots and lots of set up and clean up. And by evening...

Day 18 of the Joy Project Not much going on today. Just some wanderings around the block with Piggy. 

  Day 17 of the Joy Project We went to a natural play area with friends today and it was really dirty, but fun. The kids enjoyed it...mostly. :) Ollie kind of clung to me and Jonas ended up getting in trouble, but all in all, it was a good time getting out and enjoying the time we've been given to be together. Also, Ruby found a bunch of these enormous leaves and she was just like...whoa. Her mind was blown! haha I just love her independent and adventurous spirit! Also, this photo below just melted my heart. It came together perfectly and made me so so happy. 

Day 16 of the Joy Project My sweet Clementine. Sometimes I feel like I'm failing her the most of all my littles. She's so sensitive and loving and needs so much interaction and I just...can't. But I do give her as much of me as I can and I try to be careful with her delicate, joyful, adorable heart. My sweet, sweet Clementine.

Day 15 of the Joy Project Some days are mismatched jammies, acting crazy, climbing on furniture kinds of days...and that's okay with me. 

Day 14 of the Joy Project We had to cancel our playdate that was scheduled for this morning because of the weather, but since Ollie does so much better when she's outside, I decided to sit in the garage with her and let her explore in there for a while. She had a blast, got dirty, washed some pumpkins in the rain, and when she ventured out of the garage into the driveway she told me that she got "bonk"ed by the raindrops on her head. :) I learned that there are even more things about my camera that I didn't know 😅, so I guess that was a plus too. 

  Day 13 of the Joy Project This was a totally fabricated moment of sibling bonding. "Just hold hands! You don't have to like it!" Other than forcing them to pretend to want to touch each other, it was a nice little family walk in the rain.

  Day 12 of the Joy Project I took this photo with my iPhone and it was so much better than the ones I took with my Canon today. Jonas is doing a "virtual campout" with his cub scouts pack, so he's been doing camping-type things all day and is sleeping in a tent out in the yard tonight. We were tucking him in and I wanted to get one more picture before he went to sleep. 

Day 11 of Joy Project I took portrait photos of the kids today to hang on the wall. I feel like I can't possibly live up to last year's - not in their expressions and the way their personalities are so perfectly captured, and not in quality, since Brit took those ones and I'm taking these ones. But COVID has made indoor portraits kind of difficult to outsource so I took a crack at it! The main photo at the top is one that I just took at the last second, because the girls were being so cute. The four at the bottom are my runner up photos. They won't be on our walls or anywhere else, but I love them all SO MUCH. Jonas's smile, Clemi's sweet expression (she was modeling, of course), Ruby's tender side, and Ollie snuggling with the new stuffed pig we bought her during our overnight trip. They're all so good.                                       

  Day 10 of Joy Project "What should I do?" "Nothing. Just act natural." "I can't act natural! This is not natural!" "What? Laying in bed with your wife isn't natural?" "Having pictures taken of me in bed with my wife isn't natural." 😅 A night away at the Hilton in Easton with Ben. It was magical in so many ways. Kid free for almost 24-hours, which meant no juice refills, no diaper changes, no whining or requests at all. Just me, Ben, this big old fancy room, and a ton of snacks. So yeah, a little weird that I wanted to take a picture of us in bed, but this is where we were for a lot of that getaway and I felt like it was important to document it! I'm so thankful my parents were here and able to take care of my little loves for us. It's such a blessing to have parents who love me and my kids.

Day 9 of Joy Project Poppop and Jonas got some time to hang out today. This is their cool down after kicking the soccer ball back and forth for a while.  The girls opted to go to school, but Jonas begged to stay home so he could get some extra visiting in. We honestly thought that he was using it as an excuse to play Zelda some more (which he did to an extent), but he has had a lot of quality time with his Poppop. 

Day 8 of Joy Project We went to Freeman's Farm today to pick up some pumpkins. The location was perfect since it was just a few miles from the campground dad and MJ are staying at while they're here visiting and it was really such a cute place! I honestly wanted to post a dozen or more pictures on this photo journal, but I'm trying to stick to one a day. I have to keep reassuring myself that this is the right decision 😅, telling myself that we'll have physical pictures in the albums and an Instagram post with all the pictures! I also feel like there's an art to choosing the right image to share, rather than sharing ALL of them because you can't decide. I never know what photo to choose and I ALWAYS want to just post all of them, so this is something I'm definitely still working on! But I thought this was a really special picture of my dad with his youngest grandchild and am glad I captured this moment.

  Day 7 of Joy Project Peek-a-boo! This is a favorite spot for Ollie right now and I love the light that comes in from this window. 

Day 6 of Joy Project My little "helper" while cleaning out the car today. She climbed in by herself and refused to come out. Olive loves to be in the driver's seat...literally and temperamentally speaking!  I couldn't help but have a little pang of anxiety as I got the sensation of life flying past me WAY too fast. I know she's just a little one today, but with Jonas being almost 9, I know that time flies. They get big before you even know what hits you. Taking a moment to be thankful that God has given me the privilege of raising these kids and that Ben and I have done something right (who knows what??), considering they're SO very independent.

Day 5 of Joy Project Today we went to a playground with some friends. Things got a little crowded, so we headed over to this cool climbing area. When we came over here, Ruby wouldn't even attempt to climb up this rock WITH my help. By the time we left, she was climbing up and down on her own! She's such a big girl with SUCH an independent spirit.   

  Day 4 of Joy Project Babies don't keep. At least none of mine have. Olive is pretty generous with her snuggles, even though she's already 19 months old now and not really a baby anymore. I miss her sleeping in my arms and being the source of all of her contentment, but I also love to watch her grow, learn, and gain independence. Still, I'll savor the moments when she's relaxing into my body and taking a few breaths before she runs off to her next adventure. 

  Day 3 of the Joy Project Today we made cloud dough together. It was a simple recipe: 2 cups cornstarch, 1 cup lotion, food dye. Not as simple in execution though. Like most kids projects, you think it'll work out great and then you're cleaning forever after. I could have shot the mess on the floor or the extremely cranky baby who made things so much harder than they should have been, but captured the aftermath instead - the enjoying phase.  I'm so thankful for the part time school schedule we're on. I love having them home and having slower paced days during the week. I love sleeping in and not getting dressed and watching the kids get out every single toy in the house to keep them occupied during the long days at home. 

  Day 2 of Joy Project Fun on the deck with my wild haired, sassy spirited little princess #3. Man, I love the cool weather and autumn breezes. I never want this season to end. 

  Day 1 of "my" Joy Project - 365 days of photographing my family (preferably with my Canon and not the iPhone). The idea is to document the beauty of these days of having young, wild children and to improve my photography and editing skills simultaneously. I put the "my" in quotation marks because I borrowed the idea from a photographer that I follow on social media, Ginger Unzueta.  To give some background, we have been home together since March 13, 2020 (Coronavirus times). Ben is still working from home and the kids have been going to school half-time, giving me much more time with baby Ollie than she and I have gotten to experience in the past.