Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

Day 177 of my 365 Photo Journal This week has been flying by! I feel kind of terrible for Ben, because I have had something to do nearly every day that cuts into his running time...and tomorrow will be no different. Thankfully, he's been really gracious about it and hasn't complained, but I still feel bad. I AM excited though, because I'm done with Easter shopping! And I did a little extra this year 😁. Maybe I shouldn't have splurged, but I got each person something fun for outside, since we're spending SO VERY MUCH time together outside lately (thanks to limited screen time). I'm really looking forward to everything arriving and being able to give things out so that I can start playing with them! We dyed our Easter eggs tonight, which is always less fun than it seems like it will be. Ollie is just such a wild card when it comes to messy things. She's SO ready to do everything on her own, but at the same time, I can't really risk her spilling food dye a...

Day 176 of my 365 Photo Journal The second day of spring break was another pretty good one! We cleaned bedrooms this morning and got all the kid's sheets washed (looooong overdue), then I had a quick lunch date with Terracina (also LONG overdue!). When I got home, I got Ollie down, worked for a couple of hours, and ran to Target to finish up Easter shopping. It's crazy how much Easter candy costs! And when you're filling baskets for 4--well, 6 really, because mama and dad need candy too--holy moly. Expensive! THEN, I get home from Target, realize I don't have enough time to make the dinner I had planned, so we ordered in from BWW. It was just a busy but happy day.  While we were playing outside this afternoon, Ollie slipped away, as usual. I went to go find her and she was up here on the deck doing God knows what. She was so cute, looking over the railing, that I ran inside, grabbed my camera, and took like 40 pictures of her in this spot. She cooperated and I got so ma...

Day 175 of my 365 Photo Journal Today's post WAS going to be the monthly picture of Ollie in the cul-de-sac, buuutttt I'm still not getting it right! I got a decent shot, but what I really want to get right is the perspective I got in January. I think I need to get out there with my tripod and try to get the perspective right before I even get Ollie out there, because she just acts like a nut every time I try to get her in that same spot.  Today was the start of spring break! So far, so good. We had a play date with Kelly and the girls she watches. The kids got along great and me and Kelly got some good catch up time. The weather was cool, but sunny, which is perfect for me.

Day 174 of my 365 Photo Journal It was just the right amount of raining this morning to get Ollie outside with an umbrella and take a walk...while our roof was being looked at by an adjuster. 😑 She was being adorable. :) She kept singing, "Rain, rain..." while she was walking around, after hearing us sing the song in the house this morning. 

Day 173 of my 365 Photo Journal Big outside day today! I weeded for hours, evened and filled the dirt out, spread weed prevention stuff, put down landscape sheeting, AND mulched (well...mostly Ben mulched) in the side yard garden. Ollie used to love being outside, but I think that being outside while me and Ben are occupied is a totally different story. She's been pretty fussy when we're all out there together, which definitely makes it difficult for both Ben and I to be productive simultaneously.  On another topic, I've been really concerned about my skin lately. Over the last nine months or so, my face has started to get red and bumpy. It wasn't until the last week that I started to suspect that this was more than just some bumps or some random pimples. I've always had great skin, like maybe 25 pimples in my entire life. I didn't want to google it, because I didn't want to freak myself out, but I finally gave in. After not much research, it became clear th...

Day 172 of my 365 Photo Journal Yes! It's finally Friday! The screen time detox has been going really well and I've seen lots of improvements in the kids behavior and begging over the last couple of days. As a time killer, we've been playing with Play Doh SOOOO much. Ollie is super into it and Ruby makes these adorable clay people.  Here's the story of the top picture - Me: Ollie, DO NOT eat the Play Doh. Ollie: 'Kay!!!! Two seconds later, she's eating the Play Doh.  I just could not choose a photo today. All of them were just too cute to me!

Day 171 of my 365 Photo Journal For some reason, I felt like today was Friday. Feeling really sad now that I'm realizing it's Thursday! It was a pretty rainy day and I did not end up taking any pictures. I got my camera out at one point, but the shot was gone before I could get it! It was a pretty slow day for me...organizing shoes, baking cheese danishes for the first time, and making pizzas for our pizza and a movie night. Ben got his first vaccine today!! Before long, we'll both be fully vaccinated and going out on dates again. I CANNOT wait.  Here's a photo of Ollie doing the same thing Jonas did yesterday. :) I kind of love how the iPhone photos made both of their eyes pop. I have some really beautiful kiddos! 

Day 170 of my 365 Photo Journal I felt really convicted to cut back on screen time today. The kids (mostly Ollie and Ruby) have just been freaking out when they're not watching TV or exactly what they want on TV and it has been driving me insane. It has begun to feel like they literally have no idea how to occupy themselves if the TV isn't doing it for them. So, I pulled the plug...mostly. I kept the TV off almost all day and they were only allowed to play video games or watch shows from 1 - 2 and then 6 - 7 for the littles and 6 - 8 for the bigs. Partly because of that, we all had a lot of outside time today! I feel like I should add that everybody took the change relatively well. There was some whining, but nothing huge.  Jonas is usually inside lost in a video game within five minutes of coming home from school, but he was actually out in the driveway with us and I got this really fun shot of him. 

  Day 169 of my 365 Photo Journal  This water drawing mat is a God send. No mess play (that requires NO parent involvement or supervision) that brings lots of enjoyment. It's a win! Ruby plays with it differently than Jonas and Clemi did though. She wants to literally just cover the whole mat with water. But whatever. She likes the rainbows. And after I uploaded these photos I noticed the theme! And the picture of Ollie getting herself undressed is just so precious. I love watching them work so diligently on these big kid skills. 

Day 168 of my 365 Photo Journal I spent hours outside with the kids today, between a play date, pre-dinner play time, and post-dinner play time. I really tried to enjoy it, but all I wanted to do was sit down! 😬 I've let myself get back into this lazy state of mind...I mean, I think it's more than letting myself. I think it's like a mental place that I'm in. But whatever! It was a decent day with beautiful weather and I spent time with a couple of fun people, so it's all good.  More and more and more bubbles today! Oh, and LOTS of attitude. The top picture is "NO. You! No!" 🙄

  Day 167 of my 365 Photo Journal This weekend, I just wanted to relax. I've been working and stressed and overwhelmed and I just wanted this weekend to hold no real obligations. I'm happy to say, it has been a very relaxing two days. We did a little bit of yard work on Saturday, but for the most part, we haven't done a ton. Of course, there was the normal cleaning, laundry, taking care of kids, and meal prep, but it has felt so low key and just...sweet. I really try to savor these days of relaxation. They don't happen often and they so often morph into boredom. Ben made sure he got the kids outside to play today, since the weather is so beautiful. He was blowing bubbles for them and came in exclaiming, "You have to hear Ollie giggling about these bubbles!" Truthfully, I was just going to sit here on the computer the entire time they were outside, but once Ruby was fiiiinnnnnaaaaaaallllllyyyyy dressed (it takes her SO long), I went outside too. I'm glad I ...

Day 166 of my 365 Photo Journal I have been getting so in my head lately about people not liking me. 😖 Before Christ, this was not something that I cared about at all and only in the last 5-7 years has it become a real issue. Nowadays, I'll just think about someone and next thing I know, I'm obsessing over feeling like they don't like me! It feels like I'm going crazy and I really hate it. I spent too much time today worried about this.  Ollie has been so cute lately playing with these kitchen things. We got her the two big pieces for Christmas and they have been largely ignored since then. We got her the apron and and potholders for her birthday and she didn't pay much attention to those at first either! FINALLY, she's been playing with them! She'll sit and cook for a couple little chunks of time each day and I am so thankful for anything that captures her attention for more than five minutes at a time.

Day 165 of my 365 Photo Journal  I'm still swimming in a sea of emotions today. 🙄 I got some news from my parents that made me realize that I may not see them for a very, very long time to come, which sucks. It's hard for me and even harder for the kids. I'm so happy that they are really living life to the fullest, I just selfishly wish that we factored into it a little more than we do.  I'm also having some conflicting feelings about the photoshoot that I did and the edits that the client made to the pictures I took. So many of them look SO much different from how I would have (and actually did!) edit them, that I've been feeling upset about my name being attached to the really heavy-handed editing that she did, for potential future business reasons.   THANKFULLY, my friend Brittany visited me today! It literally seems like every time she comes over just happens to be the coldest day of the week. 😅 Ben set up the propane heater for us this morning though, and tha...

Day 164 of my 365 Photo Journal I'm feeling SO many feelings lately! Just a whole range, from good, to bad, to overwhelmed, to underwhelmed. Truthfully, plenty of those feelings are centered around Ollie and how quickly she's growing up. We just started transitioning her from a bottle to a cup (still plenty of work to do there...and like 9 months later than we should have started), but it's mostly the bed situation. We took the front off of her crib, making her crib a toddler bed! I was so worried it would be a disaster. She's so hardheaded and pushy that I just knew she would be running around like a wild child every sleep time. BUT SHE HASN'T. Not at all! I put her to bed and she stays in bed...even when she's still awake. It's been like four days now and she is handling this change like such a big kid! This success means that the next steps are finishing up weaning off of a bottle completely and then potty training. POTTY TRAINING! My little baby girl is ...

   Day 163 of my 365 Photo Journal It's St. Patrick's Day! I had hoped to do a whole big thing with desserts and decorations, but instead I made sure everyone wore green and drew on the driveway with chalk. At least it was something! I have a lot on my mind today...just a lot to process. I have found myself feeling really overwhelmed lately and I think part of it is having decisions unmade and part of it is just taking on more than I can/want to handle. I forced myself to leave my phone inside and spend a couple of hours outside with the kids today (two separate hours, actually), and although I can't say it was fun, it was probably good for me and definitely was good for the kids. They really crave my attention and I so often turn to my phone instead of them. I'm glad that I did this today and I'm proud of myself for being more present and being more on top of things, even if it was JUST today. 

Day 162 of my 365 Photo Journal We got this awesome wagon/stroller today and I am SO excited about it. We've always had a traditional stroller, but I really wish I had splurged and gotten this years ago. Ollie loves it (so far) and with the fancy upgraded tires we got on it, it rides great too. We spent some time outside today, just walking around and riding in the wagon. I have a job right now--like my third in a row--and it's feeling like too much lately. Once 3:40pm hits, the rest of the day is an absolute nightmare for me. It's simple stuff, not nightmarish stuff, but still. It's the worst part of the day. Stop working, get Ollie up from nap, rush to the bus stop to get the kids, get everyone snacks, drinks, etc. to keep them happy while I work on dinner, start dinner by 4:30, serve dinner, clean up from dinner, start baths, get Ollie to bed, get Ruby to bed, read to Clem and get her to bed, read to Jonas, do lunch packing and outfit pick outs for the next day, do w...

Day 161 of my 365 Photo Journal Well, I didn't take any pictures today, but I edited a few more photos from the maternity shoot last night and I think they turned out beautiful, so I'm posting them here. Also, today was my mama's birthday, but it wasn't a hard day, thankfully. Just a day of remembering her and birthdays past. She died a few weeks before her 53rd birthday and before she died, she kept saying that if she made it to her birthday, she wanted to have a lobster dinner. My sister has tried to keep up the tradition of having lobster on mom's birthday, but I never have (other than that first year). I kind of wish I did.

Day 160 of my 365 Photo Journal  We spent some more time out in the yard today. Ben didn't want to have a fire again, so I kind of just wandered around, took pictures, picked up sticks. 🤷 It's funny to see how quickly the kids get tired of things. It's been warm and sunny for over a week now and Ruby literally refused to even go outside at all yesterday. She didn't feel like it was worth getting dressed for.  I'm feeling a little stressed about the big kids going back to school full time tomorrow. It just feels like a lot for me, after rarely leaving my house for the last year. I'm going to have to have everyone up, dressed, and out of the house by 8:20 every single weekday now. It's just a lot. I feel like I'm going to have to wear a bra all the time. 😖 So terrible. The kids are really excited though, so I'll just try to be outwardly positive, despite all of my fears of COVID, anxieties about leaving the house every day and the kids not having eno...

Day 159 of my 365 Photo Journal I did my first maternity shoot today! It was a lot of fun and Emilee was THE BEST model. I really am thankful for the experience. I'm looking forward to editing more of these pictures! I feel like I need to say that I have been noticing a huge amount of anxiety when I know I'm going to leave the house. I mean, it's been pretty mild when it comes to taking Ruby to school, but any other excursion and I'm basically freaking out inside. I'm not sure what's going on with that, but I really hope it goes back to normal when the world opens back up.

Day 158 of my 365 Photo Journal It's sad, but we've kept this little turtle sandbox closed up for years. It's just such a pain the butt. The kids dump the sand everywhere, everyone gets dirty...whatever. Neither me or Ben has wanted to deal with it. However, Ben and I have loosened up a lot over the years and he came home from Home Depot with some fresh bags of sand and we opened this baby up! Today's picture is another iPhone shot, but when you have time consuming transcribing to do and time consuming yard work to do, you do what you can do. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, especially Ollie!

Day 157 of my 365 Photo Journal  My view from the couch (pre-doctor appt). This little girl had her 2 year check up today and had to get two shots...which she REALLY didn't like. I mean. 😳 She was pissed. She screamed and screamed, "ow!ow!ow!" She barely slept for her nap and woke up yelling, "OUCHY!" and pointed to her leg a thousand times. It was a tough afternoon for her, for sure, which resulted in a tough afternoon for all of us. Thankfully, she took some ibuprofin before bed and she should sleep well. Tomorrow is another day! 

Day 156 of my 365 Photo Journal On the walk to the bus stop today, Ollie and Ruby kept running to each other yelling, "HUG!" and then hugging super tightly, and repeating. It was super cute. So this isn't a great photo, but it'll be a great memory. :) Also, I just have to say how lucky I feel to be able to walk to/from the bus stop with my whole family. It's just so amazing to get these sweet little chunks of family time mixed in with our days.  One more thing. Our neighbors have had "WEPOOKCERD" written in big letters on their driveway since the weekend. We've been outside a lot lately and have walked by that word at least a dozen times in the last few days and every time I see it, it nags at me. What does it mean? What on earth does it mean? The best I came up with was an Irish phrase "wee pookered", which is really, really a stretch, since pookered isn't actually a word and I only found two references to it on Google. Pookered means ...

Day 155 of my 365 Photo Journal I have been in the worst mood today. I don't have any real reason for it, but here are my thoughts: 1. I stepped on the scale this morning, even though Thursday is my usual weigh-in day. It was not good. 2. Ollie is getting older and I'm not having any more babies. And even though my life is full and my kids stress me out most of the time, I still have this mourning happening. 3. The kids have been fighting ALL DAY. It's making me want to pull my hair out. I feel like I woke up relatively happy? But that changed very quickly. 4. And we're having tacos tonight, which I hate.  I hung out outside with the kids for a while today and the weather was beautiful. Cool and sunny, no heavy winter coats needed! Of course, I didn't actually feel like doing anything out there and let myself get all in my feels about the way I look, so I felt self conscious seeing my neighbors. Also, Ollie doesn't listen to me at all, so getting her to do what ...

Day 154 of my 365 Photo Journal  HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OLLIE!!!! She is 2 today! We had a really nice day. Ben took off of work and we went to Le Chatelaine for breakfast, did some grocery shopping together, and then did yard work...for way too long. 😅 Ollie got filthy and she loved every second of it. After her nap, we had a yummy dinner, ate cupcakes, and opened presents. She was such a happy girl! I'm thankful for two years with this silly, frustrating, sweet, little maniac. 💗

Day 153 of my 365 Photo Journal  We kind of designated today to be a work outside day. It was beautiful out and we wanted to get a head start on getting some of the crazy jungle cut back that usually overwhelms our side yard. Every year we talk about the things we need to do on that side of the house, but once spring hits, all of the vegetation comes out in full force...including some kind of poison plant (ivy? sumac?) that gives me really, really terrible rashes. Once that happens, I'm pretty much done out there for the year. So we worked outside for over four hours today, cutting back brush and burning it and it was a looooooonnnnnng day. I am going to be hurting tomorrow.  I took this photo yesterday and thought it was really cute. Murphy is like, please, just stop hugging me already! 

Day 152 of my 365 Photo Journal We celebrated Ollie's 2nd birthday today! It obviously was nothing huge, but Ben's dad and Hazel came over and we had some good food, some presents, and sang to the little birthday girl. It was such a nice time. This pandemic really shows you how much you miss people. I know that sometimes (in normal times), weeks and months would go by between visits and we'd feel like we were too busy, etc., but now that the choice has been taken away from us and we are rarely busy, the ache of isolation is kind of always there. When we get to see people we love, the ache eases a bit. I'm so thankful that they drove over here and spent the day with us today.  I expected myself to post a picture of Ollie for today, but I captured this sweet moment between Clemi and Grandma Hazel and this was it, for me. I know it's nothing flashy. It's not even that great of a photo. But Clemi was sitting, reading her a story that she made a little paper characte...

Day 151 of my 365 Photo Journal I feel like I haven't posted in forever! (I'm writing this on 3/7--2 days later) I shot this photo of Ollie after searching all over the house for her. This has been a recurring thing...Ollie sneaks away, we call for her and search for her, only to find her in the bathtub. I was thinking about why she might keep going back there over and over again and imagined that maybe she has discovered a magical, underwater world in there that only she can access. I spent the day...and a little bit of time the next day...and a little bit of time TODAY (Sunday) editing it and adding some fun things and I finally think it's done! 

Day 150 of my 365 Photo Journal I'm so thankful for Brittany, who makes her way over to my side of town, just to sit out in the cold with me so we can talk about life for a bit. Days are better with friends who love you.  Anna crawled all the way into the middle of the cul-de-sac to play with/keep a closer eye on my girls. She doesn't look thrilled here, but she was relatively happy! I can't wait to see her toddling around, riding bikes, laughing and playing with them for real! 

  March Resolutions Check-In I'm just going to preface this by saying that I have barely thought of my resolutions in the last month, so it will be interesting to see what is kind of forging a way forward on autopilot, what has gotten worse, and what has stayed the same, due to my inattention.  1. Spiritual - My first resolution was to spend daily time with God. I have not been doing well with this lately. I think I fell off in the middle of February somewhere. I was reading my devotional every night, but I knew I was coming to the end of it and I started to feel like the readings were getting repetitive. As my motivation to read the next lesson reduced, so did my push to read anyway. This is a good reminder though and I have another book that is just waiting to be read, so I might just pick that one up and say goodbye to my Heaven devotional...5 days short of the end. Oh, that makes me cringe. 2. Marriage - My second resolution was to prioritize Ben and our marriage and to gi...

Day 149 of my 365 Photo Journal Twinsies! Fash-on!  Main themes of the day: I'm so freaking hungry and sick of trying to eat healthy and exercise. I just want to EAT! and... Murphy is acting like a nut from the meds he's on because of his neutering today. He's being SO weird and his pupils are as big as dimes. High as a kite.  I know it's so dramatic sounding, the starvation and the desperation, but I wouldn't be 100 pounds overweight if I didn't have a bit of a food issue, right? Eating sugary foods and being really full makes me feel happy. Being hungry and eating healthy foods makes me feel sad. But I have to keep in mind that it's not all about my feelings. My weight very directly affects my health. If it didn't, maybe I could eat with reckless abandon still, but I don't want to be the sick and tired mom that can't do anything. And yeah. Murph. 😨 I kind of want to just lock him up somewhere until he comes down from this crazy high he's o...

Day 148 of my 365 Photo Journal Today was the 6th anniversary of my mom's death. It hit me harder this year than many of the other ones and really made me think a lot about being a mother and what that means, how important this role really is. Mom and I loved each other very much, but we had a complicated relationship. Even so, I miss her and find myself wishing she was here all the time. If a child is well-loved by their mother, how much stronger is that bond and that longing for her company? I don't have any real end goal for these musings, but I just feel determined to love my children well and to not make their lives harder with my own problems.  I tried to take a few self-portraits with Ollie today. The lighting was terrible and I'm not great at getting my camera focused for self-portraits. Ollie is in a big "hug" phase, so we get lots of snuggles nestled between horrible behavior. It's lots of fun. :) And does anyone else kiss their little one's toes...