Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

It is the last day of 2021. Man, the years just fly by now. I used to feel like they went so slowly, but now it's like I blink and another year is gone. The kids are one year older. I'm one year older, and frumpier, and grumpier. The world is somehow even worse than it was the year before. It's just crazy. I get these moments of like, I need to find the joy in this beautiful, wonderful, blessing-filled, every-day life that I get to live, and then I get stuck in the grind and forget about the joyful parts of it all. If I have even one resolution for the new year, it's only that I take time to appreciate this life more fully and be more intentionally joyful.  Today was another good day. I was a little bored (now that I'm finished with my puzzle 😕), but it was still nice and calm. According to the CDC, we could be done with our quarantine now, but we're going to hold off on going out for a couple more days anyway. It's so nice to slow down and do nothing! Jona...

The week is getting close to being over and I'm already feeling sadness for things going back to normal next week. Yes, there are definitely things I'm looking forward to, especially seeing friends again, but I'm so sad that me and Ollie will be alone here again, that we'll all have to wake up early and rush around to get our days started, and that Ben will be working all day again. It has been so nice to just be here together that it's almost enough to make me consider home schooling 😏...but not quite.  I have a photography aspiration that I'm not sure whether or not to go for. I feel like I'd really enjoy it and possibly be good at it, but I just have such a fear of putting myself out there. I'd really like to do child/infant milestone photography. You know, the newborn stuff, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, smash cake, all that fun stuff! As much as I know that family photography is where many people make money, I don't think I'm really interes...

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Another very slow, very relaxing day (for me, anyway) in the Boettcher house. Ben got his official COVID test results back today, which were positive. Duh. But for some reason, he was still surprised...even after getting a positive at-home test. I have to admire his optimism sometimes!  The kids and I went on a short walk to return a mis-delivered package today. It was just the next court over, but getting out of the house was good for us. We were probably only out for 15 minutes and we were all super nervous to run across anyone else, but the way was clear, we delivered the package to the correct address, we let off some steam, and we got a teensy bit of exercise. Everyone said how much they enjoyed it, which is honestly kind of sad if I think about it. But the weather has been crap the last week. Too wet and rainy for us to go out back and I haven't wanted to risk us being out front and being put in an awkward situation with neighbors. Hopefully we can go out for a few more walks...

This COVID time goes sloooowwwww. We've just been waking up, hanging out around the house all day, and then going to sleep. There's nothing to break up our time at all. Luckily, the girls have been playing really, really well together (one pro of having a bunch of kids!) and I've been finding things to keep myself busy: organizing, cleaning a little, reading my book, working on my puzzle, taking pictures, and working on my photo albums. Pretty fun! And I feel like I have all the time in the world, since we're stuck here. 😅 Other than the feeling sick part of it, this has been really relaxing so far. Unfortunately, Ben has been feeling terrible. He has had a fever, tons of congestion, and is feeling really tired and achy, so he's been getting to bed early every night and napping when he can during the day.  I set up my new light kit today! I took some pictures of the kids with the new soft box and the new 50mm lens. Yay!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CLEMENTINE!!! My little girl is 8 today! Clemi is so sweet, thoughtful, and helpful. She's a 'teensy bit' dramatic and can drive me nuts with her theatrics, but she also SO impresses me with her compassion and openness to love. I'm so thankful that I got to spend a fun day celebrating her birthday last week, because today was...underwhelming. Mostly because we found out we have COVID and can't go anywhere. 😞 Thankfully, we were able to get a pickup order for cake and spaghetti stuff so she could have the dinner she requested!  I also did not do Clemi's photo shoot and took way too few pictures today. Everything is all messed up! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! It was a beautiful day and the kids were so much more chill than they were last year. It was actually pretty relaxing and fun, rather than the stress-fest that Christmas usually is. Present opening and breakfast all went really well. The only downside was that people were feeling a little off. Clemi was still awake at 1am and kept coming in to talk to me about it, so I didn't get to sleep until then either! Ollie seemed feverish at one point and had a hard time sleeping last night too.  Dennis and Hazel came over around 3:30 and spent a few hours with us visiting, opening gifts, and eating dinner. It was a good visit!  I got some fun photography things!!! Ben got me a 50mm lens 🥳, a lighting and backdrop kit 🥳, AND a sweet lens ball 🥳! I tried out the new lens a bit. I really will need to get some tips from Brit on how to use it best, but I love it so far! My biggest issue is with the focus. I switched to manual focus (which is a problem regardless of th...

It's finally Christmas Eve!!!! Merry Christmas Eve! We really just stayed home prepping today, but here are some pictures from yesterday (and the day before)...since I guess I'm just posting things a day or two behind now.  I took the kids to the library and got a really cute picture of ollie on the bus. The picture of Ruby is not so great, but I felt bad leaving it out so here it is! (Ruby is SUCH a beautiful girl. Stunning! But she is so awkward when I take pictures of her and is not photogenic!) haha Also, Ben and I got to go on a nice date to Fado. There was hardly anyone there (but the people who were there had NO MASKS!!!) and the food was incredibly good. We also stopped at Target for a few things and it was PACKED. It made us both really uncomfortable, so we tried to get out of there as quickly as possible. 

I'm writing this post really late, so I'm going to just add some of the pictures from yesterday that I couldn't fit in yesterday's post.  Jonas took these pictures and I just love them. The lighting is beautiful and he caught some fun, natural looks. Well, I took the one of Murph, but he took the rest. 

I don't usually get TOO many good pictures to post them all in one day, but today I did! An open curtain and some opportune moments, along with 28-week pregnancy photos of Brit, created some beautiful pictures. I've still been feeling kind of bummed and overwhelmed with the season and how much I'm failing... 😐 but Brit is one of those friends that always makes me feel a little better about myself, somehow, just by being her wonderful self. I'm super thankful that she was able to come over this morning and that I'm getting the opportunity to capture these pictures of her growing her sweet baby Luca. 💗 Day 3 of Christmas break was another semi-frustrating one. We did run out to the library for 15 minutes, which everyone enjoyed, but I just have to say that it took Ruby 45 FREAKING MINUTES to get dressed and go pee so............ 😡😡😡.............it was a bit of a rough start. Also, I just keep looking around the house like, I'm supposed to be hosting people in...