Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

Day 146 of my 365 Photo Journal We were planning on being really productive today, but Ben got very little sleep last night and I was having a lot of pain in one of my eyes, so we didn't really do any of the things we had hoped to get done. We still had a couple of really delicious meals and managed to get the house clean and laundry done though, so I'm not too mad about it. It's kind of annoying having the hallway undone though. We are keeping all of the coats and shoes in the back bedroom right now and there's furniture blocking that doorway (maybe not the best placement for that??), so it's pretty frustrating when we're trying to get ourselves into or out of the house. Also, moving all that crap into the back bedroom has been frustrating when we were SO close to getting it finished! It's all good though. We should have it done within the week. It was another warm day, so we headed outside for a long time this afternoon and played with the kids. I love liv...

Day 145 of my 365 Photo Journal Today was a nice day. Ben made a big breakfast this morning and then went shopping with Clemi at Target while I relaxed with my tea and watched the other children destroy everything. When they came back, they had new bikes for Clemi and Ruby and new helmets for everyone (pre-agreed upon purchases)! That brought a lot of excitement to the day for the kids. It also helped that the weather was PERFECT. 50-something degrees and mostly sunny. It was magical. We've also been working on renovating the back hallway, so we got that all cleaned up and prepped yesterday, then painted today. It looks like a totally different space! I'm excited to how it turns out! It's just been way too cluttered over there since we moved in. And although I don't think we'll be able to entirely eliminate the clutter, being that this door is how we enter and exit our home and all of us and our shoes and coats all go over there, but we're hoping to streamline a...

Day 144 of my 365 Photo Journal We went to the zoo today! We expected it to be fun, and it was eventually, but it started out really rough. First, the weather was nothing like what it was predicted to be. Rather than 50 and sunny, it was 40 and cloudy. This might have helped with the crowds, but really amped up the whining. Second, we realized that we forgot Ollie's coat as soon as we parked at the zoo 🤦. We had to turn around, go home, get the coat, and come back again. After an hour in the car, we finally get back to the zoo, park, go in and get to the first exhibit, and Ruby suddenly has to pee so badly that she thinks she's going to go in her pants. Of course, we no longer carry a change of clothes for her, so Ben runs her to the restroom as fast as he can. By the time he gets back, he's hungry and grumpy, Ruby has been continuously hungry and grumpy since we got her from school, and everyone is on edge. Also, Ollie is in a very independent stage with walking and refus...

Day 143 of my 365 Photo Journal I was just itching for something different today. I felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin with the same old watching the kids destroy everything around them kind of day ahead of me. I'm very thankful for Brit, who heard my complaint and came to visit me! It was a nice break from the norm for me. And I actually ventured out to Bible study tonight, rather than Zooming in like I have done for a couple of months. I'm usually pretty content to just be here with the fam, but I really needed some company today.  I decided a while ago that I would try to recreate this picture in the same spot every month to show the changing of the seasons and whatnot. For some reason, it was much harder than I expected. I tried really hard, but there are still some annoying differences. The snow is almost all melted now, so I don't want to try again today. I really wanted some snow around in this one, since January's photo was just cold and dry. Ben thin...

Day 142 of my 365 Photo Journal Why do I keep taking work? Every time I do, I struggle to fit anything else in. I kind of just popped upstairs while the girls were playing/reading and took a few pictures today. Not super impressive, but thankfully I have the most beautiful subjects in the world.  As far as the photo below, anyone else remember their room looking like this? Growing up, my room was in a constant state of disorder. Clothes thrown everywhere, not a clean surface to be found. It shouldn't surprise me that it looks like that in my girls room, but it does and it bothers me so much!

Day 141 of my 365 Photo Journal Everyone woke up too early today. Total CRAP. But umm...other than that, I tried my hand at doing a flat lay photo. I need help. 😅 I think more color balance? Maybe? I really don't know. I just can't bring myself to take pictures of my dinner with fancy silverware and whatnot, because it's so fake it makes me sick. I can't take a picture of my morning tea with an open book, a candle, and flower petals, because it's ridiculous. I'm a mom. I don't do that kind of stuff. Even this flat lay took more time than I really wanted to spend to set it up. So...still thinking, but I'm going to keep trying!

Day 140 of my 365 Photo Journal It was supposed to be raining all day, but barely rained at all. :( The upside is that I got to take Ollie out for a walk today and Ben joined us for part of it! I don't love love going outside, but I've missed it since it  became the frozen wasteland of death that it was for probably over a month. It snowed once, and then again, and again, and iced, and snowed again. It has built up for so long that I almost forget what the ground looks like. 😆  Here's a photo of Ollie looking creepy in the garage, post puddle jump. She jumped in every single puddle she could on our walk today. That used to be something that drove me nuts as a parent, but I honestly don't care anymore. Be a kid while you can, kid! Also, I'm starving. And dramatic. 

Day 139 of my 365 Photo Journal I was inspired to do a magical clean up shoot this morning and I think these photos turned out SO freaking adorable! I'm really excited about them. I actually edited Clemi's three different ways. The first way sucked, but I can't decide which of the last two I like better.  As far as our Sunday went, it was a pretty good day. VERY boring, but that's not bad necessarily. Ben is still having a hard time and I don't know how to help him with it, so I'm just here to listen and be by his side. I recognize those feelings though...wanting to run, wanting to do something totally different, wanting to splurge. I think it's just our body trying to fix the pain, really, but we know in our heart that it doesn't actually work. It still doesn't make those urges to fix it go away. I'm just so thankful for my husband. Even when he's hurting, he's still a man who serves his family sacrificially, faithfully, and lovingly. 

Day 138 of my 365 Photo Journal It was just a regular day at home. Slow, but good. We played with kids, watched TV, got a couple of little things done around the house, worked out :(, cooked, cleaned, got in the hot tub, and had some drinks. We're all together, we're all safe, and we're all healthy. We'll call this a good day. 💗 

Day 137 of my 365 Photo Journal  This one was too good not to share. Also, I didn't take any pictures today. 😅  It was kind of a rough afternoon in our house. Ben found out that another one of his cousins, Jesse, died of a drug overdose after four months of being clean and sober. Just two days ago he posted on Facebook saying how blessed he was to have his sobriety and his life. Nobody (as far as we know) knows what caused him to relapse, but it was just too much for his body. It's really difficult for us being out here sometimes, especially at times when our families are struggling. But it's more than that. It's also that we just don't know people anymore who understand what we're going through. We don't know people who can empathize or even people who know people who do drugs or, for the most part, who have lost people who are close to them. It can be an isolating and lonely feeling. We have each other to lean on for support, but we crave the support of o...

Day 136 of my 365 Photo Journal       The spa day photo is complete! It really did turn out close to what I was hoping for. My lighting was tough. It was snowy today so the light coming in the window didn't do as much to light the room as I has hoped. I was pretty frustrated, looking back through the pictures I had gotten, but I had 3-4 decent ones to choose from and I loved Ollies little hand holding on one cucumber, while Ben's hand kept trying to put the other one back on. Those slices were surprisingly slippery! The girls all have these pink, berry face masks on, which barely show up in the photo. If I recreate this in the future, I'll have better lighting and a different color mask! And man, I love my sparkles. Maybe it's a phase? haha I don't know...I've been pretty obsessed for as long as I can remember. 

Day 135 of my 365 Photo Journal I am not usually up until 11pm editing photos, but this one was tough for me. I feel like with each picture that I decide to go a little extra on, I learn a new Photoshop skill, which is really a good thing. I did two new things in this picture - 1. I swapped a face. 😬 2. I used an overlay. This was the hardest. I'm sure I could have done it much more efficiently, but instead, I duplicated the same overlay like 20 times and erased 95% of the bubbles from it. But it was good practice and I'm glad I got the chance to do it!  Fingers crossed that tomorrow is the spa day shoot. I'm a little worried about lighting, since I haven't gotten a lighting kit yet, but as long as it's relatively bright mid-morning, I should be getting some good natural light coming in the window of the room I'll be shooting in. 

Day 134 of my 365 Photo Journal Ben and I decided to recommit to eating healthy and exercising...starting today. 😔 It's been rough. Not really, but it is mentally rough. The thing is, I really hate being restricted in what I'm allowing myself to eat or drink. BUT. I really hate being scared that I'll die young because my body is so unhealthy, or that my knees/back/hips will hurt so badly that I can't get on the floor and play, or that I'll miss out on the good stuff because I'm so lazy that I'd rather sit than really live my life to the fullest. I like to try to persuade myself that these things are not real concerns; that I'm being dramatic. But, I'm not. These things really do happen to people who are as overweight as I am. It is just so incredibly difficult for me to overcome my...whatever it is that stops me. I have dieted/changed habits so many times over the last 10 years that I have lost count! Nothing has ever lasted. Granted, I kept getting...

Day 133 of my 365 Photo Journal It's Monday. Again. I'm frustrated that having a transcription job has basically made it feel impossible to do anything else. I may wait a while before taking another one. I haven't done hardly any photography and the house is a total disaster. I did work in the guest room a bit, so maybe not IMPOSSIBLE to do anything else, but it has limited my free time, for sure.  We did something fun today though! We super duper splurged and rented out a movie theater to go watch the Croods! It was a really fun movie and a great time. I wish we had the money to do it more, but this was probably a one time deal. We were all really excited to do something different and to stuff ourselves with popcorn and candy though. Looking forward to the world opening back up sometime in the near future!  I'm not trying to be insensitive with these pictures. I'm really not. But at the same time, man, she asked to go outside and we took her outside. This is how sh...

Day 132 of my 365 Photo Journal  HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!! It was a sweet day with the family. Simple, but sweet. Ben asked all the kids last night to choose something they'd like to do on V-day with our family and then spent today trying to fulfill those things. Jonas wanted to play a video game with dad, so he spent some time doing that. Clemi wanted to go in the hot tub with everyone, so Ben made sure that happened. And Ruby wanted to go outside and play, but it was too cold, so we just ignored that request. 😅 Me? I just sat on the couch, working. But Ben and I ate a nice dinner and had a good evening together.  He proposed to me on Valentine's Day 12 years ago. That night, we had made a super fancy seafood dinner together, set the table really nicely, and got some red wine. I was dressed for once. I've always been a sweats and a t-shirt kind of girl, but that night I was wearing jeans and a sparkly pink blouse that I loved. Then, as soon as dinner started, I knocked...

Day 131 of my 365 Photo Journal It was a fun day! Lots of work in the guest room and lots of transcription work, but also lots of snuggles and a good amount of rest time with Benny. No photography, though, but hopefully I'll get back to it tomorrow! Honestly, I'm a little disappointed, because I've had this idea for a spa type shoot with the girls for a couple of weeks. I'm thinking robes, towels on their heads, face masks on, and cucumbers over the eyes. Today, I'm scrolling on Insta and one of the photographers I follow did a spa photo with her daughter. I mean, it's not like it was the same SAME same. It was bright and colorful and no face mask or anything, but still. Now I'll feel like I'm copying her and that annoys me. I know that lots of people have done this same thing and my idea was not all that unique, but whatever. I felt upset when I saw that picture. I'm STILL going to do my shoot though! Because Ben finally got me a cucumber, so I'...

Day 130 of my 365 Photo Journal So...I'm clearly not doing a Valentine's mini series. 😅 I have not taken any pictures the last two days. I have a really long transcription job, so I've been spending all of my spare time working on that. But it's been really fun, because Ben took off work yesterday AND he's off on Monday! We also started working on the spare room, finally. I'm excited about it. We cleared it out yesterday and painted today. Tomorrow, we'll start moving things back into place and I'll be ordering stuff to finish it off! I think I might even sand and paint the dresser and nightstand and change the handles on it, if I have the motivation. I'm planning on buying a full length mirror, as well, and have lots of fun photoshoots planned for that bad boy. 

Day 129 of my 365 Photo Journal Whew! From Monday, Monday, Monday, and straight on to Friday! At least that's what it felt like. 😉 Ben took off work early today AND it was family pizza and a movie night, which is always so fun. It was a good day! I got all extra and made valentines with the kids today. I pulled out all the pink, white, and red felts, ribbons, yarn, and pom poms, got out the cardstock, glue, and glitter (😱), and we went to work! I've been struggling with just enjoying my kids, so I was really excited to have a couple of hours, doing something stressful, but still having fun. It was good. And man, my kids are so creative and cute.  As far as photography went, Brit texted me with some ideas, after reading about my little slump. I took her advice and photographed Murphy! He's so darn cute. I caught him mid-yawn, then yawn recovery, his get out of here mom paw, and then his shy/I'm over it look. I tried to get some Valentine's stuff together to start m...

Day 128 of my 365 Photo Journal I'm feeling a little uninspired today. I have a TON of photo ideas, but I can't do any of them right now and I'm honestly feeling a little tired of getting picture after picture of Ollie doing whatever she's doing during the day. That being said, I went back through my pictures to choose something else, because I didn't even pick up my camera today. Hoping for some spark of creativity tomorrow. Maybe a short Valentine's series? Idk, since I haven't even gotten my Valentine's decorations out yet and now it feels like what's the point. We'll see!  Clemi is just so sporty and adventurous...two things that I have never been! She wants to climb everything and try anything. I have a few pictures of her climbing a wall (with no rope), but that white sky in the background was killing me, so I went with this one instead. I actually have a few really cute pictures from this day and I need to remember to come back to it!

Day 127 of my 365 Photo Journal  Man, this Tuesday felt just as bad as a Monday! I don't have anything interesting at all to say today. I did get outside, thanks to Ben pushing me to do it. I did not work out, despite Ben pushing me to do it. Plus, I snapped at him for pushing me to do too much so...I'm just a mess.  I did get this cool family portrait through Ben's sunglasses. I was pretty excited about the idea. There were only four of us outside, but still cool! And look how handsome this guy is. I'm a lucky woman. 

Day 126 of my 365 Photo Journal ♭♭ Just another manic Monday ♭ I told myself I WOULD NOT be so lazy today, so I've spent my day doing a bunch of stuff around the house. Nothing big, but moving, cleaning, taking pictures, fun stuff like that. I just super hate Mondays so much. I have a hard time getting moving in the morning and starting out the day getting the kids all dressed and out the door just makes me feel so much more frazzled and overwhelmed. Anyway, the day was fine. It just felt busier than usual. But I love, love these pictures I got of Ollie. 😀

Day 125 of my 365 Photo Journal Just out for ANOTHER snowy walk, where Ollie gets freaked out by cars and doesn't actually want to go anywhere. Hoorah!  I feel like my depression is finally starting to back off a bit, which I'm SO thankful for. 

Day 124 of my 365 Photo Journal  Jonas has a virtual campout tonight with his Cub Scouts pack (super pain in the butt, honestly). It's like 10 degrees outside, so we opted for camping inside. He made this fort out of blankets in the basement and it is a super cozy little space. I don't think he'll last the whole night, but that's okay. I wouldn't want to sleep in the basement either. 😎  I did a longer exposure time for this shot, since it was SO dark down there. I asked him to freeze before I pressed the shutter and he really did a great job of it! I'm still learning about taking pictures in low light situations, but I really do enjoy the process. It was fun to experiment a little tonight and Jonas is such a great help with my photography trials. Unlike the girls, he actually has the patience to wait and let me figure things out, with no real interest in the outcome. He just wants to be with me. <3

Day 123 of my 365 Photo Journal We got hit with a mini snowstorm while we were out on our daily walk today and, man, Olive was UNHAPPY about it. She's just been struggling with all of these fears lately, especially when we're not in our house or back yard. When I let go of her hand to take pictures, she follows me to where I am, holding her arms out for me to pick her up. She's scared of cars...and ice apparently, and of not being within arms reach of me. She's my last baby and I have a lot more patience for this kind of stuff than I once did, but it still puts a little snag in my efforts at photography. I was excited about the little blizzard we happened across, but once Ollie slipped on some ice, the photoshoot was over. I only have 6 photos to work with here. 😅

Day 122 of my 365 Photo Journal Today was just a normal Thursday. Plenty of TV, 8,000 meals, 20,000 snacks, dance parties, walks outside, bickering, snuggling, crying, laughing...it's all just part of a normal day. We had to purge our rooms of dirty clothes for the beginning of my many, many days of laundry, so while we were up there I put on a soundtrack and photographed the girls dancing on their "stage". I tried to get some from the mirror on their door, which gave me better lighting and then some just straight on, which gave me terrible lighting (and the more I correct the lighting, the noisier it gets. The more I correct the noise, the blurrier it gets. Fun!).  I've been considering lighting options, for my indoor photography especially, but I'm scared. I don't know why I feel so intimidated by flash lights for the camera. I guess it has something to do with the idea that I'm just starting to feel confident with my camera and barely getting good pictu...

Day 121 of my 365 Photo Journal I mostly worked on the magical tea party photoshoot today, but I did snap a few of the girlies being silly. I thought this one was cute!

Day 120 of my 365 Photo Journal SNOW DAY!!! It's pretty funny that the day after I make a post on social media about how Ohio never cancels anything because of snow, Ohio cancels everything. Thanks, Ohio, for making me look dramatic. 🙄 Our day was pretty fun though, surprisingly. It's much nicer for me to stay home in the snow than attempt to go somewhere. It's still frustrating to get all of the kids dressed and outside, but I don't really have to get dressed, and that changes everything.  Ben has this thing for igloos and snow tunnels, so while he was shoveling, he piled the snow up really high and then dug this tunnel through it (after making a cool cave that the kids weren't really hanging out in) when we all went out to play. I got lots of pictures of Ollie's butt while she was trying to decide if she was willing to go all the way through or not, but I thought this one of Jonas was more compelling. I love his pink cheeks and the mischievous expression on h...

February Resolutions Check-In  1. Spiritual - My first resolution was to start my days with God every day. Over the past month, I have consistently read my devotional nearly every day (and have caught up when I've missed a day here and there), BUT I'm ending my day with God instead. I just can't seem to make it work in the mornings, but at night, when I'm sitting in my bed, I crack open my devotional and spend some time studying Heaven with Spurgeon and Alcorn. My prayer life is still lacking, but having the devotional time has been helping with that a bit too.  2. Marriage - My second resolution was to put Ben first (after God) and to give him undistracted time. This has been a big womp womp. We're still doing well, but I haven't changed ANYTHING concerning our marriage over the last month. BOO! 3. Personal - My third resolution was to go outside every day. I am doing well with this one! I've gone outside probably 28 of the last 31 days. Pretty darn good. E...

Day 119 of my 365 Photo Journal We got plenty more snow AND I got my new cord today! All-in-all it has been a good day. I took TOO many photos though, in my excitement, and now I have no idea what to post for today. Clem's smile is a little bit different lately since she lost all four of her top front teeth. 😆