Photo Journal - Josie Boettcher

Day 268 of my 365 Photo Journal I was so frustrated this morning. I had a headache for the third day in a row, my book hold expired and I was desperately trying to reach the library to keep it, and the cat got poop on the floor. I got all three things under control pretty quickly and the day smoothed back into normalcy, thankfully. We ran out to the library and, woohoo, it started POURING right when we got there. The kids are just an unorganized mess when things like this happen and they're just like ambling along in the pouring rain, close to tears. And then, of course, we step into the air conditioned library and suddenly they're all freezing AND cold! It was a mess, truly. Later on, I got the big kids into the pool and, even though I knew it would make her miserable, I gave in to Ollie and let her get in too. She was out in five minutes and then sat snuggled up to me crying for...wait for it...THE REST OF THE DAY, BASICALLY. She never recovered. Good times!  One thing I'...

Day 267 of my 365 Photo Journal Ben and I got to go on a date tonight! We went out to dinner and then, according to our date book, we had to go to a cemetery. 😳 Jenny suggested the one in Old Dublin and after dinner, that is where we went. We may not have gotten out of it what the book suggested we think on, but we actually did enjoy this part of the date. We wandered around looking at the inscriptions on the stones and thinking about the people who were buried there. It was heartbreaking to see the ones for small children, interesting to see the clumps of family members in some spots, and made us curious to see the ones where the only inscription was that they found in a war 60 years before their death. We were engaged, thinking, and talking, and any date that gets us there is a good one, in my opinion. 

Day 266 of my 365 Photo Journal  Oh, I'm so glad to be back to our normal summer schedule! No bra  having to leave the house; no real pressure. I can't say it was such a good day necessarily, but it was not a bad day. It was not a stressful day for me (it was for poor Benny though!) and I'm thankful for it.  Brit came to visit this morning and I love seeing Anna opening up around us. She still would prefer for Brit to follow her everywhere she goes, but she smiles so much more and she interacts with us a lot. Before long, she'll be running around like she owns the place and I love it! I got this one picture of Brit and Anna and they both look so happy. So even though I can't change the crooked angle and Anna is a little cut off, I had to include it. This is a photo journal, but it's also a journal I believe I'll be looking back on all my life and what better things to look back on than my friends smiling??  I also had to get a picture (was actually ordered t...

Day 265 of my 365 Photo Journal  Today was a good day. I finished up my job late last night, so I was able to be done with that and not work on it at all today. We went to CT for the first time in FOR-EV-ER!!! It was so nice to be there! Just something about being a part of the body of Christ, like IN PERSON, is so moving. It's such a privilege and we have not experienced it since before COVID started. It was good. We had a pretty relaxed afternoon, Ben made an awesome feast for dinner, and then we all went swimming and hung out outside for a while. It just felt SO good to not be rushed and to have that fun, relaxing time watching and playing with the kids and being beside my husband while doing it. We really have it made. Just before we got in the pool, Ruby got a splinter and flipped out at me when I was trying to get it out, kicking at me and landing some pretty hard ones. I ended up freaking the f out and spanking the crap out of her and sending her to her room. That was the on...

Day 265 of my 365 Photo Journal  I spent this morning working and didn't finish until a little after noon (with like a million interruptions), but I'm finally almost done with this project and almost done with work for a while! I honestly don't mind my work. I enjoy transcribing, honestly. It's just so tough to work at all when you have kids at home with you. When they're all in school, I'm going to be blowing up the transcribing scene 😜, but for now, it's on again off again while I make momming my priority. After working, I took the kids outside to swim and play for a while. Even though it was hot, again, there was no humidity! It was really nice to just sit in the shade, feel the breeze, read a book, and watch the kiddos play. Later on in the evening, I went to a little surprise birthday thing for Kelly at Jen's house. I brought all the girls so that they could play with Adella and Elise and I'm glad I did. Kids are such a good distraction and exc...

D Day 263 of my 365 Photo Journal  Photo shoot at the tire garage. 💗 Today's VBS intercession was spent getting our tire repaired at a nearby shop. Not the most fun, but not terrible either. Me and Ollie walked around the property, took pictures, played in the trees, and dealt with a poopy diaper outside with no wipies to be found. (Also, I'm sure those garage guys thought my car smelled like straight POOP!!! because I also had a poopy diaper bagged in the trunk, waiting for a trash can to be found.) Definitely some ups and downs! It's been an interesting week though. Lots of additional stress and time restrictions, bad moods, my period, Ben being in the office again, me working for the first time in months, and burnt-out, hyper kids, but ALSO one-on-one time with Ollie that I never get and getting back some of that feeling of being capable of doing things and handling things and getting out into the world. I'm still thankful to say goodbye to VBS until next year thoug...

  Day 262 of my 365 Photo Journal  After dropping the kids at VBS today, I took Ollie over to Sharon Woods for a walk/wander. Thursday is our HC playgroup day, and I invited everyone, but nobody responded to my invite. 🙄 Granted, Jenny is pregnant and sick and it is summer and hot as hell, but I've been missing the woods and really just wanted to get out there. Thankfully, it wasn't a very humid day and we were able to stick to the shade most of the time. I didn't even get sweaty! 🥳 We honestly had a really fun time, just me and my littlest. Lots of throwing rocks into the lake and pointing at peoples puppies. :)  I took a lot of photos that I loved today, but I chose these two. The top one is my favorite of the day and the bottom one COULD have been my favorite, if my focus hadn't been messed up. Apparently the camera auto focused on the tree, rather than the face and I didn't notice in any of the six pictures I took of her playing peekaboo behind this tree! I wa...

Day 261 of my 365 Photo Journal  Okay, this is one of the longest delays I've ever had in doing my journaling. I did take a picture every day, but with all the work I was doing and with VBS taking up my whole morning - mid-afternoon, I just didn't have the time to get to it. :( Very sad. I'll still write these entries as if it is day of!  Today, I got to visit with Ellen! Her daughter and Clemi were friends in pre-K and it has been years since we were able to catch up. She's always been easy to talk to and has always made me feel like she actually likes me, which is not something I find often. There, of course, was a little bit of the how was COVID for you-type catch up, but then we were back to talking like we always used to. Unfortunately, it felt too weird to ask her for a picture 😅, but I got one of Ollie playing outside...just on my iPhone. 

Day 260 of my 365 Photo Journal  It seriously feels like it should be Friday already. We had VBS and a visit with Jenny today. Not much else happened, but I feel really tired! My period did start today, which doesn't help anything...except not being pregnant, which is always a plus. Doing the healthy eating thing again. 😭 Send help! I took this picture of Ollie on my lap at Jenny's. She gets really clingy when we're not at home, but I don't mind so much. She is my last baby and those little things will be gone before I'm ready. Cling away, little one. <3 I'm also going to take monthly photos of Jenny's pregnancy, just for documentation for her and for practice for me. I should have had her facing the light here! Not sure why I didn't. I'll get her to try facing both directions next month. But this is her 2-month picture! Isn't she just gorgeous?? 

Day 259 of my 365 Photo Journal  Today was SO very hectic. I knew that doing VBS would be exhausting for me and, so far, it is! Ben also had to go back to work today, hopefully only for the next week until he goes to hybrid. It's a lot going on for one day and I don't do great with change OR mornings. I did get to hang out with Brit and Anna for a bit, which was nice. It was hard not having Ben home when we got back and having to do meals by myself. VBS/TNT rundown - Ruby had a good day, but was really scared. She didn't make any friends. She was way too hot. SOOOO hot.  Clemi made a million friends and one new BFF, named Harmonee. She had a great day. She didn't notice the heat. :) Jonas loved TNT and felt super cool being with only big kids. He's on the green team, he got a cool bandana, and he's memorizing Bible verses, which I love. He's excited to earn candy this week. :) 

Day 258 of my 365 Photo Journal Happy Father's Day to the love of my life and father of our four amazing kiddos!!! He just makes like so much better, in so, so many ways. Being a great dad is one of them. We had a really fun day though! We played with water in the yard for a while, ate some good food, relaxed, played video games, played in the yard some more, and ate more good food! I'm thankful for weekends like this one. We are so, very blessed to get the privilege of sitting in the air conditioning, playing games, and living a peaceful life with our four, healthy kids.  I had to post these action shots of Ruby, because they're so fun!

Day 257 of my 365 Photo Journal This is a photo from the library the other day, because I did not take any pictures today! Most of us wore our pajamas and watched TV, read, or played video games all day. If I see in the forecast that it's going to rain all day, I have a really hard time changing my mind about what's going on that day! So...yeah. It was supposed to rain all day, but stopped before noon. Ben, the responsible homeowner that he is, went out and mowed while we all chilled. It was a nice day though. I'm looking forward to spoiling my man a little tomorrow, although with four kids being who they are, spoiling is still not all I'd like it to be.  I'm considering keeping my journal going beyond the 365. I really love doing it, so why not? I'm just not sure if I'd commit to another 365 or...what. Something I'm thinking about!

Day 256 of my 365 Photo Journal  It was a rainy day, which always feels like permission to just hang out and relax. And I did a lot of that today! Brit came over to visit this morning (update: Anna smiles for me all the time nowadays!) and then we just kind of sat around during most of the afternoon. We did decide to take the kids out to dinner, which was ok. The service was kind of slow, so the littler girls started to get antsy after a while, but it was still a nice time. Then Ben picked up a 1/2 gallon of ice cream on the way home and we gave some to the kiddies before baths, reading, and bed! Also, I've been using this 100 days to teach your child to read book with Ruby and she is doing awesome. We're only on day 9, but she is picking things right up! I'm really proud of her for her hard work and her excitement every evening. I should take a picture of her doing her lesson tomorrow evening, if nothing more artistic comes up! I need to do the June photos of the kids that...

Day 255 of my 365 Photo Journal  We had such a fun morning! I took the kids to a play date at the Hilliard Station Park Fountains with some of the girls from HC. It was cute. None of them played in the water, but at least they played together! Mostly. The rest of the day was pretty easy. I teach cell group tonight and I'm only slightly nervous AND I'm supposed to talk to Anne about the issue we've been having...which I'm completely and totally dreading, so much. 

Day 254 of my 365 Photo Journal  Today was a busy day. I took the kids to the library, where we did crafts, picked out 10,000,000,000 books to bring home and lose, and threatened the serenity of the whole place. We went to Target to look for gifts for Father's Day, but the kids, instead, just looked for things for themselves, while I suggested little things they could get for dad...on my dime. 🙄 And then we swung by McDonald's to pick up lunch for the kiddos, that they ate while I heated up my leftovers. I live an incredibly charmed life. :) BUT, the weather was so cool and beautiful that we spent a ton of time out front playing with chalk and having fun. It was a really nice day, honestly. I don't feel sad about my leftovers or anything, really.  I got some pictures of Clemi blowing bubbles for Ollie and her getting the bubble machine ready for Ollie too. The little one was insatiable, no matter how many bubbles were blowing her way! Ruby drew a "hopscotch" that...

Day 253 of my 365 Photo Journal Well, I realized late last night that I'm supposed to be teaching cell group on Thursday and I have done NOTHING at all to prepare for it! I'll be cramming over the next couple days to pull something decent together. I'm not too worried about it, thankfully. I have some time. Nap times and I'll spend my evenings on it too, since Ben will be either busy or preoccupied for the next two nights. But still, when I said I would teach, I imagined myself reading the chapters weeks in advance so that I could kind of ruminate on what I was teaching on and pull things together over the course of the week before my teaching. Instead, I am panic reading and pulling things together two days before my teaching. Typical me!  I got this picture of Ollie this morning as she was just arriving at some imaginary place. Oh, she's just your average princess/bag lady, complete with two purses, glittery princess shoes, a crown, her Baba, a snow fairy dress, a...

Day 252 of my 365 Photo Journal I sit in the shade in the yard, while the kids play in the pool. Every once in a while, one of them swims over to the edge nearest to me and peeks over to complain, or say hi, or ask me to get them out. The other day, I posted a picture of Clemi in this exact same spot. It's not coincidence, I'm just sitting there waiting for a good photo opportunity to swim in my direction. Ollie is in a weird place with her hair. It is constantly in her eyes right now. :) Well, it's Monday. I had a splitting headache all day and hardly did anything at all. I cancelled my morning play date plans and didn't go to HC. Kind of sucky, but still kind of nice to have a relaxing day.   

Day 251 of my 365 Photo Journal  I went up to Amy's house today! It was crazy. I felt so anxious when I set out this morning, but I'm really glad I did it. I got there a little after 10 and we went out on their pontoon boat and hung out on the lake until 4pm! Honestly, I was a little disappointed that Kent joined us, but it was good. I didn't end up minding having him there at all and his being in charge of driving and whatnot freed Amy up to just visit. After a couple of hours, we picked up 9 more people. 😳 And then we joined 3 other pontoon boats in the water and anchored in. I spent most of the time in the water and some time visiting with Kent's family (who made up a lot of the people on the boats). It was okay. You know, if I could have chosen, I wouldn't have wanted over 40 strangers hanging out with me in the lake, but it was fine. 🤷 We headed back around 4:00, got changed quickly, and went out to dinner. The food wasn't amazing, but my fish and chips w...

Day 250 of my 365 Photo Journal  I kind of love the shadows and wetness on Clemi's skin in this picture, but I hate how dark the shadows are on her face.  It was a pretty busy day here. We spent the morning cleaning the pool and getting the yard cleaned up, then I took Clemi to a birthday party for one of her school friends. Oh, my gosh, their yard was amazing. Like, HGTV-style fancy pantsy yard. It was SO nice. It was super hot and humid out, but there was a really nice gazebo type thing with a bunch of comfortable couches on it, so I just chilled in there for most of the time, awkwardly chit-chatting with strangers. After the party, Jason, Kamola, and Mina came over to hang out. Mina went swimming, but Jason just kind of stood around the outside of the pool, sweating. It was kind of a weird visit with them. He's normally really easy to talk to, but he was seeming off today. Kamola was her normal quiet self. I tried harder than usual to make conversation with her, but it went...

Day 249 of my 365 Photo Journal  It feels like the weekend already. But it's not. :(  Here is a picture of Ollie yelling at me because I told her we weren't getting into the pool.

Day 248 of my 365 Photo Journal  I'm using these photos from Tuesday after all, because I still haven't edited the beach and tea party pictures! I kind of feel frustrated about that, but I really just haven't made the time to do it. I got a new video game for my birthday and the kids have been really into watching me play it, so during Ollie's nap time, I play my video game (Spiritfarer) while the big kids watch...and Jonas directs. 😂 It has been fun, but distracts me from some other things I've been wanting to do. Not that I'd do them anyway, truthfully.  I went to my dermatologist today for a follow up on my rosacea. My skin has improved so much over the last two months! It has been really nice to get my old face back. BUT, while I was there she was like, "Hey, let's take care of those skin tags" and then just removed like 10 skin tags from my body. 😮 I'm glad she did it, but I just wasn't expecting it! I'll be so glad to have them ...